Where am I? Everything is so fuzzy. I can’t see. Where are my glasses? Should I say something? Man, I am blind. I guess it’s my best shot, “Hello?....Hello?” I can hear a quick walk in response to my call, “You are awake!” A voice says. “Yeah, but I can’t see anything.”

    The voice replies, “Oh! Sorry about that, I did not realize your vision was that bad.” A hand sticks my glasses square in front of my face, finally I will get to see where on Earth I am. I put my glasses on my face and my eyes focus, as I look around the room I see blue walls, a curtain separating the middle of the room, another bed on the other side of the room, and had come from a woman nurse. I’m covered in hospital hook ups, the heart monitor, an IV… wait! I’m even breathing through those air tubes! What is going on?

       The nurse could see I was getting upset, which I am sure she could understand way. I am or rather I thought I was a perfectly health eighteen year old girl. I passed my physical for track what is going on here? The nurse interrupted my ever-trailing downwards thoughts with what she knew, “Okay, Jennifer, correct?” I look up at her, “Yes, that is me.”

“Okay, good. You came here on an ambulance. Do you remember?”  

I thought for a moment, what was the last thing I remember before showing up here? I was at a football game hanging out with a few friends I had not seen in a while. The game was unusually packed for such a cold night. It was my old high school’s team and they were not that great of a team, usually winning only a few games every year. My friends and I usually walked around the football field, it was probably my favorite thing to, I am not one for staying still. “I was walking around with some friends when I started to feel bad. I was getting dizzy, breathing was near impossible, I was gasping for air when I grabbed Elizabeth’s shirt, and I blacked out from there. I probably collapsed on the pavement. I was having a hard time standing.”

    The nurse reply was, “Someone called 911 and an ambulance rushed you to this hospital, Janice Hospital. Before the ambulance left, someone said your name was Jennifer Gordon and that was how we figured out who you were. You had stopped breathing and had to wear an oxygen mask here. When here you were put on a breathing machine. You have been asleep for almost 24 hours.” Twenty-four hours! That is a long nap by anyone’s standards. I most have been in worse shape than I thought especially considering I thought I was perfectly health. “Well, am I alright now?” The nurse’s face looked concerned at that question and her response was not what I wanted to hear or what any patient wants to hear for that matter, “We don’t know.” I have been here for more than a day, what does she mean, they don’t know? “The doctors are still running tests, but we can’t seem to figure out what is wrong with you. I believe the doctors would call it a fluke, but your airways still are not open like they should.” Well, I guess this means I won’t be running a marathon today, darn. I let out a long sigh then looked up at the nurse. I could tell she was puzzled by such a demure response. In an attempt to seem somewhat normal in this moment I asked here, “So, give it to me straight, are they going to let me leave this place anytime soon?” She responds with, “I don’t know. As I said the doctors still do not know what is wrong with you. You might be stuck here for a while. My name is Judy by the way. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll go call your parents and tell them you are awake.”

     Judy left with a smile, but one of those smiles were the person is trying to not show their concern for you, but wind up expressing it anyway. I wonder how long Judy had been a nurse. She still looked young, probably in her early or middle twenties. She was wearing plain mint green scrubs, which were not at adventurous, if you well, as many of the other nurses; I had seen wearing patterns and different cartoon characters. She had dark brown hair and was around five foot four. As she walked out the room and disappeared from my vision, my eyelids became heavy. I guess my 24-hour nap just was not long enough because I teetered off to sleep before I knew what was happening.

    Whenever I opened my eyes, I saw my parents hovering over me, my mom with her short stature and loving blue eyes and my Dad with his six foot two stature and baseball cap. My mom let out a faint smile, happy to see me finally awake, and my Dad seemed to be holding back some tears. He was from a generation that I do not think thought it was okay to cry, but I could tell he was relieved to see I was awake. My mom spoke first, “Hey sweetie, glade to finally see your beautiful blue eyes.” I propped myself up for a moment with the pillows on my bed, amazingly enough my glasses were still on my head; maybe I had not been asleep long this time. “What time is it?” I asked. My Dad had the answer, “It is about five in the afternoon.” Well, I am pretty sure it was around lunch time last I was awake because I distinctly remember smelling food, but I could be wrong. By the time all this is finished and I get to leave the hospital, I will be over taking naps.

    Anyway, I was happy to see my parents and I think my Mom was bond on having a conversation because she kept asking me questions, “So how are you feeling?” she asked as she took my hand. I shrugged, “I guess I am okay. I am not really sure what the standards are for being okay in a hospital, but I think I hit the mark even if just barely.” My mom smiled, but I know she had wanted a better answer than just okay even if it was unlikely in a hospital. “Are they making your stay comfortable?” she asked. “I have been sleeping most of my time here. I was only awake long enough to talk to one of the nurses. She said she was going to call you and Dad.” “She did.” My Mom replied, “That is why we were here when you wake up. We were here your first night, but the hospital staff told us we should go home because they did not know when you would wake up. The nurses promised to call us when you did.” I could tell she felt guilty for going home, but if they did not know when I would wake up, it was all right for them to go home and get some sleep. I mean, it was perfectly normal to sleep. I gave my Mom a smile hoping to ease her mind, “I am glad to have my parents here with my now, I was not awake very long last time. Maybe I will manage a few more minutes this time.” I gave my parents a hug, which was really had to do considering all the machines I was connected to.

    As I was hugging them, I noticed a letter next to my bed on a table. I reached over to pick it up the front said, “Miss Jennifer”. I looked up at my parents, “Hey, do you know who this is from?” The both nodded no and my Dad told me I should open it. So I did and I read the letter aloud to my parents,

Dear Miss Jennifer,

       It is so nice to know that you are alright, in a since that you are not dead. I hope you get to live a little while longer. I think playing with you will be fun and it has been awhile since someone’s body did not completely fail on them.

                    Signed,

                                 Chance

    As I finished reading the note, a doctor walked in and my Dad was very upset, “Is this some kind of sick joke?” He said as he took the letter from my hand and put it in my doctor’s face. The doctor leaning back took the letter from my Dad. I was in shock at this point, what was up with this letter? “My daughter is sick and you guys let this kind of letter in her room? She does not need this!” The doctor reads the note and heads out the room. He is stunned, “I am sorry this happened sir, I will take care of it right away.” I suppose my Dad’s main goal at that moment was to get the letter away from me even if the doctor did not actually know what to do about the letter. My Mom had taken a chair next to the bed and was stroking my hair as to say, “Be calm. We will get through this.” My Dad was the one who calmed down because as he turned back towards me, it was hard to tell how upset he had been just a moment ago. He also took a seat next to my bed. I was still in shock and my mind was going a thousand miles  a minute.

     My parents stayed with me in the room for a while as we had conversations about different things, probably to keep everyone’s mind of off the current situation. “So, how did that last test at school go?” asked my Dad. “It went alright; I think I knew a lot of the material well. I should at least make a B, if not an A.” My Dad smiled, “That’s my girl.” As I started to smile back, it started to happen again, I could feel my airways closing and there was a pinching pain coming from my chest. My whole world went black. I felt numb and in pain all at the same time. I could not move under this weird feeling. I could hear voices in the background they sounded very concerned, but I could not make anything out, except the word, heart.

       About a week later a doctor walks in, everyone calls him Rob but he prefers Dr. in front of Roberto. He went to school a long time to earn that Dr. you see, and he likes to point that out and feels that people should respect that. He does not really feel like people take him seriously and I can tell it bothers him quite a bit.

       “Miss Gordon.” Dr. Roberto declares, “How are you feeling today?”

“Hmmmm. Well, I feel wonderful for someone who had a heart attack just a week ago. I would not be up for doing summer-salts or anything like that though, sorry doc.”

“Glad to hear you are feeling better.” Is what he said, but I do not think he liked my reply very much. “How about your breathing, does it feel constricted?”

“It has the whole time I have been here, I almost forget about it until someone asks me about it.” I responded. Definitely not what the Doc wanted to hear. “I see” He replied while looking down at his graphs. “I will send a nurse in here to take some blood samples in a few minutes.”

“I don’t like needles.”

“I know, not many people do.” He said as he raised his eyebrows declaring my statement to be a preposterously silly thing to say probably because I have already told him that about fifty times now. “I’ll go get that nurse.”

       A few minutes later Judy came with everything she needed to stick me and take my blood away. “Aww come on Judy, don’t be a vampire.” I said. Judy smiled, “How are we ever going to figure out what is wrong if we do not take your blood?” Maybe she was right but I was not going to admit to it, “What about an x-ray, or a sonograph?” I replied.

 Judy chuckled, “You aren’t pregnant Jennifer.”

“I know…..” I frowned and looked down at the floor, “But there really should be away for you to test my blood without taking it out of me. I kinda need that stuff.”

Judy concurred with my outlandish proclamation, “You are right, there really should be. I’ll tell the doctors and get right on that.” She had a very gentle look in her eyes saying I wouldn’t stick you if I didn’t have to.

I didn’t mind her taking my blood as much as the other nurses though. I am a really hard person to stick and most nurses just bust my veins. Judy usually got it the first time around though.

Judy continued making small talk with me, probably to keep me from stressing about the needle although, I was still stiff as a board. I really do not like needles or my blood being outside my body for that matter.

“I see you graduated from your heart monitor.” She said

“Of course! Did you think they could keep all those machine hooked up to me forever?” I declared proudly and put the hand of the arm she was not pricking on my hip.

“It probably had something to do with your constant nagging. ‘When are you going to take this heart monitor off? I have a panic button. Come on! I can wonder around if you take this thing off of me! Sitting in this bed is boring.”

       Well, I found Judy’s statement to be somewhat embarrassing because well, I could feel my face turning red. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” About the time I said that Judy stood up. “I am all finished. You are bandaged up and everything. Why don’t you walk around the hospital a little? Maybe some exercise will do you some good.” I was shocked by Judy, “Can I really?” I did not think they would let me wonder around the hospital.

“Just stay on this floor.” She said, “I will tell the other nurses to watch out for you. This is a top notch care facility Jennifer, and your IV and breathing machine are mobile, I am sure you will be fine.”

I was ecstatic, “Thank you!”

“Just be careful, remember to carry your panic button, and don’t over exert yourself. You have been in a bed most of the time since you got here, take it easy.”

       I stepped out of my hospital bed with a smile from ear to ear, letting me walk around was probably the best medicine that I had gotten the whole time I had been there. Not for lack of doctors trying, they just did not know what was wrong with me. Believe me, I had been prick and tested enough in that one week to last me a lifetime. Finally, for the first time in a week I felt independent again. The hospital was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, but judging from your room was no simple task. Judy told me to stay on my floor but I visited others, there was an elevator and I used it to get a quick look at all the floors, there were seven in total. I did not actually go look around them, well except the second floor, something just drew me in. The hospital was pretty quiet in general, but this floor was almost vacant. I saw a grand total of two nurses, and I peeked in three rooms, only one of which had anyone in it.

       As, I walked toward the end of the hall, there was a room with double wooden doors. The doors were open so I decided to go inside. The room was huge! Not only that, but it looked like a church. There was a church inside of the Janice Hospital! I have never heard of a hospital having a church in it before. There were three rows of wooden pews with maroon seating. I did not count, but there were probably about ten pews in each row. The ceiling to my disappointment was the same height as the rest of the building, but the windows were stain glass, and the lightening in there just made it feel like a church, one that welcomed everyone.

       This room was not vacant like many of the other rooms on the floor though; there was a little boy in there. The boy looked to be around ten. He was pale with brown hair and eyes. I waved at him and he waved back at me. I wonder why he is here alone. “hello.” I said

The little boy replied, “Hello.” His eyes were wide as if he was surprised I had spotted him.

I sat down in one of the pews, maybe I was bothering him. I decided to smile at the boy and turn away, making children uncomfortable was not on my list of things to do. The stain glass was beautiful. All different kinds of colors were coming down from the light shining through. It was wonderful. As I was looking at the glass, someone sat down beside me. I looked over at them, it was Judy.

“I thought I told you to say on your floor.” Judy said sternly.

“Why is there a church in the hospital Judy?”

Judy sighed, “Because a long time ago this hospital used to be a monks’ ministry. At the time it was converted into a hospital, there was only one monk left. He only agreed to have him ministry taken over if the church was left in the hospital.”

“Wow. So, why is the hospital called Janice Hospital than?” I probed.

“The man who took the ministry over had a daughter named Janice and he names it after her. Now come on, back to your room. You have had enough fun for one day.”

       I could see why she said I needed to go back to my room, after all, I was supposed to be on the fourth floor, and here I was on the second. Although, I was not quite done with my adventure. Even so, I followed Judy back to the elevator, “So, how old are you Judy?” If my adventure was going to be cut short, I figured I would ask her some of the things I had been wondering about her.

“Twenty-eight” She replied.

“That’s cool,” I said.

“Why?”

“I was just trying to guess your age. I thought you were younger than that.”

“I suppose I should be flattered than.” She answered “But first I need to get you back to your room.”

She was really focused on getting me back to my room, poor Judy. Part of me said I should not wonder off again, but I was just so curious about such a strange hospital, I knew I would do it again given the chance.