She Once Had

ii | lacerate

chapter two

   The time went zipping by as I sat uncomfortably in the hospital's waiting room. People came and went, but I stayed put and as the hour went from 10 to 11, I grew impatient. I shifted towards the main office area with a long sigh hoping the three women at the front desk would know what was taking so long.

   Leaning over to face the pulp and petite woman behind the first desktop, I put on my best easing smile. "Excuse me," I whispered at first before clearing my throat and speaking up, "excuse me."

   All three of the women looked up, but two of them went back to work, typing away at the keyboard.

   "Yes, what can I do for you?"

   "I arrived with the ambulance a little over two hours ago and I haven't got any news about the guy I helped and I'm just really worried."

   She glanced up at me for only half a second before glancing back down at her computer. "I'm sorry ma'am, but you're going to have to wait a little longer."

   The look the woman gave towards me didn't settle right with my mind. I squinted my eyes slightly and paid close attention to every movement going on around her desktop area.

   The violet scrubs she wore were a shade darker than the two small looking woman sitting in the far corners. Her eyes dropping a little lower as if she were tired and hadn't slept a day in her life, while the only two woman had pearly smiles on their faces and were clicking and chit-chatting about whatever was on their desktop screens. The woman in front of me glanced back at the two of them and rolled her eyes, still keeping a polite smile on her red face.

   I waited for her to say something anything, but as she reached forward to give me what looked like a hug, she snatched the clipboard I had signed from my hands and plopped back down in her rolling-chair.

   "That's what I'm trying to say," I paused as my eyes flickered over at the two woman who had stopped their typing to look up at me, "I can't wait any longer." The tears dotting my eyes threatened to spill out, but I continued to rapidly blink them away. I was so not having a melodramatic hospital breakdown in front of these three women.

   The smallest of the three stood and titled over towards me, placing her small pale hands over mine. "Just relax, I know this is really difficult, but you're going to have to let the doctors do their job, your husband will be fine."

   I opened my mouth to protest, to tell the sweet tiny woman that the man being operated on was not my husband – in fact I didn't even know his name, but nothing came out. She wrapped her chubby arms around me and pulled me into her tight embrace – from the way she hugged so tight and warming, I could tell she was a mother.

   She released me with a smile and I did my best to return her gesture as she gently patted over my back.

   "He'll be fine," she paused to lean into my ear, "I promise."

   I knew they were doing the best they could to save him and it wasn't fair of me to ask them to rush - before taking a seat in the waiting room's cushioned violet chairs.

   I did my best to relax, take deep breaths and even tried to drift off into a deep sleep, but nothing would worked.

   At all.

   Eventually another hour passed and a towering gray-haired man entered the waiting room and I instantly knew he was here for me – the feeling shot through my body on instinct. The couple of people still sitting in the waiting room let out a sigh in unison when they quickly realized the doctor was here for me.