He wasn’t there
889 Words
The hospital smelled like antiseptic and fear.
Lois didn’t remember how she got there.
One moment, she was on the road, rain soaking through her clothes, her heart shattering with every second… and the next, she was here—sitting under harsh white lights, her fingers trembling in her lap.
Everything felt distant. Muted.
Like the world had been turned down while her thoughts screamed.
“Miss?”
Lois looked up slowly.
A nurse stood in front of her, her expression soft… too soft.
The kind of softness that carried bad news.
“You came in with the accident victims?” the nurse asked gently.
Lois swallowed. Her throat felt dry.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Mark… Mark was in that car.”
The nurse hesitated.
Just for a second.
But Lois noticed.
Something cold slid down her spine.
“Please,” Lois said, her voice breaking. “I need to see him.”
The nurse glanced at someone behind her—a doctor this time. Older. Serious. The kind of face that had delivered too many endings.
“Can we speak with you?” the doctor asked.
Lois stood immediately, her legs unsteady.
“No,” she said quickly. “I don’t want to talk. I just want to see him.”
Silence.
A heavy, suffocating silence.
“I’m sorry,” the doctor said.
Two words.
Simple.
Final.
But Lois shook her head immediately, stepping back.
“No,” she whispered. “No, you don’t understand. He was coming to see me. He was fine. He—he called me earlier, he sounded fine—”
“There was significant impact,” the doctor continued carefully. “We did everything we could.”
Everything we could.
The words hit her like a physical blow.
Lois staggered, grabbing the edge of a chair to steady herself.
“No… no, that’s not possible…”
Her chest tightened, breath coming in short, painful bursts.
“I need to see him,” she insisted. “Please. I need to see Mark.”
Another glance passed between the nurse and the doctor.
That same hesitation.
That same flicker of something unspoken.
“Miss…” the nurse began softly, “the injuries were… severe.”
“I don’t care!” Lois snapped, her voice rising for the first time. “He’s not a stranger to me. He’s—he’s—”
Her voice cracked.
“He’s mine.”
The words hung in the air, fragile and broken.
The doctor exhaled slowly.
“We’ll take you,” he said.
The hallway felt too long.
Each step echoed.
Each second stretched.
Lois followed them, her heart pounding harder with every turn, every door they passed. Her hands were cold, her body trembling—but her mind clung to one desperate thought:
He’s alive.
He has to be.
They stopped.
A door.
White.
Plain.
Final.
The nurse reached for the handle, then paused.
Another hesitation.
“Prepare yourself,” she said quietly.
Lois nodded, though she wasn’t sure she could ever be ready for this.
The door opened.
Cold air rushed out.
Lois stepped inside.
Her eyes immediately searched—
The bed.
The figure lying on it.
Covered.
Still.
Her breath caught.
“Mark…” she whispered, taking a step forward.
Her fingers trembled as she reached for the sheet.
This is it.
This is the moment everything becomes real.
She pulled it back—
And froze.
The world tilted.
Her heartbeat stopped.
Because the face staring back at her…
Was not Mark.
Lois stumbled backward, shaking her head violently.
“No… no, this is wrong… this is the wrong person—this isn’t him!”
The nurse rushed forward. “Miss, please—”
“That’s not Mark!” Lois cried, her voice breaking into panic. “I know his face—I know him—this is not him!”
The doctor stepped in, his expression tightening.
“There was only one male victim recovered from the vehicle,” he said carefully.
“No,” Lois said, backing away. “No, you’re lying. You have to be lying. He was driving—he was alone—this doesn’t make sense!”
Her mind raced, trying to piece together something—anything—that could explain this.
Her eyes darted back to the body.
Then something else hit her.
Harder.
Colder.
She stepped forward again, slower this time.
Her gaze dropped to the man’s hand.
Bare.
No watch.
Mark never took off his watch.
Never.
Her breath hitched.
“And his phone?” she asked suddenly, her voice quieter now… but sharper.
The nurse hesitated.
“It wasn’t recovered,” she said.
Silence.
Heavy.
Loud.
Lois’s heart began to pound again—but this time, it wasn’t grief.
It was something else.
Something rising.
Something certain.
She looked up at them, her eyes no longer filled with just tears—
But with clarity.
With defiance.
“That’s not him,” she said again, steady this time. “And you know it.”
The doctor didn’t respond.
And that was answer enough.
Lois took a slow step back.
Then another.
Her mind was spinning, but one truth cut through all the confusion, all the fear, all the pain—
Clear.
Sharp.
Unshakable.
Mark was not in that room.
Which meant only one thing.
He wasn’t dead.
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