008

The lady stared at him, blank, without responding a word. It left Pen feeling bad if he just did something wrong - particularly, if he got her name wrong. "Err, no way your name's Rulisa, I don't know anyone by that name. Melissa?"

Again, no reponse.

My, what am I supposed to do about this?

Pen faked a smile on his exhausted face. "I do know many Melissa's, you know?"

Other than several blinks on her eyes, the lady still did not say anything. This made Pen feel a bit pressured - he cared about his friends even at the most despair times of his life, and would not want to make any of them get mad at him, not even for the simplest mistakes he did.

He sighed, feeling bad. "Give me a clue! Am I talking to a statue??"

The lady blinked again a few times before smiling at him. "Pencil."

Eh?

Feeling a bit relieved to see her smile, he laughed a bit. "Don't do that, miss... Melissa? I mean, don't get angry, for I might not remember your name... you can call me Pencil if you wish so, anyway, Brian always does."

"B." She smiled again.

Ehhhh?

He was starting to feel a bit weird about the so-called conversation they were having - if that was even a conversation, counting the few words she had spoken back. "Miss, are you okay?"

Looking straight at his face, still smiling, she replied, "Fine."

It made him remember that those who actually said that they were fine, were always - always - apparently, not fine. Plus, being in the hospital area, he became more convinced that the lady he was talking to was indeed, not fine.

"Miss, why are you here? You alone?"

Blank-faced again, she simply muttered out short, "Sarah. Who knows."

Ahh, definitely not the wrong person. Sarah's friend... of whose name I've forgotten... still I don't understand what she's saying!

"Miss, WHY are YOU here?" He stressed out the important words, really eager to get the answer from her. "Where's Sarah?"

From a blank face, her face suddenly showed an expression - she frowned, as if worrying about something, and began to go frantic again just like the way she was when Pen accidentally bumped into her before. "Why.. why, why! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, excuse me-" She turned around and ran away, into the hospital, fast - all in a split second - before Pen could really comprehend what was going on.

"... looking for Joey!!!" He heard her yelling out loud as if telling it out to him, as she did glance back to look at him. He was surprised at the sudden change of her behaviour, and that behaviour was not going to be good at all in a hospital, where it was supposed to be a place of quietness for sick people - the way he looked at it, and the lady seemed to go about to uncontrollably break the good silence.

"Hey, hey, wait a second!" Pen went back chasing after her. Not understanding much, he wondered why he had to go after her, as he barely knew her. However he had to do something. "Hey missy!"

Stopping clumsily at the information counter, the lady abruptly asked the counter woman in her forties, who was talking on the phone, to tell her if there was a guy who had been taken into the hospital after a suicide attempt, own-made injury or anything like it. "Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me-" She was not yelling anymore, but she looked rather hysterical, as if desperately looking for something, having lost her calmness.

The counter woman put her hand over the phone receiver for a moment to get over to her, being panicky as she was. Before she could say more, the lady almost seemed to lose her control - like a dead volcano suddenly erupting, it was a great surprise, since she looked like a good, calm person.

"Don't give me that face and tell me he's not here... he's somewhere, he's here, he's around, HE'S HURT!!!" As Pen approached her from the side of the counter, he could tell she was starting to cry. "Where's JOey!! WHERE IS HE!!"

Pen pulled her arm to get her away from the counter, as he could tell the woman at the counter was starting to get scared. "Sorry, miss, she's my friend."

"Sir, no patient was taken in by suicidal causes... does she need help?"

Shaking his head, he stuggled as he tried to pull her over a bit farther away to try to hold her and talk her down. "Lookie here, quieten up NOW!"

There was a moment of silence, where the lady and Pen were both looking at each other. He could see fear in her watery eyes. That silence was soon broken. She began screaming out of control, attracting looks by the public and attention by the hospital staff who quickly came over to help calm her down.

"D-d-do-do-don-don't touch - don't touch me - GET AWAY FROM ME!"

For a while, Pen was taken aback. He never expected for her to become as wild and uncontrollable, and felt terrible that he might have helped to worsen it. About two or three nurses nearby came to help. She was struggling to get away, at the same time she was crying like crazy. Pen took a moment to let her go and let the nurses handle her, as he just decided to make a quick phone call to ask for help.

Dialing the numbers quick, he waited impatiently for an answer while looking at the lady and the nurses trying to take her away from public view. Once the phone was picked up on the other side of the line, he immediately called for the name of the person he called.

"Sarah?" He sighed hard, as he followed the nurses. "It's Melissa - um, I mean, got a massive problem here. Come over to Royal Sussex County, NOW."