Bleached White, by littlemisssunshine Subscribe to rss feed for <b>littlemisssunshine

 Bleached White         

--- prose---

A girl sat alone in the empty gray vehicle with dirt grimed
windows parked in the parking lot across from a hospital.
Her hair was unkept, standing on end it's very split ends,
grunged as if it had not yet been washed. Wisps of her
grunged blonde hair hung over her pale forehead as she
glared daggers at the sign that read "the Memorial
Hospital".

She could hear nothing. Not the shouts of traffic or
screeching of the nearby sirens. Anyone would assume she was
just deaf or lethargic, assuming anyone would assume
anything about her sitting there.

A familiar voice interrupted her muted inner turmoil, "We
are here now honey... You can get out of the car."

Pushing her thoughts away, she nodded and pressed her
fingers against the door handle. It wasn't until that
moment,which seemed to frozen in her own mind, she realized
her black nail varnish was chipping, and there was dirt
smothered underneath her nails. She had let herself go.

Slamming the door shut, she looked to her father for
reassurance. There was none. His eyes were just as dull as
her own brown puddle eyes. She watched him closely,smoke
billowed out of his mouth as he stared at his feet while he
walked,Like he had a guilty concience. Throwing his
cigarette to the ground when they neared the building. He
scuffed his foot into the cement,mangling the cigarette into
a mere pile of ash.It seemed more spiteful this day.

The ground was covered in a layer of crisp dirt snow, and
the sun dimly reflected on the sheets of snow.'It must be
late, if your eyes don't burn just looking at the reflection
in the snow,' She thought shuffling her feet towards the
doors.Those mindless random thoughts kept her sane for those
few moments.

The doors folded open, letting warm air rush out to greet
the cold visitors. On another less melancholy occasion, she
might have also greeted the air. But this was not such an
occasion. She looked to her father, mentally begging on her
hands and knees to climb back in the car and drive somewhere
faraway ,but he only trudged on forward.

The halls were a burning abyss of white. Everything was
white. The tiles, the ceiling, the walls, and the bright
reflection of the white lights on the white tiles. All
white. Even the smell seemed white. It was a sterile smell.
Sickening to it's very core. It was as if bleach and Lysol
were mingling together for years,a disgusting hybird. A
smell only present in hospitals. She inhaled deeply, hoping
if she had any luck, the smell would make her faint. Instead
the smell only tainted her nostrils for the next few
months.

Her father stopped abruptly. He began repeatedly tapping a
button to the elevator, each time hoping it would come
faster. When it finally did come, it was empty. Walking in
the only thing the girl could think supporting her body on
the rail was how amazed she was that the elevator was gray
and not white like everything else located in hospital.

The moments alone with her father in the elevator dragged on
for what seemed like years not mere seconds. He kept sending
worried glances to his daughter, who watched the lights of
the floors blink. She glanced at her father seeing him with
his worried eyes locked on her. It made a silent shiver go
up her back realizing how close she was. The elevator
slammed to a stop.

Her father once again led the way. He turned a corner,
coming to a window with a small counter underneath. A head
popped out, smiling, and seemed to be floating out of
nowhere.

"Can I help you?" It said in an impossibly chipper voice.

The girl stumbled into the room a few moments after her
father. She looked around. A woman sat with her head in her
lap and another sat there with a solemn smile on her face.
She hated this place. It did things to people. She watched
her father discuss a incomprehensible conversation with the
floating head. She only cocked her head at the lady in
response when she had glared at her. The clock above the
window read 3:14 PM.

The visiting hour had started. The hour she had been
dreading.

"Okay! You may go in now," the floating head said. Soon
after a buzzer rang and a click sounded. Her father turned
to face her.

"Ready?" he stated more then  asking, he turned the brass
doorknob. The girl took one last deep breath and swallowed
the lump in her throat. She walked through the door and
never dared to look back.
Posted: 2006-02-10 02:16:59 UTC

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2007-01-07 01:16:14-fruit-loop-
"even the smell seemed white".. o my,.,.i read the rest from the quote ^..and my mind has made up,..,.,that he left you there :(....did he?