In The Hospital

With no other option, I start walking around and exploring this unfamiliar yet familiar place. After taking a few steps in a random direction, I suddenly feel something tugging at me in the opposite direction. I turn around to look at what it was but found nothing. Confused, I continued walking in the direction I originally chose. But as I got further away from where I started, I begin to feel a feeling of emptiness gnawing at me.

At some point, it was too unbearable for me and I quickly headed back to where I started. In a few seconds, I arrive back at where I started and noticed that something was missing. Where did all the people go? The people that I saw before who were roaming the streets were now gone. Something very strange was going on.

Since it didn't look like that I could go this way, the only choice left is to go the other way. I start walking in the direction that my heart told me to go. I walked for what felt like hours and stopped only when I heard a crash. All around me, the buildings begin to fade away.

"Looks like she's awake, call the father in here."

Jean heard the sound of a door opening and closing. After a few seconds, Jean slowly opened her eyes and saw a white-tiled ceiling. The first thought that came into her head was 'Where am I?'

"You're in the hospital dear," said a female voice from her side, as if she were reading Jean's mind. Jean tilted her head to the side on her pillow to see who it was that was beside her. It was a woman that was in her late 20s. She was dressed in a nurse outfit and had a clipboard in her hand and was flipping through some papers. "How do you feel?" She asked Jean.

"Um... okay?" Jean answered uncertainly.

"Please be a bit more specific," the nurse told Jean. "Like, do you feel any pain, discomfort, fatigue, and the such," she clarified for her.

"My head does hurt a little," Jean told the nurse. "And, I do feel a little tired," she added.

"Hm. Anything else," the nurse asked Jean while she jotted what was said down on her clipboard.

"No, not really," Jean responded after a short pause.

"I see." The nurse continued to write things down on her clipboard and the entire room was silent for the next few minutes, other than the sound of pen on paper and pages flipping. After the nurse finished writing whatever it was that she was writing, she got up and told Jean to take it easy and wait a little bit. After telling her that, she left the room, making sure to quietly close the door as she did so.

"The hospital..." Jean murmured to herself. She didn't remember anything that happened for her to wound up here. She pulled the blanket up until it was covering her mouth and turned her head until she was facing the ceiling again. Her eyes felt a little dry and so she decided to close them while waiting for whoever it was that was supposed to arrive.

Jean didn't know how much time had passed by, but eventually, she heard the door open. She opened her eyes and turned to see who it was. It was her dad. "Jean, are you alright," he asked as he hurried over to her worriedly. "Ugh, what am I saying. If you're here, of course you're not."

"I'm fine," Jean told her dad. Though like he said, since she was here, she wasn't exactly fine. But she did feel well enough to say that she was okay.

"Do you know how worried I was when I heard that you were at the hospital?" Her dad was just about to start to go on a rant about keeping an eye on her health but a doctor stopped him before he could.

"Your daughter is still recovering, save that talk for when she gets out," the doctor told him. He patted his shoulder and motioned for him to stand aside and took a seat next to Jean. The doctor flipped through some pages and asked Jean a few questions to confirm her identity, "Your name is Jean Rella, you're 17 years old, and you are a student, correct?"

"Yes," Jean confirmed that this was indeed the right information.

"Hm, it looks like that you collapsed due to fatigue," the doctor said while scanning the pages. "I know being a student is hard work but you need to be mindful of your health."

"Yes, I will do that," Jean replied.

The doctor wrote down a few things on his clipboard then turned to Jean's father and told him, "Okay, your daughter will be staying here overnight for the time being to make sure there aren't any other health problems or issues. If we find that there is nothing else, she will be released tomorrow. Will that be alright with you."

"Yes," he answered.

"Then that's settled." The doctor got up from his seat and put his pen in his chest pocket and said to Jean's father, "The hospital closes in a few hours. Until then, you're free to stay here and talk to your daughter."

"Okay, thank you doctor." After Jean's father thanked the doctor, he left the room to give the two of them privacy.

The moment the doctor left, Jean's father clicked his tongue. "Tch. Is it because of those two that just moved in yesterday? I'll go give them a piece of my mind later," Jean's father said angrily. They were definitely the reason why Jean wasn't able to sleep at all yesterday.

"No dad, it's fine," Jean told him. She didn't want him to go knocking on Jackson's door and telling them about what happened. "You don't have to bother them about it."

"Are you sure sweetie?"

"Yes." Even though it wasn't entirely Jackson's fault, he did contribute to Jean's increasing fatigue this week. But Jean didn't want Jackson to know about it. He may be a very peculiar person and his personality was questionable, but he was also quite nice. If he knew that he was part of the reason why she had ended up in the hospital, he would probably hate himself for it. She rather not have things get more complicated than they already are.

"If you say so," Jean's father respected her decision. The two sat there in awkward silence for a few seconds, unsure of what to say to each other. "So uh," her father broke the silence and asked her, "Do you want me to get you something to eat for dinner? Hospital food isn't very good," he explained.

"Uh, sure..."

"Is there something specific that you want to eat?"

"Anything is fine."

"Okay, I'll go buy something." Jean's father got up from his chair and started walking to the door but stopped and asked, "Is there anything else you need or want?"

"No."

"No books or anything? Do you not want anything to kill time?"

"Umm..." Now that he mentioned it, there probably wasn't much to do in the hospital in terms of entertainment. There was a small television screen in front of the bed, and the remote control was on a table next to her for easy accessibility, but she didn't really watch any shows. The only things that she ever watched were news, and that was every once in a while, and she wasn't in the mood to listen to any news right now.

Plus, there was a chance that she might even be in the news. 'Girl, 17, collapses on the way home from school.' Just thinking about it made her face start to flare up in embarrassment. If she really were in the news, that was even more of a reason to not watch it. "I guess just get me a few comics?" It's been a long time since Jean had read any. She didn't know why but she suddenly felt like reading a few.

"Comics? Didn't you stop reading them ever since- ah nevermind, I'll get a few popular ones for you. Is there anything else?" Her dad asked.

"No."

"Okay." Her dad went to the door and reminded her, "If you suddenly need something else, call me." He then left the room.

Jean stared emptily into space for the next few moments before taking out her phone. Luckily, her bag was also on the table next to her with the remote control for the television. She saw that she received a few text messages from Samantha, telling her to text or call her when she could.

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