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damned_lounge2009-10-31 10:48 pm
demyx.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_lounge2009-10-31 10:48 pm
Entry tags:
Oktoberfest '09: Stories
Title: Stories
Author: ME, THE GREAT LINNET *bricked*
Beta: Jansen. ♥
Word Count: 2186
Rating: PG because... I intended for it to be creepy.
Character(s): Nurse NPCs, Martin Landel, unnamed mention of Sync and Dahlia
Pairing(s): The one nurse is married?
Summary: There are stories among the staff that strange things happen in the asylum at night. As per hospital policy, these stories are dealt with.
Notes: I originally was going to write an epic quest involving Rolo making a sandwich for Lelouch during nightshift, but it's Halloween and I wanted to actually try something creepy. XD; SORRY IF IT SUCKS. AND I HOPE IT COUNTS. >_>;
There is an asylum located in a remote forest area, somewhere up north. There have been stories about this asylum – during the day, it appears to operate and run as usual, but during the night... Oh, did you think that something happened during the night? Don't be silly.
During the night, that's when the night-shift nurses and hired hands arrive to patrol the premises, clean, and otherwise be on watch for emergencies that happen in the dead of night while the patients sleep. Nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, working in a hospital at night is creepy no matter which way you look at it. It's not unusual that the night staff often come up with ghost stories or claim to hear footsteps, see movement in empty hallways, and your usual creepy night happenings.
In fact, ghost stories and the like are actually banned at that asylum now. Any nightshifters who are caught spreading rumors and telling ghost stories are threatened with penalties or sometimes even fired. Apparently, at one point it became such a problem that no one wanted to do night shift because they were too afraid. The worst offenders get a stern talking-to from the Doctor himself.
After all, it would be a problem if no one wanted to work night shift, right?
–
“Alice? Did you hear me? Can you cover my shift for me in two weeks? My daughter has her school play then and I won't be able to make it.”
Alice's brow furrowed as her co-worker asked her that question again. No, she heard her loud and clear. That was the problem, actually. She wanted to make sure that she heard that question correctly, so she hesitantly asked again.
“Sorry, you mean your seven to seven shift?” The night shift, she meant. Her co-worker (Vicki? Amanda? She couldn't remember, she hardly spoke to this woman) nodded and went on, about how this play was important (and she didn't have any children anyway, so it wasn't like she had to be home, right?). Alice couldn't help but cringe because it was true, and she really had nothing planned for that night. It was just... it was during the night.
She remembered night shift. Or she didn't remember. That was also a problem – she did and didn't remember it at the same time, and she couldn't chalk it up to just exhaustion from working overnight. It was almost like she dreamed it, but she was working, not sleeping. She thought. She hoped.
(she remembered the patient who beat her to death. It was a teenage boy with green hair, and she remembered trying to ask him why he was outside of his room. His response was vicious and before she knew it, she was on the ground holding her arms to her face as he raised the steel pipe he was holding and slammed it down, over and over and over - )
“If you're working days, we can switch! I just need that night off, Alice, and I already asked everyone else. Please?” Amanda (Vicki?) was begging her, catching the other nurse's attention. Alice realized that Amanda (yes, she was Amanda, the one who always bragged about her kid's acting talent) had misinterpreted her action of shaking her head to clear her thoughts as a “no” response. Though she wasn't sure if she wanted to correct that assumption either.
“Amanda, I... Are you sure you asked everyone?” Alice asked, hoping that Amanda could find someone else to bother. She couldn't explain it, but she really didn't want to work night shift. Not again. Not ever, hopefully. Amanda wasn't so easily dissuaded though, sighing loudly and throwing her hands in the air.
“Of course I have! I've asked everyone else I've seen today, Alice, I even asked Lydia if she could switch the shifts around but she just says that's something I have to do myself, and that it's unfair to switch my shift just because it's my child, can you believe her? That woman doesn't even live with ANYONE...”
(she remembered that the boy wasn't traveling alone, he had a girl with him. That's right, she had the obvious conclusions about them. The girl was red-haired and sweet, one of the nicest patients she dealt with during the day. That's why she was so shocked to see that girl's face twisted in hatred shrieking at the boy to just “kill that bitch” already, and all she wanted to do was ask them what they were doing in the file room - )
“... and does she think she's better than the rest of us just because, you know, I heard she got promoted because she's been,” Amanda, who had forgotten all about needing to trade her shift with Alice, leaned forward and continued to gossip in a hushed whisper, “sleeping with -”
Alice stepped back, looking a little queasy as she recalled those unpleasant dreams. Memories? She just knew it had to do something with that night shift. “Sorry, Amanda, but... I can't, not night shift. I hope you can find someone else.”
That was enough to get Amanda back on track, giving Alice an indignant look that she tried to mask with just mere disappointment.
“Alice! Please, it's just the one night shift! Don't tell me you actually believe those stories, do you? You worked night shift before, you know there's nothing wrong with this place!”
(she did, she worked night shift before and it was so painful. What was painful? She didn't remember that, she only remembered that while she was in the nurse's lounge, putting her things away and all of the sudden her skin was so itchy. She scratched and scratched and scratched and the flesh just kept itching and mottled and bloody and it was so itchy, she just wanted it to stop and the next thing she knew she was peeling it off, hoping it would stop itching so damn much - )
“Alice? Alice, are you alright?”
Alice didn't mean to scream so loud when that hand touched her shoulder, but it was sudden and her vision was becoming quite unfocused, so it almost looked like that hand wasn't attached to anything. She backed away again, certain that the more she talked about this, the more she would have those strange thoughts and memories, no, dreams, they were dreams – nightmares. She didn't want to remember anymore.
“I'm... I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well all of the sudden,” Alice bowed her head a little, backing away until she hit a wall. The wall was cool and smooth, feeling the cold through her scrubs as she tried to get her head to stop spinning.
“Alright... but please, would you consider? Switching shifts with me? Look, next time you need to call sick, I'll cover for you. I really, really need this, please?” Amanda didn't look very worried, but it wasn't like Alice would notice. Alice couldn't notice, because she really was feeling sick. No matter how much she tried to push those vivid memories – no, nightmares away, the more they pushed back, and the more realistic they were.
Her grip on her clipboard weakened, to the point where the object slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the floor, and the noise brought Alice back to reality. No, no, even if those weren't memories, Alice wasn't sure if she could handle another night shift. If it gave her nightmares that were that horrific, she didn't want any more.
Stories. They were just stories, but all stories had to come from somewhere.
“I... I can't, sorry Amanda, but you just have to ask someone else,” Alice cut off Amanda in the middle of her explanation on why this play was so important for her daughter's future career and how she has to be there as a mother and support her, and in case a talent scout showed up and some other bullshit like that. Alice knew where she had to be, though. She had to be away.
“Alice? Wait, is your shift over already? Alice?!”
–
Her shift was over, actually, and Alice ran to her car, fueled by fear and dread in her rush to get home. The car ride was silent, radio turned off -
(there was a voice on the radio. She knew because she heard it sometimes, when the other patients were listening, and that's how she knew they were there, and that they were not where they were supposed to be, and she had to rectify that. She would tear at their flesh and drag them by the bones if she had to, but they mustn't listen to the radio, and they mustn't wander the institute, because it was dangerous dangerous dangerous )
Alice was home, terrified by the sudden darkness that covered the sky of Doyleton. This was normal, because it was winter, yet it terrified her all the same and she dropped her key when she tried to enter her house. She hoped Richard was home, because she didn't want to be alone. Not tonight, on this night, when she needed to know that she was safe at home and not at the Institute, where the patients would surely kill her.
“Richard? Richard, honey?” Her voice bounced off the halls, a slight glow coming from the dining room. So someone was home, and surely Richard would be there, asking her what she planned on making for dinner because he couldn't even boil water. Alice smiled, a shaky one that promised that everything would be okay.
When she entered the dining room, the light revealed who the man sitting at the table was.
(“I'm not feeling too well either. Kind of awful, actually. I am truly sorry for the last two nights. I had no part in any of them, and what I said was true. We need better security, and better protection for all of you." that's what she remembered the good doctor saying, and she agreed. She shambled, shambled because her legs felt like lead and it was hard to move when your flesh was mottled and rotting, but she had a job to do, a mission. Bring them back. Do not let them escape. Kill, rend, tear, do not allow them to progress. She was always committed to doing her best, so she wouldn't let the good doctor down. Her breaths were slow and ragged – it was hard to breathe when your lungs were decomposed, decaying, and your breath was sweet with the taste of death. It was time, to hunt, to find them.
"Which is why we need to take your training to the next level..." )
“Hello, Alice.” Dr. Landel's eyes were shadowed by the poor light, so she could only see the whites of his teeth when he smiled. “Why don't you take a seat? There's something I'd like to talk to you about.”
Alice didn't remember screaming – maybe she didn't have enough time to before her world went black.
–
“Alice? Did you hear me? Can you cover my shift for me in two weeks? My daughter has her school play then and I won't be able to make it.”
Alice's brow furrowed as her co-worker asked her that question again. No, she heard her loud and clear. That was the problem, actually. She wanted to make sure that she heard that question correctly, so she hesitantly asked again.
“Sorry, you mean your seven to seven shift?” Alice couldn't believe this. Yeah, sure, she had no kids and it was just her and Richard at home, but... she was looking forward to having the evening to herself. Did Amanda have to ask her, of all people?
“Yes, that one. Do you work during the day? We can trade shifts, please? I really need this!” Amanda was giving her those annoying puppy eyes, and Alice was tempted to reject her just for that. But... then Amanda would just follow her around and keep bugging her, and what the hell, it was just night shift.
It couldn't be that bad. Stories were stories, and Alice hadn't slept in for awhile... it couldn't be that bad, right?
“Fine, fine,” Alice sighed. To be honest, she just found night shift boring. Nothing ever happened and it was just sitting around and waiting just in case somebody got sick. “When is it, two weeks from now?”
“Oh, thank you, Alice!” Amanda tried to reach forward for a hug and that's when Alice scooted back, making it clear she didn't want to be touched. Honestly, this woman sometimes. “I'm sorry, it's such a bother and I know it's night shift, and -”
“It's nothing,” Alice cut her off, looking at the clock. Her shift was almost up, and she wanted to get home and start dinner before Richard complained, because he couldn't even boil water without destroying the pot. “It's just night shift, right?”
Author: ME, THE GREAT LINNET *bricked*
Beta: Jansen. ♥
Word Count: 2186
Rating: PG because... I intended for it to be creepy.
Character(s): Nurse NPCs, Martin Landel, unnamed mention of Sync and Dahlia
Pairing(s): The one nurse is married?
Summary: There are stories among the staff that strange things happen in the asylum at night. As per hospital policy, these stories are dealt with.
Notes: I originally was going to write an epic quest involving Rolo making a sandwich for Lelouch during nightshift, but it's Halloween and I wanted to actually try something creepy. XD; SORRY IF IT SUCKS. AND I HOPE IT COUNTS. >_>;
There is an asylum located in a remote forest area, somewhere up north. There have been stories about this asylum – during the day, it appears to operate and run as usual, but during the night... Oh, did you think that something happened during the night? Don't be silly.
During the night, that's when the night-shift nurses and hired hands arrive to patrol the premises, clean, and otherwise be on watch for emergencies that happen in the dead of night while the patients sleep. Nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, working in a hospital at night is creepy no matter which way you look at it. It's not unusual that the night staff often come up with ghost stories or claim to hear footsteps, see movement in empty hallways, and your usual creepy night happenings.
In fact, ghost stories and the like are actually banned at that asylum now. Any nightshifters who are caught spreading rumors and telling ghost stories are threatened with penalties or sometimes even fired. Apparently, at one point it became such a problem that no one wanted to do night shift because they were too afraid. The worst offenders get a stern talking-to from the Doctor himself.
After all, it would be a problem if no one wanted to work night shift, right?
–
“Alice? Did you hear me? Can you cover my shift for me in two weeks? My daughter has her school play then and I won't be able to make it.”
Alice's brow furrowed as her co-worker asked her that question again. No, she heard her loud and clear. That was the problem, actually. She wanted to make sure that she heard that question correctly, so she hesitantly asked again.
“Sorry, you mean your seven to seven shift?” The night shift, she meant. Her co-worker (Vicki? Amanda? She couldn't remember, she hardly spoke to this woman) nodded and went on, about how this play was important (and she didn't have any children anyway, so it wasn't like she had to be home, right?). Alice couldn't help but cringe because it was true, and she really had nothing planned for that night. It was just... it was during the night.
She remembered night shift. Or she didn't remember. That was also a problem – she did and didn't remember it at the same time, and she couldn't chalk it up to just exhaustion from working overnight. It was almost like she dreamed it, but she was working, not sleeping. She thought. She hoped.
(she remembered the patient who beat her to death. It was a teenage boy with green hair, and she remembered trying to ask him why he was outside of his room. His response was vicious and before she knew it, she was on the ground holding her arms to her face as he raised the steel pipe he was holding and slammed it down, over and over and over - )
“If you're working days, we can switch! I just need that night off, Alice, and I already asked everyone else. Please?” Amanda (Vicki?) was begging her, catching the other nurse's attention. Alice realized that Amanda (yes, she was Amanda, the one who always bragged about her kid's acting talent) had misinterpreted her action of shaking her head to clear her thoughts as a “no” response. Though she wasn't sure if she wanted to correct that assumption either.
“Amanda, I... Are you sure you asked everyone?” Alice asked, hoping that Amanda could find someone else to bother. She couldn't explain it, but she really didn't want to work night shift. Not again. Not ever, hopefully. Amanda wasn't so easily dissuaded though, sighing loudly and throwing her hands in the air.
“Of course I have! I've asked everyone else I've seen today, Alice, I even asked Lydia if she could switch the shifts around but she just says that's something I have to do myself, and that it's unfair to switch my shift just because it's my child, can you believe her? That woman doesn't even live with ANYONE...”
(she remembered that the boy wasn't traveling alone, he had a girl with him. That's right, she had the obvious conclusions about them. The girl was red-haired and sweet, one of the nicest patients she dealt with during the day. That's why she was so shocked to see that girl's face twisted in hatred shrieking at the boy to just “kill that bitch” already, and all she wanted to do was ask them what they were doing in the file room - )
“... and does she think she's better than the rest of us just because, you know, I heard she got promoted because she's been,” Amanda, who had forgotten all about needing to trade her shift with Alice, leaned forward and continued to gossip in a hushed whisper, “sleeping with -”
Alice stepped back, looking a little queasy as she recalled those unpleasant dreams. Memories? She just knew it had to do something with that night shift. “Sorry, Amanda, but... I can't, not night shift. I hope you can find someone else.”
That was enough to get Amanda back on track, giving Alice an indignant look that she tried to mask with just mere disappointment.
“Alice! Please, it's just the one night shift! Don't tell me you actually believe those stories, do you? You worked night shift before, you know there's nothing wrong with this place!”
(she did, she worked night shift before and it was so painful. What was painful? She didn't remember that, she only remembered that while she was in the nurse's lounge, putting her things away and all of the sudden her skin was so itchy. She scratched and scratched and scratched and the flesh just kept itching and mottled and bloody and it was so itchy, she just wanted it to stop and the next thing she knew she was peeling it off, hoping it would stop itching so damn much - )
“Alice? Alice, are you alright?”
Alice didn't mean to scream so loud when that hand touched her shoulder, but it was sudden and her vision was becoming quite unfocused, so it almost looked like that hand wasn't attached to anything. She backed away again, certain that the more she talked about this, the more she would have those strange thoughts and memories, no, dreams, they were dreams – nightmares. She didn't want to remember anymore.
“I'm... I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well all of the sudden,” Alice bowed her head a little, backing away until she hit a wall. The wall was cool and smooth, feeling the cold through her scrubs as she tried to get her head to stop spinning.
“Alright... but please, would you consider? Switching shifts with me? Look, next time you need to call sick, I'll cover for you. I really, really need this, please?” Amanda didn't look very worried, but it wasn't like Alice would notice. Alice couldn't notice, because she really was feeling sick. No matter how much she tried to push those vivid memories – no, nightmares away, the more they pushed back, and the more realistic they were.
Her grip on her clipboard weakened, to the point where the object slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the floor, and the noise brought Alice back to reality. No, no, even if those weren't memories, Alice wasn't sure if she could handle another night shift. If it gave her nightmares that were that horrific, she didn't want any more.
Stories. They were just stories, but all stories had to come from somewhere.
“I... I can't, sorry Amanda, but you just have to ask someone else,” Alice cut off Amanda in the middle of her explanation on why this play was so important for her daughter's future career and how she has to be there as a mother and support her, and in case a talent scout showed up and some other bullshit like that. Alice knew where she had to be, though. She had to be away.
“Alice? Wait, is your shift over already? Alice?!”
–
Her shift was over, actually, and Alice ran to her car, fueled by fear and dread in her rush to get home. The car ride was silent, radio turned off -
(there was a voice on the radio. She knew because she heard it sometimes, when the other patients were listening, and that's how she knew they were there, and that they were not where they were supposed to be, and she had to rectify that. She would tear at their flesh and drag them by the bones if she had to, but they mustn't listen to the radio, and they mustn't wander the institute, because it was dangerous dangerous dangerous )
Alice was home, terrified by the sudden darkness that covered the sky of Doyleton. This was normal, because it was winter, yet it terrified her all the same and she dropped her key when she tried to enter her house. She hoped Richard was home, because she didn't want to be alone. Not tonight, on this night, when she needed to know that she was safe at home and not at the Institute, where the patients would surely kill her.
“Richard? Richard, honey?” Her voice bounced off the halls, a slight glow coming from the dining room. So someone was home, and surely Richard would be there, asking her what she planned on making for dinner because he couldn't even boil water. Alice smiled, a shaky one that promised that everything would be okay.
When she entered the dining room, the light revealed who the man sitting at the table was.
(“I'm not feeling too well either. Kind of awful, actually. I am truly sorry for the last two nights. I had no part in any of them, and what I said was true. We need better security, and better protection for all of you." that's what she remembered the good doctor saying, and she agreed. She shambled, shambled because her legs felt like lead and it was hard to move when your flesh was mottled and rotting, but she had a job to do, a mission. Bring them back. Do not let them escape. Kill, rend, tear, do not allow them to progress. She was always committed to doing her best, so she wouldn't let the good doctor down. Her breaths were slow and ragged – it was hard to breathe when your lungs were decomposed, decaying, and your breath was sweet with the taste of death. It was time, to hunt, to find them.
"Which is why we need to take your training to the next level..." )
“Hello, Alice.” Dr. Landel's eyes were shadowed by the poor light, so she could only see the whites of his teeth when he smiled. “Why don't you take a seat? There's something I'd like to talk to you about.”
Alice didn't remember screaming – maybe she didn't have enough time to before her world went black.
–
“Alice? Did you hear me? Can you cover my shift for me in two weeks? My daughter has her school play then and I won't be able to make it.”
Alice's brow furrowed as her co-worker asked her that question again. No, she heard her loud and clear. That was the problem, actually. She wanted to make sure that she heard that question correctly, so she hesitantly asked again.
“Sorry, you mean your seven to seven shift?” Alice couldn't believe this. Yeah, sure, she had no kids and it was just her and Richard at home, but... she was looking forward to having the evening to herself. Did Amanda have to ask her, of all people?
“Yes, that one. Do you work during the day? We can trade shifts, please? I really need this!” Amanda was giving her those annoying puppy eyes, and Alice was tempted to reject her just for that. But... then Amanda would just follow her around and keep bugging her, and what the hell, it was just night shift.
It couldn't be that bad. Stories were stories, and Alice hadn't slept in for awhile... it couldn't be that bad, right?
“Fine, fine,” Alice sighed. To be honest, she just found night shift boring. Nothing ever happened and it was just sitting around and waiting just in case somebody got sick. “When is it, two weeks from now?”
“Oh, thank you, Alice!” Amanda tried to reach forward for a hug and that's when Alice scooted back, making it clear she didn't want to be touched. Honestly, this woman sometimes. “I'm sorry, it's such a bother and I know it's night shift, and -”
“It's nothing,” Alice cut her off, looking at the clock. Her shift was almost up, and she wanted to get home and start dinner before Richard complained, because he couldn't even boil water without destroying the pot. “It's just night shift, right?”