Chapter 6: Little Girl & Old Woman
"Oh, Ephyra? Where are you going?" Nurse Rain, the brown-haired Latina holding a file in her hand, stopped walking and grinned at Ephyra, who was wandering through the hospital corridors in search of the stairs.
"To the rooftop," she smiled before looking around and asking, "Do you know where the stairs leading there are?"
Nurse Rain frowned, "Stairs? Why don't you take the elevator? And what are you going to do on the rooftop?"
"I have been lying down for the past three weeks, and I feel the need to stretch my legs a bit. Taking the stairs will help me get some exercise," Ephyra responded, flashing a disarming smile, concealing the fact that she had been jogging around the hospital every midnight, two days after she woke up.
"And I insist. There are about ten more floors before you can get to the rooftop. Why don't you take the elevator and stop at the second-to-last floor, then climb the stairs from there, hmm?"
Ephyra sighed internally but kept her smile intact. "Alright, Nurse Rain. That sounds like a reasonable compromise." She nodded in agreement. "I'll take the elevator most of the way and use the stairs for the last stretch."
Nurse Rain seemed pleased with her response. "Good, and be careful up there. The rooftop can be windy." With a final smile, she walked away, continuing her rounds.
Reaching the elevator, she stopped in front of the gold-colored one and pressed the button for the second-to-last floor, just as Nurse Rain had suggested. The ride was quick, but when the doors slid open, she found two men dressed in black suits and pants with sunglasses and micro-earpieces standing in front of the elevator, their posture rigid and alert. They immediately took notice of her as she stepped out of the elevator.
Ephyra gave them a casual glance before moving to pass by them, but one of the men stepped in front of her.
"Excuse me?"
"Miss, the elevator you just came out of is unauthorized for use by anyone in the hospital. You should not have been able to access it."