The Future isn't Bright

Twenty-Seven

When I woke up, I still had the taste of yesterday’s pizza in my mouth. I rubbed my eyes and wondered how I ended up on the floor by the couch with Chloe’s feet in my face. I propped myself up on my arms, wincing at my rib bruises, and saw Oslo sleeping on the couch in fetal position, making him look much younger. I bit my lip to prevent the corners of my mouth from upturning as I remembered our City trip yesterday. I lifted myself off of the ground carefully and walked down the dimly lit hallway to my dorm, opening the door lightly.

Georgie looked up at me from behind a teacup, her eyes lit up as she noticed me.

“Donna! How was the City?” she set her cup down and gestured for me to sit next to her desk on Chloe’s bed.

“Um,” I began, smiling, “It was better than I imagined it to be,”

Georgie raised an eyebrow at me but didn’t pursue the topic. The door to the bathroom popped open.

“Don’t deny the fact that you spent the whole time with Blue-Eyes. Mac wouldn’t stop talking about it.” Lana said as she stepped into our room, drying her pink hair with her towel. I couldn’t stop my mouth from opening and redness to reach my cheeks. Georgie put on a goofy smile.

“I knew you seemed unusually happy!” her smile widened.

“Nothing happened!” I said defensively.

“Relax,” Lana rolled her eyes, “You’re not gonna be jailed for liking a boy.”

“I don’t like him!”

“You don’t like who?” the door creaked open, revealing a yawning Chloe.

“I need to shower.” I said quickly as I walked to the bathroom with lightning speed. Although I heard faint whispers while bathing, nothing was brought up once I stepped back out.

I received a lot of awkward glances throughout the rest of the day. I was upset at the fact that I couldn’t train for the next three days, but it gave me time to read and mope around the dorms. By day three, Mac seemed to realize my boredom and told me to make myself useful and go help out in the hospital wing.

I was headed there now, not really looking forward to the place I had just woken up in from a mini-coma. I opened the glass door into the waiting room and went inside, up to the front desk where a girl about my age flashed a smile at me.

“How can I help you?” she asked politely.

“I’m here to help out..?” I asked. She typed something on her keyboard and nodded.

“Donna? Yeah, Oliver’s expecting you. Go ahead through those doors. You should find him there. I thanked her and stepped through a pair of sliding doors. Leaning against a wall was Oliver, whom I remembered after waking up from my coma.  He looked up at me now, brown eyes smiling.

“Donna, it’s great to have you,” he said, “Let’s get started.”

He gestured for me to follow him down the hall, where numerous recruits passed. I guessed that volunteering in the hospital ward was pretty normal. Oliver’s white coat disappeared after a right turn, and I picked up my pace to catch up with him. He held a door open for me, and I entered through it.

“Alright, so I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d distribute fresh pillows and water to all the patients’ rooms, it’s Monday and it’s time to freshen things up for the week. You can move pillows around without your ribs hurting, right?”

“Yeah, I think I can manage,” I nodded, taking in the clean pillowcases folded in the room.

“Great! I’m going to be healing patients for the rest of the day, but feel free to find me if you have any questions.”