Beautiful Lies - Shawn Mendes

10. Room 34

The drive to the hospital, was the longest journey of my life. Shawn kept saying words of encouragement, but I couldn't really hear - everything around me, about from my thoughts, were mute. I couldn't feel anything at all. I had no idea what to expect, what position her health was in. Seeing the sign for the hospital, I unbuckled my seatbelt ready to dash out. Shawn dropped me off at the entrance but before I could get out, a firm, warm hand pressed against my thigh. I turned my head to look at him, the worry and panic on my face unshielded from his sight.

'I'm just going to find a parking space, and then I'll wait in the waiting room - I'm presuming they won't allow anyone but family to see her right now. Take as long as you need, I won't leave here until you're ready.' He gave me a weak smile.

Words had seemed to escape me, I opened my mouth but only for a small whisper to emerge, so I placed my hand over his own and gently squeezed it. It said everything that the words 'thank you' told.

My heartbeat thrummed in my ears as I ran to the reception of the hospital. Opening the door, the strong scent of disinfectant was heavy in the air, and the tiles were an unnatural shade of white. Everything looked so... so sterile. I'd never liked hospitals, the way that it can be the last place a person visits before they die, yet there is no memory or lingering evidence of their presence that regards them as a person. Instead, they just become another medical record, beholding the word deceased, and their bed, which they had their last breaths in, is stripped and readied for a new person. I knew Nonna would hate it here too.

Ringing the bell on the front desk, I looked around impatiently for someone to answer. A few people loitered about in the waiting room, looking bedraggled or fearful, but no doctor was in sight.

'Excuse me Miss, how can I help?' I whipped around, and there stood a receptionist, head to toe in white.

'Hi. I'm here to see my grandma, Rosa Albergo, I just got a call saying she had collapsed.' I fumbled with the edge of my bag, hoping and praying that she would be okay, and I'd find her as she was when I left.

The receptionist, typed away at the computer screen in front of her.

'Can you just confirm your name for me?'

'Sofia Evans'

'Very well Miss Evans, your grandmother is residing in the Cardiology unit, room 34. Just turn left, follow to the end of the corridor, go right, and then you should see the entrance to Cardiology. Her room will be easy to find from there.'

I followed her directions, the sound of my shoes squeaking on the tiles as I bolted to where my Nonna would be.

Bursting through the door of the Cardiology unit, I began to wonder why she was here. Surely if it had been a fall, she would have been placed in the accident unit, not one related to the heart. She had never had heart issues before. I passed a smaller reception desk, that yet again no-one was occupying. Instead of waiting around, I decided to go straight to my Nonna's room. Finding room 34, I gently knocked on the door without hesitation.

'Come in.' A slightly irritated voice said.

I went into her room, and was shocked to see my Nonna sitting up in bed. I had not expected her to be so, well.

'Oh, Sofia!' A sensation of relief swept over me as I ran over to her, and engulfed her in a tight hug, careful not to hurt her any further though. 'Oh Nonna, I was so worried.' Wiping my cheeks from a few involuntary tears that had slipped from my eyes, I pulled away, scanning over my Nonna to check for any obvious cuts and bruises.

'I thought you were one of the doctors at first. I told them that I don't need to be kept here when I am perfectly fine, they're treating me like a baby, which I certainly am not.' She said defiantly. 'I didn't want them to ring you either, I didn't want you to worry, when as you can see there is nothing wrong.'