Prophecy Girl (3 page)

She twirled on the floor, giggling, until she finally collapsed on her bed that she always hated, but now it didn’t seem so bad. She would be gone soon.

If her parents approved…

She hoped they would. They had to. If not, and she had another vision, she was sure her skull would crack open from banging it against the hospital walls.

3

Goodbyes

At breakfast, when Dr. Lang had told Eva that her parents would be arriving that afternoon to see her off with Mr. Quinn, she had been so excited that she leapt up from the table, and gave him a hug. The doctor had been so startled, his facial tick froze.   

Now in her bedroom, she happily discarded her bland hospital uniform, and changed into the outfit that she had arrived in one year ago: a lavender tee, blue jeans, and white sneakers. The clothes were a bit baggy from her weight loss, but not too bad. She was told that her mom had packed her a travel bag. Finally, she’d be wearing jeans again! After she had changed, she went to her desk, and organized her collections: eight books, a hairbrush, and a tube of mauve lipstick that the friendly nurse, Kate, had given her. 

Eva used to wear makeup all the time, but at the hospital it was forbidden, except during visitation hours. She got so used to it that she didn’t even waste time with cosmetics anymore. But now? Well, the thought of going to a new school, with
boys
, made her so nervous that she ventured down the hall to the nurses’ station, where there was a full length mirror.   

  Residents weren’t allowed to have mirrors in their rooms—suicidal teens and sharp objects didn’t mix.  Eva had thought of ending her life from time to time, to finally get away from her nightmarish visions, but there was always this hope inside her that one day someone would come and rescue her. Well, that day was here, thanks to Seamus Quinn. 

As she looked in the mirror, she noticed that her pale skin seemed a bit more colorful today, and her black hair was glossy and full. She didn’t really need makeup, but the mauve color on her lips made her look like she
attempted
to show a presentable side. 

“You look so beautiful,” Kate said, sitting on a roll-around chair at her desk. Her normally bland white uniform top was offset by a blue butterfly clip-on attached to her front pocket, next to her name tag.

Yekaterina was her birth name, descended from Ukrainian immigrants, but she was American as apple pie...whatever that means. She had recently graduated from nursing school, very nice, but she was just like the others, and didn’t believe Eva was having visions. But Kate never treated her like a freak or someone to be studied. 

Eva turned to the nurse. “No way! You’re the beautiful one, not me.” 

Kate had glossy chestnut hair that fell to her shoulders. Her green eyes weren’t as electric as Eva’s, but a mossy green, like the color of a not-so-scary bog. 

The nurse shook her head. “Please! I have to wear clown paint to not look like a zombie! Look at these bags,” she said, pointing to the slightly puffy sacs below her eyes.

“You just need to get more sleep and stop worrying about men!”

Eva and Kate would talk for hours about men: what they really wanted in a relationship, why they never called when they said they would, why they never held doors open for women anymore, why they thought gift cards were a suitable present for Valentine’s Day. 

In the end, Eva and Kate decided they still didn’t understand men. But Eva had never had a boyfriend. That was gorgeous Soledad who had a boyfriend every week it seemed. Eva tried not to think of her, saddened at their broken friendship, and the fact that she may never see her again, now that she was to leave Miami. But it was hard to forget about a decade long friendship.

“I know! Do you remember Jake?” Kate asked.

Eva left the mirror and sat down on the other available roll-around chair with a wobbly wheel, placing her well-worn brush and tube of lipstick on the desk surface. 

“You mean that guy who looks like a hobo?”

“He does
not
look like a hobo,” Kate argued, unconvincingly. 

“Well, from that picture you showed me, yeah, he kinda does.”

Kate raised her hands. “Okay, I’ll admit…he sorta looks like a hobo.”

“It’s the beard.” Eva slapped her hands to her cheeks. “It’s
way
too long.”

“I know! He said that by
not
shaving it, he’s thumbing his nose up at society.”

Eva furrowed her brow. “You’re losing sleep? Over this guy?”

Kate groaned. “He’s really nice though.”

“I’m sure you can find a nice guy that
actually
shaves. Hey, maybe you shouldn’t shave either!”

Kate furrowed her brow, thinking. “Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.” She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll tell him, ‘If you’re not gonna shave, then I’m not gonna shave, buddy,’ and see how he likes that!”

“He won’t ’cause guys don’t like gals with hairy legs,” Eva pointed out.

“That’s true,” Kate agreed, nodding.

“Ahem!” Someone bellowed near them.

Eva and Kate turned in their roll-around chairs to see Dr. Lang, reeking of mint-flavored coffee. He looked down at them from their lowly position behind the nurses’ station desk. 

His facial tick jumped. “It’s lunch time,” he said gruffly. “Eva needs to eat before she…leaves us.”

Eva didn’t detect one hint of sadness. Dr. Lang looked as if he had failed. She imagined a large group of lab coat-wearing psychiatrists, sitting around a table, laughing their asses off about poor old Dr. Quincy Lang, who after a year, still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Eva Nolan.

Kate jumped right up. “Yes, Doctor.” She turned to Eva with wide, desperate eyes. “Let’s eat lunch.”

Eva smiled. This was her last day. Dr. Lang didn’t worry her.

In the cafeteria, which looked like a slightly cleaner version of a prison mess hall, she could only take one bite of her egg salad sandwich, and it wasn’t for the fact that the cafeteria staff put way too much mayo in it—she was just too excited.

“Dr. Lang will fuss at me if you don’t eat the
whole
sandwich,” Kate warned her.

Eva waved her off. “Tell him I did. What? Is he spying on us?” 

They both furrowed their brows at the possibility, and then looked towards the entrance doors. Nope. No lurking, twitchy-faced, whisky-sipping psychiatrist.

“Still, you
should
eat.”

“I can’t! I’m so happy!”

A few tears escaped from Kate’s eyes. “I’m going to miss you, you know?”               Eva clenched Kate’s hand, crying too. “You know the address of where I’m going, right?”

Kate nodded. “I got it from Dr. Lang so I could mail your books after you arrived.”

“You can write to me, if you want. Or you could email. I’m going to a school so I’m sure they’ll have computers there.”

It had been over a year since Eva had accessed a computer. She wasn’t certain if she would even remember how to turn it on.

“Thanks, I’d like that,” Kate said.

They hugged for what seemed like the longest time and cried some more. 

When they finally parted, Eva noticed that Kate’s face looked like she had smeared covert special-ops black paint all down her cheeks.

“Oh! I made your mascara run!”

Kate shook her head and smiled. “Don’t worry.”

When they went back to Eva’s room, Kate used a tissue to clean the black gunk from around her eyes and off her cheeks.

“What about things like soap and deodorant?” Eva asked, standing in her small, plain white bathroom, gathering up her transparent bottles of soap. 

“Don’t worry about that,” Kate said, taking the bottles from her. “I heard Mr. Quinn over the phone with Dr. Lang. He said everything you needed would be there.”

“That’s nice. I hated this soap anyway,” she said, pointing in disgust at the slimy yellow liquid that Kate had put back on the counter.

The nurse laughed. “Yeah, I’ve seen better soap at a roach motel.”

Eva was about to jokingly ask Kate who she had gone with to a low-budget motel, but she was interrupted by a knock on her door. She ran excitedly with Kate in tow, thinking it was Mr. Quinn, but it was only Isaac Dodd. He was accompanied by an African-American nurse nicknamed “Bull,” but not for his towering height and broad shoulders that filled her door frame, but for the fact that he used to be a bull rider out west. 

“Hey, Bull,” Eva greeted.

“Hey, Eva. Hey, Kate.  Isaac here has something he needs to say to you,” he said with a deep voice that could cause a dormant volcano to erupt.

Isaac held his head down, clenching and unclenching his fists. Eva wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but she didn’t count out a fist slam to her face.

Finally, Isaac lifted his head, and Eva noticed that he had been crying. “I’m sorry,” he said, drying his cheek with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry I got angry at you.”

Eva wanted to cry too, but held back. She had done enough of that with Kate. 

“It’s okay. I probably said something I shouldn’t have.”

Isaac shook his head wildly. “No, no! It wasn’t you. I’m…I’m the one with the problem. I…have problems.”

But Eva couldn’t hold back any further, and let her tears fall. She embraced Isaac in a tight hug, and as she placed her head against his chest, she could hear his wildly thumping heartbeat. Isaac lightly pressed his hands against her back. He didn’t hug her, but he didn’t push her away.

She looked up at his sad face. “Don’t let
anyone
tell you that you have problems. You’ve been through a lot, and they just don’t understand.”

To Eva’s surprise, he fully embraced her, burying his face in the crook of her neck, sobbing. She soothingly rubbed his back, and after awhile, he pulled away, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“I want you to stay,” he confessed, sniffing.   

She gently held his hand. “This isn’t the place for me, and it’s not for you, but it’s better than where you used to be, right? And Bull and Kate will keep you company.”

“That’s right, Isaac.” Kate timidly placed her hand on Isaac’s shoulder. When he didn’t push her away, she continued, “I’ll be right here if you need me.”

Next, Bull lightly squeezed both of Isaac’s shoulders, and said in his deep voice, “Yeah and I need someone to play chess with. Can’t play by myself, now can I?”

Isaac laughed. “All right, I get it. I’m loved!” 

From Isaac’s sense of humor, Eva didn’t feel
that
bad leaving him. Kate and Bull would look after him, showing that someone cared, and Eva hoped that would help him.

She just wished it would apply to her too.

Dr. Lang appeared at her door with a raised eyebrow.

Why are you all here?”

“Just saying our goodbyes,” Bull answered, showing no fear at the twitchy doctor.

“Oh…well, hurry it along. It’s time for Eva to go.”

Eva jumped up and down. “They’re here?!”

“Yes,” Dr. Lang answered in a clipped tone.

“I’ll get your things,” Kate said, and then picked up Eva’s carry-on items: the hairbrush and lipstick. 

With the travel bag her mom had packed, Eva knew she wouldn’t look ridiculous entering the airport, holding a worn-out hairbrush in one hand, and a used tube of lipstick in the other, like a weirdo.

Before she left her room for the last time, she gave Kate another hug, then Isaac, and finally Bull, who picked her up off the floor, and managed not to crack her ribs. 

“I’m going to miss you all,” Eva said, avoiding eye contact with Dr. Lang.

She wouldn’t miss him at all.

Eva left the hospital through the main door with Kate. When the sun hit her face, she looked up at it, and let the rays bathe her in warmth. She didn’t care if she went blind.  She was free.

“Hey, baby,” said a familiar voice.

Eva looked down and saw her mom, walking to her with open arms. Deirdre Nolan was tall with light brown hair tied up in a bun. She hadn’t reverted back to her maiden name, and Eva saw this as a sign that her parent’s marriage might be salvageable. 

“Hey, mom.” Eva couldn’t stop the flood of tears, breaking like a dam from her eyes. 

All throughout last year, Eva had hated and loved her parents. She hated them because they kept her locked up, and loved them because, well, they were her parents. Before the divorce, before her visions, they had a pretty good life. 

They hugged for what seemed to be the longest time, until her dad asked, “What about me?”