Portal to Reality

Part 1

          Nurse Dorthy burst through the Doctor's lounge. He should have been used to it by now. The sweet little older woman was kind, but overly energetic, most of the time. The doc was having morning coffee, looking over the patient's files when she came charging in. This time, she wasn't alone. There was an attractive much younger woman accompanying her.

"Doc, there you are." She said.

"Hello, What's going on?" He asked the older nurse.

"Bill, this is our new nurse, Annaleigh." She said nodding to the young woman next to her.

"Hi.. It's nice to meet you, sir." She spoke softly.

"Annaleigh, good to meet you.... Call me Bill. Sir is far too old." He said, finding her quite attractive, giving a wave as the two left the lounge.

Dorthy then escorted her down the halls to finish the rest of the tour of Cherry Wood Insane Asylum. Eager to get started, she wanted to know her way around quickly. Nervous, yet she couldn't wait to get to know the rest of the staff and residents of this place. Annaleigh had wanted to help the mentally ill ever since childhood. Her great grandmother, Abigail suffered horrible delusions with combative tendencies ; due to the schizophrenia that plagued the poor frail woman. Annaliegh had been very young when Abigail died, but had made an everlasting impression on her. Now she helped others that suffered a similar fate.

The first day on the job hadn't been too bad. Dorthy had been the one chosen to train her. Whenever she'd forgotten something, the elder nurse would kindly remind her; letting her know it was going to happen at first. She was a sweet person, Annaliegh believed she'd really like it here; once she got used to the way things worked in the Cherry Wood Asylum. There was something about this place that made her instantly feel at home, there was no other way to explain it. Over the next several weeks, things got easier for her, and she began to enjoy working with Dorthy.

By the end of the day, she was looking forward to the next day of working there. She really loved it there. The next day she'd been twenty minutes early, but she didn't really care. She was getting to know some of the residents there, a few of them weren't as incoherent as you might think. Once inside, she toured the building more before the shift started, just to make sure she knew her way around completely. Soon she came to the East Wing and wasn't familiar with it. She walked slowly down the hall and came to a set of double doors, opening them with curiosity. Walking into what looked to be an old abandoned wing of the hospital. It was covered in dust and smelled bad, as if it hadn't been used in years. If they fixed it up they could help so many more patients. Why was it abandoned like this? She wondered. Planning to talk to them when her shift began, then she checked the time. Time went faster than she'd assumed and Annaliegh headed back before she was late. Bolting around the corner and down the hall, Dorthy giggled over her morning coffee at the nurses' station. Shaking her head, the new ones were always scared to death to be late for the first time. Waiting a moment before greeting her, she took a gulp from the mug.

"Good morning."

"Good morning to you too."

After a quick cup of java, the two promptly got to work. Dorthy was still training her, but the girl had caught on quickly. They checked in on the patients before passing out the med carts, getting them comfortable and keeping their spirits up. There were a few that made it difficult but not too many. The morning had been busy, going by quickly, she had forgotten about the east wing until later that afternoon. As the memory struck her, she swiftly walked around until finding Dorthy in the South Wing.

"There you are, I've been looking for you."

"Oh did you need help with something?"

After a long pause, she looked to the nurse; "Nothing like that, I stumbled on a wing that looks abandoned and I wonder what happened?'