The Hospital

The hospital corridor was stuffy, and the air had an undertone of bleach. The walls were magnolia and scraped by the numerous amounts of trolleys that had bumped into them. The floor was uneven from so much traffic with both feet and wheels, and it was darker than a grave. The pictures on the walls were cheap benign prints of uplifting scenes and above the double doors were large blue plastic signs with the areas of the hospital that lie ahead. In the corridor was a water dispenser and, in most rooms, could be heard the noise of a television.

As Ava was walking by the hospital rooms, she noticed that there weren't any hand sanitizers on the walls. She shook her head at the lack of sanitary items in the hospital. She reached the vending machine and got herself a drink before walking back. On her way back, she saw one of the hospital rooms were open. Inside was a woman who seemed to be struggling a lot based on the lack of colour on her face. Ava approached nearer to the door to see what was going on.

As she was moving closer to the woman, they made eye contact. Ava felt a surge of electricity flow through her body. She shivered as she immediately looked away from her. Once again, she looked back to see the woman looking straight at her. She felt like there was this connection between them, but she knew they've never met before. Ava's gaze moved from the lady's face to the chest. The woman clutched her chest tightly, and as Ava tried to make out what she was hiding, the lady slowly let her hand relax, showing what was behind her hand.

Ava stumbled on her feet as she tried to move backwards. She looked back at the lady's face who was smirking at her with her eyes fixed on her. An amulet stood at the centre of her chest. The exact same one Ava had on hers. Panic rushed through her body as she tried to think straight, she looked around and saw a nurse walking towards her. She tightly grabbed her drink and ran to Noah's room, where she knew she would be safe. Her mind filled with questions, but the biggest one that made her think was, would she tell Noah what she just saw? She didn't want to worry him, but she might as well tell him because they were working together, and he trusted her enough to tell him about his personal problems.

She entered his room almost out of breath, just looking at him with a blank expression.

"Ava? What happened?" he asked.

A nurse suddenly came in and gave him his tray of food, as they both stayed silent, wary of her next move.

"A member...." she bluntly stated. She slowly made her way next to Noah and sat next to him on the bed.

"A member? Of the TS?" he questioned.

Ava nodded without saying a word as Noah pulled her closer to him.

"Ava?"

"Hmm," she hummed.

"I don't want you to go anywhere. Just stay here with me by my side."

"Why?"

"It's dangerous. You don't know what they might do to you," he explained.

"I'll be fine, I have my powers anyway."

"But you don't know how to control them, you might get yourself hurt. And if you do go, I won't be able to help or protect you. So please stay."

"Ironic...I'll stay, don't worry."

Noah took a deep breath and squeezed her tightly. He felt so weak and helpless that he couldn't do much to protect her. Day went by and night came, all that was heard were muffled voices, some angry and some placating. Noah and Ava were falling asleep in each other's arms.

Suddenly, Noah heard something coming from outside their door, so he tried getting up himself. As he started to walk, he felt pain all over his abdomen, but he kept on walking. Ava noticed that there wasn't anyone by her side. She woke up and saw Noah walking towards the door.

"Noah!" she whispered yelled, as she rapidly got up from the bed and rushed towards him, grasping one of his arms.

"Noah, what are you doing?" she inquired.

But she was pushed away by Noah, who was still focused on the door. He opened it to reveal no-one. He cursed to himself; he swore he heard someone or something.

"Noah, please," she begged, trying to guide him back to his bed without hurting himself much.

But he just pushed her away for a second time.

"I can do it myself," he hissed, still trying to walk back to his bed.

As he was walking towards the bed, he almost fell over, but Ava was there in time to catch him and put him back in bed. Noah leaned his head back as he rubbed his eyes in frustration.

"Noah, why did you try to get up knowing you're in pain?" Ava questioned him.

"I just thought I heard someone behind the door, so I wanted to check. And I can walk perfectly fine."

The moonlight illuminated the room, making both their faces visible to each other. Noah knew she was worried about him, but he wanted to prove that he was fine.

"Just go back to sleep, it has been a tiring day for both of us," he stated.

A few hours go by, and all Ava feels is Noah moving around. She wakes up and looks at him, he's still sleeping but seems to be having a nightmare. Ava gently shook Noah to wake him up. When he suddenly sits up and starts breathing rapidly. He grabs his chest as his breathing got faster, closing his eyes shut.

"Noah. Hey, it's me, Ava. Please look at me," she said.

Noah turned his face and slightly opened his eyes as tears started flowing from his eyes. He put his other hand on Ava's arm as he tried to calm himself down.

"Noah, you have to focus on your breathing."

He starts taking deep breaths as his tight grip on his chest, and Ava's arm softens. His breathing starts going to normal, and he finally rests his head on Ava's collarbone. Ava gently rubs his back to calm him down as he eventually falls asleep again. She lays him down as she places her head on his chest. All night, all she could think about was how she didn't realize he was hurting this much. She blamed herself for being too focused on the situation. His peaceful face rested on the pillow after his recent breakdown. She couldn't imagine how he felt.