A TANGLE OF LIGHT 

By Tessa Harvey


    Adrienne walked confidently through the labyrinth of hospital corridors. Nurses and care workers hurried along, doctors strode by, male and female, stethoscopes worn like a necklace, swinging. Visitors hovered around lifts, checking directions. Adrienne almost bumped into an older lady carrying a bunch of multi-coloured freesias. The lady smiled at her with bright eyes above her mask. How much a smile can mean, the young woman thought.
    Suddenly she came to a small room. It was the number she had been given. Hesitantly, Adrienne rapped on the open door. There was no response so she walked inside, noticing the lowered bed and the recumbent form under the white sheet. Finding her voice, Adrienne ventured a quiet "hello."
    The person on the bed turned, pulling herself more upright with a struggle. Resisting the urge to help someone she barely knew, Adrienne glanced at the face turned questioningly toward her.
    She looked younger than the student had supposed. Introducing herself, Adrienne explained. Again she saw the dark rain-drenched street, the grimy buildings, reeling into the gathering darkness and felt once more that fear of the aggressive stranger. He had loomed so menacingly out of the night.
    That fear was reflected also in the eyes of the woman before her, but there was also a depth, a shine of courage Adrienne had rarely previously experienced.

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