Traveling Vivian

Chapter TwentySeven - Holidays

Traveling Vivian

Part 27

The great feast was approaching and I knew we would be getting delicious foods to eat. Our usual day consisted of waking up, a nurse would come in and changed my diaper then she would give me my pills to take. I didn’t take them but I watched her as she took my sheets off my crib and then she went out. The bell would ring loudly and screeched my ears when another set of nurses came in to our compartments as dragged us out. The nurse I had had short black hair and she looked like she was ready to attack someone. They would bring us into the cafeteria and we’d line up against the white tiled walls and we walked one by one with the nurses by our sides. The ladies who worked behind the food called out, “Next” every time the person before was finished. For breakfast, it was a choice of either frozen waffles or toast and two eggs. We were given an orange juice pouch and milk. The nurses would make us sit in the cafeteria room according to age group. I was three so I sat with the other toddlers. Most of them needed assistance when it came to feeding. However, I didn’t. I fully was capable of eating by myself. I think my nurse appreciated that. Then they would bring us back to our rooms and I would stay in there, drawing on the walls or looking through the window.

When lunchtime rolled around, the ladies walked down our hallways and banged on the doors. They would opened it and expected us to get out into the hallways. I was a toddler so I crawled to the door. The ladies would then walk us back to the cafeteria and then they would repeat the process over again. It was a choice of macaroni and cheese with two slices of buttered bread, a tuna sandwich with apples, or a kid’s T.V dinner. It came with a juice box and a cup of water. Most of the kids chose the T.V dinner but since I have been here a month, I knew that the next meal they would feed us was in six hours so to not make myself starve till then, I chose the macaroni and cheese. The ladies would talk to each other as they sat in the other end of the room. They would have their delicious meals as we sat eating garbage.

While eating my mac and cheese, I was sitting with the other toddlers. I stared a brunette one and another one who had dark skin and black scrunch hair. I was eating my bread when the dark-skinned girl took a cracker from her T.V dinner and ate it. The brunette girl took the cracker from her mouth and smashed the dark-skinned girl’s into her plate. I gasped when they started scratching each other. The dark-skinned girl pushed the other off her seat as she fell on the floor, crying. Then, the black hair girl took the girl’s macaroni and cheese plated and threw it on her. She giggled when she saw the mess she made. The nurses came running to help her as another pulled the dark-skinned girl away. I heard her screaming and clawing at the nurse’s face as the nurse slapped the girl a couple of times.

“You like to fight bitch?” She snapped.

The dark-skinned girl cried out and bit on the nurse’s finger.

“What the actual fuck!” The nurse screamed out. She took the girl and tied a rope around her hands and then she duct-taped the girl’s mouth. She then placed a hook attached to her clothes and dragged her like a dog across the hallway.

I looked away instantly when I heard the door slammed shut, I continued to eat but all I could hear was chains, whips, and things smashing to the floor as the little girl screamed for help.

~

The holidays were approaching quickly as I saw the hospital being decorated with silver sparkly ornaments and strings across the hallways. I saw them bring in the Christmas tree and placed several along the hospital’s ground. There was one where guests came in, there was one in the cafeteria, and there was one where the nurses would sit and chat with each other. The hospital started to look more homey than it ever felt.