January
2007
Fear
I sat on the cold, blue and white checkered floor of the ICU ward of Oakfield Plaza Hospital. Doctors, nurses, and attendants walked by me carrying stethoscopes, pills, and worst of the bunch, needles. The sharp fluorescent lights lining the ceiling sent flashes of light off the needle tips. I shuddered and closed my eyes to try and block it out but it didn’t work, the chemical and plastic smell cut through every defense I had. I was feeling squeamish and my stomach felt weak. I got up with the thought of going to the restroom and ran straight into the doctor. “Oh I’m sorry,” I apologized. He had a needle. I gulped and looked away.
“That’s okay, I just need to medicate your father with 2 cc’s of morphine to take him out of pain.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“We don’t know yet, but we are working on it.”
He put his hand on the door and pushed it open. I saw the bed with my father in it. He was hooked up to all these tubes and machines, but he was still moaning and struggling to breathe. The machines and smells seemed to be surrounding and suffocating me. Irealized the doctor was still waiting for me to say something. “I’ll see you later I uhh…have to go eat something” He nodded but I was already walking away, I had to get out of there.
i hate hospitals and everything about them. I love how you mentioned the fluorescent lights, the hospitals are bad enough without looking terrible and hurting my eyes. The smell was also a good addition. Most people who mention hospitals just say that they are creepy because of needles, but there is so much more creepaliciousness than just needles and blood