Yours

Chapter 1: New

Sylvia took a deep breath as she entered the hospital, her first day volunteering. She wasn't even sure what that all entailed, but her parents thought it would be good for her. Get her mind off of everything that was stressing her out. Help her anxiety. Right now it wasn't helping. She wanted to crawl back home. It was bad enough this was a new town, Madre Linda.

Sylvia took another deep breath, trying to breath as she repeated that she was okay to herself. She shouldn't even be here. It was all her fault that her parents had to just up and move and now she wasn't even at the college she originally wanted to go to. She couldn't even be in contact with her friends, not even her best friend Alice until she was sure that it was safe. She hated just up and leaving and not even getting to say goodbye. She hoped Alice was moving on and not trying to find her because she wouldn't be able to. She had deleted all her social media accounts and anything possibly connected to her. Her parents told her it would be best. She listened, however that didn't stop her from making a bot account and following a ton of random people including Alice to check up on her once in a while.

She took each step, her legs feeling like lead. She made it to the front desk and stood there awkwardly.

"Can I help you with something sweetie?" The front desk nurse asked.

Sylvia looked at her name tag, Carol. "I'm here to volunteer."

"Well first you'll have to fill out a form and go through a background check."

"No, I know, I already did that, I already went through that. My name is Sylvia Dilst."

"Oh why didn't you start with that? Let me go check the files and schedule," she smiled, leaving.

Sylvia sighed, of course she should've started with that, but her name was like a bullseye to her back. She couldn't just have people telling other people about her. She needed to stay low, her parents assured her this town would be, but she couldn't help being nervous about it.

She was staring at the doors, debating to make a run for it when she saw a man dropping off someone.

The person had blood covering the majority of his head and he seemed barely conscious. Sylvia felt her stomach turn, he didn't look like he could walk. He looked so young, she wondered what happened if it possibly was a car accident.

She saw nurses running to the new patient and getting him onto a bed and wheeling him into a room.

Sylvia turned back to the desk wondering if this was the best option.

"I found the schedule, you'll be delivering food to the patients."

"Okay," Sylvia answered.

"Let me show you the routine and schedule for that and dietary patients."

Sylvia nodded her head and Carol led her to the cafeteria, showing her the ropes and introducing her to the cafeteria people. She wasn't sure if she would be able to remember all of their names by tomorrow, let alone what to do.

"Once you deliver all the food, you're more than welcome to visit with some of the patients, a lot of them can be lonely and we don't always have time to keep them company," Carol explained.

Sylvia nodded again, she was sure her head was going to fall off with all the nodding she had been doing today. She wasn't being paid for this, so if she wanted to waste time and just socialize she could. An introvert's worst nightmare.

~

Sylvia got home later than she wanted and more drained than anticipated.

"Hey honey, I'm just finishing up dinner. Do you want any?" Her mom asked from the kitchen.

"No, I'm good," Sylvia responded, heading up to her room. She didn't even unpack, her room filled with unopened boxes. She couldn't think of eating after seeing all the patients today. At least that was the plus, she would lose another ten pounds from loss of appetite, like she hadn't lost enough with the stress of having to keep quiet and keep her head down.

She wished she could turn back time and never have to do what she did.