3 am (l.h.)

0.1

Audrey

 

I lay on the lumpy hospital bed, my hand over my eyes, trying to block out the bright yellow lights. I haven't slept in almost two days. Between the screaming patients, loud nurses, and florescent lights that never turn off, sleep is next to impossible. I arrived early Saturday morning, around 4 am, and have been here since, stuck in the purgatory between consciousness and unconsciousness, surviving off only dry fistfulls of knock-off Rice Krispies called Rice Crunchins.

I toss and turn on the bed, all the while keeping my hand on my eyes. I probably look like a fish flopping around on a dock, but I don't care. I will find a comfortable position. I will find something comfortable and livable in this damned emergency room.

I soon give up.

I open my eyes and accept the blurry vision that the change in light brings, and take a deep breath through my nose. It smells like a mix of those rubber gloves that they have at the dentist and metal. A red faced man with long, scraggly hair passes by my unlockable door, holding his arm, tears streaming down his cheeks. Something drips onto the floor from his arm. Was that blood? I sigh loudly. That was definitely blood.

I audibly groan and roll onto my side, this time making sure that I'm facing away from the door, but I can still hear the whimpering 7-year-old from across the hall. "Mommy," he wails. "My head still hurts!" She shushes him and I wrap the pillow around my head, trying to fade out the noise. That kid's been at this all night. "Mommy, I need water!" "Mommy, I'm hungry!" "Mommy, my stomach hurts!" "Mommyyyyyy!" He got here around 7 last night, and it is currently 2:54 am, but he hasn't stopped whining for a second.

I close my eyes again, but the light makes it through my eyelids. My god, I'm never going to sleep again. Is it possible to die from exhaustion? If it is, I'll be dead very soon.

I feel a tap on my shoulder. "What?" My voice sounds harsh, but I'm dying of exhaustion, so who can blame me? I take the pillow away from my ears and open my eyes. The male nurse with the pale skin and dyed-blue hair stares at me. "What?" I repeat, trying to sound nicer this time.

"Ms. Brooks, in a few minutes, another patient will come in," he says, his bright hair contrasting with his serious tone of voice. "He will be sharing the room with you until your discharge this afternoon."

I sigh. "And there's no way I can get out of this?"

He nods. "There's no way you can get out of this."

"Hey," I say as he begins to walk away. "I'm sorry for sounding mad a minute ago. And for being kind of a brat the past day. I mean the first day was fine, but today is rough. I'm just... I'm sorry."

He nods. "It's alright, Ms. Brooks. I understand."

"Audrey," I blurt out. "Call me Audrey."

"Alright, Audrey." He smiles at me. "By the way, I tried to let you keep your own room, but Doctor James insisted that this boy be placed with you. You are one of the only singular people in a double room, and you and the boy are the same age, so the doctor thought it was 'meant to be.'" He shrugs and smiles again.

I bow my head at him graciously. "Thanks for trying." He looks at me for a second before turning and walking out of the room.

I stare at the wall for a solid two minutes before checking the time again. 3 am. I get out of here in 9 hours exactly.

Right as I lay my head down on the pillow, a different nurse comes in, a girl with brown curls and freckles, ushering in a tall boy.

I lift my head up again and look at him. He smiles widely at me, seeming to not notice the depressing setting we're in. He has scrapes under his right eye and on his elbows. I also notice a purple bruise on his forehead. "Hi," he says, walking over, holding out his hand for me to shake. "I'm Luke."

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I wrote some of this story while michael was still red so I had to go through and change all reds to blues and take out the oh-so-original clifford the big red dog joke.

This is chapter one.

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