That's My Spotlight | ✔

xvi. frenemies

WHEN INEZ AND ALEXANDER arrived at the recovery portion of the hospital, there was no turning back. Once they arrived at the curbside of the medical center, the boy unlocked the car's doors to allow the girl to exit.

But instead, she didn't.

"You know, I was thinking," Inez mused as she fidgeted with her seatbelt. "Do you wanna come in with me? Faye, the little girl I'm visiting, loves visitors, so she wouldn't mind seeing you. She's really nice and fun, I promise."

"Sure," Alexander said as he pulled out of the curbside to a nearby parking lot. "I don't have anything better to do, anyway."

Within moments, they pulled into a gated parking lot. As the car pulled from section to section, there weren't many available parking spaces. But as soon as one was found, Alexander pulled into the space before he stopped the car. "Thank you for riding with Alexander Car Services. I hope you enjoyed your ride," he nodded curtly as he opened his door. He swung around the car to open the passenger seat.

"You're so goofy yet annoying at the same time," Inez shook her head with a chuckle as she got up from her seat. "But thanks for the ride."

"That's what I like to hear," Alexander pushed the passenger seat door closed before he locked the car with his keys from a distance. He dumped his keys into the deep side pocket of his jeans as the two of them walked through the vast parking lot to the hospital entrance. They maintained a lengthy distance from each other, even as they walked through the automatic doors of the medical center.

The pungent mixture of antiseptic and cleaning supplies automatically hit their noses as they walked in. It was surely unpleasant to smell, especially since they just got into the hospital, but Inez knew for sure that the smell would be unnoticeable as she accustomed herself to the hospital environment once again. For Alexander, however, it would be a completely different story.

It's been such a long time since he's been inside of a hospital, longer than he could barely remember. The last time he actually was when his mother, father, and him were taking a tour of the Women's Pavilion portion of the hospital. It was from this exact hospital, to be exact.

The boy's head began to spin around in circles as he relived his past memories. When he was last in the hospital, that's when his mother was alive. That's when it occurred to him that everything was the same.

The pungent smell of the hospital was the same.

The tall, silver elevators were the same.

Even the automatic doors were the same.

Everything was mostly the same — except they were modernized to today's current standards. Alexander felt his goosebumps crawl over his skin as he broke a cold sweat. It was as if his past always found a way to haunt him.

Stay cool, calm, and collected, he reminded himself. You've got this.

"Alexander, are you okay?" Inez questioned with a raised eyebrow as she tapped the lit-up, circular elevator button. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"I . . . I'm fine," Alexander answered as the elevator door chimed. He allowed the girl to walk in first before he walked in.

"Are you sure?" The girl asked with concern as she pressed an elevator button to go up to the third floor. "You look so pale all of a sudden."

The brunette-haired boy cleared his throat. "I'm positive. Don't worry about me."

Inez shrugged as she stared ahead at the elevator door, which slowly closed. The engines of the elevator began to rev up as it beeped as it passed a couple of floors. The pesky, yet fulfilling noises filled in the blanks of the silence that was within the enclosed space. No words were said, even as the elevator doors flung open.