6
A fter Agnes showed me how to work the shower and brush my teeth, I sit down on my bed looking out the window at the dark sky. Reds, oranges, and yellows bleed into the darkness at the edges as the sun goes down on the other side of the building. Dark clouds are visible against the even darker sky. Bright light flashes in the sky from the dark clouds and it hurts my eyes. A loud rumbling sound comes from outside and the windows shake in place. I can feel the rumble in my chest. More light streaks through the sky outside my closed eyes and closed window. The rumbling is getting louder and closer to the hospital.
A loud sound is coming from outside. I don’t know what it is, but suddenly Agnes runs in. “Honey, we need to get into the main part of the building. We can’t have the lights off in the hallway, so you’re going to need to keep your eyes closed. There is a big storm brewing outside. The emergency sirens are going off.”
I nod at her, and keeping my eyes closed, move towards the sound of her voice. I get close enough to her and she grabs my hand and pulls me along behind her. In the hallway, the light behind my closed eyes is so bright, and even with my eyes closed, it hurts a bit. Instead, I focus on the feeling in my chest every time the rumbling from outside comes. Agnes directs me to sit down, so I feel behind me and touch the wall, then slide along it and sit down. There is a lot of whispering and talking in the hallway.
My heart rate picks up as the rumbling gets louder and louder, closer and closer, almost like it is right above the building. Something sounds like it breaks under the near-constant rumbling coming from outside and someone screams. The light behind my eyes suddenly goes dark. A lot of people start talking and one of the other nurses who works with Agnes speaks up quickly, “It’s alright everyone, the power went out, try to keep calm, the generator should come on soon.” I don’t know what a generator is, so I open my eyes since there is now darkness. I look around the room. There are quite a few people in here with me. A lady holding a small girl. The man in the chair with wheels that Connor was helping when we met. A few men scattered around the room, but there is a group of men surrounding someone sitting right in the middle of them. All the men are looking at one the person sitting between them. I wonder if that person is here in the hospital. Are they sick?
It is very strange, to be sitting here in the dark with more people than I can ever remember seeing in my life. The small girl looks so afraid and the woman holding her keeps rubbing her back and making noises that sound like shhhhh to her. Saying things quietly to her about how it will be alright and the lights will be on soon. Why is the small girl afraid? Does she not like the darkness? It is strange. Darkness is really the only thing I have ever known outside of pain, and it’s here in the darkness that I am the most comfortable. In the darkness, no knives are slicing into me. No torture and HE isn’t here. He was never around when it was dark. No pain came to me during the darkness, only when the light was on.
A bright light comes from the area where Agnes and the other nurses are sitting, coming from a small rectangle one of them is holding. She brings it up to her pointed ears and is talking into it. I don’t understand what that is, but she is nodding her head while it is next to her ear, and she doesn’t look happy. She hangs up, then turns to the other nurses and is talking to them. They all nod and begin walking around, hands outstretched, using the table they sit behind to help guide them. Can they not see in the darkness? Some of them have their eyes closed. How are they supposed to see where they are going if they don’t open their eyes?
The nurse who was using the bright rectangle brings her hand up to her mouth and makes a strange sound.
“Excuse me, everyone, we just received word that because of the powerful nature of the storm, it has taken out power to the entire city. The generators are not coming on, and the magic reservoir is now empty. The most serious cases are going to be moved out of Stormgrove to another hospital. We are also going to send children and their families to another hospital. Anyone feeling like they need to be transferred, please talk to your nurse and bring up your concerns with them.”
As she finishes talking, a lot of people in the room begin talking quietly. With so many people in the room, even though they are talking quietly, it is loud in here. I guess a lot of voices at once, even quietly, can be loud. Agnes makes her way around the room; I watch her as she stops and talks to some people, and after she is done, some of them get up and walk down the hallway, while others stay where they are. She isn’t a person walking around with her hands out in front of her. As she finishes talking to the people, she stands up, looks around the room, smiles at me, and walks over.
“Well Honey, I see you are almost as at home in the dark as me. Would you like to be transferred to another hospital?” I shake my head at her.
“Alright, well hopefully the power will come back on soon. If you want, you can go back to your room and lie down there. While the power is out, if you need help with anything, you’ll have to yell for help this time. Since the generators are down, so too is the magic that fuels the help spell.” I nod at her and begin to stand up. She helps me stand up and watches me for a bit, nodding to herself. I turn and head to my room. I wonder where Connor is. Was he here when the storm came through? Was he somewhere else?