Waverly Hills

Me and Annie walked up to front door of the Sanatorium.
On the top of the door, was a sign that read, “Waverly Hills Sanatorium.”
I knew that the sign was suppose to be just a friendly welcome to all patients, but for some reason, as I looked at it, it sent a chill through my spines.
We entered the lobby that was just a big room, with a couple of benches and a desk in the left hand corner.
In the middle of the lobby was a large staircase that probably led to the next floor.
There were doors, including an elevator, beside the stairs.
We walked up to the front desk, where sat a nurse writing a few names down on a list.
She seemed so intent on the piece of paper, that the young lady did not see us walk up.
Annie coughed quietly, to get her attention.
When that didn’t work, I started to get a little agitated and so said, “Excuse me?”
The nurse finally looked up at us startled.
“Hi.” I said again. “Umm, me and my friend here,” I motioned towards Annie. “want to sign in here.”
Without saying anything, she grabbed two pieces of paper from one of the drawers in the desk, and handed them to both me and Annie.
I looked down at it, and saw that it was a form we were suppose to fill in.
The nurse then gave us both a pen.
Before we could write anything, the nurse asked, “You both are from Kentucky, right?”
We nodded our heads.
“We don’t live far from here.” I told her. “Why?” I then asked again.
She sighed heavily, as if she was tired of answering that question.
“Well, you see, Kentucky isn’t the only place where the White Plague is spreading. And since Waverly Hills seems to be the best hospital to go to, thousands of people everywhere around the country have been walking over here just to be cured. But, we can’t take that many people and so we are only taking people who live in Kentucky.”
I nodded understandably, and resumed looking at the form.
I saw that the form had a lot of questions, including “What is your name, age, birthday, sex, height, weight, hair color, names of relatives, etc. etc.”
At first I thought it was dumb, because we were just here to be cured. Why did they have to know all this stuff about us?
Then I thought that maybe if one of us….died, then they would need information about us.
When we were done, we gave her the sheets.
She then put them in a file, and walked into a room that was led by a door behind her.
When she came out, another nurse, a male this time, came behind her.
He walked in the direction of the stairs.
When he was halfway up them, he turned around and motioned us to follow him.
So, we grabbed our bags that were laying at our feet, and followed him up the stairs.
The nurse had led us up to the third floor, and into a hallway.
But, it wasn’t a hallway really, but more of a long room, because on one side of the wall was a row of windows that didn’t have any glass panes.
When you looked through the windows, you had a perfect view of the mountain top that was beside the building.
Snow had started to form on the mountain peaks, because it was November, which what had caused the cold chill in the room.
On the opposite side of the windows, was a row of beds, with a few patients laying in them, either reading or talking to the person beside them.
Behind each bed was a large door that led into another tiny room, where you could roll your bed into it, if you didn’t want to suffer the coldness coming from the windows, and it also had a toilet, sink, and a tiny, one person shower for the bathroom.
The nurse led us to two beds halfway down the row to the end.
He stopped in the middle of two beds.
“This is where you will be sleeping for now on.” He said.
Then he handed us both a white gown that we could sleep in.
“You may change in that right now, or when you sleep.” And, then he left.
I looked at Annie and she looked at me.
“Well, I guess we should put these on.” Annie said.
I nodded and first put my suitcase under the bed, and then entered the room behind the bed, and shut the door.
It was pitch black, so I switched on the light.
There was an empty space in the left corner where the bed could go.
But on the right side was a bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower.
I stripped myself of my old clothes, which stunk terribly because I had walked for days without a shower.
I decided I was going to take a shower later that night.
When I was left with my underclothes, I put on my gown which fit me perfectly.
I looked at myself in the full mirror that was hanging on the wall beside the shower.
My hands and legs were still healthy and had my natural skin color, but I has noticed that they had gotten skinnier than the when I left home.
I then looked at how perfectly fit the dress looked.
It was weird, and a little bit scary at how when I looked at myself, I looked almost exactly like the girl in my dream, save for the eyeless sockets on her face.
I walked out of the room, and into the bright sunlight.
Annie was already laying on her bed, reading.
Her bed was to the right to me.
To the left of me was another bed that was empty when I had first got there, but now there someone sitting there, looking at me and smiling, as if he knew me.
He was a boy, probably a few years older than me because he looked like he was in his late teens, early twenties.
He had short black hair that matched nicely with his brown eyes.
Even though I didn’t know him, I smiled kindly back at him.
“Hi.” He then said.
I replied back with a, “Hi.”
He laid up a little higher on his pillow, and took his hand out in front of me.
Knowing he wanted me to shake it, I did.
His hand was warm, and comfortable, and since bigger than mine, covered my whole fist.
“My name is James. James Anderson.”
I smiled at him. A nice name, I thought.
“I am Mary.” I said.
“Mary.” He repeated. “A beautiful name.”
I blushed.
Yet again, the only people who had ever given me a compliment like that was my mom, and other people who knew me.
But, not someone I had just met.
When I was done, I sat on my bed, and turned towards Annie, who had a look on her face that told me she wanted to be introduced too.
I laughed a little and then said, “This is my friend, Annie.” I motioned to her, and she waved at James.
He waved back at her just as kindly as he did to me.
Then, out of nowhere, my stomach growled so loudly that a couple of people passing by my bed stopped for just a second to look at me, and then continued walking.
My face turned as red as a strawberry, and I hardly dared to look at James, afraid he would laugh at me.
He did laugh at me, but not in the mocking sense.
Just a chuckle and then, “You seem hungry.” He said.
I turned towards him.
I had forgotten that it had been a couple of hours ago since I ate, and it was just a piece of bread and an almost rotted apple.
I was too nervous to say anything, so I just shrugged.
“It’s okay.” He said with a wave of his hand. “That’s the same thing I did when I came here.”
Then I looked at him with curiosity on my face.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
He shrugged. “It’s November right? So, I came here last summer. Then, that would make it almost a year and a half.”
I looked at him shockingly.
“You have been here that long?” I exclaimed.
“Hey,” he said. “they haven’t found a cure yet, and I intend to stay here until they do. Besides, there are some people here that have been here for over more than three years. Maybe five, I don’t know.”
I was stunned. I would have quit by now.
But, then I wouldn’t. I probably would have stayed, waiting for a cure too, and so nodded.
“So, when is dinner?” I asked.
I knew that it was in the evening now, so they would probably have dinner soon.
“Every day, dinner starts at 7:00.” James replied. “So, not far away.”
I sighed in relief, and slumped exhaustedly onto the bed.
I turned towards Annie, who was still reading her book.
I was afraid that I might have ignored her, talking to James, but she didn’t seem to notice.
I then turned towards James, who was reading a book too.
Luckily, I had brought a couple of books too, because if I didn’t, I would be really bored, because on everyone’s spare time, it seemed like that was all they did.
I looked at the book James was reading, and on the cover, at the bottom, I saw words title, Peter Pan.
I smiled at him gleefully. “You like that book?” I asked.
He looked in surprise, but then saw me looking at the cover. He smiled and then nodded.
“Yeah.” He said. “It has got a neat story to it. A boy who lives in Never land, and never grows older. I have always wished I could fly there too.”
I smiled. “Me too. I used to read that book to my little brother, Bobby, before he would go to bed. My mom disliked me doing that, because she said it filled me and Bobby’s heads with nonsense. But, I knew it didn’t fill our heads with that. Maybe Never land is real, maybe not. But if you believe, maybe someday you could go there.”
James chuckled under his breath. “I wish. I have believed Never land ever since I was a little boy. It never happened to me. But, you are right in a way. Even if it hasn’t happened yet and it may no seem true, you can still believe. I am just afraid I am not believing hard enough.” He said.
And, just a tiny bit, I heard sadness in his voice.
“Well, maybe you need someone else to believe with you.” I said.
I could tell he knew who I meant, and it reassured him.
Then, something reassured me too, as suddenly a bell rang all through the hall, sending people getting up from their beds, and walking to the door that Annie and I had entered though.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Dinnertime.” James said.
I smiled, happy that it was finally time.
Annie walked beside me, and I took her hand, happy that I had met her.
Then, James walked the opposite side beside me too.
And, surprisingly, he took my other hand too.
I looked at him confused.
But, he just smiled at me.
So, I smiled back at him, and let him take my hand, as we walked towards the cafeteria.