Inkblood

Remembering the dead

Rilyn Einar, a mere fourteen year old girl, subject to a disease worse than death.

She stared at faces painted in the bone white walls. Anguished, lonely, sad, angry, and frightened. None of which conveyed positivity. But all of which seemed to reflect her mood. As well as the rain pattering on the window.

One month. That's how long Rilyn had been losing her sanity. Seeing shapes and faces in blank walls and hearing songs in the ticking clock. At times she caught herself talking to herself. She longed for human voices, not the artificial voice that ever so often spouted information about her condition. She didn't know how much longer she could be in the lonely hospital room, without completely cracking.

Her one of a kind blood disease made sure of that. The doctor had deemed it possibly terminally contagious, so to be safe, no one but a few of the hospital's staff could enter her room. And they always wore masks so naturally no conversations were conveyed. Always in and out in five minutes or less. She didn't even remember what had triggered such an immediate admittance, and no one volunteered the information when she asked, so she just stayed in the dark trying not to think about it. Yet somehow she knew how long she'd been there for.

Rilyn stared at the clock, watching the second hand tick, tick, tick.

Tick, tick, tick.

Tick, tick, tick.

Tick, tick, tick...

A minute went by.

Then another.

A nurse entered her room. No doubt to take another blood analysis test. But instead of heading to the equipment to do so, she headed for the left corner of the room where a wheelchair sat with a layer of dust. The nurse quickly dusted it off with her hand, then got behind it and wheeled it over to the right side of Rilyn's bed.

"What are you doing?" Rilyn croaked. Hope of release started to form as a seedling.

The nurse fidgeted and looked at the door as if she was making sure no was listening or watching. Then said looking satisfied for the time being "They're transferring you to a new room,"

Rilyn was surprised the nurse actually answered her question. But why did she have to make sure no one was listening or watching just to say that? "Why?"

"To move you to a room that's for long term patients,"

The hope shattered, anxiety taking it over; leaving her breathless, and without words. She couldn't do it. She couldn't be there any longer enduring complete loneliness, day after day. The nurse unhooked all the machines and the IV and helped Rilyn get into the wheelchair and began wheeling it to the closed door. Before the door was opened, the nurse pulled something light blue out of her pocket and opened it up revealing a surgical mask. She slipped the ear bands behind Rilyn's ears so it covered her mouth and nose, probably to stop any airborne diseases from getting into the hospitals air. For the first time Rilyn saw the name tag on her mint green smack and read 'Lacy'. She looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, her dirty blonde hair in a tight but that looked like it was extremely painful as it squeezed the brain sells out of her head. She grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. She got behind Rilyn's wheelchair and pushed her out of the room closing the door behind them. Lacy began to push Rilyn through the empty halls.

Twenty feet from the elevator all the lights shut off, leaving them in complete darkness. Her heart started to pound in her ears, deafening her. She heard boots on the hard floor and what sounded like struggling.

Rilyn ripped the stupid mask off her face then mustered all the strength she had and stood up off the chair. Blood rushed to her head and her weak legs collapsed beneath her letting her fall to the cold floor from the lack of walking and standing for the entire time she'd been there. She placed her hand on the arm rest of the chair and tried to pull her self up, that back fired as the wheelchair rolled backwards, once again letting her fall back onto the floor. She crawled to were she thought the wheelchair was and locked the wheels. Once again she used the arm rest to try to pull herself up, this time succeeding. She refused to let her legs collapse again. She used the chair to claim her balance, then took a step forward. Where had the nurse gone? In fact where had everybody gone?