The+Sitting+Room+(Robert+Liu)

The Sitting Room Bill dragged himself out of bed and fell onto his chair in front of the TV. He leaned over to grab the bottle of scotch he had left on the floor. His arms limply feeling for it until his fingers finally found their way to the neck of the bottle. He picked up the bottle and held it up to the sunlight, finally opening his eyes. He swirled the contents of the bottle for a few seconds before resting his hand on his lap and just sitting; motionless. He sat in his old chair, leaning back, resting his wrists on his knees. He sat there a blank look on his face. His eyes were cold, like a statue of stone, his eyes casting a frozen stare blankly at the center of the cracking drywall completely motionless. He sat there for several minutes staring at the wall before finally unscrewing the bottle and sloppily pouring it in his mouth, droplets dripping down his neck and onto his chest. Wiping the droplets from his mouth with his forearm he walked over to his closet and put on a clean pair of jeans and putting on a plain white shirt the golden droplets on his chest soaking through. He grabbed his jacket, wallet and keys and walked out the door.

Violet meandered out of her home office where she had gone to put the final touches on a presentation for the conference she would be attending in a week. She tidied up the papers and placed them in neat stacks and filled them into their respective folders. She walked to her kitchen to get her daily cup of coffee. She pulled a cup out of one of the kitchen cabinets and poured out a smooth black cup of coffee. She put the cup to her lips taking a small sip of the now room temperature coffee from the night before. She put the cup down on the counter as she began readying her bag with her notepad, cell phone and her laptop. She walked back to her counter with a meaningful stride and downed the remaining coffee. Walking out the door with her bag she took out her cell phone calling her office. She told her assistant to cancel her appointments for the day.

Angela stood in front of her mirror looking into her own eyes. She stared directly into her pupils as if she expected to see deep into her own soul to find where she belonged. She rummaged through a drawer in her small kitchen to find an envelope. She reached inside her backpack and felt around for her checkbook. Writing the check quickly she scrawled out her signature. She placed the check into the envelope. She went over to her sink and turned it on. She stuck out two fingers into the stream of water and pulled them out. Using her wet fingers to seal the envelope she took out her cell phone to check for the time. 8:14. she quickly strode to her counter and quickly wrote out a single word. Rent. She grabbed her backpack walking out of her small studio. She dropped off the rent and continued down the stairs. She checked her cell phone again to check to see how much more time she had. 8:23. plenty of time left.

Bill took out his keys and bounced them in his hand. He put his other hand in his pocket to make sure he had everything he would need for the rest of the day. His wallet he always kept in his left pocket and in his right he kept his cell phone. Although he barely had any phone numbers in his phone he felt that it was important for him to have it with him at all times. He kept walked in a circle around his truck looking at the layer of scratches on his truck. He thought back to the day he had gotten his truck all those years ago. He felt a rush of excitement but soon after he felt his heart drop. He frowned. He stuck the key into the keyhole and twisted. The lock popped open and he pulled on the handle. The door swung open and he climbed into the truck and rested himself comfortably in the seat of his truck. He waited for a few minutes before putting the key into the ignition and turning. The sound of the engine starting put his mind at ease. He slammed the door of his truck closed and started down the road.

Violet walked down the steps of her porch and pulled the keys to her car out of her bag. Her medium-sized bag was bulging with the excessive number of things she had stuffed it full of. Despite the fact that she did not wear make up she was always prepared with whatever she could possibly need. She pushed her keys into the keyhole and jiggled the key a bit before she could get the door open. She had been meaning to go to get that fixed the previous weekend but she had to work the night shift and fell asleep on the day she had planned to go to the auto shop. She sat down in her seat and put her key into the ignition began pulling out of her driveway. Although she was single she believed that it was very important for someone of her age to have a house to prepare for later on in her life. She admired her handiwork as she watched her lawn as she pulled out of the driveway. She didn’t bother to check to see if there were any cars driving down the street before pulling out of her driveway. She had specifically chosen the quietest and safest neighborhood she could find before buying her house.

Angela went downstairs and got her bike from in her small storage space in her apartment building’s shared basement. She had decided to keep it there to make her studio look cleaner and more spacious should she ever decide to have company. In the past five years she had only had one visitor and that was her brother asking for money. She hopped on her bike and put her bike lock in her backpack and began pedaling down her street. She had picked a studio close to where she worked. She had been nervous about the safety issues included in renting a studio in the middle of the city. So far she hadn’t had any trouble so she felt that she had just been being paranoid. As she turned off of her street she was already thinking about how her workday would be.

The hospital was a crowded place. As a hospital close to the heart of the city this was to be expected. The doctors and nurses were always busy but no one in the building was ever as busy as the cleaning staff. The custodians were always moving and never had a second of rest during their entire day. All day long they were cleaning up the messes associated with hospital. When a patient throws up the custodians have to take care of it. When any small children decide to make a mess the custodians have to clean it up. Whenever an inept parent doesn’t realize their child hasn’t gone to the bathroom the entire day the janitors have to clean up the liquid trails these kids leave. Whenever anyone made a mess of anything the custodians would have to clean it up. The hospital worked as any other hospital would. However, the Dean of Medicine was anything but ordinary. He took it upon himself personally to visit every single patient and ask him or her about how their day was going or if they were enjoying their stay. The way he asked them these questions made many of the patients think he was in charge of customer support. Sometimes he would take it upon himself to wait at the main entrance and greet every single person entering the building. Some waved back and greeted him back; however, the vast majority including the staff just ignored him or just acknowledged his existence by nodding their heads. He was a very content man with his job. His name was John.

Bill woke up in a room surrounded by doctors. He was as confused as anyone could possibly be. His first reaction was to pretend he had not yet woken up but the doctors soon realized he was awake by his response as they began to check his vital signs. He first flinched as his body first registered the pain of a needle going into his arm. Then he got up and began shouting at the doctors to leave him alone. “What’s wrong with you guys? Where am I?” He shouted as they realized he was fully awake and in seemingly good condition. The doctors thoroughly confused by his sudden awakening were speechless. He sat in the sterilized room in the hospital alone as the doctors sat in the next room discussing his condition.

“How could this happen?” “Why now? What should we do?” “He’s been transferred so many times why did he choose here to wake up of all places?” Bill had been in a coma for a few weeks. He his boss had identified his because of his lack of any friends or family in the state. His coma was the topic of discussion in many different hospitals. He while in a coma all of his vital signs were fine and there was even evidence that there were thoughts going around in his brain. Some thought it was just faulty equipment and tried to find some logical explanation. However, the majority of the population just thought of him as a freak. Back in Bill’s room he was still confused as no one was willing to tell him what was going on. “Where am I.” was the first thought in his head. He had no idea where he was. He checked himself for any obvious injuries running his hands along his body softly as not to irritate any possible injuries. He found a few scabs and a few bruises but that was it. When he went to put his hands behind his head and lay down on his pillow there was a sharp stab of pain. He felt as if he had just rested his head on a bed of needles. “What was that?” He ran his fingers along the back of his head to feel for any injuries. Nothing.

Violet was waiting impatiently in the waiting room of the hospital. She had been delaying her annual required physical for almost half a year. In the end her boss had even been forced to remind her that it was mandatory and tell her that he would not let her return to work unless she had gone to the see a doctor. She hated doctors. She had no reason for hating them nor had she had any traumatic experiences involving doctors, but she had always hated them just the same. She had been waiting for only ten minutes but she had already become sick of being in the hospital. The doctors and nurse always rushing about, the smell of sickness in the waiting rooms, the germ infested toys that they had the kids play with while they waited. She hated all of it, but most of all she hated the disorder.

Violet had a relatively quiet childhood. She grew up in a suburb of upstate New York. Her family had moved to upstate New York for he father’s job at Cornell. Her family had never had any trouble financially or socially. Her father was the V.P. of Communications of a stable shipping company and her mother owned her own law firm. Her father would drive to work everyday at 8:30 and promptly arrive at 9:00. He was the Vice President of Communications for his branch. He would sit in his office every day and do whatever it was that he did. He was never stressed out and always arranged for company outings. Her mother on the other hand was always stressed out. Although she never showed it at home she was always stressed out and would always make her nightly stop at a local bar to calm her nerves. At home she was a very ordinary parent. This was, however, a façade to help her only daughter have a sense of security. Violet was always the smartest in her class in elementary school, as well as middle school and even in high school. She graduated from her small high school at the top of her class and went on to go to Cornell.

In college, she stayed with her family rather than to move into a dorm with other students. Even in college she was always at the top of her class. Although all of her peers admired her intelligence, one thing no one liked about her was her pride. At first they all thought it was normal for her to have a sense of pride in her achievements, but after the first few months they grew tired of hearing. “Did you know I was at the top of my class in high school?” “I got in on a full scholarship.” and the worst of all “It’s not my fault that I’m the best.” For the rest of her years as a law student at Cornell she had never once noticed that people preferred not to be around her and that whenever she wanted to hang out or study everyone was busy.

Angela’s life was the exact opposite of Violet’s. Angela grew up in Queens. Her father was a very secretive man. No one in the family knew where he worked nor did they bother asking. Her father was almost never home and when he was Angela and her brothers would ignore him. Her mother had to work late to support their family. She would go to work every day as a researcher for a nearby branch of a large drug company. Angela grew up as an only daughter among a family of three sons. She was he oldest of the four. The oldest of her three brothers was named Thomas. He was always good with numbers and computers. He went through high school with straight A’s in every class and went to NYU on a full scholarship where he had decided go to for computer programming. He was the quietest of the three. The middle brother was Edward. Edward was born with a birth defect that stunted his growth. He was the artist of the bunch. Where Thomas excelled in academics he excelled in art. For every perfect report card Thomas brought back Edward had another sculpture or painting. Edward went to Rhode Island School of Design. The third brother named Christopher was born with Down syndrome. Before leaving for college at Syracuse Angela spent most of her time at home with Chris. He was always quiet like the other two but in a different way. Angela would always talk with Chris when she needed an outlet for her feelings. She would hang out with friends for company during the day but at night she would sit awake with Chris in her bedroom talking about her day. After she left for college this was the only thing that she missed about living with her family. Bill lay on his bed waiting for someone to come back into the room to tell him what was going on. A nurse walked into his room.

“Why am I here?” asked Bill. “Don’t ask me, they sent me in here to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid like jump out the window.” Replied the nurse. “Well can you go ask why I’m here?” Bill asked impatiently “Go do it yourself.” Responded the nurse. “What’s your name?” “Angela” “Well Angela, go tell your doctor friends that I’m pissed and I just might jump out the window if someone doesn’t tell me what’s going on.” “Those doctors out there? I would hardly call them friends. I would hardly even call them co-workers since the whole work part is something that none of them seem too fond of.” “Well go tell those lazy assholes out there to get in here so I can yell at them instead of you since arguing with you doesn’t seem to be doing anything!” “Like I said already go do it yourself.” Angela walked out of the room without saying another word. “Why should I have to go get those assholes? All they sent me in there to do is to make sure he hadn’t done anything stupid.” She thought to herself. After a few seconds Bill came bursting through the door.

“Will you at least tell me where I can find said assholes?” Walking through the hospital Violet was scared. In her mind behind every door there was someone with some terrible illness behind every door. Walking through the hospital was like walking through a mine field for her. She had phobias concerning almost every part of a hospital. She was afraid of needles. She was afraid of sickness. She was afraid of blood. Most of all, she was afraid of death.

For as long as she could remember she had always been afraid of death. Whenever she was crossing the street when she was little she would always wait for everyone else to start crossing before her because she was scared she would get hit by a car if she crossed alone even in the suburb where she grew up where there were hardly any cars in the street. When she got older these small behavioral features she had developed disappeared, but deep down she was still afraid. Whenever she was home alone she always turned on the television and would sometimes even go out of her way to make up a reason to call her parents. Continuing down the hall she saw two people yelling at each other through an open door. A nurse was standing in the door way arguing with a patient. As she passed by she noticed in another room a toddler whose parents where trying to calm him down to get a shot. All the while doctors and nurses were rushing by from room to room. The sheer disorder of the hospital was eating away at her. Every second of it was like an eternity for her. In her mind she was angry and was frustrated but on the outside she was calm. Keeping a fake smile on all the time was like breathing to her. She had learned it was easier to just smile and pretend everything was okay rather than show what she was really feeling and for her entire life it had worked.

Bill walked into the room after Angela. She had decided to take him to the Dean of Medicine who would no doubt know why Bill had been brought to the hospital. Although John had always had a different way of dealing with things, he always knew what was going on and why. “Hello. Sit down.” “Sorry John this patient wants to know why he is here.” “It’s not a problem. Taking care of patient’s needs is why we are here. What is your name sir?” “William Caldwell.” “Alright it says here Mr. Caldwell that you were transferred here just today.” replied John pointing at a paper on his desk. “Call me Bill.” “Alright Bill, it seems you were in a coma recently. You seem fine to me but you should stay here for observation for a bit longer.” “When was I in a coma?” “It says here for only the past two weeks. You’re a lucky one. It also says here in the file that your coma was a strange one. You seemed to be thinking and mumbling to yourself but at the same time you weren’t responding to anything we or your other hospital were giving you.” “Where is this hospital?” “In the Manhattan. We’re actually only an hour or so from where you live.” “What happened to me?” “It says here you were in a car accident.” All of a sudden it all came back to him. Bill’s mind flashed with the images of him sitting in his living room. He was drinking. He saw himself walking out of his house and climbing into his truck. After that he could only remember waking up in the hospital. “Thank you for your help Mr…” “Call me John.” “In the meantime I’m surprised to see you standing and walking. You haven’t had anything to eat in a while. You’ve surviving on an IV drip.” Bill realized at that moment the pain in his stomach. He felt as if there was a hole in his stomach. At the same time he just then realized the small aches and pains in his body. “Angela, please bring Bill here to the Cafeteria to get some food.”

Angela and Bill sat in Bill’s room together. Angela had been instructed keep an eye on Bill for the next day or so. As she sat in a chair next to his bed drinking coffee as he furiously shoved food in his mouth, she realized that this had been the most interesting thing she had done since she took the job at the hospital as a nurse. She realized how pathetic that was since all she was doing now was looking after a guy who came out of a coma. Angela had only decided to be a nurse because of the money, but she didn’t spend the money on herself. Every month she would send a check to her mom for Chris. She thought it was important that they have a comfortable life. On one hand she was helping to support her brother. On the other she hardly had any time to herself. “Sorry about earlier.” mumbled Bill through a mouthful of food. “What?” “About earlier, I shouldn’t have been angry at you.” “I don’t care.” “Fine.” Replied Bill as he shoved another spoonful of food into his mouth.

Bill ate in silence for the next few minutes. When he eventually had satisfied his hunger he began wondering what happened in the short time in which he had been in a coma. He decided not to worry about it and to just go to sleep even though it was only noon. He lay in the bed thinking about other things. In all of the television shows the patients always have family members. Their family members are always sitting beside them as the patient is in a coma. Then he realized something. Who was paying for his hospital bill? At that thought he suddenly jumped up from laying in his bed. “What what’s wrong?” “I just realized something.? “What?” “Could you go check who’s paying for me?” “I’m supposed to watch you so no.” “Could you get someone else to do it?” “Alright fine.” Angela leaned out of the door and called over to another nurse. She said a few words and then went back to her chair. “That’s it?” “Yeah.” “So I just wait?” “Go back to sleep to make my job easier.”

As Bill lay in the bed he was still worried. He worried about his home, his health and his future. But at the same time he felt that a new day could bring him new hope. Violet’s day had gone considerably better. After she had finished with her physical she left the hospital as quickly as she possibly could. So quickly in fact that she had forgotten that she needed her doctor to fill out a form for her boss saying that she was fit to continue working. She hated herself for this. This would mean another trip to the hospital. She had called the hospital to have them fax her a filled out copy of the form. However, the hospital was sorry to tell her that they no longer used fax machines and were in the process of creating electronic copies of all of their files. Giving her boss an electronic version would not suffice. The previous year one of the employees at the law firm where she worked at had given only an electronic copy of one such form. This form then turned out to be a fake and had been used by the employee to continue using a fake doctor’s name to write fake prescriptions. This employee had then been selling said prescription medications. The police eventually caught him. After that incident Violet and all of her colleagues had been forced to use hard copies instead of electronic copies by those above them to avoid having such an event happen again.

After she finished calling the hospital to schedule a time in which to meet with her doctor she decided that she needed a break. She went into her kitchen and opened a cupboard. From within the cupboard she pulled out a bottle of wine and a wine glass. She like her mother had problems with stress. However, her mother had dealt with it outside of the house. Violet opened the bottle and poured herself a glass of wine. She swirled the wine in the glass a few times before taking a sip. She placed the bottle back in the cupboard and proceeded to sit in her living room. She sat and stared at her television. She had bought herself a television and had placed two sofas around it. The amount of space she had in her house was enough for a family of four. A perfect family as she pictured it. The one thing about her perfect family that she lacked was a spouse. In her mind there was plenty of time but at the same time she believed that she was running out of time. Thirty was growing closer and closer and as she watched the years go by she realized she had never found time to have a personal life.

Every day for her was the same. She would get up and go to work. She would be the first one in and the last one out. She would always leave her office last. Sometimes she would leave as early as 7:30 but on most nights she would leave at about 8:30 or later. She was always the last one out of the building because of her obsession with organization. This was another reason why she had never had a serious relationship. She had dated a few people in the past years, many of them other lawyers. However, all of these relationships had failed due to her inability to accept disorganization. Any disorganization she saw meant a failed relationship. Her entire life she had been waiting for someone who matched her perfectly like her own parents did. But until that day she would have to continue searching slowly. She thought about this as she sat in her chair sipping wine and watching the news.

Angela began to wake up slowly. She got out of her bed and took a shower. She got dressed and poured out a cup of coffee from the coffee she had made the night before. She walked over to her refrigerator. She took out the milk and poured some into her coffee. She took a spoon from her already open drawer and stirred. She watched the mixing of the black and white in her cup. She sat at her counter and drank coffee. The room temperature coffee tasted bitter. She hated the taste of coffee but she couldn’t stop drinking it every morning. She knew that it was bad for her but she kept drinking. She had tried to stop but in the end she would have to rely on coffee to keep her wake her up in the morning. Angela walked back to her bathroom to brush her teeth. She looked in the mirror and stared for a while. She looked at the mirror and began to think. She reached for her toothbrush and turned on the faucet. She wet the toothbrush with the stream of water pouring out of the sink. She squeezed out a pea sized blob of toothpaste and began brushing her teeth. She began thinking about yesterday. She had a feeling that she would be back to the old routine of her doing nothing at all. She felt the stress of being a nurse in a crowded hospital. She was never bored per se. She was always busy doing things and helping doctors take care of patients; however, as time went by the days began blurring together. The only new thing that she had done in the past few months happened yesterday. For the first time in her career a patient didn’t try to create a meaningless conversation or not talk at all. For the first time in her career she had a meaningful conversation with a patient.

Bill couldn’t fall asleep in the hospital. He felt like the bed was so unfamiliar even though he had been sitting in it for most of the day. When he rolled over onto his side to sleep he couldn’t. He put his hands on his head to try to think to himself for a bit, but he immediately pulled his hands back as soon as his head touched his hands. There was a sharp needle-like pain then went into the back of his head. Since he couldn’t fall asleep he decided to talk with the only person in the hospital he knew. “Hey what’s the deal with that guy from that office earlier?” “John?” “Yeah, it felt weird to be around him. He was so…happy.” “That’s John for you. No matter what’s happening he always finds a way to keep a smile on his face.” “How about those doctors earlier? What’s wrong with them?” “They were just scared when you woke up.” “Not that. Why don’t you like them?” “Because I don’t." "Okay, do you even like hospitals?" "No." "If you don't like hospitals or doctors then why did you even take this job?"

She then proceeded to explain to him her childhood and told her about her brothers. How Thomas and a Edward could always be the best at what they did. But also about how they were both so caught up in their own lives that neither of them spent very much time with Chris. While Angela talked Bill listened. He was happy just hearing someone talk about normal things. For a while Angela didn't notice that Bill hadn't said a word since she started talking. But after a while she realized that she was the only one talking. "Am I boring you?" "No, I'm just happy to hear someone else talk. I haven't had a good conversation in forever." "This isn't much of a conversation. It's more like I'm just talking at you. You haven't said a word." "I'm fine just listening to you. Just keep going I'm fine." Angela sat with Bill just talking with him about her life. As the minutes passed, she noticed the sky turning darker and darker. She was getting a little tired but she felt satisfied that she finally had someone to talk to about her life. She felt like an enormous weight was being lifted off of her shoulders as she told him about her past. As time passed Bill realized how tired Angela was getting. He looked at the clock on the wall opposite him. Almost 11:30. "Angela, It's getting late. You should go home and get some sleep." "Am I finally boring you?" asked Angela as she let out a yawn. "No, its just that you look tired. You should go home get some rest. We can talk more tomorrow." "Alright I guess it's getting late. You'll still be here tomorrow?" "Where else would I go?" "Just make sure you don't go do anything stupid like jump out the window." she joked. "Will do." Angela grabbed her bag and left the room as the nurse she had called earlier came into the room to explain how he was being paid for by his medical insurance company. As she walked out of the hospital she realized how today was the best day of work she had ever had.

Violet strode out to her car. She had followed her usual morning routine. Get up and take a shower. Have a cup of coffee and then get ready to go to work. She pulled her keys out of a pocket of her bag. Turning the key she thought about the hospital. She would have to go back there today. She had already decided that she would go directly to work after the hospital to Even if she would only be there for a few minutes she felt like the hour and a half it took yesterday felt like an eternity. She pulled open the door and put the keys in the ignition. She turned it and began on her way to the hospital.

Bill sat in his hospital bed. He looked around the room he was staying in. Everything in the room was so clean. He looked at the clock. 5:32. It was still early. He decided that he would go walk around the hospital to get used to his surroundings. As he walked down the hall out of his room he saw someone at the end of the hall. He struggled to see who it was that he was looking at. It was John. He was already here. John took the the keys to his office out and opened the door. John looked directly down the hall right at Bill. John waved at Bill. Bill walked down the hall to John. "How has your stay been?" "Ok I guess." "Have you had any problems?" "What do you mean?" "Have you had any discomfort or headaches or anything." "Well sometimes when I touch the back of my head it hurts." "That's probably because you hit your head during the accident." Bill ran his hand through his hair. He realized how dirty his hair felt. Then it dawned on him. He had been in coma for a while. He hadn't bathed in a while. "Hey John is there somewhere where I could take a shower? I haven't taken one in a while now I guess." "Yes there is. You can take one in ward shower room. It's right down the hall and to the left. It should be empty at this early an hour." "All right thanks." "I'm happy to be of service to you." As Bill strode down the hall he realized another thing. For the entire day he had been in a hospital gown and he had no clothes to change into. "Hey John?" "Yes?" "Where can I get some clothes to change into?" "There are some in your room under your bed." "Thanks again." "No problem." John walked into his room and knelt down next to his bed. He put his hands into underneath the bed and found a clean set of clothes. He carried the clothes with him as he walked to the showers.

As Angela walked into the front door the woman standing working at the front desk waved for her to come over. "What?" "John wants to talk to you." "Alright thanks." Angela walked up the stairs to John's office. As she walked up the stairs she thought about the previous day. She felt as if she couldn't get it out of her head. She had already went through the entirety of the events of the previous day in her head on her way to work. As she walked up the final steps she slipped on the last step. Her ankle twisted as she felt a quick jolt of pain surging through her ankle. She fell to the floor on the landing at the final steps. She let out a quick shriek from the pain. Her eyes began to water as she lay on the ground holding her ankle. Then to her own surprise she began laughing. "Great. Just great." she said to herself. "At least I'm already at a hospital." As she lay on the ground her vision began blurring. Her vision continued to blur after she wiped the tears from her eyes. The world around her grew dark. She heard a someone's voice. She could only make out her own name. Her vision suddenly became clear and returned to it's original form. "Are you ok?" said a muffled voice. "What's going on? What happened?" whispered a weak and still dazed Angela. "Now she knows how I felt." joked another voice. "Bill?" As soon as she uttered his name she passed out.

"Is she going to be alright?" asked Bill. "She should be fine after a bit of rest." replied John. "I found her in the back stairwell. She twisted her ankle and landed on the landing." "Why'd she pass out like this?" "She must've bumped her head when she fell." "Alright let me take a look here." said a doctor as he pushed Bill aside. The doctor examined Angela's head for any obvious signs of injury. There was a small bump on the back of her head but that was it. "She should be ok in a little bit. She didn't hit her head too hard. She's most likely just passed out from fatigue." "Thank you doctor." "Not a problem at all sir." "You can go back to your patients now." "I will stay here just to make sure there are no complications since my next appointment isn't for until 12:00. "Good Idea." The doctor and Bill sat in the room for several minutes. Bill watched as the clock slowly ticked away. Bill was about to leave the room when a woman burst through the door. "It's taken me half an hour to track you down." said the woman. "Did you need something?" replied the doctor. "Anything wrong?" "I need this form filled out so that I can go back to work." "Alright sure thing." As the woman handed the doctor a pen the door opened. John walked in. He wasn't smiling. "Something has happened. We need all available medical staff to come with me." "What's going on aren't you going to sign my form?" "No he isn't going to sign your form. This is urgent." replied John with a serious look on his face. "Wait I need to go to..." The door slammed shut as John and the doctor walked out of the door. The woman let out a sigh of frustration. She took in a deep breath and sat down. As she sat down, Johns voice began speaking on the intercom. "Due to a suspected outbreak of a possibly contagious disease we have been ordered to begin lock down. I am sorry for this inconvenience." "Great. Just Great. Now not only can I not go to work but I'm stuck in this place until who knows when." Bill, completely ignoring the woman who had only a few moments ago burst into the room, walked over to Angela who was still unconscious in the bed. He looked over at her and began thinking. He thought about how his life was before the accident. As soon as his thoughts drifted back to the present he felt his thoughts racing as he saw what had happened during the car accident.

He was sitting in his truck with the engine already started. He started driving off into the street. He kept driving down the long road. His windows rolled down he looked around him to make sure he was alone. He felt himself twisting the steering wheel sharply to the right. He saw his truck bounce upward. He saw his truck fly upward in slow motion. The wheels still spinning he watched as the truck flew off of the road off of a bump. He saw inside of the truck he was sitting in the seat of his truck calmly. As if he had been waiting for something. Suddenly his vision returned to normal speed and he saw the truck crashing into several trees before finally crashing into the lake. Again he saw his truck going into the water in slow motion. He saw the individual droplets of water splash upwards from his windshield. He saw the water flowing into his truck through the open windows. Finally he saw his truck submerge in the water as a final massive splash drove gallons of water into the air. Suddenly the scene was still. His truck drifting in the lake as the water pushed the debris down the river and cleared the scene. After that he remembered thinking but that was it.

Violet watched as Bill stood staring into space. "Hello?" "What." replied Bill as he returned to reality from his memory. "When can we expect for someone to come back?" "Who are you even? Why are you here?" "Well I'm Violet. I'm here because I needed some paperwork signed so that I could get back to work." "No. I meant like why are you in this room?" "Well someone's getting a little angry about nothing. What are you afraid I'm going to wake up your girlfriend over there?" "Actually no you just seem like an annoying person and I don't want you to be around me." "Alright fine. I'll just leave. It's not like I want to be here. I'll just go find my doctor on my own." "Alright then. Leave." Violet stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind her. She was angry. First, she didn't want to be in the hospital to begin with, Second, she wouldn't be allowed to leave until who knows when, Third, she would be stuck there in a hospital filled with people that she had begun to loathe. As she walked down the stairs to go back to the front desk to find where she could find her hospital she saw something. She knew that the hospital was under lock down until they had taken care of any possible outbreaks of the unknown contagious disease. However, what she saw she couldn't believe. At the bottom of the stairs there were two doors. One leading back to the front desk and main entrance which most likely had been sealed off. The other door had a message printed on it in dark red. Emergency Exit Only. She decided on the spot that she would first get her doctor's signature and then leave through that door which the hospital staff must have forgotten to close off. She opened the door into the main entrance and saw her doctor standing at the front desk looking through a file cabinet. "Hi, I was wondering if you could fill out this form for me so that I can go back to work when this is all over." "I'm a little busy right now can you have me sign this on your way out?" "It's just that I forgot yesterday and I feel like I might forget about something like this after what's been going on today." "Alright I'll fill it out." The doctor stood at the front desk filling out the different sections with a pen that Violet had handed to him with the form. His hand moved across the various sections of the form with extreme ease and he was done in under a minute. "Here you go." he said as he handed Violet her form. "Thank you." Violet began walking to the stairwell. She saw some staff members walking towards the stairwell slowly. She sped up her pace. "Hold on. You forgot your pen!" shouted the doctor across the large main hall. "It's ok you can keep it I have dozens just like it." said Violet back to the doctor. "No it's yours and it's not like your in a hurry." "No you can take it. It's my way of saying thank you." Violet replied as she continued across the hall to the stairwell. "Is something wrong?" "No I just need to go to the bathroom." she lied still hurrying across the hall to the stairwell a good distance in front of the hospital staff. "Alright. Sorry for holding you up." Violet slowed her pace as she entered the stairwell. The door was right in front of her. Pushing the door open she let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly a siren began wailing as an alarm was set off by her opening the door. She tried to run out of the door and across the street. She didn't realize that she had been wearing high heels. She stumbled when her left foot hit the ground. Her leg collapsed beneath her and she fell down. The heel had snapped clean off and she lay on the ground in pain and shock from what had just happened. The staff members who had been walking to the stair well turned off the alarm and walked out to her. "Are you ok?" "I'm fine." asserted Violet as she held her broken shoe. Her ankle had begun swelling and had begun to turn red. "It looks like you sprained your ankle pretty badly. It's a good thing we're already at a hospital." The two men helped her back into the building as her eyes began to water. She had almost made it. She had almost made it out of the hospital.

Bill sat in Angela's room. He watched her lay in the bed as he began to think. Why had he driven his truck off of the road? What was he trying to accomplish? He stared blankly at her. Why did he choose to remember what happened when he looked at her. He put his hands into his pockets. He felt something smooth and round. His skin felt the smooth, hard, coolness of metal. He pulled the object out of his pocket. It was an old fashioned pocket watch. The outside was made of what he made out to be brass. There were scratches on the surface of the metal. The metal was worn but still smooth.

Angela lay in her bed unconscious. She was not in a coma like Bill was previously. She lay in the bed sleeping. Dreaming. Her thoughts drifting in her subconscious. She thought about her childhood. She thought back to the early days of sitting in her room and playing cards with her brothers. They would sit in her room joking and laughing with each other. They would sit in her room and play until their parents would come and tell them to go to their rooms to sleep for school the next day. She dreamed about sitting in her room at night talking to her brother Chris. She would sit and tell him everything. She would just keep talking and he would just sit with her in her room and listen. He would sit in a chair and listen as she talked about her life at school and about her friends. Suddenly her mind flashed to her sitting in a chair and talking to Bill. Talking to him about all the things she used to talk to Chris with. The difference was that Bill would listen and would occasionally make his own contributions to make it a conversation. She felt a stab in her conscience as she felt that she was betraying her brother. She lay in her bed, droplets filling her eyes.

Violet sat as a doctor inspected her ankle. She felt a twinge of pain as the doctor attempted to move her ankle. "Ouch, is it ok?" "You should be fine. You're lucky and it's not that bad of a sprain. One of our nurses fell while she was going up the stairs and sprained her ankle and fell and hit her head." "When did this happen?" "Actually the nurse was the one in the bed of the room I was in earlier." "I wasn't interrupting anything was I?" asked Violet as she realized what she had done earlier. "No, we were just keeping her under observation." "Who was that other guy in the room?" "Oh, he's another patient. He woke up from a coma just yesterday morning when he was transferred here. Angela, the nurse, was the one who we decided to have watch him to make sure nothing happened." "Oh." "Why is something wrong?" "Oh it's nothing." "Ok." "When do you think we'll be able to leave?" "Well this hasn't happened before so I wouldn't know." "Is there anyone who would know? I need to get back to work." "Well there's always John. He's the one who's in charge. He's the guy who went into the room to get me. He should be in his office on the top floor." "Alright thanks I'll go find him." "Wait!" It was too late. Violet got up and let out a shriek of pain. She had already forgotten that she had just sprained her ankle. She fell into the doctor as he tried to catch her. "I was going to have someone give you crutches or a wheelchair for while we're in a hospital." "Alright you can let go now I'll just sit down in this chair while I wait." "Oh, sorry about that." As the doctor walked off to get her a wheelchair she worried about how things were going at work. The last time she had missed this much work was for her sister's wedding in San Diego. Then she thought about what had just happened. She had almost gotten out of the hospital. She started blaming herself. "Why couldn't I have just looked at where I was going.", "Why couldn't I have just walked faster?", "Why did I decide that I had to run to leave." "Ok here you are. Let me just help you into the chair and the elevators are that way." said the doctor as he pointed to the end of the hall. "Thank you Doctor..." "Harper. Roger Harper." "Thank you Doctor Harper." " Please, call me Roger." "Ok, thanks Roger." Violet wheeled herself down the hall into the elevator.

Bill sat in Angela's room in one of the chairs. He sat there looking at the pocket watch. He had never seen a pocket watch in real life. He'd seen them in old movies and in some online auction sites but he had never held one in his hand. He sat in the chair rubbing his fingers against the cold hard brass thinking. He realized that he had been thinking more in these past two days than he had been in his entire life. He had begun thinking about things he had never bothered to think about before. And this bothered him. Why did he choose now to start thinking this way.

"Where am I?" moaned a still weak Angela. "You're in the hospital." told her calmly as he quickly stuffed the pocket watch back into his pocket. "What happened?" "Apparently you fell on your way up the stairs and hit your head. The doctor said you should be fine though." "When did this happen? How long have I been out?" "Don't worry about it. You've just been sleeping it off for an hour or so." "Why are you still here I thought we only needed to keep you under observation for a day or so." "Yeah, well something happened and John said that we were being quarantined because of some outbreak of a disease or something." "Did he say what kind of disease?" "No, he just said that we were all quarantined and he had to stay here." "Did he give any specifics on what's going on?" "Nope, all he said was that there was an outbreak of some disease, that we have to stay here under quarantine and nothing else." "All right thank you Bill." Angela got up and out of the bed. "Where do you think you're going?" "Well since there is a medical emergency right now I have a responsibility to respond." "Are you sure you're ok? " "I'm fine. You should just go back to your room and wait for this whole thing to blow over." "Alright I guess." Angela walked out of the door to go find John and the rest of the staff. Bill sat alone in the room for a few seconds staring blankly into space. Then he got up and walked out of the room. Walking down the hall to his own room he realized how empty the hospital was. He looked down both ends of the hallway and he didn't see anyone. This sent chills down his spine. He felt alone not only in the hospital but in the world. As he walked down the hall he couldn't help but feel a sense of suspicion as he went over the day in his head. There was still a long time to go before the day would be done and no one would have predicted what was about to happen.

Violet sat in the wheelchair waiting for the elevator to reach the top floor. She sat in the chair and wheeled herself gently back and forth in the elevator. As the elevator stopped at the top floor she felt a chill run down her spine. The doors opened and she wheeled herself into the hallway. Still empty. She wheeled herself towards John's office. She knew it was his office because it was the only office on the top floor. As she got closer and closer to his office she felt as if someone was watching her in the empty hallway. She would turn her head back to look every few seconds and every time she would see no one. As she finally reached the door to John's office she looked inside. She saw doctors and nurses sitting and standing in his office talking. They seemed to be arguing about something or other, probably about the whole quarantine situation. She debated in her mind whether or not it would be worth it to go in and ask when this whole ordeal would end. She thought about it for only a few seconds before deciding that she would wait considering what had happened when she had previously barged into a room. She decided that being patient would be in her best interest and would also let them focus on their job. However, she did decide to listen in on their argument.

Bill sat in his room holding the brass pocket watch. She moved it around in his right hand as he stared into space. He let his mind go blank. His eyes wandered in circles casting his gaze upon the various objects in the room. He felt his stomach grumble. He felt his hunger returning. He sat in the room staring at the door for a minute or so and for the first time since he woke up in the hospital he wasn't thinking about anything important or anything strange. He was hungry and that was it. He stood up from sitting on the bed and walked over to the door. He dropped the pocket watch into his pocket with his right hand as his left hand turned the door handle. He pulled gently on the door and it swung open as he strolled out of the door. Walking down the hall he felt the same chill from earlier run down his spine. He dismissed it as that part of the hallway just being cold. He walked to the elevator in the empty hallway of the top floor. As he stood next to the door for the elevator he looked down the hallway. He saw the woman from earlier in a wheelchair. She was sitting in the chair next to John's office and seemed to be listening to what ever conversation might be going on inside of the of his office. Quite frankly Bill didn't care. As the elevator door opened he walked in and pushed the button without a thought running through his head. He stood in the elevator feeling only one thing. Hunger.

As Angela sat in John's office. She noticed that he ankle wasn't bothering her even though only a few hours earlier she had been lying on the ground of a landing in a stairwell in pain from twisting her ankle. She sat in John's office not contributing to the argument at all. Had the right decision been made when the quarantine began, how much longer should it last, what should be done about patients who were now being forced to stay inside of the hospital even if they were going to be release and even those who had only come for a routine check up. She knew that in this environment she wouldn't be able to get her point across. She wouldn't be able to get anyone to listen to her because after all she was just another nurse. To he surprise when she looked up she saw that John was also just sitting and was also not contributing to the argument or trying to break it up. This was very unusual of John as he was always telling them to work together as a team and to put aside differences for the benefit of the patient. He sat in his chair looking at the faces of the different staff members and not saying anything as they bickered amongst each other criticizing one another. Nothing constructive was being done and the only thing that had been agreed upon by any of the doctors and nurses was that the quarantine should be lifted as soon as possible without endangering anyone. Then something hit Angela. She didn't know what disease they were even talking about or how much it had spread. "What is it an outbreak of and how bad is it?" Angela asked John. "There is no outbreak." "Then why are we under quarantine." "Because we got an order to 'quarantine' the hospital from the FBI because they believe that a man wanted for 2 counts of murder may be hiding in this very hospital." "You aren't serious are you?" "As serious as I will ever be." "Isn't this dangerous then!?" "The FBI has agents undercover through out the building disguised as patients. No body is in any danger." "Are you sure about that?" "We have 3 FBI Agents in the surveillance room watching everyone. They're using our camera system as well as a few that they brought in on their own." The questions and answers kept going for a few minutes. Angela was still not convinced that it was completely safe but at the very least she decided that she wouldn't tell anyone.

Violet sat in her wheelchair outside of the room. She was attempting to hear what was going on but all she kept hearing was shouting back and forth between some doctors and nurses. She decided to give up at her eavesdropping and go back downstairs to the cafeteria or entrance where everyone was waiting. As she wheeled herself to the elevator she wondered how long it would be before she could once again be back behind her desk in her office organizing files and working again. She thought about all of the different things she would have to do when she got back. She would have to clean her office since one of her co workers would most likely have used it for something or other. Re organize her files with all of the work she expected to get upon her return to her job. As she reached the elevator she stopped and pushed the down button. The button now illuminated signaled for the elevator to return to the top floor. As the elevator door opened she wheeled herself. She pushed the ground floor button and watched as the doors to the elevator closed. She sat in that room and watched as the indicator showed the elevator's eventual descent.

Bill sat in the cafeteria alone. Around him were tables with other patients eating and complaining about being stuck in the hospital for the entire day. While everyone else in the cafeteria did that Bill sat at a corner table alone. He ate quietly, looking around at the people who were around him. He listened to their conversations discretely. He sat in complete silence while everyone else continued to go on and on about what they were missing because they were stuck at the hospital. "Is this seat taken?" "..." "I guess not." "Why are you sitting with me?" "A few reasons. I don't know anyone here, I want to be in a corner and to say sorry." "For what?" "You know. From earlier? I'm sorry for barging into the room like that." "It's fine." Violet and Bill sat together in the cafeteria in almost complete silence for the next few minutes. Violet had a cup of coffee, while Bill ate his meal of a roast beef sandwich and a bag of chips. Violet sat and sipped her coffee as she looked around and occasionally checked her cell phone for messages or calls. Bill sat and stared out of a window as he ate his sandwich. "Why were you in the hospital?" asked Violet finally breaking the silence. "I woke up from a coma after a car accident?" "Really? I was here to get some health forms signed so that I could go back to work." "Ok." "What do you do for a living." "None of your business." "Alright, fine I was just trying to make conversation." "Well you can stop." Bill got up out of his chair and threw out what remained of his bag of chips. He began walking back to the elevator to go back to his room when he saw Angela in the hallway with a few doctors and other nurses.. "What's going on?" "Nothing. It's just standard procedure for if we find an out outbreak of any infection." "What is?" "We're going to have to stay here for at least until tomorrow morning so we're giving people out room assignments." "Do I keep my room?" "Yes, conveniently we only have a few people on the top floor so you get to keep your room." "When do you think we'll be able to leave?" "It could take a while. We'll definitely be here for the rest of the day but we might be able to leave tomorrow." "Thanks Angela." "No problem." Bill returned to his room to find that he had some new neighbors. In the two rooms next to his he had a few people. Across the hall was Violet, in the room to the left of his was Angela's room and to the right of his room was the room of a doctor named Roger. Roger and Violet seemed to get allow pretty well which meant that Angela and Bill were left alone together most of the time. They continued to talk with each other during the evening only this time they would talk in Angela's room. Angela's ankle had begun to swell up a little which made it inconvenient for her to walk back and forth between rooms so Bill would sit in a chair in Angela's room so that the two of them could talk. "You know I found the oddest thing in the the right pocket of these paints the other day." "Really? What did you find? It can't be more odd than the strangest object to get stuck in an a nose contest me and a other nurses have going on." "I mean odd like something I wouldn't expect to find not something weird." "Oh. What did you find?" "A pocket watch." "A pocket watch?" "You know one of those old metal pocket watches like the ones that were popular way back before wrist watches and stuff were made." "I know what you mean. That's pretty weird." "Yeah." "Can I see it?" "Sure." replied Bill as he fished the pocket watch out of his pocket. "Cool. Have you used it to check the time yet?" "No. You know what I don't think I've even tried to open it yet." "You should open it. Let's see what's inside. Do you think it still works." "I don't know." "Well open it up and find out." Bill gently opened the pocket watch. He stared at it and was surprised at what he had found. "Wow. It works." "Really?" "Yeah like it's still ticking and it's even set to the right time." "Let me see... you're right it is." "What should I do with it?" "Keep it. Or at least that's what I would do." "What if it belongs to someone?" "Well I guess you would be holding onto it for safe keeping when they come looking for it." said Angela as she put the pocket watch into Bill's shirt pocket. "I guess I could think about it like that." "Exactly." For the next few hours Bill and Angela continued to talk. They talked about anything and everything they could think of. They talked about philosophy in general, they talked about the afterlife, they talked about space they talked about anything they could think of even if neither of them knew much if anything about the topic. They continued to do so for a few hours until it began getting late. As it got later and later they got more and more tired. Eventually they decided to call it a night and go to sleep. Even when they decided to go to sleep they talked to each other through the thin layer of drywall separating the two of them.

The next morning Violet woke up early like her alarm was set for so she could get to work a little early. The only problem was that she couldn't go to work. Violet woke up and followed the maps that had been put up the previous day to find the womens showers for that part of the hospital. When she was done showering she got a nurse to get her a clean set of clothes and put her clothes from the previous day inside her bag so that they didn't get dirty and to make sure no one would take them. She walked over to John's office to ask him when they would be able to leave. She knocked on the door. The door was unlocked. "Hello?" "Hello. How has your stay been?" "Fine I guess." "Did you have a question you wanted me to answer?" "Yes, when can we go home? I was supposed to be working yesterday and my work is only going to pile up more." "Sorry Ms. but we can't let you guys leave quite yet." "Why is that?" "Well you see we've already dealt with the outbreak but we still will need to screen everyone and everything leaving the hospital." "Alright can't we do that now?" "I'm very sorry but we will be letting everyone leave today in the afternoon. We still need to take the time to sanitize the rooms and make sure everything is sterile again." "What am I supposed to do for now then?" "Well we are serving complimentary meals today in the cafeteria so I would recommend you go to the cafeteria and enjoy a free meal." "Alright I guess. Thank you." "You're welcome." Violet walked down the stairs to the cafeteria. Her ankle had healed nicely and was hardly bothering her anymore. On her way down she let out a sigh of relief. Finally she would be able to go home soon and leave the hospital.

Bill woke up confused. He had remembered talking with Angela the night before, but he had also remembered going to sleep in his room. As he woke up he sat up and looked around the room and saw Angela sleeping in her bed. Then he remembered. After they had decided to call it a night they began talking again despite what they had said earlier. Bill had sat down in a chair in Angela's room so that they could continue to talk to each other. They talked for a while but in the end Angela and Bill both fell asleep at the same time mid conversation. "Are you awake?" asked Angela. "Now I am." "Did you just wake up?" "Yeah, how about you? How long have you been awake?" "I just woke up too." "We should go shower and then meet back here and go get breakfast." "Alright sounds like a plan." Bill and Angela both went and showered. Bill finished showering first and sat down on Angela's bed to wait for her. He sat there for a few minutes before Angela got back. They walked to the elevator together talking about hospitals and their choice in interior decoration. They stepped into the elevator and went down to the cafeteria to get breakfast. To their surprise breakfast was free. They sat at a corner table next to a window after getting their food and kept talking.

Summary of Ending: In the ending part of the story Angela and Bill find out that the Doctor Roger is actually the murderer that the FBI is looking for in disguise. They go with a few FBI agents and find Roger. Roger pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot Angela and plans on taking her hostage. Instead of letting Roger do that to escape Bill jumps on Roger and they fight each other over the gun. Roger pushes Bill back and shoots him. Then John rushes into the room and shoots Roger, with a gun from an injured FBI agent, before he can shoot Angela. They call over doctors to help Bill with a bullet wound to the chest. When the doctors get there Bill isn't bleeding and he feels for where the bullet hit him. He feels a hard lump and pulls the pocket watch out from inside of his shirt pocket with a bullet lodged in it. Angela and Bill then leave the hospital together and Violet decides to stay at the hospital with John to go over legal work.