<< nowhere >>
day 1: hospital
"it's good that you're feeling better," sam's father said, holding his sister's hand.
"the doctor said i should be getting out in a week," sam's aunt said, her voice scratchy.
"samantha, come give your aunt a hug."
sam's father was turned, looking at her. she walked to the hospital bed and leaned over, giving her aunt a paltry hug, just enough to appease her father. sam tried to keep from wrinkling her nose. her aunt smelled like hospital.
"do they still have you on vancomycin?" sam's father asked.
"yeah," his sister replied, coughing a little. "they say that i have to stay on it for a while even though i'm feeling better."
sam's mom was standing to the side, not saying much. sam was sitting in an uncomfortable chair against the wall, the tv right over her head so that she couldn't watch it if she wanted to. she was bored.
"i'm getting a drink," sam interrupted, standing up.
out in the hallway, sam wasn't sure where the soda machines were, but she knew they were around there somewhere. she was in no hurry to rejoin her family, so trekking through the hallways suited her just fine.
she turned to the right and began her search. she turned at corners and didn't pay attention to where she'd been or where she was going. all the hallways looked the same, with their almost-white walls and grey carpeting. she came to a door marked "stairs," shrugged her shoulders, and went down a floor.
she didn't know what floor this was, but it was different than the one her aunt was on. here the hallways had tile floors and her footsteps were soft thuds. more twists and turns, and finally she came to a small alcove with bathrooms, a water fountain, and a soda machine.
"fucking finally," she said to herself, not actually caring that it'd taken so long. she pulled out a dollar and started straightening it out for the machine.
the sound of fast-approaching footsteps caught her attention. she looked up and saw two doctors and a group of nurses rushing down the hallway.
"no, we don't know what the hell's wrong."
"have you seen the patient since he was admitted?" the other doctor asked.
"no, it just looked like the flu. we've had nurses handling it."
"he wasn't that bad when i checked earlier," one of the nurses added.
they passed by sam, their footsteps and voices quickly disappearing down the hallway.