SUCKER_PUNCH // bastille_fic

chapter_one: HOLLOW

I lean with my back against the cold hospital wall as I let out a deep sigh. My red hair falls before my face, causing my glasses to slide off just a little bit. It's been a few hours since I've brought him in and still no word from the doctors. With each and every passing second, the walls seem to come closer to engulf me and every time they do, I want to gasp for air and scream, terrified as I am, but I can't. I'm an adult now.

Most people would want to argue that twenty-eight isn't the right age to call yourself or anyone an adult, but it truly is and I realize it now more than ever. This moment is one I'll never forget and it tops all of the other things I've been through. Heck, I haven't even been through anything major yet. At least not to other people's standards. For many people divorced parents aren't exactly a big thing. It could be worse, they say, but don't get it.

When I push up my glasses while staring at my worn-out sneakers, I hear someone coughing in front of me. I glance up to the source of the sounds and suddenly face an unfamiliar face of, probably, a doctor, judging from the long white coat he's wearing. He smiles a little forced at me and shakes my hand, introducing himself as doctor Auburn.

"Sorcha Quinn", I quietly tell the bald, aging doctor in front of me. He smiles again and then strokes his greyish moustache. After that he looks down at the ground for a second and takes a deep breath. "You're not here to tell me something good, are you." I pause for a moment. "Bad news, huh."

"Unfortunately yes, miss Quinn," he says in a monotone voice, "but don't worry, you're boyfriend is still alive." Quickly I open my mouth to tell the doctor he is not my boyfriend, but I don't even get the chance to as he just continues speaking so I just mumble it to myself. "We found the disease Rapture in mister Smith's blood. It's quite new and we don't know much about it. The only thing we know is that mister Smith won't survive it."

"How long does he have left?"

"About a year, maybe longer. Rapture is very unpredictable." Doctor Auburn looks me straight in the eyes to check if I was still doing fine. On the outside I was doing fine. I was being calm, collected and mature about it, but on the inside a storm was raging and when this doctor would leave, I would be nothing more than a miserable pile of pity.

"What does it do to him?" I ask, clenching my hands into fists to hide them shaking.

The doctor took a deep breath, again, and crossed his arms while looking down just a little. He was thinking of a way to say this properly and it took him a good minute before he opened his mouth again. "Mister Smith will gradually start to deteriorate mentally and physically until his brain finally gives up. He won't suffer from it much, except for the physical part, he'll end up in a wheelchair eventually, but Rapture is a mostly painless disease. The people who suffer the most from it are the ones closest to the infected. It isn't transferable in any way either, if that's helpful as well."

"Thanks", I mumbled, overwhelmed by his explanation. Eventually I nodded and tried to force a smile. "Can I... Can I visit him now?"

"Well, he's asleep now, but you can check up on him if you want to. He should be able to stand up again soon, but this will happen more often until he is no longer able to stand up after a collapse. Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, miss Quinn", the doctor mentioned and shook my hand before disappearing in the long hospital corridors.

Right at the moment I could no longer catch sight of him, I immediately collapsed onto the icy cold floor. Landing on my bum, I pulled up my knees and embraced them with both of my arms, burying my face in it before breaking down into a puddle of tears. The infamous questions "Why?" and "How?" rising up in my mind. It couldn't be Dan, it just couldn't. He had been perfectly healthy until now. What had happened?