The girl didn’t answer any of the boy’s questions. Although she helped him, he didn’t trust her. Was it because she never answered the questions? Was it because she always told him to hide as much as possible? Why were they hiding from the nurses anyway? Why did this hospital become so hostile? As he thought this over, they stopped in the hallway. “What is it?” he whispers. “There’s a vent up there.” Whispers the girl, as she points to the vent two inches higher than them.

She picks up a nearby chair, and gently places it down under the vent. She climbs up, and pulls the vent’s lid off, placing it gently on the ground. “Alright,” she whispers, turning to the boy. “Climb up!” She gets off the chair, and helps the boy into the giant vent. After he gets in, she hops in after him, and with the lid in one of her hands, she places it back inside its place and then pushes her way to be in front of the boy. “We have to stay very quiet, these vents echo very loudly, and if I stop, you stop, if I go, you go after me,” whispers the girl, then she turns back to the tunnels and crawls into the darkness. As they crawl, strange noises kept growing soft, then louder, and softer again. Although their breaths were quiet, they had to hold it sometimes when they heard sudden footsteps and voices.

They crawled through twisty tunnels and in some spots, it was so dark, the girl had to turn around and feel for the boy’s hand or arm. They made it to a bright spot, which led to another vent opening. The girl pushed the lid open and then, with the lid in her hand, jumped out of the vent and set it down softly to the side of the chair below the vent. She helps the boy out, and then walks around in what looked like the hospital’s kitchen. The whole room was dimly lit, and most of it was dark. The boy could tell it was a kitchen, with the metallic counters and tables. Pots on the hooks above them and even on the metal stoves. The girl jumps up on one of the tables with a marble top and then sits on the edge of it. “You can ask your questions here,” she says, “This kitchen is off limits for both patients and faculty during the night.” The boy slowly walks over to her and says, “Why did you save me?” He pauses before he says, “Who are you?” The girl hesitated before she could give out a reply. She finally answers his question, “I’m Reilynn, my room is just two hallways away from yours.” She jumps off the table and walks over to him. “This…actually isn’t the first time we’ve met.” She says, and that surprises the boy. “What?” he says, and Reilynn nods.

“Yeah…I saw you once…actually, just three or four days ago.” She says, “When I was getting ready for my usual checkup, I saw you being wheeled out of the emergency room…I saw your face…” She shudders, then hugs herself. “So, how did you get so banged up?” she asks. The boy remains quiet for a while, until he rubs the back of his neck with his right hand and says, “It’s kind of a long story…” “Well, I wouldn’t mind hearing it.” Says Reilynn, “Just make it as vague as possible if you don’t trust me with the details.” The boy slowly tells the girl everything he remembers about that night.

As he told her his story, he couldn’t see any sign of confusion on her face. Usually, when you tell a story that is more like a bad dream, people just get wide eyed and nod like they understand. But this girl, she seems to take in the whole story like this was something she heard once a week. After telling his story, she finds a chair to sit in and sits down before saying, “…well, that’s quite an experience...but, you do know that it wasn’t a dream.” The boy nods and she continues, “Look, I totally get it…a knock on the head like that can totally make you see things differently than before…but once you open your eyes, you can’t keep them closed for good anymore.”

Reilynn leans back in her chair and says, “So…about that pill…” The boy’s eyes grow wide again as she says, “You’ve taken it again, haven’t you?” “How did-” he says, but Reilynn interrupts. “I know, because you haven’t morphed like the others.” She says, “That’s how it works, when others take it, you can tell because they don’t change like those who haven’t taken the pill.” She continues as the boy finds a chair to sit by her. “Anyway, you’ve already seen what it can do, so I won’t beat around the bush…but I will let you know that it only lasts for a week, then you’re done.” She says. “But, the pill I took yesterday, that only lasted for a day…just leaving me with a few side effects.” “Yeah, it did.” She says, “But the pill you just took, that lasts for a week…the only reason they gave you the one-day pill was because it was your first day trying it.” “Wha-that makes no sense.” Says the boy, “Why would they try to hook me up with these drugs in the first place.” Reilynn shrugs, “No idea, it kind of depends on your doctor’s reason for giving it to you.” “Well, I don’t know what his reasons are, for saving me or giving me that pill.” Says the boy, “But can I ask if you know why you were given the pill?” Reilynn shrugs, and says, “I was given it because of my condition.” “And that is…” says the boy, but Reilynn shakes her and says, “You wouldn’t want to know…” “How bad is it?” asks the boy. “I can’t say,” says Reilynn, “But, considering that you’ve been through worse too…I guess I can tell you a little bit of my story.” The boy listens intently, as Reilynn talks about herself.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“…I was thirteen, and I didn’t have a life at all.” She begins, “When my father left us for his coworker, my mother started getting more depressed. It had gotten so bad that I would have to go out and eat at my grandmother’s while my mother tore our house up in these fits of rage and sadness.” “I didn’t have many friends, but one that I trusted invited me to stay with her for a while. My mother refuses to take care of me, so I accepted, but little did I know that her house was far worse than mine.” “Her father was an alcoholic, and her sisters were like street cats, always fighting each other.” “Her older brother was a little less scarier than everyone else, and my friend was super close to him.” “But…then everything went to shit, and I came here for sanctuary-but it’s clearly far from it.” “But I don’t understand, why hasn’t your mother come back for you?” Reilynn shrugs and says, “Well, why did your family lie to you and try to force you to die with them, even if you didn’t want to?” The boy goes silent, and after a minute says, “…because they thought it would be better for me…” Reilynn nods and says, “Yeah, except my mother had only left me here because it would be better if she just forgot about me all together.” “What do you mean?” asks the boy. “Everyone wants to live in their own worlds,” says Reilynn, “my mom wants to live alone, my father wants to live in the suburbs with his new wife…my friend wants to live happily in the city…her brother wants to live in someplace as dark and twisted as his heart and soul.” The boy tilts his head and says, “…and you?” Reilynn turns away and says, “…I just want to live in peace and finally have something to live for...” She holds herself for a while, then stops and turns to the boy. “Oh, right,” she says, “I never got to ask you, what’s your name?” The boy goes wide eyed, and stutters, “I-I…I don’t know my name.” Reilynn ponders this, then nods and says, “Well…I think I can help you find out, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” She walks over to the vent and says, “Come on, I’m taking you back.” “Back?!” gasps the boy in horror, “We can’t go back!” “Why not?” asks Reilynn sarcastically. “Didn’t you see those monsters?!” explains the boy, “And those visions I get, they just keep getting worse!” “You’ll be fine,” says Reilynn, as she walked over and put her hands on the sides of his arms, “Just follow me like before, and I promise you, you won’t get caught.” “What about the nurse?” asks the boy. “She won’t find out.” says Reilynn, trying her best to keep the boy relaxed, “All we have to do is keep acting normal-well, normal-ish-then when it’s nighttime, I’ll wake you, and we’ll escape together.” “Escape?” he asks. “Uh, yeah.” Says Reilynn, “We have to leave this place, or we’ll both die here.” “Die?” he asks in disbelief, “I don’t understand, they can’t kill us.” “No they can’t, yet.” Says Reilynn, who was already in the vent. The boy quickly followed and asks quietly, “What do you mean ‘yet’?” Reilynn stops, but the silence was interrupted. There were faint sounds of tiny claws scratching the outside of the vents, in all different directions. Both knew if they made a sound, they would be discovered.

The sounds grew loud and soft again until a certain pattern was being made. Reilynn quickly analyzed this pattern and gestured for the boy to follow her. When the sounds grew louder, they moved very slowly forward, but when it got softer, they stopped. Suddenly the boy realized what both of them were doing. The monsters outside can’t hear them when they claw at the vent too loud, and the louder the noise is, the harder it is to know if they were moving. After they reached the end of the vent, the clawing stopped. Reilynn looked through the vent’s lid and saw there weren’t any creatures outside. She opens the vent, slowly jumps out, and turns to help the boy out. “Remember,” she whispers, “You can’t be seen by anyone!” “But how do I find my room?” asks the boy. “You’ll follow the cracks on the wall, the ones that look like string.” Says Reilynn, as she points to the wall opposite of them. The cracks did look like string, but the boy was hesitant to go near it. He turns back to her and says, “But, where will you go?” She shakes her head and says, “I can’t go back to my room, they know I escaped.” “How?” he says, but she pushes him away and says, “Just go, I’ll explain everything later tomorrow night, but you can’t be seen!” He turns and runs to the corner leading away from the hallway, and stops. He turned back to her, but she was already gone. He sighs, and ponders why she left so suddenly. Then a sudden thought came into his head. Are there others? Is she helping other kids too? Why is it that no one knows about all this yet? Suddenly, he felt a cold shiver down his spine and a voice suddenly said, “…why are you here?” He turns sharply, and sees his nurse. She smiles, an eerie smile, and says, “You should be in bed~.”