Once Upon a Lie by Rebecca Taylor

Author:Rebecca Taylor [Taylor, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rebecca Taylor

CHAPTER 31

On the basement level of the Neurological Institute, Mia followed Renee, the nurse who had greeted her at the front desk on the first floor and taken her vitals. They were headed down a narrow hallway with a low ceiling. Mia felt confident that if she reached up her hand, the tips of her fingers would brush against the rough textured finish that was likely blown into place sometime in the nineteen sixties.

They passed doors every twelve feet on either side of the hall, painted the same pale hospital blue you encountered everywhere in the medical industry. Mia knew the shade and hue were supposed to have a calming effect on patients. It instilled feelings of trust, or so she'd been told at one time or another.

Mia couldn't help but wonder if other patients like her, patients who had long and traumatic medical experiences and were always swathed in this particular shade, learned to feel anything but calm and trusting over time. Seeing the color now generally had the opposite effect because she knew the next several hours, weeks, and sometimes months would involve needles, injections, hospital beds, monitoring machines, feeding schedules, and an endless parade of medical professionals who would always and forever be in her life.

Mia would probably never entirely escape hospital blue.

The whole body shaking she'd described to her sister over the phone had subsided into an internal tremor. Her bones quaked, but she doubted there were any obvious external signs. If nothing else, Mia was usually pretty great at hiding. When Renee had greeted her upstairs, there wasn't even a shadow of concern that flitted across her expression at the sight of Mia.

And now, down in the belly of the institute, Renee finally stopped their trek down this tight artery of a hallway and opened one of the doors.

"Here we are," she said brightly. "Room zero two two."

Mia followed her through the door. She saw the room had a single-sized bed in the center with two low-slung, midcentury brown leather chairs on either side. There was another door on the wall next to the bed.

Renee motioned for Mia to take a seat in one of the chairs.

"I'll let Dr. Yun know you're ready," she explained, then headed through the other door.

Mia held her purse in her lap and tried to relax. She leaned back into the awkward angle of the chair, which she imagined was designed with the idea of comfort, but in fact, made her feel vulnerable. Like she was exposing her underbelly when predators were near. She much preferred chairs that encouraged you to sit fully erect. Spine tense, eyes open, ready.

She felt her hands shaking again, the palms sweating into the leather of her purse. Mia forced herself to take a deep breath right as the door Renee had exited from reopened, and Ty Yun stepped into the room.

"Hello, Mrs. Strauss. It's good to see you again."

She managed to make eye contact and gave him a brief smile before she dropped her eyes back to her lap and pulled her sleeves to the tips of her fingers.

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