Page 97 of Cuts Like An Angel: Part 3

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Rosie

Two shifts back to back and she’d not been able to see William. It was like forcing starvation on her. When she parked her car in the hospital’s carpark, she almost ran to the lift to get to the ground floor and then pretty much ran from the main entrance all the way to the ward where William was staying.

There could have been hundreds of people in there as she ran through, but she was in such a hurry, she didn’t notice any of them. They were just a blur on her vision.

William’s door was shut when she got there, which wasn’t unusual if he was sleeping. Perhaps it was time for his painkillers? They always seemed to knock him out within half an hour of taking them. She opened the door lightly, not wanting to wake him just in case.

He had his back to her, as best he could. He lay in the bed. Even the television was off, and the blinds were drawn.

“Has he had a bad day?” Rosie asked a nurse who happened to be passing.

“William? Not that I know of.” She popped her head in around Rosie. “Probably just sleeping. The medication does that to you.”

That nurse was Sarah. A nice woman, middle aged, three children and a husband at home. Rosie had got to know many of the nurses caring for William. It was such an odd thing for her, though.

“William?” Rosie said it in a whisper in case he was sleeping. He must need it if he was, but as she walked around the bed to him, his eyes were open, staring. No part of him seemed to move. “William, are you okay?”

He didn’t look at her. Didn’t even seem to focus or acknowledge she was there. She went to the blinds and pulled one up. Not that it made so much difference. The times in England were so alien. By 4 pm everything was in such darkness, but even then, having the blinds open always made Rosie not feel so trapt.

“William, are you okay?”

Still no response. She pulled up the chair to sit next to him. It put her at eye level with him, and only when she sat, did he seem to react. Just a flicker, though. Like he was trying not to look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

No answer. More staring.

Those perfect blue eyes of his stared right at her. She reached a hand up to touch his face. It was warm, clammy. “You’re in need of a shave.” It was strange to see William with this much stubble. Not that he shaved to perfect flawless skin, but he trimmed it right down, so it was more a constant dark blonde stubble that decorated his face.

“Is there something I can do? Is it the pain?”

“Yes.”

“The pain?”

“No,” he said.

“Something I can do?”

He nodded. Looked right at her. His expression was hard, the way he looked at her was a way he’d never looked at her before. There was something cold and hard in that expression.

“You’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”

“You’d do anything for me, right?” William asked. “Anything at all?”

“Of course. I love you.”

“Even if you don’t like it? You love me and will do it?”

“Anything.” She shrugged and slid her hand down along his body, to his arm, his hand. She went to hold his hand, but he didn’t move his fingers, making the grasp loose and unwanted. She let her arm drop to her lap. “What do you want me to do?”

He rolled away from her. The way his bed was raised, meant he was half sitting and half laid down. But Rosie couldn’t see him as well from this position. But she could tell he was staring at the ceiling. She didn’t like this. She shuffled in her seat.

“William, what is it you want me to do?”

“I want you to get up,” he said. “I want you to get up, walk around the bed. Go to the door, open it, go through it and then close it behind you.” At the end of his sentence, he looked right at her, with a gaze that sent a cold spear through her chest.

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