Nurse - Chapter 5

Leah's stomach tied itself into a knot when Markus pulled into the store's parking lot. This was the first time she would be out in public since her accident. She was excited to be out of the house, even if it was just to the grocery store, but she was incredibly nervous too, as she was sure that people were going to stare at her, if not for her lack of limbs, then for sure because she was sitting in a shopping cart. All of it combined made her stomach feel like it was doing somersaults. 

Markus pulled into a spot some distance away from the entrance. They had decided against using a disabled parking spot as they didn't really need it since they didn't have a wheelchair to unload. 

"I'll be right back," Markus got out of the car and locked it behind him before he walked off to find a cart. While Leah waited alone in the car, she already felt like people were staring at her, although there was hardly anyone around and the few people she saw were busy with their own shopping. 

Leah already thought this was a giant mistake as her anxiety ramped up ten-fold in the few minutes that Markus was away. It felt like hours before Markus returned, pushing a cart in front of him. He left it behind the car and came up to the passenger side. 

"You alright?" He asked once he had the door unlocked. "You don't look so good. We can go back home if you're not up for it." Markus offered her a way out. Leah thought she must look horrible as a nervous tremor shook her body. She took a deep breath and shook her head. 

"I'm just so nervous that people will stare at me and make mean comments, but I want to do it. I want to have some sort of normalcy again, even if it's just accompanying you to the store. I can't sit at home all day." 

Markus looked at her, surprised, and Leah realized what she had said. She had just referred to his house as her home, but there was no other place she could call that. Certainly not the nursing home she had been miserable at for ages. 

"Let's just go inside," Leah urged Markus. "I can't stop people from staring, but I can have a good time with you, so I'll focus on that. And I want to pick out some snacks." 

Markus laughed. "Nobody is going to be mean to you if they don't want our shopping cart to their Achilles tendon as retribution." Leah had to chuckle at that.

"I'm serious," Markus insisted as he unbuckled her and took her tiny body into his arms. 

"Makes me glad I don't have Achilles tendons anymore, so I won't ever have to experience that particular pain anymore," Leah laughed, leaning her head on Markus' shoulder, feeling secure in his arms. The light-hearted joking had eased her nerves, and she felt much better. Maybe, if things got bad again, she could ask Markus to pick her up for a minute, as being carried by him always calmed her. Markus had placed a cushion into the shopping cart and carefully sat her down on it. 

Leah shuffled around until she felt comfortable. She had been getting better at moving around on her bottom end, and with the sides of the cart surrounding her on three sides, Leah felt secure enough to be bolder in her movements. 

"All settled?" Markus had locked the car and took up position behind her. Leah nodded, and he put one hand on Leah's shoulder to steady her before he pushed the cart forward. The ride to the front of the store was uncomfortable with how the cart rattled over the asphalt, but it got immediately better when they entered the building. Instantly, Leah was overwhelmed. The store was by no means crowded but compared to the quietness of the house, it was practically a party in Leah's eyes. People were talking, music was coming from the speakers, and the constant beeping of the cash register - all of it hit Leah like a brick wall, add to that the bright lights and many signs advertising sales, and Leah needed a moment to process it. When she looked around, she saw a woman looking at her as Markus brought them into the produce section, the lettuce she was holding forgotten at the sight of the limbless woman in a shopping cart. Leah smiled awkwardly. There was no point in lingering on people's curiosity. She instead looked at the fruits and vegetables on display. She had forgotten how much variety there was. Markus made sure Leah got a balanced diet, and he often switched up the fruits for their breakfast, but now she saw fruits she hadn't had in ages and hadn't known she wanted to eat them until now.

"If you see something you like, let me know. I'll just get the usual." 

Markus let go of the cart to pick up apples, bananas and peaches. Leah feared the cart would roll off with her inside for a moment, but nothing happened, and Markus was just a couple of feet away. Leah looked around and spotted some delicious-looking strawberries off to the side. Leah shifted her body weight slightly, testing out how the cart would behave to her moving around. When nothing happened, she grew more confident and shuffled around on the cushion to get a better look. Unfortunately, she was too short to look over the display cases. 

"See something?" Markus returned and placed the packed-up fruit in the front of the cart. 

"The strawberries look amazing. Maybe we can get some?" Leah asked.

"Sure!" Markus pushed the cart over to where the berries were displayed, and together they picked out two boxes, with Leah guiding Markus to the box she thought looked the best. They picked up some vegetables for upcoming meals and as a snack for Leah when she was home alone. Then they left the produce section. 

Markus walked slowly as they perused the aisles to give Leah enough time to look at everything. Leah picked out some instant coffee and cereal for lazy mornings so Markus didn't have to prepare a whole meal for each breakfast, though he insisted he liked doing that for her. Everything went well as they made their way through the store until Markus remembered something he had wanted to get in a previous aisle. 

"Is it alright if I leave you here for a moment? It's just gonna take a couple of seconds. I'll be right back." With that, Markus speed-walked away before Leah could say anything, and suddenly she was all alone in the aisle. Immediately, Leah felt anxious, especially since she could not look behind her in the direction Markus had vanished in. She could shuffle around, so she could see both entrances to the aisle, but she didn't dare to move without someone to hold the shopping cart. Leah tried to calm her racing heart, telling herself that nothing was going to happen and any second now, Markus would come back. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen to her. Then she suddenly heard laughing behind her, coming from multiple people, and a chill ran down her spine. 

"YOOOO! What the fuck is that?" 

"Oh-Em-Ge! That's freaky!" 

Suddenly Leah was surrounded by several teenagers. 

"Is that real?" They stepped even closer. One was straight behind her while the other three crowded the other sides of the shopping cart. They started to rock the cart, and the one behind her suddenly grabbed her shoulders. Leah was petrified and couldn't get a word out, she was frozen in place, but when the guy touched her, she reflexively jerked her shoulders, trying to shake him off. Thankfully, he let go of her, but now the teenagers didn't let up. 

"That's not a doll! That's a person!" 

"That's messed up! She has no arms!"

"And no legs!" 

"Leave me alone!" Leah said, barely getting the words out with how petrified she was, but they didn't even react to her quiet plea. Instead, they all started to poke her shoulders where her arms used to be, and the more she got away from them, the more they shook the shopping cart around, knocking her into the sides, and bruising her ribs. She cried out in pain and couldn't hold back tears anymore. She was terrified as the teenagers laughed and mocked her, bouncing her around the shopping cart. Leah feared that any moment now, they would pull the cart back, and she would fall forward onto the pile of groceries. 

"Hey, piss off! Leave her alone!" Markus suddenly bellowed behind the group. He had come to rescue her, and Leah sobbed with relief as her caregiver shooed the harassers away. Once the teenagers were out of sight, Markus rushed toward Leah and saw what state she was in. During the assault on the shopping cart, Leah had been shaken around so severely she was now lying sideways in the cart with her legless hips touching one side and her back on the other. Her upper body was folded forward as she had slipped down, and the position was compressing her chest, which - along with her crying - made it difficult for her to breathe. It was impossible for her to free herself from this precarious position. 

Markus rushed to her, gently lifting her tiny body into his arms and holding her close. 

"I'm so sorry, so so sorry, Leah. Oh my god, I shouldn't have left you alone. I'm so sorry!" Markus continued to apologize while he gently rocked her and petted her hair. Leah's emotions were in turmoil, first from the terror she felt during the assault and now the tremendous gratitude that had overtaken her when Markus had come back. She needed a few minutes until she could stop crying into Markus' shirt. He was still apologizing when she came back to her senses. 

"I'm okay," she mumbled. "I'm okay. They didn't hurt me." Leah snuffled, but it did nothing to elevate the grossness she felt. Her face was a mess, and Leah was mortified that she had wiped tears and snot all over Markus' shirt. 

"I'm sorry I made your shirt all wet." 

"Don't worry about that." Markus shifted her small body around so he could look at her. "Are you sure you're not hurt?"

Leah nodded. "Yeah, just humiliated, I guess." 

Markus gently placed her back into the shopping cart, and he thankfully had some tissues at hand to clean up her face. 

"I'm sorry that happened," Markus said for the umpteenth time as he dried her eyes and let her blow her nose. 

"It's not your fault they are assholes," Leah said quietly. 

"I shouldn't have exposed you like that." Markus spent some more time dabbing at Leah's face and tidying up her hair and clothes until he was satisfied. "Let's finish the shopping quickly, and then we could go to an ice cream place. You know, to make up for this." 

Leah thought about it, ice cream sounded nice, but she couldn't deal with being stared at by people any more than was necessary. 

"Could we just get a tub of ice cream and eat it at home?" 

"Of course, let's do that."