Mary, Sandra's mother, had just closed the door to her daughter's hospital room and turned to look at the wall engraving beside it. There was a room number and a quote on it, taken from a novel by the man who had founded the hospital, years ago. “Small, but subtle are the blessings for the patient. Big and destructive are the punishments of the hasty.” She looked at the quote for a minute, pulling a small pad of paper to write down her daughter's room number, ensuring that she wouldn't forget it. In her 39 years of life, she had forgotten things one too many times to not have something to write down her important thoughts. “Alright. 246. Room 246. Don't worry, sweetie. I'll be right back.”

She made her way down a hallway, walking past several sets of rooms with several sets of patients. The hall was crowded, the evening young and this being the busiest hospital in the city. There were heart monitors, defibrillators, waste baskets, and many other pieces of equipment crowding the hall. At the end of it, however, was an open area with a large, round set of desks, where she'd been earlier that day, finding out where they'd taken Sandra. If she was going to get any answers to what she wanted to know and do, it would be from them. They had watched over Sandra's progress since she'd been brought in.

She still remembered what had happened earlier, as she walked towards the Nurse's Station. She may have been a forgetful mother, but she couldn't forget any of that. Sandra had busted through the front door, crying and screaming. She could still hear “M-Mom! Mom, help me!” ringing in her head. It made her eyes water, just from the memory of it. The look of pain and fear on her daughter's face, the look of fear on her own face. It was all terrifying to Mary. She had already lost her husband. On some level, she felt like she might lose her daughter, too. She'd dropped the phone conference she was in and rushed her to the Emergency Room. There would be hell to pay from her co-workers, but she didn't care. She had enough money, and her daughter was more important.

She deeply sighed as she got closer to the Nurse's Station, thinking harder on the scenario. She had dropped her off at the ER, but they wouldn't let her come in with her. Sandra's knee had been misplaced, and had a lot of bleeding coming out of her head. They'd taken her straight in for treatment, leaving Mary behind. She was told to move to the main hospital building, after Sandra had been treated and placed in a room. Mary had spent the next 2 hours constantly asking the nurses about where Sandra had been placed. Finally, a young, blonde-haired nurse had told her where she was, where she hurried along.

“Thank goodness you're okay, honey.” she whispered to herself, finally coming up to the desks. She knew Sandra wasn't in that great of a condition, and her plans of auditioning for this scholarship seemed thwarted, for the moment, but she was glad she was going to be okay. Mary didn't know if she could handle losing another family member, the last loved one she had left to her. Right now, though, she needed to do something for Sandra. Her daughter needed to recover fast, and she was going to make sure that she got the best treatment she could possibly get. She put her hands up on the table of the desk and blurted out words. “I need to speak to someone about my daughter.”

The nurse from before walked over to her and gave her an innocent smile. Her blue eyes met Mary's eyes as she began to converse with her. “Sure thing, hun. What did you need to talk about? Did they move her?” “No, no, no...” began Mary, shaking her head. “I know where she is, thanks to you, but I need to know about her medication. I need to know if there's anything better I can get for her.” The nurse began to finger through her files, until she pulled out a clipboard with Sandra's name on it. “Let's see...your daughter is Sandra Moore. According to our file, she is on a very strong antibiotic. Recovery time is, on average, about 6 weeks.”

“No, no, no, no, no! That is EXACTLY what I need to talk about! That's not good enough! My daughter needs better treatment than that. I have more than enough money to afford any kind of treatment you have for you. Nothing is too expensive. I demand that you give her something better. She HAS to get better sooner than that!” “I'm sorry, Miss, but there's nothing we can really do. This is one of the strongest medications we have here at the--” The nurse had begun to speak, but Mary's adrenaline was running and interrupted her. “NO! There has to be more. What aren't you telling me?! What are you hiding from us? She deserves the best, and that's too long. Stop lying to me!”

The hallway got quiet after that. The rolling of equipment stopped, as did the chatter of everyone else. Suddenly, everyone in the surrounding area was looking at Mary Moore. They all had looks of disapproval, shock, and more. She started to feel a little nervous, and she could see that the nurse in front of her was shocked as well. “I'm sorry...” said Mary, letting out a sigh. “I didn't mean to yell at you. I just...want the best for my daughter. That's all. You don't know how worried I am for her. Ever since her father died, Sandra's all I have. I don't want her to be sick any longer than she has to.”

“I understand, Miss Moore.” said the nurse, smiling towards her. “You must love your daughter very much to do this much for her when she's sick.” Looking around, she waited for the other nurses to turn the other way. She then started whispering to her. “If you'll hold on just a moment, I think I can make a call to get you something that may be better for her. Head down to Radiology and ask for someone named Mickey. They'll know you're coming.” The nurse then began to write something down on a small piece of paper. She reached forward and stuck it into Mary's purse, which was handing from her arm.

“I...am not sure I understand.” said Mary, a little confused about this. “Shhh...” replied the nurse. “Just go down to Radiology, find Mickey, and everything will be fine. I promise.” She winked at Mary as she motioned her to leave. Mary still wasn't sure what was going on, but she just slowly walked down the hall, seeing a map on the wall, so she could find out where Radiology was, and to find this Mickey person...