Timeless Snow ✓

Ch. 7 - Pray

Some days just seemed to go by so painfully slow. The same white walls every day. An endless supply of hospital food that forever tasted like cardboard. The rhythmic hum of muffled jazz music from the same nurse's desk every Friday. This was a special branch of hell created just for you.

You just picked at your fluffy-bland scrambled eggs they were serving up five days a week for breakfast. Your fork stirred the peach cobbler on the corner of your plate in disinterest. Who ate cobbler at 9 am? You'd much rather apple slices in the morning. You craved having a fresh-cut bowl of fruit with a bowl of grits. You hadn't the slightest idea why.

Despite the days passing, you couldn't get 'Christopher Horn' out of your mind. The dream he ended seemed to be playing on repeat now. The past two nights you dreamed of nothing but him. It was unusual, to say the least, but now you could remember a bit more of the mysterious man.

In your dreams, you were helping a man that seemed beaten down by the world figure out some relationship advice. The two of you talked on a park bench with dark clouds mucking up the sky.

Lidia, his ex-wife. He was worried she wasn't moving on from their relationship even though it long since over. He pleaded with you on what to do but you didn't have the life experience to be of any use. Christopher was at least ten years your senior.

A dreadful feeling gathering in your gut, sorrow that you couldn't help him. A marriage broke apart, yet he still cared about her enough to worry if she was going to move on or not. You didn't find that kind of compassion in everyone. For a moment, you wondered how you would feel if Taehyung were to leave you. Would you want him to be happy with someone else? Would you want him to get over you? The wrong answer was selfish. The right answer would bring peace.

Grabbing your metal tray you stood up from your cafeteria seat and headed to the trash. Tipping the tray into the trash can, its contents spilled into the black bag. Banging it a few times to get a few scraps of plastic off the surface you slipped the tray atop the trash can and began to make your way back to your room.

Your feet dragged in disinterest to arrive at your destination. It was either go back to your room or go participate in some group activities. You'd rather toss yourself out of a window than deal with that type of mind-numbing torment. Passing by one of the nurse's desks you came upon Ms. Maria. The jazz music you heard in the mornings came from her. You could hear her humming along with the trumpet as she wiggled in her seat. She was the brightest thing in the room with her vibrant pink scrubs. Pressed and fresh-faced, she was clearly a morning person. She lit up the room around her even if that meant she stuck out like a sore thumb. Which was likely why she gathered your attention long enough for a brave idea to sprout in your head.

"Excuse me." Quickly you interjected into her playful hum as you stepped up to her desk. "I was wondering if you could help me?" Pressing your fingers into the top of her high-rise desk you leaned over the ledge to look down at her. Your lips curled into an unconcerned smile, you kept your pitch high and friendly. Taehyung wasn't the only one who had learned to put on a fake face.

"Sure! What can I do for you, sweetie?" Her high pitch voice chirped as her bright blue eyes peered up at you. She was a medical intern. The freshest amongst the employees, she had been there only a few months and still had so much left to learn about working in a psychiatric hospital. Her bright blue eyes hadn't seen the real horror this place could provide yet.

"I was wonder if you could look someone up for me on Google." Folding your arms on top of the desk you widened your smile. You expected a quick shut down. It wasn't considered ethical to look things up for patients, they never knew what type of information could set a patient off. Timothy just went AWOL three weeks ago because someone showed him blueberries. Graveyard shift, Ms. Maria wasn't there.

"I don't know..." She murmured. She may have been new, but she was there long enough to know the protocol. Her perky demeanor lessened as she regretted her enthusiastic offer to help.

"It's my second cousin. I haven't seen him in a while. We grew up like siblings." Quickly you made up a narrative. You didn't think of it as lying, more like fictional storytelling. "My family has been kind of busy and well I'm kinda stuck here." That's it lay on the guilt trip. Sound normal, casual. No threat. "He was supposed to get married last week. I just want to make sure the wedding went okay." You paused for a bit of girlish laughter before leaning in closer to whisper. "Apparently he was getting cold feet."

"His name is Christopher." You pointed a finger down at her computer as you widened your smile. "Christopher Horn." Planting your hand back down you tilted your head toward Ms Maria with child-like eyes as you tried to beg her with your gaze. This was a long stretch. You knew you had about a 95% of failure, you weren't stupid.

"Fine..." She whispered as her fingers jetted to the keys. You had to hide the surprise you felt at her acceptance. Man, she really was impressionable. Then again, you were one of the few less threatening patients. That could have played in your favor. Your last psychotic break was long before Ms. Maria even worked here. She had no reason to doubt your story.

"Okay..." She breathed as she fingered abandoned the keys of the keyboard. "His social media says he's married to Lidia Horn." She read aloud as she scrolled down the page and continued to read. Perhaps she'd be kind enough to show you a wedding picture. Leaning forward you hung onto any information with anticipation.

Her bright eyes dimmed as she narrowed her gaze at the screen after a series of clicks. "27 years..." Her lips moved in a breathy whisper that almost escaped you. Frowning your brows you pushed yourself off the desk and opted to walk to its side. You wanted to take a look for yourself.

"27 what?" You asked calmly with curiosity, despite the fact that you were internally ravenous for more information. Rounding the corner, you inched closer to the nurse hoping to get a look at her screen. It seemed she didn't realize you had moved because she flinched back as soon as you caught the corner of her eye, causing you to shutter back in your own shock. In the instant your eyes shifted to her to figure out what was wrong, she quickly closed out the webpage.

"Nothing!" She blurted out as she turned the face of her computer screen away for extra measure. Playing it off as if confidential files were being displayed that a patient couldn't dare look at. "Yes. He got married." She forced a smile as she took a step out of her seat, involuntarily forcing you to take a step back so you didn't collide with her. "Back to your room now. I've... gotta make my rounds!"

Clearly only one of you was good at deception and it wasn't her. Nevertheless, you know pushing the subject would only end with you heavily sedated and strapped down in your bed like last time. It was in your best interest to back off the subject.

"I'm glad." Continuing the conversation to make her believe you were satisfied. It kept her from worrying that she said something to send you flying off the handle into insanity. Ignoring that a part of you feared the idea of being escorted to your room. They weren't the most pleasant experiences you've had. "Thank you so much for checking for me." Raising a hand you offered her a kind wave as you began to back away further from her desk, causing her guard to go back down the further you got from her. You caught sight of the deep breath she took with your departure, yeah she regretted that choice.

Turning on your heel, you headed back down the white-washed hall. '27 years' what did that mean? Maybe that was how long Christopher had been married to Lidia, he was older than you so it's possible. Though the color in his hair made you believe he might not have been that much older. Why couldn't you just remember?

The hospital could be slowly starting to warp your memories. Could be the number of medication you were taking, memory loss was a common side effect of mental based medication. If you weren't crazy, perhaps this place was making you become that way. That's a twist of the ballad of your story. End up leaving these walls more insane than how you entered... You could only pray that wasn't what was happening. Pray to who?