ext_201965 (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
4lulzngiggles.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
damned_lounge2008-10-29 10:03 pm
4lulzngiggles.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_lounge2008-10-29 10:03 pm
Entry tags:
Octoberfest '08: "Game On!" By Jade Pen
Title: Game On!
Author: Jade Pen
Word Count: 3,060
Rating: PG
Characters: OCs, Edward Elric, Maes Hughes, MaggieKrueger Burroughs, Head Doctor
Summary: Not every patient adapts well to life in Landel's Institute.
-----
"Good morning, Mr. Roberts! And how are we today?” It was a scene that had played out countless times before: a nurse appearing and waking up a new patient at the wonderful Landel’s Institute, with said patient being slightly less than impressed at the sudden change.
The response was so common that the nurse could almost have recited it verbatim. “That’s not my name. What am I doing here?”
“Of course it’s not, William. And you’re here because you aren’t well; but don’t worry, we’ll be taking good care of you. You’re just in time for lunch, too! Why don’t you come with me and meet with your fellow patients? I’m sure you’ll make a lot of friends here. …what’s wrong?”
William Roberts had stopped cold, his eyes sharply focusing on the nurse. “…the other patients?”
“Yes. Is something the matter?”
The patient cursed, his fists clenched as he staggered away from the nurse. “No. I am not going into a room full of crazy people. That may be the kind of game that you want to play, but I am not going to be a part of it!”
The nurse sighed, an infinite sort of pity radiating from her voice and face… a kind of pity that William hated beyond anything else. But before he could do anything else, the nurse stepped out of the room, and two positively titanic orderlies took her place. They were walls of muscle, and just a quick glance told William that there was no way he’d be able to fight even one of them, let alone two. Not that he cared about that; his life depended on not being thrown in with all those lunatics. The only hope was to get himself thrown into solitary confinement until he could think of a more permanent solution.
There wasn’t much to work with. A roll of pens, a journal, and an empty key ring… not exactly a full armament, now was it? William suddenly dove towards the pens, trying to uncap one and use it as a stabbing implement; but the orderlies were too fast for him, and they reacted as though they’d expected it. The patient barely managed to reach his pens before four strong arms grabbed him and yanked him back. Didn’t stop William from struggling, but of course, those struggles were in vain; they only managed to make his short brown hair a bit more disheveled and to muss his shapeless gray uniform with that smiley face on it.
“You can’t throw me in there! They’re not even human! Put me down! I-“
That was all he got to say. The female nurse walked towards him, and before his eyes, withdrew a syringe and a small bottle from her uniform. Anyone with any kind of experience in the medical field could guess what the contents were. As the nurse started filling up the syringe with that clear liquid, she calmly but firmly said, “Now, I know that this is a lot to take in at once, but if you don’t calm down, then I won’t have a choice but to do something you won’t like.”
Her words fell on deaf ears, though; William only struggled more fiercely when he saw the needle being drawn out of the bottle. “I’m telling you, they aren’t human! I’m not like them! You can’t force me to-“
But, finally, the nurse had enough. She had the orderlies hold William as still as possible, then forcibly injected the sedative. The man grimaced as the unforgiving metal ripped into his arm, a sharp sting of the injection… then dull ache that spread through his body as the sedative acted. It went far more quickly than William could have imagined; in just a few seconds his body wouldn’t react as he wanted it to, his thoughts went all fuzzy and distant as he clumsily tried to pull away. Even with that, though, his eyes narrowed and he forced a dangerously sharp smile on his face. “What’s… name…?”
“Nurse Thompson,” the professional blond answered with narrowed eyes, “and that’s quite enough, Mr. Roberts. If you keep acting up like this, I’ll have to report you to the Head Orderly.”
“That’s… that’s fine…” William chuckled weakly, yet there was something dangerous in his eyes, even when they were clouded over with sedatives. “I’ll remember you. Just you wait…”
Yet his threats fell on deaf ears, as he was promptly dragged out of his room and into the madhouse.
---
The first thing that assaulted William was the intercom. It suddenly rang out, and the little ringing was like that of a dinner bell. That was what made William suddenly perk up and blearily stare at the nearest speaker in utter disbelief. A dinner bell. A dinner. Bell. There was no mistaking it. The very thought made William grimace, and yet, he found himself listening on as a low gravely voice spoke on. “Attention patients, your Head Orderly here. This lunch we’ll be serving up a delectable selection of fresh-ground hamburger, flame-broiled and served on scrumptious warm bakery buns. We will also have seasoned fries, a beautiful tossed salad, and fried chicken served with my own secret blend of spices. Eat up… you won’t want to face tonight on an empty stomach!”
“Face tonight…?” The new patient grumbled quietly as he was led to the cafeteria, where he was in fact treated to all of the delicacies that had been introduced. Strange, that the food was so good, and the voice was so obviously enamored with the food that had been prepared. Was this an insane asylum or a restaurant? Great. And he couldn’t even think of a better quip than that because of the sedatives in his system. How could this day get worse?
The answer was readily apparent when his orderlies, and Nurse Thompson, led him to two other individuals, and promptly plopped him down with a tray and an admonition to “Get to see his fellow patients for who they really are.”
He saw, all right. One was a boy with golden hair and eyes, a rather muscular build, and suspicion all over his face. Then there was another man, with black hair- and an odd strand of it dangling over his face- with square glasses framing his eyes, who glanced at William with a sympathetic smile.
Sympathy. If there was one thing William hated above anything else, it was someone else’s pity. He may be drugged, disoriented, in a strange situation, and everything else, but he didn’t need someone else’s pity! “…give me a few minutes… I’ll get going.”
“Stay. You must be a new arrival, right? It’s always a little rough for a few days. I’m Maes Hughes.”
“Mm… William.” He just barely bit back his first response, which wouldn’t have been friendly at all, and instead forced a grimaced smile on his face as he glanced from one to the other.
The golden-haired boy grumbled, “Ed.” From the way he clenched his right hand into a furious fist, William could tell something was horribly wrong for some reason. But what could that be? He seemed to be a normal and rather healthy young man, no obvious injuries or anything like that. Odd. His arms were rather muscular as well, obviously well-toned… hm. Well, he supposed no teenager needed a reason to be surly. It was just his bad luck to be subjected to one.
Oh well. He might as well try to get something useful out of it. “Why… so upset? You aren’t sedated.”
“It’s worse than that,” the teenager answered, his golden eyes flashing fire for a moment before he glanced away and gritted his teeth.
Thankfully, William didn’t have to dig any deeper on his own to get the answer he needed. Maes provided that without him even having to prompt for it. “Yeah… it’s pretty rough now. Last night something happened, no one really knows what. Then this morning, things changed. No one has any powers anymore. And there were some other changes, too.”
“Damn Head Doctor. Changing things around like this, fucking around with things without caring about the people he’s screwing with…” Edward pounded his right hand into his left, and William had no doubt whatsoever in his mind that Ed would have ripped the person responsible apart into bite-sized portions.
The fact that it was just as obvious that Edward hadn’t thought through the proposition of stopping the person who’d completely negated any power he did have was even more amusing to the newcomer. William approved of the course of action, but clearly, he was not dealing with pinnacles of humanity between the two of them. That was just brilliant, now wasn’t it? He smiled, his amusement having a sharp edge to it- at this rate, he was pretty sure that if there was danger, these two would be blundering right into it- but still, amusement.
Unfortunately, before he could say any of the many comments floating in his head, that damnable dinner bell rang again, and the gravelly voice spoke out once more. At least William took some consolation in the fact that, by the look of it, neither Ed nor Maes were fond of the speaker either. Ed especially looked like a hound given the prey’s scent.
“Attention patients! The Head Doctor has informed me that the menu of today’s activities has gone from a la carte to a more formal arrangement. Everyone will indulge in therapy sessions with our dedicated staff, where your many problems will be picked down to the bone. After that, of course, our new nightshift menu will be unveiled… I’m sure that none of you will be left wanting more.”
William got off exactly one snide comment, “Not exactly subtle, are they?” before the two orderlies from before grabbed him and started dragging him off on his own. To his dismay, he found that no other patients were going along with him…
---
“Now, Mr. Roberts… I’m Dr. Burroughs, but you can call me Maggie. I want you to sit down and tell me a little bit about yourself. How are you feeling?” He should have expected doctors trying to treat the many crazy individuals that had to be floating around, but he’d never thought that it would be him right here, with a woman in a soft white lab coat looking at him with such a sympathetic look that William wished he could wipe it off her face. Unfortunately, the orderlies were surely just around the corner, and with the sedation just wearing off, he didn’t want to be thrown back to the wolves without any means of protecting himself.
So he took his refuge in the last stronghold to any person left in a situation like this… sarcasm. He smiled so sharply that he might as well have drawn a knife, then chirped, “Just fine, doctor. I’ve only been dumped in an insane asylum when I’m not insane, no one recognizes me, oh, and I’ve trying my best to fight through a sedative cocktail so I can find some way to convince you of this fact so I can do something about it. …how are you, doctor?”
Much to William’s chagrin, his doctor didn’t even seem to be upset at the snide commentary. No, instead she smiled, quiet and patient. Like a saint. The ludicrousness of such a pathetic situation was not lost on the patient. “I know this is a difficult situation for you, but I’m here to help you.”
“You can’t help me… what was your name again? Dr. Burroughs but you can call me Maggie.” William’s smile grew only sharper as he leaned forward in his chair, a sudden intensity in his eyes as he spoke further. “I’d expected this from the patients, but you were supposed to be better. You don’t recognize me at all, do you?”
As he’d expected, there wasn’t even a flicker of recognition in her eyes. But how could she not realize? It was so frustrating that he almost wanted to tear his hair out. First being thrown in with the patients, and now… this. Ugh. Her confusion and baffled conciliatory tone grated on his nerves to no end. “I’m… afraid not? Why do you think I should know you?”
“Because you work for me.” William leaned forward, his smile finally taking on the cancer-causing, soul-searing, heart-freezing creepiness that had made him so very infamous. “This is my Institute, Dr. Burroughs. Doctor Martin Landel’s Institute, not anyone else’s. And I suppose I should say that that you’re working for me now. Once I get back to where I belong…”
And she interrupted him. The one thing William hated above everything else was being interrupted. Well, no, he hated hypocrisy, deceit, treachery, bad jazz music, and sympathy as well, and various combinations above them in individual portions, but being interrupted had an oh-so-special way of aggravating him. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’ve seen the Head Doctor. And he really doesn’t look anything like you.”
“He’s just a kid, really. Apparently he’s inherited this hospital, which explains all of the changes that have happened… a new Head Orderly, restructuring all over the place, things like that. But he’s definitely getting into the swing of things here; I think that it’s going to turn out all right.” Maggie smiled as she took a long drink of her coffee, then reached to pour out another cup from her coffee maker. “Why don’t you tell me-“
That was all William could take. Enough of that! With one motion he swept the coffee maker off the desk and planted both hands on the edge, standing up so he could loom over the woman. “I’m not telling you anything, doctor. You’re going to tell me where I can find this ‘new’ Head Doctor, and then I’m going to get this straightened out. If you do that, then I’ll let you keep your job when I’m back in control.”
Normally anyone would quail beneath his glare and his sharp smile, but Maggie just looked back at him, something in her eyes showing a dangerous side to her. Her politeness was a lot like his grin; so pointed she could skewer someone with it. “First things first, Mr. Roberts. Please clean that up.”
“You can’t honestly expect me to clean that up.”
“I’m waiting.”
The two of them glared at each other, neither one budging an inch as the coffee stain slowly spread across her desk. Neither one budged or planned to move at all, and as best as William could tell, they would have been like that for hours. But suddenly that damnable dinner bell rang over the intercom, and the Head Orderly’s voice boomed out once more.
“I’m sure that all of you doctors have had your fill, so it’s time to sit back and digest what you’ve learned. Patients, be good guests and allow our staff to escort you to your places, where another repast awaits your gastronomic delight. Eat hearty, because tonight, it is you who will be put on the menu. And we have a wide selection of hand-picked creatures, fresh and in season. I will enjoy feasting on the sight of your despair; the delicious cocktail of human fear will prove a suitable night cap for the day’s activities. Bon apatite!”
And with that, those same two orderlies- William made a mental note to get their names so he could add them to the experiment list- suddenly walked in and forcibly grabbed him by the arms. Or rather, one of them did. One, to his chagrin, started wiping up the coffee, and even offered to bring Dr. Burroughs but you can call me Maggie some coffee from the staff kitchen. Which William wouldn’t stand for. Firstly, it was his coffee in the first place, and that doctor didn’t deserve any after daring to gainsay him! Alas, he was dragged away before he could raise any further objections, much to his dismay. Instead, he was soon led to his own room…
---
… he noticed two things that immediately got on his nerves. Firstly, there were three beds set out. This meant, in the fullness of time, they were planning on putting someone- he didn’t even want to think of more than that- in his room. Where he was going to sleep. He’d have to make a note to find out the people responsible and make sure he got his own room. Along with Dr. Burroughs but you can call me Maggie, who deserved a particularly unpleasant fate once he was back where he belonged. Oh, and those orderlies, and Nurse Thompson…
William walked over to his desk, quickly finding a journal for himself and a roll of pens. Fortuitous; he had a feeling that he’d run out of ink by the time he was done composing his little revenge list. And it was just the first day, too; he was sure that there’d be plenty of others who’d have to be put in their place after this… situation, was taken under control. Besides, writing it down would help him cope. Once he was calmed down he could start manipulating things again. It would take some time, but he’d make it work. He’d done much more in the past, now hadn’t he?
But he never got the chance to write anything down. The first page drove all of those thoughts out of his mind, and even for William Roberts, a smile was impossible by the end of it. In a neat hand, someone had written,
“Dear Mr. Landel,
“By now, you’ve surely found out what’s happened to you. I won, and you lost. You should have expected that from the moment you brought me into your game.
“I’m giving you the same chance you gave me. Beat me at my game, and you can go back to however you want it. Fail, and be erased. You have…”
William stared in disbelief at the paper. The numbers there were moving. He flipped the page, and saw nothing there, no reason to explain it… but when he flipped back, the number was still ticking down second by second. But now he knew… he closed the book and threw it back on the desk, fury flashing in his eyes.
“A month? I won’t need that long to beat you…!”
Author: Jade Pen
Word Count: 3,060
Rating: PG
Characters: OCs, Edward Elric, Maes Hughes, Maggie
Summary: Not every patient adapts well to life in Landel's Institute.
-----
"Good morning, Mr. Roberts! And how are we today?” It was a scene that had played out countless times before: a nurse appearing and waking up a new patient at the wonderful Landel’s Institute, with said patient being slightly less than impressed at the sudden change.
The response was so common that the nurse could almost have recited it verbatim. “That’s not my name. What am I doing here?”
“Of course it’s not, William. And you’re here because you aren’t well; but don’t worry, we’ll be taking good care of you. You’re just in time for lunch, too! Why don’t you come with me and meet with your fellow patients? I’m sure you’ll make a lot of friends here. …what’s wrong?”
William Roberts had stopped cold, his eyes sharply focusing on the nurse. “…the other patients?”
“Yes. Is something the matter?”
The patient cursed, his fists clenched as he staggered away from the nurse. “No. I am not going into a room full of crazy people. That may be the kind of game that you want to play, but I am not going to be a part of it!”
The nurse sighed, an infinite sort of pity radiating from her voice and face… a kind of pity that William hated beyond anything else. But before he could do anything else, the nurse stepped out of the room, and two positively titanic orderlies took her place. They were walls of muscle, and just a quick glance told William that there was no way he’d be able to fight even one of them, let alone two. Not that he cared about that; his life depended on not being thrown in with all those lunatics. The only hope was to get himself thrown into solitary confinement until he could think of a more permanent solution.
There wasn’t much to work with. A roll of pens, a journal, and an empty key ring… not exactly a full armament, now was it? William suddenly dove towards the pens, trying to uncap one and use it as a stabbing implement; but the orderlies were too fast for him, and they reacted as though they’d expected it. The patient barely managed to reach his pens before four strong arms grabbed him and yanked him back. Didn’t stop William from struggling, but of course, those struggles were in vain; they only managed to make his short brown hair a bit more disheveled and to muss his shapeless gray uniform with that smiley face on it.
“You can’t throw me in there! They’re not even human! Put me down! I-“
That was all he got to say. The female nurse walked towards him, and before his eyes, withdrew a syringe and a small bottle from her uniform. Anyone with any kind of experience in the medical field could guess what the contents were. As the nurse started filling up the syringe with that clear liquid, she calmly but firmly said, “Now, I know that this is a lot to take in at once, but if you don’t calm down, then I won’t have a choice but to do something you won’t like.”
Her words fell on deaf ears, though; William only struggled more fiercely when he saw the needle being drawn out of the bottle. “I’m telling you, they aren’t human! I’m not like them! You can’t force me to-“
But, finally, the nurse had enough. She had the orderlies hold William as still as possible, then forcibly injected the sedative. The man grimaced as the unforgiving metal ripped into his arm, a sharp sting of the injection… then dull ache that spread through his body as the sedative acted. It went far more quickly than William could have imagined; in just a few seconds his body wouldn’t react as he wanted it to, his thoughts went all fuzzy and distant as he clumsily tried to pull away. Even with that, though, his eyes narrowed and he forced a dangerously sharp smile on his face. “What’s… name…?”
“Nurse Thompson,” the professional blond answered with narrowed eyes, “and that’s quite enough, Mr. Roberts. If you keep acting up like this, I’ll have to report you to the Head Orderly.”
“That’s… that’s fine…” William chuckled weakly, yet there was something dangerous in his eyes, even when they were clouded over with sedatives. “I’ll remember you. Just you wait…”
Yet his threats fell on deaf ears, as he was promptly dragged out of his room and into the madhouse.
---
The first thing that assaulted William was the intercom. It suddenly rang out, and the little ringing was like that of a dinner bell. That was what made William suddenly perk up and blearily stare at the nearest speaker in utter disbelief. A dinner bell. A dinner. Bell. There was no mistaking it. The very thought made William grimace, and yet, he found himself listening on as a low gravely voice spoke on. “Attention patients, your Head Orderly here. This lunch we’ll be serving up a delectable selection of fresh-ground hamburger, flame-broiled and served on scrumptious warm bakery buns. We will also have seasoned fries, a beautiful tossed salad, and fried chicken served with my own secret blend of spices. Eat up… you won’t want to face tonight on an empty stomach!”
“Face tonight…?” The new patient grumbled quietly as he was led to the cafeteria, where he was in fact treated to all of the delicacies that had been introduced. Strange, that the food was so good, and the voice was so obviously enamored with the food that had been prepared. Was this an insane asylum or a restaurant? Great. And he couldn’t even think of a better quip than that because of the sedatives in his system. How could this day get worse?
The answer was readily apparent when his orderlies, and Nurse Thompson, led him to two other individuals, and promptly plopped him down with a tray and an admonition to “Get to see his fellow patients for who they really are.”
He saw, all right. One was a boy with golden hair and eyes, a rather muscular build, and suspicion all over his face. Then there was another man, with black hair- and an odd strand of it dangling over his face- with square glasses framing his eyes, who glanced at William with a sympathetic smile.
Sympathy. If there was one thing William hated above anything else, it was someone else’s pity. He may be drugged, disoriented, in a strange situation, and everything else, but he didn’t need someone else’s pity! “…give me a few minutes… I’ll get going.”
“Stay. You must be a new arrival, right? It’s always a little rough for a few days. I’m Maes Hughes.”
“Mm… William.” He just barely bit back his first response, which wouldn’t have been friendly at all, and instead forced a grimaced smile on his face as he glanced from one to the other.
The golden-haired boy grumbled, “Ed.” From the way he clenched his right hand into a furious fist, William could tell something was horribly wrong for some reason. But what could that be? He seemed to be a normal and rather healthy young man, no obvious injuries or anything like that. Odd. His arms were rather muscular as well, obviously well-toned… hm. Well, he supposed no teenager needed a reason to be surly. It was just his bad luck to be subjected to one.
Oh well. He might as well try to get something useful out of it. “Why… so upset? You aren’t sedated.”
“It’s worse than that,” the teenager answered, his golden eyes flashing fire for a moment before he glanced away and gritted his teeth.
Thankfully, William didn’t have to dig any deeper on his own to get the answer he needed. Maes provided that without him even having to prompt for it. “Yeah… it’s pretty rough now. Last night something happened, no one really knows what. Then this morning, things changed. No one has any powers anymore. And there were some other changes, too.”
“Damn Head Doctor. Changing things around like this, fucking around with things without caring about the people he’s screwing with…” Edward pounded his right hand into his left, and William had no doubt whatsoever in his mind that Ed would have ripped the person responsible apart into bite-sized portions.
The fact that it was just as obvious that Edward hadn’t thought through the proposition of stopping the person who’d completely negated any power he did have was even more amusing to the newcomer. William approved of the course of action, but clearly, he was not dealing with pinnacles of humanity between the two of them. That was just brilliant, now wasn’t it? He smiled, his amusement having a sharp edge to it- at this rate, he was pretty sure that if there was danger, these two would be blundering right into it- but still, amusement.
Unfortunately, before he could say any of the many comments floating in his head, that damnable dinner bell rang again, and the gravelly voice spoke out once more. At least William took some consolation in the fact that, by the look of it, neither Ed nor Maes were fond of the speaker either. Ed especially looked like a hound given the prey’s scent.
“Attention patients! The Head Doctor has informed me that the menu of today’s activities has gone from a la carte to a more formal arrangement. Everyone will indulge in therapy sessions with our dedicated staff, where your many problems will be picked down to the bone. After that, of course, our new nightshift menu will be unveiled… I’m sure that none of you will be left wanting more.”
William got off exactly one snide comment, “Not exactly subtle, are they?” before the two orderlies from before grabbed him and started dragging him off on his own. To his dismay, he found that no other patients were going along with him…
---
“Now, Mr. Roberts… I’m Dr. Burroughs, but you can call me Maggie. I want you to sit down and tell me a little bit about yourself. How are you feeling?” He should have expected doctors trying to treat the many crazy individuals that had to be floating around, but he’d never thought that it would be him right here, with a woman in a soft white lab coat looking at him with such a sympathetic look that William wished he could wipe it off her face. Unfortunately, the orderlies were surely just around the corner, and with the sedation just wearing off, he didn’t want to be thrown back to the wolves without any means of protecting himself.
So he took his refuge in the last stronghold to any person left in a situation like this… sarcasm. He smiled so sharply that he might as well have drawn a knife, then chirped, “Just fine, doctor. I’ve only been dumped in an insane asylum when I’m not insane, no one recognizes me, oh, and I’ve trying my best to fight through a sedative cocktail so I can find some way to convince you of this fact so I can do something about it. …how are you, doctor?”
Much to William’s chagrin, his doctor didn’t even seem to be upset at the snide commentary. No, instead she smiled, quiet and patient. Like a saint. The ludicrousness of such a pathetic situation was not lost on the patient. “I know this is a difficult situation for you, but I’m here to help you.”
“You can’t help me… what was your name again? Dr. Burroughs but you can call me Maggie.” William’s smile grew only sharper as he leaned forward in his chair, a sudden intensity in his eyes as he spoke further. “I’d expected this from the patients, but you were supposed to be better. You don’t recognize me at all, do you?”
As he’d expected, there wasn’t even a flicker of recognition in her eyes. But how could she not realize? It was so frustrating that he almost wanted to tear his hair out. First being thrown in with the patients, and now… this. Ugh. Her confusion and baffled conciliatory tone grated on his nerves to no end. “I’m… afraid not? Why do you think I should know you?”
“Because you work for me.” William leaned forward, his smile finally taking on the cancer-causing, soul-searing, heart-freezing creepiness that had made him so very infamous. “This is my Institute, Dr. Burroughs. Doctor Martin Landel’s Institute, not anyone else’s. And I suppose I should say that that you’re working for me now. Once I get back to where I belong…”
And she interrupted him. The one thing William hated above everything else was being interrupted. Well, no, he hated hypocrisy, deceit, treachery, bad jazz music, and sympathy as well, and various combinations above them in individual portions, but being interrupted had an oh-so-special way of aggravating him. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’ve seen the Head Doctor. And he really doesn’t look anything like you.”
“He’s just a kid, really. Apparently he’s inherited this hospital, which explains all of the changes that have happened… a new Head Orderly, restructuring all over the place, things like that. But he’s definitely getting into the swing of things here; I think that it’s going to turn out all right.” Maggie smiled as she took a long drink of her coffee, then reached to pour out another cup from her coffee maker. “Why don’t you tell me-“
That was all William could take. Enough of that! With one motion he swept the coffee maker off the desk and planted both hands on the edge, standing up so he could loom over the woman. “I’m not telling you anything, doctor. You’re going to tell me where I can find this ‘new’ Head Doctor, and then I’m going to get this straightened out. If you do that, then I’ll let you keep your job when I’m back in control.”
Normally anyone would quail beneath his glare and his sharp smile, but Maggie just looked back at him, something in her eyes showing a dangerous side to her. Her politeness was a lot like his grin; so pointed she could skewer someone with it. “First things first, Mr. Roberts. Please clean that up.”
“You can’t honestly expect me to clean that up.”
“I’m waiting.”
The two of them glared at each other, neither one budging an inch as the coffee stain slowly spread across her desk. Neither one budged or planned to move at all, and as best as William could tell, they would have been like that for hours. But suddenly that damnable dinner bell rang over the intercom, and the Head Orderly’s voice boomed out once more.
“I’m sure that all of you doctors have had your fill, so it’s time to sit back and digest what you’ve learned. Patients, be good guests and allow our staff to escort you to your places, where another repast awaits your gastronomic delight. Eat hearty, because tonight, it is you who will be put on the menu. And we have a wide selection of hand-picked creatures, fresh and in season. I will enjoy feasting on the sight of your despair; the delicious cocktail of human fear will prove a suitable night cap for the day’s activities. Bon apatite!”
And with that, those same two orderlies- William made a mental note to get their names so he could add them to the experiment list- suddenly walked in and forcibly grabbed him by the arms. Or rather, one of them did. One, to his chagrin, started wiping up the coffee, and even offered to bring Dr. Burroughs but you can call me Maggie some coffee from the staff kitchen. Which William wouldn’t stand for. Firstly, it was his coffee in the first place, and that doctor didn’t deserve any after daring to gainsay him! Alas, he was dragged away before he could raise any further objections, much to his dismay. Instead, he was soon led to his own room…
---
… he noticed two things that immediately got on his nerves. Firstly, there were three beds set out. This meant, in the fullness of time, they were planning on putting someone- he didn’t even want to think of more than that- in his room. Where he was going to sleep. He’d have to make a note to find out the people responsible and make sure he got his own room. Along with Dr. Burroughs but you can call me Maggie, who deserved a particularly unpleasant fate once he was back where he belonged. Oh, and those orderlies, and Nurse Thompson…
William walked over to his desk, quickly finding a journal for himself and a roll of pens. Fortuitous; he had a feeling that he’d run out of ink by the time he was done composing his little revenge list. And it was just the first day, too; he was sure that there’d be plenty of others who’d have to be put in their place after this… situation, was taken under control. Besides, writing it down would help him cope. Once he was calmed down he could start manipulating things again. It would take some time, but he’d make it work. He’d done much more in the past, now hadn’t he?
But he never got the chance to write anything down. The first page drove all of those thoughts out of his mind, and even for William Roberts, a smile was impossible by the end of it. In a neat hand, someone had written,
“Dear Mr. Landel,
“By now, you’ve surely found out what’s happened to you. I won, and you lost. You should have expected that from the moment you brought me into your game.
“I’m giving you the same chance you gave me. Beat me at my game, and you can go back to however you want it. Fail, and be erased. You have…”
William stared in disbelief at the paper. The numbers there were moving. He flipped the page, and saw nothing there, no reason to explain it… but when he flipped back, the number was still ticking down second by second. But now he knew… he closed the book and threw it back on the desk, fury flashing in his eyes.
“A month? I won’t need that long to beat you…!”