End Online: Volume 1 (3 page)

With the door closed I
grab the clothes and try to pull them over my legs, this is so much harder than
it appears to be, getting my jeans past my knees was relatively easy but it was
nearly impossible to pull them all the way up, I had to roll around a few times
to get them up over my thighs, An embarrassing sight that I wish no one ever
has to witness. The shirt of course was naturally the easiest to get into, just
a plain grey t-shirt absent of any designs.

I sat there for a moment,
staring into black space as emotions of turmoil and loss waged war inside of
me.

Forcing my head to become
clear, I move across the bed like a crippled crab to get to the wheelchair. The
height of the seat is a little lower than that of the bed, so it’s a little
worrisome that I may have to drop into it, and what if I was to miss
..

Putting my fear aside, I
grab my legs and swing them over the side of the bed, inadvertently causing my
upper body to maintain the momentum and topple over sideways. At least I’m
still on the bed, correcting my posture and pulling the wheelchair against the
bed to where I am.

Getting down doesn’t seem
that hard in the end. Leaning my weight forward onto the chair I safely manage
to lower myself into it. All the worry was for nothing it seemed

I find moving the
wheelchair in a straight direction to be a little out of my skill range, but I
manage in the end. Arriving at the door I move a little to the side so I
can open it without being in the way. Joelle and Shari are waiting
outside with eyes still red, “Joelle, why don’t you push me out of this
hospital?” I try to give the best smile I possibly could to cheer them up but
it’s hard to make someone else feel better when you’re not feeling even the
least bit like smiling.

Joelle silently pushes me
through the corridors and we eventually leave what was called Saint Martha’s
General Hospital. It was only around lunch time but the sky was completely
clouded over and looked like it could rain at any moment.

My entire body feels
fatigued, I hope it will pour and wash away my pain.

We arrived at the nearest
train station shortly afterwards, with only a short wait for our train I’m a
little less worried about the brand new V-Link, still in the box, that is just
sitting on my lap.

If you were to look
directly down on
Taile
City’s train network system
you would see what appeared to be a cobweb branching out from the city, there
are trains that run in and out of the city, and also ones that run around the
districts. This way you wouldn’t have to go all the way into the city and then
back out in order to go from the south side to the east side of downtown, or
any other district, travelling without actually having to leave the district.

The stations that
connect these two services are shaped like a + with two opposite diagonal
platforms where you decide which train you want and which direction. A mobile
phone is all you really need to use these services, but pre-paid cards are available
that you can put money onto. There are rumours however that if you travel to
the upper districts, quite often they won’t let you leave the station if you
from below a certain point in society.

Even the station names
help segregate the districts from one another with first a letter corresponding
on which face of the compass you are closest to, and followed by an
identification number for each station. The further out from the centre of the
city you go the more digits that number has, my nearest station is called
E_127442.

We arrived home a little
into the afternoon, the rain beginning to drizzle down. Placing the VL in my
room while the girls are in the shower, the speed that they were out
was extremely quick and I had to lock them out afterwards due to their
persistence in trying to help me clean myself. A bath seemed much more
practical given my condition, so leaving my towel on the back of my wheelchair
I slid into the water, steam rising all around me as I let my hair down.

It was a little irritating
that I had to pull myself back every minute or so to prevent myself from
slipping completely underwater. I also couldn’t shake the feeling that I
was drowning and all that was at the bottom was defeat.

I quickly finished washing
myself and placed the towel down the side of the bath and along the floor in a
|__ shape. Climbing out of the bath and onto the towel wasn’t overly difficult
but there is no doubt it would have been painful for someone to watch.

Last
was
the fun part, clothing myself on the bathroom floor and getting back into the
chair.

Leaving the bathroom I
could smell something burning, and upon rolling
myself
into the kitchen there was a considerable amount of black smoke drifting
around. Joelle and Shari are side by side at the stove panicking about not
knowing what to do about the food on fire.

I come up beside them,
turn the stove off and throw some of the flour I picked up along the way in the
pan, successfully extinguishing the fire. The girls wouldn’t look me in the
eyes as I looked at them, but I know they meant no harm. Honestly, I’m more
irritated at how filthy the kitchen is.

“Joelle, Shari. Why don’t
we just have some instant noodles for dinner tonight?” I don’t mean to sound
harsh or anything but right now this food is no longer even remotely edible,
“I’m sure you can cook again another night, how does that sound?” Their eyes
seem to light up a little thinking of ideas they can cook, I’m
definitely going to make sure I’m with them when they do.

“Okay,”
Joelle replied rather meekly, “I will go boil the water, Shari, can you
get the bowls and noodles out?” They actually work quite well together, getting
dinner ready in about 5 minutes.

The clean-up of the
kitchen however was not quick, far from it. Night had long taken over when
everything was
clean,
I had to have the girls help put
away the stuff in cupboards that I couldn’t reach. I also got them to do some
minor cleaning around the room.

Sprawled out on the living
room floor watching cartoons on TV is how they spent the rest of the night, I
could easily imagine them being cats the way they are spread out. Heading back
into my room there was a great deal going on in my mind, we need money, the
child welfare officers are bound to come by soon and try take them away.

No qualifications, didn’t
finish school, and now incapable of the grunt labour I’ve been doing up to this
point. Maybe something I could do online, write a blog or make videos and
receive money off advertisements.

Who am I kidding, I
couldn’t do that, I have never done it before and wouldn’t even know where to
begin.

I can sell my stuff on the
internet, but I don’t particularly have much to sell. The only thing I can
really sell is my car, especially considering that now I’m never going to
drive again.

Starting up my laptop in
my room I go to
an a
site where you can post free ads
to sell basically anything from houses to second hand cutlery.

I decide to put my car
into the antiques section doubting there would be a single person other than me
who would buy it to drive.

Checking my phone shows
one voice message from Jack, I already know what it’s going to be about but I
check it anyway, “Hollis, I heard you’re out of the hospital. Look, I’m
terribly sorry for what happened, nobody expecting things to turn out that
way... Also, in light of recent events, I can’t continue to employ you. I sent
through your next pay check but that’s all I can really do for you.” The
bitterness I felt hearing that was overwhelming, he’s played the innocent role
to save himself the insurance claim and basically left me buried six feet
under.

Lying in bed,
the events are once again playing out in my mind. Resting one arm over my
face, a tear escapes thinking about the most likely scenario of the girls
being taken away.

I can’t let that happen! I
can’t! I know I’m being incredibly selfish, but I want them here with me!

And I know I probably
can’t stop it from happening!

Why did this have to
happen? I want my legs back. Please, give them back...

 Through these
thoughts I slowly entered oblivion.

***************************************************

The next morning I fell
out of bed trying to stand up before realizing I couldn’t. It was a little
painful to fall, but everything from the waist down it was similar to a
falling rag doll, absolutely nothing. Checking my back to make sure it didn’t
reopen the surgery wounds, I was lucky there was no blood. Good, that meant I’m
safe, I will have to be extra careful as I can’t afford to go back to the
hospital.

Turning my laptop back on
I
see that I have mail, an offer for my car. Well, it
obviously can’t be all that much. Opening up the message it appears to be
someone like me, no money to buy a proper car, and searching all over for
something cheap. $650, it’s not too bad, that was about what I would earn from
two weeks of working. I was about in the middle of replying my acceptance when
another mail arrived in my inbox.

!!.. My eye’s just about
dropped out of my head.

This is it, the way to
turn everything around! I’m sorry for the guy who needs my car but I need this
money. I immediately erase the other reply and send one to this collector. The
reply coming straight back saying he would like to pick it up today,
the sooner the better as his excitement is causing him to want to begin
immediately.

He agrees to come down in
at lunch time with all the paperwork ready and the money pre-paid into my
bank account, what an efficient person, I don’t even want to try
guess
which district he is from.

Two hours later the money
is in my account and there is someone knocking on the front door, I open
it to see what appears to be a very wealthy businessman of around 30 years
old. Parked on the street 
is
a tow truck and
his personal car which... My god it’s the latest model by HMC! That thing is
probably worth more than this entire street with a retail price of nearly
two million!

“Hollis, I presume. The
name is Tyr, pleasure to meet you.” He doesn’t seem that interested in me to be
honest, glancing over the wheelchair as he handed me the paperwork to sign
directly after his introduction.

“Please, the pleasure is
mine. My apologies for having you come out all this way.” I do my best to give
the politest response possible, after all this guy has just saved me with his
money that will last me at least 6 months if budget properly.

Signing the paperwork and
handing it back to him my two little sisters came outside to see what the
commotion was, hiding behind my back after Tyr’s piercing glance. Yeah, this
guy truly has a heart of ice, however that is probably how he made his money,
I’ve heard it’s a world where only the ruthless thrive.

It all happened faster
than I could take it in. As soon as he got the paperwork back, giving the
people in the tow truck a signal, the car was loaded up and gone before I
could take it in.

“Holly, why did they take
your car?” Shari asked innocently with a tired yawn, “Well, I had to sell it
for some money. I don’t exactly need it anymore.” I respond putting my hand
on her head, Shari casting her eyes down on hearing my response.

“Now that’s over, your big
brother has some money so why don’t we go out and have something nice for
lunch. You two, go clean yourselves up,” I gave a warming smile towards the two
as they run back inside to get ready. An hour later we were in a large shopping
centre call “The Fort” in downtown. I got them some ice creams first, and
we walked around all the stores looking at their goods.

Joelle pushed me into a
ladies clothing store to look around with her. Shari got a turn when Joelle
went to try some clothes on, pushing me in circles around the store. She had
the happiest expression on her face at finally getting to wheel me around.

They were out of control,
but I ended up buying them two dresses each before we left.

The joy showing on their
faces was truly refreshing, brightening the entire atmosphere of the trip.
Stopping by a couple more little vendors I got them some little sweets you can
eat with your fingers.

By the time the light of
the day started to fade, even these two endless sources of energy seemed to be
starting to tire out.

“Joelle, Shari. Let’s go
into that store for a bit,” I point to a large gaming store on a corner. We
head in and see quite the display of games lined up on shelves everywhere.
Shari seems quite excited at all the games but doesn’t pick out any in
particular, most are for gaming systems we don’t have anyway.