The Kindness of Strangers

The chair in the hallway was, as always, awkward and uninviting.  As many times as Lauren sat in it over the past few months, she could never get used to how uncomfortable it really was.  She would sometimes think after an hour of sitting how she wished there were more comfortable chairs.  She yearned for chairs with better cushioning, less exposed chrome, and more padding on the armrests.  Then she would start to imagine a row of these cozy chairs without the arms.  It would be her makeshift bed, a place to stretch out as the minutes turned to hours.  She could curl up with a book, listen to music on her MP3 player, or just plain get some rest.  The pleasant thoughts would always draw a smile to her pale lips.  Then, with a cold cruelness that only life itself can bring, she would remember why she was there and would quickly repress any thoughts of comfort.

She looked over at the elevators and watched the occasional passenger walk in or out of it.  After a few days of being there, she started to play a guessing game using the elevator riders.  Before they approached the metal doors, she would guess in her head whether the person would choose up or down.  She was up to an 85% accuracy ratio of correct guessing.  She didn't really see that as much of a feat considering it was a pure 50/50 guess.  Still, it helped pass the time which dragged on day after day.

She watched a woman who was obviously pregnant go into the elevator.  As the doors closed, she looked up at the numeric display above them.  While sipping her now ice cold coffee, she watched the numbers.  They counted upward towards the number four and stopped.  Without even knowing who the woman was, Lauren knew where she was going.

It was not all that long ago, ten months to be precise, that she was in this very building on the fourth floor.  That is where the maternity unit of the hospital is located.  She remembers being in labor for what seemed like an eternity.  After much breathing, cursing, and drug injections, she gave birth to her daughter.  Lauren and her husband, Jake, had always wanted a little girl after dealing with two little hellions known as their sons.  She recalls looking into her daughter's eyes and thinking to herself, "She's perfect."  Three days later, wrapped with a blanket inside her car seat, Victoria Rose left the fourth floor with her mother.

That would not be the last time Victoria would see the hospital.  During a routine visit to her pediatrician, the doctor felt ill at ease at how little Victoria was not gaining weight and how unusually bloated her stomach seemed to be.  Lauren described how Victoria was not eating well, had problems with constipation, and was still colicky even after the normal cut-off of three months old.  He recommended Victoria get blood work done as well as an ultra sound of the stomach at the hospital. 

It pained Lauren to hear her baby cry as the phlebotomist stuck her to draw the blood.  She rocked Victoria back and forth in the waiting area while Jake finished the paperwork.  She clutched her child like a momma bear, holding her close to her heart to calm her down. 

"Shhhhhh," Lauren whispered in her child's ear, "it's o.k., sweetie.  Momma is here.  Momma will keep you safe."

When the results came in, the doctor told them that there was a problem but more testing was needed to determine exactly what it was.  He ordered another round of blood work, a CT scan, and something called a 24-hour urine test.

Six days after Victoria's final round of examinations, the results were delivered to the pediatrician.  What the doctor feared most was now a realization.  Using all the information he had gathered, his diagnosis for Victoria was neuroblastoma in the form of a tumor in her stomach.

Jake and Lauren were told the chance of survival for Victoria was good since she was diagnosed early, but they had to act fast on her treatments.  The first thing that was needed was a biopsy of the tumor.

Lauren recalled walking next to the gurney that carried her baby girl to the operating room only to be abruptly halted at the double doors leading to surgical area.  She sat in a chair, much like the one she was sitting in at present, and waited minute after agonizing minute for her child to come out of surgery.  Jake tried to keep her mind occupied by offering to sit in the chair to wait while she took a walk.  With a vehement shaking of her head, Lauren refused and opted to wait for her child not all that far from the double doors.

The biopsy confirmed the tumor was malignant and, along with the CT scans and ultra sounds, categorized it as Stage 2B. 

Lauren's initial reaction was a mix of shock and denial.

"No," she said repeatedly to her husband, "not Vickie.  Not my baby girl.  Not our little girl.  The tests are wrong.  Jake, the tests are wrong."

She wanted the tests to be done again, but was strongly advised against it.  The baby had endured weeks of repetitive and sometimes painful testing.  Performing the tests again had a 99% probability of yielding the exact same results.

It was a nightmare, her worst fear brought to life.  This was something other parents, parents with stronger marriages could endure. 

Her relationship with Jake was rocky at best.  She and Jake had been steadily drifting apart and were contemplating a separation when they found out about the pregnancy.  They decided for the sake of the family, they would work out their problems.  Unfortunately, since the discovery of Tori's cancer, their problems grew worse.  Something that would seemingly bring a family closer together was pushing theirs apart.  Almost all of Lauren's energy was spent on Tori and keeping her comfortable.  Jake would begin to complain how Lauren went from having little time for him to no time for him.

"You want me to go somewhere else, Lar?"  He always started the arguments the same way.

Anger would well up in Lauren's gut whenever he got that way.  How he could be so selfish was something she couldn't comprehend.  Their child was going through cancer treatments and all he cared about was getting a blow job.  At least, that's how Lauren interpreted it.

The night before was a little better in the bedroom.  With the help of three glasses of wine, she was able to allow herself to be used by him.  Immediately afterward, while Jake slept, she sat in a rocker in Victoria's room.  She felt guilty about feeling any kind of pleasure while her child slept heavily sedated.

One time when Victoria's social worker came to the house, Lauren swore Jake was hitting on her right in front of the kids.  The fight that ensued after the visit was monumental.

"You're kidding, right?" Jake yelled.  "I'm hitting on our daughter's social worker, the woman helping us deal with her disease?  What the heck is going on in your head Lauren?"

He stormed out of the house.  Later, he called her to let her know that he was spending the night at his parents' home, just three miles away from their own.  There was a crack on Lauren's part about him calling the social worker to let her know where he is in case she needed to make a special visit.  Jake only sighed at the remark.

"Babe, you need help."  The line then went dead.

The hum of the dial tone curled in her ear around Jake's stinging words.  She knew she needed help and she didn't need Jake to remind her.  Help was what she lacked in her life from everyone including her family.  Where she did get help, like from her church, she didn't necessarily welcome it.

Lauren hid both her troubled marriage and herself from the nosy people at her church.  They had been praying constantly for Victoria since the news of her cancer was announced during church services the Sunday after the discovery.  In the beginning, she saw everything as a beautiful, lovely gesture giving Lauren a sense of hope in her hours of despair.  Now Lauren saw it as a source of hypocritical tedium.  She felt like she was getting all this undue attention when it was really her daughter that needed it.  Some of the parishioners even went as far as cried to her about Victoria's condition.  What seemed touching at first now became irritating.  The word "miracle" was being used at increasingly alarming rate much to her chagrin.  She wanted a miracle for her daughter, but felt that magical wish slipping away from her.  After a few weeks, she stopped going to services.  Even though she knew everyone meant well, she couldn't take one more "G-d bless you" or "We have that sweet angel on the prayer chain".

It was all getting too much for her to handle.  She wanted it all to go away.  The doctor's visits, the hospital visits, the prayer chains, and the fights with her husband ... she wished it would all simply disappear.

Lauren put her head in her hands.  She felt another headache about to hit her.  She had been getting them more and more frequently.

"Aspirin?"

The strange voice startled her.  She looked over and saw a gentleman sitting two seats from her, a gentleman with steely blue eyes.  He had his hand extended out towards her with a white pill in it. 

"Excuse me?" she asked.

He smiled.  His teeth were perfect and whiter than any she had ever seen.

"I asked if you wanted aspirin.  You seem to be suffering from a headache."

Lauren didn't think she looked like she was suffering.  She felt haggard and worn out from her routine visits to the hospital, but she didn't think she had a pained expression on her face.  She looked at the gentleman and smiled weakly.

"No.  No thank you.  I'm good."

The man nodded his head in confirmation and turned within his seat, looking straight ahead.

She placed her head back into her hands.  The aspirin did sound like a good idea.  Days of denying herself any comfort or means of relaxation were taking its toll on her body. 

She stopped taking nightly walks in the neighborhood with her friends.  It used to be the way she would unwind after a long day of taking care of the kids.  Not only did she get to exercise but she also got to socialize and catch up on the neighborhood gossip.  She got to talk about things above a "G" rating and didn't need to monitor her language like she did all day long.  Those walks were her mental escape from being a stay at home mom.  Now those walks were a thing of the past.  Part of her reason was to spend more time with her sons since taking care of her daughter took up a lot of it and the other part was because she couldn't take the evening conversations anymore.  It was the same topic every time with no variation.  Her one friend was a nurse and would only talk shop about Tori's procedures.  Lauren really didn't want to rehash everything her daughter was going through but her friend did it anyway.  She had enough of talking about her daughter's condition and try as she did to change the subject, but it would always circle back to chemotherapy or radiation treatments, etc.  With a few phone calls, Lauren excused herself from her cherished walks.

A low, rumbling growl croaked unexpectedly from her stomach.  She instinctively clutched it.  Heat built up in her cheeks out of humiliation.  The last time she ate anything was the night before and that consisted of leftover cold pizza she ordered for the boys two days prior.  Nutrition had been one of her big things.  She always used to scan the nutrition fact labels when she went grocery shopping, being careful of the trans fat and carbohydrate counts.  Breakfast used to be whole grain cereals, a piece of fruit, a glass of fresh juice and cup of coffee.  Nowadays, she was happy eating two doughnuts and drinking a Mountain Dew as she prepared her sons for school and the baby for doctor visits.  This particular morning, she had no time to grab anything.  She figured on suffering her hunger in silence.  Alas, her stomach had other plans.

"You know," said the voice to her immediate left, "I would be more than happy to go to the hospital cafeteria to get you something.  It's better to take aspirin on a full stomach anyways.  Besides ..."

She looked over at the stranger and felt his gaze grab her.

" ... I'm sure part of your headache is from lack of eating properly.  Don't you agree?"

He smiled again.  This time his smile seemed more seductive, more sinister.

A chill ran through her body and exited through her fingertips.  Words formed on her lips but she couldn't find the means to say them.  Something about the stranger both vexed and intrigued her.  Her eyes scanned him.  He wore blue jeans and what looked like a black t-shirt under a black leather jacket plus black shoes.  His dark hair and fair skin were perfectly accentuated with his icy eyes.  The longer she stared at him, the more aware she was at how attracted she was to him.  Again, a chill ran through her, but this time settled in her chest making her heave and sigh.

The sound of an overhead speaker paging a doctor to the OR snapped her out of her trance.  She readjusted herself in her chair.

"Ummm," she mumbled looking at her watch, "I'm ... I'm waiting ... for my husband .... to bring me something to eat.  He'll be here any minute I'm sure."

He nodded.

"Fine then." he responded with his now signature smile.  As before, he turned in his seat and stared straight ahead at the blank eggshell colored wall in front of them.

Lauren felt bad for sounding rude though deep inside though knew she wasn't.  She turned towards him and took a deep breath.

"So," she said on the exhale, "what brings you to the radiation floor?  You waiting for someone or do you just like hanging in hospitals picking conversations with random strangers?" 

She didn't mean for what she said to sound so sarcastic.  It sounded so much better when she formed the sentence in her head, but, as usual, her train of thought derailed on the way to her mouth.

The gentleman looked at her. 

"A little of both," he replied.  He did not mention another word.  His immediate silence unnerved her.

Lauren began to fidget and squirm in her seat.  She had been sitting for quite some time without a break.  Normally, when Jake was with her, she felt she could afford to get up and move around.  Without him, she felt trapped.  If something went wrong while Victoria was receiving her treatment, Lauren wanted to be immediately available.  Fatigue and the stranger sitting next to her were making her uncomfortable, more uncomfortable than usual.

The random smells of antiseptics, food, and linens from passing carts were beginning to bother her.  They were scents distinctive to the hospital.  The food all smelled the same, bland and uninviting.  The linens had that bizarre "lack of smell" smell, like linens in a hotel.  Antiseptics only reminded her of the pain Victoria had to endure everyday.

"It is odd, isn't it?  Certain aromas can trigger a memory, good or bad, regardless of what you associate with it."

Her head turned so fast that Lauren practically gave herself whiplash.  He was looking at her again, smiling.  She could feel her heart rate begin to increase.  What was he doing?  Was he reading her thoughts?  Where did he come from anyway?

The words resounded in her head and then, with both fear and apprehension, marched out of her mouth.

"Who are you?"

The stranger did not answer her.  He looked away and went back to facing the wall.  A cold chill swept through Lauren's body followed by a foreboding feeling.  Everything suddenly felt surreal, like the day she was told Victoria had cancer.  The hospital, the stranger, the waiting chair ... it all took on a dream state.  The stranger just sat there in his chair, unmoving in body and unnerving Lauren. 

She glanced around and realized it was not just the stranger; everything was motionless, quiet.  There were no announcements from the overhead speaker.  No one was going on or coming off the elevator.  No one was in the halls in any direction.  It was just her and the stranger.

Her lungs began to tighten in her ribcage as her breathing slowed down.  She was panicking.  Something about the stranger was making her panic.  She looked at her watch and then the clock on the far wall.  They hadn't moved!  The hands were still in the same position since the last time she checked.  Her eyes grew wide with fear as she felt her breathing come to a crawl and her heart accelerate even faster.

"Is there a problem?" he asked.  He was staring at the wall still but talking directly at her.

She plucked up the courage once again to utter words

"Who ... are ... you?"

He turned his head slowly to face her.  Every muscle in her body constricted once their eyes locked.  He was no longer smiling.

"Does that really matter, Lauren?"

She recoiled inside when she heard her name come from his mouth.  She felt the sudden urge to want to go to the bathroom.

"I think the question you should really be asking is 'Why am I here'?"

He was now smiling again.  Even with his ominous mannerism, Lauren felt a guilty attraction towards him.  She watched as he shifted in his chair to turn more towards her.  His body looked toned, near perfect.  A twinge of temptation crept its way into Lauren's thoughts.  It had been so long since she looked at a man and felt any kind of desire.  The past few months were consumed with Victoria and her care.

Victoria.

Her primal emotions were redirected upon the thought of her daughter's name.  The stranger sensed this as well and changed his look.  He dropped his smile and narrowed his eyes.

"Fine," she said with the tone of authority, "you don't need to tell me who you.  Just tell me why you are here.  I asked you this earlier and you didn't answer me.  I'm here ..."

"... for Victoria."

She closed her eyes and put her hands up to her ears.

"G-d damn it!  Stop!  Stop reading my mind!"

He sneered at her and appeared emotionless at her demand.

"I'm not reading your mind," he replied flatly, "I don't need to."

She straightened herself up in her chair again.  The headache from earlier was still prevalent and her back was beginning to hurt, but she didn't care.

"What do you want?"

He continued to stare at her.

"I'm here to make you an offer, Lauren.  Your stoic attitude and staunch resolve don't fool me. You are tired of dealing with the hand that was dealt to your daughter and you want to end it.  That's why I am here ... to give you what you want, what you have been longing for for months."

Her face reddened and her head began to throb.  With losing time, she began to worry about her daughter and the treatments.  What if she was getting to high a dose of radiation?  Lauren's blood pressure increased at the very notion.

The man lowered his gaze a bit.  Lauren knew he was now scanning her body and felt embarrassingly vulnerable to him.  He leaned even closer towards her.  Waves of sensuality fluttered through her as he got nearer.  It was as if he was drawing them out of her.

"What about all those prayers and well wishes?  Wouldn't it be nice if they stopped?  Think about it.  I could very well be the answer to it all.  I could be your daughter's chance, her miracle."

Her attention was hooked at his use of the word "miracle" and he knew it.  He pressed further.

"If you agree to my terms, I will relieve your daughter of her malady."  He smiled as he watched her eyes grow wide with long forgotten hope.  "That's right.  Your precious little girl will be free of her cancer."

The pain in her head was growing to a near monumental scope. 

"All I ask of you is to keep our deal a secret.  No one, not your husband, not your friends, your church, your family, the doctors ... no one is to know what happens between you and I today."

That was it?  Oddly, Lauren felt a bit disappointed.  If the stranger was who she thought he was, then she really felt cheated.  Here she was being offered a deal by the one who is notorious for such things and all he asked for in return was her silence?

"It does seem rather simple doesn't it?"  he said in response to her thoughts.  He laughed a bit to himself.  "It's the easiest terms I could think of.  Of course, if you break these terms at any time, well, there's no need to be melodramatic here. I'm sure you have an idea of what the consequences are."

He leaned in even closer still to her.  For the first time in what seemed like ages since time had stopped for her, she smelled the scent of cologne on him.  It was musky, warm, and alluring.  It didn't even bother her head which now pulsated with a pain that she couldn't describe.

His hand stretched out towards her.  The little white pill that he offered her earlier was in it.

She looked at his hand and then looked into his eyes.  The pain in her head was at blinding proportions.

"Go on, Lauren, and take it.  Give yourself relief.  Once you accept my offering and take it into you, the nightmare you have been living for three and half months will be over."

Her hand left the fold of her arms and made its way to the middle of the empty chair between the two of them.  She saw his eyes seemingly grow brighter and his smile deepen as she reached for the pill.  Barely a whisker away from his hand, she stopped.

The stranger's face contorted a bit.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head and drew her hand back slightly.

"I ... this seems too weird.  It's too easy, too fast.  I mean, don't you have a contract or something for me to sign?  Or ... or it's there some task I have to perform?  I mean, how do I know you can keep your end of the deal?  For all I know, you could be some wingnut that likes to mess with people's heads."

"True.  I could be really good at reading body language.  I could have known you had a headache and offered you the pill.  I also heard your stomach growling which told me you were hungry.  You seem to be a very attractive, fit woman which tells me you take care of yourself, or at least try to.  And as each cart rolled by you, I watched you pick up your head and sniff the air.  That told me it was a smell gave you a sense of familiarity.  I could very well be some wingnut."

"But tell me Lauren, how many wingnuts do you know that can stop time?"

Lauren forgot about the watch and the clock.  She looked at both and neither set of hands had moved.

"Besides, I like the symbolism of the pill much better than the signing a contract."

His hand was still stretched out and the pill remained.

"I've been watching you, Lauren.  Of the billions of people in the world, I decided to watch you.  I heard your cries in the night, weeping for your daughter.  I felt your heart rip itself apart as you anguished over the pain your daughter feels day in and day out.  I listened as you argued with your husband.  You scream at him for some comfort and all you get from him is alienation.  Even after having sex with him last night, you felt sickened with yourself, at how weak your body is and how unsatisfied you've become with him.  I've even marveled at how disgusted you are over people and their demeaning, self-righteous tones.  I was drawn to you and I actually felt pity for you.  How rare it is for me to feel pity towards someone.  I may not have a soul, but I do have a heart.  That's when I decided to do something for you.  What is it that I always hear ... practice random acts of kindness?"

"But I couldn't just simply let you get something from me without me getting something from you in return.  That's when I decided to merely ask for your silence about this interaction.  No contracts needed.  That only happens in the movies anyway.  To seal this deal, I only ask that you take the pill I original offered to you out of sheer kindness.  Once it is swallowed, the transaction is done and your daughter will be free from the hell she was cursed with at birth."

His words sank into her.  It seemed like an easy thing.  She would just blank this whole thing from her mind.  There wouldn't be any guilt because she would no longer recall what happened and no one need know how Victoria was miraculously cured.  It was perfectly simple. 

Her hand made its journey once again.  Slowly it slide from her side and reached across the chair.  She stopped midway.

"No tricks?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrow and gave her a look that made her heart both melt and shudder.

"Lauren, regardless of what you have been brainwashed to think of me, I'm a man of my word.  Simply take the pill and your daughter will be cured."

With a slight nod of her head as if to agree with his promise, she continued toward his hand.  As she reached to grab the pill, her fingertips lightly touched the skin on his palm.

A blue flash blinded her eyes from nowhere.  The chair beneath her disappeared and all around her became a blur.  She felt her body begin to float and then go backwards like she was going in the reverse on a rollercoaster.  The weightlessness was all to brief and came to an abrupt halt with her seemingly crashing into something.

Her back was now against a wall and the stranger was pushing himself against her body.  She looked around, her eyes wild from what had transpired.  She saw shelves filled with files and records.  Somehow she had gone from the waiting area to a file room.  She assumed she was still in the hospital.  The stranger was holding her against the wall and his one hand was covering her mouth.  It didn't take long for her to realize that he wasn't covering her mouth to muffle any cries for help.  He was doing it to smother her moans and wails of rapture.  He was in her, practically raping her it was so violent, but she knew she was willingly allowing it to happen.  Her legs weren't hanging or thrashing to break free, but were instead wrapped around his waist and buttocks, pushing him even deeper inside.  Her head was still hurting but the pleasure she felt from him quelled any pain.  He groaned and growled into her ear and gyrated his hips into her, giving her bliss she had never felt with Jake.  She felt his warm, soft tongue glide along her neck, and she arched her back as much as he would allow as he bit into her shoulder.  Her nails dug into his leather jacket and she could feel them rip into it.  His thrusting began to quicken and he removed his hand from her mouth.  She sighed and whimpered and moaned as she felt her body about to explode in pure unabashed joy.  The stranger made his way from her bleeding shoulder and kissed her hard on her mouth.  Their tongues locked and danced like two lovers who had been kept apart for too long.  Lauren's unbridled passion for him increased as he rhythmically pounded against her.  She grabbed the back of the stranger's head and brought it to meet hers.  She was looking for his steely blue eyes to gaze into them as she came but instead found red soulless eyes that went black upon the release of their simultaneous orgasm.  She felt a scream lurch from her throat of both terror and ecstasy as she felt him come into her.

She snapped her hand back from his palm.  The pill was now in her hand.

They were both in the waiting area again.  Her head twitched and her body trembled as she clutched the pill, still reeling from what had happened.  Was it a dream?  She stared at him with her mouth agape.  He was still sitting in the same chair with his devilishly charming smile.  Nothing had changed, not even the clocks.  It was as if what had just happened never happened.

"Sorry. " he said, "Occupational hazard."

He giggled a low almost sinister laugh.

"Wha ... what do you mean ... occupational hazard?"

"It's quite simple really.  You see, the second your skin touched mine, your sins, the ones you harbor deep within your heart, came to life.  Haven't you noticed it, Lauren?"  He inched closer to her.  With each movement of his body in her direction, Lauren felt his sensuality seep into her skin.  "Have you not noticed the closer I get to you, the more your inner desires start to surface?  Once you actually touched me, your feeble attempts to control them were useless."

Nausea swept over her.  She wasn't sure if it was the headache that was making her ill or the notion that what happened may have actually happened.  Her eyes darted around the hallway in panic and fear.

"You bastard!  You tricked me!  You could have just dropped the pill in my hand.  You made it so I had to touch you.  Why?"

The smirk on his face made her stomach heave.

"Why should I care about what happens to you and that wretch you call your child?  I care nothing for either of you.  She can suffer needlessly and die for all I could care.  But she was the way to get to you and you agreed to it and as much as it sickens you, you loved it.  How does it feel, Lauren?  How does it feel knowing, no matter how strong you think you are, you're just as pathetic and weak as the rest?"

The impulse in her mind to slap him across his face fell short of its action.  He laughed.

"Go ahead, Lauren, hit me!  Touch my face!  Get your anger out!  I love it when you feel anger and lust for me.  It makes it so much more enjoyable when we do it."

Her eyes lowered as she recollected her thoughts.

"Come on, Lauren." he said.  "What's done is done.  Take the pill, cure your child, and live with the guilt.  Just remember; never breathe a single word of this transaction to anyone."

She opened her hand and looked at the little white pill.

"Besides," he added, "it'll take care of that migraine you've been coping with this whole time."

The pill left her hand as she popped it into her mouth.  With a swallow of her cold coffee, it made its way from her tongue to her stomach.  She closed her eyes, waiting for something to happen.

"DOCTORS WILSON AND BAXTER, YOU ARE NEEDED IN RADIATION ROOM 112 STAT"

The announcement crackled through the loudspeaker as Lauren opened her eyes.  The clock on the wall was moving again.  The hallway was filled with orderlies, nurses, and doctors making there way to and fro.  The elevator dinged and when the doors opened, Jake walked off and over to where Lauren was sitting.

"Hey, babe," he said as he kissed her on the cheek.  "Parking is brutal today.  I brought you a sandwich from the food store around the block: egg, bacon, and cheese.  I know it's not your favorite but I couldn't be choosy with the selection.  Hey, wasn't that Vickie's doctors I just heard being called on the speaker?"

Jake stood there in front of Lauren but she didn't hear a word he was saying.  She was busy looking over at the empty chair two seats away from her left.  Jake waved his hand in front of Lauren's face.

"Babe?  Lar, are you there?  Babe?"

Her head turned slowly to meet his eyes.  They were soft, brown, bedroom eyes.  They're what made Lauren fall for him twelve years ago amongst other things.

"What?"

He rested his hand on her shoulder.  She looked at it and looked at him.  His touch didn't make her feel any different, but she did feel a pinch of pain when he squeezed it thanks to a bite mark.

"Vickie's doctors?  They just called for them.  Didn't you hear it?  Isn't one twelve her room?  Lar, what's wrong?"

Lauren slowly got up out of her seat.  Both her head and back were no longer hurting; however, her inner thighs were.  Jake was rubbing her shoulders and looking at her strange.

"What is it, babe?  Is your shoulder bothering you?  C'mon.  I know I heard Wilson and Baxter's name being announced."

He led her body down the hall towards the large double doors with the giant radiation symbol across them.  Her head was in a fog.  Her eyes met with people walking towards her.  They all looked the same.  Some of them bumped into her as she passed.  Again, she felt nothing.

"Lar, what's bothering you?  Tell me.  You know you can tell me anything?"

Lauren stopped walking and looked up into Jake's eyes.  Her heart plummeted to her feet.  His eyes were ice blue with red pupils.

"C'mon, hun.  Talk to me."

She blinked and looked again.  They were back to brown.  The queasy feeling from earlier was returning and the smell from the sandwich Jake bough her was making her sick.  She mustered a smile.

"I'm fine, sweetie.  It's those chairs.  You know how they bother me after a while."

He smiled back at her and they both continued their journey down the hall towards room 112.  As they approached the room, Lauren, though not 100% positive, swore she distinctly heard the word "miracle" being used.