A day later I step out of the Dallas Love Field Airport all alone, dragging my suitcase behind me as I go out to the curb to wave down a cab.
Today, it's pouring.
The rain pelts the ground and the metal awning over my head with a vengeance. I let the two families ahead of me take the first two cabs, deciding to wait for the next.
I'd like to say it's because I'm being a good person, but in reality, I'm just not ready to step out of the safety of this awning yet.
The wind is chilly and I pull my jacket around me tighter, rubbing my arms through the fabric to try to circulate some heat into them.
I only have about another minute before another cab pulls around and I brace myself as I run out into the downpour, letting the driver jump out to grab my suitcase and throw it into the trunk.
I duck into the backseat that smells faintly like someone probably threw up in here recently, and I buckle my seatbelt.
I've seen way too many crazy videos of how cab drivers drive to trust going without one.
The man jumps back into his seat, shaking out his hair, sending cold spritzes of rain water across my face.
"Where to?" He asks and I wipe at my face while I tell him the name of the hospital. "Music?" He asks and I shrug.
"Whatever you prefer." I say, instantly regretting it as a heavy metal screamo song comes blaring through the speakers talking about feeling alone and wanting to die.
It's not exactly my taste, but I did tell him it was his choice, so I smile as the bass rattles my teeth.
I try to look out of the windows to see this new city I've found myself in, but it looks the same as anywhere else I've been.
We drive through downtown, the big buildings and bars lighting up either side of the road. The traffic is bogged down and I'm not sure if it's always like this around here, or if it's just that every person seems to entirely forget how to operate a motor vehicle as soon as it starts raining.
Between all of the sudden stops, the horns blaring, and this dude's depressing yet loud music, I'm thrilled when we finally pull up to a hospital off of the road.
"Here we are." He says, turning down the music and parking outside of the main entrance in the pull around drop off section. "Need help with your bags?"
It's now that I realize I hadn't thought this part through too well.
I should have found a motel first, dropped my stuff, and then come here. Now I'll have to lug my suitcase around with me.
"No thanks." I say, paying the cab fare on the pad in the backseat and getting out.
He pops the trunk for me and I jerk my suitcase out and onto the ground before closing the trunk again.
The cab pulls away and I stand staring at the hospital lobby.
A horn honks behind me and I jump, waving apologies to the car waiting for me to get out of the way so that they can pull through.
I enter the hospital, letting a security guard go through my bag before I head to the main desk.
"I'm looking for Alice Maxwell." I tell the bored looking women behind the desk.
"Relation?" She asks.
"My sister." I tell her, watching as she clicks around on the computer in front of her.
"Down the hall to the elevator lobby." She says, still looking at the computer. "Take the ones on A hall up to the third floor. You'll have to stop at their nurses station to get checked in and get a visitor's pass. Visiting hours will be over in one hour."
