literature

The Hospital

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Literature Text

The structure was in the middle of nowhere. Literally. It was a place in and of itself. In fact, it was almost wrong to say it was "in" anywhere – it existed solely in the mind, in the heart, in the soul.

It looked like a typical hospital entrance, white washed and gloomy. The windows were grimy but intact, the walls dirty from age. The steps leading up to the large double doors were cracked and faded, worn smooth by many feet.

Bobby loved it.

This was her safe place, her sanctuary. She could hide here, gain solace. It was not the type of place one would imagine for someone like Bobby, true. But it worked.

Most people who knew Bobby would suppose her soul to look like something out of a Picasso or a Matisse – crazy, abstract, brightly colored, unrealistic, full of aliens or crazy imaginary creatures. This austere building was nothing they would expect.

Bobby stared at the familiar structure for a long while. It always surprised her, how it never seemed to change. She walked up to the doors and pushed them open.

Leaves from outside danced around her bare feet. Bobby noticed for the first time that she was wearing a simple white hospital gown, tied in the back. She smiled, smoothing the starched fabric with her hands. It was cotton, soft to the touch and absolutely spotless. She felt the material between her fingers at the hem. It was familiar, like a word on the tip of your tongue.

She glanced around the hallway, taking in the scene before her.

It was very quiet here; the only sound a far-away hum of some great machine. She could feel it beneath her feet, through the peeled-up carpet and rotten wood of the floor. Bobby walked down the hall, pausing at every doorway, looking in for a moment before withdrawing and continuing down the hall.

The humming was still quiet, but it was stronger here than it was at the entrance. It became louder as she moved.

"I'm looking for something," Bobby said aloud. She placed her hand on the wall as she made her way, hand trailing and tracing long cracks. Her face pinched into confusion. "But…why? What am I looking for?" she mumbled, pausing with her hand still on the wall.


Her feet were not dirty, as one would expect from walking in such a decrepit place. They were pink and clean, as were her hands. Bobby didn't fear the hospital. It held no frightening things, no flickering lights, no ghosts. Light streamed in from the windows, cheery and warm. The hallway was illuminated by square patches of sunlight, and ivy vines had begun to weave through the floorboards. The entire area was bathed in gold, signaling late afternoon.

No, that wasn't true. It did hold one thing, one horrible thing.

Bobby began to walk again, taking her hand off of the wall. She stepped lightly in the wreckage, almost dancing in circles as she tip-toed around the larger debris. She held up her hands and kept her eyes lowered as she slowly came to the end of the hall. She was dancing at this point, spinning and laughing as she moved.

The hall ended.

The humming was the loudest here.

Bobby stopped her spinning. There was one door in front of her. It was slightly ajar.

Bobby did not open it at first. She stood there, her curly hair haloed around her face. It was even messier than usual, each strand backlit by the sunlight behind her. Her face, usually lit up by a goblin grin, was deadly serious.

Bobby hesitated, then opened the door.

It swung open with a slight creak.

The room was like any other typical hospital room. It was clean, quite different from the rest of the building. It looked grey in comparison, none of the light from outside able to make it through the heavy curtains that were in front of the window. Instead, it was lit by a fluorescent light that flickered.

The humming was almost unbearable.

A woman was sitting in the bed, facing the curtains. There was an IV and a heart monitor nearby. The woman's back was to Bobby, and her hair was long and stick-straight. It was the same color as Bobby's own curly locks, but it was dull, with no shine. Her entire body sagged, and it was obvious that she was tired, although Bobby could not see her face.

Bobby took a few steps into the room. The vibrating stopped suddenly, leaving Bobby with a sickening feeling of disorientation. The room was too quiet, and the hum she had gotten used to had been shut off, leaving a resounding sound of nothing. Bobby's heart pounded in her ears-

"I know you're there."

The woman did not quite move, but she turned her head slightly to the left.

"It's been a while, Bobby." The woman said, still facing away.

Bobby's heart was racing. She could not move, her breath becoming ragged and forced. There was a weird pressure in her head. She felt odd. Something wasn't right. She slowly began to back up, hands feeling for the door…

"I've missed you," the woman continued. She rose to her feet. She slowly turned around. The heart monitor was flat-lining. It had been so the entire time.

Bobby fled, running out of the room and slamming the door. She searched frantically, hands scrabbling at the floor for a piece of wood. Her trembling fingers closed around a thick board, and she forced it across the door, sticking it between the narrow walls and pushing it up close to the metal door. She shoved rocks, other pieces of wood at the front of the door. She moved an old, rotting chair, jamming it under the doorknob.

She backed up, breathing heavily. Her hands had gone numb, her entire body cold. She could hear herself hyperventilating, frantic. She pressed her hands against her collarbone, her heart thudding against her ribcage.

She sunk down to her knees, halfway down the hall. A loud sob escaped from her shaking frame, and she curled up among the leaves and ivy and broken wood, dirt and nails, the plaster and old carpet. She was cold, even though she had collapsed in the middle of a sunlight square.

The dust motes swirled around the young girl as she cried. After a few long moments, the girl heaved a shuddering breath, swallowing her hiccupping. She sat up slowly, wiping the remaining tears off of her wet face with a forearm. She paused, forearm shading her eyes.

She moved it up, resting her arm on top of her head. Her blue eyes were watery, her face red and blotchy, streaked with grime.

"I've missed you too, mom," Bobby said in a small, shaky voice.
I thought I'd submit this here, because it was a good piece of writing and I'm quite proud of it. It was an Event Post on Flickering Souls. I'm not sure I did it right, because I'm still sort of unclear what Soul Rooms are. However, I feel that I did really well on this, even if it's totally off-topic.

Just to be clear: This isn't quite fanfiction. There are only two characters included, technically, and both are non-canon. Also, I wasn't really sure what genre it was, but because it's taking place in a hospital I filed it (default) under "suspense."

Bobby Roman (c) Moi
Soul Eater (c) Atsushi Okubo
© 2010 - 2024 Thystle
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trollbus's avatar
Well that was incredibly sad. ;A;
IN A GOOD WAY THOUGH