Wobbling

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The tick of the clock on the wall kept rhythm for the gurgling bubbles that periodically rose to the top of the fish tank in the corner of the otherwise silent waiting room. Helen, grateful for the rare moment of quiet, sat in a comfortable armchair and sank deep into the novel she had brought with her. She couldn't help feeling a little annoyed when the nurse called her name and she had to pause the story.

The kind, red haired woman led Helen to an exam room where she checked and recorded all the usual vital signs, then instructed Helen to sit on the table and remove her shoes. The doctor world be in shortly.

Helen slipped off her flip-flops, climbed onto the table and reopened her book. Sinking back into the intricately woven words before her she hoped the doctor would take his time. She glanced at the clock on the wall, it was just past ten. Knowing her girls were safe at Carla's for the next two hours she could relax and enjoy a moment to herself.

The story was just getting intense when the door opened and tearing Helen’s attention from the coveted pages to the cliché, white-coat clad, bespectacled man entering the room. The look of condescension on his face instantly irked her. She already made her mind up to find a new dermatologist the next time she needed one.

The exam went quickly enough. He barely glanced at the bottoms of her feet, left the room and returned with his nurse and a tray of supplies. Without warning he jabbed a needle into the base of her right foot and then into her left. Helen groaned involuntarily and he smirked annoyingly at her.

"A little sensitive, are we?"

"Just didn't realize it was coming," Helen laughed uncomfortably.

A tingling sensation spread through her feet and then the condescending lab coat began poking at them for several minutes. He didn't acknowledge there was a person at the other side of the feet and only spoke to his nurse when requesting assistance or a different tool.

The longer the procedure went, the more uncomfortable Helen became. She looked at the clock again. It was only a quarter to eleven but suddenly Helen had an inexplicable desire to get home to her girls. She wanted more than anything to just hug them and hear them squealing loudly as they played.

The doctor sat back and dropped his tools unceremoniously onto the tray. "That should do it. Come back if you have any more problems." He stood up and left without another word.

The nurse paused before following, "You can put on your shoes and check out at reception. Have a nice day."

That was it. Helen scrunched her face in frustration. She definitely would not be coming back to this office. As instructed she replaced her flip flops then grabbed her purse and walked out the door. In her haste to put this whole annoying visit behind her and get back to Ava and Angie, she didn't realize she had left her precious library book sitting on the table.

As she waited at the reception counter for the woman to get off the phone and help her, Helen's annoyance was suddenly overtaken by a wave of nausea before everything tilted and the world went black.

There was a commotion around her and someone was gently tapping her cheek saying something…she couldn't think and didn't want to open her eyes.

What did they want?

"Helen? Helen?"

The voice shouting the name sounded panicked. She just wanted them to shut up so she could get the ringing in her head to stop. Why wouldn't Helen answer them?

Reluctantly, she blinked open her eyes. A half dozen strange faces looked down on her. Nothing looked familiar but at least the tapping on her face had stopped. She pressed a hand to her forehead, covering one eye with the palm, hoping the pressure would somehow make the pounding subside.

The face closest to her spoke, but she couldn't understand them over the high pitched whine between her ears. Someone lifted her head gently and slipped a pillow under it. Someone else unfurled a blanket and spread it over her. Grateful, she closed her eyes again, eager to return to sleep. But the tapping on her face resumed.

The frustrating cycle continued for what felt like forever. The strangers surrounding her kept shouting things she didn't understand, she would close her eyes to block them out, and then someone would start tapping her cheeks.

Finally, she opened her eyes and a different face appeared. She liked this face. Tears brimmed in his kind, gentle eyes and something about him whispered of home.

"Hey, I know you."

"Hello, Helen."