Julia

Chapter Eight

When Julia came to, she couldn’t remember exactly where she was or why she was in such excruciating pain. Her first conscious sense was that of the feel of the warmth and softness of a bed. As she tried to get her bearings, slowly the memories of the fire came back. Eric!

Julia panicked momentarily as the memories of all that had happened before she lost all sense of time and she forced her eyes open in an attempt to get up and find him. But just as quickly as she had opened them, she shut them again. Blinding light seared her sensitive vision that had not been in use for what she was beginning to guess was some time. Relax, she told herself, taking a deep breath. Get your senses together and calm down. You are no help to Eric like this.

Slowly Julia opened her eyes, giving them time to adjust to the brightness of the midday light. They felt scratchy from the smoke and heat but she knew there would be no long-term damage. Her vision was much too clear for there to be anything to be horrendously wrong with her eyes. As her vision adjusted to the light, she realized with a bit of surprise that she was in her own room. Whoever had taken her from Eric and the fire down to the stream had also brought her here.

Julia tested the strength of her muscles slowly. She noted the bandages on her body were fresh. Some one was taking care of her and from the way her burns felt, they were doing a fairly good job of it. Just then a rather plump woman entered the room, walking briskly and with a light step to her shuffling gait. She was carrying a tray with medicine, a basin of water, and fresh bandages and Julia automatically assumed that this was her mysterious caretaker. At first she did not recognize the stranger who was being so kind to her and she wondered who it could be that would take so much effort to care for a stranger. However it did not take long for her to recognize the smiling rosy woman who was busy bustling about with the bandages on the tray.

The woman set the tray down on the bedside table and began working to remove the bandages on Julia's right arm. It was not until Julia took in a sharp breath of pain when one of the bandages tugging at a wound, that the absent minded woman realized she was awake.

“Oh my! I’m so sorry dear! I did not even know you were awake. Silly me, here I am, worrying for days, hoping that you are alright and I don’t even take time to see if you are awake. I know I am an odd ball but I had no idea that I was this absent minded. Well how are you dearie? That was quite the trauma you had you know. Fires and smoke and intruders and horses and then you were sleeping for three days! Not that I blame you for sleeping that long. Why, if I had had all this happen to me all in one shot as you did, I think I should absolutely sleep forever just to be able to forget about it all. Assuming that is that while you were sleeping you were able to forget it all. Lord knows, I should not have been able to. Oh but there I go getting head of myself. How are you sweetie? Wait...did I already ask that? Oh well, I guess that you can’t ask too many times now can you?” she said with a smile.

It was as soon as the plump woman opened her mouth that Julia realized the babbling seamstress who had made her clothing when she first began working for Eric, was now taking care of her after the accident. She felt strangely comforted even though her first impression of this lady was one of subtle annoyance. Now her endless chatter helped to keep Julia’s mind off of the incident and the vivid dreams she could recall having while she was lying helpless after she blacked out. She tried to speak, however her voice was scratchy and surprisingly weak for as strong as she thought she felt.

“What is it dearie? Speak up now I can barely hear you.” Martha leaned a bit closer to hear Julia’s muffled response.

“I‘m...fine. Thank you.” She whispered. Martha’s face just beamed.

“Oh! I am so happy to hear that! Of course you are not truly fine, otherwise you would be out of bed right now, wouldn’t you? Oh, but I do admire your courage. If it were me on that bed, I do believe that I would just be in tears for it all.”

Martha continued changing Julia’s bandages as carefully as possible. Even though she never seemed to understand how inconsiderate her chatter was, she did know how to be attentive. Julia couldn’t help feeling that if she could have chosen a mother for herself, she would have chosen Martha, if only to tend to her while she was sick.

“Well that is lovely dear.” Martha continued on as if Julia had only just voiced her last statement. “You know, I really got worried after the first night or two. Your wounds are not very bad but I guess you did get a lot of smoke and the heat must have been absolutely terrible!” She shuddered a bit and made a face. “I tell you, you are a very wonderful woman to be able to handle all that. I really don’t believe I could have rushed into a burning building to save a bunch of horses, much less the clothes I build my life on should my own house burn down, heaven forbid! And to think, you actually saved all the horses! Absolutely amazing, brave, STUPENDOUS!” She suddenly realized Julia was trying to say something else. “What is it sweetheart? Am I hurting you or do you need something? I have stew going in the kitchen, it should be ready in a little while, but if you don’t think you can’t wait, then I will get you a bit of cheese or bread, or something else. Just as long as you think you can stomach something a little heartier than stew. Oh wait, is it your throat? Oh my, how could I have been so careless! Of course it is your throat, you must be terribly thirsty!” Julia shook her head, then swallowed a bit and made an effort at getting her voice to work, but even so, Martha had to lean close to hear what she was saying.

“Eric.” Julia managed.

Martha’s manor changed completely. For the first time since Julia had known her, the old parrot was silent. A single tear slid from the corner of her eye and down her cheek and her sparkling eyes and face drooped in a sad frown. She brushed the tear away with her finger.

“I don’t want to lie to you honey. He is much worse off than you are. When they dragged him from under the timber and down to the river, they couldn’t even tell if he was alive. They got him cleaned up and cooled off enough to determine a yes, but he is in a tragic state. The fall broke one leg and fractured the other, not to mention a few ribs. And whatever is not broken is in bandages. The fire did a number on him. The doctor does not even know if he will survive at all. I hate to be the one to tell you, but I believe you have the right to know, since you two are so close and all. Why, you are basically his next of kin as it stands right now. He has not woken up since he was brought here and that was three days ago.”

Julia was shocked. She was grateful nearly to the point of tears to hear that he was alive, yet at the same time she had not been prepared to hear that he was in such a fatal condition. The months they had spent together, living and working side by side had caused her to grow attached to him in a way that she had not grown toward anyone else. For the first time in her life, she felt as if she truly had a friend, and now, even he was being stripped away from her. Everything that ever seemed to go her way in life was either short lived, or taken away completely. She silently absorbed the information as Martha finished changing her bandages in silence. Then she left closing the door behind her.

What was she to do? Julia hoped Eric would survive, but what if he didn’t? Would she take over the ranch? If she did, how could she ever manage without him? Emotions flooded Julia as she thought through all the horrible possibilities. She began to realize just how much this man had come to mean to her.

Martha came in after a while with a bowl of steaming broth and a cold mug of water. She seemed to be acting as though nothing had happened, but Julia could see in her eyes the worry and weariness that had begun to mount since the fire.

“Now please try to take it slow Julia dear. You will need to take things easy for the next few days while you recover. That fire did not take all of you away in it’s fury, but you did take quite a beating.” Julia was already trying to sit up on her own, only to discover that lying in bed and sitting in bed were two totally different things and took different amounts of energy. She made it halfway up on her elbows, only to slump down again and bump her head on the wall behind her.

“No, no, no honey! You mustn't do that! Come, come, just let me help you.” Martha set down the food and then bustled to the other side of the bed to get an extra pillow. Slowly she helped Julia to a sitting position so that she could put a couple pillows behind her back for support. Then, the woman began to spoon broth into Julia’s mouth and help her drink some water. For the first time in quite a while, Martha was silent.

Julia drank and ate as much as she could, but not so much that she would make herself sick. She had been injured before and knew better than to over do even the simplest of things. She also knew how to push herself to a quicker recovery, something she had suddenly decided she wanted very badly. She did not want this rambling woman in her house taking care of her like a baby, no matter the fact that she was the kindest person Julia had ever met. Her heart was in the right place, but Julia would rather be on her own. Besides, she was sure the horses were being taken care of, but they needed to be worked with, not just fed.

The business could not fall. There would be doctors bills, repair to the barn, expenses for anything that had happened to the horses and tack, and she would have to pay Martha for the time she was loosing at her store while out on the ranch playing good Samaritan. Yes, fast recovery was the only option. She had to get back on her feet as soon as possible. Eric would be counting on her, she could not think otherwise.

It did not take long for Julia to accomplish her goal. After about a day of rest and good food under the watchful eye of Martha, Julia began to recover her strength. Her excellent health and recuperation capabilities one again proved their worth. However, Martha would not allow Julia out of bed for quite sometime, no matter how much Julia insisted that she felt better. So she began to get up after Martha had left her room. She would walk around on her own, working at getting her strength back. This time on her back not using her muscles had made them weak. After another couple of days she inquired about Eric again.

“He slips in and out dearie. One minute he is unconscious, the next, he is awake enough to eat a bit or sip some water. That is what he asks for the most, water, but I am not totally sure that he really realizes what is going on. He never really seems to wake up; he only moves just enough to survive. It is almost as if there is a night crew so to speak working his body for him, doing just the basic things to keep him alive.” The words hit close to home. Julia began to get up to see him. “No, honey, you have to stay in bed as well. You are not strong enough yet to get up.” Julia knew she was fully capable of getting up and walking the few steps to his room, but she knew Martha would never allow it, and the big woman at this point was strong enough to force Julia to stay where she was if she had to. So she sat back to bide her time and wait until night when she could get up and go check on him.

When night came and Martha had quit moving, Julia got up and snuck slowly to her door. She had been walking around her room enough that she knew she could get to Eric’s bedside, just as long as Martha did not hear and come put her back to bed. She quietly opened her door and snuck into the hallway. There was a cot in the living room with a large lump in it that was snoring loudly. The light of the fireplace made the sleeping Martha’s form easily distinguishable in the dark. The winter floor was freezing to Julia's bare feet, but she clenched her chattering teeth and went on to Eric’s room.

__________

After Eric lost consciousness, time lost all meaning. He fell swiftly into a dark void, one in which he could neither move, nor speak. The only thing that was discernable to him was the pain and the invisible forces that he instinctively fought. Hands he could not see, without voices or bodies to attach themselves to, grabbed at him and tried to pull him further into the depths, but he shook them off with all the strength he could muster. Somehow he knew that if they won, he was lost, that no matter how warm and soft the darkness seemingly felt, that it was dangerous and he must fight it.

When he finally felt that he could not fight them off any longer, he heard distant voices. They too were pulling at him, but from a different direction. And they were shouting. Who were they shouting to? Him? He called out to them to help him, but no one answered his call. Suddenly the searing pain he felt all over his body was replaced by a cooling, a soothing freeze. He was now more aware of his body. Although the burns did not feel as painful, he could feel other pains, internal pains. And the voices, they were clearer. He tried to open his eyes to discern who they were, but his body was no longer in his control.

“Is he alive?”

“I can’t tell. Feel his heart.” Eric could feel and hear them as if in a dream where he was blind and paralyzed. He screamed at them that he was alive, pleaded with them to help him, but no one responded. So instead, he willed his heart to beat harder, surely they would be able to know he was alive. Then, “Wait, I feel something! He’s alive!” Emotional relief flooded through Eric even as the pain began to return. He once again slipped into the void.

The hands resumed their hold on his mind. Eric fought them with all his might. He must not give in, he would die if he did! What would happen to Julia then? His thoughts of her seemed to ward off the forces working against him like a shield against arrows. Yes! Think of Julia! Just think of her and all will be well. Eric concentrated all his effort on thinking of her. Where was she last? He vaguely remembered hearing her screaming to him outside the barn, but then what? Was she all right? What would happen to her if she could not get help? Questions and images flooded his mind.

A battle began to rage within him, one that would determine his ultimate fate. Julia and his thoughts of her fought to keep him in this world; dark hands sought to drag him into another he felt unprepared for. He had things yet to do. As semi-consciousness and total blackouts came in waves, the war raged.

Occasionally he could make out a presence in the real world. It soothed him and took care of his pains, giving him water when he could manage to make his mouth and throat work enough to take it, doing the same with warm broth, keeping him just close enough to this world to keep him out of the other. Over the next few... What were they? Days, weeks? Or was it only hours? He wanted so badly to tell that other entity thank you, to ask it about Julia, just to communicate with it in any way, but his body would not obey him. After a very long time, total exhaustion took over and he was able to release himself from the internal conflicts that had been trying to take over his mind. He slipped comfortably into a soothing and healing rest. Maybe, just maybe, he would win this battle. Only occasionally would his body, now operating in total survival mode, gather all it’s strength to take in bits of water and nourishment from the one who was taking care of him.