Carmen tried to lift her tired eyelids, but she only managed to get it halfway up. Her vision was blurred as she scanned the room. It was only a minute ago that she forced herself to sleep, but the sharp pain at the base of her spine jolted her back awake. She shifted slowly, trying to get herself into a more comfortable position.

As her vision cleared up, she lifted her heavy head and glanced around the room. It was glaringly white, and she squinted her eyes more to block out the light coming from the windows beside her bed. She turned to her right avoiding the sun and caught sight of old Mrs Walters. Mrs Walters was sleeping very soundly, snorting occasionally.

Directly opposite her bed was a skinny teenage girl whom Carmen came to know as Charmaine. She wore a cap that hid the bald patches surrounding her head. Carmen noticed a teenage boy sitting by the side of Charmaine’s bed and he was feeding her congee.

Carmen sighed with affection and brought her head back down onto the pillow. She was very tired and tried to will herself back to sleep. But as she closed her lids again, she got the sudden urge to hurl. She used a great deal of strength just to sit up and by the time she was ready to get out of the bed, she was feeling too dizzy and nearly fell off the side of the bed.

Charmaine noticed Carmen getting of the bed and gave a yelp when she saw that Carmen nearly fell off the bed. Her boyfriend rushed over to help Carmen, but he wasn’t as fast as Shane was.

———————

Shane walked into the ward with a great amount of sadness. She looked around and got depressed at the sight of all the equipment and drugs that the nurses were carrying around. The place smelled of disinfectants and death. Shane shook her head hard to rid herself of the depressed thoughts.

Everyday for the past 2 weeks, she had gone through the same ritual. She would shake her head hard and then smile her most brilliant smile. She didn’t want Carmen to see her unhappy, that would upset her a lot more then it should.