Chapter 8: Hospital

I waited on the hospital table for the doctor to show up. I was dressed in one of those paper gowns with my ass hanging out. I really didn't think it was necessary, but the nurse insisted. They had already patched up my scrapes on my knees, palms, and chin. I felt like a mummy wrapped in bandages. I was just waiting for the doctor to show up and put my shoulder back into place.

I twiddled my thumbs together and stared at the wall as I waited. My eyes went out of focus as I stared. The shadows around the room pressed in. A red spot appeared in my peripheral vision. I slowly turned my head to see the faint outline in the shadows.

I knock at the door snapped me out of it. The hospital room was bright and clean.

"Kira? Can I come in?"

"Yes, sorry. Yes, please."

The doctor arrived with his professional tablet and his professional smile. "Seems you have a dislocated shoulder."

"I nodded."

He probed me with a few fingers. "You're going to feel some pain as it moves back into place. I'm going to reset for you okay?"

I nodded. My shoulder released a sickening pop as it slid back in place. I stifled a scream that came out a half moan half hiss as the dull ache turned to sharp horrible pain, then back again.

"There we go, that should do it," the doctor said way too cheerily. "You'll need to ice it for the next few days and no strenuous activity for a while. You don't want it to pop out again. And stay off your bicycle until it completely heals, we don't want another repeat accident."

I smiled tightly, trying to the hide the lie I told him about riding a bike. "Sure."

"The nurse will be in shortly." He disappeared through the door with a smile and a wave.

I rolled my eyes as she left. Shortly wasn't the usual speed of doctor's offices. I realized this was urgent care, but my need didn't seem so urgent anymore. No one would be hurrying my direction. Payment was already taken care of by state health insurance and it's not like they would admit me. Normally I would wait, play by the rules as it were, but today I had no patience. I redressed then slipped out the door.

Urgent care was full of people, but everyone moved at a snail's pace. I ducked my head as I scurried down the hall. After a few quick turns I was just about to leave the secure area when a shadow caught my eye.

I stopped in my tracks. A door cast a shadow over a dark room down the hall. As I stared, a figure defined itself from the shadows. The burning red ember burned like an eye. I felt my heart freeze. Was I really seeing what I thought?

Everything in my body screamed at me to move. I just needed to keep going towards the exit, I was almost there. Everything, except my damn mind. If curiosity killed the cat, then I was about to sprout whiskers.

My body turned towards the open door. Before I knew it, I was standing looking into the room with the glowing ember. The smell of charcoal lingered in the air. The florescent lighting lit only the door's entrance. Beyond it, the room was dark except for the red eye.

I hesitated. Stepping into the shadow on the floor felt like a choice. My heart thudded. My vertigo swirled at the edges of dark and light. I focused on the red glow swimming in my vision.

"Who are you?" I whispered into the darkness.

The ember flickered then darted around very unlike a cigarette butt.

"You know the answer to that," A deep voice echoed. Something about it was familiar, but I couldn't place it.

My head tilt in question. Was he making fun of me? "What?"

"You know me," he said the words slowly.

I really wanted to argue for some reason but a little voice in my head was screaming at me to shut up. I clamped my teeth down on the inside of my lower lip. When I felt like I had control over my mouth again, I said, "No, I don't."

A short deep rumble came from the figure. I couldn't decide if he was amused or pissed. Either way, it made my heart beat so fast I could hear it in my ears. I felt that was an odd response, because I wasn't scared of him, instead, I was fighting an urge to run to him.

"Come closer and I'll tell you."

My foot lifted automatically to step forward. I stopped, my toe edging the dark shadow of the doorway. Was I really going to do this? As I aligned the pieces of what was going on, none of it made sense. I was in a hospital. I was speaking with a shadowy figure in a dark room, in a hospital.

My eyes snapped up. The hospital room was empty. The shadows were gone. The bed sat empty. The overcast light shone through the window-lit room just like any other. My foot still hovered above the ground.

I blinked. What the hell? Everything just changed. Was I losing it? Maybe I needed to see a psychologist while I was here. That thought made me shudder. I didn't want to be crazy. Not like her.

"Miss Hatfield. Miss?" A nurse called after me wrenching me from my dark thoughts. "I just need you to sign this paper before you leave," he said as he rushed down the hall towards me.

I tore my gaze from the empty room to stare dumbly at him. He offered out the clipboard with a pen. The fingers of my right hand closed automatically around it then scrawled a scribble across the line.

"Thank you," he said, "The exit is just that way." He pointed behind me. "I hope you recover from your car accident quickly."

I bobbed my head once before he disappeared. My eyes swung back to the empty room. The empty lit room. I should have asked that nurse for help. I must be descending into madness. That was the only explanation. Just like my mother.