A Little Death

Phase 4

She looked back at me promptly, her eyes giving me an almost innocent look.

“This way,” She said, tilting her head slightly to the side.

I looked down at the floor for a second, and took a deep breath before sliding my right foot forward. My knees still felt extremely soft, and my legs practically shook from underneath me. Yet, I attempted to step again with the opposite foot.

I gradually moved myself forward, and the nurse pulled me alongside herself. She very slowly led me through the doorway ahead, from which she came. The alarm still sounded in the background as she dragged me out and into the hallway.

I quickly looked from left to right, realizing that everything in the hall looked almost exactly as it did before. Except for the open door at the end of the hallway, of which the nurse then turned towards and eventually led me to.

I observed the other side of the doorway as we gradually approached it; it was the door that led into the other hallway.

The nurse still held a tight grip on me as we slipped through the door frame, and she paused a short moment afterwards to shut the door behind us. Everything instantaneously became deathly silent.

Without warning, she released me.

I stood unmoving, my back slightly to her. I suddenly heard her make a loud click noise, making me jump a little. I looked over my shoulder at her to see that she had snapped the gun trigger back into place.

She hurriedly pointed the gun up at the back of my neck.

“Second door on the right,” She commanded.

My breaths started to pick up pace again as I looked forward and to the right. The door she had described was just like every other door in the hallway: clean and purely white.

“I’m not waiting all day,” She partially whispered to me.

I inhaled quickly and forced my left leg forward. I swiftly moved the other foot as well, walking towards eventually placing myself in front of the door I was told to enter. The nurse kept the gun pointed directly at my backside as she followed my footsteps.

I stood silently, staring at the plain and windowless door.

“Open it,” The nurse said from behind.

My eyes darted down to the door handle, and I hesitated a moment before grabbing it with my right, still cuffed, hand.

All I heard was both the nurse’s heavy breaths and those of my own as I slowly twisted my right wrist. My habit of biting my bottom lip came back into play while I reached my left elbow up to help push the door forward.

I felt my eyes both squint and widen when I looked inside; the room before me was almost completely dark and black. The only light that entered came from the entryway I currently stood in.

“Step inside,” The nurse ordered.

“It’s t-” I attempted to resist her with words, but she cut me off with a push of the cold gun into the back of my neck.

“Now.”

I pressed my thumbnail into the side of my index finger, and bit my tongue. Meanwhile, my eyes began to tear up again and my legs felt even weaker than before.

“Walk,” She snapped out. I complied.

I took only a few steps forward, the nurse right behind with the gun still affixed against my skin.

Suddenly, the small quantity of light that did enter the room slowly disappeared. This disappearance was followed by a small click sound, and I realized that the nurse must have shut the door behind us.