13- Hespah

Scratching on or under the bandages was forbidden, but Hespah had discovered that if she scratched at the skin around the very edges, it actually helped to relieve the incessant itching quite a bit. It also helped that she was no longer wrapped up like King Tut. Gradually the nurses had been making the dressings smaller as she healed, and now they only covered the incisions. The ones along her jaw, around her nose, above her eyes, beside her ears, and along the edge of her hairline were the only bandages remaining. The one on her head irritated her the most, because in addition to the itching of scabs and fresh scars, her hair was growing back where they’d had to shave it. She wanted to rip the damned thing off and just claw the entire area raw. But she didn’t.

At least it no longer hurt as much. The nurses were all amazed at how quickly she was healing. Most of the swelling had gone down, and the flesh around the implants had almost completely healed. The areas where they’d had to file and sculpt her actual bones were the slowest to recover, and she was still on pain medication for those, but they’d lowered the dosage, so she was able to think more clearly now.

As she healed, she watched her transformation in the hand-mirror on her bedside table. As the bandages were removed, and the bruises faded and the swelling went down, a new face began to emerge. It was one she didn’t recognize, but she knew she would eventually get used to seeing it every day. Or even if she never got used to it, the new face wasn’t bad. Even now, when she still sort of looked like she’d been bitch-slapped by an express train, she was much prettier than she’d been before. What will Shepetheleh think, when he returns to find me like this? She hoped he would understand; she hadn’t done it for vanity. It was a necessary change. She just couldn’t go around looking like that anymore. And with the advancements in cosmetic surgery over the past few years, she knew it was safe enough.

Hespah sighed and set the mirror back down on the little table. The thought of his reaction made her nervous, and she didn’t want to dwell on it. She picked up the book in her lap and found the place where she’d left off. Karl had been kind enough to bring her a box of her recent favorites, and she’d been reading and rereading them for the past week, since the nurses had decreased her painkillers and she was now able to concentrate on something for more than three seconds. She read almost constantly here– what else was there to do?

She was just getting to one of her favorite parts when her cell phone went off, ringing and vibrating noisily on the table beside her bed. It was Jacob. "What do you want?" she grumbled.

"Hespah, it’s Jacob. Listen, Tsu Lai is in Switzerland. We think he might be coming for you. Karl is on his way."

"What?" Hespah sat up straight. "Where is he now?"

"I don’t know. Fanzou sent Karl an e-mail."

"Shit. I’ve got to get out of this fucking room." She hung up and tossed her phone down onto the table, then flung her book across the room, threw off her blankets and leapt out of bed.

She paused, and placed a hand on the chair by her bed to steady herself as a wave of dizziness overcame her. She wasn’t exactly in peak condition, and getting up so suddenly had thrown off her equilibrium.  She blinked and looked around the room. Her usual bare-handed fighting style wouldn’t be much use right now. She needed a weapon. She fumbled through the small tub of bandages and supplies that the nurses kept on her bedside table and found a small pair of sharp scissors. It would have to do.

Hespah put a robe on over her pajamas and dropped her cell phone into one of the pockets. Luckily the nurses had removed her I.V. a few days ago so she didn’t have that to bother with. She slipped quietly out of her room and crept down the hall, careful to avoid any of the staff.

She took the back stairway to the next floor down and sneaked into the first vacant room she found. She crouched on the floor between the bed and the window and closed her eyes for a moment while she took slow breaths and waited for her heart rate to calm down. Just this little bit of excitement had her head pounding. The doctors hadn’t been exaggerating when they told her she wasn’t ready to be out of bed yet. How the hell was she supposed to defend herself in this condition? As humiliating as it was, Hespah knew she was right in choosing to hide from this fight. She took her phone out and dialed Karl’s cell.

"This is Karl."

"Jacob just called me. Where are you?"

"I’m on my way but Tsu Lai is probably already there. The receptionist said he left, but I don’t think he gave up. You need to get out of that room, if you can."

"I’m in an empty room on the third floor."

"Good. Stay hidden. I’m almost there."

The phone went silent, and Hespah put it back into her pocket. She pulled out her scissors and waited, crouching in the corner, watching the door, and the window, and listening for any sign of activity in the hall. He would look for her in her own room first, and when he didn’t find her there, he would start searching the other rooms.

Her head hurt. It was almost time for her medicine, and the excitement was only making it worse. Where the hell was Karl? She pried the scissors apart so that she had two sharp little knives, one in each hand.

After what felt like hours, she heard voices in the hall, and people on the stairs. Something was happening on the floor above her. Hespah tightened her fists around the broken pair of scissors and leaned forward, onto the balls of her feet, letting one knee rest on the floor for balance. She tucked her hips forward and hunched her shoulders, curling her spine like a cat preparing to pounce.

More shouting in the hall. More feet pounding on the stairs.

And then thunder. Three loud cracks of gunshot from somewhere above. Someone screamed outside the door. Then two more shots, farther apart than the first three.

Hespah instinctively looked up at the ceiling, but there was nothing there to see. She realized she was holding her breath and let it out all at once. There was more shouting, and running. A door slammed, and she heard a loud crashing noise on the stairs. But no more gunshots. After several minutes, things began to quiet down, and Hespah finally relaxed.

When the nurses found her three hours later, she was asleep, slumped against the wall with the broken pair of scissors still clutched tightly in her hands.