The Movies Make It Look Easy

Chapter 50

Chapter 50

 Shannon’s P.O.V:

The taxi pulled up outside a large, austere white building. I slowly got out of the car and stood staring at the imposing building in front of me as Nick paid the fare.

It had a foreboding air about it that made me want to shiver…but then that was probably just me.

Nick ushered me inside the automatic glass doors.

I looked around me with interest, taking in the white walls, glistening floors and the men and women walking around wearing scrubs. There were a few other people who were clearly patients; some were in wheelchairs and some just strolled down the corridors.

There was a feeling of sickness and sorrow permeating the place, as if the feeling had sunk into the very walls. I hated hospitals.

Nick raised a hand in greeting to the middle aged woman behind the reception desk. She smiled warmly at us before going back to work – Nick obviously didn’t need directions. He turned left, down a long plain white corridor.  

It felt like something out of a horror movie…have I mentioned that I hate hospitals?

It was harshly lit with fluorescent lights, giving our skin an awful greenish tinge. We continued on down the corridor, occasionally moving to the side to allow doctors and nurses past. We travelled up to the third floor, Nick’s steps assured. I vaguely wondered how many times he’d made this trip.

Finally, he came to a stop outside the second last door on the left. There was a small window in the centre of the door, and through it I could glimpse the end of a bed.

We were really here.

If I moved a bit to the left I knew I’d have an unobstructed view of the room, but I stopped myself, we’d go inside soon enough. However, Nick made no move to open the door. He was watching me closely and I smiled weakly in return. He didn’t even glance at the door, just stepped closer to me.

I just hoped he couldn’t sense my uneasiness.

I tilted my head back to meet his gaze. He slipped his arms around my waist and rested his forehead against mine. ‘I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’re here’

I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck; ‘I’d do anything for you Nick, you have to know that by now’

He smiled, ‘I know, because I feel the exact same way’ he was silent for a moment, thinking over his next words.

‘I-I’ve never brought anyone here, not even Mark, not since she slipped into a coma’ he trailed off and I smiled slightly. ‘I understand’

With that, he kissed me. It was different somehow, more…meaningful or something.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t last – we were right outside Nick’s mother’s room after all.

He opened the door and we stepped inside.

It was a medium-sized room with a wide window that covered most of the far wall. It had drab office blinds that could be drawn the whole way across. There was a slightly wilted green plant taking pride-of-place on the bedside table, and on the right wall, above the bed was a colourful summer landscape done in what looked like oils. It was no doubt placed there in an attempt to brighten the otherwise plain room.

What struck me as my eyes roamed around the room was the lack of personal items adorning the space. According to Nick, his mother had been in a vegetative state for three years and his father visited all the time. Hell, the only reason she was still alive was because Jonah loved his wife too much to let her go.