John turned to the patient and expected the same watery dull gaze he had seen intermittently for the last week. But the patient's eyes were full of life and surprisingly alert. He seemed to be straining to sit up as he opened his mouth to speak but his arms trembled and barely lifted him off the pillow. John looked at him and assessed him for any injuries. Nothing looked out of place. No scratches or bruises that would indicate some kind of fight. John wasn’t sure what to think of him though.
For some reason, he had difficulty focusing on him. His build was… well. He was… John looked at his face. His face looked like… Well, it wasn’t really that important anyway. He should probably check the machines again to make sure they're really working. John looked up as the patient shifted in place. As John fiddled with the machines. The shorter officer at the door gave John a strange look before returning to face the hallway.
“What is going on here? Why are there police here?”
The patient looked around the room and his eyes caught on the shattered door to the room for a second. His brows furrowed for a split second before he seemed to realize something and coughed awkwardly. He tilted his head to the door and continued in a much flatter tone.
“And uh… the door. What happened to the door?”
The officer in the hallway heard the patient speaking and turned to walk into the room. His partner stepped to the side to let him through. John realized just now that he didn’t know either of the officers' names. Everything had just happened so fast that he hadn't thought to ask. He opened his mouth to say something before the taller officer cut in, seeming to forget John was even there.
“Sir, that’s what we would like to know. Did you see or hear anything when you woke up?”
The patient’s expression was carefully blank as he answered. He spoke clearly with clear eyes on the tall officer.
“No sorry officer, I only woke up when your partner called out from the hallway. I was asleep before that.”
The patient shuffled a bit as he maintained his neutral expression from their gazes. The tall officer frowned and gestured towards the door as his mustache twitched. John looked at the patient incredulously. Even he could tell the man was hiding something! He guessed the man didn't have much time to think of a better lie though. A faint note of suspicion entered the officer's voice.
“So you slept while that happened...” He gestured toward the door, “But our voices are what woke you up?”
The man in the hospital bed just shrugged helplessly and seemed indifferent to the officer's suspicion as far as John could tell. The officer just let out a frustrated huff and stared the patient down with his arms crossed across his chest as he silently took in the patient's response.
The patient met his gaze and an apparent staring contest started. John sighed as he finished his checks on the equipment. How childish. He thought the officer was coming across as a little aggressive here, grilling a man in the hospital bed like this but the patient seemed to be responding well enough. John wasn’t sure why the patient would lie though, there was no way he didn’t hear something given the state of the door. It seemed obvious just based on his response that he had to know more than he was telling.
What really surprised John was how lucid the patient was right now. Just a few hours ago when he last woke up he babbled nonsense and had just blankly stared at you when you spoke without any response. But now he had miraculously recovered and was studiously ignoring one of the officer's blatant hostility towards him. John wasn't sure he would have done as well himself given the tense atmosphere building in the room.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
The shorter officer had just stood in the doorway just silently glowering in their direction the whole time. The larger officer had taken a step forward while maintaining eye contact as the staring contest continued. John was feeling uncomfortable and shifted his feet nervously, not sure what to do about the building tension between the two men. He had finished his equipment check but pretended to check again so he wouldn't draw too much attention.
Finally, the officer blinked and the patient let a slight smile slip out through his mask at his victory to the momentary frown of the officer. The shorter officer barked out a derisive laugh.
“So that’s really it? Not some crazy ghost doing it like last time? I really thought you would try again, it seems like it worked well enough last time.” he spat out.
The patient’s face twisted in anger as his neutral mask broke and he opened his mouth and twitched his arm upward to weakly point at the officer.
“You know that I never would hurt her.”
The other officer exploded in rage
“WELL LOOK WHAT HAPPENED! ALWAYS SO COLLECTED. I SHOULD HAVE STOPPED YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE! YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO WRIGGLE OUT OF THIS LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO! WHAT DID YOU DO!?”
The man was quivering in rage and seemed about to lunge at the patient. He stood there breathing heavily after his loud rant. His partner seemed stunned and unsure of what to do about the sudden outburst. But John could see this was clearly going too far. He could see the patient gearing up to respond in kind and tensing up. And no matter their past history, the patient yelling at a police officer wouldn’t do him any favors. John raised his voice to cut off the flushed man in the doorway.
“Hey, cut it out! I’m not sure about the history between you two but this isn’t the time or place. This man was likely just attacked and you’re yelling at him like some kind of criminal! This is hardly the time for arguments! Get control of yourself!”
The patient’s mouth remained open and his expression remained angry, but after a few seconds his arm lowered and his mouth shut. He nodded at John, seeming to realize he had almost said something that he would have regretted. The short officer almost seemed as if he was about to protest John's words, still quivering in place from his anger, but stopped at a piercing look from his partner. The officer stormed out muttering under his breath while the patient's stare drilled into his back. It seemed the taller officer was just as surprised about the sudden outburst as John was.
But as the officer left John saw a flicker of something underneath the patient’s anger. Was that… Guilt? But the emotion was gone before John could be sure and the patient's blank mask returned with full force. The patient slumped back, looking even more wrung out than before as the intense emotions seemed to drain from the room leaving everyone tired and emotionally drained.
John adjusted the IV bag and noticed the fluids inside were low. He’d get it changed after the chaos died down some more. There seemed to be enough fluid left for an hour or two based on the current flow rate. He shook his head.
Seems it wasn't refilled properly, the bag should have been replaced last shift if it had gotten so low. John looked down at the patient who had fallen into a deep sleep the instant they relaxed and sat back. His eyes were closed. It was like he was fully alert one moment when John looked away, and when John looked back in a deep sleep the next. John reached down and adjusted the thin blanket to cover the man after it had been knocked back by his feeble motions earlier.
After an uncomfortable amount of time standing in silence with the remaining officer and the sleeping patient, Rachel came in the door with the doctor in tow. John helped them transfer the patient to a new room as more police and forensics began to muddle around the hospital and take pictures of the crime scene.
All the hospital staff worked frantically as patients woke and were shifted as police locked down the building. It was one of the busiest shifts John had ever experienced. When he got home in the morning he collapsed directly into bed without even changing as all the stress drained out of him all at once, and slept better than he had in months. He never even noticed the expressionless figure that had followed him home...