The haunting visage of the ghostly phantoms of distributed circadian rhythm danced a waltz in Kai's head. Five time zones and five and something hours later Kai had landed at the airport, another forty five minutes passed until she found herself back in Hope. Stuck in the forbidden lost hour of stuck in a state seemingly between worlds. Her father, a man that had long gotten used to the dance of time zones had described it as waiting for the soul to catch back up the body having lost its way somewhere midlife. The primitive reptilian demands for sleep, repeatedly flashing through her head. Her fitful brain being unable to understand why she is denying the grasp of sweet sweet sedition.

She pressed her head against the window of the cab, trying in vain to find some relief in the form of the cool glass. The car a Japanese "re-imagining" of an american model seemed to effortlessly slide across the asphalt, not a bump not a slight jostle was not aiding in her attempts to stay awake. The leather seats of the car seemingly drawing her into it, to drag her into the land of slumber. Though the midday sun still shined she felt as though she it was more appropriately the middle of the night. She looked towards the back of the head of her driver, an Israeli man with graying hair, missing his left ear who was currently humming along to some Leonard Cohen song on the radio. Sure Hope was just a bit out of the way from the airport but the one fare would be within the forty dollar mark and that was too sweet a catch to just give up upon. She would stop off at her Fathers house later, but she had to first go the hospital.

She had found about the accident from a friend of a friend, they say it was a head on collision and that he was put into a coma. Kai had been out of the country for the last two months, working numbers and statics to a large scale business firm in Europe. The jobs themselves never lasted more then a few months, depending on how much data needed to be filtered through. She hopped around her a lot, as man in three piece Italian made suits recommended her skill sets to affluent men in three piece french ,made suits and so on. It paid well enough, and it was quiet she mostly worked alone and that was something she preferred over some office job. When her time was up she deiced to head back to Hope, she had not seen her Father in a long time and maybe she could go see the arse in the hospital. 

Dallas Robertson and Kai Fleischer were not the type of people one would see and decide that a friendship of sorts should occur, but life has a way of not following its set conformity. It helped add to the Dallas mythology as it came into reality. As he was one of the only people that Kai, actually talked too at all. But as she moved on and set off on her path with a wanderlust, they never did see one another again. But Kai figured that she at least owed him, one visit while he was in the hospital.. How the boy acted to other people she was probably only going to be one of a few.

As she was lost in her thoughts, they had soon come up to Saint Peter's. She payed the fare almost with the quality of a robot as she stepped out of the cab, nothing with her except a small backpack, the rest of her belongings the little that she had were going to be shipped back over seas. St.Peters was a building she knew far too well from her childhood. Having been admitted six times due to panic attacks, twice due to broken bones from playing field hockey and once for when her father had fallen and broke his leg. She starred up at the building for another moment, hugging her jacket close against her feeling its warmth encase her. That was a long time ago, and she had not been having troubles like that in a while yet. She walked into the hospital the slow whir as the automatic door behind them opened. The small of antiseptic was thick in the air. the main entrance with its limonium floor scrubbed clean and bright, so that one could see their reflection starring back at them. A nurse of sorts sat at a table at a desk, several files opened in front of her as she typed away. Behind her was two figures, statues depicting Peter's healing of Aeneas with the words above it saying in Latin "et ait illi Petrus Aeneas sanat te Iesus Christus surge et sterne tibi et continuo surrexit!" (Aeneas, Jesus Christ makes you whole; arise and make your bed!"), it was required of course for a hospital named after a saint to have at least one odd statue. Kai walked up to the nurse and waited for her to look up.

After a minute or two of standing she began to notice the low music playing in the background Smooth Jazz the official soundtrack of hospitals and elevators everywhere. It of course never went out of style for it was never [i]in style.[/i] The lazily moving walking baseline was punctuated by the nurse typing on the keyboard, data entry a fate worse than death. A minute later Kai made a noise, discreet enough not to be rude but it was obvious the lady was oblivious. The nurse snapped out of her trance as she shook her head and looked up as she just noticed her. 

"Oh! Hello dear! And how may I help you today?" The nurse asked with a slight warmness to her dead monotone voice, as if to say that she was busy and Kai was not helping her get unbusy.

"Uh yes... I'm looking for a friend of mine Dallas Robertson?"

"Robertson.... he was the boy that got in a car crash about a month ago correct? Hmmm give me a moment." She explained to Kai but she seemed to be more talking to herself. Kai stood and waited counting the number of keystrokes the nurse inputted 17.... which struck Kai as odd as Dallas only had 16 letters first and last name, that was one of the first things she told him about, that his name was a good one because it was a perfect square. She watched as the nurse furrowed her brow and then a moment later entered another stroke hitting the backspace key. She smiled having her Eureka moment before looking up at Kai and verbally giving her directions in short to head up a few levels.

Kai nodded her thanks walking down the hallway cutting through where she was directed. She went through the waiting room where people sat in varying states of distress. A boy clutching his hand where the pinkie had grown thrice its normal size, another whose nose looked five different colors and slightly off color, an older man with a hole in his mouth among others. All types came to be treated that was what Kai learned upon her visits, from drunks and weirdos, to teachers and police officers it was a melting pot of class, race and age. She finally found her way to the elevator, hit the button waited the obligatory minute and forty five seconded (she counted) and went inside. She hit the button for the floor needed and waited as Kenny G took over the elevator with his saxophone. 

The elevator door opened and Kai took a right and then a left as she was instructed coming to a brightly lit hallway with several wooden doors. As she approached she heard voices that sounded like they were emanating from the room that she believed to be the one Dallas was occupying. Rather then intruding upon them, she deiced to give them some space and she continued walking down the hallway to a large window at the end of the hall. She sat on the edge looking out on the quiet town of Hope. to her direct right was a drawing seemed to be made by a painted in a frame in crayon.Of what seemed to be a young girl, her parents, a doctor and a man that could of either been God/ Saint Peter or maybe Santa Claus. Maybe all three? As she looked out whistling a small tune to herself, a simple four note progression. She remembered a conversation she had with the idiot one day when he dragged her along on a day of cutting school. It was about the mental benefits of doing nothing but starring at clouds. She is still fairly certain she won the argument against it, but knowing Dallas he probably heard none of it. 

[I]"For you see clouds are........"[/i]