Chapter 18
The next morning I awoke to the familiar floorboards pressed up against my face. I wondered for a moment why I was on the floor, and almost immediately the memories of last night came flooding back.
Oh God. Had I really kissed Nico? But he wasn’t more than a friend, a really great one at that. He was practically my brother. And the kiss…it just felt so right. But then there’s Liam and Nico has Shannon and I can’t ruin their relationship or my own…
I had to tell Liam what I did. I could not live with the guilt on my chest. He might hate me, but then at least he would know the truth.
Needing to clear my head, I threw on some baggy shorts, Vans and a loose T-shirt that had a logo of some restaurant on it. I shuffled out the door and made my way to my car. I needed to go to the hospital. I hadn’t been in awhile, other than when I was actually a patient there, and I knew that the kids would make me feel better.
Just before starting up my car, I sent Nico a quick apology text. I said I was sorry for the night before and nothing like that would ever happen again. I can’t say that was the truth; I wasn’t sorry for kissing Nico. But I was sorry for the consequences.
When I reached the hospital quite a few minutes later, there was still no text from Nico. That wasn’t much of a surprise really; I didn’t expect him to want to talk to me after what I had done.
Immediately I walked the familiar route up to the elevator, then took it to the third floor where the kids’ room was.
Instantly I knew something was off. I looked around the room at all the smiling faces, but I realized one was missing.
Lina.
“Excuse me, nurse, where’s Lina gone to?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Lina, you remember her don’t you?”
“I’m afraid not,” the nurse replied.
“Ella,” a voice called from the other side of the room. I turned around to see little Charlie waving me over to him.
“Yes Charlie?”
“Lina’s upstairs,” he said softly.
Upstairs. That meant the fourth floor. That was where they kept the people who weren’t going to make it much longer. Where people spent their final days, hours or minutes.
“Thanks Charlie, you’re a pal,” I said, high-fiving him half-heartedly before making my way upstairs.
As cliché as it may have sounded, the fourth floor smelled like death and the tears of small children. The doors didn’t have windows on them, but there was a file sitting in a plastic covering just outside every door. These files had the patients’ names on them. As I walked past each door I glanced at the files, searching for Lina’s. When I was at the second to last door of the hallway I found Lina’s name.
Lightly I knocked on the door and then let myself in.
What I saw should not have shocked me, yet it did.
YOU ARE READING
A Bucket List for Ella
Teen FictionI had always lived a life of lists. To do lists, to remember lists, goal lists, you name it. Lists were my way of feeling in control, of staying organized. They lowered my stress level and made me feel better in general. So when I found out I ha...
