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“Good morning, Mr. Queen.”
Oliver looked at Felicity’s smiling face and couldn’t help but smile back. It wasn’t exactly a good morning. His night had been riddled with nightmares yet again. That was why he was here, right? Nightmares and hallucinations. He glanced side to side at the other patients. They were all there for different reasons. Part of him felt weird being there. Like he didn’t belong. Like he was taking someone else’s place who could use the help more than he did. Someone who was extremely depressed or suicidal. Not someone who had bad dreams because of a plane crash.
The smile must have slipped from his face because Felicity’s voice softened. “Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked.
He met her gaze and his shoulders slumped. Sometimes he felt like he talked to Felicity more than his actual doctor. She was just easier to talk to. “Wondering what I’m doing here.”
“You’re getting help.” She slid a cup of meds toward him.
He looked down at the little plastic cup. Inside was a small blue pill which was an antipsychotic along with a round white pill for depression. He picked up the cup and knocked back both pills, taking them dry like he did every day. Oliver slid the cup back to Felicity. He opened his mouth wide and stuck out his tongue to show her he hadn’t hidden the pills somewhere inside his mouth.
“Thank you.” She said with her signature smile.
The intercom system crackled overhead. “Code Silver. White male. Blue shirt. Jeans. Floor three. Code Silver.”
There was a shooter at the hospital. Oliver had memorized all the codes out of paranoia.
The smile fell away from Felicity’s face. John Diggle, the head nurse, came into the room. He began ushering patients back into their rooms. There was no sense of panic to him. He simply made sure everyone got to safety. They were on floor six. He had plenty of time to lock down their area.
Oliver on the other hand, felt his panic begin to rise. His heart pounded hard in his chest and his hands began to sweat.
“Oliver, breathe.” Felicity moved around the nurse’s station and came to stand in front of him. “You need to go back to your room. Everything is going to be fine. The floor is going on lockdown. We are going to be perfectly safe.”
“Don’t leave me alone,” he whispered.
John came toward them, “Oliver you need to get into your room.”
“I need Felicity.”
Felicity looked up at John.
He sighed, but nodded. “Go.”
She took Oliver’s hand and led him into his room. The door shut behind him. All the rooms in the psych ward looked the same. A bed, two chairs, a desk, a wardrobe, and a television hung up high. No wires or anything anywhere. They each had their own bathrooms as well. Everything was a muted blue and pink. It was an ugly combination, but it was supposed to be cheerful. Nothing about it felt cheerful at that moment.
He sat on his bed and wrung his hands together.
“Talk to me, Oliver.”
He took in a deep shuddering breath. “When the plane went down—” he’d spoken to her about it before. “—I was alone. We were scattered all over. I… I was so afraid. Th-then I came across the bodies.” Tears welled up in his eyes and his hands shook. His chest tightened. He couldn’t breathe.
Felicity knelt down in front of him. One hand on each knee. “Hey. I’m right here.”
He looked into her sky blue eyes and found his breath. Something about her eyes brought him back to reality. He took in a few deep breaths and counted to ten. Oliver put his hands on top of hers and squeezed. It took a few moments for him to ground himself again. He wiped at his cheeks and looked toward the ceiling. He hated crying in front of her, but she never seemed to judge him for it. He was grateful for that.
“The thought of being alone again… of death.” He kept his eyes on the ceiling.
“None of that is going to happen. I am right here. You are safe. All of us in the psych ward are safe.”
“What about everyone else in the hospital?”
“There are protocols. As soon as a code silver is called everyone goes on lockdown. Police have been called.”
Oliver let out another slow breath. “Don’t leave me, Felicity.”
“I won’t. I am right here.”
He slid down onto the floor with her. All he could think about was the hospital being littered with bodies the same way the crash site had been. Only a few of the people on that plane had survived. He remembered waking up on the ground by himself. He was bruised and beaten. Bloody and broken. He walked, looking for anyone. Oliver stumbled on pieces of plane, pieces of luggage, and then he saw them. Other passengers. Men, women, and even children.
He wrapped his arms around Felicity and she hugged him tight. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “You’re safe.”
“Will you… will you talk to me about something… anything.”
She pulled back from him and he rested his head on her shoulder. “Let’s see… oh, remember how I told you I was thinking of adopting a puppy?”
“Yes.”
“I found this little English bulldog puppy.” She shifted beside him. “Look.” Felicity held out her phone.
He glanced down at the photo on her phone. It was the fattest little puppy he had ever seen. The thing had so many rolls it reminded him of a chubby baby.
“Look at those rolls!” she squealed. “I have an appointment to go look at him this weekend.”
He looked at the picture a little longer and noticed something else about the little puppy. “He’s missing a leg.”
“The woman at the shelter said that he was left on the side of the road and something like another dog or a coyote attacked him.” She pouted. “And he’s been there for weeks with no interest! All because he’s a little different.”
Oliver’s heart warmed as she spoke. “What would you call him?”
“Well, they’ve been calling him Yardstick and I think it’s kind of cute and quirky.”
“Yardstick.” He actually managed a chuckle.
“The best part about him is that he’s young enough I could train him to be a therapy dog and bring him to the hospital for visits.”
Oliver looked up into her eyes. The pure joy and excitement in her eyes made his heart skip a beat. He had been in the hospital for two weeks and in that time he had grown attached to Felicity. Probably too attached. Eventually he would leave and they would part ways. There was no reason for her to stay in contact with him after he left. The thought made him sad. He liked her. She was the best nurse, best person, he had ever met. Oliver pushed the thoughts away and focused on the sweet sound of her voice. He listened to her talk about her future pup and waited for them to get the all clear.
Though, part of him was hoping they could stay there for a little while longer.