Chapter 33: Waiting

After Nora was settled into another hospital room, the doctor left her and Tristan alone. Nora was sitting in a hospital bed and Tristan was standing near the door awkwardly. The two of them stared at each other for a few minutes, neither one with anything to say. Tristan rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from Nora before he finally spoke.

“So…I guess I’ll just go, then…” Tristan said slowly.

“No!” Nora exclaimed, reaching a hand out towards him. Tristan stared at her, a baffled expression on his face. Nora slowly pulled her hand back and smiled sheepishly.

“I mean…um… Don’t go. I…I don’t like hospitals. I don’t want to be alone.” she said softly. Tristan stood there for a moment longer, still not sure as to what he should say. He fiddled his fingers before he spoke again.

“Okay…I guess I’ll just stay, then…” he said with a shrug. Nora smiled a little. There was another pause between them. Nora pointed to the chair beside the bed.

“If you’re going to stay, you might as well sit down.” she said politely. Tristan chuckled.

“No, thanks. I’ve sat on hospital chairs long enough to make my…uh, rear…go numb. I think I’ll stand for a while.” he said with a soft smile. Nora let out a small laugh.

“So, what did it feel like inside the chamber?” Tristan asked suddenly. Nora’s expression darkened and she turned away.

“Cold…lonely…cramped…” she replied softly. Tristan watched her as her frown grew larger. “Scary.” she added in a voice just above a whisper. He saw tears gathering in her eyes and he wondered what he should do. He took a step forward then hesitated. He slowly reached out his hand towards Nora, but stopped when she suddenly looked over at him. Her eyes had cleared and she looked happy again.

“But I’m not in there anymore, so it doesn’t matter.” she said quickly. Tristan stared at her for a moment, confused.

“Um, yeah, right…” he said slowly, lowering his hand and letting it dangle at his side.

“What do you think of that doctor?” Nora asked softly, a little smile on her face. Tristan scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Well, the guy is totally impersonal, and he’s arrogant and impatient…” Tristan’s list of complaints went on and on, and Nora listened patiently, just happy to have something to talk about.

A few hours later, Nora was cleared to leave the hospital. The doctor determined that Nora had fully healed and that the decompression sickness would not return. Nora and Tristan walked out of the hospital hand in hand, both of them very relieved to have the experience behind them.

“So, where do you want to go?” Tristan asked Nora as they walked to his car.

“Well, I don’t really want to go back to the marina, but I kind of have to…” Nora replied.

“What? Why?” Tristan asked, surprised. Nora looked up at him and raised an eyebrow in an incredulous manner. Tristan noticed a light smile on her face.

“I left my car there, goofball.” she said quickly.

“Oooooh, right…” Tristan said slowly. Nora laughed and rolled her eyes, shaking her head. They reached Tristan’s car and the two of them climbed in.

“Do you want to go grab some lunch or something before we go back to the marina?” Tristan asked as he started the car.

“Um, more like dinner.” Nora said. “In case you haven’t noticed, Tristan, the sun is setting.” Tristan looked out the windshield and studied the sky intently.

“Oh…yeah…it is.” he said softly. Nora laughed. “So, do you want to go get dinner, then?” Tristan asked, smiling at Nora. Nora returned his smile.

“I’d love to.” she said.

“Okay, but I’ll warn you now, we’re going some place cheap and casual. I don’t have a lot of money, I’m currently wearing my nicest clothes, and I most definitely do not want to wait in a line to get seated. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” Tristan said quickly. Nora threw her head back and laughed.

“Sounds good to me, Tristan.” she said between laughs. “Sounds good to me.” And with that, Tristan pulled out of the parking lot and drove off to find some place cheap and casual. He hoped that dinner would go over better than the scuba diving had.

Chapter 32: Panic

Nora’s mind flashed through a series of images. She saw her arms flailing above her, bubbles floating to the surface. She saw her legs below her, a chain tied around her left ankle… Her hands clawed at the chain, trying to loosen it, trying to save herself from certain death.

The images flashed faster and faster, as if playing on a loop inside her brain, but each time the surrounding water got darker and darker. Finally, they were all black. Nora breathed harder and faster, turning her head this way and that. Suddenly, her eyes opened. She looked around frantically, panting hard. She felt cold sweat on her forehead. The sight that she saw didn’t help ease her fears.

She looked around and saw that she was laying inside a long glass cylinder. For a brief moment, she felt like an animal, trapped in a cage--or worse… She felt like a fish stuck in an aquarium. She once again saw the water rising up around her, felt her chest tightening. She reached up and placed a hand on the glass, trying to determine if it was really there or if it was a figment of her panicked imagination. Her breathing once again came in faster and faster puffs.

Just then, Nora heard someone faintly calling her name. She looked around, trying to see who was calling to her. She heard a loud banging sound and flinched. She turned her head and saw Tristan, sitting on a chair just outside the cylinder. Nora stared at him with wide, frightened eyes. He was looking at her with the same worried expression on his face. Nora put her hand up on the glass and he placed his over hers.

“Are you okay?” Tristan asked. Nora could only faintly hear his voice. It sounded as if he was a mile away. Nora nodded but couldn’t bring herself to speak. She was afraid of how she would sound inside this chamber.

“Do you remember what happened?” Tristan continued. Nora thought for a moment then nodded. She was at the hospital because of the diving incident… Her memory was a bit blurry because she had been fighting the desire to faint, but she vaguely remembered why she was in the cylinder.

Nora sighed deeply and looked away from Tristan. She began breathing normally again and her fear slowly slipped away. She placed her hands in her lap and sat there for a few moments, hunched over in the chamber. She tried straightening her back but realized that she was too tall for that. She sighed again then decided to lay down. Unfortunately, whatever she was laying on was not very comfortable, and all she could do to take her mind off of her uncomfortableness was count the ceiling tiles. Tristan talked for a while, but Nora could only hear bits and pieces of what he was saying. After a while, he looked away sadly and just sat there beside her.

Finally, the doctor came into the room. He immediately walked over to the chamber and stared down at Nora. He pushed some buttons on the outside of the chamber while Tristan and Nora watched him intently. Just then, the end of the cylinder by Nora’s head opened with a sound that was like a seal being removed. The doctor helped Nora out of the chamber, but he neglected to help steady her once she was on her feet. Nora held onto the outside of the chamber while blood rushed up to her head.

“Well, she seems to be doing all right,” the doctor began as he walked over to Tristan. The doctor was looking down at a clipboard as he spoke. “We’ll keep her in a room for a few hours, possibly overnight, to make sure that she’s fine. Some symptoms of decompression sickness can be late in setting in, and we just want to be certain that she’s completely healthy again, so her time of departure is…up in the air.” the doctor finished with a shrug. Tristan stood up and looked between the doctor and Nora.

“So…” Tristan began, not really knowing what to say.

“Can I change back into my clothes?” Nora asked, still holding onto the chamber for support. The doctor sighed then turned to her. He thought for a moment, a frown on his face.

“We usually ask patients to stay in their hospital gowns, but I don’t expect you to be needing any more treatment, so I suppose if you would feel more comfortable in your own clothes that would be fine.” the doctor said, still frowning. Nora smiled a little.

“Great. Now, if you’ll both just skedaddle, I’ll change and we can talk more after that. Okay? Okay.” Nora said, motioning for both of the men to leave. Tristan immediately complied but the doctor paused, evidently puzzled by Nora’s behavior.

“It’ll be better if you just do what she says.” Tristan whispered loudly from outside the room. Nora nodded.

“He speaks the truth.” she said simply. The doctor still looked confused as Tristan grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room. Tristan swung the door shut then looked at the doctor.

“So… How’s your day going?” Tristan asked awkwardly. The doctor did not respond. He just continued to look confused.

“I’ve never had a patient that was so modest…” the doctor said softly. Tristan gave him a puzzled look.

“What?” he asked, baffled.

“When she changed into the hospital gown, she made me look away. Now that she’s changing out of it, I have to leave the room. I can understand making you leave the room, but I’m the doctor…” he continued, more to himself than to Tristan. Tristan scoffed.

“Just because you’re a doctor doesn’t make you special.” he blurted out, crossing his arms over his chest. The doctor glanced up at him, apparently wondering if Tristan was crazy. Tristan glanced down at the man awkwardly.

“Let’s forget this conversation ever happened.” the doctor said softly.

“Deal.” Tristan replied quickly. The two quickly shook hands then turned away from each other, acting as if nothing had happened between the two of them. Their act was not completely convincing.

Chapter 31: Life

The doctor came in a few minutes later. He took one look at Nora then motioned for her and Tristan to follow him. Tristan helped Nora stand up and they began to slowly walk out of the room. The doctor walked ahead of them at a much faster pace, his white coat trailing behind him. He led the couple around corners and down hallways, and there were a few moments where Tristan was sure that the doctor had purposely left them in the middle of a corridor.

Finally, they reached another room, one that Tristan was sure was on the opposite side of the hospital. There was a large cylinder, tipped over on its side and standing up on four legs, in the middle of the room. The ends of the cylinder were made out of what appeared to be metal, but the majority of the body of the cylinder was either plastic or glass. Tristan couldn’t tell which from his position. There were quite a few buttons, knobs, and wires poking out from the cylinder.

“This is called a hyperbaric chamber. We use it on patients--divers, mostly--who suffer from decompression sickness, or ‘the bends’.” The doctor explained, walking over to the chamber. He began pushing a few buttons on it, apparently turning it on. Tristan stood there, watching him, with Nora leaning on his arm. The doctor looked up at them, remembering they were there. “Oh, she’s going to need to change into a hospital gown.” the doctor said casually. Tristan’s eyes widened and he glanced over at Nora. She shot him a glare.

“I can do that myself, moron.” she muttered, standing up straight.

“I’ll just…um…wait outside…” Tristan said. He slowly made his way out of the room while Nora staggered over to the doctor.

Tristan found a chair out in the hallway and decided to sit there until the doctor came back out. Tristan bided his time by counting things, such as the tiles on the floor or the bricks on the wall in front of him; smiling at everyone who passed him, patient or doctor; and, eventually, pacing up and down the hallway. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the doctor emerged. He walked over to Tristan briskly and didn’t wait for a greeting before he began speaking.

“You’re friend,” he paused to look down at his clipboard, “Nora, will be staying in the hyperbaric chamber for a few hours. She will be checked on periodically to ensure that nothing is going wrong, and if you like you can be in the room with her. She will not be able to communicate with you, though, so I imagine it would be a rather uneventful wait. However--”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Tristan interrupted the doctor’s businesslike speech. “We have to go back a step. Why is she in there in the first place?” Tristan asked.

“Well, I was going to come and ask you what happened that caused her to come to the surface of the water so quickly. She obviously was not following the proper diving procedures.” the doctor said in reply.

“That doesn’t answer my question. Why does Nora have to be in that hyper-whatever-chamber-thingy?” Tristan asked, a little more forcefully this time. The doctor sighed.

“Decompression sickness is the most common illness we see in divers. It occurs when the body is exposed too quickly to a low pressurized area after being in a high pressurized area. As you dive into a higher pressurized area in conjunction with breathing the nitrogen-oxygen mixture in an oxygen tank, your body absorbs the nitrogen in order to keep the pressure in your body stabilized with that outside of your body. However, the body cannot metabolize the nitrogen, so it takes a while for the nitrogen to go away. If you do not give the nitrogen time to leave the body before going to a low pressurized area, nitrogen bubbles will form in the blood stream or body tissues. To fix this, divers are put into a hyperbaric chamber which helps remove the nitrogen bubbles by putting the patient into a completely oxygen environment with a higher pressure level.” the doctor explained quickly. Tristan didn’t understand half of what the doctor had said, because most of the language he used was completely foreign to him. So, Tristan stared at the doctor blankly for a moment, trying to process that which he did not understand.

“Okay… So, is she going to be okay?” Tristan asked finally.

“Yes, she’ll be fine. She’s one of the more mild cases we’ve seen.” the doctor replied, an disinterested frown on his face.

“Mild? She looked like she was about to pass out!” Tristan exclaimed.

“Yes, a common symptom for decompression sickness.” the doctor said matter-of-factly. Tristan stared at him for a moment, amazed and annoyed by this man at the same time. He was acting as if Nora’s near-death experience meant nothing to anyone. Finally, Tristan sighed.

“Okay… But you’re sure that she’s going to be all right?” Tristan asked once more, a worried look still in his eyes. The doctor sighed then nodded.

“Yes, I’m positive.” he replied quickly. Tristan stood there for a minute before he nodded.

“Okay, then I guess I’ll just go in and see her, then…” he said softly, walking towards the door. The doctor began walking away but quickly stopped after a few steps.

“Oh, by the way,” the doctor began as Tristan opened the door. “It’s completely all right for her to get a bit of rest. She’s been through a lot, and the possibility of dry drowning at this point in time is very slim.” he finished. Tristan nodded again. The doctor turned briskly and walked away, moving once more at his fast pace. Tristan took a deep breath then walked into the room with the hyperbaric chamber. He walked over to it and saw Nora laying in it, her eyes closed peacefully. Tristan sat down in a chair nearby and rested his chin on his hands. He stared at Nora with eyes that were full of pity. Their first date had turned into a nightmare…

“At least she’s still alive…” Tristan whispered to himself, trying to look on the positive side of the situation. Oddly enough, having to say something like that about a first date made the positive side seem more negative…