An Unpredictable Universe

7. Kian: Meet The Little Guy

 I had to bring Harrison with me to the hospital since my mother was doing her jury duty lately around this time.
Dr. Flora is usually okay with me bringing Harrison to the hospital, but I find it irritating since it intrudes with me focusing on the work that I need to do. Every second I have to attend to Harrison's needs...

"Kian I'm bored!"
"Kian what is this machine?"
"Can I play with this string thingy?"
"Kian, I want water!"
"Kian why is that lady lying down like that?"

Sometimes he asks some of the most inappropriate and insensitive questions and sometimes people at the hospital make looks and comments. It makes my blood boil that I have to be a baby sitter and take care of ill people at the same time. Always in someone's assistance.
I was almost done visiting all my patients and then I'll visit my last patient: Sabrina. Obviously, she's been my favorite patient to aid since we've grown closer these past few weeks.
Oh and we kissed. It was a really enjoyable kiss. I know the kiss was meant to be nothing, but it's been on my mind a lot lately.
Finally, I gesture Harrison to follow me so we can visit Sabrina's room.
"Whose Sabrina?" Harrison asks as he swings our arms back and forth as we hold hands.
"This pretty, heart-warming, and compassionate girl I help at the hospital. You'll really like her and I'm sure she'll think the same." I grin to myself like an idiot and then we arrive to Sabrina's room.
We walk inside and I see Sabrina reading a book. She's so focused that she doesn't even notice us walking in.
"Hey! Girl! Look at us," Harrison wails and Sabrina quickly looks at us perplexed.
She slams her book closed and quickly tosses it to the side.
"Oh hi! Kian sorry I didn't even see you coming from my peripheral vision. And who's this little guy?" Sabrina leans to the side and smiles at Harrison who blankly stares back at her.
"I'm Harrison Kian's little brother."
"Yeah, uh, sorry if he's coming off rude. He just speaks his mind a lot." I scratch the side of my head embarrassingly and Sabrina giggles to herself.
"Blah blah blah." Harrison smirks and gets closer to Sabrina to observe her better.
Sabrina leans back and makes a bewildered face, but then Harrison puts his small hands and cups Sabrina's face.
"You're beautiful. You remind me of Snow White. Your pink rosy lips and pale face. All you need is a tiara and a black wig." Ha, I recall saying that before. Brother like brother.
Sabrina quickly turns red like a cherry tomato, and I turn red as well for some reason.
Seconds later, Sabrina, Harrison, and I all hysterically laugh together at his comment.
Harrison falls to the floor laughing and I commence to shake his shoulders jokingly and say, "You flirt! Stick to complimenting girls your own age!!"
Sabrina just looks at us and smiles with sparkling eyes. But her smile seems melancholy as she watches us and then she looks back at her window and sighs.

- -

Finally, I get back home with Harrison, and my mother greets us at the door.

"Mommy! Mommy! I met a new friend today!" Kian shouts as he runs to hug our mother by the kitchen.
"Oh really? Who may that be?" My mother glances at me and raises her eyebrow and then looks back at Harrison.
I follow Harrison to the kitchen where he's hugging my mother, and then I take an apple that lay on the counter.
She's this funny and sweet girl! She also looks like Snow White and she's just as charming as Snow White! I want to keep seeing her mommy! Today, we colored in these marvel coloring books she gave to me. See!"
Harrison shoves the coloring books eagerly in front of my mother's face and she amusingly opens her mouth.
I take a bite of my apple and grin to myself.
"She said she'll keep giving me more of these books if I keep visiting her. She also let me borrow some cool Ghibli movies!! I can't wait to watch them later! She gave me this movie called: Howl's a Moving Castle and Spirited Away!!" Harrison jumps up and down and my mother nods her head up and down as she smiles as listens.
"Harrison, you know that I can't just take you to the hospital whenever like that just to see Sabrina," I state and Harrison winces.
"I want to see my new friend more though! Mommy make brother take me to the hospital more!!!" Harrison begins to cry a bit and choke on his tears.
Mother touches Harrison shoulders and shushes him with a soft voice.
"This Sabrina girl sounds very sweet. Harrison, please stop crying okay. Maybe, Kian, you can invite this girl to our thanksgiving dinner? Can you possibly do this so I can get to know her better and Harrison can spend some time with her? I think that would be very nice. I'd like to meet her as well."
I'd love it if she could come visit my place, but that's not possible since she can't leave the hospital anytime soon.
"That's impossible. She is doing chemo therapy at the hospital. She can't just leave and come here. I don't even think she visits her own home." I watch my mom's gentle smile turn into a frown.
"That's unfortunate. See Harrison she can't even come here. I'm sorry."
Harrison begins to cry even louder and the sound pierces through my ears like knives stabbing my ear.
"Harrison!! Stop crying for silly things or no more sponge-bob for a week!!"
My mother shakes Harrison's shoulders back and forth and he continues to wail.
"Sorry mom. I can't deal with this right now. I need to go for a walk." I toss the apple in the garbage and put my hood over my head.
My mother raises her brow and then glares at me with the thanks for the help look.
I can't always be the nice supportive brother that I usually am. Sometimes, things just can't work in your favor even if you wish them to and me walking away from the house proves Harrison that I am not going to give into his cries.

- -

Spontaneously, I decide to go to the hospital even though it's late and the workers in the hospital are now starting their night shift. I just had this urge to see Sabrina again. To be around her. To watch her smile and be satisfied, knowing that I'm making her feel better and less alone.
As I walk to the hospital, thunder flashes and rain begins to pour harder. It's harder to see where I'm going and now I've probably made mother worried. My hair begins to become soaked, even though I have my hoodie on. Great. What's even worse is that this rain is the cold type of rain. This is the thunderstorm that makes the weather drop instantly. My body begins to feel numb and begs me to return home. But I won't. No, I fucking won't.
Finally, once I arrive at the hospital, the people at the front desk look at me as if I have five heads. Like they've never seen a soaked person before in their life- incredulous.

One of the ladies at the front greets me and asks, "Who may you be and who are you planning to visit?" I don't normally know the workers that do the night shift since I work predominantly in the morning to afternoon. It really depends how late I stay sometimes though. Sometimes, I'll work late at night but the latest I'll work at is 11 PM.
"Oh uh, I'm Kian. I actually intern here with Dr. Flora and I'm uh, looking to return some papers that she needed." I had to lie. Once it's 8 P.M at the hospital, friends who aren't family members of the patients cannot just visit that patient. Even though I work here and assist Sabrina specifically, I can't just see her since my shift is over and I'm not a family member.

"Oh yeah, I've heard a bit about you Kian. Well, that's nice we can finally meet then. By the way my name is Linda." Linda raises her arm to greet me, and I shake her hand to be polite.
Anxiously, I weakly smile in return, and she continues, "so what papers do you need to give back? Maybe I can bring them to her room instead so you can get home quick because I heard the storm is going to get worse tonight."

Can she get any more annoying?
"Oh, um thank you for wanting to do that for me but I prefer handing them to her office because I also left my old scrubs in her room. I forgot to mention that."
Linda nods slowly and gives me a look of suspicion.
I curl my lips inward and then continue smiling.
An awkward pause later, she finally says, "oh okay. Well make it quick then."
I nod and walk away quickly, avoiding eye contact with Ms. nosy Linda. Her high pitched voice and small height resembles some sort of tiny mouse. Always snooping in other people's business. She was so God damn annoying that my mood got worse. Harrison crying, the thunderstorm, now this Ms. Nosy Linda.
But I ultimately made my way to the staircase and finally got onto Sabrina's floor. I slowly open the stair case door to enter the floor and look around to see any approaching workers. Coast is clear. As silently as I can, I run down the hallway and pace into Sabrina's room without even peeping at her window to see her first.

"Kian?"