The Clara Chronicles

4.questions

4.questions

Clara tried to open her eyes, but the throbbing pain in her head made her very reluctant to do so. Imagine a sledgehammer, pounding on concrete repeatedly at full force. Then, think of the slab of concrete being replaced by your head. That's how Clara felt. And it was not a pleasant feeling.

Clara finally gained the willpower to peel open her eyes, and her vision was instantly filled with white. She scanned her surroundings and every puzzle piece seemed to click in place. The young woman hoped, prayed, that she was not where she thought she was.

Clara had always hated hospitals. She hated how they reeked of disinfectant. She hated how the doctors interoggated you as if you had just been in Grand Theft Auto and they were the police.  She hated how the nurses examined every single crevice of the body imaginable. Now, Clara could go on and on about why she hated hospitals, but there were burning questions that remained in her mind.

She pushed the questions to the back of her mind as she scanned her body, looking for injuries but not finding any. She didn't really care about herself, though. What she was really focused on was finding Viktor. She had questions to ask, and they were not going to go unanswered for much longer. Clara needed answers.

She looked at her arm, examining the IV in her arm. Her face paled as she looked at the needle. She absolutely loathed needles. She shut her eyes tightly and tried to keep her breathing even as she yanked the IV out of her arm quickly, like she was ripping off a Band-Aid. Clara let in a sharp breath as a sting sensation crawled up her arm, ceasing right after it started. 

Clara hopped off of the bed, ignoring the pain in her head. She thought about how much she would love some painkillers at the moment, but she pushed away that thought as she crept towards the curtain that was separating her from the hallway. She tentatively opened the curtain, just a hair, and glanced down both ends of the hallway, which was surprisingly empty. She wondered what time it was, so she glanced at the nearest clock, which happened to be conveniently placed right in the middle of the hallway.

It read 3:15 AM.

Clara chuckled to herself as she realized that this was the reason that the hallways were practically deserted. This fact would make her current task of finding Viktor much easier than she had originally thought it was going to be. She began walking down the south end of the hallway, towards the waiting room where she figured he would be. It was the only logical explanation for where he could be, other than a hospital bed, but she refused to think of that as a possibility.

She walked into the waiting room, carefully avoiding the few hospital staff members that remained lingering in the seemingly endless corridors and hallways. Her eyes wandered the room, scanning the family members of the various patients. She must have looked over the room a million times, but much to her dismay, Viktor was nowhere to be seen.

She rushed out of the waiting room. A burning sensation was spreading through the back of her eyes, but Clara didn't want to cry. She didn't want to think about the prospect of Viktor being hurt, but she knew it was probably what had happened. She walked around the corner and turned, gasping as a hand grasped her arm, spinning her around roughly.

Clara groaned as she came face to face with a nurse.

"What are you doing out of bed? You have a concussion, you shouldn't be walking around! Especially not at this hour!"

Ah, that explains the killer migraine. Clara thought as she rubbed her temple, trying to focus on the nurse in front of her.

"Ok, ok! I will get back into bed. Just please answer my question. I should've been with a man when I came here. Do you know where he is?"

"He left as soon as he dropped you off. He hasn't come back since. Now let's. Go." The nurse shot a glare in Clara's direction, but she didn't care.

The room started to spin as tears spilled onto her cheeks. She couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't see. All thoughts in her head stopped, all except for one. She couldn't even walk as that one thought burned in he mind, like a raging inferno in the middle of a forest.

He left me.