1.3 - Hospital Visit

It took four days for me to get a visit scheduled at Marley Thomas Hospital. When I entered the main lobby, the girl at the front desk put on her polite, customer-facing smile at first, then her real demeanor showed itself when she saw who walked in.

First came the smile. “Hello, good morning! How are yo—” Then came the scowl. “Oh. It’s you, Vector. The hell are you doing here, freak?”

Frustration aside, I smiled to hide. “Hi, I’m…here to see a patient named Elaina.”

“Uh huh," she rolled her eyes. "And does this ‘Elaina’ have a last name? Y’know, something given to babies when they’re born?”

“I don’t know her actual last name, but I—”

“Oh, that helps a ton.”

“—but I know it starts with a Y, O, and an S.”

“Yeah, super helpful, jackass.”

“...Would you mind checking your system for someone with that first name and, maybe, input those first three letters for her last name?”

The front desk girl stared daggers into me and didn’t say a word.

I continued my polite, verbal assault. “Could you please try to look her name up? Y’know, like how you’re supposed to do your job?”

That did it. She scoffed and rolled in her office chair to her desktop. She typed each letter to Elaina’s name and she bobbed up after hitting the “Enter” key.

“Oh, would ya look at that. Found her. You weren’t fibbin’, after all.” She clicked through several windows and read the girl’s details out loud. “Elaina Yoshinaga. 18. Admitted like a few days ago for burns, cuts on her arms, and minor head trauma. Fully recovered, scheduled for discharge…Huh, soon.”

“Great, what room is she in?”

She glanced at me, then rolled away from her PC to a counter on the wall behind her. She reached for her morning coffee and took a sip.

“Excuse me,” I raised my voice a little. She eyeballed me as she drank. “Her room?”

She took her time finishing her coffee, and she finally turned to me and smiled. “Sorry, sir. All visitors wanting to see patients must fill out a Visitor Form and return it to the front desk.”

That was the fakest smile I’d ever seen, but I shook my head. “Great. You have the form?”

She rolled back to the front desk, grabbed a single piece of paper off a three-tiered shelf, and dropped it on the counter in front of me.

“Pen?” I asked, and I raised my left hand.

She grabbed one and suddenly flung it in my direction.

For a moment, time slowed as the pen spun in the air to me.

A voice in the back of my head encouraged me to redirect the pen right back at her face. An image of her screaming in agony as the blood dripped down her face gave me a twisted sense of joy after how she treated me—after how all of them treated me. Just one touch with my skin was all that was needed. It would be an easy trajectory to determine, to manipulate. The pen tip was already out, so deflecting it into her eye socket would be as simple as—

“Thank you,” I said, just as the pen bounced off my chest and clanked onto the counter.

I took a seat in the mostly empty lobby.

A young man eyeballed me as he tried to read a magazine on luxury watches. An older woman kept her eyes fixed on the morning talk show on the only fixed television on the wall.

The onscreen news anchor cleared his throat. "...In other news, questions abound regarding the deeply disturbing bombing incident that occurred at the Sunshine Luxury Apartment Complex last week. Authorities say the initial blast originated at the apartment of Vector, known locally as the ‘most infamous’ Abnormal. Now, it was not clear if Vector himself was responsible, though initial reports from authorities have confirmed he was actually the intended victim in this case. Security camera footage handed over to police officials have confirmed the true perpetrator is suggested to be a female employee of courier service Tributary Incorporated. A spokesperson for Tributary has declined to comment..."

The older woman stared at me from the corner of her eye, and I tried not to notice. She shook her head and returned to the news broadcast.

Elsewhere in the lobby, a girl who I presumed was about my age covered her face as she read a novel—probably to stop me from looking at her. And the jerkface front desk girl glanced at me from time to time—probably to make sure I wasn’t planning on destroying anything.

As I filled out the Visitor Form, I hesitated at the question asking: “What is your relationship to the patient you are seeing today?”

The options were:

· Parent

· Sibling

· Relative

· Friend

· Other

I checked the box next to “Other” and wrote “Mutual Bomb Victims” in the line provided.

When I returned the form to the front desk, the employee girl glanced at me.

"...So, why'd you do it?"

I blinked. "I'm...sorry?'

She nodded at the television screen. "What's your motive, hm? You finally snap or something?"

"I think you're misinformed."

"And I think it's only a matter of time before all you damn Abnormals get locked up. Forever."

I shook my head, focusing back on my goal. "How long's the wait?"

She sneered at me. "...You'll see her when you see her. Sit down."

I was allowed to see Elaina after another half hour.

Room 2312.

The girl had been treated for burn injuries on her limbs and part of her neck, which were all wrapped in white bandages. She was enjoying her morning breakfast when I knocked and appeared at the doorway.

I really should’ve brought her flowers. Just to be nice, of course.

“Um, hello, sorry for intruding.” I held the book in my left hand.

Elaina blinked twice and stopped chewing when she locked eyes with me.

She pointed with her fork. “Hey…Hey, you’re—!!”

All right, all right. So, that’s how we’re gonna start this fateful encounter, huh? What would be the derogatory adjective this time?

The “notorious” Vector? The “dangerous” Abnormal named Vector? The so-called “invincible” Vector? Or will it be the obvious “most infamous” Abnormal of them all: Vector?

Her face brightened up. “You’re Jacen Jacinto!”

See? I knew she’d be another person who’d call me a freak—

Wait…She didn’t even call me “Vector,” at all.

I raised my eyebrows. "Huh...?!"

The girl smiled. “I know about you! Well, uh…kind of? Not really, like, personally, you know. But I know of you. You’re Jacen—uh, Vector—the Abnormal who can do trajectory stuff."

There it is. Of course, she’d know my Abnormal name.

"Nice to meet you! I’m Elaina.” She held out a bandaged hand for me to shake.

I glanced from it to her eyes. Was this a joke of some sorts?

I shifted awkwardly. “Um, I…can’t really…touch...”

“Ah!” she retracted her hand. “I-I’m sorry! It’s, uh, just a habit.”

“Right."

As if I never heard that before.

I walked over to her and nodded. “Good to meet you, Elaina.”