Chapter 18 - Indiana Jones

Tobias

"Four?" I hear someone call my name. I look in the direction of the voice to see Dr. Scott looking in my direction emotionlessly.

I leave the comfort of the dim lights in the now fully decorated waiting room and follow her down the hall of bright lights. I follow her into her office and take a seat like I did days earlier.

"Tris is fine. She is awake and the test went great. So don't worry about that, because there's a bigger situation at hand that we need to deal with now."

I sigh in relief but worry.

What's wrong now?

"The scan on her brain came back, and I am quite surprised by what it showed... It looks as if she at one point was in a coma. Somehow she eventually woke up on her own, which is extremely rare and amazing that she did so in the state her body was in."

"I am diagnosing her with a severe concussion considering that she is no longer in a coma. These results also do mean that she could have possible memory damage in some spots. I don't think she has a problem with remembering who people are though, because she remembers you. She could have some holes in her memory though maybe from inside the building, before she was in a coma. Was she conscious when you found her?"

"She was. Also when we found camera footage of inside the building three months before the rescue she was conscious . Who knows how long she was conscious before that point though." I say remembering when I first saw her on that computer screen in such terrible shape.

That was nothing compared to how she is now.

"It will be interesting to see what information comes when an investigation is done on the building. Maybe that will tie some loose ends for us all."

I nod.

"Now for the problem at hand. Like I had assumed would happen; she is freaking out and doesn't trust Julie or I anymore since we were the ones with a few others to administer the spray. She's freaking out all over again. Her heart rate keeps getting faster and faster as her stress rises and even though right now it isn't deadly, if it keeps going up at the rate it's going, well, we could loose her. I need you to just sit with her, make her feel safe, whatever you have to do to get her to calm down. You may have to sit with her all night. We can bend the visiting hour rules for things like this, as long as you're okay with it."

I nod and follow her out of her office and down the hall, my heart racing from nerves flipping around in my stomach.

She softly taps on Tris's door and opens it, I follow her in.

I see Tris clenched up on her bed shaking, trying to swat away Julie who is trying to get something off of her face with a washcloth.

Dr. Scott nudges me and motions for me to listen. She whispers in my ear, "I forgot to tell you, we moved the IV we had in her arm to her foot because she kept taking it out once she woke up. If she tries to take it out, avoid her doing so if possible."

I nod and walk towards her.

She keeps her eyes clenched shut, but I know she hears my presence. She stopped shaking as much, probably trying to listen for my next move.

I take a seat next to her. "Hey Tris. How are you doing? It's me, Tobias." I take her small, trembling hand in mine. I hadn't noticed earlier how much skinnier and frail her hands and arms were.

Julie stops rubbing the washcloth on her face, and I motion for her to give it to me, which she does.

Gently, I begin to scrub off the shiny, somewhat white dried stuff off of her face.

I recognize it from the training room. I found bottles and bottles of it in the back of the one closet when Amar and I were cleaning months ago. It is just like pepper spray.

I read something online once about pepper spray. It was used many centuries ago to stop oncoming attackers such as criminals or vicious animals.

Now look at its use.

I rub small circles with the damp washcloth on the side of her face. It's dried and flaking off in little specks as I rub. I work my way down her left cheek, careful of her extremely bruised nose and the stitches on her jawline.

I work back towards her left ear but get too close to her stitches. She clenches and let's out a quick squeal, her hand flying on top of mine.

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry Tris." My heart sinks as I take my hand away from her face. She starts trembling again, her eyes clenched tightly.

"Shhh. It's okay. You're okay. I'm so sorry Tris. I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just trying to help. I'm sorry. Please forgive me." I ramble panicked at her reaction.

She straight up looses it.

Her hands cover her nose as her whole body shakes at the same rate. Tears come from her eyes down her red cheeks and the IV attached to her left foot shakes as she starts moving only her left leg.

Quick, Tobias. Think.

What do I do?

Is it the IV making her upset? Or is it my stupidity that I caused her pain making her flip?

I hear the heart monitor attached to her start beeping at least twice a second, making me panic.

Dr. Scott's words flash in my mind.

If her heart rate keeps going up like it is, we could loose her.

She starts kicking her left leg up and down, having no other range of motion with it because of the cast going all the way up to her mid-thigh.

"Tris. It's okay. You're okay. It's safe here. You're okay." I say over and over again in panic. I feel hot tears run down my face as I begin to freak out myself.

She can sense my fear, I'm sure she can. Stop freaking out, Tobias!

"Tris!" I yell her name.

She breaks down into sobs. Her shoulders heave as she just about screams at the top of her lungs, making my ears ring. She screams until she has no more air left, then continues to sob.

I cautiously put my hand on her blonde hair, stroking back the wisps of hair that are no longer in her ponytail.

I remember Dr. Scott's words again.

Just keep talking to her, and don't stop. Just the sound of your voice seems to calm her.

"My mother lives in Dauntless now. She has changed so much. Trust me, she's a good person now. War makes everyone different people, and she's a person worth putting your trust in outside of war. She's always saying how terrible she feels for treating you the way she did, and she's been anxiously waiting for you to come back, like I was. She really wants to start over with you, and is hoping that you are willing to do the same with her."

Tris stops sobbing as loudly, but the heart monitor still beeps ferociously.

"About two years ago around this time, I got her a little female black kitten with white feet for her birthday. She named her Holly. I got it for her because she was lonely and didn't know too many people around the compound besides me. With my leader job, I would end up going all around; different factions, outside the fence, so many places, and I wouldn't be back for longer periods of times sometimes. The cat kept her company while I was gone."

She is quieter, but still shaking and the heart monitor still beeps furiously. I can tell she's listening to me now, at least I think she is.

"I was in rough shape with you not around. I'm not proud of it, but I was falling into a depression. I missed you, so so much. I was struggling to find life without you. Two years ago, I found out that my birthday is on May fourth. So seven months ago for my birthday, my mother got me a little German Shepherd puppy. She surprised me with a whole party at her place and invited Christina, Zeke and Shauna, and Amar and George. They all got and wrapped things for the dog such as a bed, food bowls, a collar and leash, and so many other things. It was so nice of them."

I wonder if it's just my imagination or if the heart monitor actually does slow the tiniest bit. It still is racing pretty fast, but just not as fast.

"I took him home that night and ended up watching a really old movie series on TV called 'Indiana Jones'. I ended up naming him Indiana, but he usually just gets called Indy. I can't wait for you to meet him one day. He is the sweetest puppy you will ever meet. He loves to lick anything and everything, especially faces. I'll bring him to work with me sometimes, and he'll just walk around going from office to office saying 'hi' to people and being his regular happy self. He is pretty crazy and a pain sometimes; digging a hole in my carpet, chewing through my one shoe, gnawing on the leg of the sofa, finding his food in the cabinet and dumping it all over the floor, and many other of his mischievous plots. He also has become best friends with Amar and George's dog, Rex. They'll run around the training room together after a ball for hours while Amar and I plan for initiation every so often."

I know for sure now that the heart monitor is slowing yo a normal rate. Tris breathes heavily, but slowly has removed her hands from around her nose.

"I never had understood why my mother had gotten me a dog. Little did I notice that he had pulled me right out of the depression I had fallen into. He got me going out every day besides going to work. He was someone to talk to. He was all I needed to pull me out. I just hadn't noticed it was happening until we found spottings of life inside of that building. He helped me through finding you."

She opens her eyes the tiniest bit, but then all of the way. Once again I get lost in her blue-grey orbs.

"I just can't wait for you to meet Indy. You're going to fall in love with him just like I did."