Cold, frigid cold. It is the constant reminder of my predicament. It wasn’t the annoying beeping of the infernal machines keeping me alive, or the loud technical jargon of the medical staff, or the agonizing pricking of the skin drawing bloods for daily samples. No, it s the awful sensation in my nose when my mucus freezes.
I woke up a week ago after a freak accident. In this accident, that I was unfortunately involved in, was indeed a terrorist attack, three hundred and four people were also involved and only three survived. My left arm was broken and so were both my legs, as a result, I was confined to my bed. I was asked from what part of Mexico I was, was I an illegal immigrant, could I speak English. My answer to them was, and I quote, “Shut up!” Could I blame them? Of course not, they were doing their job. The fault was mine, I had no identification, no family and no memory of who I am.
Well, such is life. What am I gonna do about it? There are worse things than losing who you are. Like, for example, the tray of slobber they keep bringing in expecting me to eat it. I took one bite the first night and I threw it up. The taste was not the issue though, the mash potatoes were fine, the applesauce was fine, it was the meat. I don’t know, I guess I was a vegetarian in my previous life.
Tonight I don’t feel like eating, something had been bothering me for a while now, well, the problem was what was not bothering, my broken limbs. I remember the pain and amount of yelling I went through to actually get morphine in my system and today, they were healed, I was told I would be in bed for the next month till I fully recovered.
“Your Highness,” yes that is indeed my nickname in this god forsaken place. Apparently I am very bitchy and snappy. I do prefer my name to be honest, it just fits don't you think? Your Highness is better than John Doe, “It is almost time to retreat the trays, why haven’t you eaten anything?”
I held my index finger to my lips, “shhh.. Martha is asleep,” I whisper. The nurse quiet her voice and continued to pester me, “Why haven’t you eaten?”
“I was waiting for you to accept my dinner invitation. No candle lights, but the dimmer switches will be good enough.” I smirked at her. She tried to play it off but she can’t hide that flush in her cheeks.
“Alright, then we will remove the trays.” She walks over to check my monitor and the clipboard to update it with the night findings. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know, I am so high on morphine I am seeing colors.” I was honest about my answer. As of late I could see weird colors and shapes where none should be.
“Thats nice,” she responds cynically. I frown and I continue to answer, “I am dying.”
“O.K, Your Highness, good night,” she says and took the trays with her. I was in a hospital right? Why were the nurses and doctors the opposite of hospitable?
I sigh and lay back on my bed and I watched the dimmer switches kick in. I gotta tell you, this time of night is the best, but today it just so happens to be the noisiest. I don’t know why the hell I was blessed with super sonic dolphin ears but they are a pain in my ear drum. I can hear Martha breath, I can hear the nurses outside gossiping about the doctor on call, and I can hear a man screaming in the E.R wing. The screams are getting louder and no one was doing anything about it. I finally had enough of it and I grabbed the remote to call the nurses. After a while of me being persistent, one arrived and she was not happy.
“What is it, Your Highness?”
“It’s been forty five minutes and there is a man yelling,” I answer in a harsh whisper.
“There is no man screaming.”
“Yes there is, I am still hearing him.”
“You are tripping over your meds. Go to sleep,” she leaves and closes the door. My question now is, if Martha is a light sleeper and she can’t hear it, then it must be a hallucination, but why out of everything this scream feels so real and creepy? It’s always at this time of night. And that is when I saw it. It was so tall it almost broke through the roof. As soon as I saw it it escaped through the vents.
I never notice when the nurses came in, I was so scared I was paralyzed. I could hear the machine monitoring my heart beating real fast. The Nurses were asking me questions but I couldn't answer them. I then realize the screaming came to a halt but I could hear a ghastly sound of gnawing on bone and wet lips smacking together. Then the sound of something heavy crawling through the vent, my heart was ready to jump out of my body, I was ready to jump out of my body.
“Your Highness! Calm down!” I could hear the nurses calling me and pulling me down.
“He is having another seizure! We have to sedate him.”
“Are you insane!? Let go of me!” I scream. Sorry Martha…
“You are such a chicken!” one of the nurses says. “Hold still--”
They all freeze when they heard the loud bang in the the vents too. “What was that?”
“You heard it too?”
Suddenly, the vent burst open again, this time it was the nurses that started to scream. A doctor mawled and chewed on crawls out begging for help. It is insane. The nurse tried to help him out but he was dragged away through the vent.
Another nurse press a large button on the wall for fire drills. My bed and Martha’s bed were wheeled out into safety monitored by other nurses on call.
Martha was a heavy sleeper on meds, but it was then till I realized Martha wasn’t breathing. Martha was dead for a long time. If that were the case how the hell did the machines didn’t pick up on it?
I was feeling terrified, I couldn't move out of my bed and I couldn’t understand what the hell was happening, but in some weird way, I felt this presence somewhere before. But where?
“Your Highness?” I don’t know how long it took me to think about my answer, but I forgot the question. All I did was stare at my hands and legs free of the stupid casts making me useless and immobile.
“Your Highness, How are you feeling today?” she asks. Dr. Smith is patient with me. After the whole fiasco I was moved to a different room, I couldn’t speak after what I saw so they assigned me a psychiatrist to help me cope with my mental breakdowns.
“It’s cold…” I answer, “It is very cold…”
“I wish I could do more for you, Your Highness.”
The cold was so familiar, like cold hands on my head caressing my long hair, or gentle whispered of sweet encouragement in my ear, “Don’t be scared, Odyssey, it is just a storm.” My eyes roll back at the intensity of the migraine. I have to hold my head with both hands and will it away.
“Your Highness--”
“My name is Odyssey…” I say without thinking.
“What did you say?”
“...Yes that is my name, My name is Odyssey Demos?” I wasn’t sure about the last name but it feels right. I feel as if I regained a piece of my enigmatic puzzle. One of many fragments ready to burst through my brain at any random minute.
“What else do you remember…” she asked me, she was feeling hopeful. I felt a pang in my chest when I thought about that phrase and who said it, it was murky but I remember the tone exactly and how cold it felt. It was like a divine intervention.
“That I shouldn’t be scared…”
“Scared of what?”
“Of the demons,” I respond confidently.
She sighs as if she given up, “Demons are not real--”
“I don't blame you for not believing, you weren't there to witness it. The nurses saw it, too.”
“Odyssey, the nurses were indeed with you when the mental breakdown happen, but it was all a figment of your imagination.”
“No, I am sure it was real. No little doctor is gonna blame it on my brain or medication. Something was in that vent and is eating us one by one.” I hear her giggle, “have you thought about you maybe being an author in your previous life.” She really thinks I am nuts…
“Have you considered sterilization? I would hate it if the next generation was born with nothing but hot air… Oh wait… You can't have children because you are a closet homosexual...” She took offense to that, she frowns and continued to jolt down her findings.
“My sexuality has nothing to do with this, that was out of line--” I think it hit her just as hard as me when she realizes what I just said “H-how did you know…?”
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I shrug and look back to the vents, after what happened I had to keep an eye for any opening. “You give off that kind of vibe. Nothing supernatural there.”
“My time with you is up for today, Mr. Demos, I will be back tomorrow… Good day.” She stands up and leaves in a hurry. She really didn't like me poking at her because she has to interrogate me for another hour. I wanted to be alone anyway and re-collect my thoughts.
I will sleep till it is night time again, I will explore the halls and bring evidence of that demon. Why am I risking my life to prove myself? I got nothing better to do… Except sleep and doing that all the time will make me fat. Demon hunting it is.
I roam the halls and I find the staff lockers, all of them locked. I smirk thinking about how small the locks are. They kind of remind me of a pair of earrings I use to wear. I thought about it fondly as I poke at my ears looking for traces of possible dangling spots, did I used to wear earrings?
I stop, cock my head and say, “Those are cheap looking… I can bust it with something…” Maybe with my own hand. I grab a random lock and I pull with enough force. Of course it didn't work. I sigh feeling frustrated, “I don’t need the robes I can just walk on my free will, who the hell cares…?” I say and just walk around. I just have to be more careful and use my super hearing to my advantage. I pull off the cotton balls out of my ears and focus on the sounds around me but there were none. That isn't normal, there should at least be that eerie sound of “silence”. I look around before stepping out of the lockers and he halls were too desolate, and the lights far too bright.
Looking around the halls I expect at least a doctor on call but there are none. Of course, my curiosity is interested and I walk in a random patient room and the two were sound asleep. How irresponsible… If someone were to be dying no one will be able to help, I’ll keep my ears open in case.
But just as I thought, I can't hear anything. It’s strange, but haven’t you heard the string of criquets every night? Exactly you didn’t know you were hearing it till you point it out. The first days I was livid with the constant noise and barrage of screaming that anesthesia was common for me to ingest since I was writhing in my bed trying to block it all out. Any little whisper across the hall ten feet away sounds like a normal tone. It is oddly bizarre and frightening to think about.
Let us analyze this for a moment before I go any further in my investigation because this is a serious conflict that comes back to bite me. When I woke up after the accident I woke up because of the sounds. They were so loud I was screaming for them to stop it. My hearing is strange, I know it is because the way everyone reacts around me, it was as if my sense of hearing was a strange phenomena. When I hear something I can somewhat duplicate it in my ear drum which kind of echoes. Replicating the sound in my ear is an advantage till it is not. The benefits of it is that I can pinpoint exactly what a sound is because of how easily I can spot a difference, not only that but I can hear something from very far away and hear it clearly. But the issue is that I can’t control it at all. Imagine yourself in the middle of a room listening to a crowd screaming in different volume levels, breathing, talking, singing, silent, you as a normal person will hate that and will cover your ears to shield them. Now, imagine yourself in that room but with my hearing. Yeah I know, I am sorry but now you will have a better vision when you hear me struggling… No pun intended.
I think I somehow block it, or maybe the anesthetics kinda help, or maybe it was a side effect of my damaged brain. I know one thing is for certain, it feels like I have dealt with it for a while because I knew how to subside it by muffling it with something jabbed in my ear. So it goes without saying, I have no idea what is happening in my ears exactly but I know that the silence is paranormal evidence.
I could have been a medium or something…
I walk down the E.R where I normally hear the screaming at night. Strangely enough, I hear two sources of distressed sounds. I took precaution and follow it. I enter the suite and it is dark but I could hear the messy slobber and grunting. The sound skin makes when it’s skinned. It was ringing in my ear and I can't block it out. My eyes were adjusting to the dark and I see something over something. I search for the lights as soon as I flipped the switch the sound pattern changes to screaming and panic.
Now I know for certain where the staff on call goes in he dead of night… Talk about playing doctor. My doctor, Dr.Willis and a Nurse were having hardcore sex.
“Is that what you people call, gynecology?” I say without thinking. And I gotta say, it's comedy gold.
“What are you doing?! Get out!” the doctor pushes me out the suite and lock the doors with his spare keys and continued to “eat” the nurse. I chuckled and walked away. I stop when I hear the nurse scream in pain I then murmur, “Is he killing her or is he--” I am interrupted by her screams of agony. I recognize that frequency, it is fear and adrenaline.
“Stop it! What are you doing!?” she screams.
I can't stand here knowing he was attacking her. I try force my way in using my arm but I end up falling on my fat ass. I notice through my state of panic a crow staring intently at me. I never saw a bird inside the clinic and the fact a crow is in this situation must have a spiritual, physical and symbolic meaning. It is primordial and natural to my eyes. Like the raw intense passion the doctor and the nurse were experiencing before this all went down hill.
I feel like it was telling me to do something, so I did. I stand up again and use the needles embedded in my arms to pick my way through, and after a while of me struggling with the needles the door made a satisfying click and inside I went.
Now, the issue isin't bullshitting my way through lockpicking, it was the fact I didn’t think things through when I decided to rescue her, I have absolutely no idea what the hell was happening but now that I see clearly what was literally eating her I now understand everything. This doctor or demon is the one eating people. He is halfway through eating this nurse, bone and clothes and all, and she is still, kicking--... breathing. She has no legs… You get the idea.
I have several options to solve this problem, the first option is to lock myself out and haul ass away till I am in the other side of the world, the second option is to fight it with whatever I can get my hands on, and the third option is to run away. Oh no, they are far different, one option is to stop at some point and the other is to never stop running.
So, I choose the second one because I am apparently not an asshole or a coward. I tackle this behemoth of meat and teeth to get it off the nurse and instinctively, I started to throw punches till it overpower me and threw me against the wall. It really hurts. "Well shit, that fucking hurts..." I hiss as I stood on my four limbs. Took me awhile to get back in my senses. I spot the hazard bin with discarded needles. I grab a few and toss them like darts, then the demon convulse till it smokes and fall back on the ground dead and twitching. I saw the electric current break out of his body but it continues to course through his rotten veins. I deliberately electrocuted a demon... Who was I before I lost my memories…? My god, who ever I was, I was and still am, awesome. I wonder what else I can do.
I feel a sense of adrenaline like-- Electricity. I am shivering but I was grounded. I can’t explain it but it feels… Normal. Was this normal? This was normal and if it feels normal then it had to be true.
The doctor and nurse are dead, the nurse must have died from blood loss, I guess I didn’t make it in time. Ironically I did, I was there and If I were a little more perseptive I could have saved her. Now there is another issue, the crow invasion of the suit. I didn't know when it happened but I think it was somewhere when I was monologuing. The crows devour the corpse of the doctor, and to be frank, it's kind of gross to watch birds eat flesh, so I just step out of the suit and then confronted my other problem: my scrubs are stained with bright red and mucky black stains. No, I really needed to change. It's fucking disgusting and unhygenic. So, I snoop around the nurses station, sneaking in the dark corners to pass to the next wing of the hospital. The nurses are gossiping about the doctor and nurse I saw earlier,
“Wow, do you think she is really gonna do it?”
“I sure as hell would, Dr.Mackenzie is attractive and full of money, he even drives a Camaro.”
“Yeah but, that’s very superficial…” She is entirely correct.
“Hey, I am broke and I love the taste of cock covered in cash, she should take the chance, he showers women in gifts till he gets bored of them.” This lady is also correct.
“I think they are taking too long, I will go find them, this is against code of conduct.” The nurse stands up and almost blows my cover.
“Oh come on, let's just get a meal since everyone is asleep no one will wake up with the amount of anesthetics we are putting in their fluids.”
“What? You can’t be serious, what if the patient is allergic?! Or gets poisoned!” She is really submissive and afraid of hers higher ups, I honestly, did not know about the overdose thing and I can hear them everyday. Makes me feel good I refuse to take any.
The nurses left to the cafeteria and I take the opportunity to find clean laundry. I made it to the supply closet and find spare scrubs in pink and changed. I now realize I am in the maternity ward… I ran so far away I lost track of my route. I sneak back to my room with my soil attire in hand till I heard the piercing shriek of the nurses. I hid my clothes under the bed and pretend to sleep.
There was an entire investigation for a whole month. And since I was the only patient awake at the time and I stupidly left behind the needles in the crime scene, I am both a witness and a suspect.
“What happened on the night of friday the twenty-second, nineteen-sixty two?” the detectives ask me as I blankly read my new magazine. I really don't want to talk about it, believe it or not that may not have been the most disturbing thing I witness my entire life but it was up there. The detective is tired of me dodging the question and pull the magazine from my hands roughly.
“That is very rude…” I simply say, glaring at him.
“Listen faggot, answer our questions or do you want to go to jail?”
“I thought the point of jail was to put away criminal degenerates,” I sass at the detective as I checked the beds of my nails.
“Yeah, but you are not helping yourself, you were the only one that was at the scene of the crime besides the nurses.”
“Yeah, I was, I was the only patient awake, too… Strange…” I say sarcasstically.
“Yeah it is very strange…”
“If I did tell you what I saw you will just think I am insane,” I say.
“No sane person can do that much damage!” he screams a tad too loud to my liking and I scowl. His intimidation tactics are getting on my nerves. “Why don’t you do real detective work and ask someone who is credible and not a victim of a defected mind. On a court when asked where did you get evidence to convict me, the judge will think it is preposterous you went out of your way to convict a crazy man of two murders,” I explain to them so they can understand the situation better.
“Oh, you are not a victim… you know and saw something, the nurses saw something odd and it was the pink scrubs you were wearing,” one of the detectives say.
“What about it?” I lay back after I snatch another magazine from under my pillow.
“What were you doing wearing those? Did you change because you got them full of blood?” pretty sharp for a hot head.
“Okay detective, let’s understand a ‘faggot’ like me. My name in this clinic is Your Highness. I am a bitchy person that demands catalogs and magazines to read. I will tell you exactly what I did that night. I woke up, got bored and decided to walk around the E.R. I found the doctor and the nurse having a midnight light dinner, the doctor kicked me out and I went to the maternity ward and thought ‘hey I could rock this color’ and then I left to my room and slept it off.” I need to leave the demon out because they are not ready for the truth.
My psychiatrist walks in, "are you all done?" she asks. "It is time for my patient's treatment..." the second she says so the detectives leave. "Are you alright?" she asks me with a gentle smile.
"I just want them to dissappeare..." I drop my magazine in frustation and sigh. I see something in the corner of my eyes, my doctor's eyes glimmer with a strange light and darkness. She smiles again before she leaves my room. That threw me off so bad I feel unerve everytime I see her. I hear another crow... I also hear Martha, screaming down the hall, "They raped me!! They raped me!! My skin burns!" I see a glimps of her body on fire before the staff tackles her to the ground. I look down at my lap and grip my head. What the actual fuck was even happening anymore? My body quakes and my eyes roll back into the darkness and I pass out.