The Clinic
Anthony had no idea where he was. He had just woken up and had been sitting on a chair located in a long white hallway. The hallway was very well lit, but he couldn’t see anything else from either direction. It seemed to be just him and this chair. He had no idea how he got there in the first place, nor did he have any clue as to what this place actually was. The only thing he could remember was waking up to this odd place and having a painful headache. Anything before that was just blank to him.
As for the hallway, Anthony also noticed that there was some strange music playing as well. He couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but it sounded very dreamy and ominous. He realized though that it sounded like English and tried to focus on the words.
“Are the stars out tonight…I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright…”
“That’s odd…” Anthony thought to himself, “I think I’ve heard that song before.” As he thought about the words, suddenly the title popped into his head. It was “I Only Have Eyes For You” by The Flamingos.
The only thing though was that it didn’t sound like the usual song, and it made his situation a bit more unnerving. Something wasn’t right about this place.
Finally, after gathering some strength Anthony decided that it was best to try and go down one of the hallways. However as he stood up, he realized that he was wearing a red jumpsuit. He was surprised that he didn’t notice this before, but he blamed the odd music and his headache for missing such a thing. As he looked over his clothing, he tried to look for any information that could tell him where he was. The only thing the jumpsuit had to offer him though was a strange-looking device that he found in his left pocket. It was a small-looking flat stone-like object that seemed to have a circle in the center that one could push.
Anthony thought about pushing it, but he decided to have a look around first before messing around with the device. With such a bizarre place like this, who knew what would happen if he pressed it?
With that settled, Anthony quickly slipped the device back into his pocket and started to walk down the hallway. As he made his way down the hall, the chair behind him faded from view, but the music volume was still the same.
“How the freaking heck did I end up in a place like this?” he said aloud, “Did I get in a car wreck or something?”
Anthony thought to himself and tried to remember anything before he arrived here, but only a few things popped into his recollection. He knew his name was Anthony, and he knew he was from Arizona, but that was about it. Suddenly though Anthony spotted something up ahead.
He could make out that it was some kind of object and that it was leaning up against a wall. Immediately Anthony knew what it was.
“It’s the exact same chair I was in! I just went in a big circle!”
Now Anthony was really starting to freak out. The music, the lights…it was just too much for him. He sat back down on the chair and let out a big sigh.
“Why did I have to end up here?”, he thought to himself, “And what kind of freak show am I in?”
He pulled out the device that he had in his pocket and gazed at it.
“Well, I guess I’ve got no other choice.” He said.
Anthony took a deep breath and pressed down on the device.
Nothing happened.
He looked up and down the hallway to see if something changed, but it was still the same white empty hallway.
All of a sudden though a tall young woman appeared in front of him. Anthony jumped at the sight of her because he hadn’t seen her coming from either direction. It was as if she had materialized out of thin air…
The woman standing before him looked to be only in her early twenties and had long flowing black hair. She was wearing a red and white colored nurse’s outfit and had a mysterious gentle smile.
She calmly placed her hand on Anthony’s shoulder and said,
“Oh, my apologies! I hope I didn’t frighten you! Is there anything I can get you?”
Anthony was still shaking a bit and said, “No…I guess? But could you tell me where I am?”
The lady smiled and said, “Oh! Forgive me for my bad manners. You were taken to our hospital because you had a nasty fall out in the vegetation.”
“Vegetation?” Anthony tried to remember what had happened. But before he could think of anything the lady interrupted his train of thought.
“Here take this,” she said, “It will help relieve your headache.”
She handed him a strange-looking pill that she took out of her pocket.
Anthony grabbed the pill out of her hand, but he didn’t remember telling her anything about a headache. “How did you know I had a headache?”
The lady stood there and nervously giggled a bit, “Oh, we checked you out when you got here, and we noticed that your head was swollen a bit. There’s nothing to worry about though, you’re in good hands.” She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it came out as creepy instead of comforting.
Since he knew he couldn’t do much, Anthony politely took the pill and sat back. As the lady quietly stood there, bits and pieces of thought suddenly reemerged into his mind. He did in fact remember that he was hiking through a forest, but he didn’t remember falling at all. However, he also remembered seeing a strange light shining off in the distance before he blacked out. A sudden thought came to his mind, and it made him shiver.
“You say this is a hospital?” he posed to the young woman, “Well then can I leave? I feel a lot better.”
The young lady shook her head. “I’m sorry, but our doctors here still need to run a few more…tests on you to make sure that you’re ok.” She gave another odd smile. “If there is anything you need though just click that button and I will come running, ok?”
Anthony looked down at the device. “I need to get out of here Ms…”
“Elara.” she said, “You can call me Elara.”
“Alright Elara”, Anthony continued, “I don’t know what kind of hospital you’re running but I feel just fine, and I would like to go back home.”
“Oh I’m sorry,” Elara said, “We’re too far away from your home at the moment.”
“Wh..what do you mean too far away?” Anthony stood up and backed away from the woman. “What’s going on here?”
The young lady realized her mistake and calmly walked towards Anthony. “Anthony, everything is fine. You can trust us; we aren’t here to hurt you. Please just come back and have a seat.”
Anthony’s eyes grew wide, “No! No! Don’t touch me! I gotta get outta here! This isn’t right at all!” Anthony backed even further away from Elara and started to frantically bang on the walls in hopes of finding a way out.
Elara slowly walked up to him and gently said, “It’s no use, Anthony, trust me, everything will be just fine.”
She then pulled out a syringe from her pocket and stuck it into Anthony’s left arm. The lights, the music, and Elara suddenly became fuzzy to Anthony, and he began to stumble.
“No…you can’t do this…you monsters…don’t…” But before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed to the floor.
Elara picked his sleepy body up and placed him back onto the chair. “There there Anthony, sleep tight. If you need anything just let me know.” She giggled a little bit and vanished without a trace leaving Anthony all by himself once again.
After a bit of time had passed Anthony finally woke up. His head was hurting like crazy, and he could hear strange music floating around him.
He had no idea where he was…
Ethan is currently a Senior at Brigham Young University Idaho. He is majoring in English and has a love for all types of writing. Ethan also reads and enjoys both classic and modern literature, such as War of The Worlds by H.G Wells and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. During his time at college Ethan has had the opportunity to work as a writing tutor, and also as a teaching assistant for one of his English professors. Ethan has also had the chance to edit a book for a published author, and to work as an intern for a publishing company in Idaho Falls. He even is related to William Shakespeare, and so he is very excited to have his work published in Outrageous Fortune. Ethan loves what he does and is excited for what the future holds.