A hard night

The night it happened, I slept in the hospital. Sleeping in hospitals is as nice as sleeping on airplanes, but this was even worse. After the nurses cleaned up the blood, we were shown to a wide room, empty except for six beds. Really, there were only five: one had no cot, just springs.
"Do you have sheets?" the nurse asked us in Tongan. I translated to my friend, which didn't make much sense since I already knew the answer. My friend, still shivering, just stared.
"No," I answered. Her neighbor, the one that drove us to the hospital, rushed off to bring sheets and fresh clothes for my friend. The two of us waited, sitting on sticky blue mattress that felt and looked like the upholstery of a cheap car. I contemplated what I thought was a coat-rack, then I realized the object was for holding an IV. It was the only medical instrument in the room.

We spent that night with the florescent tube on. I held her hand and tried to keep the rest of my body under a blanket. I think she was staring at the puddle of mold on the ceiling.

We spent the next night in my house. First, without her asking, I locked and chained the doors, then moved my furniture against each. I left the outdoor light on and locked my bedroom door as well. I had her sleep near the wall; I slept on the side closest to the door. In the middle of the night, I woke to her shaking me. "Jenny! Jenny!" I was awake in an instant. "I'm sorry, can you please go check the doors?" I got up, examined the house, and came back to bed. "It's safe," I told her. I rubbed her shoulder, on the side that wasn't hurt, until she fell back to sleep.

The nights got better. By the fifth night, she slept the entire time without crying out or fighting in her sleep.

Just to get away, we spent Saturday night at an island resort. A friend of hers from home flew up to join us, but we still shared a bed. The next day, I had to leave the resort: I had school on Monday. Even though I would see her back in town the next afternoon, my friend gave me two long hugs on the dock. As the boat pulled away, I started to cry.

Sunday night, the night I slept alone, was the hardest of them all.