Our Numbered Days ∥ fillie

she's like the wind.

chapter thirty-two.

millie bobby brown hates hospitals. she hates how they reek of death mixed with the sharp scent of antibiotics and cheap lemon polisher. she hates the rooms, how they all look identical: white plain walls that lack their own personality, they seem to have been designed by the grim reaper himself. this place is the final resting spot for those who are ill or injured, it's the place of finality. this place.. this place stands between life and death.

this place contains her worst memories. her own mother, died in one of these rooms. she was too young to remember the room number, but not too young to remember the chain of events. her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and unfortunately she was already at stage four. ─there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. all they could do was make sure her mother felt comfortable as they waited for her to pass.

it happened again with her older brother, charlie, who passed away in this place as well. he was rushed in here from a car crash, but the doctors were too late, because as soon as they laid him on the stretcher to be taken into an emergency room, he was already gone. she doesn't wanna relive these awful memories, and she certainly doesn't want to be going through this again.

sprinting into the whiteish-grey waiting room, pulse beating in her throat, fear wild and real in her mind, catching the attention of onlookers who wait anxiously for the results of their loved ones. she races across the glossy white tiled floor, nearly falling over the receptionist's desk when her clean white converse sneakers skid noisily to a halt.

she never expected to be placed in a scenario like this. time is literally running out, like the last grains of sand seeping their way to the bottom of an hourglass. the fear is very real, it's very vivid and it's almost painful. she can't believe this, her life has always been safe and clean from any dangerous adventures, which is why she prefers to live in her imagination where she could fight off death and bad guys with special combat skills. but now? she's living a bleak reality. being thrusted into this very scary situation where her best friend has attempted to kill himself. she realizes death isn't cool, it's nothing how it seems on the big screens. death comes with sacrifices, pain, and grief. it's nowhere near the fun that film directors make it out to be.

"i-i'm looking for─ finn!" she has to stop herself from saying finn's nickname she gave him, she isn't used to saying his real name. she's at a hospital, they would understand or accept that.

the receptionist slowly adverts her eyes from her computer screen to blankly meet with millie's panicked gaze. this frustrated millie to no end, angry at the lack of a more alarmed response. millie can't blame her though, working for this place will make you cold-hearted like that. it's something this lady is probably used to seeing, her morality and sympathy clearly faded behind all the years she's worked here.

"finn...?"

oh shit.

how could she not know his last name?! "um, uh...well i don't know his last name but look, i'm his friend. i'm the one who called 911 for him. my name is millie, he's the one who tried to take his own..."

the receptionist's dull and tired eyes light up with realization. "oh, is he the one who we just brought in? the boy who overdosed?"

millie's stomach uncoils uneasily, from the tightened ball of panic and anticipation. is he dead? was she the one to cause that to happen?