Chapter 41 Responsive
ELIJAH
I watched carefully as the doctor tried to get Leo to do the prescribed exercises. He’d arrived here about two hours ago and I’d sent him upstairs to Leo’s room to get started because I had something urgent to do at the office that couldn’t wait.
Every single time I decided to get up because I was finally free, someone walked in and then there was even more work piled on my desk.
I dropped everything immediately a maid informed me I was needed in Leo’s room. I took the stairs two at a time to get there faster. My heart was pounding. Was Leo hurt? Was something wrong?
“Hey doc, what is it? What’s wrong?”
Leo climbed down from his bed and ran straight to me, wrapping his little hands tightly around my leg. The doctor’s concerned face didn’t help me feel better. I picked Leo up carefully into my arms.
“Hey buddy, what’s wrong with you? Talk to me.”
He looked directly at the doctor and pointed at him with a small frown on his face.
“He’s not cooperating with me at all and I don’t know what else to do to get through to him. That’s why I called for you, maybe he’ll want to do the exercises if he sees you here with him supporting him.”
I turned to Leo who was looking intently at his fingernails, something I’d noticed he always did when he was uncomfortable about something or someone.
“Is everything okay with you, buddy?”
He shook his head no firmly.
“I don’t want to do this. Tell him to go away.” He signed clearly to me with quick movements.
I looked back at the doctor in complete defeat and exhaustion.
“I understand sign language.” He confessed quietly with an apologetic look.
“I’m so sorry about this, I don’t know what’s wrong with him today. He’s just not in a good mood for some reason.”
I hadn’t seen him properly in two whole nights so that was probably exactly why he was acting this way. He missed me. He needed me.
“That’s okay. I understand completely. I’ll pack up all my things and come back some other time when things are better with him and he’s more receptive.”
I watched him carefully pack up all the books and the objects and pictures that he had brought with him for the session and then I looked back at Leo’s sad little face.
It had been such a hassle to get this particular doctor here. Being that he was one of the best in his field, his schedule was completely packed and he rarely took on new patients at all and I don’t know what Hazel did to get him to accept to take Leo on as a patient.
If he left today without making any progress at all, it may be three whole months before he got another opening to come here and work with Leo again.
“No, please stay. He’ll do the exercises, I promise you.”
I dropped Leo gently on the bed and knelt down in front of him so we were at eye level.
“Hey look at me, buddy. I’m here now okay? Everything is okay. I’m not going anywhere at all, we’ll do it together okay? You and me, just like always.”
He doesn’t respond to me and I think hard about what the problem could actually be. I’d never seen him act quite like this before.
I brought his favorite toys one after the other and asked him if he wanted to play with them but he said no to each one. I tried speaking to him more but he didn’t respond at all. He just looked away.
“No, go ahead with whatever you need to do. I’m with you for the rest of the day.” The doctor answered when I caught him looking at his watch nervously.
“Excuse me one moment, please.” I left the room quickly, going to seek one of my last remaining options.
There was only one person that could help him act better right now and cooperate. Adriana is the one he saw every single day and night. She was his favorite person besides me.
Speaking of day and night, I just realized that I hadn’t actually seen her in quite a while. Talk about almost five full days. Even at morning training sessions, she wasn’t there anymore but I’d been far too busy to ask anyone about it or check on her.
I knocked on her door three times but there was no answer at all so I pushed the door open carefully and went in. The room was dark but there was a figure in the bed covered in blankets. Why was she sleeping in the middle of the day? Was there something wrong with her? Was she sick?
Maybe she was actually sick. But why didn’t she tell me then? I should let her rest, I’ll come back later when she’s awake.
I heard a sound coming from the bed and I stopped for a moment, hoping to hear it again to confirm what I thought I heard. And I did.
She was crying.
“Are you okay?” My voice broke the heavy silence in the room.
She threw the covers off her and sat up quickly, turning the lights on with fumbling hands.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
She was not fine at all. Her nose was bright red, very red and her eyes looked stressed, swollen, and puffy from crying for a long time.
“You’ve been crying.”
She blew her nose loudly into a tissue.
“No, I haven’t. Why would you say that?”
“Because I’m not dumb or blind. Or do you have a cold?”
Kudos to me for coming up with the perfect lie for her to use as an excuse.
“Yes, yes I have a terrible cold. Let’s go with that explanation. You didn’t come in here just to ask me questions about my health, did you? What do you need?”
I suddenly remembered the actual reason I was here in the first place.
“Oh, I need your help with Leo. He needs you.”
She immediately came down from the bed, concern flooding her face.
“Leo? What’s wrong with Leo? Is he sick or hurt?”
“No, he’s not sick or hurt. The doctor is here right now and he’s not responding at all to him. I was wondering if you could come speak to him and help.”
She dashed out before me, taking very long determined strides down the hallway toward Leo’s room.
“He’s not speaking to you either?”
I don’t know if she was mocking me or if it was a genuine question.
“Unfortunately, no. He’s not responding to me at all either.”
As soon as Leo saw her walk in, his entire face lit up like the sun, unlike it did for me earlier. His eyes sparkled. His smile returned.
And I was shocked. He was responding to her immediately without hesitation.
And even more shocking, he was actually participating now in the exercises eagerly.
My son had been completely stolen from me by this woman.
There was a way he was around her specifically, it was like he was a completely different person when she was around, more vulnerable and open and happy. She was so into helping him like she was the actual doctor and for the first time, I felt genuinely happy that an outsider was getting involved in his life like this.
Not an outsider per se, just someone not related to him by blood. Someone who chose to care.
When the doctor finally announced the end of the session, I was surprised by how fast time had passed. Leo hadn’t said anything but he had made some noises and sounds and that was more than enough progress for today.
As I saw the doctor out to his car, he turned to me seriously with a knowing look.
“That young lady, who is she to you and Leo?”
“She’s a friend. My friend. And Leo’s, of course.” I sounded so stupid saying it out loud.
“You should definitely bring her around for all our future sessions. He responds well to her.”
I couldn’t agree more with his assessment and it made me happy that Leo liked her so much. That he trusted her.
By the time I got back to the room, Leo had already fallen asleep and she was tucking him in carefully for his afternoon nap, brushing his hair back gently from his forehead.