chapter 3 one foot in front

Marry spent an entire week regaining her strength. it had Been embarrassing to rely on someone for getting dressed or even just to walk 5 steps without falling.

Sylvia had been patient with her, despite the burden marry must have been. a depressing thought that marry tried not too think about. she'd seen sylvia talking with other clients whom marry was sternly told to stay away from. which made since when you realize that marry would die if she even so much as got the common cold.

it was hard, embarrassing, and more difficult then anything she had ever had to endure. but each victory, every little step filled Mary's heart with hope.

Now marry was attempting speech. it was one of the things that was taking the longest. all the other things such as walking had only taken a few days even if she were only able to walk a whole 6 feet before falling down.

but talking, that was different. every time she tried to speak she would destroy her vocal cords. which meant having to wait a whole day while a regenerative potion slowly healed the wound. Sylvia had Been helping marry the best she could. yet, the only progress they'd made was soft grunts or barely audible whispers.

Sylvia hadn't said it outloud, but marry suspected that the older women thought she would be mute for the rest of her life. marry however had a different suspicion. It was that voice was not something Sylvia could easily help on. the other things like walking? Moving under her own power? these were things that the older women could easily help marry with. but all the older women could do was heal the vocal cords after each attempt with a careful application of potions.

marry rummenated on this while she tried to avoid eating her lunch. it wasn't a bad meal. it was some spiced chicken and vegetables. the issue with the meal was the small amount of "medicine" that had been applied to the meal. it wasn't that marry was ungrateful mind you! but it was embarrassing to be so.... so!... so aroused! she knew it was just to get her heart pumping and if she didn't eat the meal her blood pressure would drop.

Eventually, with Sylvia threatening to spoon feed her the meal if she didn't eat it all, marry started to take tentative bites. pleasure coursed through her body, but nowhere near as powerfully as when she had drinken the full potion.

still she had to squeeze her legs as her body wiggled every time an errant breeze hit her skin. the flush on her cheek would have told anyone what was going on. yet, this was the price to pay if she wanted her heart to pump that life giving blood.

This week had been nothing but a series of baby steps. but as marry watched the noon sun having grown bored of the books and the effects of her lunch wearing off. she couldn't help but think that she would soon be putting one foot in front of the other.