A Peculiar String of Bizarre Dreams

Chapter 29: A Sanitized Environment

This is what I learn when I enter limbo again: Each realm keeps its pain contained in itself; my hand altogether stops hurting.

I hold up the seraphinite gemstone. It is gray-green in colour but also, black and white spots and lines run along its surface. I remove Sachelle from my pocket.

"Need my help, of course, why else would you need me?" He rasps at me.

"The last time I asked you for help, you told me to ask my mother."

I loosen the tassels and drop in the stone.

I still can not justify to myself why I risked going to that realm. Neither the land nor its people were reliable. Did I have to risk my life for this stone? For a friend who speaks in poems, for a friend who dreams of another realm? It was too late to feel regretful; I have gone there and returned, that's what matters...right? If nothing else, I have at least mastered this art — the art of traveling across realms. And mastered it overnight at that!

But for all I know, I am doing it all wrong; I may have to face its consequences. Sighing at my momentary pessimism, I decide to put aside my epiphanies and assemble my thoughts in order. Then, I concentrate on the next realm, for Eli.

***

People rush past me from left to right, from right to left. I am standing in the middle of a mad stampede.

I notice white walls and bright lights — a sanitized environment. People in lab coats and people in scrubs. I'm in a hospital. First, I hear nervous shouts and then, authoritative, confident instructions being thrown back and forth:

"Eliot, get my scrubs! I'll be in there in 5," an overweight man in a white coat calls out. He has dark disheveled hair, an unkempt stubble lining his square jaw and serious dark eyes.

I continue to stand there, like a roadblock amidst important chaos.

A short woman in a white uniform grabs me. Her name is Eliot.

"Ma'am, I need you to go to the waiting room. Family members are not allowed to wander around in these corridors." She leads me to a lounge with stiff blue seats.

"I have to go assist Dr. Langdon. I am needed in the operation theater right now, but I'll be back in a few minutes," she tells me.

I'm not sure why I obey Eliot and settle down in the waiting lounge, waiting for her. I'm not a patient here, and I'm not here to visit a patient. I'm here for a gem. So, why did I come here? I look around the waiting room for clues, for anything, for something.

The clock on the wall sits at ten past noon. I continue to look around till I finally find what I'm looking for.

A calendar hangs on the wall of an open office across the lounge. In bold numbering, it says it is 1998. The year I turned 2.

I have gone back in the past again. But this time, I am still an eighteen year old, or at least feel and look like one.

Eliot returns. She has changed into scrubs. I'm not sure what I'm going to say to her. I instinctively hold onto my sapphire locket. The gem came to my miraculous rescue in the seraph realm, I hope it works here as well.

"Sorry about leaving you like that before. I'm Nurse Eliot. What can I do for you?" She smiles at me and the wrinkles around her eyes bundle up together with warmth. My instincts tell me I can trust her.

"No please don't apologize, it's my fault. I shouldn't have been in a busy hallway."

She nods at me patiently as I continue, "Umm...who was the man that needed your help with scrubs before?" I really don't know where I am going with this.

"Oh, that's Dr. Langdon! He is quite young, but he's a brilliant pulmonologist. Also, he's the best oncologist in the hospital."

Some list of credentials he's got, the man outperforms.

"Yes, that's the doctor I was looking for before, when I got lost in the corridor.  Is there a way I can make an appointment with him?"

Time traveling has made an expert liar out of me. But I mean well, Eliot, I promise.

"Yes, of course. Although I must warn you, his schedule may be fully booked. You can check with the receptionist right there," she gestures around the corner at a large counter with a tall woman in spectacles sitting behind it.

"Thank you very much, Nurse Eliot," I smile back at her as she gives me another nod and disappears around another corner.

I stand in the same spot in the waiting lounge for a few seconds without moving. I hear pitter-patter on a window in the lounge and walk over to see through the raindrops covering the glass. The sky is filled with gloomy gray blue clouds. I begin to feel an inexplicable exhaustion. Ideally, at this point I should return home and go to sleep. Instead, I stretch out across the length of four stiff waiting-room seats and rest my head on the window pane, watching the rain pitter-patter.

***

The sun's rays, warm against my cheek, jolt me up from my slumber. The sky is now clear and white clouds merrily float by. I look down upon the grounds of the hospital. An old building on the left proudly proclaims "St. Cathnis Hospital". The name does not sound familiar to me. What city is this? This hospital probably doesn't even exist in the present time.

Then I see him, under a shed jutting out of another wing. I squint at him: Is Dr. Langdom smoking?

I turn around and check the wall clock - almost 3 pm. I fell asleep for approximately 3 hours. My neck hurts from sleeping at such an odd angle.

"Make sure you stay away from sick children." Sachelle's voice relinquishes all remaining traces of my sleep. I politely bring him out of his storage.

"Why should I stay away from sick children, Sachelle?"

"They like shiny objects. Once, this brat tugged at all my jewels so heartlessly that they hung loose from their seams. It took your Mamma days to sew them back into place."

"So you mean all children, not just sick ones," I add.

"Yes...it would be very kind of you if you keep me away from all children. I do not like them," he rasps with a slow scornful note in his voice.

"If the children heard you talk like that, they wouldn't like you either," I say pointedly.

"That would be very convenient, indeed. Alas, not every being is honoured with the ability to converse with me."

I raise an eyebrow at the bag, in response.

"Not all of us are annoying, Sachelle. You might enjoy talking to some of us."

"I highly doubt that," he instantly quips back.

"Okay, time for you to go back in," I say and hear him start a series of inaudible insults, "You ungrateful, inconsiderate, human sack of ..." as I put him back in my pocket.

My glance falls backs on the window and I see Dr. Langdon still smoking, one tumor after another.

I make my way outside the lounge. I try to memorize the corridors on my way out, just in case I need to get back.

I spot a Starbucks at the entrance of the building and decide to get some coffee. I order a white chocolate mocha with two shots of espresso; I need to stay awake in the past, in 1998.

The guy behind the counter hands me my coffee and wishes me a great night.

I grin back at him and cry out, "A great long night indeed!"

The air is crisp and fresh. I can smell the rain — undisturbed mud and dirt caught off guard by pouring precipitation. It smells like hope.