It Begins In A Hospital

Chapter 1

One more step, go on,’ the little voice says, and I do it. I slid my feet forward one step, and suddenly I’m falling. The ground is still so far away, but I fall faster, and faster, and then, nothing.

1.

I wake up, thrashing about in the small hospital bed. I look over to my left, to see if I have a new roommate yet. I sigh, irritated at the neatly made bed. I look out the window.

“Happy Tuesday,” I mutter to myself. I sigh, knowing my parents weren’t coming to see me today, and that my day was going to be boring and lonely. I hear people moving around outside my door. A nurse comes in and checks on me, and asks me how I am. We talk for a few minutes, and then she leaves. I sigh at the open door, but I don’t move to close it. I pull a book from my bedside table, and I start reading. About an hour later I’m closing the back cover, and adding the book to the stack next to my bed.

“Well, the only available room is down here,” I hear a doctor say outside my door. “I’m just letting you know, the current occupant of the other bed is male. I don’t want you freaking out or anything,” she laughs.

“No, no, I don’t mind. I just want to get Avery help. Being in the same room as a boy doesn’t bother me,” Another woman says.

“Okay. Well, I can assure you Ethan is a good kid. If you want to go in and put your things down or whatever, you can. She’ll be wheeled down in a little while,” The doctor says and walks off.

The mother walks in, and places a few things on the second bedside table. She looks tired, her eyes swollen from crying.

“Hi, Ethan, right? I’m Susanna,” She asks and introduces herself. I nod, and smile, saying hello. “Thats a lot of books,” She notices.

“Well its been really lonely without someone else in here,” I say. She nods, and gets back to fixing something on the table.

“If I play music quietly when Avery gets in here, would you mind?” She asks, and I look over at her, holding a small speaker and iPod.

“Oh, not at all, I’d actually love it,” I tell her.

She smiles and hooks up the iPod to the speaker. I pick up another book, and Susanna sits in a chair, and flips through a magazine. After about a half an hour, a bed is wheeled into the room. The girl, Avery, is sleeping in the bed. I watch her as she’s slid from one bed to another. Her auburn hair fans out on the pillow, and her face looks tired and pale.

“She’s probably going to be asleep for a while, the procedure she just went through is very uncomfortable, so she’ll probably feel awful for a day or two. Sleeping will be good for her,” The nurse said.

She checked on me before leaving, and Susannah started playing music. I lay in bed, listening to the music and the flipping of magazine pages. I sneak glances at Avery, and after the third or fourth time, I recognize her from school. I set up a game of cards on the table, and Susannah and I sit together for a while, until her phone starts ringing.

“Hello?” She answers. Someone asks a question on the other end of the call, and she started walking toward the door.

“Yeah, she did. It was pills. I’m glad I found her when I did,” She says, before shutting the door behind her.

I hear her heels click down the hallway until all I can hear is Avery’s music playing softly in the background. I listen to the songs, knowing that I know almost all of them. So she had her stomach pumped, I think. Knowing what it feels like, I’m determined to make sure she’s okay when she wakes up, I decide. I pick up the cards and climb back into bed and continue reading again. About fifteen minutes later, Avery starts stirring, and her bright eyes pop open. She grabs a handful of the sheets, and I jump out of bed.