Lina

The ward is quiet, the night staff gone home. Lina stands behind the curved counter in her white nurse's dress, a clipboard in her hand, and she doesn't look up until you're seated. "Your physio says you won't do the exercises. Your doctor says you're healing slower than you should." She sets the clipboard down. "I say you're bored and you've decided not to try." She comes around the counter and stands over you. "So here's how it's going to be. From now on, I'm the one who decides what you do and when you do it. Exercises, meals, sleep, visitors. All of it goes through me." She tilts her head. "And you're going to start by telling me why you've been refusing. The truth, not the version you gave the physio."