Inside the Shadow

Chapter six: The darkness was alive-POV: Zachariah

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As I watched the hospital room door close, Mairi was now out of my sight. "Come along, I can help you all get signed in." Dr. Krueger appeared to demand we obey in a way, maybe it was in the tone of her voice. We all followed behind her as she picked up the pace, coming across that she was ready to be rid of us. Her demeanor made me feel as if we were seen as Mairis' baggage. As we all approached a small door opening leading into a large waiting room, Dr. Krueger began to give our information to a lady sitting at a desk in the front of the room. As she stated earlier, we are Mairis' three people and needed to be properly signed in, I suppose it was their protocol.

We were all led to a cluster of open seats, all seemingly waiting for our arrival. "She's gonna be alright." Mr. Noble said, trying to comfort his wife, her on the verge of crying once again. All I could do was sit there with my elbows on my knees, my head in my hands, staring at a random spot on the carpeted floor. 'This is all my fault.' I thought to myself, seeing as I was the one who had driven her there. I could have just taken her home and never even let her near the tracks. I began to feel my eyes start to water so I immediately changed my composer.

I pulled my phone out of my front pocket and opened my messages with Mairi; Our last conversation was about Erin. I really am insecure I suppose. I just have an underlying feeling that all that I did to her will eventually come back onto me. Karma. Mairi and Erin spent so much time together that I began to grow jealous. The connection that they held was seemingly unreachable. I just wish I would be less impulsive because my actions can come with rather serious consequences. It's almost like that time travel rule. If you step on a butterfly, it could affect the entirety of the future. I felt as if I had somehow squashed an elephant in comparison. With all the fear I held of losing Mairi to another person, it seemed to be the fuel for all my actions that would most likely bring her to leave me all on her own.

Now sitting with my hands clasped together, I began to shake my legs, feeling myself wanting to explode. I glanced around and saw that in the right corner of the room, there were some refreshments within a nook of counters and cabinets. I jumped up out of my seat, my eagerness starling a few other people waiting in their chairs across from us. I directed myself to go towards the counter and proceeded to grab a water bottle and a package of mini-Oreos.

The aura in the room seemed almost too cheery as I gazed at everyone who was seated. We were all waiting here because we all had a loved one who was undergoing surgery. All of us collectively unknowing if it would be a success, or if we would all be going home alone. I walked back to my seat to try to get comfortable, for this longing to see Mairi again was driving me insane; As if it hadn't only been around twenty minutes since we all left her room.

I gazed to my left hoping to find a restroom area. I spotted two doors spaced apart from one another; One male, and one female. However, before I could even think of actually going to the bathroom, I noticed a short man, balding on the top of his head but with shoulder-length hair. He had awkwardly jumped out of his seat like he had forgotten how to stand up from sitting in a chair. He kept glancing around the room, seeming to be paranoid, as if he wanted to hide from someone or something. As he waddled to the left side of the far wall, I felt as if a sort of shadow presence had crept past me and attached itself onto that strange man who was wearing a red silk button-up. I just sat in my chair and watched as he hesitantly opened the bathroom door looking around into the inside of the room, then, before closing it he turned to look around the door again, as if someone might be right behind him and he wanted to catch them. As I witnessed the bathroom door shut, it seemed as if the man had a room full of shadows waiting in the dark space with him.