<i>“Come on honey," </i>he said with a forced smile,<i> "let's head downstairs. As far as we know it's only this floor that's been affected. Maybe we were just some stupid nurse's oversight."</i>As Jessi listened to those words she knew that he was saying them to just make both of them feel better. Yes, he was putting on a brave face, but he was her husband after all. She knew exactly what was going on in his head and their situation was nerve racking to say the least. She was happy to take his hand and help him walk to figure out what was happening. They only had a few puzzle pieces to work with at the moment and to complete the whole picture they would have to find out more.<br/><br/>They followed the signs toward the elevators, but Jessi knew that it wouldn’t be working. However, her instincts proved correct when she saw that the stairs were located just down the hall from them. “Here we go,” she stated mainly just to hear something, the complete silence was eating away at the composure she was trying so hard to maintain. As they walked through the door to start downstairs they noticed they were on the third floor, not too bad with all things considered. It was more difficult going down the stairs than she had originally anticipated due to the added burden of Richard’s weight leaning on her. As they reached the second floor she told Richard “Just stay here, I’m only going in a couple of feet to see if anything is different.” She didn’t wait for any kind of response, she just directed him to the railing and left him there to wait and rest. As she walked the hallway of the second floor it was just a repeat of the one they had woken up on. This was what she expected, but it still made her feel so much worse to be correct. Jessica went back and helped her husband down to the first floor without a word.<br/><br/>They left the stairs on the first floor and into the lobby of the hospital, and that was when she realized where they were. They had come to this very place when Jessi had come down with a case of food poisoning. “Richard,” her voice barely rising above a whisper, “this is Dayland Memorial. What in the hell is going on?” Even though she was becoming more frightened by the second her mind couldn’t help but recall the vow she had made on that terrible day. She would<i>never</i>listen to another coworker again about trying a new restaurant for lunch.<br/><br/>The lobby, no, the entire hospital was so empty that it began to remind her of a movie they had once watched called the Langoliers. Now they just needed to find a soda to see if it was flat. She wasn’t sure if she should even mention her thoughts to her husband. Would he laugh along with her, or would he get upset at her making light of their increasingly grave situation? Honestly, she also had mixed feelings about the comparison. Yes it could be a great ice breaker, but would it eventually bring her to tears. She really didn’t want to turn into a basket case right now, that wouldn’t solve anything and she didn’t see a tissue anywhere.<br/><br/>With the hospital deserted there was no use staying there and if this really was the same place that she thought it was their house was a twenty minute drive away. She was silently pondering the next move. She was inside her own head so much though that she didn’t realize that Richard was probably in pain from all the walking. “Why don’t we have a seat and figure out what’s next, we can maybe see what’s outside after,” she said, motioning to the floor for them to sit. There was a waiting area but it was even farther then she thought was manageable. It wasn’t just Richard’s well-being that concerned her at the moment either. Her own breathing was becoming labored and her legs were feeling weak. Sitting down anywhere seemed like the best idea she had since the whole strange mess had started.