A Life Worth Living (Aizawa x OC)

1 - Voices

The psychiatric ward situated in the Musutafu General Hospital belongs to the rare type of wards that's almost never fully occupied, and even if it was fully occupied, the difference wouldn't be noticeable at all.

Most of the patients were restricted, forced to stay in their rooms that are kept as simple as possible, up to a point at which they basically resembled prison cells. The variety of colours appearing in these rooms ranged from white to black, covering all the shades of grey imaginable. The sparse furniture consisted of a simple bed, a metallic bedside table, a bland grey wardrobe as well as a pair of two rather uncomfortable looking chairs and a plain table for the basically non-existent occurrence of visitors.

Instead of a welcoming or lively atmosphere, one could assume that the architect's intention had been to scare everyone away.

In addition to the stringent restrictions, most patients were sedated or drugged, unaware of their current state – neither physical nor mental. What might sound absolutely horrifying for outsiders, was a measure to ease the nurses' workload because this specific psychiatric ward was understaffed and specialised on what one could title as lost cases, patients written off by doctors. Eventually, they'd gotten transferred to this ward, where they more or less spent the rest of their lives in isolation in an induced slumber.

The physicians who hadn't been able to successfully treat said patients, loved to claim that a permanent sedation was the obvious best choice. What they actually meant with this was that sedating them caused the least effort and was the easiest way for the staff to handle them. The hospital's official statement sugarcoated their actions even more by stating that the use of drugs and sedations was essential for the patients' healing process. It aided them to suppress their pain by preventing them to face their psychic trauma in the first place. Apparently, it was a win/win situation for everyone – staff and patients. The patients' families rarely caused any problems because in most cases, there were none left.

However, today, the atmosphere in the ward was different than usual. A restlessness was settling in it, almost tangible, and every staff member was aware of it. There were rumours. Rumours that one of the patients' medication would be stopped to allow her to wake up from her comatose state. That was something that had rarely ever happened before, and the nurses weren't entirely sure how to properly react to these rumours if they'd turned out to be true.

The fact that the attending physician, Doctor Sugimoto, a cold and intimidating man, who some of them were certain to be sadistic due to his weird fixation on all these lost cases and the satisfaction he gained by dealing with them, didn't provide them with any information on the situation didn't exactly improve their mood. He didn't deny the rumours, but neither did he confirm them.

Yet, none of them dared to speak up and ask him directly. To say that they showed him respect would be the understatement of the millennium. They were scared. Afraid. Frightened. All of them were fully aware that whatever this man was doing was wrong and someone ought to make his actions public, but one time, when one of the nurses saw him treating a patient and had the intention to intervene by calling the police, he immediately made clear that he wouldn't tolerate such behaviour.

That's why they remained silent in sheer terror of what this man was able to, trying their best to tend the patients' wounds after the Sugimoto was done with them.

In an attempt to get rid of the tension stirring in their ward, the nurses started to chat, wildly discussing and creating fantastical conspiracy theories about what had happened and what could happen if the rumours were true. What will happen to the young woman in room 4? Why? Who was involved?

Knowing that none of their patients was able to process what they were talking about, they didn't keep their voices down. Why should they? Out of respect? No one heard them anyway. They could basically joke and laugh about them directly next to them and they wouldn't even realize.

"Do you remember the day she arrived here?", the older one of two nurses asked, shaking her head with a frown on her face.

"Of course! There was so much going on that day. How could I not?! The crime scene was all over the TV! It was just crazy! So exciting!", the younger one replied as she recalled it.

"Don't say something like that. That woman went through a lot of shit. Giver her a damn break."

"Well, she had her break. An eight-month break, so to speak. If that's not enough, then I don't know."

"Stop it, Hina. Just imagine what she'd had to experience! Show some empathy or try to, at least."

The younger nurse let out an exaggerated sigh at the scolding words, "Alright. I'm sorry. I'm wrong, you're right. I'm just trying to lighten the mood in here. Don't go at me for that."

"Nice try, but this is inappropriate. This is no excuse. That poor thing looked like a ghost, when she arrived here. A bloody ghost. It took us one hour to clean her up in the shower and free her from all the blood."

"Has the police already found the culprit? Do we know what actually happened? There was a mutilated body there, right? A man?"

"No. The police promised the media to keep them up to date about the investigation, but apparently, they never lived up to their promise. They never revealed any details. Also, can't you remember? The incident was heavily overshadowed by something else, Gravitas' retirement."

"Oh yeah, you're totally right. How could I forget about that? I'm still pretty devastated that she's gone. She was so cool. But back to the original topic – what do you think happened with the woman from room 4? Any ideas?"

Scrunching her nose at her colleague's intransigence, the older nurse took a moment to reflect on the question, "I really don't know. Allegedly, the man got brutally murdered. Just awful. I think she was forced to watch it. That would explain her mental state. The police never confirmed anything apart from the fact that the culprit got away. My take on it is that it was her boyfriend? No, probably husband. If I'm not wrong, she wore a ring when she arrived here. What a tragedy. The world is truly cruel. Not even heroes can stop something like that from happening, crazy people that slaughter innocent civilians like that."

"Oh God. You're probably right with everything you just said. I can't even imagine it...to be honest, I don't even want to. Straight out of a horror movie. Was the blood hers though? Was she injured when she got here? I mean, apart from her mental trauma."

The questions were followed by silence as Nurse Mako vividly recalled the woman's state with a frown on her face, not eager to let that memory replay in her head, "Yes."

"Yes what? You can't just say yes without telling me more about it."

"That poor thing was green and blue from head to toe under all that blood. Almost beaten to death. Broken ribs, organ damage, arms covered in scratches and bruises everywhere. I don't even know why they brought her directly here. That didn't make any sense. We're not specialized to cover emergencies at all."

"Oh shit. That sucks. But well, we often deal with that, don't we?"

"Mhm. Even worse is that his guy also ... violated her. It's just...it was draining to treat her."

"Oh."

An awfully gloomy silence filled the room, and the nurses absent-mindedly stared off into space, trying to avoid each other's eyes. But their silence was broken by a sudden loud scream and sobbing coming from the room next door, causing the two of them to jump out of their skin. Their eyes immediately locked again, exchanging a panicked look.

Little did they know that the consciousness of the mysterious woman in room 4, which happened to be directly next to their small office, had already begun to slowly fade out of the grey cloud it had been in during the last eight months and had registered everything they'd just loudly exchanged.

edited - 25.11.20