Parts Four Through Eleven

Suzy pushed open the two doors that read “Emergency Wing” and walked through. She waked down the hall; walls painted a dull white, the floors had white tiles with gray spackles, the ceiling white like the walls with long boxed lights separated only by a couple of steps. To Suzy it seems like the hallway would never end. Finally, she made it to the entrance of Emily’s room; she paused for a moment questioning herself and what she might walk in to. Suzy would take one step forward to take two steps back, her knees shook, her palms were sweaty, and her mouth felt as if she was swallowing cotton.
Suzy stared at the white with little blue flowers curtain that hid Emily from the world. She pulled the curtain back slowly. Emily lay there, tubes and wires coming out everywhere, it brought tears to Suzy eyes to see her little girl like this. Emily lay sleeping, machines surrounded her head, they would hum and buzz and you could occasionally hear a beep or two. As Suzy walked closer she noticed Emily holding something in her hand; Suzy slowly removed it, trying not to wake her daughter. It was a folded piece of paper, Suzy opened it and found herself looking at a woman, who looked familiar, and a baby in the woman’s arms. She stared at the photo trying to put a name to the face she was staring at. The photo wasn’t clear and it was on regular paper. She left the room and walked down to the nurses station. Suzy asked the head nurse at the station if she knew who was in the photo and if she knew where her daughter got it from. The head nurse didn’t know and neither did any of the other nurses but she did tell Suzy that they had a corkboard of all the pregnancies delivered in the hospital, she also told Suzy where she could find the board. Suzy thanked nurse and headed to the board; Emily would be asleep for a long time, Suzy might as well have done something to occupy herself. She walked down those white hallways again searching the filing cabinets in the back of her memory for a name to the face she still stared at. Suzy found the photo-filled corkboard and rummaged through the photos till she found the match. She took the photo down from the wall and turned it over. She read the name to herself and again out loud. Emotions poured over Suzy and she felt her knees start to tremble and soon enough they gave out. She sat on the floor of the hallway and shook and cried aloud. There was no emotion that over powered any of the others. Nurses rushed over, questions zoomed around the gaggle of women, bottles of water were brought to Suzy, who by this point was hyperventilating. Moments later Suzy had a mask over her face and was being yelled at by ten doctors and six nurses. The next thing Suzy saw was black.
Emily awoke dazed and extremely confused. Questions raced through her mind, she began to panic when her pupils initiated to focus and her mother wasn’t in her sights. A blood curling, ear piercing, glass shattering scream arose and hit the ear of a nearby nurse as if it was a high speed plane crashing into the Atlantic. The nurse sprinted gaining speed from the adrenaline pumping through her veins. The nurse walked into Emily screaming for her mother, she kicked and swung and threw her body as if she was a rag doll in a washing machine. She ripped the I.V. and the other tubes and wires that connected Emily to the machines. The machines screeched and beeped and went crazy when they were torn from Emily’s body. Emily’s room sounded like a zoo, the nurse ran out and asked another nearby nurse for some help to restrain Emily so the original nurse could administer the sedative. In mere moments Emily began to slow down, then soon enough stop completely.
Suzy arose from her small, bumpy, and lumpy bed. The picture was still in her clammy fist, she shook all over from the medication she was given. She stared long and hard at the picture that was rinkled and running due to the sweat her hand produced during the episode. She couldn’t find the thought that sent her into the tizzy. Suzy let her mind wander, no set destination, pure freedom to think and feel at the instant it would happen. It was as if a light bulb went off inside Suzy’s head, all of a sudden she remembered what sent her over the edge earlier.
Emily awoke to the sound of her attending nurse telling her it was time for dinner. Usually attending nurses change each shift but due to the fact that Emily was so young the hospital decided not to confuse her with alternating nurses. Emily liked her nurse, she thought she was nice and had really pretty hair. Her name was Lisa, Emily liked that too. Lisa explained to Emily that she was going to be her nurse for the entire time she was in the hospital, Emily smiled and then apologized for her behavior earlier. Lisa completely understand and accepted Emily’s apology and then said she would be back later to check on her.
Suzy’s nurse walked in shortly after she had awoken. The nurse checked her blood pressure, which was still slightly raised, her heart rate, that also raised, and then the nurse took some blood she wasn’t allowed to do it earlier because Suzy was hyperventilating and the doctors had no clear reason as to why. Before the nurse walked out she turned to Suzy and simply said,
“What happened?”