Shadows in Light

I woke up in a hospital bed.

Which is better than the last place I woke up after being stabbed, although I had a tube down my throat. On the plus side nothing was hurting as badly as when I... had I passed out? Or was it something worse? Anyways, overall things weren’t as bad as when I was in the alley, so bonus there.

The tube down my throat was getting more and more unpleasant the longer I had to deal with it, so after fidgeting and figuring it out, I was able to drag it out while coughing several times, but at least afterwards I was able to take a proper deep breath that I could feel and taste properly.

Looking under the cloth thing they had me wearing and I couldn’t see any trace of injury, not even any scars. I did have wires running off things attached to me to the various machines that were around my bed, but I snatched them off. A couple of them started beeping but I ignored them to I stumble over to the window, peering out of it.

The sky was pitch black dark outside, cloudy but not yet raining, although it probably was likely to, being as this was Washington. The sun had long since set by my guess, and I could see lights twinkling from the various buildings and vehicles moving around. Looking around at the building I was in, and I could see bits and pieces of the hospital grounds in the various ground lights. All of it looked familiar even from inside, but I couldn’t think which one I was at.

Looking around my room, I spotted my bag and my clothes, or at least my jeans. The shirt I was wearing was missing. Police probably had that. I dragged my jeans on and was in the process of putting my sneakers on when a female nurse came to the door blinking to see me.

“You... Aren’t supposed to be out of bed?” She said, looking at me a little confused.

“Feeling much better, never felt better in fact. This hospital is fantastic, I’d definitely recommend it to my friends.” I replied cheerfully, trying to ignore my half nakedness, which wasn’t entirely easy. The poor nurse was staring at me in complete confusion.

“Any chance I can maybe get a shirt or something to wear? Mine seems to be missing.”

She paused for a moment, considering the question then nodded. She then remembered the reason she’d come in here to begin with, and turned off the machines, before heading away. I moved to the door where I could be seen, which apparently was a good idea as she paused to look back as if trying to remember what she was doing. Seeing me again seemed to remind her as she went to the desk and came back with a bland light blue V-neck t-shirt.

She handed it over to me, still looking at me in confusion, then looked at the machines while I dressed. Obviously, I didn’t need them, so why was I on them? I could almost see her trying to figure it out, poor thing likely never would.

“When can I go home?” I asked her once I was dressed.

She picked up the paperwork from the bottom of my bed and looked it over before she put it back. I could see her fall back on a default answer in the end, “You’ll need to wait till the doctor does his rounds later.”

She bustled around a little more, checking the machines and such before she left me alone again.

I grabbed my bag and double-checked inside quickly, but as far as I could tell everything was still inside it. I pulled out my cell and looked at it, the battery was dead, but I always carry a spare charged one for when I’m out working and using it to listen to music. After I changed batteries and turned it on, I noticed a couple of things.

First, I noticed it was late on Thursday. It had been Tuesday when I went to see Malcolm. Second, I had a couple of missed calls. Wow, I can’t remember the last time I had missed calls, never mind two. Looking at the number told me that both times it was Bianca’s. Interesting.

This wasn’t the best time to indulge in a phone call. I looked around the place and I cursed out loud as I realized my coat was missing, and likely ruined. Now I was healed up, that was probably more annoying than the fact I got stabbed and shot.

I grabbed the clipboard at the end of my bed and took a moment to look it over. I wasn’t exactly medically trained, but it read like they hadn’t had much trouble with me. And that no one had checked on me in a while either.

Go figure.

I dumped my paperwork from the bed into my bag. With any luck if I got out of here quickly enough, I’d fade from memory.

And not get a bill.

What? American hospitals are expensive, and I had absolutely no way to afford it.

One last check to make sure I had everything, I moved to the door frame and stole a glance around the corner. The nurses were sat at their station, chattering away to themselves about something, and none seemed to be paying any attention, so rather than try to sneak out, I just walked out before anyone noticed me.

No one called out after me, so apparently just acting normal works sometimes.

I followed the signs for the exit, but as I got within sight of the elevators, I spotted security standing near them. I didn’t know if they were there for me or not, but rather than risk it, I ducked into the stairwell and started to hurry down them. Bouncing down the many sets of stairs as quickly as I could, I aimed to hit the first floor, but as I got to the second floor, I had this... urge to stop on that floor.

There was something here. Something that I don’t know. I needed to do. See? I couldn’t tell which one it was. But I needed to go see it. Or whatever. I entered the second floor and started down the mass of corridors.

If you’ve been around any hospital anywhere in the world, you’ll know the major problem with hospitals: the corridors are pretty much identical, with a seemingly infinite amount of them. Sure, there are signs around the place, but they’re not always that helpful. They’re generally pointing towards or exits. The staff working there know their way around and have no problems with directing us to where we want to go, but sometimes us mere visitors don’t need to go down, nor see some of these corridors.

I, of course, felt the urge to go down one of those corridors I probably shouldn’t have gone down, which was easy to tell from the signs. Fortunately, it was late at night, and while I probably looked completely out of place walking down this corridor in my jeans, I think my blue shirt helped a little bit. I kept my head down, looked like I had a purpose, and hoped no one paid me any attention.

I didn’t need directions thankfully, nor to look at signs as I went. I knew what turnings to take, when to go left, when to go right, which door to go through. All of it was like I’d been here before. The few people that were around didn’t give me a second glance as I went by them.

Advantage me.

I ended up stood in front of a service elevator with the weird feeling was coming from it. I guess I was supposed to take this then, so I pushed the down button without thinking about it, and the elevator doors pinged open like it was waiting for me. Stepping inside I looked over the various floor numbers and hit the basement button. The elevator shuddered and started its slow descent down into the depths of the hospital. I felt like I was mad for doing this, but at the same time, I knew I had to do this.

After a short eternity, the elevator reached its destination and I stepped out. The basement wasn’t like the rest of the hospital, upstairs there was some attempt to welcome people and make it friendly. Down here it was dark, my breath turned to mist whenever I breathed out, and the lights gave an eerie flicker every now and then. I could hear something banging in the distance, although I couldn’t work out what the cause of it was, and I wasn’t going to go looking for it.

This wasn’t a nice place to go, nor be, but I was here for whatever reason. I took the right path, literally, and walked down the corridor towards a set of double doors. Despite the place, they opened without a sound, which surprised me slightly. I would have expected a creak, maybe a moan or two at least.

Inside the doors was a short corridor space, barely bigger than a large estate car with another set of doors at the end of it with glass panels in them. These doors were locked by key card entry, and despite all my working recently, breaking into these kinds of doors was not a skill I had picked up. But I felt like I was in the right place, as I stepped up to the doors, and peered in through the glass.

On the other side, I could see most of a perfectly clean room with bright lights, making it easy to see. There were three walls running in a squarish semi-circle, and all of them had metal doors mounted onto them. One of them was open and I could see inside, though it was empty, I could tell it was big enough for, well, bodies.

I guess I’d found the Morgue. What a delightful place to find myself, I probably should read signs in future, so I don’t get surprises like this.

In the middle of the room was an autopsy table with a black body bag on it, laid out for... whatever they do. A cart sat near it topped with various medical instruments. Despite likely being in a room like this, I personally had no experience in one. And I wasn’t sure whether what they showed on TV was accurate or not, I hoped I wasn’t here to find out that it was.

From just to the side of the doors, I was peering in through, a person walked into view, causing me to duck back for a moment. It was several seconds before I dared to take another peek through the window, revealing a woman, who was now standing beside the table and body bag, with the cart of instruments next to her to be within easy reach.

She was a middle-aged woman and while not exactly attractive by modern standards, she was still somewhat pretty in her older age. Her hair was firmly tied back behind her, with streaks of gray running through it. She’d managed to keep quite a nice body for her age, and clearly, she had taken care of it and herself over the years. She probably drew quite a few looks despite the gray in her hair.

She stared at the bag for several long moments as I looked her over before reaching down and unzipped it, revealing a body.

I wasn’t entirely sure what sex it was, in fact I couldn’t tell you a thing about it. It wasn’t what kept pulling my interest anyways, any time I tried to look away, I found my gaze immediately returning to the woman. I was here to watch her.

After a moment’s thought about it, I blinked and let the Sight come in.

She changed under my Sight.

She became hideous. She was covered all over in what looked like burns to her flesh that in places showed off bones. Her hair was ragged, barely longer than the tie that held it back, and now it was black all the way through. Her fingers changed into shriveled claws. Her hospital clothing turned into rags that shifted constantly as if she was stood in a slight breeze, and the rags barely gave her any modesty. Her formerly shapely body had turned into weird mess of skin barely covering bones, I could see her ribcage through the tattered mess of her clothing.

Behind her however, on her back she gained a set of black wings. They were in perfect condition despite everything else about her. To my Sight, all around her, I saw she had a gathering of Light, not the pure bright white Light that flowed through cracks I had encountered at my home, nor the Light that had been thrown against me when I was up against Eli, but it was still white, and flowed around her. I want to say it felt wrong to see that white Light around such a horrendous creature. But I knew that despite it all, that Light belonged to her. That I wasn’t misunderstanding things there at least.

She reached out a clawed hand and stroked the forehead of the body in front of her, her mouth moving to say something I couldn’t her. I watched as pulsing green Light flowed forth from the body, winding up her arm and then plunged into her chest. She shuddered, a look of joy and delight coming to her face as it did. Her hand kept stroking the forehead, pulling more and more of this green Light into her.

It was several minutes before it stopped, and when no more would come, she shifted to over the heart, repeating stroking and murmuring, getting more green Light to wind up her arm and plunge into her heart. It was, on one hand, mesmerizing to watch, but at the same time it also felt sickening to see it happen. And to see this repulsive looking creature touching this body. Even if it was no longer a living person.

It finally stopped, and she murmured something to the body, turning to the cart with the tools on it. I shuddered and closed my Sight down, and she instantly changed back into that shapely yet older looking woman. Although, maybe, was her hair had less gray to it now?

It didn’t matter, and I didn’t stop to think about it. My instincts and my stomach were now telling me it was time to go.

I took that advice and headed back the way I came as fast I could.

Ten minutes later, I was standing outside the hospital grounds, still feeling faintly sick at what I had seen. Although, I wasn’t sure what exactly I had seen, she was without a doubt the most hideous creature I had ever seen, and I hoped I would never see anything like her again. I bent over, taking in some deep breaths before I straightened and looked around to find the bus stop to get out of here.

I heard a loud noise, and then saw sirens. I took me a moment before I spotted the fact, they were right next to me.

Guess I’ve been busted trying to sneak out of the hospital without paying my bill. Great.

I glanced around quickly, trying to decide if I should run or not, but as the officer stepped out of the car and walked over to me, I saw he wasn’t going for handcuffs or a gun. Instead, he was staring at me long and hard. He stopped in front of me watching me like something. I’m not sure what, it felt very strange overall.

Don’t they normally talk to you?

I looked back at him for a moment, trying to place his face before I realized it was the same officer who was with me in the alley.

And he looked like he was remembering me.

“Hello Officer. Can I help you?” I asked him cheerfully, trying to push the thoughts of the basement out of my head.

He stared at me for a few more moments before he finally spoke, “You should be dead.”

Ah crap. One of the few times I needed to be forgotten, and I was being remembered. What the hell, man? I played my best option and blinked at him, turning my head to one side like I was confused.

“Excuse me?” I tried, playing as dumb as I possibly could. It probably wasn’t as much work as I’d have liked.

He took a step closer to me shaking his head, speaking quietly so no one could hear us. “No, I know what I saw. You got shot and stabbed. That knife was huge. You should be dead. Or at the very least still upstairs. So why are you out here?” His voice was a little shaky at this, but I noticed his hand still wasn’t near his gun. Good, being shot once this week was enough.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you are talking about Officer...” I leaned forwards a little “Vance.”

I looked him over properly this time. He was a mature looking gentleman overall, although he had some gray to his hair, I’d probably estimate somewhere around late forties. His eyes were looking at me suspiciously, yet I knew from the last time we met, they could also look caring. He had hazel-colored eyes, which wasn’t that common if I recalled rightly. He was a few inches taller than me, but he was however more muscular, but that wasn’t hard on my front. He looked a bit like a former body builder, with a broad chest, although he’d gained a bit of a stomach, not too much to be ashamed of frankly, it was the sign of a man who was happy in life if you ask me. And even with it he had no problems looking confident even with his gun still holstered away.

“Mind if I sit down, Office Vance?” I asked him, motioning to a fence. He shook his head as I sat down on it, still watching me with that hint of suspicion as he moved in front of me.

“My partner got knocked out the other day, chasing after some guy who tried to kill someone who looks very much like you in an alley.” He was picking his words carefully, and I winced a little. Wasn’t like it was entirely my fault that happened, but I still felt some guilt. “He’s okay, gonna make it, thank God. But the weirdest part about that day was the guy who almost died. Got stabbed under the ribcage and his heart got nicked according to the EMTs. Add on top he got shot through the lungs and had several wounds to the back of the head, broken ribs. Made a big ol’ mess.”

Vance looked me up and down for a moment, before he took a seat next to me on the fence, watching the road as he continued “Seen people like that before, dead and the body ain’t caught on yet. This guy passes out and I figure he’s done for. And sure enough for a moment things go wrong, guy flat lines. But then the EMTs get him back and stabilized enough to get him to the hospital.”

Vance leaned back a little, looking up at the hospital “They get him to hospital and he’s doing better, hell some of the wounds aren’t as bad as the EMTs made out apparently. Everyone’s amazed about it.”

He looked at me for a moment then away, “So I go looking into it all, and first thing I did was went back to speak to the EMTs later that day. Get statements from them, but they didn’t know anything about the pickup, couldn’t remember a damn thing. They don’t even remember me apparently.”

He shook his head a little, “Then I trying to find out about the guy through check in. But it turns out they lost him, ain’t no computer file anywhere. To me it’s starting to look like a cover up job or something. Then I speak to some of the doctors that were on duty that day, and no one can remember dealing with anyone like that yesterday. And I start asking everyone. Nurses, attendants, anyone. Going real nuts at this point. Gotta be a cover job. Nothing else makes sense.”

He looked right at me, “Then I go see my partner about it, and he can’t remember anything about it. He remembers the report, we get there, he says nothing was there. I know when he’s lying to me, and he ain’t lying. He believes that to be the truth. So now I’m starting to think I’m going nuts,”

He reached over and pokes me gently, “Tonight I come here, last ditch attempt to find out if I’m nuts or not, and what do I find? Here you are standing here, plain as day, looking just like this guy.”

He paused and I looked at him. “This some kind of joke?” He asked, his voice sounded almost hopeful at that idea.

I glanced around, trying to think how to answer that. I ended up shaking my head. I knew at least it wasn’t a joke.

He slumped a little on the fence. “Damn.” he muttered

We sat in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again, “I know there’s some weird stuff out there. See it every now and then. Gotta admit though, you are amongst the strangest I’ve seen.”

He got up and went to his car, opening the passenger door and got out a bag, passing it over to me.

“Went back to the station this afternoon, and I’ve been given these back. Something to do with don’t try and do a joke. As no one’s got any memory of anyone being shot or stabbed around that area on that day, directly conflicting my statements, I’m probably about to be given a temporary suspension. I ain’t got a clue what to do with them. Not even got any blood on them. Seeing as you’re here, you can have them and then I don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

Glancing inside, I could see the knife and a bullet that had probably been in me. And the mess of a coat, they’d cut the sleeves to get it off. I stuffed it all into my bag and stood up, “Thanks, Officer Vance.”

He offered me a hand and I shook it, then looked him in the eyes. “Look. Do yourself a favor. Don’t talk about today, OK? I’m not threatening or anything. Just saying. It’s probably better for everyone.”

He glanced to me for a moment, assessing me before he nodded “Ain’t wrong kid” He eyed me “Got a name? Seeing as I might have saved your life, seems right I get one.”

I smiled at him “Ryan. Ryan Vaughan.”

He snorted. “Bet I won’t find that in any system matching you.” He pulled out a card and passed it over to me “I ain’t sure why, but I want you to have my card. Hopefully, you won’t need to call me though.”

I accepted it, “Thanks. See you later, Officer Vance.”

He nodded to me and got back in his car, looking at me while he started the car before he U-turned and drove off. I watched his taillights for a moment, then finished my journey down to the bus stop ignoring the people who were looking at me after talking to the Officer. Let them wonder while they could, it likely wouldn’t be for too long.

Neither was the bus thankfully. I got on and paid my way heading to a seat to sit on my own. I opened my bag once I was settled and looked through it properly, find that everything was still there. Even the envelope given to me by Malcolm was there.

I was pleased to find everything unmolested. Perhaps no one had noticed it. Then I remembered Bianca had called and slipped out my cell. She hadn’t left any messages, so I tried to call her back. It rang for a while before going to answer phone, likewise I didn’t leave a message. I’d call her back tomorrow morning.

The bus ride was sedate and quiet. It wandered through Seattle before it finally hit the central areas and I got off with a couple of other people, watching as they went off arm in arm. I felt a faint pang of jealousy as I watched them walk away. Part of me had accepted that I would never have anything like that some years ago, but another part of me hoped I was wrong.

Shaking my head to help dismiss such thoughts, I started down the street heading towards another bus stop where I could catch one that would take me home. Then I spotted it.

Stuck to a wall was a mass of illegal posters. And amongst the mass was familiar looking design work. And the words “Club Essence”.

Sally. What had happened to her?

Damn. I had this bag in a bag so I couldn’t exactly go. However, it wasn’t yet eight despite the dark sky. If I spent some serious amount of my money to get a cab back there, I might be able to do it.

I drummed my fingers on my thigh for a moment, then headed over to the road and waved down a cab.

Anything could have happened to her, and I wanted to make sure she was okay.