She was brave beyond words, I would have been frightened out of my skin if I were her. The machines beeping, the lights flickering, the man next to her struggling to breath. He heaves, he hisses, he grunts, he groans. “Are you okay?’ ‘Heave,’ “how are you feeling?” ‘Hiss.’ All night the pattern continues.

The sun begins to rise, suddenly it becomes the coldest it’s been all night.
It’s not day light yet but it’s close. There’s a moment of hallelujah silence.
Beyond the distance a subtle echo ‘drip, drip.’ She hasn’t spoken a word since sunset.

Brave. Silently brave.

She’s defeated depressed and devastated, she’s been alone for a while now, aside from the constant caress from the grunts, and groans.

White walls,
A prison sentence.
A constant punishment portrayed by radiation.
Forever lasting agony.

She pulls out what used to be her luscious hair in clumps, strand by strand, hand full, by handful. I would have been frightened out of my skin, if I were her.
Afraid of the walls, the machines, the lights, the screams, the noise, the pain, the loneliness.

She picks herself up and carries her limp body to the bathroom floor. Red ink runs from her plump lips. The day has started again, just another routine day behind these prison white hospital walls. I watch on from the bed next to hers,
Heaving, hissing, grunting, groaning...