Elm, stared up into the light. His plan to sneak into the laundry room, then climb up to a higher level, was working. At least it had been working. Elm sighed, he looked away from the light and down at the nurse bot currently fitting his broken leg with specialty shoe, so he could walk around. Apparently he had just out stayed the amount of care his heath insurance was willing to pay for him staying at hospital.
Elm had learned something new about his power at least, he now knew that if an annoyed nurse bot tried to taser him awake, it would force him back to his body even if he was half-way up a laundry shoot. Elm sighed again.
"Do you, patient Elmo re R. Analcime, require anti depressants?" The robot nurse tilted its head as it held out a packet of Alprazolam.
Sighing Elm shook his head. He tried standing up with his new oddly large shoe. He'd already switched out his hospital cloths with his black shirt and blue jeans. The jeans now sported a new rip in the left leg and struggled in general to deal with extra mass provided by the plastic cast. After moving around the room some more as the nurse bot watched him, occasionally giving out helpful tips, like " Don't trip" or " A child usually masters walking by 14 months". Getting the message that, for whatever reason, this nurse bot wanted him gone, Elm allowed it to lead him out of the building.
Standing in front of the entrance to the massive hospital Elm looked up at the sign just above the door he came from, 'Bishops hospital emergency ward'. Remembering he had a mission he was forgetting, Elm looked around for a place he could leave his body without the worry of getting mugged. He then spotted something that reminded him he hadn't eaten since first waking up, and the sun was currently setting. He walked over to the nearby Ms Fantads Eastwood that he'd just spotted. Entering Elm walked up to one of the free service bots affixed to a faux old-timey looking till. His eyes hungrily scoured the menu, before they halted on the largest burger available.
"Hey could I get a Ms Triple Full combo?"
"HECK YEAH! That'll be 17.95!" Came the overly enthusiastic reply from the server bot, But he'd just realized his mistake. Elm felt down to his pants pocket and took out a dreadfully thin black leather wallet. He opened it up with a sense of dread. He'd never managed to actually take out any money from the bank before shit hit the fan. He pulled out the only bill in the whole wallet. A single heavily wrinkled, gold 10 dollar bill.
"Damn."
"Language young man!" the service bot interjected with mock anger.
"Oh sorry, could I get a Ms value with fries and also book a booth for an hour instead?"
"Of course! That'll be 8.99!" Elm handed over the golden 10, one of the service bots arms came down and grabbed the bill before depositing it in a slot in the bots body, the old-timey looking till then made a caching sound, though nothing on the exterior of it moved. "Your food and change will be delivered to your booth, which is number 121! Have a FanTad day!" The bot handed Elm a receipt, then turned to the next customer behind him, Elm had honestly been too hungry to make much note of them, and continued to be.
Elm walked off past the till and headed down the hallway marked BOOTHS. He continued down it until he came to the booth marked 121, he then placed the receipt on the doors lock after which he heard a click. Opening the door and walking in as it closed behind him, Elm observed the room. The booth was comprised of a small table with two armless plastic chairs, lit from above with a single too bright spotlight. The whole booth was able to seat 4 people uncomfortably, the bright red of everything in the booth only added to the discomfort. Schooching himself over to the center of one of the large seats, Elm relaxed back into the smooth plastic. Though some might find it uncomfortable, Elm had a lot of fond memory's of going to Ms Fantads with his father. Back when Elm was a kid they would come to a Ms Fantads every Friday, grab a booth and some burgers, then they would just talk. They would sometimes go over how Elm was doing in school, sometimes his dad would tell stories about all the jobs he was working. Like the time he was a janitor for a supervision, or the time he got a security job protecting a manhole. Elm Smiled as he thought of all the time he and his dad had killed just sitting in one of these booths.
REEEEEEurt-
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
A tray popped out of the wall and slid to a stop in front of him as he was reminiscing. On it was his meal, as well as his change. The money reminded Elm of why he and his dad didn't go to Ms Fantads anymore. He remembered when him and his dad were at their lowest, the night that the bank foreclosed on their family home, how that night, they had spent sleepless in a FanTad booth just like this. He remembered his father muttering that he would never let it happen again, he left for work in another city a few weeks later. Elm looked down at the meager meal, he grabbed the burger and quickly started eating. He agreed with his dad on one thing, never again, Elm would use this new gift of his.
He would have a father again.
...
After elm finished his food, he transferred his mind back to the skeleton. After the jarring perspective shift, Elm looked around. He was genuinely shocked when he noticed he was still half-way up the laundry shoot, his bony fingers were clutching onto a protruding metal lip just past a riveted edge. He supposed the skeleton must just stay locked in position if he's not controlling it. Mentally shrugging elm reached his other hand up to grab the next lip. He had to adjust his footing, so he could reach all the way up.
Elm paused mid motion, he looked down, there attached below the spine was a completed pelvis and a single fully assembled leg. He distinctly remembered only putting together the upper torso of the skeleton... 'Whelp, that's a problem for latter.' Elm refocused on scaling the shoot. After a couple tense minutes of climbing he'd reached the first opening for laundry, he slowly pulled himself level with the metal door. The hinges seemed to be positioned on the bottom, meaning the door should swing down vertically. But, before he could try sneaking into the room he had to make sure it was empty. Elm quietly pressed the side of his skull against the metal.
"- Told you I searched the whole basement, and I found nothing!" Came a voice Elm recognized, it was the Hero in the yellow cape from the operating room.
"Maybe it was just your powers giving a false positive again?" a different much younger sounding male voice replied, they sounded a little exasperated.
"But I would've felt it dissipate by now if it was just a false positive! This feeling is continuous! That only happens if a crime is still in process." The Big hero guy sounded really defensive.
Sigh~ "Alright, you're the boss, we can stay a little longer. But if it turns out your just sensing a kid downloading movies again or something, you're buying me Ms Fantads for supper." The doubtful younger voice responded.
"Thank you for understanding Hotspot! And don't worry! I'm sure there's a real crime this time. You go to another check of the basement, and be sure to ask the guards if they've seen any suspicious individuals! I'll check this floor and start making my way up the building."
"Alright whatever, I'll make it fast and take the laundry shoot then"
step step step
Quick footsteps headed towards the shoot door caused Elm to almost lose his grip as he quickly scrambled up above the door and pressed his bony body as close to the wall as he could. Just as he got into this new position, the door opened and a man shaped ball of fire shot straight down the shaft and curved off just as it was about to hit the pile of dirty clothes at the bottom. Elm used this chance to stick his toe bones into the lip of the door as it was closing, preventing any locking mechanism from engaging. The heavy metal door slammed on Elm's skeletal toes. Elm felt the pinky toe shattering completely and a few others cracking, though luckily it didn't actually hurt. It was definitely not comfortable however, kind of like a tingling that quickly emanated from the broken parts.
"Argh, that boy." Came the voice of the yellow hero. "He needs to learn some patience."
Elm waited until he heard the heroes tell tail loud footsteps leaving the room, as well as the sound of the door closing behind him before he detached his wedged toe bones and climbed back down in front of the door.
Elm pushed the door open, being sure to catch the detached toes. The opening was only 2 1/2 feet squared pointing up. Still, plenty of room for a skeleton to fit through though, so elm clambered up into the room beyond. It was a small janitors closet with the usual accessories that entailed, but what captured Elms attention most was the small window just touching the ceiling and positioned above the industrial sink. It was just a small square thing, like what you would find in a public washroom, but the hinges on the top of it meant it could be opened.
Elm climbed up onto the sink, he then stretched out, so he could look out the window. It was just shy of nighttime, the sun was low and shadows were long. The perfect time for a skeleton to slip out of a hospital unnoticed. Elm grabbed the latch locking the window and flipped it, the window then was easily pushed open. He stretched out once more and grabbed the edges of the window frame. Then in one motion, pulled his bony body into a 5-foot free fall into a bush just outside the hospital.
From the cover of his bush, Elm glanced around the garden he'd fallen into for witnesses. There were non. Elm, finally able to release some tension, sank down into the bush. Now he just needed to recover the skeleton and get it home, and he knew just how he was going to do that.
Elm looked down at the grocery bag held in his thin white fingers.