The Hospital

The smell. The smell. Make it go away. Please. The whole world was full of white, green and blue. She struggled to get up but was immediately pushed down. Pipes and wires were taped to her and her body seemed to ache as if someone had smashed it with a hammer. Particularly her legs. She couldn’t feel them. Strange. The previous day they’d been just fine. Wait. She thought hard. The previous day seemed like a dream. Surprisingly she couldn’t remember it. 

Where am I? What happened? My legs. Why are they hurting? She painfully tilted her head. All around her she could see people in white coats running around. Some even seemed to be wearing bluish green plain, long dresses. Even the men. Strange. Masks were covering most of their faces and barely anyone was seen without gloves. The halls were a stark white and people were being pushed around in black chairs with wheels. Oh yes. They were called wheelchairs. She looked up and found herself on a bed with wheels with three similar looking people around her. Who are they? God not again. That smell. It seems to be messing with my nose. She took a deep whiff. It smelt familiar. Disinfectant! Why was this whole place looking so familiar? 

Just as her thoughts were beginning to drift the pain returned. Why are my legs hurting? She tried sitting up and stared down at her legs before anyone could push her back again. Her heart almost stopped beating for a minute. Where were her legs? In place of a normal pair of brownish legs was a tangled lump of flesh, bones and blood. Everything from her knees below had been obliterated. She could barely make out the outline of anything. There was no indication that she had had any legs. Before she could see anymore, two pairs of strong hands pushed her back down. Screams erupted from her and she tried getting up. Bucketful of tears were pouring from her eyes. Help me. The sound echoed through the hallways, her pain filling the whole hospital. Heads turned her way and horrified screams were pulled from people’s mouth. She was beyond herself. Words failed to escape her mouth and all that was heard was pitiful blubbering. 

Her vision started swimming and she felt like nauseous, despite the fact that she didn’t remember eating anything. She tilted her head to the side and let it all out, but came back feeling the same. One of the three creepy people near the bed pulled out a strange looking mask. No, not the same one they were wearing. Something different. The sight of it sent shivers down her spine. Why were they trying to put the mask on me? She squirmed helplessly, refusing to stay still. Hands with vice-like grip held on to her, trying to keep her still, while others strapped the mask on. An overly sweet smell started filling her nose like the smell of everything sweet mixed in all together. Her senses started to dull, and she was finding it hard to breathe. No! Stop! Help me! Anyone! But all that was heard was muffled noise. Her vision dimmed and the last words she heard were, “Shh sweety. We just want to fix you.” 

 © 2020, Anvita Agarwal. All rights reserved.