Breaking "Bad"

F i f t e e n

[Edited]

                         ~Hailey~

I knew it was a bad idea the moment I set foot inside the hospital, but I couldn't resist the temptation. I'd had dreams for the past week of visiting her and telling her how sorry I was, and was finally relieved that I'd come -- if only to ease my conscience.

Everything inside the hospital was white and pristine -- the walls were white as was the ceiling; the doctor's coats were white as they rushed to and fro, and even the polished stone floor was off-white.

I surveyed the rest of my surroundings in a mixture of trepidation and anticipation of what was to come. Fortunately, the smell of disinfectant filled the hospital ward, removing any fears I'd had over smelling the scent of sickness upon entering.

What was I doing here?

Ahead, an elderly woman was shuffling across the floor in a relatively busy corridor, attached to her arm was an IV stand, and secured around her bony wrist was a white labelled band.

On the opposite side of the corridor, a nurse wearing a blue uniform was pushing a little boy in a wheelchair. He looked so fragile and thin; his skin almost yellowish in hue. I noticed he had next to no hair and was clutching a small toy which seemed to require a lot of effort on his part.

Poor boy...

I could only continue to stare as the nurse pushed him towards a lift, waited a beat and then pushed him inside. When the doors closed shut I was snapped out of the spell I'd been in and was about to turn to the waiting room, when a voice interrupted me.

"Can I help you?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

The young receptionist was looking at me, her small name tag reading, 'Priscilla.' I cleared my throat. "I, um, I'm here to see Amy, uh, Fields." It had taken me a while but eventually I had remembered her first and last name.

She began to type across her keyboard, glancing at the screen as she said, "Are you a friend or a relative?"

I held up the flowers I'd been holding which were standing in a clear vase filled with water. "Friend," I told her. "I came by to drop these off."

She smiled and quickly began to rattle off directions, pointing her manicured nails towards the corridor I'd just been staring right at. "Go straight ahead and turn left at the end of the corridor. When you've gone past the second set of double doors, turn right. She'll be in that ward. Just ask the receptionist for more details."

I nodded again, shaking slightly. "Thank you."

When I reached the ward not long later, I approached the receptionist at the desk and asked for Amy's room. The slightly older woman with warm brown eyes smiled before picking up the phone. "Her mother is already here," she explained. "I'll just dial through to the receptionist upstairs."

My heart accelerated. "She is?" Oh shit. I didn't know why I hadn't thought of the possibility until then.

Of course she would be there with her daughter! I gulped.

She smiled again as she redialled. "I'll just call her down and ask her to take you through." If she'd noticed my odd behaviour she didn't comment upon it, thankfully enough.

The moment she put the phone down, I had to resist the urge to run but stayed put.

"If you'd like to take a seat, her mother will be down in a moment," the receptionist told me.