No Way Out
A mother's thoughts for a day while suffering from total locked in syndrome
Looks like a good day outside. That blonde woman better hurry up or she is going to miss her bus. Oh there she is. And there's the bus. I wonder where she works. She looks like a business woman so probably in the city somewhere. A corporate firm. I wish I was going somewhere. God I'm so sick of sitting here in this stupid wheelchair day in,day out just looking out the window. Every time I am put up to this window it seems like an eternity till I'm moved. Not that anywhere else is better. Beats looking at the wall for hours on end though I guess. I hate it when the nurses face me that way.Yes looking outside at all the people going by is definitely the highlight of your day Joanna. I wonder when Johnny will come by again with the kids. Always seems like such a long time between visits but it's not like you can do much can you? Can't talk. Can't do anything. Can't even blink. No Joanna of course you had to go and get total locked in syndrome. Had never even heard of it before but when you saw the look on that doctor's face you knew it wasn't good didn't you.
Can't believe it happened on that trip though. Was supposed to be a dream trip. 12 countries in 18 days. Saved up for so long then two days in you get bitten by a snake. Not just any snake but a krait snake from India the only one that causes this kind of condition.Why? What have you done so horribly wrong to deserve this? In a world of murderers and rapists and everything else you get it not them. A fate worse than death. I'm really sick of hearing people in the corridors talking about it saying oh "its like being buried alive" as if they know. It's a lot worse than that. At least if your buried alive the oxygen will eventually run out and you are finally put out of your misery and die. I should be so lucky. It wouldn't be as bad if you could move my eyes but no you had to go and get total locked in syndrome not just locked in syndrome. Typical of you Joanna,always the high achiever.
I just have to say, ha ha "say" Joanna? God that's funny you can't talk. Not that you can even laugh at that either. Guess I can laugh in my mind. I suppose it's like when you don't actually roll your eyes but your thinking it to yourself when someone says something ridiculous. Anyway, the things you hear in this hospital. God if I ever do recover I could break up a few relationships and blow a few whistles. People cheating on their wives with co-workers,wrong medications being given out and covered up. I can't get over what people say sometimes, It's like hey guys I can't do anything but I'm not deaf. I can hear everything you are saying. But they just act like I'm not even in the room or within hearing distance. It's remarkable. Not being able to do anything and being considered useless it's amazing what you find out about some human beings that's for sure.
I wonder how Portia's dance recital went last night,she seemed so excited about it last time she was here. She looked so adorable in her costume. I just wish I was home to sew her costume for her. So bloody fed up with this place. Anyway I bet she did really well. She is growing up so fast. Be 13 next year, and I'm missing it.....I bet Johnny is watching the footy tonight. I think it's Saturday. Hang on I'll just get up and check the calendar. Oh that's right Joanna you can't,you have total locked in syndrome and are a complete zombie. Well that's what Bryce's friend calls you anyway.A zombie. Not to your face but you could still hear it. He said it loud enough. Can't blame him for being freaked out though I guess,you've seen yourself in the mirror and have to admit it's a bit weird, and it's you your looking at. That's kind of funny too. Pity you can't laugh though. That guy that told you that saying once a few years ago that "If you don't laugh you cry" has a lot to answer for. I can't do either. To be quite honest I don't want to laugh or cry I just want to scream...Particularly when people come in and tell me that "they know how I feel". How could they possibly know? Let's go and strap them into a wheelchair so they can't move,crush their voice box so they cant speak and compromise their breathing then pull there eyelids up so they can't blink and leave them like that and then they might have some idea of "how I feel".
Get a grip Joanna your thinking too many impure thoughts. These thoughts aren't you.
The doctors can always be wrong, they say no chance of recovery but they are doing wonderful things with medicine these days. You don't have a broken neck or anything Joanna it's just your whole central nervous system that's the problem. No big deal. Yeah right who am I kidding I'm stuck in this prison for life. Not that you could even call this a life. Not anymore anyway. I guess I should count myself lucky in some ways, I had 38 good years before this and had two wonderful children that I love and a great husband.He is probably doing it tough too looking after the kids and having a wife who can't do anything and just appears to be looking into space every day. He probably gets asked all the time "any change with Joanna" or "how's Joanna" or pity like "I'm so sorry to hear about Joanna". Pity is the natural reaction though I guess, I know when I saw Eliza that first time after her accident and she was in that wheelchair I pitied her and thought it would be so hard to live in that wheelchair for the rest of your life. I hated to admit it at the time but I was so glad it wasn't me. Now I would quite happily take being a paraplegic over this. Anything is better than this.
There's that little girl playing up again,little brat. Every time you come into this hospital to visit your grandfather you have a tantrum. Need some discipline.Mum clearly doesn't want to dish it out though obviously. Should bring the problem child in here and tell her this is what happens to girls that don't behave. I bet looking at me would give her a fright. Wouldn't do any good though,she would forget about it in 10 minutes and then start whinging about something else to her mother.
Wonder what the time is. Don't know why I'm bothering to think of the time. Not going anywhere. A day out for you is being taken out of your bed and a "walk" around the grounds in your wheelchair with the nurse. Hardly anything to write home about or get dressed up for. Not that you can do either Joanna don't say silly things like that to yourself. Here comes the nurse. Time to go back to my room I guess, today went quick only felt like half an eternity doing nothing today. Now I have a good 8 hours or more fun just lying in bed looking up at the ceiling in the dark. Doesn't get any better than that. Oh when will this end, I can't take much more of this.....
Friday, 7 September 2012
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
A Date to Remember - Chapters 1 and 2
A Date to Remember
Chapter 1
Melissa Ryan was a quiet woman, she worked at the local aged care nursing home and went about her business with a minimum of fuss, she loved her job looking after the old people though as she felt like they shouldn't be forgotten about just because they had got on in years. You could probably say Melissa saw a bit of herself in them as she felt a little bit forgotten by society, she had trouble forming friendships due to her shy nature and probably only had one real friend named Shelley. Melissa had also lost touch with her only remaining relative as well and she lived alone in a modest house just outside of town. While she bemoaned her lack of life so to speak she wasn't the clubbing type or one to go to a bar and sink some pool or have a few drinks. She didn't mind the odd glass of white wine though and was just happy most nights to be curled up on the couch reading a book or watching a movie. When her 30th birthday came around though she looked around and couldn't help but feel lonely, Shelley made a big deal out of it for her baking a cake and giving her a gift of earrings but Melissa decided that she wanted more, she knew it was time to try and meet a man.
With Melissa being quite shy she knew the internet was probably her best bet, as she typed the words "Dating sites" into the search engine her hands almost trembled a bit. After a couple of seconds thousands of results came up, just looking at them all seemed overwhelming and Melissa almost closed the screen immediately."How do I know which one is right for me?" she asked herself. She scoured through the results and came up on a site called "Just for Fun.com".Now most people who have been around know exactly what the word "fun" means when ti comes to dating sites but not Melissa, she clicked on it and couldn't believe what pictures some of the men on there had posted, she quickly learned it was a swingers site and shut it down straight away, disgusted by what she saw. After that bad experience she decided to head to bed having seen enough. "If all the sites are like that then I'm definitely in trouble" she mumbled to herself before popping into her red and black striped pj's and making her way into bed.
The next morning she woke up and just felt a tinge of sadness. She knew it was loneliness knocking at her door and being a rainy Saturday she would spend it inside with this new book she had just purchased called "Angel on Horizon Road". After flicking past the first couple of pages she decided that she'd had enough of this, she needed to stiffen her upper lip and get back on the computer and do research on some more dating sites. Once again she logged on and could feel her heart pounding, this time she clicked on a site called "Perfect Partner 4 U". She wasn't a fan of text speak but thought it looked innocent enough, she looked through a few profiles and realised she liked this site a lot more than the other one, although that wasn't hard. After perusing 4 or 5 profiles it suddenly came up. "To keep viewing profiles please sign up". Melissa wasn't one to like being told what to do necessarily but she decided that this had to be done. She wasn't one to really sell herself either so decided to keep the profile brief.
"30 year old single woman seeks male companion. 5"6, hazel eyes, long chestnut brown hair, medium build. I like books, music and movies. I'm also someone who likes the little things in life and would love to meet a man who thinks the same way. I'm shy when people first talk to me but then I warm up. If you like what you read please contact me" read Melissa's profile.
She knew it was nowhere near the length of some people on there but she didn't want to say too much, not that there was much to say anyway. Before she even had time to decide whether or not she wanted to put up a photo she received a message." Hey sexy how you doing?" asked the man. She looked at his profile and it said that he "wants to get busy with as many women as possible". Melissa screwed her face up and just thought what an absolute sleaze and deleted him straight away. As she went back to looking for a picture she suddenly wondered that someone might spot her on here, god that would be so embarrassing she thought, forgetting the fact she barely knew anyone to see it. After some toing and froing she decided to put up one of her with sunglasses on, it was a pic that didn't really show anything but she thought it was better than the silhouette of a woman which would be the other option. Melissa decided if any of the men were interesting to her then she could always privately send them a photo. After completing the profile she decided to log off and come back later, setting it up was enough excitement for one day and she decided that she would come back tomorrow to see if she had any bites.
Little than an hour after making herself a coffee and going back to her book Melissa couldn't help but wonder if anyone had messaged her on "Perfect Partner 4 U". She had told herself she was going to wait till tomorrow but the suspense was killing her, "Oh god I can't believe I'm doing this" she chastised herself as she logged in to see if anyone had left her a message. She typed in her username and password and was surprised by the results, she already had 8 messages and it had only been an hour. "Geez if I got this many in an hour how many would I get in a day? Surely one of these is someone I could get to know" she smiled eager to see what these men had to say. Her excitement was quickly tempered though as she read the messages, once again they all seemed to be from men thinking with what was between their legs rather than their head or their heart. "I'm so sick of this.. Aren't there any normal guys?" she moaned. After the first 6 messages she didn't even bother to read the last two and deleted them without looking. She started to beat herself up and decided that she was probably just destined to be alone...
2 weeks passed and Melissa hadn't been on Perfect Partners 4 U again, after a tough day at work though and a lonely cold apartment almost swallowing her up in her own misery she decided to give it one more go. "This time your going to give it a red hot go Melissa" she said to herself. Once again she logged on and found she had in excess of 100 messages, most of them were spam or horny men so she just decided to wipe the slate clean and delete them all, start afresh. As she had a skim through the profiles she saw a couple of men that looked alright, she wanted to message them but was far too shy to make the first move, even if it was from behind a computer screen. After a few of the usual messages she finally got one from a guy who seemed like he at least had some potential. "Hi Melissa I'm Damon, I had a read of your profile and thought you seemed like a nice down to earth woman, I too like to read and am not opposed to a good movie either. Anyway if you would like to chat then please get back to me". Melissa thought he sounded very polite and had a look at his profile, he was a very attractive man with big broad shoulders and a cheeky smile, his brown hair was short but fashionable and it said in his profile he was 6"2. Looks weren't the be all and end all though and if they didn't get along it wouldn't matter how he looked, he definitely deserved a message back though as he was probably the first "real" man she had talked to. Still, she wasn't getting her hopes up.
Over the course of the next few days Melissa and Damon exchanged messages, he seemed like a real gentleman not to mention quite well spoken, they seemed to have so much in common having read a lot of the same books and also their taste in music, this made Melissa start to really come out of her shell and she started to warm up to Damon. After what was probably their 10th message they graduated to talking online before Damon decided to propose a meeting.
"Oh I'm not sure. Are we ready to meet just yet?" asked a nervous Melissa.
"I think we are. Believe me I will be just as nervous as you" assured Damon.
"Oh ok. Fortune favours the brave I guess" replied Melissa.
Her last date per se would have been her ex boyfriend. That was 4 years ago now and was a relationship that was riddled with abuse and one she had struggled to forget. In essence it was the main reason she had been single for so long.
They set up a time to meet at the Fountain River Shopping Mall the next day at 4pm. It was a Tuesday which she thought was a little strange." You don't have a job?" she asked. It was a question that had never come up before as they used to just wax lyrical about their love of books and other interests. "No not at the moment" replied Damon. Melissa wasn't overly happy with his reply but she wasn't one to judge, she thought he may have just been one of the unlucky few that had lost his job, with the way the economy was and all.
Soon enough the next day rolled around and Melissa was having a lot of trouble deciding what to wear, she wanted to dress casual but still a bit dressy. This was her first date in years and she wanted to make a good impression, that was if she even got there and didn't chicken out. She was so overwhelmed by nerves she almost called and cancelled but then knew she just had to suck it up, find an outfit and go out there to meet Damon. After a couple of changes Melissa decided on a nice sleeveless white top with a black knee length pencil skirt and some black pumps to complete the outfit, she normally tied her hair back but today Melissa was going to wear it down, she normally didn't wear much makeup but decided she would break with tradition and put on a bit of foundation followed by some mascara and lip gloss to finish off. As she looked in the mirror she thought she looked nice but was terrified that Damon wouldn't like what he saw, she used to be extremely overweight growing up and while she was now a good curvy weight she still had body issues. By the same token though if he didn't accept her for who she was then she wasn't going to waste her time on him anyway. The shopping centre was only 100 metres down the road so she planned on walking there, she took one last look in the mirror and headed out..
As she walked the short journey to the shopping centre her heart was literally pounding out of it's chest, the closer she got to the meeting point the quicker it raced, Melissa knew she had to do this though, she was sick of eating microwave dinners and being alone, plus Damon seemed like a nice guy, she was sure that once they get talking it will be just like on the internet where they usually ended up talking for hours about their favourite books or quotes. Soon she found herself at the entrance to the mall. "No going back now" she said before taking a long calming deep breath. The meeting point was a quiet cafe at the back of the mall, Melissa had been there before and felt comfortable there so it should make things easier. She ordered a cafe latte then sat down to drink it in anticipation of the arrival of Damon. As she made her way through her coffee she looked at her watch and it read 4:09, he was a little late but nothing to get too worried about she thought. "Just relax Melissa, deep breaths" she kept saying to herself. She picked up her handbag and had a quick look in the mirror of her foundation capsule to see if everything was still all how she wanted it and was glad to see it was. A further 5 minutes passed and Melissa's legs were now starting to become restless, her foot now tapping the side of the table furiously. Just as she started to think Damon wasn't coming she heard a voice calling her name. "Melissa" the voice asked. She couldn't help but think there seemed to be a little bit of a hiss in it but just assumed it was a noise from the coffee machine or something. She turned around to see who it was. "Melissa?" he asked again.
"Yes?" replied Melissa before having fully looked around.
"It's me. It's Damon"
"What?? You can't be Damon!"
"Well yes. Actually it is"
"It can't be.. Your a... a.... your a" said a stunned Melissa struggling to deal with the unexpected sight.
"Quadriplegic?"
"Yes" replied Melissa with her jaw on the ground. She had no idea what on earth to say or how this had even happened.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but I wasn't worried if you knew you wouldn't meet me" said Damon trying to explain.
"Well it's a pretty big thing to omit!!!!" blurted out a still flabbergasted Melissa.
"I know. Believe me I feel terrible. It's just ever since my accident no-one wants to give me a chance. They see the chair and straight away delete me as a possible suitor for their affections" expressed Damon hoping Melissa could look past this deception.
"But you lied to me. You had a picture up on your profile of an able bodied person for god's sake!!" protested Melissa not believing her first date in years had gone up in smoke so quickly.
"The picture of that able bodied man is me. Well me 4 years ago, before my accident. Can you please just give me a chance?" pleaded Damon.
Melissa looked at him and was filthy, while she had sympathy for his condition she couldn't look past this deceit. "Look I'm really sorry but I don't think I can date a liar.Goodbye" replied Melissa before going to storm out.
"Wait!" asked Damon desperately as she almost left. "Just spend 15 minutes with me and if you still hate me after that then you can leave and we never have to speak to one another ever again. Surely all those good conversations we had are worth something?"
Melissa didn't want to give Damon a chance but she decided that she would just spend the 15 minutes and be on her way, confident nothing that he could say would change her mind."Ok you got 15 minutes" she informed Damon reluctantly.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it" acknowledged Damon. He had a lot to tell Melissa but it was just a question of whether she would listen or not..
Melissa sat back down and prepared to give Damon his 15 minutes, while she had nothing on for the rest of the day she was committed to only giving him the time they had agreed on and no more. "You better make this good" cautioned Melissa, her lips now pursed in annoyance.
"I originally had myself up as a quadriplegic on Perfect Partners. But I reckon over a two month period I sent over 100 messages. How many replies do you think I got?" asked Damon.
"I don't know. 20?"
"I wish" replied Damon almost laughing but the vent bursting out of his neck preventing it. "Try 5"
"5?. Even though you lied to me I find it hard that you got only 5, your so easy to talk to"
"Well believe it. Four of them just wanted to know how I became this way and weren't interested in getting to know me, while the other woman seemed genuine so we arranged to meet" informed Damon.
"So you met someone??"
"Well no. She knew I was a quadriplegic and everything and we talked for a little bit then we set a date to meet. I got there early and waited but she never showed" lamented Damon.
"What a cow" responded Melissa knowing she would be very angry if that happened to her.
"Yeah well she messaged me later saying that she did turn up, but when she saw me in my chair and everything that goes with it 'she just couldn't do it'. I can't begin to tell you how much it knocked me around" expressed Damon.
"Well that's terrible but I would have messaged you back even if you did have your real picture up. Honesty is more important to me than anything physical"
"I did message you as a quadriplegic. Twice in fact" informed Damon waiting for a response.
"Are you serious? I never got them" replied Melissa surprised having never seen them. "Oh hang on I might have deleted them. I kept getting sleazy messages so after a few I just deleted all my messages" added Melissa realising that Damon could be right.
"Well I definitely sent them. I still probably have them in my sent folder"
"Ok I will believe you. I'm sorry if this sounds a bit rude but how do you type?" enquired Melissa. In the few minutes they had been talking she hadn't seen movement of any nature coming from Damon and wondered if he had any at all.
"It's ok. I like people to ask questions about my condition and learn about it. I have a system called Dragon Dictate, it allows me to use my voice to type"
"Wow. Now it makes sense, I have to say when I saw you I was so shocked and wondering how on earth we messaged online all those times!" smiled Melissa now loosening up a touch.
"Yeah it's a godsend. Your reading Angel On Horizon Road?" asked Damon
"How do you know that???" wondered Melissa.
"I'd like to say I'm psychic but it's falling out of your handbag" informed Damon
Melissa looked down and saw her handbag almost falling off the chair, she put th
e book firmly back in. "So you've read it?"
"Yes, it's a very nice story. Well written too although you have to expect that from Kathy Reichenstein"
"You like her?"
"Yeah she is one of my favourite authors"
"Me too"
"Well you will love 'angel' then" enthused Damon. "I want to be honest with you from now on so you can go now if you really want. I think the 15 minutes is up" replied Damon not wanting Melissa to go but thinking she was probably just being polite by not leaving.
"Oh is it?" said a surprised Melissa. "I'm not happy about the way this all transpired initially but I think I'd like to stay now. As you said earlier it would be a shame to let all those long terrific chats we had go to waste"
This made Damon smile, not only did he find Melissa quite appealing to the eye but her personality seemed to now be radiating through as well just like in their previous conversations.
"I guess I should tell you one more thing"
"Oh what's that?"
"You see that middle aged woman over there with the yellow cardigan on"
"Yes I see her"
"That's my nurse. With my condition I have to be cared for 24/7" Damon admitted. While he liked people to become acquainted with his condition he was still concerned over it all becoming too much for a prospective love interest to handle.
"I have to say I was wondering how on earth you got here and everything. I wonder a lot of things though looking at you" spilled Melissa letting Damon know just a little extra than she planned. While she had definitely been thrown by this curve ball of sorts she didn't seem to now be as nervous as she thought she would be.
"Well I'm happy to answer anything you are wondering about" responded Damon.
"Oh boy, now I feel like you've put me on the spot haha"
"All good. Fire away"
Melissa had a myriad of questions to ask but she didn't want to seem insensitive, she decided just to go with a relatively safe one first off. "How do you move your chair?"
"I move it by way of something called a sip 'n' puff wheelchair. It's a technology where you send signals to a device using air pressure by sipping or inhaling or puffing on this white straw which you can probably see next to my lips"
"So you can't move anything then? Like in your body I mean?"
"No I have what is called a C1 level injury which means I am paralyzed from the neck down. I have no ability to move my head either, just my mouth and eyes and the feeling in my face. It's the worst spinal injury you can have"
Melissa just sat there with her mouth open at this man's complete paralysis. Sure she looked after some old people who had little movement but that was nothing compared to what this man must go through on a daily basis."How do you go left and right and backwards etc?"
"Well it consists of four different inputs. An initial hard puff moves it forward while a hard sip will stop it. On the other hand an initial hard sip will take it backwards and a hard puff will stop it. For left or right movement a continuous soft sip or puff is needed with the distance depending on how long I blow into it" informed Damon.
"Wow" remarked Melissa. She couldn't help but stare at him in his chair.
"What?"
"Sorry I was staring. I just can't believe all of this" she admitted.
"All of this?"
"Yeah just the way this day has gone. I was so unbelievably nervous I was almost shaking. Now I find that the you I thought I was meeting isn't really you but it still is. If that makes any sense haha" laughed Melissa
"Yeah I'm not sure" replied Damon having no idea what to say but enjoying the sound of Melissa's laugh.
"I have to say though, wheelchair or no wheelchair your still pretty cute" admitted Melissa. While she didn't have any firm views on what her perfect man should look like it was fair to say that Damon probably didn't fall into what most women want. She couldn't get past the fact though that she just felt so incredibly relaxed around him.
"Thanks. Your quite the stunner yourself!!" replied Damon thinking his luck might finally have turned.
For the next hour the two of them continued to talk, once again getting onto books and other things they both enjoyed like classical music. It was just like one of their chats online although they were now in front of each other, Melissa looking delightful in her knee length pencil skirt while Damon sat in a pair of funky jeans and nice collared white shirt, his broad shoulders sitting immobile on the back of his wheelchair, a large black strap across his chest keeping him in the wheelchair and also holding down the hose of the ventilator tight so it can keep pumping much needed air into his lungs, his arms in grooved arm rests strapped down mid wrist while his legs were also strapped down mid shin. His feet, previously responsible for moving around his 210 pound frame clad in white sneakers and sitting limp in the foot rests. The sight of such a strong man now completely immobile and confined to a wheelchair was a sight to behold and it was one that Melissa thought she would like to see again. "Looks like your nurse is coming over" alerted Melissa.
"Hi how are you? I'm Lydia" said the nurse introducing herself to Melissa. "Sorry to break this up but we have to get going Damon, you need to have your lungs suctioned and a couple of other little things"
"Already? That's a shame. I know we got off to a rocky start but can we do this again you think? asked a hopeful Damon.
"Yeah for sure. I had a really good time" beamed Melissa back.
She watched as Damon took the straw between his lips and blew into it to move it forward, his only way of movement. She couldn't help but look at him until he went out of her view. "What a crazy day" she mused to herself as she then made her way out of the mall and outside.
Once Melissa reached home she kicked off her shoes and flopped on the couch, straight away her thoughts turned to Damon and the date they had just been on, as she had these thoughts she got a phone call from her friend Shelley. "Hey girl, how was the hot date???" she asked wanting to know all the details.
"Haha well it was good. Not at all how I expected I know that" replied Melissa.
"Oh how so? I'm thinking you home pretty early so you didn't get busy" teased Shelley
"You know I'm not like that. No I meant different in the fact that he was different physically"
"So he was one of those guys that puts up a fake picture when he is really balding and 400 pounds?"
"No. Well not exactly, he was a quadriplegic"
"A what?"
"Quadriplegic. Completely paralyzed"
"Oh my god are you serious?"
"Very serious. At first i was so angry but then he explained and we got talking, I actually had a really good time in the end"
"Yeah but wait, haven't you been talking to him for like 2 weeks on the internet? How could he not think to tell you?"
"He told me that he just wanted someone to get to know him without the worry of them knowing he was a quadriplegic. It all made perfect sense when he explained it but I can't get into it now I have to go have a shower"
"Ok babe. Talk to you later"
With that said Melissa headed off into the shower where once again all she could think of was Damon. As she ran the moisturising soap over her body she then thought to herself just the simple action of having a shower would probably be a big deal for Damon, he would need someone to shampoo his hair and wouldn't be able to wash himself or dry off, she couldn't imagine that life for herself, she loved her Independence and not even being able to shoo away a fly or scratching an itch must be so utterly frustrating for Damon. As much as Melissa wanted to see him again she then started to fret that it would all become too much, she didn't want to give Damon false hope by meeting him again, all of a sudden she got it into her head somehow that the "right thing" to do would be not to see Damon again, that would be the fair thing to do for him and her...
Chapter 2
The next morning Melissa woke up and before going into work decided to check her emails, sure enough the first one was from Damon.
"Really enjoyed yesterday. Hope to hang out again soon" it read.
Melissa just felt sick, she had tossed and turned all night and convinced herself that Damon would be better off without her, she decided not to reply and just delete the message and head to work. All through work one thing continued to dominate her mind again though, she couldn't believe that meeting a person one time could have such a profound effect on her but it had. Melissa started to realise it wasn't Damon she was worried about letting down it was herself, she had been single so long and any kind of feelings or attachment to anything frightened the living hell out of her, it was probably the reason she was in fact single and the reason she continued to be. After work she headed home, while picking at a bit of dinner she once again decided to head onto the computer, as she opened her inbox she saw there was another message from Damon. It simply read "Have I done something wrong?". Melissa looked at it and now started to worry that maybe Damon needed this too much and was too keen, there was 10 hours between the emails but two in one day worried her, once again she was making excuses to herself and knew that they used to talk everyday online before they met so a reply wasn't unreasonable to expect. After some heavy procrastination she finally decided to reply. "Hey Damon, no nothing is wrong just been working. How was your day?". She waited for a reply and after a few minutes Damon responded. "Yeah day was good. Hope work wasn't too taxing. If you feel like chatting then let me know". Melissa thought about it for a minute then decided she was up for a chat and soon they found themselves chatting like all the other times, as Melissa typed she kicked herself for being so stupid and knew that this was right. They arranged a second meeting and would meet up again tomorrow night.
The next day rolled around and after a shift at the nursing home Melissa readied herself for another date, she almost found herself stressing out more than the first date over what to wear, finally she decided on a cute pink top with some jeans and ballet flats, they were only going to the movies so she thought no need to bring out the little black dress. She was meeting Damon at the cinemas so she got in her car and made her way over there, as she pulled up in the car park she started to get really nervous again and almost started to shake, she hated how her heart just beated so quick over these kinds of things, it would all turn out fine she was sure but try telling her mind and body that. Melissa grabbed her handbag and made her way in, it was a Thursday night and there were plenty of people around, at first she couldn't see Damon then spotted him in the corner with his nurse Lydia, his big wide black wheelchair now easy to spot. She moved up to him but when she got there she had no idea on how to greet him, should she lean over and give him a kiss on the cheek or should she just say hello and that's it? Melissa was generally one to wait for the man to dictate a greeting or embrace but with Damon being a quadriplegic she was very confused.
"Hey. So good to see you again" beamed Damon once he saw her.
"Hey. How you been?" replied Melissa.
"Yeah good. You can give me a kiss on the cheek hello if you want. I'd give you one but it's a bit difficult" joked Damon answering Melissa's question without her even having to ask.
Melissa moved over and gave him a peck on the cheek, while there she could smell Damon had a really sexy aftershave on and it made her feel a little giddy. "So many people here tonight, i'm thinking I should have picked a quieter night" admitted Damon.
"Yeah there does seem an abnormally large amount of people here but oh well, it will be good I'm sure"
They decided on the movie "Midnight Rendevouz in Paris" then made their way up to the ticket counter. When there Melissa did the ordering but that didn't stop the movie worker looking at Damon the way most people did, with pity. Damon was quite used to the look but still hated it nonetheless, although he was completely paralyzed he wanted to be treated as normal as possible. All three of them including Lydia who was just trailing behind to give them a little privacy made their way into the cinema, Melissa walked in and down the aisle, completely forgetting that they would have to sit in the disabled area.
"Melissa" called out Damon. "Up here".
Straight away Melissa realised her mistake. "Oh god I'm so sorry, I wasn't even thinking!"
"That's ok"
While they both got comfortable the previews started. Melissa looked across at Damon and smiled, having no head movement he wasn't able to look over at her but could feel her eyes on him. "What?" he asked. "Nothing. I know you can't feel it but can I hold your hand?" asked Melissa. This question pleased Damon and a grin appeared on his face "Sure". Melissa undid the strap on Damon's left arm and took his hand in hers. Soon enough the movie started, during the quiet parts of the movie the hum of Damon's ventilator became audible to a minor degree, a young woman looked around and gave him a foul look before the message "Do you think you can turn that thing down or something? This is a movie theatre not a breathing room" . Hearing this didn't go down well with Melissa and while normally never being one to say boo she got so angry and snapped back. "Why don't you turn down the ugly on your face? Looking at it is making me want to lose my dinner". Upon hearing this Damon and his nurse Lydia couldn't help but chuckle, a couple of other people seemed to be giggling too and the insensitive woman realised she was outnumbered and shut her trap for the rest of the movie. After another hour the movie finally drew to a close, as they prepared to leave the woman walked past.."Next time you think about going to the movies leave your cripple boyfriend behind ok" she snidely remarked before tearing off. Melissa sat there stunned at how someone could be so utterly rude and insensitive. "She is unbelievable. Have you ever got that before?" remarked Melissa thinking this would have to of been a one off.
"Yeah I have got it a couple of times. People always think there issues or wants and needs are worth more than yours. Don't get me wrong I don't want to be treated any different but i think I have a right to be able to watch a movie and breath for god's sake" remarked Damon.
"Damn straight you are" Melissa agreed strongly.
As that was said Melissa noticed Damon was a little pale. "Are you ok?" she worried.
"Not particularly but I should be ok" replied Damon.
Lydia took his blood pressure and it had spiked. "I'm just going to have to find a quiet spot and get you reclined for a bit, get your blood pressure down" she advised.
Melissa looked on with concern, she knew this life was tough but she had no idea of all the little, or major things that could go wrong. "Can I do anything to help?" she asked.
"It might be best if you head home I think. Damon will need to be like this for at least 30 minutes, then after that home and bed" told Lydia.
Melissa watched on as Lydia reclined the imposing 210 pound figure of Damon, she wondered how often things like this happened but she guessed time would tell, she wasn't planning on giving up on him anytime soon. "Ok Damon I'm just going to head off but I had a great time, hope you feel better quick and see you again soon" she expressed before giving Damon a kiss on the forehead goodbye, he smiled and managed a "Sorry" before a goodbye. Melissa hated to leave him but the nurse told him he needed 30 minutes downtime before he was well enough to go back in the van and back home again. That night Melissa couldn't help but fear for Damon's health, she just hoped he would be ok and they would be able to meet up once again.
After a restless night worrying about Damon, Melissa was glad to wake up the next morning and see she had an email waiting from him. "Sorry about last night. I felt really good throughout the movie then it just hit me. Sometimes when I spend too much time upright in my chair I can feel a bit sick but it's all good now. Hope it didn't freak you out too much.." read the message. Melissa was glad he was ok, and the fact he was polite enough to tell her about his well being, she messaged back and after a bit of email ping pong they arranged another date.
Their third meeting was to be at a restaurant Damon had been to and enjoyed, it was an Italian eatery and Melissa was excited as not only did she get to see Damon again but she loved a good lasagne. This time she didn't stress out too much over what to wear choosing a summery pink dress as she know felt fairly comfortable around Damon, he wasn't like most guys, both mentally and physically. As she pulled up outside the restaurant though she once again had a bit of nerves, she figured that was a good thing as it meant she liked him. Melissa hopped out of the car and made her way inside and to the front desk to announce her arrival to the maitre'd. As she got there though she saw Lydia waving. "Over here Melissa". She made her way over to a table next to the window, Damon was looking very hot in a nice tight black top and jeans, his feet in black shiny loafers. She said hello to Lydia then looked at Damon."Looking good" she smiled. Damon hadn't heard a genuine complement for a while and almost blushed. "Thanks. Looking pretty good yourself" he gestured back. Melissa sat down on Damon's right while Lydia sat on his left, she noted one couple staring at them a little but just ignored them and looked down at the menu.
"So what are you having?" asked Melissa.
"Was thinking the spaghetti bolognaise" replied Damon.
"Well that's a pretty good choice in a Italian restaurant haha. I'm thinking the lasagne"
Soon after that was said the waiter came over. "What would you like to order?"
"I'll have the lasagne please" announced Melissa followed by the waiter looking at Lydia.
"I'm just nurse for him I'm not ordering" she replied.
The waiter looked at Damon and wasn't sure of his condition or whether he could talk. "Would you like to order Sir?" asked the waiter.
"I'll have the spaghetti bolognaise" he ordered.
The waiter wrote it all down before taking the menus and walking off. Due to the busy nature of the restaurant Lydia had to sit in with them this time as there were no spare seats anywhere else.
"So how long you been looking after Damon? asked Melissa.
"About 8 months" replied Lydia.
"Hope he doesn't cause too many trouble" joked Melissa
"No he is ok" answered Lydia. "Most of the time" she added smirking.
"I'm a model patient, come on!" piped up Damon.
"Yeah your ok, much better than others I have looked after in your condition" expressed Lydia looking after Damon a bit.
As they continued to chat their meals finally came out. A steaming hot spaghetti bolognaise was put in front of Damon while Melissa looked at her lasagne and was suitably impressed. Lydia unflapped a napkin and tucked it in at the top of Damon's t-shirt just below his vent. Melissa began to eat her meal then looked on as Lydia twirled a bit of spaghetti and prepared to fire it into Damon's expectant mouth, she didn't want to make Damon feel self conscious but she had to sneak a look at him opening up his mouth and Lydia placing the pasta dish in, she had done it plenty of times at the nursing home but this time it was different as it was a young man, a man she was starting to become fond of. Melissa watched as he chewed away, she knew that it must feel degrading to some degree not being able to feed yourself but she couldn't help but admire Damon's courage and persistence to still get out and do things like eat a meal in public. "You amaze me" she gushed. "Why?" asked a perplexed Damon. Melissa felt no need to explain as she didn't want to appear cliched or condescending by saying how "inspired" she was by Damon. After Melissa finished her meal she could see Damon still had a few mouthfuls to go. "How does it taste?" she wondered.
"If I'm being honest I wouldn't know for sure. With the vent you pretty much lose you sense of smell and taste" replied Damon.
Melissa didn't know this and once again just remarked at how little she knew about all of this and what Damon must go through on a daily basis. "There's just so much more I need to learn" admitted Melissa.
"Yes there is a lot to being a ventilator dependant quadriplegic but just learn what you can. All I want is for people to take an interest that's all"
"Well I'm not going anywhere" beamed Melissa placing her hand on Damon's leg. It really "felt" good and Damon couldn't help but break into a big smile.
After their dinner was taken away it was time for dessert. "I'd really love a chocolate fudge sundae but I'm not sure I could eat it all, want to go halves?" asked Melissa. Damon didn't want to disappoint so agreed. The fudge sundae came out and was quite large, Melissa plunged the spoon in and got a generous amount of ice cream and fudge on it.
"Do you mind if I feed you?" proposed Melissa surprised even herself at how forward she was.
"Yeah sounds good" replied Damon. "You have to wait for me to open my mouth up and place it on my tongue though as I can't lean forward to take it off the spoon" he instructed.
Melissa moved over with the spoonful of dessert, while she wanted to do it her hand started to shake a bit as didn't want to do it wrong, Damon opened his mouth and Melissa placed the sugary treat on his tongue, he closed his lips and slid it off, the action of it all got Melissa a bit hot and bothered and made her think of her own lips clashing with Damon's, it had been so long since her last embrace with a man that she knew a kiss would send her heart into a frenzy, she was definitely ready for it though if it arose. Lydia looked on as the tension between the two was obvious for anyone to see, she was in an uncomfortable position in a sense but once they left the restaurant she knew they could talk alone and do what they liked. Soon enough the chocolate fudge sundae was polished off and they called for the bill.
"I know you probably want to get home but do you feel like a night walk in the park?" asked Damon.
"A walk?" questioned Melissa
.
"Yeah I know. It's a bit silly saying walk but you know what I mean" replied Damon
"That wasn't what I meant but yeah that sounds good" enthused Melissa.
The park was just 50 metres away from the restaurant and the two of them took off with Lydia telling Melissa that if anything went wrong to run back and tell her. Damon mastered his straw as they took off along the path and very quickly they found themselves at a park bench. "I had such a good time tonight" commented Damon.
"Feeling is mutual" bubbled Melissa.
"Does any of this ever become too much?" asked a worried Damon
"You being a quad? Not really. I have to admit I was taken aback by the fact you were a quadriplegic originally, then I had a little freak out that I didn't want to lead you on but that was just my issues really"
"So you think we could have something?"
"Yes most definitely. I know that I enjoy spending time with you and that's normally half the battle isn't it?"
"Very true. I probably shouldn't ask but what do you think when you see me getting fed though?"
"I don't think anything, nothing bad anyway. That's why I fed you myself. I wanted to stay away from the cliches but I just think your so incredibly brave for getting out and about. I know if it happened to me I would be a complete wreck not wanting anyone to see me. Not that being a quadriplegic is anything to be ashamed of it would just be my own stupid insecurities coming out preventing me from doing anything"
"You see that's the thing. I don't see a shy insecure woman, I see one who is bursting with not only beauty but also warmth and love, your a very special woman Melissa Ryan and you should never forget that" expressed Ryan causing Melissa now to blush.
She had never been one to make the first move but after such an overwhelming compliment and seeing the look in Damon's eyes she knew it was the right thing to do, she moved forward and prepared to land the sweetest of embraces on Damon. Sitting in his wheelchair immobile he could see Melissa coming towards him and knew that this was it, their first kiss, Melissa paused ever so briefly for a second wondering if she should do it, as she got closer she could once again smell Damon's aftershave, it smelt so good and this all felt so right so she didn't delay any longer and closed her eyes before planting her lips on Damon, as soon as they touched Melissa was sent into a world of delight, fireworks seemed to go off in her head and she couldn't believe how good it felt to be close to someone again, she didn't dare open her eyes but hoped Damon was enjoying it too, he had no movement of his head but he still seemed to know how to kiss, using his lips in a way Melissa had never felt before with also just the right amount of tongue, after a few passion filled seconds Melissa finally came up for air... As she pulled away she looked into Damon's eyes and had never seen a man so taken by her, his pupils were fully dilated and he clearly felt what she did, pure ecstasy..."Wow" said an almost breathless Melissa. "Wow indeed" agreed Damon, he didn't believe he could ever feel this way again about someone, particularly after his accident, but he was now starting to think it was possible...
Chapter 1
Melissa Ryan was a quiet woman, she worked at the local aged care nursing home and went about her business with a minimum of fuss, she loved her job looking after the old people though as she felt like they shouldn't be forgotten about just because they had got on in years. You could probably say Melissa saw a bit of herself in them as she felt a little bit forgotten by society, she had trouble forming friendships due to her shy nature and probably only had one real friend named Shelley. Melissa had also lost touch with her only remaining relative as well and she lived alone in a modest house just outside of town. While she bemoaned her lack of life so to speak she wasn't the clubbing type or one to go to a bar and sink some pool or have a few drinks. She didn't mind the odd glass of white wine though and was just happy most nights to be curled up on the couch reading a book or watching a movie. When her 30th birthday came around though she looked around and couldn't help but feel lonely, Shelley made a big deal out of it for her baking a cake and giving her a gift of earrings but Melissa decided that she wanted more, she knew it was time to try and meet a man.
With Melissa being quite shy she knew the internet was probably her best bet, as she typed the words "Dating sites" into the search engine her hands almost trembled a bit. After a couple of seconds thousands of results came up, just looking at them all seemed overwhelming and Melissa almost closed the screen immediately."How do I know which one is right for me?" she asked herself. She scoured through the results and came up on a site called "Just for Fun.com".Now most people who have been around know exactly what the word "fun" means when ti comes to dating sites but not Melissa, she clicked on it and couldn't believe what pictures some of the men on there had posted, she quickly learned it was a swingers site and shut it down straight away, disgusted by what she saw. After that bad experience she decided to head to bed having seen enough. "If all the sites are like that then I'm definitely in trouble" she mumbled to herself before popping into her red and black striped pj's and making her way into bed.
The next morning she woke up and just felt a tinge of sadness. She knew it was loneliness knocking at her door and being a rainy Saturday she would spend it inside with this new book she had just purchased called "Angel on Horizon Road". After flicking past the first couple of pages she decided that she'd had enough of this, she needed to stiffen her upper lip and get back on the computer and do research on some more dating sites. Once again she logged on and could feel her heart pounding, this time she clicked on a site called "Perfect Partner 4 U". She wasn't a fan of text speak but thought it looked innocent enough, she looked through a few profiles and realised she liked this site a lot more than the other one, although that wasn't hard. After perusing 4 or 5 profiles it suddenly came up. "To keep viewing profiles please sign up". Melissa wasn't one to like being told what to do necessarily but she decided that this had to be done. She wasn't one to really sell herself either so decided to keep the profile brief.
"30 year old single woman seeks male companion. 5"6, hazel eyes, long chestnut brown hair, medium build. I like books, music and movies. I'm also someone who likes the little things in life and would love to meet a man who thinks the same way. I'm shy when people first talk to me but then I warm up. If you like what you read please contact me" read Melissa's profile.
She knew it was nowhere near the length of some people on there but she didn't want to say too much, not that there was much to say anyway. Before she even had time to decide whether or not she wanted to put up a photo she received a message." Hey sexy how you doing?" asked the man. She looked at his profile and it said that he "wants to get busy with as many women as possible". Melissa screwed her face up and just thought what an absolute sleaze and deleted him straight away. As she went back to looking for a picture she suddenly wondered that someone might spot her on here, god that would be so embarrassing she thought, forgetting the fact she barely knew anyone to see it. After some toing and froing she decided to put up one of her with sunglasses on, it was a pic that didn't really show anything but she thought it was better than the silhouette of a woman which would be the other option. Melissa decided if any of the men were interesting to her then she could always privately send them a photo. After completing the profile she decided to log off and come back later, setting it up was enough excitement for one day and she decided that she would come back tomorrow to see if she had any bites.
Little than an hour after making herself a coffee and going back to her book Melissa couldn't help but wonder if anyone had messaged her on "Perfect Partner 4 U". She had told herself she was going to wait till tomorrow but the suspense was killing her, "Oh god I can't believe I'm doing this" she chastised herself as she logged in to see if anyone had left her a message. She typed in her username and password and was surprised by the results, she already had 8 messages and it had only been an hour. "Geez if I got this many in an hour how many would I get in a day? Surely one of these is someone I could get to know" she smiled eager to see what these men had to say. Her excitement was quickly tempered though as she read the messages, once again they all seemed to be from men thinking with what was between their legs rather than their head or their heart. "I'm so sick of this.. Aren't there any normal guys?" she moaned. After the first 6 messages she didn't even bother to read the last two and deleted them without looking. She started to beat herself up and decided that she was probably just destined to be alone...
2 weeks passed and Melissa hadn't been on Perfect Partners 4 U again, after a tough day at work though and a lonely cold apartment almost swallowing her up in her own misery she decided to give it one more go. "This time your going to give it a red hot go Melissa" she said to herself. Once again she logged on and found she had in excess of 100 messages, most of them were spam or horny men so she just decided to wipe the slate clean and delete them all, start afresh. As she had a skim through the profiles she saw a couple of men that looked alright, she wanted to message them but was far too shy to make the first move, even if it was from behind a computer screen. After a few of the usual messages she finally got one from a guy who seemed like he at least had some potential. "Hi Melissa I'm Damon, I had a read of your profile and thought you seemed like a nice down to earth woman, I too like to read and am not opposed to a good movie either. Anyway if you would like to chat then please get back to me". Melissa thought he sounded very polite and had a look at his profile, he was a very attractive man with big broad shoulders and a cheeky smile, his brown hair was short but fashionable and it said in his profile he was 6"2. Looks weren't the be all and end all though and if they didn't get along it wouldn't matter how he looked, he definitely deserved a message back though as he was probably the first "real" man she had talked to. Still, she wasn't getting her hopes up.
Over the course of the next few days Melissa and Damon exchanged messages, he seemed like a real gentleman not to mention quite well spoken, they seemed to have so much in common having read a lot of the same books and also their taste in music, this made Melissa start to really come out of her shell and she started to warm up to Damon. After what was probably their 10th message they graduated to talking online before Damon decided to propose a meeting.
"Oh I'm not sure. Are we ready to meet just yet?" asked a nervous Melissa.
"I think we are. Believe me I will be just as nervous as you" assured Damon.
"Oh ok. Fortune favours the brave I guess" replied Melissa.
Her last date per se would have been her ex boyfriend. That was 4 years ago now and was a relationship that was riddled with abuse and one she had struggled to forget. In essence it was the main reason she had been single for so long.
They set up a time to meet at the Fountain River Shopping Mall the next day at 4pm. It was a Tuesday which she thought was a little strange." You don't have a job?" she asked. It was a question that had never come up before as they used to just wax lyrical about their love of books and other interests. "No not at the moment" replied Damon. Melissa wasn't overly happy with his reply but she wasn't one to judge, she thought he may have just been one of the unlucky few that had lost his job, with the way the economy was and all.
Soon enough the next day rolled around and Melissa was having a lot of trouble deciding what to wear, she wanted to dress casual but still a bit dressy. This was her first date in years and she wanted to make a good impression, that was if she even got there and didn't chicken out. She was so overwhelmed by nerves she almost called and cancelled but then knew she just had to suck it up, find an outfit and go out there to meet Damon. After a couple of changes Melissa decided on a nice sleeveless white top with a black knee length pencil skirt and some black pumps to complete the outfit, she normally tied her hair back but today Melissa was going to wear it down, she normally didn't wear much makeup but decided she would break with tradition and put on a bit of foundation followed by some mascara and lip gloss to finish off. As she looked in the mirror she thought she looked nice but was terrified that Damon wouldn't like what he saw, she used to be extremely overweight growing up and while she was now a good curvy weight she still had body issues. By the same token though if he didn't accept her for who she was then she wasn't going to waste her time on him anyway. The shopping centre was only 100 metres down the road so she planned on walking there, she took one last look in the mirror and headed out..
As she walked the short journey to the shopping centre her heart was literally pounding out of it's chest, the closer she got to the meeting point the quicker it raced, Melissa knew she had to do this though, she was sick of eating microwave dinners and being alone, plus Damon seemed like a nice guy, she was sure that once they get talking it will be just like on the internet where they usually ended up talking for hours about their favourite books or quotes. Soon she found herself at the entrance to the mall. "No going back now" she said before taking a long calming deep breath. The meeting point was a quiet cafe at the back of the mall, Melissa had been there before and felt comfortable there so it should make things easier. She ordered a cafe latte then sat down to drink it in anticipation of the arrival of Damon. As she made her way through her coffee she looked at her watch and it read 4:09, he was a little late but nothing to get too worried about she thought. "Just relax Melissa, deep breaths" she kept saying to herself. She picked up her handbag and had a quick look in the mirror of her foundation capsule to see if everything was still all how she wanted it and was glad to see it was. A further 5 minutes passed and Melissa's legs were now starting to become restless, her foot now tapping the side of the table furiously. Just as she started to think Damon wasn't coming she heard a voice calling her name. "Melissa" the voice asked. She couldn't help but think there seemed to be a little bit of a hiss in it but just assumed it was a noise from the coffee machine or something. She turned around to see who it was. "Melissa?" he asked again.
"Yes?" replied Melissa before having fully looked around.
"It's me. It's Damon"
"What?? You can't be Damon!"
"Well yes. Actually it is"
"It can't be.. Your a... a.... your a" said a stunned Melissa struggling to deal with the unexpected sight.
"Quadriplegic?"
"Yes" replied Melissa with her jaw on the ground. She had no idea what on earth to say or how this had even happened.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but I wasn't worried if you knew you wouldn't meet me" said Damon trying to explain.
"Well it's a pretty big thing to omit!!!!" blurted out a still flabbergasted Melissa.
"I know. Believe me I feel terrible. It's just ever since my accident no-one wants to give me a chance. They see the chair and straight away delete me as a possible suitor for their affections" expressed Damon hoping Melissa could look past this deception.
"But you lied to me. You had a picture up on your profile of an able bodied person for god's sake!!" protested Melissa not believing her first date in years had gone up in smoke so quickly.
"The picture of that able bodied man is me. Well me 4 years ago, before my accident. Can you please just give me a chance?" pleaded Damon.
Melissa looked at him and was filthy, while she had sympathy for his condition she couldn't look past this deceit. "Look I'm really sorry but I don't think I can date a liar.Goodbye" replied Melissa before going to storm out.
"Wait!" asked Damon desperately as she almost left. "Just spend 15 minutes with me and if you still hate me after that then you can leave and we never have to speak to one another ever again. Surely all those good conversations we had are worth something?"
Melissa didn't want to give Damon a chance but she decided that she would just spend the 15 minutes and be on her way, confident nothing that he could say would change her mind."Ok you got 15 minutes" she informed Damon reluctantly.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it" acknowledged Damon. He had a lot to tell Melissa but it was just a question of whether she would listen or not..
Melissa sat back down and prepared to give Damon his 15 minutes, while she had nothing on for the rest of the day she was committed to only giving him the time they had agreed on and no more. "You better make this good" cautioned Melissa, her lips now pursed in annoyance.
"I originally had myself up as a quadriplegic on Perfect Partners. But I reckon over a two month period I sent over 100 messages. How many replies do you think I got?" asked Damon.
"I don't know. 20?"
"I wish" replied Damon almost laughing but the vent bursting out of his neck preventing it. "Try 5"
"5?. Even though you lied to me I find it hard that you got only 5, your so easy to talk to"
"Well believe it. Four of them just wanted to know how I became this way and weren't interested in getting to know me, while the other woman seemed genuine so we arranged to meet" informed Damon.
"So you met someone??"
"Well no. She knew I was a quadriplegic and everything and we talked for a little bit then we set a date to meet. I got there early and waited but she never showed" lamented Damon.
"What a cow" responded Melissa knowing she would be very angry if that happened to her.
"Yeah well she messaged me later saying that she did turn up, but when she saw me in my chair and everything that goes with it 'she just couldn't do it'. I can't begin to tell you how much it knocked me around" expressed Damon.
"Well that's terrible but I would have messaged you back even if you did have your real picture up. Honesty is more important to me than anything physical"
"I did message you as a quadriplegic. Twice in fact" informed Damon waiting for a response.
"Are you serious? I never got them" replied Melissa surprised having never seen them. "Oh hang on I might have deleted them. I kept getting sleazy messages so after a few I just deleted all my messages" added Melissa realising that Damon could be right.
"Well I definitely sent them. I still probably have them in my sent folder"
"Ok I will believe you. I'm sorry if this sounds a bit rude but how do you type?" enquired Melissa. In the few minutes they had been talking she hadn't seen movement of any nature coming from Damon and wondered if he had any at all.
"It's ok. I like people to ask questions about my condition and learn about it. I have a system called Dragon Dictate, it allows me to use my voice to type"
"Wow. Now it makes sense, I have to say when I saw you I was so shocked and wondering how on earth we messaged online all those times!" smiled Melissa now loosening up a touch.
"Yeah it's a godsend. Your reading Angel On Horizon Road?" asked Damon
"How do you know that???" wondered Melissa.
"I'd like to say I'm psychic but it's falling out of your handbag" informed Damon
Melissa looked down and saw her handbag almost falling off the chair, she put th
e book firmly back in. "So you've read it?"
"Yes, it's a very nice story. Well written too although you have to expect that from Kathy Reichenstein"
"You like her?"
"Yeah she is one of my favourite authors"
"Me too"
"Well you will love 'angel' then" enthused Damon. "I want to be honest with you from now on so you can go now if you really want. I think the 15 minutes is up" replied Damon not wanting Melissa to go but thinking she was probably just being polite by not leaving.
"Oh is it?" said a surprised Melissa. "I'm not happy about the way this all transpired initially but I think I'd like to stay now. As you said earlier it would be a shame to let all those long terrific chats we had go to waste"
This made Damon smile, not only did he find Melissa quite appealing to the eye but her personality seemed to now be radiating through as well just like in their previous conversations.
"I guess I should tell you one more thing"
"Oh what's that?"
"You see that middle aged woman over there with the yellow cardigan on"
"Yes I see her"
"That's my nurse. With my condition I have to be cared for 24/7" Damon admitted. While he liked people to become acquainted with his condition he was still concerned over it all becoming too much for a prospective love interest to handle.
"I have to say I was wondering how on earth you got here and everything. I wonder a lot of things though looking at you" spilled Melissa letting Damon know just a little extra than she planned. While she had definitely been thrown by this curve ball of sorts she didn't seem to now be as nervous as she thought she would be.
"Well I'm happy to answer anything you are wondering about" responded Damon.
"Oh boy, now I feel like you've put me on the spot haha"
"All good. Fire away"
Melissa had a myriad of questions to ask but she didn't want to seem insensitive, she decided just to go with a relatively safe one first off. "How do you move your chair?"
"I move it by way of something called a sip 'n' puff wheelchair. It's a technology where you send signals to a device using air pressure by sipping or inhaling or puffing on this white straw which you can probably see next to my lips"
"So you can't move anything then? Like in your body I mean?"
"No I have what is called a C1 level injury which means I am paralyzed from the neck down. I have no ability to move my head either, just my mouth and eyes and the feeling in my face. It's the worst spinal injury you can have"
Melissa just sat there with her mouth open at this man's complete paralysis. Sure she looked after some old people who had little movement but that was nothing compared to what this man must go through on a daily basis."How do you go left and right and backwards etc?"
"Well it consists of four different inputs. An initial hard puff moves it forward while a hard sip will stop it. On the other hand an initial hard sip will take it backwards and a hard puff will stop it. For left or right movement a continuous soft sip or puff is needed with the distance depending on how long I blow into it" informed Damon.
"Wow" remarked Melissa. She couldn't help but stare at him in his chair.
"What?"
"Sorry I was staring. I just can't believe all of this" she admitted.
"All of this?"
"Yeah just the way this day has gone. I was so unbelievably nervous I was almost shaking. Now I find that the you I thought I was meeting isn't really you but it still is. If that makes any sense haha" laughed Melissa
"Yeah I'm not sure" replied Damon having no idea what to say but enjoying the sound of Melissa's laugh.
"I have to say though, wheelchair or no wheelchair your still pretty cute" admitted Melissa. While she didn't have any firm views on what her perfect man should look like it was fair to say that Damon probably didn't fall into what most women want. She couldn't get past the fact though that she just felt so incredibly relaxed around him.
"Thanks. Your quite the stunner yourself!!" replied Damon thinking his luck might finally have turned.
For the next hour the two of them continued to talk, once again getting onto books and other things they both enjoyed like classical music. It was just like one of their chats online although they were now in front of each other, Melissa looking delightful in her knee length pencil skirt while Damon sat in a pair of funky jeans and nice collared white shirt, his broad shoulders sitting immobile on the back of his wheelchair, a large black strap across his chest keeping him in the wheelchair and also holding down the hose of the ventilator tight so it can keep pumping much needed air into his lungs, his arms in grooved arm rests strapped down mid wrist while his legs were also strapped down mid shin. His feet, previously responsible for moving around his 210 pound frame clad in white sneakers and sitting limp in the foot rests. The sight of such a strong man now completely immobile and confined to a wheelchair was a sight to behold and it was one that Melissa thought she would like to see again. "Looks like your nurse is coming over" alerted Melissa.
"Hi how are you? I'm Lydia" said the nurse introducing herself to Melissa. "Sorry to break this up but we have to get going Damon, you need to have your lungs suctioned and a couple of other little things"
"Already? That's a shame. I know we got off to a rocky start but can we do this again you think? asked a hopeful Damon.
"Yeah for sure. I had a really good time" beamed Melissa back.
She watched as Damon took the straw between his lips and blew into it to move it forward, his only way of movement. She couldn't help but look at him until he went out of her view. "What a crazy day" she mused to herself as she then made her way out of the mall and outside.
Once Melissa reached home she kicked off her shoes and flopped on the couch, straight away her thoughts turned to Damon and the date they had just been on, as she had these thoughts she got a phone call from her friend Shelley. "Hey girl, how was the hot date???" she asked wanting to know all the details.
"Haha well it was good. Not at all how I expected I know that" replied Melissa.
"Oh how so? I'm thinking you home pretty early so you didn't get busy" teased Shelley
"You know I'm not like that. No I meant different in the fact that he was different physically"
"So he was one of those guys that puts up a fake picture when he is really balding and 400 pounds?"
"No. Well not exactly, he was a quadriplegic"
"A what?"
"Quadriplegic. Completely paralyzed"
"Oh my god are you serious?"
"Very serious. At first i was so angry but then he explained and we got talking, I actually had a really good time in the end"
"Yeah but wait, haven't you been talking to him for like 2 weeks on the internet? How could he not think to tell you?"
"He told me that he just wanted someone to get to know him without the worry of them knowing he was a quadriplegic. It all made perfect sense when he explained it but I can't get into it now I have to go have a shower"
"Ok babe. Talk to you later"
With that said Melissa headed off into the shower where once again all she could think of was Damon. As she ran the moisturising soap over her body she then thought to herself just the simple action of having a shower would probably be a big deal for Damon, he would need someone to shampoo his hair and wouldn't be able to wash himself or dry off, she couldn't imagine that life for herself, she loved her Independence and not even being able to shoo away a fly or scratching an itch must be so utterly frustrating for Damon. As much as Melissa wanted to see him again she then started to fret that it would all become too much, she didn't want to give Damon false hope by meeting him again, all of a sudden she got it into her head somehow that the "right thing" to do would be not to see Damon again, that would be the fair thing to do for him and her...
Chapter 2
The next morning Melissa woke up and before going into work decided to check her emails, sure enough the first one was from Damon.
"Really enjoyed yesterday. Hope to hang out again soon" it read.
Melissa just felt sick, she had tossed and turned all night and convinced herself that Damon would be better off without her, she decided not to reply and just delete the message and head to work. All through work one thing continued to dominate her mind again though, she couldn't believe that meeting a person one time could have such a profound effect on her but it had. Melissa started to realise it wasn't Damon she was worried about letting down it was herself, she had been single so long and any kind of feelings or attachment to anything frightened the living hell out of her, it was probably the reason she was in fact single and the reason she continued to be. After work she headed home, while picking at a bit of dinner she once again decided to head onto the computer, as she opened her inbox she saw there was another message from Damon. It simply read "Have I done something wrong?". Melissa looked at it and now started to worry that maybe Damon needed this too much and was too keen, there was 10 hours between the emails but two in one day worried her, once again she was making excuses to herself and knew that they used to talk everyday online before they met so a reply wasn't unreasonable to expect. After some heavy procrastination she finally decided to reply. "Hey Damon, no nothing is wrong just been working. How was your day?". She waited for a reply and after a few minutes Damon responded. "Yeah day was good. Hope work wasn't too taxing. If you feel like chatting then let me know". Melissa thought about it for a minute then decided she was up for a chat and soon they found themselves chatting like all the other times, as Melissa typed she kicked herself for being so stupid and knew that this was right. They arranged a second meeting and would meet up again tomorrow night.
The next day rolled around and after a shift at the nursing home Melissa readied herself for another date, she almost found herself stressing out more than the first date over what to wear, finally she decided on a cute pink top with some jeans and ballet flats, they were only going to the movies so she thought no need to bring out the little black dress. She was meeting Damon at the cinemas so she got in her car and made her way over there, as she pulled up in the car park she started to get really nervous again and almost started to shake, she hated how her heart just beated so quick over these kinds of things, it would all turn out fine she was sure but try telling her mind and body that. Melissa grabbed her handbag and made her way in, it was a Thursday night and there were plenty of people around, at first she couldn't see Damon then spotted him in the corner with his nurse Lydia, his big wide black wheelchair now easy to spot. She moved up to him but when she got there she had no idea on how to greet him, should she lean over and give him a kiss on the cheek or should she just say hello and that's it? Melissa was generally one to wait for the man to dictate a greeting or embrace but with Damon being a quadriplegic she was very confused.
"Hey. So good to see you again" beamed Damon once he saw her.
"Hey. How you been?" replied Melissa.
"Yeah good. You can give me a kiss on the cheek hello if you want. I'd give you one but it's a bit difficult" joked Damon answering Melissa's question without her even having to ask.
Melissa moved over and gave him a peck on the cheek, while there she could smell Damon had a really sexy aftershave on and it made her feel a little giddy. "So many people here tonight, i'm thinking I should have picked a quieter night" admitted Damon.
"Yeah there does seem an abnormally large amount of people here but oh well, it will be good I'm sure"
They decided on the movie "Midnight Rendevouz in Paris" then made their way up to the ticket counter. When there Melissa did the ordering but that didn't stop the movie worker looking at Damon the way most people did, with pity. Damon was quite used to the look but still hated it nonetheless, although he was completely paralyzed he wanted to be treated as normal as possible. All three of them including Lydia who was just trailing behind to give them a little privacy made their way into the cinema, Melissa walked in and down the aisle, completely forgetting that they would have to sit in the disabled area.
"Melissa" called out Damon. "Up here".
Straight away Melissa realised her mistake. "Oh god I'm so sorry, I wasn't even thinking!"
"That's ok"
While they both got comfortable the previews started. Melissa looked across at Damon and smiled, having no head movement he wasn't able to look over at her but could feel her eyes on him. "What?" he asked. "Nothing. I know you can't feel it but can I hold your hand?" asked Melissa. This question pleased Damon and a grin appeared on his face "Sure". Melissa undid the strap on Damon's left arm and took his hand in hers. Soon enough the movie started, during the quiet parts of the movie the hum of Damon's ventilator became audible to a minor degree, a young woman looked around and gave him a foul look before the message "Do you think you can turn that thing down or something? This is a movie theatre not a breathing room" . Hearing this didn't go down well with Melissa and while normally never being one to say boo she got so angry and snapped back. "Why don't you turn down the ugly on your face? Looking at it is making me want to lose my dinner". Upon hearing this Damon and his nurse Lydia couldn't help but chuckle, a couple of other people seemed to be giggling too and the insensitive woman realised she was outnumbered and shut her trap for the rest of the movie. After another hour the movie finally drew to a close, as they prepared to leave the woman walked past.."Next time you think about going to the movies leave your cripple boyfriend behind ok" she snidely remarked before tearing off. Melissa sat there stunned at how someone could be so utterly rude and insensitive. "She is unbelievable. Have you ever got that before?" remarked Melissa thinking this would have to of been a one off.
"Yeah I have got it a couple of times. People always think there issues or wants and needs are worth more than yours. Don't get me wrong I don't want to be treated any different but i think I have a right to be able to watch a movie and breath for god's sake" remarked Damon.
"Damn straight you are" Melissa agreed strongly.
As that was said Melissa noticed Damon was a little pale. "Are you ok?" she worried.
"Not particularly but I should be ok" replied Damon.
Lydia took his blood pressure and it had spiked. "I'm just going to have to find a quiet spot and get you reclined for a bit, get your blood pressure down" she advised.
Melissa looked on with concern, she knew this life was tough but she had no idea of all the little, or major things that could go wrong. "Can I do anything to help?" she asked.
"It might be best if you head home I think. Damon will need to be like this for at least 30 minutes, then after that home and bed" told Lydia.
Melissa watched on as Lydia reclined the imposing 210 pound figure of Damon, she wondered how often things like this happened but she guessed time would tell, she wasn't planning on giving up on him anytime soon. "Ok Damon I'm just going to head off but I had a great time, hope you feel better quick and see you again soon" she expressed before giving Damon a kiss on the forehead goodbye, he smiled and managed a "Sorry" before a goodbye. Melissa hated to leave him but the nurse told him he needed 30 minutes downtime before he was well enough to go back in the van and back home again. That night Melissa couldn't help but fear for Damon's health, she just hoped he would be ok and they would be able to meet up once again.
After a restless night worrying about Damon, Melissa was glad to wake up the next morning and see she had an email waiting from him. "Sorry about last night. I felt really good throughout the movie then it just hit me. Sometimes when I spend too much time upright in my chair I can feel a bit sick but it's all good now. Hope it didn't freak you out too much.." read the message. Melissa was glad he was ok, and the fact he was polite enough to tell her about his well being, she messaged back and after a bit of email ping pong they arranged another date.
Their third meeting was to be at a restaurant Damon had been to and enjoyed, it was an Italian eatery and Melissa was excited as not only did she get to see Damon again but she loved a good lasagne. This time she didn't stress out too much over what to wear choosing a summery pink dress as she know felt fairly comfortable around Damon, he wasn't like most guys, both mentally and physically. As she pulled up outside the restaurant though she once again had a bit of nerves, she figured that was a good thing as it meant she liked him. Melissa hopped out of the car and made her way inside and to the front desk to announce her arrival to the maitre'd. As she got there though she saw Lydia waving. "Over here Melissa". She made her way over to a table next to the window, Damon was looking very hot in a nice tight black top and jeans, his feet in black shiny loafers. She said hello to Lydia then looked at Damon."Looking good" she smiled. Damon hadn't heard a genuine complement for a while and almost blushed. "Thanks. Looking pretty good yourself" he gestured back. Melissa sat down on Damon's right while Lydia sat on his left, she noted one couple staring at them a little but just ignored them and looked down at the menu.
"So what are you having?" asked Melissa.
"Was thinking the spaghetti bolognaise" replied Damon.
"Well that's a pretty good choice in a Italian restaurant haha. I'm thinking the lasagne"
Soon after that was said the waiter came over. "What would you like to order?"
"I'll have the lasagne please" announced Melissa followed by the waiter looking at Lydia.
"I'm just nurse for him I'm not ordering" she replied.
The waiter looked at Damon and wasn't sure of his condition or whether he could talk. "Would you like to order Sir?" asked the waiter.
"I'll have the spaghetti bolognaise" he ordered.
The waiter wrote it all down before taking the menus and walking off. Due to the busy nature of the restaurant Lydia had to sit in with them this time as there were no spare seats anywhere else.
"So how long you been looking after Damon? asked Melissa.
"About 8 months" replied Lydia.
"Hope he doesn't cause too many trouble" joked Melissa
"No he is ok" answered Lydia. "Most of the time" she added smirking.
"I'm a model patient, come on!" piped up Damon.
"Yeah your ok, much better than others I have looked after in your condition" expressed Lydia looking after Damon a bit.
As they continued to chat their meals finally came out. A steaming hot spaghetti bolognaise was put in front of Damon while Melissa looked at her lasagne and was suitably impressed. Lydia unflapped a napkin and tucked it in at the top of Damon's t-shirt just below his vent. Melissa began to eat her meal then looked on as Lydia twirled a bit of spaghetti and prepared to fire it into Damon's expectant mouth, she didn't want to make Damon feel self conscious but she had to sneak a look at him opening up his mouth and Lydia placing the pasta dish in, she had done it plenty of times at the nursing home but this time it was different as it was a young man, a man she was starting to become fond of. Melissa watched as he chewed away, she knew that it must feel degrading to some degree not being able to feed yourself but she couldn't help but admire Damon's courage and persistence to still get out and do things like eat a meal in public. "You amaze me" she gushed. "Why?" asked a perplexed Damon. Melissa felt no need to explain as she didn't want to appear cliched or condescending by saying how "inspired" she was by Damon. After Melissa finished her meal she could see Damon still had a few mouthfuls to go. "How does it taste?" she wondered.
"If I'm being honest I wouldn't know for sure. With the vent you pretty much lose you sense of smell and taste" replied Damon.
Melissa didn't know this and once again just remarked at how little she knew about all of this and what Damon must go through on a daily basis. "There's just so much more I need to learn" admitted Melissa.
"Yes there is a lot to being a ventilator dependant quadriplegic but just learn what you can. All I want is for people to take an interest that's all"
"Well I'm not going anywhere" beamed Melissa placing her hand on Damon's leg. It really "felt" good and Damon couldn't help but break into a big smile.
After their dinner was taken away it was time for dessert. "I'd really love a chocolate fudge sundae but I'm not sure I could eat it all, want to go halves?" asked Melissa. Damon didn't want to disappoint so agreed. The fudge sundae came out and was quite large, Melissa plunged the spoon in and got a generous amount of ice cream and fudge on it.
"Do you mind if I feed you?" proposed Melissa surprised even herself at how forward she was.
"Yeah sounds good" replied Damon. "You have to wait for me to open my mouth up and place it on my tongue though as I can't lean forward to take it off the spoon" he instructed.
Melissa moved over with the spoonful of dessert, while she wanted to do it her hand started to shake a bit as didn't want to do it wrong, Damon opened his mouth and Melissa placed the sugary treat on his tongue, he closed his lips and slid it off, the action of it all got Melissa a bit hot and bothered and made her think of her own lips clashing with Damon's, it had been so long since her last embrace with a man that she knew a kiss would send her heart into a frenzy, she was definitely ready for it though if it arose. Lydia looked on as the tension between the two was obvious for anyone to see, she was in an uncomfortable position in a sense but once they left the restaurant she knew they could talk alone and do what they liked. Soon enough the chocolate fudge sundae was polished off and they called for the bill.
"I know you probably want to get home but do you feel like a night walk in the park?" asked Damon.
"A walk?" questioned Melissa
.
"Yeah I know. It's a bit silly saying walk but you know what I mean" replied Damon
"That wasn't what I meant but yeah that sounds good" enthused Melissa.
The park was just 50 metres away from the restaurant and the two of them took off with Lydia telling Melissa that if anything went wrong to run back and tell her. Damon mastered his straw as they took off along the path and very quickly they found themselves at a park bench. "I had such a good time tonight" commented Damon.
"Feeling is mutual" bubbled Melissa.
"Does any of this ever become too much?" asked a worried Damon
"You being a quad? Not really. I have to admit I was taken aback by the fact you were a quadriplegic originally, then I had a little freak out that I didn't want to lead you on but that was just my issues really"
"So you think we could have something?"
"Yes most definitely. I know that I enjoy spending time with you and that's normally half the battle isn't it?"
"Very true. I probably shouldn't ask but what do you think when you see me getting fed though?"
"I don't think anything, nothing bad anyway. That's why I fed you myself. I wanted to stay away from the cliches but I just think your so incredibly brave for getting out and about. I know if it happened to me I would be a complete wreck not wanting anyone to see me. Not that being a quadriplegic is anything to be ashamed of it would just be my own stupid insecurities coming out preventing me from doing anything"
"You see that's the thing. I don't see a shy insecure woman, I see one who is bursting with not only beauty but also warmth and love, your a very special woman Melissa Ryan and you should never forget that" expressed Ryan causing Melissa now to blush.
She had never been one to make the first move but after such an overwhelming compliment and seeing the look in Damon's eyes she knew it was the right thing to do, she moved forward and prepared to land the sweetest of embraces on Damon. Sitting in his wheelchair immobile he could see Melissa coming towards him and knew that this was it, their first kiss, Melissa paused ever so briefly for a second wondering if she should do it, as she got closer she could once again smell Damon's aftershave, it smelt so good and this all felt so right so she didn't delay any longer and closed her eyes before planting her lips on Damon, as soon as they touched Melissa was sent into a world of delight, fireworks seemed to go off in her head and she couldn't believe how good it felt to be close to someone again, she didn't dare open her eyes but hoped Damon was enjoying it too, he had no movement of his head but he still seemed to know how to kiss, using his lips in a way Melissa had never felt before with also just the right amount of tongue, after a few passion filled seconds Melissa finally came up for air... As she pulled away she looked into Damon's eyes and had never seen a man so taken by her, his pupils were fully dilated and he clearly felt what she did, pure ecstasy..."Wow" said an almost breathless Melissa. "Wow indeed" agreed Damon, he didn't believe he could ever feel this way again about someone, particularly after his accident, but he was now starting to think it was possible...
Sunday, 2 September 2012
A Date to Remember - Chapters 3 and 4
Chapter 3
After the kiss under the moonlight of the local park things between Melissa and Damon flourished, they had been on two more dates and both parties were completely smitten. After their fifth date Melissa started to wonder how Damon became a quadriplegic, he had never broached the subject so until he did she decided just to let it slide, guessing that he would tell her all in good time. In more immediate matters and while watching a movie one night Melissa decided to propose a meeting.
"I'd really love for you to meet my best friend Shelley. I want to show you off" bubbled Melissa.
"Sure. No worries" replied Damon knowing now they had been on 6 dates and it was probably time to start meeting each others significant people in their lives. It was arranged for 7pm at Melissa's house and she couldn't wait. "Your going to love him. He's so warm and intelligent" gushed Melissa to Shelley as they waited for his arrival. Shelley stood there a bit concerned over how quickly Melissa had fallen for this man but knew this was important to her friend. Soon enough they heard a van pull up in the driveway."He's here" giggled Melissa. She walked outside and out to meet them, opening up the sliding door and seeing Damon sitting inside. "Hey beautiful" he expressed at the sight of his intended. "Hey you!" she replied happy to see her man again. She hopped back of the way and Damon made his way out of the van down the ramp that had been laid out. As they all got settled to come in Shelley was waiting at the front door, she had never seen a quadriplegic before and was astounded by how truly paralyzed he was in person, she also noticed a woman with her and had no idea who she was.
"Who's that woman?" Shelley asked.
"That's Lydia. Damon's nurse" replied Melissa
"How often is she around?"
"All the time. Damon is a vent dependant quadriplegic, he needs someone with him 24/7"
"Even when he is asleep?"
"Yup. Well in the vicinity at least in case something goes wrong"
Shelley had no experience with any of this and it was all spinning her out. As she stood there a little surprised by it all she turned around to see Damon. "Hi how are you? I'm Shelley" she introduced before putting her hand out without thinking.
"Well hello Shelley.Great to meet you. I'd love to shake your hand but I kinda can't" said Damon
"Oh god sorry. I wasn't thinking" replied Shelley embarrassed at her mistake.
They all moved into the lounge room, Damon manoeuvring his bulky black beast of a chair into a vacant part of the room, luckily most of Melissa's doors were doubles so it made it easy for him to get through them. "Anyone feel like a drink?" asked Melissa
"Yes I will have a coffee thanks" piped up Lydia.
"I'll have a vodka sunrise" ordered Shelley.
Melissa then looked at her man."Do you want anything babe?"
"Umm just a water will do thanks"
Melissa headed into the kitchen to fix the drinks leaving Shelley with Damon and his nurse who felt a bit uncomfortable about all of this.
"So how long have you and Melissa been friends?" asked Damon
"A while now" replied Shelley briefly.
"She's a great woman" gushed Damon a little.
"Yes she is, best friend I've ever had"
The conversation continued on for a few more minutes very slow and stilted until Melissa came back in with the drinks. She passed them all out before announcing "Hope you all got to know each other a bit more while I was out getting the drinks"
"Yeah. Like we have known each other all our lives" joked Damon.
It was at this point she put Damon's drink up to his lips, he had a straw so that he could suck it up rather than risk spills by trying to tip it in his mouth, once again Shelley went a bit funny, not believing that someone in Damon's position would want to live. She gulped down her vodka sunrise and quickly asked for another.
"Already?" exclaimed Melissa
"All good. I will go in and get it myself, you all talk"
The three of them all continued to talk while Shelley went into the kitchen, to deal with all of this she poured herself a straight vodka and sculled it in one hit before pouring herself another, as she sunk another drink Melissa came in. "So what do you think?"
"What do you mean?" replied a now inebriated Shelley.
"Damon of course!!"
"He's ok" she mumbled
"Ok? You don't like him do you? I know the fact he is a quad takes a little getting used to but he's so kind and just truly an amazing guy" bubbled Melissa
"Well if he makes you happy it doesn't matter what I think"
That answer made Melissa a little sad as she wanted her to like him, she guessed over time they would become friends though. Soon enough they found themselves back in the lounge room. "What were you girls whispering about?" teased Damon
"We weren't whispering!" smiled Melissa as she sat down.
All of a sudden there was a sound of something dripping. "What the hell is that?" yelled Shelley now quite drunk.
"That's Damon's cath bag, he has no control of his bladder so he needs a catheter and it filters into a bag near his left calf" explained Lydia.
"Oh shit seriously??" That's pretty fucked up" exclaimed Shelley in quite an insensitive manner.
"What is wrong with you tonight Shelley??" replied Melissa unhappy with her friend's comment.
"Nothing's wrong. We are all having a good time aren't we?" Shelley slurred before polishing off another drink.
"I think you have had enough" announced Melissa before grabbing her glass. "Time for you to get a taxi home"
"I'm good" protested Shelley.
"No your not good. Your disgracing yourself" chastised Melissa very unhappy with her friend.
A taxi was called and soon Shelley was barrelled into it and off home. After she left Melissa came back inside to see Damon and Lydia getting ready to leave. "Your going already??"
"Yeah I'm a bit tired and think it might be time to go" replied Damon
"Oh I'm sorry about Shelley. I've got no idea what got into her" explained Melissa hoping to change their minds.
"Well yeah I wouldn't say it was a great night per se but all good" said a polite Damon
"Ok well i will ring you in the morning then"
"Sounds good"
With that said Damon received a kiss to remember from Melissa and he was loaded into the van and headed off back home. Melissa flopped on the couch and was upset the night didn't go to plan, she thought Shelley would love Damon but clearly not, all night she was weird about it all and who knew why, as she relaxed on the couch she decided no point asking why, she was now a bit sleepy too and headed to bed.
The next day Melissa rang Damon to see how he was, he replied that while he wasn't overly keen on ever seeing Shelley again he just chalked it up to "one of those nights" and in time he hoped the two would be friends. After dealing with all of that Damon told Melissa he had a special treat for her.
"What is it?" asked an expectant Melissa.
"Just have to wait and see!" giggled Damon, his vent interrupting him a little. "Just make sure you put on a pair of heels and your best outfit" he added before they got off the phone.
After hanging up Melissa couldn't help but get excited, even though she had no idea what it was she guessed it had to be good, otherwise why else would she have to get so dressed up? As she had that thought she then started to fret over what to wear, she tended to not go out that much so she didn't have too many "going out" outfits. As she scoured through her wardrobe she finally came upon a majestic blue gown with a long train she had bought a couple of years ago, Melissa doubted she would ever wear it but guessed this was as good a time as any, she tried it on and thought it looked ok, low on self confidence Melissa was never one to really think she looked overly good in something but the gown made her feel a little special, she now just needed shoes. Melissa had a look at her shoes already out and they were mainly just flats or work shoes, they wouldn't be appropriate so she decided to go have a look in her wardrobe, as soon as she walked in she could see some ribbon weave pumps she had only worn once so decided they would do the trick, the gown was so long no-one would even see her shoes anyway but she would know, she wiggled her feet into them before heading over to do her makeup. Once that was done she had one last look in the mirror. "All looks ok" she gestured to herself then moved over to the front door to see if Damon had arrived yet. He wasn't here yet so she paced up and down the hallway of her home, nervous over what they would be doing, she then started to freak out and worried she might be too overdressed, sure he had told her to wear her best outfit but what if she had gone overboard? It was at this point she heard the van pull up. She walked outside to meet them, holding the bottom of her dress up so that it didn't get dirty as she pulled back the sliding door she got a nice surprise as she saw Damon in a tuxedo. "Wow. Looking very dapper I have to say!" remarked Melissa. Damon was too busy admiring Melissa to even respond, even though he had no breath of his own Melissa look so incredible he nearly lost his vent induced breaths too. "I can't believe it" he finally managed to get out.
"Can't believe what?"
"I didn't think it was even possible but you look even more beautiful" gushed Damon.
"Don't be silly I'm nothing special" replied Melissa still not used to men complimenting her and meaning it.
"That's where your wrong because you are special. Truly special"
Upon hearing this further praise Melissa started to blush, while they had only been on a handful of dates she was really falling hard for Damon. "So where are we going?"
"Have to wait and see I guess" teased Damon.
The van pulled out of the driveway and they took off, after hitting the road Melissa picked up Damon's hand and held it, Damon may not have been able to move or feel it but it still filled him with a sense of happiness while experienced Melissa comfort and security in his touch. Soon enough they came up to a well known building. "We are here" smiled Damon. Melissa looked up and could see it was the Metropolitan Opera, commonly known as the Met and got quite excited.
"We are going to see some opera!!?" she asked exuberantly at what was to come.
"You got it" replied Damon happy at Melissa's excitement.
"That's fantastic. What are we seeing??" bubbled Melissa
"Don Giovanni"
"Are you serious?? I've wanted to see this for ages. You are a truly wonderful man" thanked Melissa before landing a passionate blow on Damon's lips.
They entered the Opera, it all looked so majestic and Melissa was glad she wore her fancy gown, she couldn't help but get over how Damon looked, dressed to the nines in his tuxedo, smelling amazing as usual and looking super cute. Once they got inside where their show would be playing Melissa wondered where they would be sitting. "I have one more surprise" hinted Damon.
"Really? What?"
"We don't have to worry about anyone sitting next to us as I booked us a private balcony to watch the performance. It will just be you, me and Don Giovanni. Oh and Lydia of course!!" laughed Damon. Lydia naturally on hand in case anything went wrong.
"Wow you have thought of everything!" replied Melissa wondering if this day could get any better before landing another kiss, this time on Damon's cheek. She loved how his face always beamed when she kissed him, knowing he was feeling what she was.
After a few minutes the show started, once again Melissa taking Damon's hand in hers. The show was majestic and both parties marvelled at how skilled and talented the people in Don Giovanni were. Hours passed and the performance grew to a halt. "Melissa can do me a favour?" asked Damon.
"Of course"
"Give them a standing ovation for me"
Melissa just smiled knowing he was joking but that he had enjoyed the performance. Soon enough they were all loaded up into the van and heading back to Melissa's place. Once there Damon looked a little pale, it had been a big day and it was suggested by Lydia that he better stay in the van and head back home. Melissa looked at him and couldn't hide her feelings for him. "I had such a good time today. I can't get over how happy you make me, it's just ridiculous!" she poured out. "The feeling is more than mutual" he replied. Melissa gave him one last kiss then exited the van, she waved to them as they backed out of the driveway and thought this could be it, someone to share her life with. Who knew what lay ahead though..
Chapter 4
Damon and Melissa had now known each other two weeks but Melissa almost felt like it was two months or even two years, after their early hiccup upon meeting things had been going great and she was very hopeful for the future, as they arranged their next date Melissa decided it was time to see where Damon lived, they had met up 3 or 4 times for dates and Damon over to her place the other times. "Sure, you can come over here. Will be good" replied Damon to Melissa's request. Damon gave Melissa the address and a date was set for 7pm. Soon enough that time rolled around and Melissa popped into her car and headed over to Damon's place, she wondered what kind of place he had, she knew it would have to be spacious and wheelchair accessible but was sure it would still have it's charm. As she travelled into his street she made sure she got the address right, 28 Emerald street, Rockbank he told her, as she creeped closer to the house she eventually pulled up outside what was a very majestic house, it was only the one story but looked very classy and the garden was quite large as was the winding driveway leading in, Melissa wasn't sure what to expect but she had to admit she was impressed and was glad Damon wasn't living by every penny like some people have to in his situation. Melissa's little volkswagen chugged away up the driveway and she started to get nerves again, she didn't know why but the thought of seeing Damon still gave her butterflies which she guessed was a good thing.
After making her way up the driveway Melissa hopped of her car, she saw a big ramp outside and pictured Damon blowing into the straw of his sip 'n' puff and wheelchair gradually making his way up and inside, as Melissa moved towards the door she had a quick look in the mirror of her foundation capsule to make sure everything still looked the way she wanted, this was a usual occurrence and all was fine so she knocked on the door. After waiting a few seconds the door opened and it was Lydia. "Oh hey Lydia, how are you?" smiled Melissa.
"I'm well thanks. Come in" invited Lydia.
As Melissa made her way inside she could see the inside was every bit as good as the outside, a glass chandelier coming from the ceiling and some wonderful art adorning the entrance and hallway. As Melissa headed further in she saw her man, he looked so relaxed and was just wearing a black t-shirt with some cargo shorts. "Hello beautiful" he expressed upon the sight of Melissa, thinking she looked delightful in just a pink singlet top and jeans with red flip flops, her toes painted fire engine red to match her footwear. They had a quick embrace which they both enjoyed.
"Wow this place is amazing" remarked Melissa. "You really landed on your feet didn't you" she added not realising the pun, although once again thinking she had never actually heard the story about how her new man had become a quadriplegic.
"Yeah it's ok" replied Damon playing it down.
"OK?? King of the understatement much!!" responded Melissa
They decided to head into the lounge room where Lydia asked them if they wanted a drink, both of which said no so she then decided just to leave them be and have some alone time. "Great to finally see your house though, and you in it haha" laughed Melissa. Damon always loved that sound, the laugh of his potential new partner.
They continued to talk before Melissa started to sticky nose a little looking at what appeared to be family pictures and the like in the corner of the room. As she poked through the photos she would ask Damon who the people were. "Who's this?"
"My mother"
"This one?"
"That's my niece and nephew"
As Melissa continued to go through the photos she came up to one of Damon pre accident, he had an arm around a blonde woman and she just assumed it was another family member. "Who's this?" she asked pointing the picture at him. Melissa then noticed Damon's expression changing. "Something wrong? Was she your mistress?" joked Melissa.
"No, not my mistress" replied Damon
"Well who is she then??"
"My wife" informed Damon
"Your what!!????" objected Melissa thinking she must have misheard.
"It's not what you think" responded Damon
"How can you having a wife not be what I think!!??" screamed Melissa.
"I'm a widow"
"Oh god" replied Melissa changing her expression completely upon hearing this.
"If things progressed further I would have told you but we have still only known each other the sum of two weeks"
"Very true" acknowledged Melissa. "I'm so sorry to hear about your wife. I guess I'm just realising there is so much more to you than I first thought"
"Well yes. I'm sure there's more to Melissa Ryan too that I don't know about" expressed Damon
"Not much to tell with little old me" she replied knowing that wasn't true. While she was a quiet woman it was fair to say she hadn't lived a great life. "I don't mean to pry but how long ago did your wife pass?"
"4 years ago. It was the hardest period of my life, particularly given the circumstances"
"Circumstances?"
"Well yes" replied Damon cutting himself short. On one hand he wanted to let Melissa in and tell the story but on the other he probably felt it was too soon, not to mention the fact he wasn't keen to go through it all again.
"I get the feeling there's a bit to this so you don't have to tell me if you don't want to" assured Melissa.
After thinking about for a few seconds Damon decided to go forward with it. "To tell you the whole story I have to go back to a night in June 4 years ago. My wife Emily and I were going to the opening of a new restaurant in town, it was meant to be a glamorous affair and plenty of well known people would be there, we were just simple folk but a friend of mine was a big player around town and he couldn't go so he passed on two invitations to us. We both got dressed to the nines and headed off. The night was going well before we got invited to drinks on the balcony, as we laughed and swilled champagne we started to hear a creaking sound, at first we thought it was just the wind but then it got louder, not long after the balcony started to crack and everyone started rushing off, Emily and I were trapped at the back though and before we could get off the balcony collapsed" explained Damon now getting quite emotional.
Melissa just sat there, almost frozen at the chilling tale Damon was telling and the torture in his face as he told it, she knew this was bad but she had no idea how bad.
"My wife and I plus some others were still on it as it crumbled.. I can still remember the fear in Emily's eyes as we hurtled toward the ground below, I tried to somehow bring her body on top of mine to break her fall but she was just out of reach, we both hit the ground hard and I was knocked out. When I came to I was in a hospital unable to move,talk or breathe and told my wife was dead"
"Oh I'm so sorry" remarked Melissa now almost as ashen faced as Damon.
"Yeah well now you know I became like this" expressed Damon.
"I'm not worried about that, I just can't believe the story you have just told me, I can't imagine the pain you would have been in those first few months. Emotional and physical" empathised Melissa.
"Well it wasn't a picnic I'll tell you that for free. Lying there in that bed, day in, day out was the worst torture I think anyone could ever be put through, at first I was like a zombie, barely changing expression, too traumatised by the events of that night and everything that went with it. Then it just all turned to anger, so many days where I had so much anger, when that wore off though the sadness crept in like an unwanted visitor, some people might say this is weak but I reckon when it all finally caught up to me I cried every night for three months" explained a very solemn Damon.
"Your not weak at all, you are an incredibly brave wonderful human being" assured Melissa now picking up his limp hand and putting it in hers. "I can't imagine what I would be like. To not only lose a partner but to be left completely paralyzed and helpless. It's just too cruel"
"You want to know the worst part? I missed Emily's funeral due to being in hospital. I didn't even get to say a proper goodbye"
This was almost too much for Melissa, sure she had been through her own tough times but this was the purest form of heartbreak she had ever heard. "Did the people that build the balcony ever get prosecuted?"
"Yeah they got a lousy $160,000 fine. According to the report they were under a tight deadline so they put on a couple of unskilled workers to finish the job quick. They forgot to fortify the balcony properly and that's what caused it to buckle"
"A lousy fine and that's it!!?? What bastards! I guess with the legal system though it's not surprising"
"Yeah well my parents actually filed a civil suit against the restaurant and the company that built it while I was in hospital. I wasn't interested as I was just far too depressed and no amount of money would bring Emily back. My parents told me the week before I got out of the hospital the builders and restaurant owners settled for 3 million. That's how I got this house"
"I know in the scheme of things it's not much but better than the hospital I'm guessing" replied Melissa trying to find some sort of positive out of it all.
"Yeah I suppose. When i first moved in I didn't like it, but then again I didn't take pleasure in anything for a long time. To be honest it's only been the last few months that I have really moved on with life and tried to put it all behind me"
"I just can't believe what you have been through, it just defies belief" remarked Melissa.
"Well believe me I wish it all had of been some bad dream but it wasn't. I have to actually thank you"
"Thank me?? For what?"
"For giving me my first slice of happiness since that day. Spending time with you makes me feel alive again"
"Feeling is more than mutual" smiled Melissa. She then moved over and wiped the remaining moisture off Damon's face from the tears that had streamed down before giving him a comforting kiss on the cheek.
The two of them talked into the night before the clock struck 11pm and Melissa mentioned she had better go and let Damon get some rest. "Thanks for tonight. I know it must have been awfully hard to relive the events of 4 years ago but I appreciate you letting me in your life, past and present" expressed Melissa.
"Thanks for listening. Drive home safe" replied Damon.
Melissa just smiled and gave him a peck on the lips before heading off, she knew that some of the things that had happened in her life should go left unsaid and she planned to keep it that way, for now at least. Melissa arrived home but then while lying in bed she wondered if Damon was really over his late wife, sure she had the utmost sympathy for his loss but she didn't want to be living in the shadow of another woman, she was too sensitive for that and her heart far too fragile. As she continued to ponder this she then looked at the other side of the coin, if Damon just forgot about her and didn't at least acknowledge her memory in any way that wouldn't make him much of a man would it? At least she knew that he was loyal and respectful, two very honourable qualities. After mulling it over Melissa decided that she wouldn't want to be judged on her past so she wasn't going to do that with Damon, at this point in time things were going great and she was just being silly entertaining notions about being second fiddle. Damon was the closest thing she'd had to love in a long time and there was no good reason for that to change..
After the kiss under the moonlight of the local park things between Melissa and Damon flourished, they had been on two more dates and both parties were completely smitten. After their fifth date Melissa started to wonder how Damon became a quadriplegic, he had never broached the subject so until he did she decided just to let it slide, guessing that he would tell her all in good time. In more immediate matters and while watching a movie one night Melissa decided to propose a meeting.
"I'd really love for you to meet my best friend Shelley. I want to show you off" bubbled Melissa.
"Sure. No worries" replied Damon knowing now they had been on 6 dates and it was probably time to start meeting each others significant people in their lives. It was arranged for 7pm at Melissa's house and she couldn't wait. "Your going to love him. He's so warm and intelligent" gushed Melissa to Shelley as they waited for his arrival. Shelley stood there a bit concerned over how quickly Melissa had fallen for this man but knew this was important to her friend. Soon enough they heard a van pull up in the driveway."He's here" giggled Melissa. She walked outside and out to meet them, opening up the sliding door and seeing Damon sitting inside. "Hey beautiful" he expressed at the sight of his intended. "Hey you!" she replied happy to see her man again. She hopped back of the way and Damon made his way out of the van down the ramp that had been laid out. As they all got settled to come in Shelley was waiting at the front door, she had never seen a quadriplegic before and was astounded by how truly paralyzed he was in person, she also noticed a woman with her and had no idea who she was.
"Who's that woman?" Shelley asked.
"That's Lydia. Damon's nurse" replied Melissa
"How often is she around?"
"All the time. Damon is a vent dependant quadriplegic, he needs someone with him 24/7"
"Even when he is asleep?"
"Yup. Well in the vicinity at least in case something goes wrong"
Shelley had no experience with any of this and it was all spinning her out. As she stood there a little surprised by it all she turned around to see Damon. "Hi how are you? I'm Shelley" she introduced before putting her hand out without thinking.
"Well hello Shelley.Great to meet you. I'd love to shake your hand but I kinda can't" said Damon
"Oh god sorry. I wasn't thinking" replied Shelley embarrassed at her mistake.
They all moved into the lounge room, Damon manoeuvring his bulky black beast of a chair into a vacant part of the room, luckily most of Melissa's doors were doubles so it made it easy for him to get through them. "Anyone feel like a drink?" asked Melissa
"Yes I will have a coffee thanks" piped up Lydia.
"I'll have a vodka sunrise" ordered Shelley.
Melissa then looked at her man."Do you want anything babe?"
"Umm just a water will do thanks"
Melissa headed into the kitchen to fix the drinks leaving Shelley with Damon and his nurse who felt a bit uncomfortable about all of this.
"So how long have you and Melissa been friends?" asked Damon
"A while now" replied Shelley briefly.
"She's a great woman" gushed Damon a little.
"Yes she is, best friend I've ever had"
The conversation continued on for a few more minutes very slow and stilted until Melissa came back in with the drinks. She passed them all out before announcing "Hope you all got to know each other a bit more while I was out getting the drinks"
"Yeah. Like we have known each other all our lives" joked Damon.
It was at this point she put Damon's drink up to his lips, he had a straw so that he could suck it up rather than risk spills by trying to tip it in his mouth, once again Shelley went a bit funny, not believing that someone in Damon's position would want to live. She gulped down her vodka sunrise and quickly asked for another.
"Already?" exclaimed Melissa
"All good. I will go in and get it myself, you all talk"
The three of them all continued to talk while Shelley went into the kitchen, to deal with all of this she poured herself a straight vodka and sculled it in one hit before pouring herself another, as she sunk another drink Melissa came in. "So what do you think?"
"What do you mean?" replied a now inebriated Shelley.
"Damon of course!!"
"He's ok" she mumbled
"Ok? You don't like him do you? I know the fact he is a quad takes a little getting used to but he's so kind and just truly an amazing guy" bubbled Melissa
"Well if he makes you happy it doesn't matter what I think"
That answer made Melissa a little sad as she wanted her to like him, she guessed over time they would become friends though. Soon enough they found themselves back in the lounge room. "What were you girls whispering about?" teased Damon
"We weren't whispering!" smiled Melissa as she sat down.
All of a sudden there was a sound of something dripping. "What the hell is that?" yelled Shelley now quite drunk.
"That's Damon's cath bag, he has no control of his bladder so he needs a catheter and it filters into a bag near his left calf" explained Lydia.
"Oh shit seriously??" That's pretty fucked up" exclaimed Shelley in quite an insensitive manner.
"What is wrong with you tonight Shelley??" replied Melissa unhappy with her friend's comment.
"Nothing's wrong. We are all having a good time aren't we?" Shelley slurred before polishing off another drink.
"I think you have had enough" announced Melissa before grabbing her glass. "Time for you to get a taxi home"
"I'm good" protested Shelley.
"No your not good. Your disgracing yourself" chastised Melissa very unhappy with her friend.
A taxi was called and soon Shelley was barrelled into it and off home. After she left Melissa came back inside to see Damon and Lydia getting ready to leave. "Your going already??"
"Yeah I'm a bit tired and think it might be time to go" replied Damon
"Oh I'm sorry about Shelley. I've got no idea what got into her" explained Melissa hoping to change their minds.
"Well yeah I wouldn't say it was a great night per se but all good" said a polite Damon
"Ok well i will ring you in the morning then"
"Sounds good"
With that said Damon received a kiss to remember from Melissa and he was loaded into the van and headed off back home. Melissa flopped on the couch and was upset the night didn't go to plan, she thought Shelley would love Damon but clearly not, all night she was weird about it all and who knew why, as she relaxed on the couch she decided no point asking why, she was now a bit sleepy too and headed to bed.
The next day Melissa rang Damon to see how he was, he replied that while he wasn't overly keen on ever seeing Shelley again he just chalked it up to "one of those nights" and in time he hoped the two would be friends. After dealing with all of that Damon told Melissa he had a special treat for her.
"What is it?" asked an expectant Melissa.
"Just have to wait and see!" giggled Damon, his vent interrupting him a little. "Just make sure you put on a pair of heels and your best outfit" he added before they got off the phone.
After hanging up Melissa couldn't help but get excited, even though she had no idea what it was she guessed it had to be good, otherwise why else would she have to get so dressed up? As she had that thought she then started to fret over what to wear, she tended to not go out that much so she didn't have too many "going out" outfits. As she scoured through her wardrobe she finally came upon a majestic blue gown with a long train she had bought a couple of years ago, Melissa doubted she would ever wear it but guessed this was as good a time as any, she tried it on and thought it looked ok, low on self confidence Melissa was never one to really think she looked overly good in something but the gown made her feel a little special, she now just needed shoes. Melissa had a look at her shoes already out and they were mainly just flats or work shoes, they wouldn't be appropriate so she decided to go have a look in her wardrobe, as soon as she walked in she could see some ribbon weave pumps she had only worn once so decided they would do the trick, the gown was so long no-one would even see her shoes anyway but she would know, she wiggled her feet into them before heading over to do her makeup. Once that was done she had one last look in the mirror. "All looks ok" she gestured to herself then moved over to the front door to see if Damon had arrived yet. He wasn't here yet so she paced up and down the hallway of her home, nervous over what they would be doing, she then started to freak out and worried she might be too overdressed, sure he had told her to wear her best outfit but what if she had gone overboard? It was at this point she heard the van pull up. She walked outside to meet them, holding the bottom of her dress up so that it didn't get dirty as she pulled back the sliding door she got a nice surprise as she saw Damon in a tuxedo. "Wow. Looking very dapper I have to say!" remarked Melissa. Damon was too busy admiring Melissa to even respond, even though he had no breath of his own Melissa look so incredible he nearly lost his vent induced breaths too. "I can't believe it" he finally managed to get out.
"Can't believe what?"
"I didn't think it was even possible but you look even more beautiful" gushed Damon.
"Don't be silly I'm nothing special" replied Melissa still not used to men complimenting her and meaning it.
"That's where your wrong because you are special. Truly special"
Upon hearing this further praise Melissa started to blush, while they had only been on a handful of dates she was really falling hard for Damon. "So where are we going?"
"Have to wait and see I guess" teased Damon.
The van pulled out of the driveway and they took off, after hitting the road Melissa picked up Damon's hand and held it, Damon may not have been able to move or feel it but it still filled him with a sense of happiness while experienced Melissa comfort and security in his touch. Soon enough they came up to a well known building. "We are here" smiled Damon. Melissa looked up and could see it was the Metropolitan Opera, commonly known as the Met and got quite excited.
"We are going to see some opera!!?" she asked exuberantly at what was to come.
"You got it" replied Damon happy at Melissa's excitement.
"That's fantastic. What are we seeing??" bubbled Melissa
"Don Giovanni"
"Are you serious?? I've wanted to see this for ages. You are a truly wonderful man" thanked Melissa before landing a passionate blow on Damon's lips.
They entered the Opera, it all looked so majestic and Melissa was glad she wore her fancy gown, she couldn't help but get over how Damon looked, dressed to the nines in his tuxedo, smelling amazing as usual and looking super cute. Once they got inside where their show would be playing Melissa wondered where they would be sitting. "I have one more surprise" hinted Damon.
"Really? What?"
"We don't have to worry about anyone sitting next to us as I booked us a private balcony to watch the performance. It will just be you, me and Don Giovanni. Oh and Lydia of course!!" laughed Damon. Lydia naturally on hand in case anything went wrong.
"Wow you have thought of everything!" replied Melissa wondering if this day could get any better before landing another kiss, this time on Damon's cheek. She loved how his face always beamed when she kissed him, knowing he was feeling what she was.
After a few minutes the show started, once again Melissa taking Damon's hand in hers. The show was majestic and both parties marvelled at how skilled and talented the people in Don Giovanni were. Hours passed and the performance grew to a halt. "Melissa can do me a favour?" asked Damon.
"Of course"
"Give them a standing ovation for me"
Melissa just smiled knowing he was joking but that he had enjoyed the performance. Soon enough they were all loaded up into the van and heading back to Melissa's place. Once there Damon looked a little pale, it had been a big day and it was suggested by Lydia that he better stay in the van and head back home. Melissa looked at him and couldn't hide her feelings for him. "I had such a good time today. I can't get over how happy you make me, it's just ridiculous!" she poured out. "The feeling is more than mutual" he replied. Melissa gave him one last kiss then exited the van, she waved to them as they backed out of the driveway and thought this could be it, someone to share her life with. Who knew what lay ahead though..
Chapter 4
Damon and Melissa had now known each other two weeks but Melissa almost felt like it was two months or even two years, after their early hiccup upon meeting things had been going great and she was very hopeful for the future, as they arranged their next date Melissa decided it was time to see where Damon lived, they had met up 3 or 4 times for dates and Damon over to her place the other times. "Sure, you can come over here. Will be good" replied Damon to Melissa's request. Damon gave Melissa the address and a date was set for 7pm. Soon enough that time rolled around and Melissa popped into her car and headed over to Damon's place, she wondered what kind of place he had, she knew it would have to be spacious and wheelchair accessible but was sure it would still have it's charm. As she travelled into his street she made sure she got the address right, 28 Emerald street, Rockbank he told her, as she creeped closer to the house she eventually pulled up outside what was a very majestic house, it was only the one story but looked very classy and the garden was quite large as was the winding driveway leading in, Melissa wasn't sure what to expect but she had to admit she was impressed and was glad Damon wasn't living by every penny like some people have to in his situation. Melissa's little volkswagen chugged away up the driveway and she started to get nerves again, she didn't know why but the thought of seeing Damon still gave her butterflies which she guessed was a good thing.
After making her way up the driveway Melissa hopped of her car, she saw a big ramp outside and pictured Damon blowing into the straw of his sip 'n' puff and wheelchair gradually making his way up and inside, as Melissa moved towards the door she had a quick look in the mirror of her foundation capsule to make sure everything still looked the way she wanted, this was a usual occurrence and all was fine so she knocked on the door. After waiting a few seconds the door opened and it was Lydia. "Oh hey Lydia, how are you?" smiled Melissa.
"I'm well thanks. Come in" invited Lydia.
As Melissa made her way inside she could see the inside was every bit as good as the outside, a glass chandelier coming from the ceiling and some wonderful art adorning the entrance and hallway. As Melissa headed further in she saw her man, he looked so relaxed and was just wearing a black t-shirt with some cargo shorts. "Hello beautiful" he expressed upon the sight of Melissa, thinking she looked delightful in just a pink singlet top and jeans with red flip flops, her toes painted fire engine red to match her footwear. They had a quick embrace which they both enjoyed.
"Wow this place is amazing" remarked Melissa. "You really landed on your feet didn't you" she added not realising the pun, although once again thinking she had never actually heard the story about how her new man had become a quadriplegic.
"Yeah it's ok" replied Damon playing it down.
"OK?? King of the understatement much!!" responded Melissa
They decided to head into the lounge room where Lydia asked them if they wanted a drink, both of which said no so she then decided just to leave them be and have some alone time. "Great to finally see your house though, and you in it haha" laughed Melissa. Damon always loved that sound, the laugh of his potential new partner.
They continued to talk before Melissa started to sticky nose a little looking at what appeared to be family pictures and the like in the corner of the room. As she poked through the photos she would ask Damon who the people were. "Who's this?"
"My mother"
"This one?"
"That's my niece and nephew"
As Melissa continued to go through the photos she came up to one of Damon pre accident, he had an arm around a blonde woman and she just assumed it was another family member. "Who's this?" she asked pointing the picture at him. Melissa then noticed Damon's expression changing. "Something wrong? Was she your mistress?" joked Melissa.
"No, not my mistress" replied Damon
"Well who is she then??"
"My wife" informed Damon
"Your what!!????" objected Melissa thinking she must have misheard.
"It's not what you think" responded Damon
"How can you having a wife not be what I think!!??" screamed Melissa.
"I'm a widow"
"Oh god" replied Melissa changing her expression completely upon hearing this.
"If things progressed further I would have told you but we have still only known each other the sum of two weeks"
"Very true" acknowledged Melissa. "I'm so sorry to hear about your wife. I guess I'm just realising there is so much more to you than I first thought"
"Well yes. I'm sure there's more to Melissa Ryan too that I don't know about" expressed Damon
"Not much to tell with little old me" she replied knowing that wasn't true. While she was a quiet woman it was fair to say she hadn't lived a great life. "I don't mean to pry but how long ago did your wife pass?"
"4 years ago. It was the hardest period of my life, particularly given the circumstances"
"Circumstances?"
"Well yes" replied Damon cutting himself short. On one hand he wanted to let Melissa in and tell the story but on the other he probably felt it was too soon, not to mention the fact he wasn't keen to go through it all again.
"I get the feeling there's a bit to this so you don't have to tell me if you don't want to" assured Melissa.
After thinking about for a few seconds Damon decided to go forward with it. "To tell you the whole story I have to go back to a night in June 4 years ago. My wife Emily and I were going to the opening of a new restaurant in town, it was meant to be a glamorous affair and plenty of well known people would be there, we were just simple folk but a friend of mine was a big player around town and he couldn't go so he passed on two invitations to us. We both got dressed to the nines and headed off. The night was going well before we got invited to drinks on the balcony, as we laughed and swilled champagne we started to hear a creaking sound, at first we thought it was just the wind but then it got louder, not long after the balcony started to crack and everyone started rushing off, Emily and I were trapped at the back though and before we could get off the balcony collapsed" explained Damon now getting quite emotional.
Melissa just sat there, almost frozen at the chilling tale Damon was telling and the torture in his face as he told it, she knew this was bad but she had no idea how bad.
"My wife and I plus some others were still on it as it crumbled.. I can still remember the fear in Emily's eyes as we hurtled toward the ground below, I tried to somehow bring her body on top of mine to break her fall but she was just out of reach, we both hit the ground hard and I was knocked out. When I came to I was in a hospital unable to move,talk or breathe and told my wife was dead"
"Oh I'm so sorry" remarked Melissa now almost as ashen faced as Damon.
"Yeah well now you know I became like this" expressed Damon.
"I'm not worried about that, I just can't believe the story you have just told me, I can't imagine the pain you would have been in those first few months. Emotional and physical" empathised Melissa.
"Well it wasn't a picnic I'll tell you that for free. Lying there in that bed, day in, day out was the worst torture I think anyone could ever be put through, at first I was like a zombie, barely changing expression, too traumatised by the events of that night and everything that went with it. Then it just all turned to anger, so many days where I had so much anger, when that wore off though the sadness crept in like an unwanted visitor, some people might say this is weak but I reckon when it all finally caught up to me I cried every night for three months" explained a very solemn Damon.
"Your not weak at all, you are an incredibly brave wonderful human being" assured Melissa now picking up his limp hand and putting it in hers. "I can't imagine what I would be like. To not only lose a partner but to be left completely paralyzed and helpless. It's just too cruel"
"You want to know the worst part? I missed Emily's funeral due to being in hospital. I didn't even get to say a proper goodbye"
This was almost too much for Melissa, sure she had been through her own tough times but this was the purest form of heartbreak she had ever heard. "Did the people that build the balcony ever get prosecuted?"
"Yeah they got a lousy $160,000 fine. According to the report they were under a tight deadline so they put on a couple of unskilled workers to finish the job quick. They forgot to fortify the balcony properly and that's what caused it to buckle"
"A lousy fine and that's it!!?? What bastards! I guess with the legal system though it's not surprising"
"Yeah well my parents actually filed a civil suit against the restaurant and the company that built it while I was in hospital. I wasn't interested as I was just far too depressed and no amount of money would bring Emily back. My parents told me the week before I got out of the hospital the builders and restaurant owners settled for 3 million. That's how I got this house"
"I know in the scheme of things it's not much but better than the hospital I'm guessing" replied Melissa trying to find some sort of positive out of it all.
"Yeah I suppose. When i first moved in I didn't like it, but then again I didn't take pleasure in anything for a long time. To be honest it's only been the last few months that I have really moved on with life and tried to put it all behind me"
"I just can't believe what you have been through, it just defies belief" remarked Melissa.
"Well believe me I wish it all had of been some bad dream but it wasn't. I have to actually thank you"
"Thank me?? For what?"
"For giving me my first slice of happiness since that day. Spending time with you makes me feel alive again"
"Feeling is more than mutual" smiled Melissa. She then moved over and wiped the remaining moisture off Damon's face from the tears that had streamed down before giving him a comforting kiss on the cheek.
The two of them talked into the night before the clock struck 11pm and Melissa mentioned she had better go and let Damon get some rest. "Thanks for tonight. I know it must have been awfully hard to relive the events of 4 years ago but I appreciate you letting me in your life, past and present" expressed Melissa.
"Thanks for listening. Drive home safe" replied Damon.
Melissa just smiled and gave him a peck on the lips before heading off, she knew that some of the things that had happened in her life should go left unsaid and she planned to keep it that way, for now at least. Melissa arrived home but then while lying in bed she wondered if Damon was really over his late wife, sure she had the utmost sympathy for his loss but she didn't want to be living in the shadow of another woman, she was too sensitive for that and her heart far too fragile. As she continued to ponder this she then looked at the other side of the coin, if Damon just forgot about her and didn't at least acknowledge her memory in any way that wouldn't make him much of a man would it? At least she knew that he was loyal and respectful, two very honourable qualities. After mulling it over Melissa decided that she wouldn't want to be judged on her past so she wasn't going to do that with Damon, at this point in time things were going great and she was just being silly entertaining notions about being second fiddle. Damon was the closest thing she'd had to love in a long time and there was no good reason for that to change..
Saturday, 1 September 2012
The Night
The Night
This is the night. The night I paralyze my wife. After 10 years of marriage and two children it's finally come to this point and I can't wait I have to say. She is due home any minute from her night out with the girls while I left the kids at their grandma's. God the kids are getting to get a shock at having a paralyzed mother but they will adjust, their mother will still love them and nothing will change, oh apart from the fact she will be in a wheelchair of course. Will be very hard to explain though that's for sure, not just to them but the authorities too possibly if they happen to get involved but it should be right.
I love Sasha so much and that will only intensify once this is done that's for sure. It hasn't even happened yet but I can already picture her sitting in her big black wheelchair, her long shapely legs strapped in tight sitting limp and flaccid with her delightful feet lying bare and crippled in the foot rests, her upper body is what will get me though I think, seeing her positioned upright against the back of her chair, her arms in the grooved rests on either side of her body with her fingers curled up due to being immobile and straps possibly over her wrists keeping them cosy and unable to be dislodged out of position in case she goes over a bump or something. It all sounds so exciting and I haven't even mentioned the vent yet, that will probably be squeezed in between her glorious breasts, the sight of Sasha on a vent will definitely take my breath away pardon the pun. Last but not least the lack of head movement, oh boy I hope I get her high enough so that she has none, to see her beautiful blue eyes with her long brown hair cradling her face while partly obscuring her head pads will make it the complete package, the perfect woman you could say.
God I'm nervous, after all the times I have performed spinal surgery on all those people trying to gain movement back for them I'm going full circle and paralyzing my own wife. This is the stuff of movies, although they would never have a storyline like this, people just wouldn't understand. I don't want to stuff this up so I better have one last check to see I have everything. Operating table prepared? CHECK, medical instruments?CHECK,anaesthesia? CHECK, phone turned off so no interruptions? CHECK. If anything goes wrong it definitely won't be from lack of preparation that's for sure. Is that her car I hear pulling up in the driveway? I think it might be as I can hear the door knob turning and soon she appears in front of me, I take note of the last time she will be walking, last time I will hear those 6 inch stilettos of her clicking as she walks down the hallway. Sasha is a tall girl, about 5"9 but that won't matter once I'm finished.
"Hey sweetie how was your last night of able bodied freedom" I ask.
"Yeah not too bad, couldn't really concentrate though knowing what was coming tonight, I can't wait Greg" replies my wife.
"You can't wait?? The last 2 hours waiting for you have been like torture, so glad it's finally here though. No second thoughts I hope?"
"Second thoughts? No way, I've wanted this for 15 years! I'm glad I had the kids though before we did this, I love them so much and I hope they don't get too freaked out by all of this when they see me"
"So no regrets after tonight you think baby?"
"No regrets. I have to do this now or it will never happen. I'm 34 years old and time is running out. I just hope it all goes well that's all"
"So do i. If you would like to get on the table i will start"
Sasha pops off her shoes and lies barefoot and flat, face first on the table, she is wearing black pants and a nice red singlet top which will give me access to the top of her spine, normally I would put her in a hospital gown but I'm going to have to call this in to the hospital after I have done it. Normally that would have presented a major problem as they would have known straight away this was no accident and the work of someone very skilled in this area such as myself so I'm glad I know Garry, one of the other leading spinal surgeons there, he understands what my wife and I want and is more than happy to be our "doctor" at the hospital so it doesn't raise any suspicion with others, that should be the only hard part as once I can bring her home from the hospital it will be happy days for Sasha and me. Just make sure you concentrate Greg, this is your wife's life your dealing with here.
"Ok babe I'm putting a needle into the top of your spine just to numb it and also to knock you out so you can't make any sudden movements which could jeopardise it all"
"All good, I trust you my love. OOOH that needle is cool" Sasha moans as the tip of the needle penetrates her soft supple skin into her spine.
That will be the last thing she feels if all goes to plan. After a few seconds she is knocked out and I pick up the necessary instruments to snap her c1, the sound of it cracking really sends me in a world of delight but I must concentrate, just to make sure of the paralysis I will snap the c2 as well, don't want to be doing this again as it will be ten times riskier then probably and I want Sasha paralyzed not dead. Ok, time to fix her back up. She should wake up soon then I will call Garry at the hospital and tell him to expect her, the ambo's better take my instructions to send her to him otherwise I will be forced to take over and that could arouse suspicion I don't want with some people probably thinking I did this because i'm an abusive husband or something, Sasha won't be able to stick up for me either as she won't be able to talk for a while if I have done this right.
Hope she wakes up soon, her vitals are all good and I have made a trach in her throat for her to breathe so all is on track I think. There it is, she's awake. I look at her and never thought she could get any more beautiful but I had never seen true beauty till tonight. She looks at me and tries to talk but can't, just a barely audible moan. She looks like she can't move that has to be good.
"It all went well I think. If you can move any part of your body blink once for yes and two for no." i say. BLINK,BLINK. A big smile develops over my face followed by one from Sasha, we've done it....
6 months later...The van pulls up in the driveway, it's finally time for Sasha to come home. Her mouth jostles with the control which is operated by her tongue, Sasha's condition is a c1 quadriplegic reliant on a ventilator and paralyzed form the neck down, as she makes her way down the ramp she looks at me out of the corner of her eye unable to move her head, god that look gets me every time and she knows it, sometimes I don't even need to see her to get turned on with just the thought of no part of her body being able to move making me weak at the knees. To be completely honest I can't believe all of this is finally real and the fact I have actually met someone to do this and become a quadriplegic, the love of my life no less. It's just insane. I'm the luckiest man alive with Sasha and I now having the rest of our lives to enjoy this..Life is good
This is the night. The night I paralyze my wife. After 10 years of marriage and two children it's finally come to this point and I can't wait I have to say. She is due home any minute from her night out with the girls while I left the kids at their grandma's. God the kids are getting to get a shock at having a paralyzed mother but they will adjust, their mother will still love them and nothing will change, oh apart from the fact she will be in a wheelchair of course. Will be very hard to explain though that's for sure, not just to them but the authorities too possibly if they happen to get involved but it should be right.
I love Sasha so much and that will only intensify once this is done that's for sure. It hasn't even happened yet but I can already picture her sitting in her big black wheelchair, her long shapely legs strapped in tight sitting limp and flaccid with her delightful feet lying bare and crippled in the foot rests, her upper body is what will get me though I think, seeing her positioned upright against the back of her chair, her arms in the grooved rests on either side of her body with her fingers curled up due to being immobile and straps possibly over her wrists keeping them cosy and unable to be dislodged out of position in case she goes over a bump or something. It all sounds so exciting and I haven't even mentioned the vent yet, that will probably be squeezed in between her glorious breasts, the sight of Sasha on a vent will definitely take my breath away pardon the pun. Last but not least the lack of head movement, oh boy I hope I get her high enough so that she has none, to see her beautiful blue eyes with her long brown hair cradling her face while partly obscuring her head pads will make it the complete package, the perfect woman you could say.
God I'm nervous, after all the times I have performed spinal surgery on all those people trying to gain movement back for them I'm going full circle and paralyzing my own wife. This is the stuff of movies, although they would never have a storyline like this, people just wouldn't understand. I don't want to stuff this up so I better have one last check to see I have everything. Operating table prepared? CHECK, medical instruments?CHECK,anaesthesia? CHECK, phone turned off so no interruptions? CHECK. If anything goes wrong it definitely won't be from lack of preparation that's for sure. Is that her car I hear pulling up in the driveway? I think it might be as I can hear the door knob turning and soon she appears in front of me, I take note of the last time she will be walking, last time I will hear those 6 inch stilettos of her clicking as she walks down the hallway. Sasha is a tall girl, about 5"9 but that won't matter once I'm finished.
"Hey sweetie how was your last night of able bodied freedom" I ask.
"Yeah not too bad, couldn't really concentrate though knowing what was coming tonight, I can't wait Greg" replies my wife.
"You can't wait?? The last 2 hours waiting for you have been like torture, so glad it's finally here though. No second thoughts I hope?"
"Second thoughts? No way, I've wanted this for 15 years! I'm glad I had the kids though before we did this, I love them so much and I hope they don't get too freaked out by all of this when they see me"
"So no regrets after tonight you think baby?"
"No regrets. I have to do this now or it will never happen. I'm 34 years old and time is running out. I just hope it all goes well that's all"
"So do i. If you would like to get on the table i will start"
Sasha pops off her shoes and lies barefoot and flat, face first on the table, she is wearing black pants and a nice red singlet top which will give me access to the top of her spine, normally I would put her in a hospital gown but I'm going to have to call this in to the hospital after I have done it. Normally that would have presented a major problem as they would have known straight away this was no accident and the work of someone very skilled in this area such as myself so I'm glad I know Garry, one of the other leading spinal surgeons there, he understands what my wife and I want and is more than happy to be our "doctor" at the hospital so it doesn't raise any suspicion with others, that should be the only hard part as once I can bring her home from the hospital it will be happy days for Sasha and me. Just make sure you concentrate Greg, this is your wife's life your dealing with here.
"Ok babe I'm putting a needle into the top of your spine just to numb it and also to knock you out so you can't make any sudden movements which could jeopardise it all"
"All good, I trust you my love. OOOH that needle is cool" Sasha moans as the tip of the needle penetrates her soft supple skin into her spine.
That will be the last thing she feels if all goes to plan. After a few seconds she is knocked out and I pick up the necessary instruments to snap her c1, the sound of it cracking really sends me in a world of delight but I must concentrate, just to make sure of the paralysis I will snap the c2 as well, don't want to be doing this again as it will be ten times riskier then probably and I want Sasha paralyzed not dead. Ok, time to fix her back up. She should wake up soon then I will call Garry at the hospital and tell him to expect her, the ambo's better take my instructions to send her to him otherwise I will be forced to take over and that could arouse suspicion I don't want with some people probably thinking I did this because i'm an abusive husband or something, Sasha won't be able to stick up for me either as she won't be able to talk for a while if I have done this right.
Hope she wakes up soon, her vitals are all good and I have made a trach in her throat for her to breathe so all is on track I think. There it is, she's awake. I look at her and never thought she could get any more beautiful but I had never seen true beauty till tonight. She looks at me and tries to talk but can't, just a barely audible moan. She looks like she can't move that has to be good.
"It all went well I think. If you can move any part of your body blink once for yes and two for no." i say. BLINK,BLINK. A big smile develops over my face followed by one from Sasha, we've done it....
6 months later...The van pulls up in the driveway, it's finally time for Sasha to come home. Her mouth jostles with the control which is operated by her tongue, Sasha's condition is a c1 quadriplegic reliant on a ventilator and paralyzed form the neck down, as she makes her way down the ramp she looks at me out of the corner of her eye unable to move her head, god that look gets me every time and she knows it, sometimes I don't even need to see her to get turned on with just the thought of no part of her body being able to move making me weak at the knees. To be completely honest I can't believe all of this is finally real and the fact I have actually met someone to do this and become a quadriplegic, the love of my life no less. It's just insane. I'm the luckiest man alive with Sasha and I now having the rest of our lives to enjoy this..Life is good
A Date to Remember - Chapters 5,6 and 7
Chapter 5
After the revelation of the previous night Damon worried he had blown things with Melissa, his fears were unfounded though as the next day he had a visitor. "Melissa!" he remarked as she appeared in his lounge room.
"Hey you! Lydia let me in" she smiled.
"So good to see you. I know it was only last night but I was worried it might have been too heavy"
"Well yeah to be honest it was quite a bombshell. I looked at both sides of the story though and I know in all reality you couldn't tell me any earlier than what you did" reasoned Melissa. "No more things I need to know though right?"
"No that's it. For sure and certain. How about you?"
"Nothing that needs to be dealt with here and now" replied Melissa cryptically.
"Hmm.. that's a strange thing to say" replied Damon curiously.
"Well I'm a strange girl, get used to it!" laughed Melissa.
After a bit more talk Damon made comment on what Melissa was wearing. "Have to say those jeans are definitely agreeing with you"
"Really? I always stress over what to wear when I go out but I thought they looked alright"
"Well they are a definite winner. I'd give that cute bum of yours a pinch but I'm just too lazy" joked Damon.
"Oh would you now!!??" remarked Melissa enjoying this bit of flirting. "Have to say no fair though, I haven't seen your bum, you keep hiding it in that chair!"
"Well anytime you want to see it just ask" smirked Damon.
They both looked at each other, smiles as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge and knew they made each other happy.
After a couple more hours of kisses, flirting and talking there was a knock on the door. "Oh that must be my parents, I can hear them talking outside" informed Damon.
"Are you serious??? I'm not ready to meet them yet. I'm only wearing a t-shirt and jeans!!" worried Melissa.
"Don't worry you will be fine. My parents are pretty cool"
Melissa quickly fixed up her hair and readied for them to come in. Lydia opened the door and soon they were in the lounge room.
"Oh hello" remarked Grace, Damon's mother upon seeing Melissa.
"Hello Mrs Rivers I'm Melissa, how are you?" replied a nervous Melissa
"I'm very well dear. So your the Melissa my son has been raving about" addressed Grace.
With this said Melissa looked over at Damon a bit embarrassed before his Dad came over.
"Hello. Bill Rivers" he said before enthusiastically pushing out his hand to shake.
"Hey Mr Rivers I'm Melissa"
"Please. Call me Bill" offered Damon's father.
"Ok Bill!" gleamed Melissa.
Once all the formalities were out of the way they all settled down on the couch to get to know each other, Melissa's hands almost shaking while she nervously looked at Damon's parents. "So what were you two up to before we turned up?" asked Grace to start off conversation again.
Melissa looked at Damon to answer it but with his position in the room he could only see her out the corner of his eye. "Oh we were just talking and stuff" replied Melissa after a pause. "How about you? What plans have you got for today?"
"Oh we were thinking of spending the whole day with you two" informed Grace.
Upon hearing this Melissa's face went almost white."Oh... ok"
"Haha. I was only teasing" laughed Grace. "We just wanted to check up on Damon, we will head off in a few minutes and let you two have your alone time"
"Oh you don't have to head off on my account" worried Melissa that she was now keeping them from her son.
"No it's all good. I'm just glad I met you. I haven't seen my son smile this much in a long time"
"Well he makes me smile a lot too" gushed Melissa.
"So Melissa what do you do for work?" asked Bill, Damon's father.
"I work at the nursing home. You know the one on Fletcher Street" replied Melissa.
"That's a very honourable and underrated job Melissa. The elderly need good care just like everyone else" praised Grace.
"Yeah they are great down at the home. Always telling funny stories about their life and that" commented Melissa feeling a little more comfortable.
"Anyway I can see Damon is well so we'll be off now. Great to meet you Melissa and I'm sure we will be seeing a bit of each other if things go well" announced Grace. "Take good care of Damon for me"
"I will"
"Ok bye"
"Bye"
With goodbyes said Damon's parents left the house. "See that wasn't too bad was it?"
"No it was ok. God my palms are so sweaty though. Haven't met a boyfriend's parents in a while" remarked Melissa.
"So we are official now? I'm your boyfriend?"
"Yeah for sure" answered Melissa both with her voice and her mouth as she landed a juicy kiss on Damon's lips before eventually heading home.
The next night Melissa made her way to Damon's place again, after Melissa fed Damon a bit of dinner they moved into the lounge room to watch a bit of tv, as they did this Damon noticed Melissa looking at him like she wanted something. "Damon can we go to your bed?" she asked
"My bed??"
"Yes"
Damon worried knowing that normally means one thing, something he couldn't give Melissa. "I'm sorry but I can't ..well.. you know"
"Haha did you think I meant sex?? No I just want to cuddle, we can't do that while your in your chair!"
"Oh ok. I can definitely cuddle. Well be cuddled anyway!" replied a relieved Damon.
They moved into Damon's bedroom and with the help of the nurse relieving Lydia he was strapped into the lift and lowered into bed, it was the first time Melissa had seen Damon placed in bed and she was sure it wouldn't be the last, even making herself useful by holding Damon's head while he was in motion being swung into place, while Damon was quite strong in the mind she could see a lot of fear in his eyes at the transfer, an uncomfortable part of being a quadriplegic. Soon Damon was set up in his bed, they planned to watch a bit of tv in his room as well so he reclined his bed up to about a 90 degree angle. "Oooh this is a different kind of mattress" Melissa noticed as she kicked her shoes off and hopped on.
"Yeah it's a special air mattress. Helps prevent pressure sores" replied Damon
"Well it's definitely comfy. I like it" enthused Melissa.
Once Damon was settled Melissa moved over closer and placed her head on Damon's chest, just to the side of the vent hose hurtling down his chest. "This is nice" she mused. As she got more comfortable she started to run her bare foot down Damon's paralyzed and atrophied lower limbs, while Damon was over the moon with how things were going with Melissa he wished he could feel her foot caressing his legs, or her head on his heart. "Do you think it will be an issue later on?" asked Damon
"What?"
"Sex, and the lack there of"
"Not really. Not at the moment anyway. Sex is overrated, I'm in complete bliss just lying next to you cuddling. I don't need anymore"
"Are you just staying that?" worried Damon
"No I really mean it. I couldn't be happier or more at peace in this present moment" assured Melissa.
Hearing this made Damon feel a lot better, if Melissa didn't need sex then why was he stressing out then. "Just when I think you can't get any more amazing you do"
"Yeah I am pretty amazing" replied Melissa before they both just looked at each other and started laughing.
As the night wore on two of them got very heavy eyes before Melissa fell asleep. She was only awoken a couple of hours later by the arrival of Lydia. "Sorry I have to come in and turn Damon. He needs to have it done every 3 or 4 hours to make sure he doesn't get a pressure sore"
"I thought the mattress prevented that" replied a sleepy Melissa
"Well yes it does to a degree but you can never be too careful"
Melissa hopped off the bed and decided to make herself useful by helping Lydia turn Damon. "Gee he's heavy" remarked Melissa. How on earth do you do this by yourself?"
"Oh it's just practice. Sometimes his family or the relief nurse might be here so they help"
As they rolled him over Melissa caught sight of Damon's bum. "Nice" she whispered into Damon's ear causing him to smile.
After that was done Melissa took up residence back on the bed, morning soon arrived though and time for Damon's usual morning routine. As Lydia moved in and checked Damon's catheter and his body for pressure sores Melissa just stood there taking it all in, as she continued to watch Lydia came in and washed his face and body, after a few more checks and what have you Damon was finally ready to be dressed and placed in his wheelchair, Melissa looked at her watch and couldn't believe how long it all took. "Wow two hours. Is that the same very morning?" she asked Lydia.
"Yeah normally. Once you get into a routine it's not that hard though" replied Lydia
As that was said Damon was lowered into his wheelchair, once again Melissa could see this exercise was uncomfortable for Damon, she knew it was essential though as even though Damon didn't necessarily have anywhere to go, he still needed to get out of bed and out and about a bit for his mental health. Sure enough Damon was ready to be on his way and they all moved into the kitchen.
Upon arrival In the kitchen Melissa made a bit of toast which she quickly wolfed down before making up a bit of porridge, once again feeding Damon. "Your going to put me out of a job soon" joked Lydia.
"Haha. Doubt it. Can't watch him 24/7!!" replied Melissa. "I would like to learn more about his care though if that's ok"
"Yeah sure. No worries"
Hearing this made Damon feel like this was finally it, a definite start to a fresh new life..
Chapter 6
Over the course of the next couple of weeks Melissa and Damon went from strength to strength, Melissa was slowly learning more and more about Damon's care, from how to re-attach his vent if it came loose to his medication, she was learning everyday, a fact not lost on Damon. "What did I do to deserve you?" he mused one day.
"Nothing. You won me over by just being you" smiled Melissa.
As further time passed by the two of them continued to get out and about, Damon's paralysis not stopping them one bit from going to any show they wanted to attend or movie as the case may be, they often went for a walk in the park not far from where Damon lived and even started to go swimming, Damon having a specially made pool with an ultra shallow end that he can be dropped into and lie flat while Melissa holds up his head. The pool was quite useful on a hot day to keep Damon's blood pressure down and he always liked seeing Melissa in her swimmers, albeit a singlet and board shorts with Melissa still shy about her body. Spending so much time over at Damon's place Melissa started to get to know his parents even more too, they were overjoyed that their union now seemed to be as strong as oak, their son deserving happiness after the tragedy that had befallen him in his life.
After another day enjoyed spent together Melissa went in the bathroom to wash up, when she came out though she saw Damon looking at the picture of Emily, seeing this upset Melissa and even though she knew her relationship with Damon was getting stronger she still felt insecure.
"I know I shouldn't ask this but how do I compare? Like to Emily I mean" asked Melissa.
"Why would you ask that? What we have is totally different" replied Damon swinging around in his wheelchair to answer.
"I know, I'm just being silly."
"What happened with Emily and I will be something I will never forget, but your the only woman I love now"
"You love me??"
"Yeah of course"
"Oh wow. I love you too I've just been too scared to say it!!" beamed Melissa with a smile that would have lit up a small nation. She rushed over and stormed Damon's lips with her own, clashing together in a fury of emotion and sheer joy.
"Wow!!" laughed Damon not believing how happy he had just made Melissa, and how unbelievable he felt too.
"I'm sorry. It's just that I haven't experienced love in such a long time. If at all really" Melissa slipped out.
"You've never had love? Of any sort? Not even parents?" questioned Damon
"Not really" mumbled Melissa going quiet.
"I've never wanted to press but you never talk about your parents"
"Nothing much to say really. They aren't here with us now and I'm fine with that" replied Melissa matter of factly.
"Yeah but you must still feel something towards them"
"I guess so. But I think it's fair to say they would never have won any parenting awards. Dad had wandering hands and Mum never did anything to stop him"
"Wandering hands?" asked Damon worried by what he was hearing.
"Come on Damon, don't make me spell it out for you, I think you know what that means. It's probably the reason I got so big I think. I just kept eating in the hope that I would get so fat he wouldn't want me anymore. Didn't work though of course, all getting fat did was make my life at school complete hell by way of teasing"
Damon couldn't believe what he was hearing, it had all flooded out of Melissa's mouth like a raging torrent and he wasn't sure what to say. "I'm so sorry that happened to you"
"Yeah well so am I. If you don't mind I'd like to change the subject now thanks"
"No worries" replied Damon still a little stunned by what he had heard. They went onto another subject and Melissa continued to talk as if nothing happened. Damon knew that Melissa still hurt over it all though and he would do his best to get her through.
A week passed and soon enough it became time for Damon's 30th birthday. "The big 3-0 hey?" teased Melissa.
"Yes unfortunately. Getting old. Not as old as you though!" laughed Damon in reply knowing Melissa was a couple of months older than him.
"Ok that's enough out of you buddy!!!"
While Damon wasn't big on parties his family were and they were all invited, mum, dad, nieces, nephews, the lot. Naturally this all made Melissa quite anxious.
"No need to sweat babe, you know my parents already so you'll be fine!" assured Damon. Melissa wasn't so sure but knew she was probably over stressing like she normally did. Soon enough all the guests arrived, Melissa couldn't believe how much immediate and extended family had turned up to Damon's birthday. "This is unbelievable, there must be 80 people here" she remarked.
"Yeah I know it's like a madhouse" acknowledged Damon in a good mood at the sight of them all. Most of them seeing him at hos worst having visited him in hospital lending their support when he was going through his harrowing ordeal in the hospital and afterwards. "Oh come over here I want you to meet my grandma Mavis. Damon zoomed his chair over to his Nan who smiled straight away at the sight of her grandson "Damon! So great to see you" she sparkled putting her hand on Damon's.
"Hey Grandma, great to see you too, your looking well"
"Oh your too kind! Who is this lovely woman next to you?" asked Mavis.
"This is Melissa, she is my new girlfriend" beamed Damon happily looking at Melissa next to him out the corner of his eye.
"Nice to meet you dear" smiled Mavis
"Great to meet you too" replied Melissa.
"Just look after him, he's had a tough time of late" encouraged Mavis making mention of past events.
"I will" assured Melissa
After meeting Mavis for the next hour Damon seemed to be introducing Melissa to someone in his family every 5 minutes. First his uncle, then his niece, nephews. "God so many people to remember" mentioned an overwhelmed Melissa.
"Sorry I'm just so glad to see them all, I haven't seen some of them in a while and I just want to show you off" replied an excited Damon
After meeting some more of Damon's family Melissa told Damon she needed to go 'powder her nose'. She headed off toward the toilet, once she got there she sat on the toilet seat and started to cry, she wasn't sure why but she guessed it was just meeting all of Damon's family, she only had one relative left and she had lost touch with them. She eventually composed herself and came out of the toilet, as she left Damon's mother Grace came along and noticed she had been crying.
"Sweetheart are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine" replied Melissa wiping away what tears were left on her face
"I hope so. You can tell anything you know. I'm here to help" offered Grace with a concerned look on her face.
"I'm just being a sook. I've never really known a tight knit loving family like the one you seem to have"
"Well your a part of that too now. It might be only a couple of months but I think you and my son will be together a long time. The way you look at each other is the way I used to look at Damon's father Bill"
With this said Grace moved in and gave Melissa a hug, the warmth of the hug made Melissa feel really good and she was now ready to go back out again. Once she got outside Damon wondered what took so long. "Oh I was just talking to your mother" replied Melissa.
"That's a worry" laughed Damon.
Melissa just looked at him and simply said "I love you. So much". They embraced in front of Damon's family and all of Melissa's hangups just disappeared.
Soon enough the party ended, Damon was lowered into bed utterly exhausted. "Had a great day today. Thanks for everything"
"No thank you, your family are great" replied Melissa. She gave him a kiss on the cheek then headed off.
As Melissa pulled up into her driveway she heard her phone go off. "Wonder who that is?" she mumbled to herself. Once inside she checked her phone, the message was from Shelley who she hadn't heard from in weeks.
"Hey Mel, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened last time we saw each other, I freaked out over it all and was just stupid. Friends again?"
Upon reading this Melissa was pleased, not pleased over what happened that night but pleased Shelley wanted to be friends again as she was the only one she really had. She decided to reply "All good. Friends again:)". After a couple more messages the air was cleared and Melissa went to bed a very tired but very happy woman...
Chapter 7
Over the course of the next twelve months Melissa and Damon's relationship flourished, the longer the time they spent together the more Melissa's worries about her past subsided, Damon always lending an ear when she needed to talk. Melissa was now almost a 2nd nurse for Damon behind Lydia and the three of them all worked in tandem with each other, all parties were happy with how things were going and it made Damon think about asking the most important question in a man's life when it comes to a woman. A marriage proposal.
With help from Lydia, Damon headed into town to check out rings, while he worried that Melissa might not like his choice of ring he knew it could always be exchanged, plus he had to buy one as proposing without a ring didn't have the same effect, Melissa had given him a second chance of happiness and she deserved the best. After sorting out the ring Damon wondered how he would pop the question, obviously being on bended knee was out of the question but that was no big deal, there were plenty of other ways it could be done, he just had to come up with it. After a good deal of thought he decided on a way to do it and set the wheels in motion for it to happen.
The day after the ring was purchased Damon was quite nervous, sure he knew that Melissa was in love with him but that was still no certainty for marriage, he was glad that she didn't seem to know anything about it though and it would be a surprise, hopefully a good one.
With a bit of lunch under their belts Damon decided to propose a walk to the local park, it had been a place they had gone a bit lately, just watching people play football or run around with their dogs, just enjoying the sun and the simple things life has to offer. As they got to the middle of the park they could hear a plane roaring overhead.
"Gee that plane is noisy" gestured Melissa.
"I guess" replied Damon.
As the plane continued to fly up above they noticed that it started to write out a name. "Hey that plane is writing out my name" laughed Melissa in almost disbelief at the sight of her name in the sky.
"Yeah I see it. He hasn't finished yet it seems" hinted Damon
As the skywriter continued to spell out words Melissa suddenly put her hand to her mouth stunned by what was now being written, the words "Melissa will you marry me?" now there for the world to see.
"Oh my god Damon is this for real?" she squealed as she looked around at her man.
"You better believe it" replied Damon. "Check my top pocket"
Melissa checked the top pocket of his shirt and in there was a small felt box, in it a ring that sparkled brighter than the morning sun. "It's wonderful" cried Melissa putting it on straight away then almost bowling Damon over in his wheelchair in a strong embrace.
"So that's a yes?" asked Damon making sure
"Yes, yes. Of course yes!!! A thousand times yes!!!" beamed Melissa.
As they continued to embrace the other people in the park had now stopped to congratulate the happy couple hopelessly in love. While neither of them had experienced the smoothest of lives that didn't matter one bit now, they had each other.
After the excitement of the engagement Melissa feverishly prepared for the wedding, spending hours on end in bridal shops and arranging everything else, Damon just sitting back and watching what would soon be his happy bride doing her business. After that was all sorted she had to work out a bridesmaid, there was only one choice for bridesmaid though, her best friend Shelley. Naturally enough she said yes and the marriage of Damon and Melissa was finally scheduled.
The day of the wedding arrived and it was a glamorous affair, there was ice sculptures and a harmonic orchestra not to mention the array of stunning flowers, rather than being held in a church it was held on Damon's spacious back lawn, the chairs were all set up and everyone in Damon's family naturally turned up to see their relation be wed. At first Melissa worried no-one from her family would be there but she then got an unexpected surprise. "Hello dear" said a voice behind Melissa before she went to walk down the aisle. She turned around to see it was her last remaining relative alive, the relative she had lost touch with. "Oh my god Aunty June!!" she cried as she laid eyes on her before rushing up to hug in her long flowing white dress. "I can't believe your here" she remarked.
"Well I couldn't miss this could I?" replied Aunty June pleased to see Melissa so happy.
"Oh you have just made this day even more wonderful"
After the reunion with her Aunty, Melissa prepared to walk down the aisle, she couldn't wait to see Damon in his wheelchair and tux at the end of it looking all hot and dapper, Melissa didn't have her own father to walk her down the aisle but that didn't worry her one bit as she had become close to Damon's father, he offered his arm and they walked arm in arm down the aisle, waiting at the end was Damon and as soon as he saw Melissa he started to tear up, she just looked so beautiful that he almost couldn't believe it. The feeling was mutual was though.
"You just look amazing" gushed Melissa upon seeing her beau.
"Eclipsed by your beauty though that's for sure" replied Damon not believing this was all happening.
They both took up there spots facing one another and the priest started. "Ladies and Gentleman, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of these two fine people". As the priest continued to talk there was barely a dry eye in the crowd or between Damon and Melissa. Soon enough it came time to put the rings on one another, Damon's little 12 year old niece walking over with them, Melissa picked up Damon's hand and slid it on before putting on her own ring. As the service came to a close the priest finally announced that famous phrase "I now declare you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride"
Upon hearing this Damon moved his wheelchair forward and Melissa planted the sweetest of kisses on his expectant lips, they stayed in lip lock for many a second while everyone cheered them on wildly. They eventually made their way down the aisle and into a waiting van, Damon's exit taking a little longer than most newlywed grooms but no-one cared, least of all Damon who was just in extreme bliss. Before loading up into the van Melissa threw her bouquet, after a tight tussle it was won by her best friend Shelley, very pleased with her efforts.
Soon they pulled away from Damon's place where the wedding was held and set out on their honeymoon, it would be a retreat on the East Coast and was sure to be a lot of fun with wheelchair accessibility not to be a problem. After the honeymoon they would come back to live at Damon's and lead the happiest and most fruitful life possible. For Melissa she found the love she always wanted and craved and Damon heart was filled again, brimming full of Melissa's love..And everyone couldn't be happier for them..
THE END
After the revelation of the previous night Damon worried he had blown things with Melissa, his fears were unfounded though as the next day he had a visitor. "Melissa!" he remarked as she appeared in his lounge room.
"Hey you! Lydia let me in" she smiled.
"So good to see you. I know it was only last night but I was worried it might have been too heavy"
"Well yeah to be honest it was quite a bombshell. I looked at both sides of the story though and I know in all reality you couldn't tell me any earlier than what you did" reasoned Melissa. "No more things I need to know though right?"
"No that's it. For sure and certain. How about you?"
"Nothing that needs to be dealt with here and now" replied Melissa cryptically.
"Hmm.. that's a strange thing to say" replied Damon curiously.
"Well I'm a strange girl, get used to it!" laughed Melissa.
After a bit more talk Damon made comment on what Melissa was wearing. "Have to say those jeans are definitely agreeing with you"
"Really? I always stress over what to wear when I go out but I thought they looked alright"
"Well they are a definite winner. I'd give that cute bum of yours a pinch but I'm just too lazy" joked Damon.
"Oh would you now!!??" remarked Melissa enjoying this bit of flirting. "Have to say no fair though, I haven't seen your bum, you keep hiding it in that chair!"
"Well anytime you want to see it just ask" smirked Damon.
They both looked at each other, smiles as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge and knew they made each other happy.
After a couple more hours of kisses, flirting and talking there was a knock on the door. "Oh that must be my parents, I can hear them talking outside" informed Damon.
"Are you serious??? I'm not ready to meet them yet. I'm only wearing a t-shirt and jeans!!" worried Melissa.
"Don't worry you will be fine. My parents are pretty cool"
Melissa quickly fixed up her hair and readied for them to come in. Lydia opened the door and soon they were in the lounge room.
"Oh hello" remarked Grace, Damon's mother upon seeing Melissa.
"Hello Mrs Rivers I'm Melissa, how are you?" replied a nervous Melissa
"I'm very well dear. So your the Melissa my son has been raving about" addressed Grace.
With this said Melissa looked over at Damon a bit embarrassed before his Dad came over.
"Hello. Bill Rivers" he said before enthusiastically pushing out his hand to shake.
"Hey Mr Rivers I'm Melissa"
"Please. Call me Bill" offered Damon's father.
"Ok Bill!" gleamed Melissa.
Once all the formalities were out of the way they all settled down on the couch to get to know each other, Melissa's hands almost shaking while she nervously looked at Damon's parents. "So what were you two up to before we turned up?" asked Grace to start off conversation again.
Melissa looked at Damon to answer it but with his position in the room he could only see her out the corner of his eye. "Oh we were just talking and stuff" replied Melissa after a pause. "How about you? What plans have you got for today?"
"Oh we were thinking of spending the whole day with you two" informed Grace.
Upon hearing this Melissa's face went almost white."Oh... ok"
"Haha. I was only teasing" laughed Grace. "We just wanted to check up on Damon, we will head off in a few minutes and let you two have your alone time"
"Oh you don't have to head off on my account" worried Melissa that she was now keeping them from her son.
"No it's all good. I'm just glad I met you. I haven't seen my son smile this much in a long time"
"Well he makes me smile a lot too" gushed Melissa.
"So Melissa what do you do for work?" asked Bill, Damon's father.
"I work at the nursing home. You know the one on Fletcher Street" replied Melissa.
"That's a very honourable and underrated job Melissa. The elderly need good care just like everyone else" praised Grace.
"Yeah they are great down at the home. Always telling funny stories about their life and that" commented Melissa feeling a little more comfortable.
"Anyway I can see Damon is well so we'll be off now. Great to meet you Melissa and I'm sure we will be seeing a bit of each other if things go well" announced Grace. "Take good care of Damon for me"
"I will"
"Ok bye"
"Bye"
With goodbyes said Damon's parents left the house. "See that wasn't too bad was it?"
"No it was ok. God my palms are so sweaty though. Haven't met a boyfriend's parents in a while" remarked Melissa.
"So we are official now? I'm your boyfriend?"
"Yeah for sure" answered Melissa both with her voice and her mouth as she landed a juicy kiss on Damon's lips before eventually heading home.
The next night Melissa made her way to Damon's place again, after Melissa fed Damon a bit of dinner they moved into the lounge room to watch a bit of tv, as they did this Damon noticed Melissa looking at him like she wanted something. "Damon can we go to your bed?" she asked
"My bed??"
"Yes"
Damon worried knowing that normally means one thing, something he couldn't give Melissa. "I'm sorry but I can't ..well.. you know"
"Haha did you think I meant sex?? No I just want to cuddle, we can't do that while your in your chair!"
"Oh ok. I can definitely cuddle. Well be cuddled anyway!" replied a relieved Damon.
They moved into Damon's bedroom and with the help of the nurse relieving Lydia he was strapped into the lift and lowered into bed, it was the first time Melissa had seen Damon placed in bed and she was sure it wouldn't be the last, even making herself useful by holding Damon's head while he was in motion being swung into place, while Damon was quite strong in the mind she could see a lot of fear in his eyes at the transfer, an uncomfortable part of being a quadriplegic. Soon Damon was set up in his bed, they planned to watch a bit of tv in his room as well so he reclined his bed up to about a 90 degree angle. "Oooh this is a different kind of mattress" Melissa noticed as she kicked her shoes off and hopped on.
"Yeah it's a special air mattress. Helps prevent pressure sores" replied Damon
"Well it's definitely comfy. I like it" enthused Melissa.
Once Damon was settled Melissa moved over closer and placed her head on Damon's chest, just to the side of the vent hose hurtling down his chest. "This is nice" she mused. As she got more comfortable she started to run her bare foot down Damon's paralyzed and atrophied lower limbs, while Damon was over the moon with how things were going with Melissa he wished he could feel her foot caressing his legs, or her head on his heart. "Do you think it will be an issue later on?" asked Damon
"What?"
"Sex, and the lack there of"
"Not really. Not at the moment anyway. Sex is overrated, I'm in complete bliss just lying next to you cuddling. I don't need anymore"
"Are you just staying that?" worried Damon
"No I really mean it. I couldn't be happier or more at peace in this present moment" assured Melissa.
Hearing this made Damon feel a lot better, if Melissa didn't need sex then why was he stressing out then. "Just when I think you can't get any more amazing you do"
"Yeah I am pretty amazing" replied Melissa before they both just looked at each other and started laughing.
As the night wore on two of them got very heavy eyes before Melissa fell asleep. She was only awoken a couple of hours later by the arrival of Lydia. "Sorry I have to come in and turn Damon. He needs to have it done every 3 or 4 hours to make sure he doesn't get a pressure sore"
"I thought the mattress prevented that" replied a sleepy Melissa
"Well yes it does to a degree but you can never be too careful"
Melissa hopped off the bed and decided to make herself useful by helping Lydia turn Damon. "Gee he's heavy" remarked Melissa. How on earth do you do this by yourself?"
"Oh it's just practice. Sometimes his family or the relief nurse might be here so they help"
As they rolled him over Melissa caught sight of Damon's bum. "Nice" she whispered into Damon's ear causing him to smile.
After that was done Melissa took up residence back on the bed, morning soon arrived though and time for Damon's usual morning routine. As Lydia moved in and checked Damon's catheter and his body for pressure sores Melissa just stood there taking it all in, as she continued to watch Lydia came in and washed his face and body, after a few more checks and what have you Damon was finally ready to be dressed and placed in his wheelchair, Melissa looked at her watch and couldn't believe how long it all took. "Wow two hours. Is that the same very morning?" she asked Lydia.
"Yeah normally. Once you get into a routine it's not that hard though" replied Lydia
As that was said Damon was lowered into his wheelchair, once again Melissa could see this exercise was uncomfortable for Damon, she knew it was essential though as even though Damon didn't necessarily have anywhere to go, he still needed to get out of bed and out and about a bit for his mental health. Sure enough Damon was ready to be on his way and they all moved into the kitchen.
Upon arrival In the kitchen Melissa made a bit of toast which she quickly wolfed down before making up a bit of porridge, once again feeding Damon. "Your going to put me out of a job soon" joked Lydia.
"Haha. Doubt it. Can't watch him 24/7!!" replied Melissa. "I would like to learn more about his care though if that's ok"
"Yeah sure. No worries"
Hearing this made Damon feel like this was finally it, a definite start to a fresh new life..
Chapter 6
Over the course of the next couple of weeks Melissa and Damon went from strength to strength, Melissa was slowly learning more and more about Damon's care, from how to re-attach his vent if it came loose to his medication, she was learning everyday, a fact not lost on Damon. "What did I do to deserve you?" he mused one day.
"Nothing. You won me over by just being you" smiled Melissa.
As further time passed by the two of them continued to get out and about, Damon's paralysis not stopping them one bit from going to any show they wanted to attend or movie as the case may be, they often went for a walk in the park not far from where Damon lived and even started to go swimming, Damon having a specially made pool with an ultra shallow end that he can be dropped into and lie flat while Melissa holds up his head. The pool was quite useful on a hot day to keep Damon's blood pressure down and he always liked seeing Melissa in her swimmers, albeit a singlet and board shorts with Melissa still shy about her body. Spending so much time over at Damon's place Melissa started to get to know his parents even more too, they were overjoyed that their union now seemed to be as strong as oak, their son deserving happiness after the tragedy that had befallen him in his life.
After another day enjoyed spent together Melissa went in the bathroom to wash up, when she came out though she saw Damon looking at the picture of Emily, seeing this upset Melissa and even though she knew her relationship with Damon was getting stronger she still felt insecure.
"I know I shouldn't ask this but how do I compare? Like to Emily I mean" asked Melissa.
"Why would you ask that? What we have is totally different" replied Damon swinging around in his wheelchair to answer.
"I know, I'm just being silly."
"What happened with Emily and I will be something I will never forget, but your the only woman I love now"
"You love me??"
"Yeah of course"
"Oh wow. I love you too I've just been too scared to say it!!" beamed Melissa with a smile that would have lit up a small nation. She rushed over and stormed Damon's lips with her own, clashing together in a fury of emotion and sheer joy.
"Wow!!" laughed Damon not believing how happy he had just made Melissa, and how unbelievable he felt too.
"I'm sorry. It's just that I haven't experienced love in such a long time. If at all really" Melissa slipped out.
"You've never had love? Of any sort? Not even parents?" questioned Damon
"Not really" mumbled Melissa going quiet.
"I've never wanted to press but you never talk about your parents"
"Nothing much to say really. They aren't here with us now and I'm fine with that" replied Melissa matter of factly.
"Yeah but you must still feel something towards them"
"I guess so. But I think it's fair to say they would never have won any parenting awards. Dad had wandering hands and Mum never did anything to stop him"
"Wandering hands?" asked Damon worried by what he was hearing.
"Come on Damon, don't make me spell it out for you, I think you know what that means. It's probably the reason I got so big I think. I just kept eating in the hope that I would get so fat he wouldn't want me anymore. Didn't work though of course, all getting fat did was make my life at school complete hell by way of teasing"
Damon couldn't believe what he was hearing, it had all flooded out of Melissa's mouth like a raging torrent and he wasn't sure what to say. "I'm so sorry that happened to you"
"Yeah well so am I. If you don't mind I'd like to change the subject now thanks"
"No worries" replied Damon still a little stunned by what he had heard. They went onto another subject and Melissa continued to talk as if nothing happened. Damon knew that Melissa still hurt over it all though and he would do his best to get her through.
A week passed and soon enough it became time for Damon's 30th birthday. "The big 3-0 hey?" teased Melissa.
"Yes unfortunately. Getting old. Not as old as you though!" laughed Damon in reply knowing Melissa was a couple of months older than him.
"Ok that's enough out of you buddy!!!"
While Damon wasn't big on parties his family were and they were all invited, mum, dad, nieces, nephews, the lot. Naturally this all made Melissa quite anxious.
"No need to sweat babe, you know my parents already so you'll be fine!" assured Damon. Melissa wasn't so sure but knew she was probably over stressing like she normally did. Soon enough all the guests arrived, Melissa couldn't believe how much immediate and extended family had turned up to Damon's birthday. "This is unbelievable, there must be 80 people here" she remarked.
"Yeah I know it's like a madhouse" acknowledged Damon in a good mood at the sight of them all. Most of them seeing him at hos worst having visited him in hospital lending their support when he was going through his harrowing ordeal in the hospital and afterwards. "Oh come over here I want you to meet my grandma Mavis. Damon zoomed his chair over to his Nan who smiled straight away at the sight of her grandson "Damon! So great to see you" she sparkled putting her hand on Damon's.
"Hey Grandma, great to see you too, your looking well"
"Oh your too kind! Who is this lovely woman next to you?" asked Mavis.
"This is Melissa, she is my new girlfriend" beamed Damon happily looking at Melissa next to him out the corner of his eye.
"Nice to meet you dear" smiled Mavis
"Great to meet you too" replied Melissa.
"Just look after him, he's had a tough time of late" encouraged Mavis making mention of past events.
"I will" assured Melissa
After meeting Mavis for the next hour Damon seemed to be introducing Melissa to someone in his family every 5 minutes. First his uncle, then his niece, nephews. "God so many people to remember" mentioned an overwhelmed Melissa.
"Sorry I'm just so glad to see them all, I haven't seen some of them in a while and I just want to show you off" replied an excited Damon
After meeting some more of Damon's family Melissa told Damon she needed to go 'powder her nose'. She headed off toward the toilet, once she got there she sat on the toilet seat and started to cry, she wasn't sure why but she guessed it was just meeting all of Damon's family, she only had one relative left and she had lost touch with them. She eventually composed herself and came out of the toilet, as she left Damon's mother Grace came along and noticed she had been crying.
"Sweetheart are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine" replied Melissa wiping away what tears were left on her face
"I hope so. You can tell anything you know. I'm here to help" offered Grace with a concerned look on her face.
"I'm just being a sook. I've never really known a tight knit loving family like the one you seem to have"
"Well your a part of that too now. It might be only a couple of months but I think you and my son will be together a long time. The way you look at each other is the way I used to look at Damon's father Bill"
With this said Grace moved in and gave Melissa a hug, the warmth of the hug made Melissa feel really good and she was now ready to go back out again. Once she got outside Damon wondered what took so long. "Oh I was just talking to your mother" replied Melissa.
"That's a worry" laughed Damon.
Melissa just looked at him and simply said "I love you. So much". They embraced in front of Damon's family and all of Melissa's hangups just disappeared.
Soon enough the party ended, Damon was lowered into bed utterly exhausted. "Had a great day today. Thanks for everything"
"No thank you, your family are great" replied Melissa. She gave him a kiss on the cheek then headed off.
As Melissa pulled up into her driveway she heard her phone go off. "Wonder who that is?" she mumbled to herself. Once inside she checked her phone, the message was from Shelley who she hadn't heard from in weeks.
"Hey Mel, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened last time we saw each other, I freaked out over it all and was just stupid. Friends again?"
Upon reading this Melissa was pleased, not pleased over what happened that night but pleased Shelley wanted to be friends again as she was the only one she really had. She decided to reply "All good. Friends again:)". After a couple more messages the air was cleared and Melissa went to bed a very tired but very happy woman...
Chapter 7
Over the course of the next twelve months Melissa and Damon's relationship flourished, the longer the time they spent together the more Melissa's worries about her past subsided, Damon always lending an ear when she needed to talk. Melissa was now almost a 2nd nurse for Damon behind Lydia and the three of them all worked in tandem with each other, all parties were happy with how things were going and it made Damon think about asking the most important question in a man's life when it comes to a woman. A marriage proposal.
With help from Lydia, Damon headed into town to check out rings, while he worried that Melissa might not like his choice of ring he knew it could always be exchanged, plus he had to buy one as proposing without a ring didn't have the same effect, Melissa had given him a second chance of happiness and she deserved the best. After sorting out the ring Damon wondered how he would pop the question, obviously being on bended knee was out of the question but that was no big deal, there were plenty of other ways it could be done, he just had to come up with it. After a good deal of thought he decided on a way to do it and set the wheels in motion for it to happen.
The day after the ring was purchased Damon was quite nervous, sure he knew that Melissa was in love with him but that was still no certainty for marriage, he was glad that she didn't seem to know anything about it though and it would be a surprise, hopefully a good one.
With a bit of lunch under their belts Damon decided to propose a walk to the local park, it had been a place they had gone a bit lately, just watching people play football or run around with their dogs, just enjoying the sun and the simple things life has to offer. As they got to the middle of the park they could hear a plane roaring overhead.
"Gee that plane is noisy" gestured Melissa.
"I guess" replied Damon.
As the plane continued to fly up above they noticed that it started to write out a name. "Hey that plane is writing out my name" laughed Melissa in almost disbelief at the sight of her name in the sky.
"Yeah I see it. He hasn't finished yet it seems" hinted Damon
As the skywriter continued to spell out words Melissa suddenly put her hand to her mouth stunned by what was now being written, the words "Melissa will you marry me?" now there for the world to see.
"Oh my god Damon is this for real?" she squealed as she looked around at her man.
"You better believe it" replied Damon. "Check my top pocket"
Melissa checked the top pocket of his shirt and in there was a small felt box, in it a ring that sparkled brighter than the morning sun. "It's wonderful" cried Melissa putting it on straight away then almost bowling Damon over in his wheelchair in a strong embrace.
"So that's a yes?" asked Damon making sure
"Yes, yes. Of course yes!!! A thousand times yes!!!" beamed Melissa.
As they continued to embrace the other people in the park had now stopped to congratulate the happy couple hopelessly in love. While neither of them had experienced the smoothest of lives that didn't matter one bit now, they had each other.
After the excitement of the engagement Melissa feverishly prepared for the wedding, spending hours on end in bridal shops and arranging everything else, Damon just sitting back and watching what would soon be his happy bride doing her business. After that was all sorted she had to work out a bridesmaid, there was only one choice for bridesmaid though, her best friend Shelley. Naturally enough she said yes and the marriage of Damon and Melissa was finally scheduled.
The day of the wedding arrived and it was a glamorous affair, there was ice sculptures and a harmonic orchestra not to mention the array of stunning flowers, rather than being held in a church it was held on Damon's spacious back lawn, the chairs were all set up and everyone in Damon's family naturally turned up to see their relation be wed. At first Melissa worried no-one from her family would be there but she then got an unexpected surprise. "Hello dear" said a voice behind Melissa before she went to walk down the aisle. She turned around to see it was her last remaining relative alive, the relative she had lost touch with. "Oh my god Aunty June!!" she cried as she laid eyes on her before rushing up to hug in her long flowing white dress. "I can't believe your here" she remarked.
"Well I couldn't miss this could I?" replied Aunty June pleased to see Melissa so happy.
"Oh you have just made this day even more wonderful"
After the reunion with her Aunty, Melissa prepared to walk down the aisle, she couldn't wait to see Damon in his wheelchair and tux at the end of it looking all hot and dapper, Melissa didn't have her own father to walk her down the aisle but that didn't worry her one bit as she had become close to Damon's father, he offered his arm and they walked arm in arm down the aisle, waiting at the end was Damon and as soon as he saw Melissa he started to tear up, she just looked so beautiful that he almost couldn't believe it. The feeling was mutual was though.
"You just look amazing" gushed Melissa upon seeing her beau.
"Eclipsed by your beauty though that's for sure" replied Damon not believing this was all happening.
They both took up there spots facing one another and the priest started. "Ladies and Gentleman, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of these two fine people". As the priest continued to talk there was barely a dry eye in the crowd or between Damon and Melissa. Soon enough it came time to put the rings on one another, Damon's little 12 year old niece walking over with them, Melissa picked up Damon's hand and slid it on before putting on her own ring. As the service came to a close the priest finally announced that famous phrase "I now declare you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride"
Upon hearing this Damon moved his wheelchair forward and Melissa planted the sweetest of kisses on his expectant lips, they stayed in lip lock for many a second while everyone cheered them on wildly. They eventually made their way down the aisle and into a waiting van, Damon's exit taking a little longer than most newlywed grooms but no-one cared, least of all Damon who was just in extreme bliss. Before loading up into the van Melissa threw her bouquet, after a tight tussle it was won by her best friend Shelley, very pleased with her efforts.
Soon they pulled away from Damon's place where the wedding was held and set out on their honeymoon, it would be a retreat on the East Coast and was sure to be a lot of fun with wheelchair accessibility not to be a problem. After the honeymoon they would come back to live at Damon's and lead the happiest and most fruitful life possible. For Melissa she found the love she always wanted and craved and Damon heart was filled again, brimming full of Melissa's love..And everyone couldn't be happier for them..
THE END
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