I glanced around the hospital cautiously and shuddered. The walls were pure white, but I felt as if they were stained with the blood of those who never survived. The doors were clean, the windows shining. It was all a trick. A trap. I clutched my father’s hand. I rarely did, but the hospital gave me flashbacks of my dead mother. I needed comfort.

The stench of a thousand disinfectants hit me. I gagged. Dad put his arms around me. We turned a corner and continued walking down the hall. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people had died in this hospital over the years. It scared me that my grandmother might be next.

We found the section of the hospital where grandmother was. The man at the desk searched through the names. “Jiwoo Lee, Jiwoo Lee,” the man muttered as he scrolled through the computer. I grew relentless, tapping my foot on the floor quickly. He turned to us.

“She is not taking visitors right now,” he said sternly. The speed of my foot-floor-tapping grew. I couldn’t stay still. I buried my head into dad’s shoulder. He sighed and sat down on a bench.

“We wait,” he told me.

I sat, staring into space for a while, not moving. My head was tilted slightly to the right. The walls were even scarier now.

The man tapped at his keyboard, oblivious to our nervousness. He looked up from his screen.

“You can see her now.”

I shot up, looking at dad, who slowly stood up from the bench. He slipped my hand into his as the man gave us directions to her ward. We found the ward and entered.

I slowly sat down on the stool on one side of Grandma’s bed as dad sat on the other.

“Hello, Mom,” Dad said awkwardly. He and Grandma didn’t exactly have the most perfect relationship.

Grandma smiled weakly. “Hello. It’s wonderful to see you.” She sighed. “I wish I could have made apple pie for you.” She spread out her arms and I hugged her, careful not to hurt her.

The room wasn’t as cold and eerie as the rest of the hospital. Probably because Grandma was here. We sat in a silence for a while. It wasn’t awkward. At least, not for me. I sensed Grandma’s presence and relaxed.

Soon, it was time to go. The hospital wasn’t nearly as frightening as it was before. Seeing my grandmother alive for another day had given me a sense of comfort.