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“Okay,” I said before grabbing the basket. “Thanks. I’ve got work to do, see you in the common room later.”
I didn’t bother to add that it was only because it was mandatory. The one time I tried to skip, I got the lecture of the century from Nurse Drew.
She was like an annoying, nagging older sister.
“Sure,” he said. This time he didn’t mask his disappointment as he stood and walked out. I hated the disappointment in his warm brown eyes but I couldn't give him what he was hoping for.
All I could think about as I folded was the long hours I’d spent up at night. I didn’t leave my room again after that night. But I could hear them out there. The nightmares. Creatures. Whatever they were.
They prowled the halls more openly now that I’d learned of them. The screams and cries were haunting, and I felt helpless cowering in my room like a fucking coward.
I was positive it was in my head, a taunting nightmare that was my burden to suffer through.
In the morning, everything was always normal.
No strangeness from the others, no lingering shadows, nothing.
If they’d shown signs of nighttime torture, I’d have questioned it, questioned them. But now it would just make me look crazy.
I’d asked Layne about why we couldn’t leave, and she gave me a generic excuse about rules and nurses. It confirmed my fear. That it was in my head, another twisted hallucination to fuck me up further.
Yet the meds had knocked out my hallucinations... So, why were the nights so vivid?
Giving up on the clothes, I left my room, walking to Layne’s door and knocking. When she didn’t answer, I pushed it open.
“Layne?” I called out, but she didn’t bother to look over or move from the cocoon she was wrapped in on the bed. “Can I get you anything?”
She shook her head but didn’t speak. My usually lively floormate even looked different. Dark circles lined her eyes, and her hair was sticking out at crazy angles, like she’d tugged on it relentlessly. Her usually expressive eyes were dull and lifeless. And it did not smell amazing in here. Her banana split scent had a sharp sourness to it now.
“She’ll be fine.” Hiro’s voice filtered into the room from behind me, and I glanced one last time at Layne before walking out.
“She’s so different,” I said. I’d never been around someone with Borderline Personality Disorder, but it was hard to keep up with.
“That’s Layne,” he replied with a shrug. “Sometimes she’s manic, other times mean, or just indifferent and numb, or like this. She’ll snap back soon, and they’ll monitor her.”
It was meant to reassure me, but it only had my frown deepening. I barely knew these people but already they’d started to mean something to me. Maybe it was the camaraderie built from sharing trauma, or they were the only ones who tried to be nice to me.
Well, except for Drake.
Either way, I didn’t like seeing her like this and not having a way to help.
“Crew said you weren’t sleeping?” Hiro hedged.
I laughed at that. “How did he spread that around already? I just mentioned it.”
Hiro gave a sheepish smile. “He was pouting in the common room, said you were having a bad day.”
“I’m not.” I sighed. “I just didn’t feel like sugarcoating shit.”
“They can give you meds to sleep,” he offered.
“Hiro, I appreciate it, but unless you have an explanation to why these halls are scary as fuck at night and not the day, then I don’t want advice,” I snapped before walking away again.
Now I was angry again, frustrated for snapping on the sweetest guy here but also at the lack of answers.
Instead of going to my room, I went to the nurses’ station. Nurse Drew glanced up and raised an eyebrow in question.
“I need some fresh air,” I said. Something in my voice must have conveyed my mood because she nodded, grabbing a big keyring from the wall before swiping her ID to unlock the door.
