As she walked deeper, towards the hospitals heart, its centre, the clicking of her footsteps on the linoleum became more distinct. The soft tennis shoes the nurses and doctors around her wore didn't drown out Dana and Matt's own noisy foot steps. The clean white walls and the stainless steel made her shiver, an impersonal place, where the light nearly blinded those unaccustomed to it. It pierced her down to the bone. Dana swore she could feel the blood curdling in her veins, this place was too strange. She could have never worked here.
Matt was walking slowly in front of Dana, his back was stiff and straight. *At least I'm not the only one uncomfortable with this.* He hadn't smiled all day. He hadn't joked at all. His eyes hadn't even lit up this morning when she came out in the dress she knew was his favourite. He just walked, looking straight ahead of him, his eyes dark, his face frowning. Dana noticed there were signs of dark circles hiding under his eyes. She didn't have to be a doctor to know he wasn't sleeping well. But that was the problem...apparently...she was a doctor.
Dana followed Matt through every door he went through, he hesitated in his hold of the doors long enough to let her through. After descending a half flight of stairs the duo came upon a sealed door. Dana heard a soft hissing sound when the heavy reflective door slid to the right. For the first time Matt looked over his shoulder to make sure she was following him. Dana smiled gently, receiving no acknowledgment.
A bitter foul air filled Dana's mouth and nose. She flinched. The entire room was stainless steel, there were no white walls or tiled floors, every wall, every table, every instrument, every thing she could see, was steel, the glittering panels reflected off of each other, doubling the bright overhead light's intensity. Dana had a bad feeling...she had the feeling she worked here, or somewhere close.
Dana restrained herself from walking up close to Matt and just gripping on to him, this place was even more in human than the other rooms and corridors of the hospital, she needed more than anything another human being to be in existence with her, especially if what she thought she saw was what she really thought it was. On one of the far tables there was an off white sheet draped over the surface, the silhouette of an unmoving human body outlined in the innocently clean cloth of the sheet. Dana was going to be sick. She felt what little was in her stomach punching at the walls of her throat, attempting to reverse the path it had taken an hour earlier. A sour taste invaded her mouth and she forced herself to swallow. *Not now, not now*.
Dana realized Matt had walked further into the room, he was about to pass the sheet covered table. She swallowed again. Her legs were shaking in short, slight tremors. The muscles in Dana's throat started burning, contracting painfully. She gained control of her limbs for a moment, long enough for her to force herself forward, and through the forest of steel. In fact, she felt so much in control she almost ran out of this room .She pictured in her mind what Matt's face would look like if she did run from this building. She wasn't sure whether he would follow her or not. But she knew she'd charge though every set of doors and into the glorious sun, if only in an urgency to feel something real, to know she wasn't having a nightmare, to know this horrible hospital wasn't really real. A figure walked from one of the adjacent rooms to meet Matt. The man was in a long white coat, and Dana could see he had a teal coloured jump suit underneath. * The only colour here that wasn't here before...* .The man looked Dana right in the eyes over Matt's shoulder. His eyes bid her forward to join him and Matt. Dana walked calmly, slowly forward. Her heart descended from its erratic rhythm into a metronome-like beat. Matt turned sideways to allow Dana to face the man directly. She held out her hand to the man, and he accepted it carefully. "I suppose you know me already." He smiled. "Yes. I'm Doctor Easton Glorianz, we've worked together for nearly a year..." His smile put her at ease a little. Only a little.
Matt patted Dana's left shoulder briefly with his hand and turned to leave without saying anything. Glorianz led her into his office and offered her a chair. One of the walls in the office looked out over the room of stainless steel, it must have been a two way mirror, she had not seen the office before she had come into it. The office was warm. It still had white walls like the rest of the hospital but the desk was made out of a deep auburn coloured wood. There was a picture of a blond headed child on the corner of the desk, smiling and threatening to throw his beach ball at the photographer. Editions of Gray's Anatomy and the Merrick Manual lined the book case behind Glorianz, but their cold titles were countered by warm blue and maroon covers. A hunter green duffel bag was thrown in the back left corner behind the doctor.
He was the first to break the hovering silence. "You looked like you were in shock when you entered the morgue Dana." Her face paled again. She swallowed hard. "These first few weeks will be difficult, but trust me dear, we'll have you back to normal in no time...it just worries me Dana, you've never gotten queasy during your job. "W-What exactly is my job?" She stumbled over her words. She was shaken. Dr. Glorianz looked at Dana, sympathy clear in his eyes. He pulled out a heavy drawer beside him and took out a file folder. "I've prepared something for you to read. It will be easier than to explain to you myself. You'll find what your credentials are/were, you'll find reports of some cases you've worked on, exempt from showing too much detail, and letter's from co-workers to help your memory a bit. You should find it helpful Dana."
Her shaky hand shot out unwillingly to accept the file folder from her new friend. Dana cradled the beige packet against her chest as she stood. "Matt should be out in the lobby..." Glorianz stood and ushered Dana out. He navigated the torturous corridors, standing beside Dana rather than making her follow him. She could tell he was a quiet man. He seemed gentle. He was too out of place in the basement of the hospital. He was out of place in this entire hospital. Just like she was.
The doctor led Dan past the sunny entrance to the hospital. She glanced to the outside, to the greens, the yellows, the reds, the life, then it disappeared as it was blocked by a white hospital wall. They turned into a room full of waiting people, where Matt stood at their arrival.
A gloom still hovered in a weighty, grey cloud over Matt's countenance. He still didn't smile. The entire room seemed to stop smiling when he stood. Dana looked to the blue carpet underneath her feet. She stood still. Glorianz leaned close to Matt and whispered something. Something. Matt's face lightened a fraction and he bobbed his head up and down cautiously. "I'll see you tomorrow Dana. Enjoy the sun today." Matt linked his arm through Dana's and led her from the waiting room.