1906 [h.s.]

nine

There are many things the human mind is somehow forced to think about when there seems to be no other form of entertainment. It could be anything, from your deepest fears to the most idiotic memories, and you'll be left to wonder why, in that particular setting, you even thought about such a thing in the first place. Where the connection is. We are so used to rationality that whenever something happens that doesn't quite make sense, we're left speechless.

For this specific reason, I couldn't quite tell why, in that situation, what came to my mind was a book I had read many years before. It had no connection to the cold walls I was stuck in, and no real reason to come to my mind in that specific moment. Maybe it was the darkness. It is common knowledge that the darkness helps people think, isn't it? Well, I guess it depends. Someone like Mia would say quite the opposite. The darkness is dangerous, think of all the monsters hiding in there ready to eat you, or something along those lines anyway. To be eighteen, she surely did act like a scaredy cat way more times than it should be allowed to. On the other hand, someone like Jake would flaunt how he's totally cool in the darkness, and shiver on the inside. In my opinion, that was even more ridiculous. What's the point in pretending you aren't scared of something, when the simple thought of it makes you want to hide? It surely isn't attractive. Why would you feel the need to prove yourself to someone else, when you can't even be honest to yourself? I had never quite understood his behaviour. Maybe it was the age. Boys around that age are always so insecure, needing to prove they're someone they're actually not, hiding away how they truly feel, just because they're men, and men don't have to be afraid of anything. How ridiculous is that? Feel free to run around in the darkness if you please, but don't think I don't see right through you, Jake.

But Harry was different. Well, of course he was. He basically came from another world, and in a way, it surprised me, even though it really should've not. Never I would've thought a century would make such a difference. No, Harry was different because his green eyes were clear when he spoke. He didn't lie, he didn't feel the need to, and somehow, it made him even more real. More real than Jake, and Mia, and my mom, and everyone else around me. Maybe, even more real than I was. I wondered if he was scared of the darkness. He didn't seem the kind of person that would, but I didn't know him at all. If he was, maybe he was because of what truly is in the darkness, rather than what is said to be. Being left alone with your thoughts must be scary to many people. I wondered what he would think about, what could possibly come up in a mind as complex as his, to which my past is reality? Was he scared of what his tomorrow would bring? I was, after not even a day in that place. I couldn't even imagine how someone would feel after being stuck there for months.

I wondered where he was. What he was doing, what he was waiting for. If he'd come to get me, because the wheeze of the woman under the bed next to me was getting louder, and the door was locked.

All of sudden, the yellowish lights outside turned off, and the whole hallway went black.

I stood up making the bed creak and rushed to the door as silently as possible, standing on my tiptoes to look at what was outside. But of course, the darkness was too overpowering, and given that I had to feel where the window was with my touch, there was nothing to see outside. Or maybe there was, and I just couldn't see it. How was it possible that it was night already? Where had the day rushed to?

A "how" left my lips under my breath, and the wheezing behind me stopped.

"Eleven" I heard an indistinct mumble, "Always eleven."

"What?" I asked turning around.

"Eleven. Careful. Eleven" was the only reply I got.

I shook my head, deciding to leave it. She probably didn't even know what she was talking about herself.

And then, I felt a whoosh of air on my skin as the door opened. I turned around, scrambling to the opposite side of the bed as fast as possible.

"It's me" a deep, vibrating voice said, that I immediately recognised as Harry's.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding in. "Oh thank god. How long do we have?"

I heard him shifting around in the room. "Fifty minutes. It isn't midnight. And ten minutes to exit this place before the lights turn on again."

"Why are the lights off all of sudden?" I asked him standing up.

"They always turn them off for twenty minutes at this time, in the Female Ward. In the Male Ward, they turn them off at twenty to midnight for fifteen" he replied, and I felt his touch on my arm as he reached out to me.

"And why?" I questioned him again as I felt his cold fingers run down my forearm, before closing around my wrist.

He pulled me towards him lightly, making me step forward. "This is not a normal hospital. They have many things to hide" was his short reply. "Now come with me, and don't emit a single sound until we're safe."

We walked out of the room, his hand not leaving my wrist and being the only way to keep us together in the most complete darkness. We were hiding in the middle of the hallway, and the simple thought of the lights turning on again and showing us to everyone worried me to no end.

All of sudden, right as we were about to exit the Female Ward, we heard voices, and Harry pressed the both of us against the wall as they surpassed us. We slid through the door, and even though I could see nothing, the colder air around me told me that the room we were in was way bigger than the hallways. The main room. He guided us with a stealthy step towards the Male Ward, walking with a hand on the wall to avoid running into something - or someone. When we were in front of the door of the Male Ward, he pressed against it, and it just opened without a sound.

"How..." I started to say, but he shushed me.

We walked in the corridor for a bit, until he opened another door and ushered us inside, closing it behind himself.

"How did you open it?" I whispered to him, recognising the smell of the storage room.

"At this time the Hospital turns the lights off and opens all the doors but the ones to the patients' rooms. I suppose it would be too hard to move around fast if the door were to be kept shut" he replied, standing a bit closer to me so that we would warm each other up a little.

I frowned. "You opened the door to the room I was in though."

I heard him sigh, the soft blow of warm air hitting my face. "On this day, they accidentally opened all the doors for an instant by mistake. That is how I escaped. Nobody else noticed to my knowledge, I did because I was banging against it. People here are usually too far in their own minds to notice changes."

All of sudden I heard a sound, and a little sliver of light appeared from under the door.

"Lights are on again" I whispered looking up, finally managing to see him.

His lips curved into a little smile. "Thirty minutes to go."

I nodded slightly, noticing how close he actually was to me, and pushing him away a little bit. "I'm Emma, by the way."