The Bright Lord by Alex Knowles

Author:Alex Knowles [Knowles, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-15T22:00:00+00:00

I didn’t even want to think about the hardship of staying in bed and doing nothing but eating. Pol brought the food in for me, hot, wonderful. But I was constantly full and had to eat more. My basic body functions had been hit and miss. Now they were missing. Flora watched everything in and out and I cringed, asking to use the basics like a toilet. She’d shaken her head and brought me a portable toilet.

The next morning I’d asked to take a shower, and she had even denied me that. “You’re not moving,” she said. “If you want to wash, I’ll clean you.”

I’d denied her that, of course, there was no way I’d let her near me to do a job that I should be doing. Or more to the point, naked.

By day three, I’d given in to a face wash, and she wiped over my hands.

The next day she progressed a little more and cleaned my arms too. Her fingers lightly touched over the area my band was. I wondered if she knew it was there, or did she think she was just imagining?

This morning, I’d had breakfast and was contemplating my lack of a life.

She brought over the bowl and dipped the cloth inside the warm water.

“Would you mind?” I asked, looking into her eyes. Hoping I didn’t have to say the rest of the words to her.

“There’s nothing you have that I haven’t seen a hundred times,” she said. “But you can wash yourself down there. I’ll clean everywhere else, okay?”

It didn’t make me feel any easier. She, however, had been and was a professional. Her hands, soft, warmed with the water. Gently, she cared for my skin and I realized with every stroke of her care not only some of what I’d been missing while here, but the emotion with her contact.

I felt tears welling up, then spill over. I tried to hide them, but she looked up at me. “Your pain’s obvious,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

I let out a sob, and she put down the cloth, pulled my blanket back up and wrapped her arms around me. “You’re not alone,” she said. “Your fight, whatever it is, you can do it. You have two of the most amazing people I’ve ever met with you.”

I cried, like I’d never cried for ages. Since my first day on Earth. Since I’d given up everything I had ever cared for. Flora just held me. Then as my sobs subsided, exhaustion washing over me, she lay me back down and I stroked my head until I fell asleep. This time there were no nightmares. Just a numbness I’d not expected.

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