Facade

   The room was stale, cold, and every surface was a pale and sterile white.  Silver trays lined the white countertops, decorated with syringes and scalpels.  The snow white cabinets reflected the intensity of the bright lights,  glaring down from the ceiling, sterile and emotionless like the furnishing it looked down upon.  There was an empty bed, the covers made up tightly and orderly, align with the whitewash walls of the hospital room. Another bed sat  opposite it, surrounded by a  plastic curtain placed to hide the wheezing boy laying lonely on the stiff sheets.  

   Laying on his side, bright eyes squeezed shut, his shaking thin body clung to the only pillow he was given. Bandages covered his forearm, exposing only his long thin fingers.  Dark red hair and freckles were the only splash of color the room was given, and they were hidden by a thick curtain, as if his brightness was heretical.

    His eyes opened slowly, squinted, disturbed by the harsh brightness of his surroundings. He sat up slowly, still hugging the pillow to his thin body and keeping his eyes only half open. He felt like he was floating in all of this seemingly nothingness. Everything around him was the same shade of pale, and even his skin seemed to blend into the stiff sheets of his bed. He kept his gaze forward, fully aware that he was staring at nothing.

    The door opening sounded like a roar, and although the boy did not jump upward or flinch, his heart jumped and his eyes opened a little wider. He heard the shuffling feet of the doctor, flipping through pages on a plastic clipboard. The curtain was torn back with a loud crackling noise, but still the boy did not react.

    “Yule Sullivan, its time for your injection.” The doctor said with weak sarcastic enthusiasm. Yule did not look at him, but kept his gaze foreword. The doctor sat on the edge of the bed and set the clipboard behind him. As the doctor untied the bandages from Yule’s shaking arms, a nurse strutted into view, holding a silver tray with several syringes placed on it. The doctor smiled slightly as he took one full of  a yellowish liquid and grasped Yule’s wrist. Yule merely glanced at him.

      “Now you know the drill. This will sting, but please don’t move.  It might take me a while to find the vein.” The doctor said, his smile still surreal and large, looking as though it would split his cheeks. Yule watched his face as the doctor looked down at the boy’s wrist, placing the cold needle on his flesh. It pierced the skin suddenly and without warning, but the doctor quickly removed it. Wrong vein, but Yule was used to this. The doctor punctured the skin again, still smiling at the boy, but missed yet again. The uncontrollable shaking wouldn’t cease, they both knew this silently even though the shot was supposed to help the trembling. It took ten tries before they hit the vein.

     “There we go.” the doctor said happily, injecting the fluid into the large artery.  Yule watched as the opaque medicine was forced into his arm. There were spots of blood where the errant stabs left thier mark, but this shot did not bleed as they did. It was quickly bandaged. “Good as new, good as new.” The doctor murmered, rubbing the boys now bandaged forearm. Yule didn’t really look at him, but rather at the lines in his face. He wondered if it was from smiling too much.  The doctor squeezed where he injected the fluid before grabbing his clipboard and standing. The nurse was already gone, leaving the two alone in the room together. They both knew that wasn’t allowed.

    Yule broke his stare and looked into the mans eyes, which betrayed his smile completely. Dark, harsh eyes that seemed to stare through the trembling boy who clung to his pillow. Still keeping the gaze and not breaking the connection, he grabbed the plastic curtain harshly.

     “My my, you have been here a long time. This has become a routine for the two of us hasn’t it? Well, I’ll be back tonight for you’re third shot of the day. “ He said, before sliding the curtain back into place, finally breaking the connection. Yule listened to his heavy foot steps as he left the room, finally leaving him alone, floating in white like he was before. He had become suddenly lightheaded and tired, and laid back down on the stiff sheets of his bed.