Waking Up After Rain

Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeep.

I could feel in my head what felt like a bullet pressing into my skull. I let out a groan inadvertently, the sound of which brought my closer to the surface of consciousness. The more awake I was, it seemed, the more pains I could identify. My left leg seemed badly beat up, but it was nothing compared to the shooting pain in my side. I blinked my eyes open, groaning again.

I blinked my eyes open, frowning. My vision was blocked at first by a bright light until my eyes adjusted. I was sitting in a hospital bed in a white walled room, with a single window blocked by shades. To the left stood a cheap looking wooden chair with blue cushions. To the right, a wooden door. From behind it, I could hear the commotion of footsteps and voices.

I lifted the sheets on the bed, looking down at myself. My legs were bare, thin and white under the light blue hospital gown I was wearing. I lifted my torso, sitting on top of the sheets and touching my toe to the floor. The chill of the cold tile shot up through my leg and into my side, where I felt a sharp pain. I ignored it, touching the other foot to the floor and standing.

I was uneasy at first, but I managed to wobble a step or two before feeling a tug on my arm. I realized I was hooked to a machine and an IV. I watched it for a minute, listening to the solid rhythm of the beeps before I decided it matched my heartbeats. I tugged at the wire, managing to remove it from my arm, leaving me with the IV, which I took with me.

Opening the door, I revealed the busy hallway of a hospital: men and women in turquoise scrubs, frantically running down the halls. They shouted to each other but the sound seemed distant to me, bouncing off my ears in an echo before I could process the words. And when I could, they were hospital codewords that meant nothing to me. I squeezed my eyes closed, swaying in a light headed daze.

The door shut behind me with a click, which I took as a queue to move on. By leaning most of my weight on the IV I was able to shuffle down the hall at a fraction of the speed of the racing doctors. However I continued, setting my sights on each bland wall decoration in front of me. First I walked to a stretcher in the hallway, then making my way to an abstract painting of complimentary colors. Finally, I approached a fire hydrant behind a layer of thin glass, painted with the words "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY". That is where I finally stopped walking, exhausted and panting although I had barely walked fifty feet. The others in the hallway seemed to take no notice to me, but I watched them jog down the hallway and make a sharp turn. When I had caught my breath I turned around to face the wall, unsure about what to do next.

In front of me, a girl in a hospital gown identical to mine. Her dark black hair was thrown in every angle, reaching up in places and sticking to her face in others. Her skin was pale, white, but blotchy and covered in red and purple patches. Her face was swelled past the point of her chin, making it continue into her neck without stopping. The bridge of her nose was twice the size as it should be, framed by two dark circles under her eyes. The girl's mouth was covered in a layer of dried blood, too puffy to be recognized as lips. At first glance, her appearance made my breath stop in my throat. What happened to this girl?

I opened my mouth to ask her, confused when my tongue wouldn't form the words. That's when I saw the words "BREAK GLASS" across her chest. That's when I realized I was staring at my own reflection.

I felt my heart speed up and I took a breath, gasping to find air. The hallway in front of me lurched left and right, up and down before doubling and capsizing in on itself. And then my head hit the floor.