“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” asked Vic as he drove thru the hospital gates his wife sitting beside him.
She looked at Vic sadly but didn’t respond.
He pulled to a stop in front of the wide vestibule leading up the sanatoriums steps “Well I’m going to tell them in there. They’ll make you go away”
Yet Vic didn’t get out of the car, he sat hands clamped on the wheel staring up at the front doors uncertain if this was the right choice or not. He’d gone crazy that much was certain but he wasn’t hurting anyone maybe he could just live with it. He looked at his wife of 16 years sitting next to him and a lump formed in his throat he couldn’t live with her anymore, not this way. She had been too beautiful in life to face her as a ghost for the rest of his days.
She’d died almost a year ago now. At first when she reappeared it had felt wonderful to see her again to watch her move around their home but it wasn’t the same, he couldn’t hold her couldn’t even have a conversation with her. She didn’t speak or interact with him in any way she was just there with a look of sorrow and longing on her face. He couldn’t face it anymore.
The car door felt much heavier than normal as he pushed it open and walked slowly up the stairs not looking back to see if she followed or not. He looked up as a woman pushed open the front door, she wore a nurses uniform and had a smile on her face. “Victor Stoughton?” She asked
Vic nodded “We got your call and have you all set up, you’ll have a nice rest and get you back on your feet in no time” She was still smiling as she led him into the foyer and past the clerks sitting at the desk down a long hallway filled with all sorts of people wandering around, some looked perfectly normal to him some clearly not. He only hoped he wouldn’t become one of those who were clearly beyond the realm of normal.
Nearly a month after coming to the hospital Vic was beginning to think these people couldn’t help him if anything he felt even worse than when he’d first walked through the front doors. His wife still followed him from place to place, sitting next to him as he talked to the doctors, walking the halls with him watching everything he did.
If possible she looked sadder and more forlorn then before and now he had also begun to feel sick all the time, the food here which was all quite clearly out of cans wasn’t agreeing with him and he’d give anything for a cup of coffee but the only thing he had to drink was water from the fountain. His stomach was constantly in knots from the food and it seemed the place had developed a permanent musty smell which irritated his nose. He was always cold here and he worried the food and the cold was beginning to make him sick.
He’d thought about leaving a few times but she still followed him so how could he just go back to his life, he knew having walked in voluntarily he could leave whenever he wanted and his doctor had made it quite clear that he felt Vic would be ok in the real world despite seeing ghosts. In fact it seemed his doctor wanted him to leave to just accept the ghosts as part of his life and move on. He couldn’t seem to do it though these people didn’t look like he’d grown a second head when talking about all the ghosts and weird things that had happened to him since his wife died. They really seemed to understand.
