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Catch was kissing Summer passionately, his hand creeping behind her back to tug on the cords and undo the knot of her hospital robe. The dream was slipping away from him. He clung to it as much as he could, savoring the moment, not wanting to let it go. He turned on his side to try to slumber back to sleep but was startled fully awake by the feeling of something warm against his skin. His heart raced, partially from the dream and partially from the unexpected presence in his bed with him.
“Don’t be scared,” whispered Summer. “I hope you don’t mind.”
He wondered if he was still sleeping. His hand touched the contours of the soft skin pressed against his aroused body. Summer was looking into his eyes, inches from his face. He was startled again. This time from noticing her hair was cut brutally short and uneven.
“What happened?” he said, concerned.
“The hair?” She smiled. “I cut it. To escape.”
“Escape? What... What are you talking about?”
“You know what they are going to do with you, don’t you?” she said, clearly concerned for him. “As soon as you are well enough, they are going to take you away. You’re their bait. They are going to keep you in custody until your mother returns to find you. You're somehow tied up with the Red Masks.”
“I don’t think I’m that important to them,” Catch said.
“There is a guard outside our room,” she said. “Twenty-four hours a day, to make sure they don’t lose you. Of course, you’re that important to them.”
He just wanted them to leave him alone. He wanted to leave all this behind...everything but Summer. She was the best thing to happen to him in a while.
“I want to get out of here,” she continued. “I’ve been faking the chest pain, the dizziness, and the difficulty breathing. I can’t stand the idea of going back to my father. He will bombard me endlessly with a ‘you must listen to your father’ speech. I’m telling you; I would rather get hit by another train.”
“Don’t say that,” he said. “I would hate for anything to happen to you.”
“Then let’s get out of here, together. I have it all figured out.”
“Your dad is that bad?”
“I do love him,” she said. “But he will never leave me alone.”
Catch remained distracted by the sight of her buzzed-cut head, thinking it a shame she had done that to herself. She remained pretty, but it was a shame, nonetheless.
“The hair,” he said. “What does that have to do with escaping?”
“The guard outside has seen me being pushed out on a wheelchair by a nurse several times. As we turn the corner on our way out, he will only see our backs. With the ponytail secured to your head he will think it’s me in the chair. I’ll be dressed as the nurse.” She was excited by her plan. Her body pressed up comfortably against his. “You know Gary, the male nurse,” she said.
“Sure, I saw him.”
“Did you notice anything about him?” she asked.
“Nothing specifically, no,” he said, thinking of the male nurse that had helped him to the washroom several times. “He’s a small guy not much taller than you.”
“Right, he’s not much taller than me and has a really good posture.” He looked at her, trying to figure out what that had to do with anything. She continued, “I sit outside our room in the lobby and watch them, the nurse’s routine. I know Gary goes to yoga after his shift, that’s why he has that perfect posture. What matters is that he gets out of his nurse scrubs before leaving at noon. Unlike the other nurses who bring them home, he leaves his scrubs in the closet behind the extra beddings. The door’s unlocked most of the time.”
“You’re going to steal Gary’s scrubs.”
“Got ’em already.”
“What? We’re doing this today?”
“I heard the nurses talking. They say you should be able to walk by now, at least with the help of a cane. If we don’t leave soon, you will be leaving with your friends who questioned you yesterday.”
“Those aren’t my friends,” he said.
“Exactly!” she said. “Everything is set up for us to be out this door at three fifty-five. That is in exactly forty-two minutes...”
Summer explained her plan as Catch listened carefully, impressed by all the planning she had put into the escape.
The nurses came at three forty-five for their meds—exactly on the expected schedule. As soon as the nurse left, Summer dressed in Gary’s scrubs. They were slightly too big, but by rolling up the sleeves and pants it looked somewhat normal. Catch shifted from the bed into the wheelchair. Summer insisted he take a couple of steps while leaning on her before going out—to make sure he could walk once they made it outside the hospital. He was hesitant, but with Summer’s encouragement, he managed to take five painful steps. Summer prepared a backpack with clothes and other items that Catch would carry on his lap. Catch didn’t have anything of his own to wear. He would have to borrow some of her things.
“Ready?” she asked. Catch nodded. She held herself up nice and straight, like Gary. They waited for the exact planned time and walked out the room, turning away from the guard. She pushed the wheelchair straight past the floor’s reception desk, where the nurses sat organizing the pills to be distributed with the patients’ meals. Catch removed his ponytail and dropped it into a waste basket.
At the end of the hallway two old men in their hospital robes were playing chess by the daylight of a window. Summer had told Catch how she had become friends with them earlier in the week, listening to both Manuel’s and Santiago’s endless life stories. They’d willingly agreed to help out, but they weren’t doing this for nothing. They expected a big joint of weed in exchange. Something Summer could provide since she’d received a stash of marijuana hidden in the nutrient pouch of a bouquet of flowers on her first day of admission. A well received present from her street friends.
“Those are the types of friends you want,” she had said to Catch. “They didn’t visit, but I didn’t want to see their stinky faces anyways.”
The men smiled at Catch and winked at Summer as they passed. Summer dropped the joint in Manuel’s pocket. They continued down the hallway, turned ninety degrees to cross to the other side. This was the cue for her two chess players to start their argument.
They had promised to keep the nurses busy. She didn’t doubt they would do an amazing job at it. Manuel had been an actor, and Santiago had been a boxer who staged intimidating standoffs before fights to promote the events.
“Trempoza!” You cheater, screamed Manuel, the older Spanish man, followed by the sound of the chess board flipping over, the pieces falling to the ground.
“Não seja má perdedora!!” Don't be a poor loser, replied Santiago in his dramatic Portuguese. Their shouting resonated full of emotion down the hallway. Catch smirked, feeling that the mixed foreign languages added to the drama. The nurses hurried to resolve the dispute.
When Summer and Catch returned to the nurses’ desk, the plea for help from the first nurses on the site of the fight could not be ignored. The remaining nurses from the front desk left to offer their assistance. Summer took this opportunity to empty some of the pill cups into her pockets while Catch wheeled himself over to press the elevator button.
Catch and Summer waited, fidgeting impatiently before the closed elevator doors, worried this delay could spoil their perfect escape. The bell announced the elevator's arrival. The doors opened to a security guard who eyed them suspiciously. They held their breaths with eyes wide open. He rushed past them, deciding that the nurses’ screams, the foreign shouting and the sounds of falling furniture were more pressing matters to deal with.
As the numbers counted down from the twenty-seventh floor, they increasingly felt relief that everything would be fine. Until the elevator stopped on the third floor. A young doctor entered. He examined Summer closely. She tried to ignore him.
“You look quite young to work here,” said the doctor, examining her oversized outfit. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“I don’t work here,” Summer said, her voice so sure of herself.
What the hell was she doing? thought Catch.
She leaned up against the doctor and whispered, “My boyfriend spent most of his life in the hospital. During his time here, he developed a little fetish for nurses. I thought it’d be nice to play along with his desires.” She leaned in even closer against the doctor. “Can you let us have a little fun? His days are counted,” she cleared her throat before adding. “He doesn’t want to die a virgin.”
The doctor pulled on his collar, uncomfortable. Catch wanted to laugh but restrained himself. The doctor nodded his approval and let Summer wheel Catch away.
They had made it outside. Summer grabbed a cane hanging behind the wheelchair of an old woman who was sleeping in the shade of a tree.
Catch didn’t say a word until Summer had pushed him two blocks from the hospital. He didn’t want to jinx it. She stopped, leaned over, and smiled.
“We did it,” she said, and kissed him passionately before he could reply.
When she finally let him speak, he said, “I have a real fetish for nurses like you.”
She kissed him again.
