Him & Her

Ch.31

Ch31
Elizabeth slipped three dollar bills into the slot and pressed the tuna sandwich button. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and bent down to retrieve her sandwich, but she felt nothing. She pressed the button again and nothing happened.

Elizabeth groaned. Her mother had made it and was watching over Cole as he slept. Elizabeth had slept for two hours. Cole's mom wasn't here and Elizabeth couldn't help but feel angry at her for leaving Cole all alone.

"No no no." Elizabeth heard a familiar voice say. She turned around and saw Ivy standing there shaking her head.

Elizabeth smiled, happy to see a friendly face.

Ivy walked over to the machine and kicked it with her leather boots twice, pounded on the glass once, and pressed the button twice. The sandwich dropped and Ivy picked it up and handed it to Elizabeth.

"Thanks." Elizabeth smiled. She took the sandwich and split it in half, offering part to Ivy.

Ivy shook her head, "I don't like tuna, but thanks anyway." they walked to one of the tables and sat down. "So, any luck with your boyfriend?" Ivy asked.

Elizabeth answered, "He has-pneumonia." Elizabeth stuffed a big bite of her sandwich into her mouth so she doesn't sob and maybe she could hold the tears back by thinking of how tasteless the sandwich was.

"Oh..." Ivy smiled, "I'll be right back." she ran away from the cafeteria and came back as Elizabeth swallowed her bite.

Ivy slammed down a red book with the sign of the hospital (a snake around a caduceus) on the cover on the table and opened it. There was a picture of a little girl with red frizzy hair. There were words under the picture, but Ivy explained to her, "This girl is named Rose Luke. She had heart cancer and was cured of it. Here, in this hospital." she flipped the page and there was a picture of an old man with glasses, "Derek Matt, a coma patient. Every hospital turned their backs on him, said he was a lost cause, but this place took him in. Even though it took five years, he woke up in the end." she flipped the page again and there was a picture of a teenage boy with pretty hazel eyes, "Karl Wyatt. A car accident victim. Now this guy was a goner, but the hospital didn't give up. He's got one nasty big scar, but he's alive." she flipped three pages more until she found a picture of a brown haired girl, "May Sam. She was a pneumonia patient and she lived."

She closed the book. "I've gone through this book about five hundred times and there are some real miracles in here. My point is that don't feel hopeless, this hospital is one of the best."

Elizabeth looked up at Ivy and smiled. She stood up and hugged her. When she pulled away Ivy looked surprised.

"Thank you for everything." Elizabeth said, "You're a really nice person."

Ivy smiled, "No problem. Being nice is my hobby."

Elizabeth smiled, "So, what do you usually do when you're here?"

"Well, the first week I came here I kind of just wandered around until I had the whole place mapped out in my head." Ivy smiled, "Whenever you're bored tell me."

"I'm dying of boredom." Elizabeth sighed.

"Good." Ivy took her hand and began running towards the doors of the big cafeteria.

Ivy led her through the long corridors of white tile until Elizabeth couldn't tell where she was anymore. Elizabeth hated the hospitals because everything was white. The walls, the floors, the beds. It reminded her of heaven, like the patients were getting ready to go there.

Ivy stopped so suddenly, Elizabeth ran into her. Elizabeth straightened up and stood at Ivy's side. They had come to a long empty white corridor. There was nothing special about it, nothing on the walls. There was only one door at the very end of the hallway that read: supply closet.