Salient Secret

Chapter 10

The sound of a nurse opening the door to my room and the smell of food woke me up. I instinctively reached for my phone to check the time, it was 7 am, and I took note that Maya did not reply.

I squirmed after trying the porridge the nurse left in my room, it tasted worse than it looked – Why was it so...sandy? I picked up the cup with what looked like juice and took a sip...big mistake. I almost threw up in my mouth. It was definitely laced with vitamins of some sort. I made a mental note to ask for just water when I saw that nurse again.

In the meantime, my stomach felt like a burning pit of emptiness. I didn't eat much last night, I was starving.

I made the decision to sneak my way down to the hospital snack bar next to the pharmacy downstairs and buy a yogurt or an apple or something healthy that I actually like. The nurse had explained that I shouldn't leave the floor without permission but something about sneaking around made it...thrilling. And I could use a bit of thrill in this hospital.

I changed out of the hospital gown to help me blend in, and slipped into a black pair of tights, a baggy top, my bedroom slippers and then I grabbed my bag.

I managed to make my way downstairs with none of my nurses noticing, however, downstairs was a lot emptier than usual because it was so early, if the nurses realised that I wasn't in my room, it wouldn't be difficult to spot me.

I made my way to the empty snack bar and gulped at the sight of the woman behind the cashier. She was huge, very tall and wide, she had pink streaks in her hair and several piercings scattered on her face – it wasn't her appearance that was intimidating to me, it was the way she was looking at me, she stared me down like I was someone interrupting her. I immediately coward under her dark eyes.

"May I please have the fruit salad," I asked, my voice shaky, she said nothing, all she did was turn around, open the fridge, get the fruit salad, and made her way back to the cash register...eventually.

"We only take cards," she rolled her eyes as if I had offered her cash.

"I only have a card," I said lowly as I handed her the card with a smile which she does not return. She tapped the card against the machine, handed me my receipt and gave me a "you-can-go-now" look. I wiped my sweaty palms on my tights and left without looking back at her.

"Hmmmmmm, much better," I said to myself as I put a grape into my mouth while walking to my room.

I rushed to grab my phone when I heard it beep. It could have been Maya. I failed miserably and found myself bumping into someone who had their back to me. I closed my eyes in frustration with myself for being so oblivious.

"I'm so sorry," I said sincerely to the stranger who was wearing a black hoodie and jeans with black boots, standing by the corner of the wall. What is he doing?

"No worrie-" He stopped when he realised who he was talking to, and we both shared the same shocked look on our faces.

"Avery? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing Kai..." I continued, "You never did tell me what you were doing here the last time either." The curiosity in my voice was no secret.

He kept quiet for a moment, as if he was contemplating what to tell me before he finally answered, "My aunt is sick... she's really old...I was just ummm...visiting her," he mumbled. It didn't sound very convincing to me, but who was I to call him out on his lies?

"Okay then why are you lurking by a wall?"

Again, he took a few seconds to answer, "Oh, you see that doctor over there," he pointed to a lady with blonde hair in a doctors coat standing with a bunch of nurses. "She doesn't like me very much because I pissed her off a few times, so I was waiting for her to walk away, she's blocking the elevator," he explained. "What are you doing here so early in the morning?" he asked trying to avert the spotlight.