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Five
Nothing ever dragged like a night shift when you had somewhere else you needed to be. Bunny buzzed through her first set of rounds, seeing to it that her patients were in bed and had been given their evening medications. It was a process that usually took an hour on a good night… but in typical fashion, tonight was not a good night.
Mrs. Waltrose had insisted on extra tea and water, which hadn’t boded well for her linens, and Mr. Benson had fallen out of bed and now had what Bunny suspected was a fractured arm. She’d called Dana and the ambulance, as was facility protocol, but waiting with the poor man until the EMTs arrived meant she was horribly behind on the rest of her rounds.
And then to top it all off, Mrs. Howard had somehow outlasted the effects of her medication and been refusing to get back into bed all evening.
Having been a celestial for a little while now, Bunny had come to learn more than a thing or two about how the afterlife worked. She could tell Mrs. Howard was very close to her time… but what if she was past it? What would happen if she was supposed to die and just didn’t? Just like the other millions of people on the planet who were due to meet their end each day.
If she didn’t fill up her pendant from the cooler in the Lobby and then ensoul vessels to fill her quota, the cooler would overflow.
But what happened if Death didn’t collect souls and take them to the gate?
The thought was more than slightly disturbing, most especially because she didn’t have an answer. Bunny continued to twist and turn it over in her mind as she finished her hellish round, deciding it was time to check in on her charge.
She checked her watch as she marched down to the low-care ward. Most of the residents here were largely self-sufficient and stayed in bed the whole night. That minimized the risk of someone accidentally happening upon Death, and as long as he kept to the plan, then the night should run relatively smoothly.
Fingers crossed.
As she rounded the corner into the hall, Bunny spotted the swish of a familiar nightgown slipping through the door of the room where she had literally stashed Death for the night.
Wherever the hell Murphy was, she’d like to find him and kick him in the pants for ever coming up with his stupid Law.
“Mrs. Howard?” Bunny called, shifting from a brisk walk to a more urgent jog as she tried to call loudly enough for the woman to hear her but not so loud she would disturb too many residents. “Mrs. Howard!”
Shit.
Bunny raced down the hall toward the room where she’d stashed her confused celestial coworker. Her heart felt like it had crept up out of her chest and now pounded at the base of her throat, and she tried not to think about having to put Mrs. Howard’s soul back into her if Death had touched the elderly woman.
She reached the room feeling slightly breathless and pushed on the door to reveal a sight that was so much worse than her momentary imaginings.
It looked like there was a party going on to which she hadn’t been invited.
Two men were standing in front of the bed staring up at the muted TV, blocking the view of an elderly woman who was sitting on the end of the bed. Mrs. Howard shuffled into the en suite bathroom, the door closing with a dull thunk behind her. No one turned to look at her, which was more than slightly unusual.
She glanced around at the residents, her pounding heart beginning to pump dread through her veins.
Bunny stepped into the room and closed the door securely behind her, brain whirring as she assessed the situation. At least four patients from all over the facility—including one from the locked ward—in this room. Assuming Mrs. Howard was the only one in the bathroom. She cast her gaze around the room looking for Death, a thrill of panic rising within her when she didn’t see him straight off.
But there he was.
He’d backed himself into the corner of the room behind the rail that housed the privacy curtain, his arms flattened by his sides as though he was trying to take up as little space as possible. His eyes were wide with concern but softened a little with relief when he noticed Bunny.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Bunny hissed, not sure what part of this bizarre situation to address first.
Everyone ignored her.
She placed a hand on the shoulder of the elderly man nearest to her, stepping around his side so she could make eye contact with him—until she wished she hadn’t. His eyes were covered with a thick milky film that made it look like he was suffering from the worst cataracts she’d ever seen in her medical career.
He turned to Bunny with a blank stare, devoid of all humanity and any kind of life at all.
Her gaze darted to the man standing next to the patient she was checking out, and then to the woman on the bed. Their eyes were just the same, staring up at the TV unblinkingly like zombies.
“Holy shit,” Bunny breathed, scooting past them with a worried glance as she headed toward Death. “What the hell happened?” she asked him quietly, unable to keep all the accusation out of her tone.
“I don’t know!” he replied hastily, his tone climbing high with stress. “One minute I was sitting in here, minding my own business, trying to work out how to play Jeopardy, and the next they just started coming in!”
“Did you touch anyone?” she asked, wondering what the hell else could have happened.
