The big situation that no one in the room wanted to happen was finally happening. The room was dark from Abby’s face in front of it. Everything was going near-pitch black; savor the dim lights at the top of the hospital room. In Jim and Sarah’s minds, it was like a scene from a piece of horror art. The rooms in the hospital get dark, a siren goes off, and they are plunged into the ‘other’ world. In this other world, there is a creature before them. A terrible, terrible creature, born of the darkness itself, carrying an enormous knife, a butcher’s robe, and a gigantic triangular helmet, ready to make Jim and Sarah face their fear of what was about to happen. That’s how they envisioned it, anyways.
Words could not describe the amount of emotion and frustration pouring out of Ruby King at that moment. Her face looked like it had just been plunged into a bucked of boiling hot water and there were daggers flying from her eyes, straight at Sarah, as if she were about to kill the poor nurse. Sarah shook her head, trying to regain her senses, hoping she could make the most of this situation and get out of it without an immense incident with the AR faction. That was the last thing they needed, and she was going to make sure that did not happen.
Sarah stood walked from the side of the bed and put her palm in front of Ruby, whom had nearly made it to the bed where Jim was sitting. She took a deep breath as the enraged woman came forward, pushing against her hand. As she struggled to hold the woman in place, she spoke to her, not wanting this to turn too huge. “Mrs. King, please calm down! Your husband just woke up and the last thing he needs right now is screaming from his wife!”
Ruby King, being the stubborn woman she was, took great offense to both this nurse telling her what to do as well as the hand trying to push her away from her husband. She snarled at the nurse and shoved her back about ten feet before proceeding towards her husband. “Get your hands off me! Who do you think you are, telling me what I can or can’t do? I’m Jim’s wife, and I know what’s best for him. Not you, blondie! He needs his loving wife, not some filthy giant-hugger like you.”
Sarah was so close to just running up and punching the woman in the face from that last comment. That kind of talk could not be tolerated around this University. It was bad enough that a racist like Ruby King was on campus in the first place, but spreading that kind of talk was unacceptable. Brushing herself off, she walked forward again and kept her posture as best she could, lowering her voice so as to not upset Jim. “Listen, Mrs. King. I am the nurse responsible for your husband. He was brought to me, in pain, and I helped him. I’m the one with the Medical Degree here. I’m the one who put those bandages on. I’m the one who nursed him back to health.”
Abby was still standing by the window, confused as to the situation. There was so much tension in the room, and she had no idea why. Giant-Hugger? What did that even mean? Her eyes simply looked back and forth, switching between the two ladies inside the building as they continued their conversation. She only hoped that she would eventually begin to understand just why there was so much tension and why this lady, whom she assumed was Jim’s wife from the sound of things, was screaming and yelling instead of seeing how her husband was faring.
Ruby had completely left her focus with Jim and was appalled at the amount of arrogance this frilly nurse had. She had spent the entire trip up here, knowing all too well that these people had done her husband wrong. They’d no doubt intentionally hurt him and kidnapped him overnight in this “hospital” place. These bandages were probably all wrong. She’d heard so many times from AR members about this place’s hospitals. They were crudely trained Minors who had warped judgment from being around the giant people so much. Sure, it seemed like a good image from the outside, but she’d heard that they were quite ineffective. These bandages probably weren’t even by her husband’s injuries.
“Oh, I can tell!” barked Ruby, continuing to debate with Sarah, cutting Jim off as he was trying to speak with her. “Just look at him. He’s covered in wrapping paper and hasn’t said a word! That’s better if I ever saw it. I know Jim, I’ve been with him for a long time. So, if you’re such a wonderful Nurse, why haven’t you completely cured him and gotten him out of here by now? Or is that too difficult of a task for you poorly trained Giant-Hugger nurses?”
Oh, this lady was just asking for trouble. Sarah couldn’t help but go at her again, even her having stopped to pay attention to Jim, who was getting a terrible headache from all this. The two of them were nearly shaking the room with their screaming, Ruby yelling about the poorly trained nurses, and Sarah speaking back, explaining everything she’d done for him and that she’d done it all the right way. It was a battle of wills, and neither Jim nor Abby wished to see how it turned out.
Jim had waited a few moments, but held a hand over his head, the headache settling in and surging through his brain. ‘I have to get out of here’ he thought to himself. He did need to. Were he to not, the headache would just get worse, and add onto what was happening to him with his other injuries. He started looking around for some way out of the room and saw a pair of crutches. Reaching for them, still watching the two arguing ladies, he began to quietly lower himself from the hospital bed, slowly making his way over to the window, where Abby was.
As he came over, she looked at him and cocked his head. She was about to ask him what he needed before he put a finger on his lips and said “Shhh!” Abiding by his request, she kept her mouth shut as he reached the edge of the window and motioned her closer. She slowly lowered her head and ear to the window and listened, thinking that he had something to tell her. As she did so, he began to whisper in her ear. “Abby, listen, all of this is not going to end well and it’s giving me a terrible headache. You and I both need to get out of here. Can you carry me someplace else?”
Abby wasn’t exactly sure how to react to Jim’s request. He was injured. Would it not be better for him to stay in the hospital, where Sarah could fix him up if he ran into problems? She had no idea, but he began to speak again and she started to feel for him. “I know you probably think I should stay here, but I really, really need to leave. Please, Abby. Can you please do this favor, for me?”
Abby sighed and smiled, unable to resist the words he’d spoken to her. He needed her for something. He didn’t want her for something, but he said he ‘needed’ her. This was giving her a sense of purpose. She nodded and reached her hand into the window, slowly picking him up and pulling him out with it. He was smiling and even hanging onto her hand. They were almost out when Abby’s watch hit the side of the window-frame, making a loud, clanging noise. Jim tensed up as he saw both Sarah and Ruby looking towards him. “Hurry! Go!”
Abby quickly pulled Jim out the rest of the way as Ruby came running towards the window, swearing and cursing towards them. All of this arguing was starting to give her a headache, too. Despite feeling that the right thing should have been to simply let Jim back inside to see her, she felt like she didn’t want Jim to be around her, even if she was his wife. As Ruby screamed cursing out of the building, Abby had set Jim’s tiny body down in the middle of her left palm and started to walk off with him.