“Hanna?”
The voice came gently. Hesitantly.
“Hun, are you still asleep?”
Hanna felt far away, a buzzing between her ears, giving her a muddled feeling and a dull ache. She let out a small groan.
“Hanna, honey, it’s time to wake up now.” There was something else now in the voice, a sort of quiet desperation. Hanna groaned again and painfully opened her eyes a crack. Nurse Aema’s face was fuzzy, but came into view in a few blinks. Hanna could see the visible relief that crossed her face. She seemed to stop herself from glancing at the mirror and smiled cheerfully. “It’s time to rise and shine, sleepy head,” she crooned, peeling back Hanna’s covers.
The pain in Hanna’s head increased and she sat up slowly, gingerly cradling her head in her hands. Nurse Aema frowned. “Do you need something for your head? Are you having a headache again?” She turned to her little cart and grabbed a small container of little white pills. Shaking a couple out, she handed them to Hanna and began to fill a glass with water. “This’ll help with that headache of yours,” she said with a gentle smile.
Hanna looked up at Nurse Aema for a second, then accepted the pills. At this point, why not? Hanna thought to herself. She had already been drugged in World 2. But something told her she could trust this Aema, almost as much as she trusted Real Aema back in World 1. “Thanks,” she murmured, swallowing down the chalky pills with her foggy water.
“Today’s the big day,” Nurse Aema smiled with reserved excitement. “You finally get to go back to your private room!”
Hanna sat up a little straighter. Private room. She smiled weakly. Maybe with a little privacy, she could figure this out. “How soon can I move out?” she asked with a sideways grin.
The room was halfway up the hall, much closer to the Lounge than her previous one. This one was slightly larger, had a private bathroom with shower. There was a window looking outside and letting in light, though it was barred on the outside. The bed was nicer, full size with a wooden frame. Unlike the cold, tile floor of the observation room she’d been in, this one had a light wooden floor with a low pile round rug beneath the bed, spilling out from under it like a blue halo. It wasn’t the most glamourous thing, but it was nicer than having cold feet. There was even a small dresser, and a bedside table with a small lamp. Her favorite part was the little desk beneath the window. It felt sunny.
“I hope it’s to your liking,” Nurse Aema said, wringing her hands with an edge of nerves. “Let me show you around,” she said, closing the door behind them. In the privacy and silence, they both stood a moment, unmoving for a beat before Nurse Aema let out a sigh, as if releasing tension from her body and took a careful step towards Hanna. “Which one are you?” she asked tentatively, in a hushed whisper.
“Which one, what?” Hanna replied, her face screwing up in confusion despite her heart skipping a beat, sensing a potential danger.
Nurse Aema looked around out of habit, then said suddenly louder, “Yes, I can show you the bathroom, this way!” before turning and going into the bathroom. Hanna rubbed her face with a hand and decided to follow this weird line of thought and walked after Nurse Aema.
Nurse Aema turned the water on full blast with both nozzles and shut the door, leaving them in the small, dimly lit bathroom alone. “Which one are you?” she repeated again, her voice barely a whisper above the roar of the water.
“What do you mean?” Hanna asked tentatively.
“I know you’re not my Hanna,” she said more sharply than she intended.
Hanna jerked her gaze up to Aema. “And I know you’re not my Aema,” she replied harshly.
Nurse Aema smiled tightly, as if she’d just confirmed something. “You need to be more careful,” she warned. “And you can’t call me Aema here.”
“Why not?” Hanna asked, raising her brows.
“Because this world’s Aema isn’t named Aema. She’s Isis.”
Isis? The delicious food cook? “Is this some kind of joke?” Hanna asked suspiciously.
“No,” she replied. “And if you don’t want them knowing which one you are, you’ll do well to remember that this world’s Aema is named Isis.”
World. Like Sol said. “Why do keep saying ‘this world’s Aema’? Aren’t you this world’s Aema?”
Nurse Aema smiled sadly. “No,” she said simply. “I don’t know how I ended up here, but I have had to be very careful. I think they know I’m not Isis, but as long as I don’t ask questions and do as I’m told, I think I’m safe. For now.”
Hanna nodded, understanding. She wondered how careful she had really been during her time here. “What world are you from, then?” she asked.
Nurse Aema pondered this a moment. “I don’t know exactly,” she replied. “But this world is called Earth, and my world was Ethos.”
Hanna straightened. “My world is Ethos!” she cried before Aema gestured her to be quiet. “My world is Ethos,” she repeated quietly. “Are you from my world? Are you my Aema?”
Nurse Aema shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she replied thoughtfully. “You didn’t seem to be surprised by the electricity, but it was a great surprise to me. My Ethos doesn’t have electricity yet. Or proper bathrooms. Only the highest nobles have running water. We still use a well at the manor and take turns dredging it up and bringing it to the house.”
Hanna never thought she’d feel more grateful to be from her world. “We have electricity. And running water, though many still do have and use wells,” she said thoughtfully.
“What about Sol? Do you have Sol in your world? Are you part of the House of Aether?”
Aema nodded. “Yes, I’m part of the Aether House, but Sol is.. Well, I don’t know how to say it except that something strange happened before I ended up here. I lost time, and now Sol is missing.”
“What do you think happened to her?” Hanna asked, her heart speeding up a little.
“I don’t know,” Nurse Aema replied. But I think maybe when I’m here, Isis and I switch places. The worst part is, I’ve been here a really long time now. I’m starting to become afraid that I can’t return home.”
Hanna frowned. So maybe Sol was missing, or maybe that stain in the basement.. Something suddenly occurred to her. “But when I was in the other Ethos, I was able to take a bath and wash up. So maybe it wasn’t yours? You said you don’t have running water in your manor.”
Nurse Aema puzzled this a moment, then smiled. “We don’t have running water, but we do have water tanks we installed on the roof. They catch rain water and the sun heats them to get them warm. Did you wash while the sun was up?”
Hanna thought a moment and nodded. “They kept drugging me, so I only really came-to during the day.”
Nurse Aema frowned. “They’re..drugging you? Who exactly? With what?”
Hanna shrugged. “Aema 2—that’s what I’ve been calling her in my mind—tries to keep me in my bed. She makes me take this medicine she says I need, but there’s something weird about it.”
“What does it look like?” Nurse Aema’s face took on a seriousness that it hadn’t before.
“A weird vial of some kind of creepy liquid,” she answered. “But I don’t really know what it is. And I think,” she continued, “that she must have a thing with syringes.” Subconsciously, Hanna rubbed the spot on her neck where she’d felt the stinging pain while in the basement with Aema 2. Isis, she corrected herself.
Nurse Aema frowned. “I wonder if there’s a way to truly confirm it was my Ethos and not another version somewhere out there.”
Hanna considered this for a moment, then spoke slowly. “In your Ethos, what kind of bed do I have?”
Nurse Aema looked at Hanna as though she’d hit her head again, then answered hesitantly. “A four-poster queen bed, but they’re half-posts, not full posts. You wanted a canopy, but that was the best Sol could do at the time.”
One of the biggest things that Hanna had noticed about her bedroom when she had returned to her world, something she noticed but didn’t think too hard on, was her bed. The beds were nearly identical, but Hanna’s real bed was a queen-sized canopy. World 2’s bed was also a queen four-poster, but the posts didn’t rise completely up, so there was no canopy. It had been something Hanna had mostly overlooked. Until now.
Hanna looked up at her and laughed in triumph. “That’s the one I woke up in!” she exclaimed. Then her eyes sparkled with a dark excitement. “I know where Isis is,” she began. “And she’s walking around in your body, pretending to be you.”
The bathroom began to gather steam, dampening Hanna’s skin as the REAL Aema 2 stared at her in contemplative silence. “So Isis is in my world…and she’s drugging my Hanna.” There was an anger behind her eyes that hadn’t been there before, and her jaw set.
“Aema—I’ll just call you Aema in private. I’ve been thinking of you as ‘Nurse Aema’, but I guess you’re the real Aema 2 and the fake Aema 2 is really Isis.”
Aema stared at Hanna a moment, then her mouth twitched and she broke into a laugh. “That sounds so confusing! I’m really glad you found a way to make sense of things,” she chuckled.
Hanna chuckled too, then sobered. “Hey, Aema 2, why are we in a steaming bathroom?”
Nurse Aema looked at her and smirked. “I wasn’t sure if they monitor the rooms somehow, listening in maybe. I thought if we talked softly in here, with the water running, no one could hear us.”
Hanna nodded. It made enough sense, but now her skin was getting sticky from the moisture and her clothes were getting damp. “Maybe we can just take the risk?” she asked. “I’m becoming a swamp monster,” she muttered, gesturing to her dress.
Aema looked at her own clothing and chuckled. “I’ll just turn the hot off.” Reaching into the shower, she turned the further knob until the shower water stopped steaming. Then she walked to the panel by the door and flicked on a switch. An exhaust fan above began to run, lazily inviting the steam to evacuate the small space.
As the steam exited the bathroom, the two girls lapsed into a silence nearly as heavy as Hanna’s dress now felt. A silence that felt pregnant with possibilities, then a question slowly entered Hanna’s mind.
“Aema.. What happens to the other person when we..travel or whatever. Do they switch places with us like Isis did with you, because so far it seems like time doesn’t really pass the same way between worlds, but when I wake up in one.. It’s like..” Hanna’s head ached and she struggled for the words. “Like without me there, the body was just sort of an empty shell or frozen in time or something.”
The real World 2 Aema stood quietly, her eyes hooded by a darkness before she looked up at Hanna. “I don’t know. I don’t know if time passes or not, if we return to the moment we left or not, or what happens to the other person when we’re…inhabiting them. All I know is you were in my Hanna’s body and you said she’s being drugged. I need to find a way to get back to her. Before something worse happens.”
There was a quality to Aema 2’s worry that resonated with Hanna, though she wasn’t sure exactly why. “Aema, why did I first wake up in that..what is it—an observation room?”
Nurse Aema frowned. “Doctor Sol took Hanna away to conduct some tests. After that, she had her moved there for observation. Then you came..” She hesitated. “I could tell you were different somehow, but I had to be sure. You weren’t familiar with this place at all. You didn’t even question why you weren’t in your room, so I knew it had to be a different Hanna. I just.. I didn’t expect..” she trailed off, frowning.
“It’s okay,” she reassured softly, setting a hand on Aema 2’s arm. “We’ll figure this all out.”
Nurse Aema smiled weakly. In spite of her own words, Hanna wondered to herself if they really could figure it out at all.
-
Hanna stared out the window of her room. She now had permission to leave to and from the commons area on her own, her door unlocked during the daylight hours, but she was lost in thought, going over what few things she knew—or thought she knew—and the conversation with the real Aema 2.
So, everything is real, she thought to herself. Just…different worlds or dimensions or something. But, somehow, some people are able to travel between…what? Consciousnesses? Is that even a word? Consciousness…es.. Whatever.
Hanna huffed and sat down in the chair at the small desk that was brought in for her. That same orderly that had brought her to her room the day Nurse Bitchface made her first take those pills had brought the chair. His name was Gerald, and his milk chocolately skin was flawless.
As it turned out, Gerald was actually pretty friendly. He admitted to Hanna that he wasn’t an orderly, but a security guard in scrubs. The kenspeckle uniform of the guards drew too much attention—not always the positive kind—and so the administrators asked them to dress as orderlies. The other hall ‘orderly,’ his friend and co-guard, Sam, had dirty blond hair and bright brown eyes that looked like they were dipped in honey. I wouldn’t mind being escorted to my room by him, Hanna thought. He’s like a sexy Ken doll. Only he’s probably anatomically correct. Although Gerald’s not so bad either.
She smirked as she turned and rose from the chair. It wouldn’t hurt to pay the boys a little visit. As she opened her door, a sudden realization hit her: Legacy’s room was now right across from hers! Pulling her door closed behind her, Hanna glanced left, down the long corridor that led to her old quarters, and to her right, the short jaunt to the commons. Seeing nobody—or at least, nobody who could see her—she quickly walked across to Legacy’s door, took a deep breath, and tapped as quietly as she could. She waited a moment, quickly glanced around, took the risk and did another quick knock, louder this time.
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A moment stretched into two, and Hanna wondered if she shouldn’t just continue down the hall when the knob to the door slowly turned. The door opened a slight crack and Hanna could see Legacy’s wild eye peeking through the slot. “Hey, Legacy,” Hanna drawled slowly, raising her hand in a slight wave, afraid to spook the girl. Suddenly the door shot open and Legacy lunged, grabbing Hanna’s wrist painfully and pulling her into the room with one rough jerk. She slammed the door closed and span around, shoving Hanna into the room and standing with her back against the door, panting and staring wide-eyed, like a caged animal.
“You shouldn’t be here!” she hissed breathlessly. Her head whipping around manically, as if she expected someone to be watching from somewhere in the room. “You shouldn’t be here,” she repeated, her voice a harsh whisper.
Hanna was momentarily speechless. Then, as though the hamster decided to run again on the wheel of her brain, she blinked and replied carefully, “Um.. You pulled me in here, so..” She trailed off.
She took a moment to really take Legacy in. The girl’s hair was wild and unkempt, her youthful face seemed older somehow, aged. Her eyes were surrounded by bruise-like circles, hues of purple and black. Her eyes themselves bloodshot, as though from lack of sleep, and seemed to stay wide and alert. She was twitchy for long moments at a time, then would freeze, as though listening for something, pupils fixed.
“They’ll know if they find you,” she said quickly, a hint of mania in her words as well. “If they find you, they’ll know, and then they’ll know that I know, and then they’ll come for me!” The words left her in a mad rush and Hanna felt her body tense with fear.
She’s not right, Hanna thought. There’s something wrong with her. What happened?
“It isn’t right, it isn’t real--but it’s real and it’s wrong. Did you see?” she hissed quietly, closing the distance to Hanna in only a couple of steps, peering into Hanna’s face from mere inches away. “Did you see them? See what happened?”
Hanna’s mouth ran dry and she tried to swallow, but her throat stuck. “Yes,” she choked out in a whisper, hoping to appease this mad girl and make an escape. This had been a mistake, and now she was afraid there would be no going back. If this girl found her to be a threat, would she attack? Hanna was certain she would. As much as she wanted to ask who was doing what, it was better to play along, just in case.
Legacy visibly relaxed and backed away a couple steps, standing straighter and looking calmer, more determined. “You can’t sleep,” she stated matter-of-factly. “You can’t go to sleep. You don’t wake up in the right place. You wake up someplace..different” She shifted, as though she expected someone to pop out at her and she needed to be prepared to bolt.
Something in Hanna’s brain clicked. “You’re right,” she said slowly, carefully. “You don’t wake up in the right place. Can you tell me, where is the right place?”
Legacy turned, staring madly into Hanna’s eyes, her body frozen. After a very long pause, in which Hanna was afraid to blink, and scarcely breathed—Legacy relaxed her body, but her eye contact didn’t break and her voice was a ragged whisper. “They do things to you,” she said. “Don’t trust the Sol. The mad Sol. The mad one. The mad doctor.”
Legacy leaned so close that her face was nearly touching Hanna’s, her gaze uncomfortably piercing. “They’ll take you,” she whispered harshly. “They’ll take you and she’ll gut you. She’ll take your eyes. She’ll take everything.”
-
Okay, Hanna thought, her heart pounding as she clicked the door safely behind her and leaned her body against it, catching her breath. That took an unexpected turn.
It took Hanna some time to placate the girl enough to be able to slip out of the room, but once she was out and the door closed safely behind her, she felt she could breathe a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure whether Legacy had gone totally mad, or if this place had done something to her, but some of what she said made sense. It resonated with Hanna. Hadn’t she, herself, tried not to sleep when she returned to her home world? Or what if this was Legacy’s home world and she truly was crazy?
Either way, she hadn’t gleaned anything else from the fearful girl other than repeated words and sentences. “She’ll gut you!” Legacy had insisted. The thought alone put an icy tingle of fear running along Hanna’s spine. She shivered and turned towards the commons area. She would try to eat lunch now, to keep up her strength more than anything, though she wasn’t sure if she could hold anything down with her stomach in such knots.
As she entered the commons area, a hand clamped down on her right shoulder and a loud voice cried out, “Hey!”. Hanna startled, ducking her shoulder and whipping around in a way that, begrudgingly, reminded her of Legacy.
“Hey!” she cried out in return, looking up to see a surprised Gerald. He raised his hands into the air in mock surrender. “Whoa,” he said gently. It made her feel like he was calming a horse and she scowled. “Easy, girl! I got you,” he said, then he glanced down. “Hanna, seriously, you’re shaking. Did I scare you that bad? I’m sorry, girl, usually you don’t spook.”
Hanna looked down at her own trembling hands and pulled them into fists, pressing them into her sides. “No, it’s not that,” she said, shaking her head. She was surprised at how meek her voice sounded. Looking up she met Gerald’s green-eyed gaze. “I just saw Legacy,” she said, not even realizing her arms came up to tighten around herself.
His eyes widened slightly, he took a step forward, looking around cautiously with his eyes, his gaze focusing for an extra moment on the Nurse’s Station before dropping down to Hanna’s face. “Be careful!” he said, his voice dropping to a hushed whisper. “Don’t you know you can get in trouble just for saying that girl’s name?”
Hanna didn’t know how to answer, she just looked up into his face and felt at a loss. Gerald put a hand on her shoulder with a sympathetic sigh. “Look,” he said sincerely, “I know she’s your friend, but that Legacy is gonna get you into nothing but trouble. That girl has finally gone off the deep end. She is the one who flew over the cuckoo’s nest, and hanging with her is only gonna get you in deep.” He gave Hanna a knowing look, then a reassuring smile. “Now, I’m gonna stop touching you before I get in trouble,” he said with a light chuckle, releasing her and moving back. He turned his head to the Nurse’s Station and gave an exaggerated nod with a toothy smile that made him look ridiculous as he gave a little wave.
Hanna turned to the Lounge, risking a look at the Nurse’s Station to see a glaring Sasha, her little mouth as tiny and puckered as a cat’s bum-hole. Hanna turned away, rolling her eyes. If anyone here needed some medication, it’s Sasha, she thought darkly. That lady could use a little pick-me-up.
She didn’t feel like communicating with anyone, though there were scarcely any patients to be seen. She strolled to the TV area and camped out on a sofa, making herself a little nest out of the pillows. She wasn’t sure how long she watched or how much time passed before a gentle hand on her arm nudged her awake. “Hey. Excuse me..”
“Mrph?” Hanna grumbled unintelligibly, blinking up at the beautiful young man. He seemed familiar. “Are you watching anything, or is it okay if I change the channel?”
A blurry-eyed Hanna looked groggily from the boy to the television screen and back. “What are you gonna watch?” she asked dumbly, trying to gather her sense as sat up in her pillow kingdom.
“I was thinking of checking out the weather, then maybe a documentary or something.”
Hanna made a show of tilting sideways to glance behind him at the blue skies outside of the tall windows. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to be disappointed. It’s sunny. It’s always sunny here. Unless it rains, probably. Though I haven’t seen that yet.” Stretching, she gave him a Cheshire grin. “But you can change it all the same. I’ll watch it with you. Maybe,” she said with a air of mystery, “I’ll be surprised.”
Half an hour, the weather channel, and a cooking show later, Hanna was sure of two things: The first was that it was definitely clear, sunny weather. She never had any doubt. The second was that she was now only mildly confident she could sort of, maybe, make a fruit tart. Though she’d already forgotten how they made the crust. The puff pastry looked pretty good. Maybe she could get one of those smuggled in from Aema. Or, when she got back home, from the real Aema. Or..’her’ Aema, she supposed.
Watching the cooking show just made her feel hungry, so she abandoned the sofa with a small wave and a quiet “See you later,” before heading off to use the facilities and search for food. The Lounge’s communal bathroom was bigger than she expected, and very pristine. The smell of bleach burned her nostrils, but it also gave her a sense of clean just by walking in the door. After she was finished, while drying her hands, she risked a look at herself in the mirror. She looked paler than usual. The dark rings around her eyes were still there, unchanged. She had a haunted appearance. She supposed it was better than bat-shit crazy.
Out in the Lounge, Hanna realized she had no idea how to get food by herself. So she walked up to Gerald and Sam, having a lighthearted conversation, Sam’s good-natured laugh warming her up. “Hanna-banana,” Sam called jovially. “What can I do for you?” The nickname stung a bit, reminding Hanna of Chaos calling her the very same thing.
“Just you?” Gerald asked in mock offense, raising an eyebrow and cocking his head. Sam gave another warm laugh.
“Okay, okay,” he said. Turning back to Hanna, he grinned. “What can WE do for you?”
When Hanna told them what she was looking for, Gerald jumped at the request. “I’ll do it!” he said with enthusiasm. Now it was Sam’s turn to pretend to be offended.
“What if I wanted to do it?” he asked Gerald with exaggerated whininess.
Gerald gave a scoffing laugh. “Boy, I’ve been on shift longer. You just got here. Don’t go taking my free time away! I gotta walk somewhere or my legs’ll be cramping up, then I’m gonna need one of those wheelchairs, and I’ll be getting’ all kinds of glares from bitter ol’ Nurse Sasha!”
Sam laughed and gave him a stiff salute. Gerald grinned and turned to Hanna. “I’ll be back in no time, girl. Why don’t you go find some place to sit down? I’ll go get you some chow.”
As Gerald headed down the short corridor beside the Nurse’s Station and disappeared through the double doors at the end, Hanna gave Sam a flirty smile and turned to go find someplace to sit.
“I saw that, girl! Don’t you think I didn’t!” Sam called after her, his voice teasing.
Hanna felt her face grow hot as she sat down with her back to the room. This was the first place she had ever sat in the Lounge, so she found it ironic that, now that she visited the spot again, she should hear the soft scrape of the chair at the adjacent table. She turned to find Cris staring right at her as he sat down and adjusted his position. “Hi,” he said after an awkward moment. He seemed to be trying to find the right words to say, but seemed embarrassed.
“I’m sorry about, you know..the other day. I think my meds were wrong or something,” he said sheepishly, a shy smile coming to his lips. He’s actually not too bad to look at either, Hanna thought to herself. When he smiles at least. And isn’t acting crazy.
The irony of that thought was lost to her as she took in his dark hair and searching eyes. In her mind she could hear Aema’s laugh, feel Soohae’s approval in her observations, hear Chaos’ teasing and see Sol rolling her eyes with a smirk. She had a sudden deep swell of nostalgia. I miss them, she realized. So much more than I thought I did.
Cris frowned. “Sorry, did I say something wrong? You look really sad now.”
Hanna gave a little laugh and wiped the moisture from her eyes. “No,” she replied, “I’m fine. But do you mind if I just sit with you? Talking to you this way is really hurting my neck.”
His eyes widened and he moved to stand, gesturing to the chair closest to her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think—"
“It’s fine.” Hanna interrupted, as she waved him down and changed seats. “Please, sit.” The sound the chair made as it pulled out grated her nerves. “So, you were saying?” she said coyly, propping her face on one hand and batting her eyes dramatically.
Cris looked confused and slightly uncomfortable, which made Hanna grin sincerely. She liked flustering people. “Uh, anyway,” he continued. “I didn’t mean to freak you out or anything the other day.”
“It’s no problem,” Hanna was saying when a tray of food suddenly slammed down on the table in front of Cris.
“I see you’re socializing today,” Nurse Sasha glared, the words sounding more like an accusation than friendly banter.
“I see you’re serving food again today, Nurse Jennings,” Gerald said from behind her. She glared as she moved to let him pass and he set Hanna’s tray down gently. “There you go, Hanna. And I got you a banana milk,” he said with a wink.
Nurse Sasha put her hands on her hips. “And I see you left your post to run errands like some lackey,” she replied scornfully.
Gerald gave a shrug. “Sure beats pushing drugs on the kids,” he said with a grin, walking backwards and lifting his hands in mock surrender. “Oops, I meant medicine,” he finished, spinning on his heel and strolling back to Sam, who gave him a supportive high-five.
“Children,” Nurse Sasha fumed, stomping back towards the Nurse’s Station.
Hanna and Cris look at each other and shrugged. “So, that was weird. Why is that Sasha lady always all over you—is she your mother or something?” Hanna cocked her head in Nurse Sasha’s direction.
Cris took a furtive glance her way and, when he noticed she had momentarily disappeared, turned quickly to Hanna. “Give me your tray,” he said quietly, holding out his hands.
Hanna looked at him like he had just asked for a kidney. “Uh, what?”
“Your tray,” he repeated urgently, constantly checking for the Nurse to reappear. “Give it to me. Hurry!”
“Geez, okay, okay! Food is just food, man, no need to get all persnickety,” she huffed as she lifted the tray. Cris quickly slid his tray in front of her and all but snatched hers hers, setting it before him with an unceremonious thunk.
“My banana milk..” she began and he huffed and quickly swapped the drinks. A moment later, Nurse Sasha appeared back inside the Nurse’s Station, staring down their table like a hawk about to descend on its prey.
“She’s kind of scary,” Hanna remarked passively.
“She’s drugging me,” Cris insisted quietly, picking up his fork and beginning to eat his newly attained food.
Today’s meal was a linguine herb butter and cream pasta with peas and carrots, topped with parmesan. Beside the pasta was a small piece of garlic cheese bread and a side of red grapes. Hanna grabbed one and popped it in her mouth.
Cris froze. He stared and swallowed, hard and slow. “Don’t eat the food,” he whispered intensely. “It’s drugged I just told you that.”
“Cris,” Hanna whispered in a hush, leaning in conspiratorially. “In case you didn’t notice, we’re all being drugged.” She gave him a wily grin and leaned back, taking a bite of the garlic cheese bread. The herbs played along her tongue and the savory flavors did a little dance on her tastebuds.
“Fine,” he retorted in a harsh whisper. “If you don’t believe me, eat the food. You’ll see what happens.” Cris quickly ate the rest of his meal in silence and left without saying a word, discarding his tray in the dark gray tub used for collecting the plates, utensils and trays. He gave Hanna one last look of warning and walked over to the Nurse’s Station.
Hanna shrugged to herself and took a bite of the pasta. She nearly groaned with delight. Aema was definitely the one in the kitchen. Or should she still call her Nurse Aema, or Aema 2..? While she pondered this, Hanna worshipped every bite against her tongue.
Drugs in the food, she thought incredulously. Seriously, what a joke. That guy’s more paranoid than I am.
-
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.”
Hanna jerked awake, her eyes shot open. She was so sure she’d heard Sol’s voice just now. Or maybe it was a dream? Her stomach roiled. She quickly tried to get out of bed, but her body was tangled in the sheets and she hit the floor. She dragged herself quickly over to the trash can and emptied the contents of her stomach violently, over and over until, at last, nothing was left.
For a while, she lay panting beside the trash can, unable to recall how or when she even got back to her room, until the smell of sick began to turn her stomach again. She sat up dizzily, a sense of vertigo washing over her until she was sure she’d be sick again. From somewhere nearby she heard a click as the door opened, harsh light spilling in from the hallway before it closed again.
Thank the gods, Aema! Hanna thought desperately. Sure, she didn’t believe in the gods, but it was something she often heard Sol say. The soft pad of footsteps came to her and someone kneeled beside her. The vertigo was so much worse with her eyes closed, so she opened them, the spinning room making her seasick.
Finally, a sardonic chuckle from beside her made her try to focus on the person’s face. “So you’ve been a bad girl, haven’t you Hanna?” the voice said in an almost sing-song from beside her. As her eyes focused on the face, she made out the features in the darkness.
Fake Sol—the mad doctor—stared at her with a leering grin and a knowing expression. She crouched beside Hanna, near enough to touch, but she didn’t move to do so. Instead, she shook her head, that cold, eerie smile never leaving her lips. “Such a bad, bad girl. What should we do with the bad girl? What did we do to the other bad girls?”
Hanna had never once feared Sol—her Sol—but this one was unpredictable, inscrutable, and dangerous. And currently having a conversation with herself, which meant, to Hanna, that she was more terrifying than any nightmare. Between the fear, confusion and vertigo, Hanna barely stifled a sob.
“Oh, no,” the evil Sol hissed breathily, gently scolding, pushing back a lock of Hanna’s hair behind her ear. “We’ll have none of that,” she crooned, sending shivers of fear through Hanna’s skin and up her spine. The vile doctor moved close, her lips nearly close enough to brush against Hanna’s ear as she whispered, “We have plans for you. We can’t have you waste away to nothing.”
Whilst Hanna began trembling, Fake Sol shot up to her feet and dusted off her clothes. “Well,” she said, in as cheery a manner as a dead-pan stoic can be, “I must be going. I’ll send in Isis—I mean Aema—to clean up this mess. Let this be a lesson to you," she said flatly. “Don’t go taking others’ meals. Those drugs combined with what Sasha gave you could have killed you, you know. Just think of this misery as your grace period.” She lifted an eyebrow. “It ends in the morning,” she added darkly.
Fake Sol walked casually to the door and turned the knob. As the door opened a sliver, she paused, her glasses flashing in the light of the hall as she turned her head to Hanna. “I suggest you not mess up again,” she remarked coldly. Then she was gone, the door closing with a soft click behind her.
In the silence that followed, Hanna heard the pit-pat of a few drops hitting the floor. She thought they were her tears, or her draining nose. Sniffling, she wiped her wet nose with the back of her hand. A dark smear stained her hand, and the nauseating metallic scent of blood filled her nose, reminding her stomach that it still had bile it could send up.