Beauty and the Beauty (Lesbian Romance)

Gloria

I started awake. Startled by the bright light I was greeted by, I covered my eyes with my arm. Slowly I removed it, gradually adjusting to my unknown surroundings. 

      'How are you feeling?' A familiar voice, Jackson's voice, broke the silence in the room. 'Here, have some water.' I grasped the cup in my shaking hands. A cold sweat drenched my entire body. I sipped the water first, then realised how thirsty I was and gulped the lot down. 

      'Wh-where am I? What happened?' I stammered, my voice hoarse, barely above a whisper. I was in a small room, lying in an uncomfortable bed. There were too many filing cabinets for such a small room, it was cluttered and claustrophobic. Next to the bed, a small chair barely squeezed into the corner where Jackson sat. 

Just as Jackson opened his mouth to reply, the door across the room opened. A woman walked in, smiling, followed by - 

      'That's him! Jackson that's - you saw him!' I panicked, scrambling on the bed, pulling my legs up, desperately trying to distance myself from the man who had restrained me earlier. 

      'It's okay, Ana, he's an actor! It was the haunted house, remember! It wasn't real.' Jackson exclaimed, his steady hands holding my shoulders as he looked into my eyes. 'Just relax.' 

      'I can go -' the nurse from earlier began. 

      'No, she needs to know it was just an act.' The woman said, still smiling an overly polite smile. It seemed forced, as though her mind was elsewhere. 

    'I - I remember. It's fine. I'm fine,' I stated, smiling back at the nurse as best I could. 'Can we go now?' I asked, sitting up on the edge of the bed. 

    'You had a panic attack - you passed out. I would prefer if you'd stay here for a while, just for monitoring. In fact, can I speak to Ana alone please?' The woman asked, her words aimed towards Jackson. 

      'You okay?' He asked, standing up. 

      'Yeah, I'm fine, go, I'll be out in a minute,' I replied, gesturing towards the door. He nodded in response, his eyes full of concern as he lingered for a moment before moving towards the door. The actor left with him, and I unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. 

       'Ana, my name is Gloria. I'm a student nurse, I'm volunteering on the team of medics for the festival. Hans - that's the actor - said you passed out. I don't think you should be rushing straight back out there,' Gloria stated empathetically, sitting on the chair next to the bed. 

       'Honestly, I'm fine. I've had panic attacks before, I just want to find my friend and go home,' I replied, not making eye contact. If I was really being honest, I wasn't fine. I was tired, mentally and physically tired, and I had an overwhelming sense of anxiety - I felt it in my stomach that something bad was going to happen. And I just couldn't stop thinking about the haunted house, how I was so terrified of a fake horror show. So embarrassing! I was usually the first to suggest going in the haunted house, for the first, the third, the tenth time a day... But just thinking about the hospital room made me shudder. 

       'Okay... Going home sounds like a good plan, maybe you should spend the rest of the day there and just take your time to recover-' Gloria started. I jumped up from the bed, eager to leave the medical station and find Lena. 

 And Jackson. Of course, Jackson. 

        '- But first, can we try to get to the bottom of what happened back there? It was the hospital scene, right, that made you react that way?' I slumped back down onto the bed. 

        'Yeah, but it's nothing. You know, hospitals just freak me out. They freak a lot of people out.' I stated, making eye contact with the woman in front of me for the first time. Her eyes were a deep warm brown with flecks of amber and the looked... kind. Caring, just genuinely caring and... worried. She looked like someone I could open up to, if only a little. 

         'Most people don't get quite that freaked out by hospitals, Ana,' she urged quietly. 

         'It's just - just my mum, she was in the hospital when I was younger... I was probably too young to be there; to see her like that...' I paused, searching for judgement in Gloria's eyes, but finding none. 'She was in a coma. After a car accident. I just didn't want to be restrained, I didn't want to be trapped in a hospital like she was.' 

       'Ana... I'm so sorry, I hope you can work through this in time.' She stood up and walked to one of the filing cabinets, taking something out of the top draw. 'Here, take this. It's contact details for a counsellor, no pressure, of course, to go, but maybe it's something you'd like to consider. There's a drop in too,' She explained, pointing at the appropriate part of the leaflet. 'You can also see your GP about the panic attacks if they continue. For now, remember, the haunted house was NOT real. Nothing will harm you, nothing has harmed you.' 

      I nodded and smiled, looking down out of embarrassment, pretending to read the leaflet. 

     'Now go, find your friend. I don't imagine he's gone far.' She gently touched my shoulder as I stood up. 'You'll be okay, you're stronger than you know.' 

     'Thank you,' I replied, and I meant it from my heart. That was exactly what I needed to hear, even if I didn't 100% believe it.