Aftermath

The hospital hallway was too quiet for someone who had spent most of his life chasing noise. He kept pacing, hands in his pockets, as he prayed and hoped the results came back positive. He had always believed life was simple, pleasure when he wanted it, and goodbye when he was done. Money could buy comfort. Women were easy. Consequences were something other people talked about. Not him. But one test result had the power to change everything. He tried not to think about the nights he could barely remember, the names he had forgotten by morning, or the body he had treated like nothing more than a temporary distraction. Because deep down, he knew. Nobody did this to him. He did to himself. When a girl walked past carrying a small pharmacy bag, he noticed her immediately, pretty, calm, and completely irrelevant to the storm inside his head. He quickly pushed the thought away. Then the doctor called his name. The result Victor's pov I entered the doctor’s office, and the pity on his face confirmed what I had refused to believe. “I’m sorry, Mr. Victor. You are HIV positive.” The words struck me harder than anything I had ever heard. I found myself sitting on a chair in the hallway, not knowing how I got there. The doctor’s voice kept ringing inside my head, repeating over and over again. I had no idea how long I sat there, lost in my thoughts. After what felt like an eternity, a feminine touch pulled me back from wherever my mind had gone. It was the girl I had seen coming out of the pharmacy earlier. She was prettier than I remembered — quiet, gentle, almost angelic in the way she looked at me. And then I mentally wanted to slap myself. I had just received life-changing news, and yet I was thinking about how pretty she was. When she touched me again, I immediately turned and told her to get away from me. The words came out harsher than I intended. The moment they left my mouth, regret followed. But I couldn’t take them back. She only looked at me with pity in her eyes and opened her mouth to speak.