Mr. "Where-Is-The-Pantry?"

The corridors of the hospital were silent as they have always been. Unwanted sounds, or simply, noises, are generally banned or kept to a minimum at hospitals. Reasons include the fact that they can stress-out patients, make them feel worse and make treating them harder. Equally, these noises could also take their toll on the staff as well. Unwanted noises can hinder the staff in fulfilling their tasks; or can make them feel tired than usual as a result of poor sleep, and worst of all, make the staff unable to effectively play out their duties. Noise produces an undesired physiological or psychological effect in an individual or a group.

Noises are basically categorised into two; external and internal noises. Efforts have been exercised in keeping external noises in the hospitals at minimum, if not suppressed at all. In a very quiet environment, every littlest of sounds are easily amplified because of the mere absence of dominant noises to mute faint noises. Sounds as faint as items falling on the floor, or bed movements, stretchers pulled over, doors opening and closing, gas supply connection, ventilator alarms, telephone, oximeter, and all other beeping sounds from any other apparatus; could create noises of tolerable kinds. And how do these noises can be tolerable? If they are still noises to begin with? It is their repetitiveness. Mostly, these types of noise, those that one can hear repetitively, can somehow turn into sweet melodies. Repeated sounds, even those which annoyed at first, can work magic in our brains.

Cami felt weird as she remembered how the faint sounds of a ventilator machine, in combination with the swishing sound of an electric fan, plus the occasional rolling sounds of stretchers being pulled in the corridors can make her mushy, like those sounds, when combined, can make a sweet lullaby. For years that she has been working at the hospital, Cami had found the comforting sound for her right in the environment she has been working at . Other people may claim the white noise of televisions, or the static sounds of radios when finding a connection as their comforting sounds; but to Cami, those were the everyday little noises she hears around her.

External noises are tolerable, Cami claims, it is the noise that comes from inside her which are harder to tame. Internal noises which comes from the mind itself, are the hardest noises to tolerate. People believe that it is the brain that is the noisiest part of our body as it allows frequent changes in our focus, leading to constant mental chatters, long mental monologues and internal debates. Our brains spit topics about our work, family, money, health, ageing and relationships; faster than any hosts of any morning talk shows do, beside the fact that most of these hosts do have idiot boards and cue cards, anyways. The brain can nag us about opinions of others of us, or how a perfect date will still be ruined no matter how it was planned, or even our own critical perception of ourselves. The brain plays out a voice in our heads that keeps on talking and talking like those wise old sage in fantasy movies.

Cami had long accepted the fact that she and her mental noises have stabilised their co-existence since having her mental monologues have long been an embedded habit to her and she considered it as an inseparable part of her life. She was in the middle of yet another mental chatter when she happened to pass by one of the rooms in the ICU. She stopped by its large glass windows and stared inside, at the patient lying on a blue-coloured sheet. She knew that he is a new patient since the beeping sounds of the apparatus attached to the man have not yet synchronised with the rest of the faint external noises in the ICU; at least according to Cami.

"You know you can come in, right?" said a voice behind her, "I mean, you're a nurse"

Cami gathered herself together and her thoughts away from scrutinising the sounds the man's apparatus make to turn towards where the voice was from. As she quickly turned her back, she saw a man walking away from the shadowy part of the corridors and into the place where she was standing. When the man totally stepped out of the dark, Cami saw the same man that she talked to before, the man with a void in his eyes.

"It is you, Sir" she paused consciously, "I mean, I am a nurse, yes, but I am not assigned to him. Besides, his nurse might be here in a minute. I am totally out of shift, technically"

The man had his gaze fixed on the patient inside the glass-windowed room. The void in his eyes gave way to agony to somehow peek out. His face looked hard, his thick browse are crossed over underneath his loose hair. The man had his left fist clenched together against his mouth that looked like it was trembling. All these while his eyes pierced through the glass window of the room

Silently, Cami was staring at the man standing before her. Instances like these, when they are too close in proximity at each other, she could not help but be ensnared by those pair of eyes. Those eyes give a warm sensation to Cami, like at some any other circumstances, she could be looking at those eyes and feel the warmth of stars reflecting off them on cold nights. Or she could be lost in them counting the number of hours she could stand herself just staring at them. Never did she feel so captivated by someone's eyes before; or she might have not found any reasons to look at someone in the eyes at all.

"I can tell he is in pain" the man's deep and strained voice cut the silence off

Cami once again gathered herself together and took her eyes away from him to look back at the patient inside;

"He is with you. I saw you walking behind his stretcher the day he came here" Cami whispered.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw the man walk away into the corridors. She turned her head into his direction only to find him standing in the corridor looking back at her as if he was waiting for her to follow;

"I heard you said you are out of shift, Miss" he paused to invite her over with a nod, "I really could use a company right now to find the pantry. I might get lost again,"

Cami shook her head gently to conceal her soft smile before she stepped towards him;

"I think you should really be assisted in going to the pantry. And it's Nurse Cami. Just Cami when I am off duty"

The man extended his right hand to her;

"I'm Loren"

Cami accepted the gesture with her left hand;

"Well then Loren, let's get you to the pantry again"