Hospital Haven

Chapter 15

 Another nightmare thrusts me from my sleep. I wake up shivering, covered in sweat. Frantic, I try and grab something, anything, but there is only nothing. I am floating in a never ending hole of darkness. It seems to last for hours.

Finally, I'm able to grab a hold of Marco's arm. He wakes up, startled and shaken.

"Who's there?!" He moans angrily. "If you try anything I'll kill you!"

I try and speak, but barely anything comes out. My words become trapped in my lungs. I try and show him it's me, but the darkness blinds us both.

He shakes off my hand and stands up, I think. "Who the hell are you?!"

All I can make out are sounds as I'm curled up on the ground. Footsteps. The cane's thump. Rummaging. A cardboard box. The strike of a match. Sudden light blinds me for a moment.

"Oh shit!" He drops the match into a small ditch on the ground. Oddly, it doesn't go out.

Marco grabs my shoulders and pulls me close. "I'm so sorry." It's barely a whisper.

I keep my head on his shoulders. Before I know it tears drip down my face and stain the edge of his shirt. Neither of us speak or move; we just sit there until the sunrise peaks over the edge of the buildings. It stretches its rays across our skin and warms us up. I take a deep breath and lift myself off of Marco. Standing up, I walk towards the edge of the sidewalk, away from our things. The morning glow stretches across me, washing off my twilight tears.

"We better get going. We can't be late." I mention as I turn back to Marco.

He begins to stir. As he leans on his cane, sadness fills his eyes. He stumbles over to me and holds me close.

"About last night, I'm so sorry." Tears begin to drip down him. "I was just so scared and everything's changing so fast and so suddenly and I couldn't see you-"

"Stop talking. It's okay," I wrap my arms around his shoulders. "It's all okay. We've just been ripped away from everything we know and forced to start anew. I would be more concerned if you hadn't lost it." We let go and look each other square in the face. "We're in this together. Whatever happens happens. Now, let's get ready for work."

Marco brushes the tears off his face and begins to pull out clean clothes from the bag. Smiling, I dig out our last few morsels of food.

"We're gonna need to find a market soon." Remarks Marco as he pulls on a shirt.

"Today at lunch break we'll look around." I pack away our things into the corner. Marco heads for the road, and we begin our way to work.

The morning sun beats down on us as he head downtown. All around us people drag their feet as they go about their days. Dust clouds the air, almost choking me. You could almost feel the grief and dolefulness in the air. With hands shaking, we try to open the door; It's locked tight.

I turn back to him with a worried look. "Well, what should we do?"

"Wait I guess? I don't know!" He turns back to the street. "Maybe we're early or something."

Suddenly the door opens from the inside. We both scurry back.

"Sorry guys. I forgot we hired newbies yesterday. Come in." Welcomes Armelle with a frazzled tone.

We slip in behind her. She runs back into a steaming room while we sign in. As soon as I put down the pen we're pushed into the same room as yesterday. They're aren't nearly as many piles, but the place has just opened. We both take seats on old laundry baskets and start.

It's almost mind numbing how tedious the work is. Hours on hours of folding gets very old very fast. It does give an awful lot of time for one to confront all their inner demons or get lost in daydreams. But more often than not, your mind goes blank.

I snap out of my half conscious state from Armelle's voice.

"Lunch break guys. See ya' in an hour." She calls from down the hall.

Marco throws the pair of jeans he's got on the ground. I toss back the shirt in my hands and stretch.

"So, we off to search for a market?" He asks as we head out into the street.

"Yeah. We're out of food and hunger is quite a hard distraction to fight."

Cool, ocean air hits us as we head out into the streets. People crowd each and every row, dust off the pavement clouds just above the ground.

"Where should we check first?" Asks Marco, examining swarms of people.

"I guess we'll just wander till we find something," I sigh as we head into the crowds. The air may be cool, but being surrounded by twenty people is like being trapped in a sauna. We slide out and decide to take the back, grassy paths. Slowly but surely, we find a little market. Stands are decorated with everything and then some. With the last remaining money we've got, we find just about everything, including a cold piece of chicken to share.

In the nick of time we sneak back to our heaps of laundry. With less empty stomachs and the fresh air still clinging to our uncombed hair, our workload suddenly seems manageable. All the laundry in the world couldn't squash my spirit. In this moment, in this fraction of time, we are content. Everything is alright, nothing can harm us. In our own little world of crumpled pairs of pants and shirt piles, we almost forget about everything that's ever happened.

                                                                                               ~

"We're closing up guys. See ya tomorrow," calls Armelle from the other room.

"Back to the unknowns of life, I guess," whines Marco as he reaches for his cane.

"I thought you said this job was wasting our lives away?" I jest.

"Yeah, well, it's relaxing. And it puts food on the table."

We head out into the fading evening. Stars light the streets like nature's streetlamp. Marco stumbles along cracked sidewalks with his cane. I sling the bag of food over my shoulder. It's bumps against me with each step. Every second silent, we walk home.

Neither of us bother with food or fresh clothes. I slump across the old pillow. It's cool touch relaxes me against my cheek. Marco drops his cane; It's loud thump doesn't phase me. I roll over a bit and Marco joins me. Within a matter of minutes we fall asleep wrapped in our starry night blanket.