12 Hours

The Hospital waiting room always has the same atmosphere, the same tone.  The smell of medicine hangs in the air and worried people from all different backgrounds waited impatiently as they wait to see their loved ones. On one side of the room, a worried policeman sat slumped in his chair, half-asleep. On the other side of the room, Hyde sunk back in his tiny excuse for a chair. He looked normal enough, a young 20-something that had better things to do with a stylish goatee to boot. But the bloody bandage wrapped around his hand had dragged him here. Beside him an angry, balding, man of about thirty muttered to himself. Hyde leaned over to him, hopeful to give himself some peace and quiet.

         “Yo dude can you quiet down” he whispered in his ear. The angry man shot Hyde a look of death. “You’re telling me to shut up! Me, the quiet one! The hardworking one!” he screamed.

         “Whoa dude, calm down there, what’s wrong?” Hyde quizzed

         “It’s my no good wife! I work tirelessly day in and day out as a truck driver! I work 12 hours a day! And how does she thank me! By doing nothing but spending her time shopping and buying the most expensive things in the world!

         “Well why don’t you tell her what’s wrong?”

         “Because, ever since my parents broke up, I’ve vowed to keep my work life and my private life separate. My wife dosen’t even know I have a job! I told her that I inherited millions of dollars when we first met!”

         “What! But then she must spend her money as if you’re a millionaire!”

         “Exactly! So because of that, I have to work even harder just to keep up!”

         “Ouch! Dude, that’s gotta suck”

At that moment, the nurse came in and nodded at the angry man. He got up and limped over to the nurse.



         A moment after the man left a doctor came into the waiting room and sat on the chair besides Hyde. The woman looked tired and had bags under her eyes. “Woah dude, you look tired” Hyde told her sympathetically. The woman gave Hyde a weary look and smiled back. “You would be tired too if your had to work 12 hours a day”

         “Wow, 12 hours, you too hey, what’s your excuse?”

         “Oh it’s nothing really, I’m not greedy or anything. It’s just, my buffoon of a husband actually believes that he has inherited millions of dollars!” she told him. Hyde gave the lady a blank stare and struggled to suppress a laugh.

         “He told me he was a millionaire when we first met, of course I didn’t believe him but he seemed like such a pitiful and stupid man that I ended up marrying him. Of course, as a result he spends all his time gambling and spending our money as if we were actually millionaires”

         “You….he….” Hyde stammered, unable to comprehend what he was hearing.

         “I know right! So now just to keep us going I have to work even harder”

         “But….why don’t you just tell him what’s going on!” Hyde exclaimed.

         “Oh I couldn’t do that to him, it would break his poor heart, whenever I have to go to work I just tell him I’m going out shopping” she smiled back wearily. Hyde stared at him with his mouth gaping open, the look of shock on his face was so enormous it was almost humorous. The tired woman just stared back warily and smiled. At that moment a nurse came in and spoke to the lady.

         “Um, excuse me Doctor but there’s a patient that’s been waiting to see you” she whispered to her

         “Oh ok ok I’m coming, don’t rush me” she yawned.

         “Um, I would hurry up if I were you, the man has been fuming ever since he came in and his receding hair line is starting to scare me” the nurse replied. The tired lady began to laugh.

         “Oh don’t you worry, he sounds just like my husband, I’m sure I can deal with him” and with that she got up and walked off with the terrified nurse close behind and a shocked Hyde left behind with an open jaw.



         When the lady walked off Hyde sunk back into his chair, a sigh escaping his lips. Soon after the lady disappeared from view a new person walked into the hospital. He sat next to Hyde, a smug smile on his face. The man looked extremely wealthy. He had a clean new business suit on and a diamond ring on his finger. The jewel on the ring sparkled, reflecting light into Hyde’s eyes and nearly blinding him. The man noticed this and started to laugh, his shiny teeth reflecting even more light into Hyde’s eyes. “Careful you don’t look too closely at that ring, it nearly blinded even me once” said the wealthy man.

         “Nice ring dude and I like your car too, is that a Ferrari?” Hyde asked, dazzled.

         “Yup, sure thing, and I got a Lamborghini as well” replied the man with a smile.

         “Sweet, how did you get so rich dude? You barely look older than me” he asked, and it was true, the man looked to be in his mid-twenties.

         “Aha, can you keep a secret kid?”

         “I’ve been doing it all day”

         “Excellent, it’s very simple” the man leaned in close to Hyde and whispered in his ear.

         “Listen to me closely my friend, hard work and effort is for chumps. The only way you can ever get rich is to cheat” he whispered. Hyde looked taken aback.

         “Really? What do you mean?”

         “Take me for example” the man shouted, waking up the half-asleep policeman on the other side of the room. “I get all my money from stealing bank account details off of poor suckers and phishing all the money to my own happy little bank account!” the man shouted proudly, unaware that the policeman on the other side of the room had gotten up and began walking over to them. “Why just a couple months ago I managed to steal the bank account details of this stupid married couple, can you believe that both the husband and wife work 12 hours a day!! And guess who’s the lucky man who runs away with all their hard work!” at this point, the man started to laugh hysterically. He was rolling on the floor laughing by the time the policeman had snapped on his handcuffs, catching him unawares.

Hyde almost laughed at the way the man fainted with shock and disbelief upon seeing the policeman, had it not been for the sudden scream that emanated from inside the hospital. Everybody in the waiting room heard both a man and a woman shout out “What on earth are you doing here”