The Pale Hour

The steady beeps from the cardiac monitor filled the silence in the hospital room. It was usually the only noise Olivia heard as she mindlessly read the magazines that were on the table next to her chair. She would glance up every so often to see her father lying there, his eyes closed and his breathing steady. He looked calm from this perspective but she knew his true nature. The man had never been the calm type and that ultimately landed him here in this cold hospital. His heart was weak and he suffered a heart attack just two days prior. Olivia didn’t understand most of what was wrong with him but she was the only person that came to sit with him. Her mother had left a long time ago and she didn’t have any siblings. She knew a lot of his aggressive nature stemmed from her mother leaving, with no explanation. This caused issues in her own relationship with him, which led her to stray away from that familial bond. 

“Hey sweetie, why don’t you go grab yourself something to eat?” She heard a familiar voice from the door. It was the older nurse, Ruth, that would come in to check on her father. She offered Ruth a smile as she stood from the chair and tossed the magazine on the table. As she passed by her, she could smell the cherry blossom perfume Ruth wore every single day. The scent involuntarily brought memories of her mom from when she was a child. The way she smelled, how the sun would shine on her skin and highlight her soft, brown hair. They were nice memories to have, especially when they were the only ones she could cling onto. 

Olivia had gone down the hall and to the right, her footsteps echoing through the momentary silence as she approached the vending machine. The light from it blinked erratically for a moment while she weighed her options. Settling on plain chips, Olivia inserted her quarters and the coins gave a sharp clink as they fell. When she bent down to retrieve her snack, a thump sound caught her attention. She looked to her left and her eyes spotted a plain, white door. She gazed at it,as if she were drawn to it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about it except for that noise. Her feet began to move as though she was being controlled and she came to a stop in front of the door. Her hand settled on the knob and she turned it. It opened with ease and what was beyond it caused her breath to hitch. Confusion overtook her body as she tried to make sense of it. The hallway she was standing in was on the other side of the door. The same vending machine, the same fluorescent lights making a low humming sound, the same poster on the wall. It invoked slight fear in Olivia as her brain tried to comprehend it. She turned her head to see if anyone else noticed it but the staff was carrying on like normal. A few nurses were talking next to the vending machine. The janitor passed by her, the wheels on his cart squeaking. Somewhere a door had opened and shut, footsteps shuffling in the hall as doctors made their way past her. She turned back to the door now and inhaled a deep breath. Her foot passed the threshold and she entered the hall. 

The immediate silence that followed was deafening. She was trying to process this sudden shift when the door slammed shut behind her causing her to jump from the noise,”No…no come on,” She muttered as panic arose in her tone. Her hand gripped the knob but it wouldn’t turn this time. Even when she used both hands, it didn’t budge in the slightest. She banged on the door, shouting for help. No answer came from the other side. Her forehead rested against the door so she could collect herself. She couldn’t understand why it would be locked. Every attempt she made to open it failed. Her panic slowly subsided but she knew it wouldn’t go away anytime soon. 

After her brief respite, Olivia turned to face the hallway. The loud thump she had heard before opening the door had caught her attention but she hadn’t heard it since then. The hallway seemed vacant and it was familiar to her, but it invoked a feeling of fear. She could recognize the layout and the vending machine making a low humming sound, but there was something ominous about it. She took a few steps forward and the temperature seemed to drop as she went farther down the hall. Olivia shivered in response but that didn’t stop her. She had to ignore all of that so she could focus on what she was doing. When she passed the vending machine, she paused for a moment. The hall seemed endless but she kept walking.“Hello?”She called out, hoping to receive a response but it was only silence that answered back. She had spent the next hour trying to find anyone but instead she found another door, similar to the one she had entered through. It opened with ease and her eyes took in the sight before her. Her father was sitting in his hospital bed, reading a newspaper. Olivia blinked a few times but that unsettling feeling was creeping back up while she watched him. She looked at the tv and the static buzzing filled the silence.

“Why don’t you come sit for a while?” Olivia turned her gaze back to her father and he was looking at her. The look in his eyes seemed distant and his smile was wide. She swallowed hard. He was awake and talking to her but it wasn’t him. She could feel that it wasn’t him. But there was that part of her that wanted to reach out to him and sit for a while. Her instincts told her to refuse, to not give in to his request. “I don’t think I will,” She responded in a weak tone. This seemed to displease her father, if she could even call him that. His face changed, distorted into an expression of irritation. Now that look was familiar to her. It was one she had seen almost all of her life. He stood from the hospital bed with slow movements. Olivia backed up until she was out in the hallway again. “This is your fault, Livie. I'm here because of you. Trapped here,” His voice sounded deeper as he spoke. She shook her head but she couldn’t form words. He kept walking towards her and his body seemed to distort with every step he took. Olivia backed up enough to where she was at the door again and before he could come at her, she slammed it shut. The sound echoed through the empty hospital and she stood there for a few brief minutes, waiting to see if he would open it. The knob never turned so Olivia walked away, trying to fight back the tears threatening to spill. She then realized this was a completely different reality or version of the hospital. That realization caused her head to reel. She needed to figure a way out of this place. 

Olivia had been walking down the hallway for what seemed like hours. She felt as if she would never get out of here. She hadn’t seen anyone or anything else since her encounter with that thing that resembled her dad. The words stuck with her, telling her she was the reason he was in this place. She felt her breathing quicken as she got farther away from him. All those feelings she was struggling to fight back were threatening to resurface but she had to keep focus. She kept repeating that over and over in her head. 

“Wait, I was just here,” She felt ridiculous speaking out loud considering there was no one there to hear her. But she stood at the vending machine again. Did she take a wrong turn somewhere? She had been walking down that hallway for hours just to end back up where she started. She saw the original door that brought her here so that meant she was close to her ‘father’ again. The incessant humming made her grit her teeth in frustration. The temperature was also dropping more and the cold settled deep, making her bones feel like they were aching. The pale blue hue of her surroundings didn’t help ease her mind either. It all felt uneasy but she didn’t dwell on it. She set off again, trying to find another door. Another hallway that could lead her somewhere else. 

The hallway stretched on for what felt like a lifetime. Every so often she’d see another door, the same plain white, chipped around the edges. It didn’t matter how far she went or how many doors she saw, she always ended back at the vending machine with her father’s door not far from her. The fluorescent lights above her flickered in and out as she stared at that door. This place had been leading her back here this entire time. Olivia bit her lip in thought, debating if she should open it again. She slowly walked up to it and her instincts were screaming at her, telling her not to do it. Against her better judgement, Olivia reached for the door knob. Her hand hovered just inches from it but the door swung open all on its own.

“Running away again, Livie?” Her father’s voice made her blood run cold. There was something sinister in his tone. No, in its tone. Her eyes widened as she looked at it again, sitting in the hospital bed with the newspaper. Taking on the form of her father. But that instinct to be near him had disappeared. She was seeing this entity for what it truly was. Its smile was too wide, its eyes looked empty, and even though it wore her father’s face, she could tell it didn’t truly seem human. “You always did that, you know? Walk away when things got difficult,” It spoke again, mocking her in that distorted voice. Olivia clenched her fist as she ignored the pangs of guilt coursing through her body. “You’re not him,” She spoke up and this time, her voice wasn’t weak. She had been aimlessly walking that endless hallway. Ending up right back here with no knowledge of why. Olivia was slowly understanding it now. She had to face this entity that took on her father’s appearance. 

The entity laughed and it echoed all around her. “That’s the easiest thing to say. That I’m not him,” It spoke as the lights flickered violently. The static from the tv seemed to buzz louder as it stood from the bed. “You blame him, you know? For your mother leaving, for the way things changed. For how he changed,” It continued to berate her. She began to back away again as its body began to distort once more. Her eyes searched for anything she could use and the entity laughed again. It could sense her fear even though she tried to hide it. “You abandoned me too, Livie,” This time her father’s voice broke through. Her eyes darted back to it and she knew it was trying to play on her guilt. “I hated what he became. He pushed everyone away, he pushed me away,” She was admitting her feelings for once. She had never done that before but if she fought back she could possibly be free of this.

The entity seemed displeased as its face twisted at her words. She spotted the IV pole out of the corner of her eye. “Saying that doesn’t make it go away, Olivia. You deserve to be trapped here,” It seemed to growl with each word it spoke. Olivia shook her head but before she could respond back, it lunged at her. She had side stepped just in time, almost falling over as she went for the IV pole. She grabbed the pole and her grip tightened on it as she turned around, swinging it directly at the entity. It connected with its shoulder. The creature stumbled, surprised she was fighting back. “You need me!” It almost howled the words. Olivia took this chance to exit the room as quickly as possible. The hallway around her began to shake. The walls warped and stretched, losing its perfect imitation of reality. The vending machine lights flickered violently and the hum grew so loud it was unbearable. She spotted the door that had sent her here. Without a second thought, she ran for it as the entity exited the room. She reached the door and gripped the knob. When the knob actually turned, she laughed in surprise. 

“You’ll come back,” She heard the distorted voice behind her speak up. Olivia wasn’t going to hesitate even though she could hear it behind her. She didn’t dare spare a glance back as she stepped through the threshold again and she was met with a blinding, white light. She shielded her eyes from it as the white door slammed behind her. 

When she opened her eyes again, she was standing in the middle of her father’s hospital room. The beeps from his monitor were steady and her eyes found him lying there as he had been before. The lights were warm and welcoming, the sound of the nurses could be heard just outside. She let out a small gasp as the fear began to slip away and it was replaced with relief. She watched her father for a moment, her brain trying to comprehend what occurred. She didn’t truly understand that place or why it chose her. One thing she did know was that it forced her to face her father and her own guilt. 

“Oh there you are. You were gone for a long time,” Ruth spoke up as she entered the room, making her way over to the bed and the IV pole. Olivia didn’t know how to respond to her. Instead, she looked out the door and down the hall. The white door was there and for just a second, the knob slowly moved before it suddenly stopped. This time Olivia didn’t go to it. She didn’t feel that pull anymore. She looked away from the door and reached for the chair, pulling it towards her father’s bed. Her hand came to rest on top of his. His hand was warm and felt real. The steady beeps of his monitor filled the silence once more and she was grateful for it this time.