Veins of Desire

CHAPTER 5

It was a rainy morning and Haliya had to drive more carefully or else their car might just stop out of nowhere. She went straight to the hospital after dropping off her mother at the salon.

“Take care. Love you!” Vivianne said, waving her hands to her daughter. She was feeling heavy since yesterday and she thought it might be because of the sudden change of weather. It suddenly poured heavily recently, and even inside their house was raining. Later on, the inside of their house was filled with buckets, pails, and any other basins that could prevent the house from flooding inside.

Vivianne looked at her daughter with full of care, her tears began to fall and started saying sorry for the things she couldn’t well provide for her daughter. “If your father was only here…” She stated, starting to get really emotional. But Haliya was quick to react. She had no time for drama and had no time to waste at all since she would be late for work.

“It’s fine. Dad’s not here anymore, that is our reality.”

Haliya smiled widely. She patiently drove Vivianne to the salon and went to Johnsen Hospital. As she drove she tried hard to remember any memory of her father, but she really had none. She heaved a sigh,

The first thing she did as she entered the hospital was to look for Ella. Surprisingly, Ella was not at the main blood bank facility. It was rare for Ella to be late, so Haliya decided to ask where she was, but then she remembered what she had witnessed yesterday and decided to stop.

When the afternoon came and Ella was still not around, Haliya started to feel uneasy. By this time, she had already sent her a message asking if she would come to work or where exactly she was. She also tried to ask around if Ella had already come and probably just somewhere inside the hospital, but no one saw her leave the hospital yesterday. Her brows collided as she surely remembered seeing Ella in the parking lot and leaving with a guy.

Haliya wondered the whole day. She flooded Ella with messages, asking her whereabouts. But she didn’t receive any reply.

Someone immediately took Ella’s place at the main blood bank facility, since she left without even saying anything. Sally took care of it. She basically had a say in anything and everything inside the hospital, which made Haliya wonder what her real position was. Sally seemed to control many things inside the hospital like she wasn’t just a typical head nurse.

Before her shift ended, Haliya went out to see Sally.

“Have you seen Nurse Sally?” She asked a nurse at the information desk. Her gut feeling was making her nervous.

“Yes, she was here a while ago,” the nurse replied and then proceeded to assist other people who were asking for a patient’s information.

But then Haliya’s shift ended and it was the first time that she didn’t personally see Sally inside the hospital. She even asked Martin and Wendy if they had seen her, but they didn’t, so they were no use to her.

Wondering why Haliya was looking for Sally, Martin and Wendy asked her why. “I just have to ask her something,” she quickly replied and then left. The brows of the two collided and shrugged.

“We told her not to meddle with things she has nothing to do with,” Martin stated, walking towards Wendy to give her a quick kiss full of hunger. “You taste good, let us have a quickie since no one would come here now,” he smiled widely and arranged his lab gown.

Wendy chuckled seductively and wrapped her hands around Martin’s neck, giving him an intense stare. “What are we again?” She asked, not hoping to get a serious answer from him.

“You know exactly what we are,” he grinned and then kissed her hungrily while his hands were already wandering around her small body.

Wendy was enjoying the feeling of being touched and kissed, she was so caught in the moment, but then her mind reminded her of something. She pulled from the kiss instantly, her eyes widened, and her lips slowly formed an ‘o’ while Martin groaned in frustration, “What?”

“What is the date today, again?”

Martin didn’t get it at first and then his eyes widened. “Sally!” he exclaimed.

…

Keenly trying to look around to find where Sally was, Haliya searched every corner of the hospital and tried to ask everyone. Sally was mostly known by everyone in the hospital, so she wasn’t hard to find. She was tall and skinny, had short hair, and a stoic face that will surely be remembered by everyone she met. Every person that she got to talk with told her they’d seen Sally around but they were not sure where she was. She even got information that Saly didn’t leave the building, which confused her even more.

“Where are you?” She asked, wondering. She was in the parking lot of the hospital and it was already past seven in the evening. It was already dark and she was worried about Ella already. In addition, the fact that she couldn’t find Sally made her even more nervous!

When Haliya was about to get back inside the main building, she saw something in the shadows. Slowly, she walked towards it out of curiosity, “Sally?” She asked, in hopes of seeing her from among the parked cars.

Sally’s faint tall shadow from a distance was illuminated by a car that arrived. From her actions, she seemed worried and anxious. She looked around and heard someone calling her name, but she shrugged it off when the person she was waiting for got out of the car. Her eyebrows aligned. She wasn’t afraid of anything, she readied herself for anything once she joined the organization. But her heartbeat was racing. She couldn’t do anything but hold her fist tightly.

“It’s nice to see you again,” the man spoke. He seemed cool but Sally knew how dangerous he was. She did not know she was that special to be personally greeted by him. She trusted him, of all the people in the organization. Because she watched him grow up and be the person that he was now. The fact that he was the one who met her eased Sally a bit.

“You’re greeting me as if we’re not seeing each other in the hospital,” Sally stated as a way of greeting him.

“So cold. I bet you already know the real reason why I am here.”

As Sally took steps backward, the man in front of her kept taking steps forward. Somehow, she knew her life would come to an end, but she did not expect it to be in his hands. He does not kill, not unless necessary. And to kill on the hospital grounds was prohibited… before.

“We’ve been together for so long, I didn’t realize you were someone else’s pawn in this game,” he said playfully.

At the side stood Haliya, who didn’t hear the full conversation. She could see Sally’s eyes full of fear and the back of a man whom she didn’t get a chance to meet. The man with the same curly hair that was making out with Ella last night!