Transfer Student

I opened my eyes to see white all around me.

Wispy clouds floated above my head as a bird chirped monotonously, "beep, beep, beep..."

It sucks to be dead but at least I got into heaven. It was a little cold but I sure was happy it was not the other place. The white clouds got even more intense. It encircled me and I started to choke.

"Nurse! Doctor! Nurse!"

Someone was yelling. Well, my grandma was yelling. Sounds like my grandma made it too. I wondered first what did her in- grief from my death or the fact that she smoked like a coal factory. I tried to call out to her to relax but I just coughed some more. Her broad, speckled and fat-framed face was way too close to mine.

"Greg, it's Grandma! Can you hear me?"

Tears streamed down her face as she hugged me tightly with a half-smoked cigarette in her right hand. Come to think of it, there were several cigarette butts on the floor. That confirmed it. She smoked her way up here. Three men in blue tried to pull her off me.

"Please pull her off me," was the only clear thought I can remember thinking in that moment.

Close behind her was the rustle of robes against linen. Nurses and doctors poured in and encircled me. The nurses started to check my vitals, two doctors were asking me questions successively. The birds' "beep beep" chirp got duller and duller until I saw and heard nothing.

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I woke up again in what looked like midnight. It appears death didn't stick. I was lying in a bed. My toes curled where they had become exposed from under the white wool blanket. Behind my feet, I could see the back of charts hanging on the white metal bed-frame. The curtains, which separated me form what I imagined were other patients, were closed. It turns out that my heavenly birds were actually a single ECG machine.

I tried to turn but ended up groaning out loud. It sounded way louder than I imagined in the dead of night. In the distance, I saw a light come on. Shortly after, a nurse came to check on me,

"Hey, you're up," she half-asked, half stated sleepily. "I'm gong to get the doctor on call. Just give me a sec."

I laid uncomfortably on my side until someone came. I was not about to try moving on my own again.

When the doctor came, he asked calmly, "Do you know where you are?"

"Heaven," I responded hopefully.

He chuckled to himself a little. "I am Dr. Roberts. You are at Zimbart Regional Hospital. Do you know what happened to you?"

I thought for a moment. My memory was foggy but I remembered being chased by some bulldogs.

"I was mauled by monster dogs," I said.

"Well..." he hesitated. "You came here badly mangled. If it were dogs, your injuries may have been less serious. You seem to have been in a trash compactor. As a matter of fact, you were actually found at the dump."

The shock on my face must have alarmed him so he stopped.

"I'll give your mother a call and tell her that you're up. Unfortunately, you will have to wait till you get out to see your grandma. She's been banned from the patients' wing."

Dr. Roberts smirked a little as he said this. I smiled a little too. My grandma was quite the character.

"Doc," I finally volunteered speaking myself. "How long have I been here?"

"Two months as of last Friday."

"What? Are my injuries that bad?"

"Well...just focus on recovery. I will arrange physio-therapy starting this Thursday. Do what the instructor says and you should be out of here in a few months."

"A few months!" I was astounded.

That is when I looked at myself. I gingerly laid back on my back. My left leg, still covered by the blanket had no sensation. It was heavily wrapped in a cast. My entire lower torso up to my waist was also in a cast. Briefly, I wondered if I would have the capability of making children in the future but I did not linger on the thought. I wasn't about to add depression to my ailments. There were scars obviously stitched all over my body, several at varying degrees of healing. My eyes welled up against my will as I asked for a mirror. Dr. Roberts hesitated.

"You'll be able to go to the bathroom soon. Just rest up and I'll be back to see you later in the morning when your mother gets here."

Dr. Roberts probably has a masters in psychology because I forgot about my face as I thought of my mom. She couldn't afford my staying here...and physio-therapy...I had to get out of here quickly.

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My mother was the picture of death. She smiled broadly as she walked into my room. She was still wearing her uniform from her night job. The worry behind her eyes leaked out like tears down her cheek as she thanked God over and over that I was awake.

"Ma, I'm okay. Stop crying."

I really was not big on this type of emotional expression. It had been the two of us since my father died when I was three. I've never once seen her cry after his funeral.

Outside the closed curtain behind Dr. Roberts and my mother. A shadowy figure lingered. I focussed to get a better look but it disappeared. Dr. Roberts followed my gaze and frowned.

"Nurse, please come in and take Mr. Simon's vitals."

"Greg," I interjected. "Call me Greg."

"Yes doctor," she mumbled as she quickly made her way passed the adults and started putting the blood pressure band around my left arm.

She looked strangely familiar. As a matter of fact, the word "Tianna" came out my mouth before I realized I thought it.

"Did you say something , Baby?"

My mother was extra attentive. I wasn't used to this.

The doctor introduced her as Nurse Natalie Williams. She was not Tianna. She sure looked like Tianna, just a few years older. I bet Tianna would look exactly like her if she dressed like a nurse. I always told her she was way too mature for a sixteen year old.

Everyone but my mom left the room after about fifteen minutes. Then my mom left after an hour. She had taken the morning off to come see me but she had to go home to relax a little and freshen up before she had to go to work. There was no way I was going to stay here long and compound her bills.

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I was on crutches in four weeks. I was determined. By week five, I got permission to go home on house rest.

At home, I kept writing in my journal. Ever so often, Tianna's face would appear before me if I spaced out. I needed to see her. I still had not told her about my dream. The fact that I was mysteriously injured this badly was bizarre as well. Why had she not come to see me?

After begging my mom to send me back to school for a whole month, she finally gave in since I could now move around with just one crutch instead of two. I avoided Tianna's lane. I was not about to face those dogs again. When I got to school, everyone made a fuss about me. Even girls who didn't notice me before wanted to touch my scars. There was one major scar on my right cheek but I didn't mind it too much. It made me look cool... I think.

I asked around for Tianna and no one seem to know her. That was really weird. I went to her class at the very first opportunity. She was not there but I met a new girl, a transfer student. She started four months ago but still had not made friends. She had shoulder length hair and curly bangs that almost hid her eyes. Since she was all by herself and I was popular now, I tried to talk to her.

"Hey, you new here?" I tried to sound as cool as possible.

"Beat it, spaz. You're not my flavour." she threw the words over her shoulder after slamming down her book on her desk and walking out.

Everyone was staring at me. This girl seemed like trouble. She was about to ruin my new reputation. Somehow, she reminded me of Tianna.

At lunch, she was two spaces ahead of me in the line. When she turned and saw me, she all but ran away. She seemed visibly upset and ended up knocking someone's lunch from his table.

"What's up with that girl?" I asked the closest person to me, Abbie.

Abbie said, "Well, the rumour is, she transferred here four months ago. She was pretty popular too. She made friends with two girls Brianna and Chloe. According to Chloe, they all went shopping one Saturday and because of the transfer girl, whose name is Trisha by the way, they ended up staying out till it got dark. She insisted that the other two follow her through some suspiciously dark, narrow streets saying it was a shortcut to their bus stop. Eventually, they all got creeped out and ran hysterically in different directions. Chloe made it to a police station where she made a call to her dad but the other two girls were missing for a whole day. When they found Trisha, she was hiding behind a dumpster in an ally. Brianna was actually found the following Saturday, Sunday and Monday. She was chewed to pieces. It took 3 whole days to find all that they could of her body. Trisha did not speak for a full week after that and when she did, she claimed she knew nothing about what happened. The whole school thinks she had something to do with the murder. That was two months ago and you are the first person to speak to her since then."

I looked in the direction Trisha disappeared I know that's Trisha but she sure reminded me of Tianna. Something about how alone she was called out to me. I wasn't about to judge a girl based on some rumour.

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On my way home, I had my crutches under my left arm and my journal in my right. Someone walked by me and knocked the book out of my hand. The plop sound the book made on impact with the pavement caused everyone to turn and look in my direction. That's when the culprit turned around and picked up the book.

It opened and she saw the book was almost full. She smirked.

"For a boy, you sure love to write, spaz."

It was Trisha. Trisha had knocked the book out of my hand.

She handed it back to me before adding, "I bet it's filled with nonsensical garbage."

She left me there just looking at her leave. Being in her presence felt familiar and for some unknown reason, I was terrified.