chapter 2
Van jolted awake at the sound of a terrified scream flowing through the walls of the hospital. She recognized that voice: Lottie. She jumped up out of bed and untangled herself from the machines and wires monitoring her.
Throwing the door open, she was greeted by a guard who stopped her and told her to go back inside her room. Van argued and attempted to push past him, but she didn't have much strength, so her attempts were in vain, and she eventually relented and retreated to her room again.
Van laid in the bed for a good 10 minutes, worried sick about Lottie, until a series of knocks brought her out of her thoughts. They were the same set of knocks she used to use on Tai’s window when she would sneak into her room back home. Van sent the same knocks back and slid down next to the wall and leaned her head back against it. When the nurses came to check on them again they found both girls asleep on either side of the wall, the first time Taissa had slept since arriving there.
Lottie was tired. She hadn't spoken since the rescue. Her mind, however, would not shut up. The voices in her head were telling her to run and that it was hungry. She just wanted everything to be quiet. Silent. Calm. The doctors keep coming in and asking her questions and trying to coach her into speaking. The machines tracking her heart rate, the hands of the doctor running tests on her, the sounds of their footsteps, the voices in her head, the memories of the wilderness. It was all just so loud. She wanted it to stop but she couldn't find the words, or maybe she didn't have them, to tell them to stop. She wasn't sure which, but she did the only thing she knew how to do.
She screamed.
Immediately, all the noises around her stopped. The hospital staff all stared at her wide-eyed and shocked as more arrived, attracted by the sound. Lottie simply curled into the fetal position and turned to face the wall, falling into a haunted sleep.
After sedating and carrying away Shauna, a kind-looking doctor whose name tag read Dr. Torres approached Jackie and the small bundle of joy cradled in her arms whose cries had finally quietened after a lot of begging on Jackie’s part. After leading Jackie into a private room she requested for Jackie to let go of the baby so both of them could be checked out. Being the more rational of the couple, Jackie relented and reluctantly passed him over to Dr. Torres.
“What's his name?” questioned Dr. Torres.
“Jude,” Jackie replied as she wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling very self-conscious now that she didn't have anyone to hold.
“Like the Beatles song,” mused the doctor. Jackie gave a slight smile to that as technically he was named after that song.
After Jude had been born, they hadn't given him a name for a few months, solely referring to him as wild guy. One day when Jackie and Shauna were playing with Jude in the attic, Shauna, out of the blue, said
“I've thought of a name for him.” Jackie leaned back and laid her head on her girlfriend's shoulder from her place between Shauna's legs and hummed in response.
“Do you remember when we were kids and my mom used to drive us to and from school, and we would always ask her to put on the same song, and we would sing our hearts out together in the back seat?”
“Yeah, that song Hey Jude by the Beatles, right?” Jackie responded, curious as to why Shauna was bringing this memory up.
“Right, well, I was thinking maybe we could call him Jude, short for Judiah,” Shauna replied sheepishly, hoping Jackie would like it.
A wide smile spread across Jackie's face as she placed a kiss on Shauna's cheek, muttering “it's perfect” against her skin.
“I was also thinking that his middle name could be Lee, like Laura Lee, as a way of honoring her.”
“I love that, and I'm sure she would be honored to have him named after her.”
Jackie looked at the newly named Jude and muttered “Judiah Lee Shipman” to nobody in particular. “Well actually that's the other thing, I was kinda hoping his last name could be Shipman-Taylor,” Shauna confessed, bracing herself for Jackie’s reaction.
“Really!” Jackie exclaimed, tackling Shauna to the ground and kissing her passionately.
Jackie was broken out of her memory as Jude's wails started up again as he was carried out of the room by a nearby nurse. Jackie's eyes welled up with tears as he was taken away from her, and she was truly alone again.
Dr. Torres walked her over to the bed and sat down next to her. “How did you get all these scars?” she asked, referring to the scars littering the side of Jackie's neck and face. “Frostbite and hypothermia,” responded Jackie solemnly. “They had to amputate my finger and ear,” Jackie added, gesturing to her right ear and holding up her hand sans her right ring finger.
Dr. Torres gave her a sympathetic look and got to work running blood tests and taking her vitals as well as bandaging her long-since-healed hand and placing a gauze over the hole in her head where her ear used to be, muffling her already faded hearing even more.
“When can I see Shauna and Jude again?” questioned Jackie anxiously.
“I'm sorry, but you won't be able to see them for a few days as we are keeping you all quarantined from each other for a while.”
Jackie wanted to kick and scream and beg and punch, but she knew that would do no good, and after all, that was more Shauna’s style, and she was sure that that is exactly how Shauna will react when she finds out.
But I mean, who is she kidding? She doesn't have the energy nor the strength to react that way even if she wanted to, so, alas, she settles for curling up and crying herself to sleep.