⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆
The hospital was not often visited by students, it was further into the town centre, and Sagamore liked to keep their students within the confines of the orphanage. If a child was sick, Nurse Deborah simply tended them in her small office, with a plaster for a gash or a dab of iodine for an infection, but for a student to be admitted to hospital, everyone knew this was serious, and Anna was not "doing fine". Elise felt she should be considered special for being invited on this exclusive visit.
When Elise and Nurse Deborah approached the hospital, it mirrored Sagamore in many ways, the peeling paint exposing red brick, the weeds growing between the cracks of the walls, a wooden square placed where a window should be suggesting someone tried to break in or someone tried to break out. The rusty sign at the front of the building read "ST JOESPH'S HOSPITA" (the L was missing). It unsettled Elise this was where Anna was experiencing her ailments.
Elise and Nurse Deborah walked closer towards the front door, Nurse Deborah heaving the old heavy door open, releasing a loud creaking sound.The inside of the building attempted to add some warmth, but failed. The staff had recently put up hand drawn pictures of the hospital done by the local school children. Badly drawn with crayon with 'Hospital' and 'Joesph' spelt incorrectly but each wrote in capital letters underneath 'THANK YOU!'. These images did not compliment the headache-inducing fluorescent lights, which flickered on and off and emitted a small buzz, but the staff seemed to tune out.
Nurse Deborah approached the receptionist desk, ringing the bell to attract the attention of the receptionist. She was an older woman, late-fifties and seemed to be working this role for a significant amount of time, she had red-rimed, cat eye glasses and paid little attention to Nurse Deborah, simply shuffled through her paperwork and chewed noisily on her gum.
"Do you know which room Anna Milano is staying in?" Nurse Deborah questioned.
"Hmm... yes" the receptionist replied without looking, swivelling her chair to the left to grab a stack of larger paperwork and revealing and dishevelled beige poster with bold red writing reading:
'God can cure you too! A message from the St. Jacob's Baptist Church'
Elise thought this was odd to have this in a hospital but did not question, although she understood that Christianity is not only pushed in Sagemore, she wondered if this receptionist has a Bible in her nightstand too, maybe even with four strange pills beside it.
"She's in Room 14-b", before Nurse Deborah and Elise could thank her, she added "tsk, poor girl", Elise and Nurse Deborah looked at each other, and wondered if her condition had worsened.
⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆
'14-b- Milano. A', handwritten in black ink underneath the window which revealed Anna in a hospital bed, with a tube down her throat, still looking weak and frail. Elise hesitated going in but Nurse Deborah opened the door and greeted Anna like it was another ordinary day.
"Hello Anna, how you feeling?"
A repetitive beep is heard, Anna made no expression.
"Right, I'll let you to talk", she turned to Elise, "if you need me, I'll be in the smoking area, but try not to need me" before hitting Elise jokingly on the back and exited the room.
Anna's eyes seemed stuck on Elise, when she approached her to talk, they did not falter. Elise looked at the tube, sticking out of her gaping mouth.
"Can we talk, if you can?" Elise questioned.
Anna clicked a button on a remote that she held in her left hand, a small ding was heard. A young nurse approached and Anna pointed to the tube, and before Elise could prepare herself, the nurse pulled upwards, Anna gagged at every tug and her chest heaved in response, Elise felt like she was back in the bathroom, she couldn't watch, deciding to stare out the window, wishing she could mute the pained sounds.
"There" the nurse said, "all done!" before exiting with the tube in her latex-sheathed hands.
Anna's breathing soon steadied and she stared at Elise, both wondering who was going to speak first.
"Nurse Deborah said you wanted to speak to me" Elise muttered out.
Anna lowered her gaze, before nodding slowly.
"What did you want to talk to me about?"
Her eyes widened and he lifted her hand and curved her fingers to herself, indicating Elise to come closer. Elise was hesitant but leaned forward.
"Something's wrong" Anna said in a hushed tone, her eyes large and fearful. Elise maintained eye contact and Anna explained further.
"Here, the doctors, the nurses, something is wrong, they keep telling me 'one more day' and I'm still here, something is very, very wrong." Anna told this quickly, swallowing painfully between the words.
Elise thought it was odd to see someone like Anna, a girl she barely knew, a girl she envied for her ability to fit in, be here, frail in a hospital bed, confiding in someone like herself. She felt guilty about being in a position of power. She simply stared back and Anna, not quite sure what to say.
Elise composed herself and replied, "Anna, why would they want to keep you here?"
"Information" she said in the smallest of whispers.
When Elise questioned what information, curious if it was about Olive, the pills, Sagemore, or the checked- out library book, or maybe something Elise had never even considered.
Anna did not answer any of Elise's questions, she opened drawer to her left and took out a fairly used Bible, opening to a folded page and began reading and murmuring to herself. Elise guessed the constant Biblical teachings and the Holy Hospital must have pushed her religion to the forefront.
Elise stood up to find Nurse Deborah and leave, something caught her eye. The possessions of Anna's drawer. She saw empty paper cups, an unsharpened pencil and an empty pill bottle. Elise picked up and bottle and played with it in her hands, the label read "ZENOTHIDE".
"What are you doing?" Anna bluntly asked, her eyes questioning Elise's intentions.
Elise quickly put the bottle in her back pocket, looking back in the almost empty drawer and picked up the pencil.
"Don't you want to sharpen this?" Elise said with a light chuckle.
Anna spoke quietly and looked back to her Bible.
"We're not allowed sharpeners here"
A loud buzz was heard from the back door and Nurse Deborah approached.
"Elise, it's time to go."
She nodded to Nurse Deborah and looked and Anna, attempting to telepathically understand the 'information' she knows.
Elise simply said her goodbyes and exited the hospital, still fumbling with the empty pill bottle in her back pocket.
⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆
YOU ARE READING
Cloud Gazer
Teen FictionLoneliness is something Elise is accustomed too. Being dealt a bad hand, Elise lives in an orphanage in a small town, with her own friends being the clouds in the sky. Her bright imagination and curious way of thinking brings her down to earth, wher...
