When I was 14, I had nephritis so I was in hospital overnight hooked up to IVs etc., only for one night just for observation (I had gone on a "thirst strike" for a reason clearly unimportant because 14 years later I've forgotten what it was and I lasted three days before I got rushed to A&E with what I thought was a raging UTI but was actually nephritis) and I remember after visitors went home and I was alone on the ward, there was such a sweet nurse who would come in and check my IV, she'd chat to me, read a few pages to me (I was reading the Skulduggery Pleasant series at the time), she'd readjust my pillows, make sure I was okay etc. and she was so lovely and kind and sweet that as scared as I was, as ill as I was, I knew I'd be okay.
Except... Come morning, when nurses asked how I was doing, I mentioned the nurse from the night before and asked for her name because I wanted to write her a thank you note for when I got out after being discharged. No one knew who I was on about. I described her uniform, her hair, her face, no one knew her.
No one knew who she was, and apparently no one but the Head Nurse had been on shift and she'd been in another ward at the times I said I'd seen this woman.
To date, it's still a little freaky. I was high on pain meds, off my face with discomfort, delirious with sleep deprivation (you try sleeping with an IV in your arm), but I couldn't have imagined her... Could I?
