My mind is a pain in the ass sometimes. A couple days ago I was typing up Control Me and working on the sequel to The Selected and my mind had to distract me.
My mind decided to distract me with a new book idea. I only typed up two pages and am still trying to get a feel for it. I figured I would share my really rough draft of it to decide if I want to continue or not.
Here it is:
The lights flickered in the hospital hallway I stood in. Alarms, sirens, beeps and shouting surrounded me. As people ran past me they shoved me to rush to rooms. Paramedics wheeled people in covered in blood, burns or other severe injuries. Everything seemed to be a blur. No one took notice of me as I searched the halls.
“Anna! What are you doing here?” my mother came out of a room. Her scrubs were coated with blood. She was coated in sweat, her ponytail now frizzy and falling out. She took off her gloves and placed both of her hands on my cheeks.
“Dad called. Why is he telling me to go to Denver?” I said to my mom while I looked at her. This was my mom on a rough night at the hospital. She was an ER doctor and the occasional surgeon if needed. “He said I had to leave tonight. I packed what I could and came here to get you.”
My mother led me around the nurses and doctors station and into a small break room to talk. The commotion in the hospital and the power on the brink of going out was too distracting and loud. “Oh, honey. My sweet baby girl.”
Whenever she said that I knew that she was going to refuse and follow it by an explanation that will not be favourable by me. “Mom, you have to come with me!” I protested.
“I have to stay here and help.”
“Dad said he wasn’t going and now you! What am I to do?”
“You can do this baby. Dad and I have obligations. He is in the military, he has to fight and I cannot leave the hospital with all the wounded.”
“Then why are people not leaving if the threat has publically announced?”
“Most people think we are safe here in Canada because only the States have been attacked. Your father and I don’t want to risk your life like that. You must go. Denver only suffered a little damage from a nuclear bomb far away from it.”
“How am I to get there?”
“The car sweetheart. Now, getting going.” Her eyes were tearing up.
The door opened and a male wearing scrubs entered the room. “Diane, thank god you are here. Well, hello Anna,” the male doctor said to me.
“Hello Dr. Schmidt. How are you?” I said. However hectic and depressing the situation was I never forgot my formalities.
“Glad to see that you have not left. Are you going to Denver?”
“Yes, she is,” my mother said with a stern voice.
“Good. My son, Devon, is on his way here. I was going to give him my car, but if you are going I would like it if he could go with you.”
“Devon, as in the sophomore U of T student?” I said to Dr. Schmidt.
“Yes. He will be here shortly. I, too, want you both to leave as soon as he arrives.”
“Why don’t you go with him?”
“I am obligated to stay here, just like your mother is. He is all I have left and I want to make sure he makes it to the refugee camp in Denver. If nothing happens here, I am sure we will all make our way down there to meet you and him. I will tell him to meet you out by your car once he arrives.” Dr. Schmidt left without saying another word. He sensed that my mother and I needed more time alone.
“Mom, you have to come with me.”
My mom pulled me into her arms and started to cry. Her entire upper body was heaving up and down as she cried. “No, baby. I need to stay here. Dad knows I am here and I have to wait for him.”
I started to cry against her shoulder, not wanting to let go. I had turned 18 on May 8th 2016, only two weeks ago, and now we were preparing for a nuclear war. A war that was started between the United States and North Korea, and Canada was getting stuck in the mix because of being allies with the United States.
“The longer you stay, the harder it gets. Did you grab the photo album I told you to grab?”
“Yes, why?”
“I made it for you.” She pushed me away from her so she could look at me.
I realized she had known about this potential event longer than I did. “How long have you known about this?”
“Only a few days. Now go!” She let go of me, crossing her arms at her chest like she often did.
I nodded, knowing that stance and look, even through her puffy, red eyes and tears on her cheeks. I left the room, crying hard, and ran towards the entrance/exit that I was to meet Devon at. My whole body hurt from the crying that wouldn’t stop.
