chapter 1 - hospital thoughts

The toxic scent of the medical ward and the inconsistent beeping of the monitor inside did nothing to help my looming grief. I was seated on a bench outside the room my late mother had died in, my face stained with tears of sorrow & regret. How could I have known her ever-present obesity would cause such a harrowing event? My father was gone, and now so was my mother, my whole family having departed this world due to slow metabolisms or diabetes. I was lucky to have not suffered a bit of this unfortunate gene, instead boasting a muscular frame and healthy diet, having a weight of around 150 lbs. But now wasn’t the time to ruminate on my health. Having just graduated, I had nothing left to tether me to this world, with no school or job to attend, no parents to support and no girlfriend to come home to. Overcome, I rose from the heavily sanitised bench and began to wander the hospital.

Strictly speaking, there was no reason for me, a boy of 19 with no medical conditions to speak of to be remaining in this haunting building, yet I knew returning to the home I knew best would do nothing to ease my sorrows. Past emergency rooms filled with sickness & death & stretchers carrying injured patients. Rooms filled with newborns caught my attention. Hospitals not only held residence to the absence of life, I suppose, and as I peeked through the wide window I caught a glimpse of a nametag on a small child’s cot - Will Compsiti - that sent a chill down my spine for some surreal reason. I moved on spooked, and wound my way through corridor after corridor, the smell of sanitation and cleanliness ever present.

I felt like a grey ghost, with no staff seeing my tear streaked face or sad eyes. I had almost come to the top level before a door labeled STAFF ONLY caught my vision. Usually, something like this would prove to be insignificant, yet I found that this one had some bizarre pull, luring me towards it. Once I’d drawn closer, I could just hear an otherworldly buzzing different from the machinery that littered these halls that drew me closer. Now with my face up against the unlocked door, I contemplated going in. It wasn’t as if prison would be worse than what I was facing now, and that pull is just irresistible! I couldn’t stop myself as I pushed the door ajar and entered, closing it quietly behind me. What I saw utterly surprised me.