The Waiting Room - Paperback

by Annika P. Galloway (Author)

The hospital waiting room is crowded today, leaving a variety of mixed emotions to fill the stale air of the old, outdated room. Each patient is here for their own complicated reasons, be it love, shame, or disorders, but they all have two things in common: psychological torment and flowers.

Azaleas. Julie, an old woman who's afraid her perfect moments in life are over, and her doctor's appointment so worrisome not even falling in love with the sweet, old man sitting across from her is a powerful enough distraction from the dark, dreaded reason she's here.

A Pale Amaryllis. Diana, a self-conscious, 15-year-old girl who's just broken the waiting room chair she was sitting in. Her constant obsession with food has caused her weight to get out of hand, and her mother sitting beside her can't seem to stop talking about it.

Toxic Daisies. James and Daisy, a toxic couple in their twenties struggling to live together while dealing with severe depression and the constant spiraling of the dark, consuming thoughts that come each night.

A Bouquet of Buttercups. Theo, a 30-year-old man wishing to healthily process his trauma from childhood abuse while his overbearingly protective friends can't stop causing disruptive scenes in the waiting room.

Everyone here today is in the same waiting room, the same space, but not the same world. Each holds their own trauma, their own story, and their own meaning to the bittersweet flowers that rest in the dusty, mismatched vases of the hospital waiting room.