The first word thought of when entering the hospital; death. Well that’s what Jack thought of. You see Jack is your average civilian with a part time job at the local grocery store and a full time student attending college. Jack is a very loved young man. His life seemed almost like the perfect college experience (as seen in movies that is).

His perfect life came to a pause when his loving girlfriend ended up in the hospital. Jack got the standard police report call “Hello this is Officer Brown, Jill fell down a hill and we need you to meet us at St. Mark’s.”

There went Jack speeding, 23 mph over the limit, in a rush to the hospital. When entering the ER his thoughts were all over the spectrum. What if Jill dies? What if it’s a couple of broken bones? He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to know at this point. Which was probably a good thing. In the ER everyone around him was going 5000 mph either taking someone’s vitals or informing families where their loved one will be transported.

Jill was placed in ICU. Awake but unable to communicate due to a TBI. When Jack visited her up in ICU the day later he noticed everyone and everything still seemed a very fast pace. He was glad to see her eyes open and naturally watching TV. He didn’t like the fact that she was connected to what appeared to be every machine possible. He knew however the machines were needed for her to survive. A week later Jill was moved out of ICU and placed in room 406. Jack relished these visits. These visits included an awe-inspiring view from the room and did not include any fast paced nurses or machines hooked up to his girlfriend.

So when you ask Jack what the timbre of hospitals are his answer isn’t straightforward. Jack would say everyone within the hospital is afraid and each area of the hospital is different. Floors either have professionals storming around or professionals delivering bad and good news. Lobbies either have people in a frantic or people at ease finally getting discharged. He decided that hospitals either kill or save the physical body but always kill part of one’s emotions.

Now, a year later Jack and Jill went up the same hill to fetch a pail of water.