To Be Alone | Tommy Shelby

Chapter 22

"Hey, CeCe, are you ok?" Sophia asked as she came into the hall of the hospital that Celia was currently working in. She had the task of mopping down the floors. Fun. "You're looking pretty pale," she observed then.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Celia stated, but the face Sophia gave her made her realize that the woman had seen right through her answer. "Ok so I've felt a little sick. I think it might have been something I ate," she disclosed then.

"You really should be at home, sleeping then, Celia," Sophia pointed out, and Celia sighed.

"I'm fine, Soph, really. Besides, who's gonna clean these floors if not for me?" Celia stated, cracking a grin that made the nurse shrug her shoulders with a chuckle. She had a point.

"Ok, but please let Dorothy or I know if you start feeling worse," Sophia gave her another serious look. "I mean it," she emphasized, making Celia nod her head in an exaggerated manner.

She just wanted to get done with her work so that she could go home for the day. She had been feeling this way for a couple of weeks now: dissy, nauseous, clammy at times. She just figured it had been something she ate. But would those effects really last over weeks? She didn't know. Maybe she just kept eating something that wasn't agreeing with her.

Sophia eventually left her, and now Celia was on her own in the hospital's hall. She kept on with her mopping, choosing to ignore the headache that was starting to form in her skull. Maybe it's because of these damn hospital lights. She thought to herself. She never did like being in these halls for a long period of time. She kept going until the headache got worse. Blinking her eyes a couple times, she set the mop against the wall so that she could rest her hands on her knees and take a few steadying breaths. These breaths only made her feel more dizzy, and before she could stop herself, she was falling limp onto the floor in the hallway. The room was spinning, and her vision was tinted with a black circle in each eye.

"Oh my goodness!" she heard a woman shriek, but she didn't have the energy to see who it was. Footsteps rushed towards her as the black circle got wider and darker, and the last thing she thought before she lost her consciousness was: it's a good thing I'm at a hospital.

—

Celia didn't know exactly how much time had passed when she woke up. She saw that it was now dark out and figured that it had been a good couple of hours, considering it was the middle of the day when she was last awake. She was now hooked up to a couple of lines, bags hanging above her, sending what she presumed to be fluids into her body. She didn't get much time to herself as the door then opened, Sophia stepping into her room then.

The nurse's eyes widened slightly when she realized that her friend was now awake. "Celia! You're awake!" she shrieked, quickly moving to her bedside. "What the hell happened?!"

"I wish I could tell you," Celia stated, a miserable excuse of a laugh leaving her body then. Why was she so tired all of a sudden?

"Well we've got fluids going into your body now. That should help with the dizziness. Doctor ran some tests, and he should be in to review them with you as soon as he gets the results," Sophia explained, returning to the duties of her job. "I wish you would have gone home when I told you too," she jumped back into the friend role for a moment.

"Then I would have passed out there," Celia pointed out meekly, making Sophia sigh but not say anything more. She knew that the younger woman was right.

"I'll go see how the Doctor's getting on with those tests," she stated, motioning to the door before she walked back towards it, leaving Celia alone again.

No more than twenty minutes later, the doctor was walking through the door with a clipboard in his hands. "Hello, Ms. Farraday," he greeted her, a smile on his face. "I have your results."