It was bright. Really bright. And completely white. Sterile. Yeah, that was the word. Sterile. It even smelled light disinfectant. Sanyu knew where she was even before she remembered what happened. Only in a hospital could you wake up to something so painfully clean. Greeeat.
The first thing that ran through her mind at that moment was ‘I can’t afford this!’. The second was ‘Did I get plowed down by an 18 wheeler?’ She hurt. As in, hurt all over. Radiating throbbing pain. Her palms were the worse. It was as if they had holes burnt completely through them, like what would happen if you held active fire for way too long. Now drop that into a pail of ice water. It was kind of like that.
Then it came back to her.
She remembered Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Ugly way too clearly. Sniffing the air… turning to her… red pinpoint eyes focusing on poor still living her. Was that thing confused? Why would it hunt her? Didn’t those things only eat dead souls? Wasn’t that like a vulture trying to hunt it’s own gazelle?
Running… she even remembered her legs growing stiff…her hands… fingernail cuts… turning, skidding… Pain. Dark.
Here.
What happened?
“Konbanwa, Nact-san.”
The doctor read Sanyu’s new last name off of his clipboard without meeting her eyes. Sanyu groaned. She hated hospitals. The part of the whole hospital thing she hated the most just happened to be doctors.
“Sanyu.” She corrected. It was reflex. She hadn’t wanted to keep her adopted name, so she had very recently changed it back to what was on her birth certificate. Even so, the name “Nact” was foreign to her.
Then it hit her what he had actually said.
“Konbanwa? It’s that late already?”
The doctor moved around the room to take a seat in the plush wheeled chair at the computer. He set the clipboard down on the desk beside him, typing in a few passwords on the keyboard. She listened a moment to the clicking of the keys. It was annoying.
“It is currently 5 after 9 at night.” He said simply, not looking up as he brought up a new screen. Sanyu bit her lip. Now she really wanted to know what happened. If nothing else she wanted an excuse to give the doctor. Gods, she must’ve looked like a drug addict or a drunk the way she was found. On the side of the road… dressed like this… smelling of alcohol.
“Tell me what happened, Sanyu.” The doctor said, looking over in a pathetic attempt to make eye contact. Sanyu shook her head.
“I was walking home. I got dizzy, then I woke up here.”
Now I really sound like a drug addict. Don’t even have an excuse. I can’t just tell the doctor the real story. Gods, that’d be even worse! ‘Well I was being chased around town by a monster that eats souls when…’
“Do you drink, Sanyu?”
God, the ritual questions now.
“No.” She said clearly and firmly, though she still smelt of her workplace.
“Do you smoke?”
“No.”
I can’t smoke with all the martial arts I do. It’d kill my lungs and that’d kill my endurance…
“Do you do drugs?”
“No.”
Ignore the fact that I was found passed out on the side of the road, please.
“Any sexual activity?”
“No.”
The only guys I see are freakin’ drunk. And I am damned sure that I kick the a** of any man who touches me.
There was a pause and some typing.
“How have you been eating lately?”
Sanyu frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. What kind of question was that?
“Well, lately I’ve been putting the food into my mouth, chewing, and then swallowing.”
The doctor seemed stunned by the response. He didn’t laugh.
No sense of humor. Of course.
“What I mean is, are you eating well? Are you on a diet at all?”
“Why, have I lost weight?” She said in a snappy kind of voice. “No, I’ve been eating fine. And I think I’m a perfect size, thank ya very much. Anything else?”
The doctor sighed.
“What I mean is, there is no reason to explain why you passed out. Except for the fact that your body was, well, deprived. You haven’t lost weight. You don’t have any symptoms of malnutrition, either. Your body just seemed to be sapped of energy. Like you hadn’t eaten all day. Starved into dizziness, followed by a collapse. Did you eat anything in the 24 hours before the collapse?”
“Yeah. I had some fries during break at work. I ate before I left the house, miso soup, and then ran out the door with an apple. I wake up really late everyday because I work at night… so before that was some cereal. I got a full night of sleep, even. I’m fine now. Just let me go so I can get stuff done at my apartment before I go to work.”
The doctor thought a moment.
“We need to keep you here for a few days for observation. It could be that your body isn’t taking in the nutrients from your food. This could be caused by an underlying problem that could be much larger…”
“Don’t give me that crap! My body is accepting nutrients just fine, isn’t it? You have me on and IV. I’m accepting stuff from that, aren’t I? I’m awake, I feel fine, and there is no reason for ya to keep me here! I need to work so I can pay off the bills, including the one I’m going to get from this useless hospital!”
“So, you’re refusing treatment?”
“YES! I would’ve refused BEFORE I got toted to the hospital, if I’d been awake to do so!”
The doctor typed some more, slid away from the desk, and stood to retrieve some forms. Sanyu was happy that he wasn’t going to put up a fight. She didn’t want to rip out her IV just to kick his a**.
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