The Visit

The driver pulled the dark brown Toyota Crown around the school parking lot and stopped. This scenario was all too familiar. Usually she took the schoolbus home, but today was a hospital day like so many before. She walked over to the car and got in as the driver opened her door. The Old Woman sat in the backseat, smoking one of those Benson and Hedges Menthol Lights, the entire car engulfed with the poison smoke. As they drove off campus, She wasn't sure exactly what to expect. She just knew who she was going to see.

The drive to the hospital was unusually quiet. She managed to make the whole trip without uttering a word to the Old Woman, and vice versa. For that, She was thankful. Usually, She readied herself for the barrage of insults that spewed out of the Old Woman's mouth. But today was different somehow. The Old Woman was sullen and quiet just smoking cigarette after cigarette until they arrived at the hospital. She was so used to being around the suffocating smoke that it didn't even bother her anymore.

The driver pulled up to the entrance, opened the doors for his passengers and quickly parked the car in the visitor lot. She followed the Old Woman to the elevators and stood behind her while waiting for one to arrive. The entered the next one that opened. The Old Woman pushed the number 10 and up they went. The lift stopped a few times before arriving at the 10th floor, picking up passengers along the way. When it finally stopped at their floor, She and the Old Woman had to push their way through from the back of the lift before the doors closed on them.

The Old Woman led her down the hall. They passed the Nurses' station and were greeted by several young women wearing white uniforms and those silly looking hats. "Good afternoon", they said cheerfully and respectfully, addressing the Old Woman. She, on the other hand, was like a ghost. No one noticed her following along like a little lost puppy. The Old Woman said nothing to them in return.

They arrived at the room. The door was wide open. A crowd of people standing inside. She recognized all the people there. The man was someone who worked for the Saviour. The woman was his wife and friend of the Old Woman. The others were their children. Then, She sees him behind the crowd. There at the very end of the room, next to the window, laid the Saviour. Tubes down his nose and throat. Needles and lines in both arms. A clear, plastic bag hung from the side of his bed, filled with his urine. An oxygen machine next to him, pumping life into his body.

She stood there, staring at him. She knew that it was near and there was nothing She could do. Why are these people here? She wondered why She couldn't have this time. Why She couldn't have peace in these last minutes. Why are they here? The Old Woman woke her from her daze. Yelling at her to talk to him. Talk to the Saviour. Do something stupid! But She did nothing. All eyes burning holes in her while the Old Woman screamed. She could not move, or talk or do anything. She just stood there, staring at him. Waiting.

Then, it happened. Everything stopped. Wails and tears came from every direction, except from hers. The Old Woman was beside herself. Hysterical. She just stood there, staring. Finally, She turned around and ran out of the room. She ran to the elevators and took the next lift that opened. She asked the people inside if they knew where the chapel was and they told her which floor to exit. She ran out of the lift and into the empty chapel. It was creepy and gloomy, exactly like the churches and chapels She hated going to. It was morbid. She genuflected in front of the altar and robotically formed the sign of the cross. She sat in one of the pews. She sat there for what seemed like hours, but only minutes had passed by. She got up and went back down to the room.

Everyone was still there. Hanging out having mundane conversations like they were at some cocktail party. The Saviour hadn't been moved. She could still see him through all the bodies standing about. She didn't enter the room. Instead, She sat on the floor in the hallway across from the open door. She wanted to cry, but tears never came. She felt like screaming, but She couldn't find her voice. She wanted to run to him and beg him not to leave her. But She just sat, with her arms wrapped around her knees and waited.

The Old Woman noticed that She was there and shot her The Look. She knew what that look meant. It meant She was alone.