I sit across from Paulo, eating chocolate pudding in the hospital cafeteria. It's almost empty in here except for a few people cleaning tables.
Paulo eats a sandwich silently. I stare at him for a while wondering how upset he is. But soon I look down to my phone, to see if Aleisha's texted me.
She hasn't.
I know that my phone would vibrate on the table if I did get a message but for some reason I can't help but check every few minutes.
"Anything?" Paulo asks.
I shake my head.
I take another spoonful of pudding but I feel sick. I shouldn't be eating this on an empty stomach.
I get up and walk over to where the food is. The food is all laid out on a line like a one sided buffet. I move down and grab a strawberry yogurt. It has a small spoon glued to the side of the yogurt cup. I continue down the line of food and stop on the sandwiches. They're all in triangle-shaped containers. I pick up a sandwich and read the label. It says "turkey on rye". I don't know what rye is but as long as there's no avocado, than I'm fine.
I make my way to the cash register and a lady approaches. She pushes some buttons on the machine and the total adds up on display for me.
"Eight twenty-three," she says.
I pull out a ten and hand it to her.
She gives me back a dollar and some change.
"Thanks," I walk away with the yogurt and sandwich and head back to sit with Paulo.
I sit down and Paulo finishes his sandwich he bought before me.
I set the yogurt aside and pop open the container.
"Can you believe this?" I say. "Almost ten dollars for a sandwich and yogurt!"
Paulo stays silent.
I begin eating one of he slices and it tastes better for some reason. Pudding is good but it isn't good at ten o'clock in the morning on an empty stomach.
The sandwich is really cold but I don't mind. It tastes great. "This is actually really good," I tell him.
He stays silent.
"Alright, I already apologized. What do you want me to do?"
"You're asking me what you should do? You don't need to do anything."
"Than why are you so mad?"
"You want to know why? You actually want to know why?" His words are speeding up.
"Yes!" I respond.
"Because while you were over there doing nothing, just waiting I was in a room filled with ten dead bodies including our best friend, who was mauled by some beast along with her parents, which we knew for almost all of our lives! I was the only one who was saying goodbye and maybe you don't need to say goodbye or you already have but it doesn't mean I didn't need support. So yes, I'm mad. I'm mad at the fact that I had to push Wendy back into the wall, when I didn't even know when I would see her again. I pushed her back into the wall, as if she belonged there! I literally had to close the door on my best friend while you were waiting in a lobby doing nothing!" He's shouting by the time he finishes. The word "nothing" echoes off the walls.
"I..." I feel lost and don't have a clue what to say. "I'm sorry," the words seem so weak. "I didn't know."
"I didn't know either. I didn't know what was happening with June but we all had to make a decision. Yes, yours was different but I can't change who you chose." He pauses. "June won't have remembered you were there and even if she did, she would have understood." His words are starting to come slower and calmer.
"And how do you know Wendy would have known you were there?"
"I don't. This was about closure. Seeing Wendy was so I could feel better. It wasn't just to see her. It was so I could accept her death. I can accept the fact that she's gone because I watched as she didn't breathe for such a long time. I accepted the fact that she's gone But the real question now is can you?"
I was only in there for a few minutes. Will this haunt me? Will I always wonder if she was actually alive? Is Paulo's word good enough? What if I don't see her again? What if she's—
My phone vibrates cutting off the rest of the "what if's".
I pick up the phone and it's a text from Aleisha.Aleisha: She woke up for a little bit but fell back asleep
I don't respond.
"Who is it?" Paulo asks.
"Aleisha," I put my phone back in my pocket. "She said June woke up but went back to sleep. Let's go check on them."
We get up and walk back into the hospital which seems busier. I feel kind of woozy like being carsick.
I feel awkwardness around me and Paulo. The things needed saying weren't being said.
Can I accept the fact that she's gone?
My stomach feels as if it's a washing machine spinning in circles, mixing sandwich and chocolate. The mere thought making me feel worse.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom," I pat Paulo. "I'll be there in a bit."
He nods and walks down the hall.
I walk down the opposite directions and walk back to the only bathroom I've seen. I clutch my stomach as my mind swirls with each step.
I see the bathroom sign and walk a bit faster than before. I shove the door open and see the back of a man's head at the urinal but no one in the stall.
I walk to the stall, shove the door open and shut it quickly. I feel as if everything in my stomach is meshing together, making a horrible concoction that is rising up my throat. I lift the seat up and lean over the the toilet.
Everything burns my throat coming out. Every sound echoes off the walls and I can hear every sound I'm making. I close my eyes not wanting to see how this vile slop, that was once inside of me, looks
I stop throwing up for a few seconds. I hear running water coming from outside the stall. The man at the urinal is probably hearing all of this.
I begin gagging at the smell. I flush everything down but I start puking again and everything smells just like how it had before.
My eyes water as I struggle to breathe.
I feel the ickiness begin to drip out of my nostrils, into the toilet. I reach for toilet paper to wipe away this mess but I'm out of reach.
There's nothing in my stomach, I can feel it. I gag but nothing comes out. My stomach feels like a rag that's being rung out but I've already been rung dry. Everything is being squeezed and nothing is coming out anymore. My stomach hurts and I can't stop it.
I feel empty. I move this time to grab some toilet paper from the wall. I wipe my mouth and nose. My hands tremble all over. I want to be somewhere warm, like underneath warm blankets by a fire. I feel so cold.
I open the stall door and see a man waiting by the sink. I can barely see him with my watery eyes not to mention how foggy my mind feels. All I can tell is the color of his shirt and hair. He's wearing a white shirt and there's something black down the center of his chest. It has to be a tie. He has Black hair a light complexion. It has to be the man at the urinal. He's not washing his hands, just standing there like a mannequin.
My mind aches at the thought of trying to concentrate on his facial features. Nothing comes into focus. I move to the sink and move my hands under the sensor and water pours out. My legs give away and I lie on top of the sink counter with my hands below the sensor and my lips only inches away from the running water.
The water is burning hot but I feel so cold that I don't mind. I suddenly feel arms against my waist. I try pushing these hands away but my hands are uncoordinated and don't move how I want them to. I rise back to my feet with the help of these unknown hands.
"Take this," the stranger says. He stretches a blurry hand out towards me and I don't see anything, it's probably s pill. He's probably a doctor and knows that this will help. Everything is so fuzzy. I reach towards his hand with my hand and instead of lightly picking up anything in his hand, I end up slamming my hand down on his.
I hear a small clicking sound of the pill bouncing on the ground then I hear him groan.
"Open your mouth," he says.
I open my mouth and feel a small pill on my tongue.
"Swallow," He commands. "This will empty your stomach so you don't feel sick and lessen any headaches to a dull throb that comes and goes," he says. I try to make sense of the words but it's as if I'm trying to read when I can't concentrate, nothing is getting processed. Just words.
I see a blurry figure fade away and disappear through the door.
I feel my stomach squeeze hard again and I lean over the sink and throw up a small watery light brown mixture of spit and pudding into the sink. My stomach squeezes again and a little more comes out.
I feel the fuzziness fade away and my mind begins to clear slowly.
I finally feel sweat against the collar of my shirt that's cooled and I feel my hair and it's damp with sweat too. How long have I been in here to make all this sweat? Why do I feel so cold if I'm sweating?
I grab some paper towels and press them against my collar. The paper towels moisten but my shirt still feels just as wet.
I grab some paper towels and walk out of the bathroom. I push the dry paper towels onto my head and scrub as if the paper towel was actually a towel.
I look around to try and find someone in a white shirt and black tie but every doctor seems to be wearing a white shirt and black tie beneath their white coats.
It's no use. Besides, the conversation would be quite short. "Thanks for that pill that made me feel better". It doesn't matter now.
I walk down the hall with, what feels like, a hollow stomach. But I'd rather not eat after everything that just came out.
Every step sets off a small ache in my head. It's not as harsh as it was before.
I pass so many open doors and see so many different people. Old people that seem so delicate, young kids that look like they'll bounce back quickly, adults in every room.
Who do you call when you're alone if your parents aren't there? Who do you call when you don't have anyone? I guess, that's the responsibility of being an adult, handling your own problems. Someone to hug you or someone to help you when you need help is better than the emptiness of a room that provides no emotional comfort.
So many doors, so many people, so many lives.
I finally make it to the doorway of the room where June is.
I have this nasty after-taste and don't want to say anything. I step into the room and move behind the curtain.
I see Paulo trying to put June's pants on. Then I see there's bruises on June. I tell myself it's side effects from the fake heart attack. She's squinting at everything. Then, I see Aleisha with a paper in her hands.
"Unbelievable," she mutters.
"What's happening?" I interrupt.
"This." Aleisha gives me the sheet of paper she was reading. It's a bill. I look at the total and it's almost six hundred dollars!
A small signed prescription is on the back of the bill for pain killers.
"How are we gonna pay for this? June doesn't have healthcare, none of us do. Are we each paying one-hundred and fifty dollars each?"
"We're not paying," answers Paulo. He continues putting June's clothes on and June contributes little to no help.
"What happens when they track us down?" I respond.
"How?"
"Cameras, DNA, thumbprints, just a few off the top of my head."
"Have you ever taken a mugshot or been fingerprinted?"
"No."
"And none of the rest of us have either, we're not in the police database so there's no one to match us to."
"They could stop us in the hall."
"And say what? They don't know us. Aleisha, can you help with this next part?" Landon holds out a bra.
Aleisha gets up and walks over.
Paulo and I both turn around and in after fifteen seconds, June is wearing a bra. Paulo walks back over and helps her put on her shirt and sweater on.
"Can you go get a wheelchair?" Paulo asks while looking at me.
I walk out of the room and grab a random wheelchair from the hall that's not far by and return back to the room.
"That was quick," Aleisha says.
We move June from the bed to the wheelchair.
How did they remove the needle from her arm? I think to myself.
It's not important.
I walk out of the room nonchalantly to look around and see if any of the doctors that have walked in are in the hall.
They're not. I walk back to the room, "Let's go." I whisper.
We walk down the hall as if we're doing nothing wrong. We push the elevator button and hear the elevator start up. That means no one was using it and no one's inside.
We wait, standing impatiently, hoping no one comes along to stop us from leaving.
The doors finally open and we walk calmly inside.
Aleisha moves and pushes the number 1 button calmly and smiles at us. It's a fake smile, something you'd see in a commercial, something staged but a smile.
She doesn't look away and I look at her hand as she moves down to the "door close" button and begins pushing it so rapidly I think she might get the button stuck.
Footsteps come running down the hall. Someone's running down this hall. Are they running to our rooms? Are they running to the elevators? Are they already pursuing us?
My heart begins to race.
"Everyone, turn around." I whisper. We wheel June around along with ourselves to face the wall.
The doors begin to close and suddenly they open again.
Please let it be a stranger.
I hear the click of a button and the doors close again. We move down.
He's off in the second floor. That's the only other door below us.
The door opens and the other person walks out. The doors close and I feel relieved to have not been caught.
"Paulo as soon as the doors open, run to your car and pull it around." I order.
He nods.
The doors open and Paulo takes off, running down the hall to the exit.
I walk slowly with Aleisha by my side pushing June along.
Tension flies when nurses glance our way, making my nerves stand on edge.
I look at Aleisha and she covers most of her face with her hair, falling before her face.
I see the automatic doors so close, almost free.
I see Paulo's car waiting for us.
We're steps away, walking closer and closer to Paulo's car and we finally make it.
Aleisha opens the back door for me. I lift June and set her on the seat inside. "You go with them to take care of June while he drives."
She nods and sits beside June, buckling her seat belt.
"I'll see you guys at Aleisha's house." I tell them.
"Okay," Aleisha says. "See you soon."
Then I realize we've forgotten something.
We've forgotten June's glasses, prescription glasses that she's basically blind without.
They drive away and I'm left alone in this hospital again.
I rush back into the hospital but move to the stairs instead of the the elevator. I take the steps by two and reach the third floor quite quickly. I open the door in the stairwell, returning back to the floor we just left. I walk slowly down the hall and pass the room we were just in, making sure no one is in there. The curtain is drawn, leaving me without an answer.
I walk into the room and draw the curtain and there's a man standing by the monitor that's been shut off. He turns around and sees me. He has June's glasses in one hand and a clipboard in another.
"Hello?" he says.
"Hi." My mind feels a million miles away. There isn't a single thought in my mind that I can cling to. Suddenly, my mouth begins to speak mid-thought blurting out the first words coming to mind. "Have you seen my friends?" I ask.
"Your friends?" One of his eyebrows rises, seeming interested yet skeptical.
"Yes," I point at the glasses. "Those are her glasses, they must have gone down to the cafeteria. Luna probably cant see her own fingers right now. Can I have them back?" I move my hand forward to him expecting him to just drop the glasses in my palm and walk away. He doesn't.
"Your friend's name is Luna?" He asks. He starts coming closer to me. "I thought her name was," he lifts one of the sheets and reads the name, "Allison Williams?"
Somehow my mind snaps back quickly, "Not the patient, my other friend who's a visitor. Can I just have the glasses?"
"Why so urgent?" He smiles.
"Why so many questions?" I answer.
"No reason."
Then I realize what he's doing. He's stalling. Did he page security on his pager without me realizing? Is security already on their way? "Give me the glasses." My voice is stern.
"Don't you want to finish this game of twenty questions?"
"You look like an adult yet you act younger than me."
His smile fades. "I am not childish."
Did I hit a nerve? Or was he just mimicking me? "This is your last warning. Give them to me."
"Warning? You must be kidding!" He laughs. He leans his head back while laughing.
I run up to him and punch him in the throat. He stops laughing, drops the glasses and presses his hands to his throat as if he were choking. "I don't have time for this. I warned you."
I pick up the glasses that he dropped on the ground and walk out of the room. I begin walking back to the stairs and two security guards meet me there as I open the doors. I freeze with the door open.
They run past me. They don't know I'm the one they're supposed to catch.
I begin running down the stairs, leaping almost after every few steps. The soles of my feet begin to hurt. I finally make it to the first floor. I open the door and dash towards the exit, avoiding every obstacle in my way.
I walk out the door and another security guard is waiting by the door this time.
"Hold on a second. I've just been told no one is permitted to leave until further notice."
Shit. I think of throat punching him but decide it's best not to. There's too many people too close. I need to do something, I need to distract him. "I was actually looking for a security guard—"
My words get cut off as a dark-haired doctor rushes toward the officer. "There's a vicious dog, in the cafeteria, attacking everyone." The guard suddenly begins running into the hospital leaving the entrance without a guard. I look at the doctor and he looks young, mid 20s. He smiles and winks at me. I look at him confused. He pulls out a small pack of pills in his pocket. "In case you ever get sick again."
He hands me the pills and I finally realize that he's the one who helped me in the bathroom. But before I get the chance to say thank you he sprints back into the hospital and I sprint back to my car.
YOU ARE READING
Monsters in the Dark
Teen FictionAfter the death of a friend, a few friends venture out to discovering themselves. But when answers to questions don't add up, they're left wandering the country for answers on the unknown monsters of the world