𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬

𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑.

𝑨 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝑵𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔
____________

"So, ██████!" Mila hugged your shoulders with the strength and mannerisms of a drunk old man "It's Silvia's birthday party today, ˢʰʰ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵗᵉˡˡ ʰᵉʳ. We're going to Vicenzo's and drinking until we're DEAD. You coming?" She smiled and waited, impatiently, for your answer.

"Oh. Um." You doubted, looking down at your coffee with absolute disgust; it was way more bitter than the last time. You were never one for meetings or parties, so you just frowned in thought.

"Oh, come on, ██████!. You have no friends in this place besides me" She insisted, holding your hand and shaking it, short but frantically.

"That's not true, I have Ruben, too" that was said mindlessly, you didn't even know if you could consider him a friend yet. You just said it out of offense, even if what Mila said was probably true.

"WHO"

You snorted at her confusion, pushing aside the dirty water the cafeteria people dared to call «coffee». "Dr. Victoriano. Works at my floor, you know him, you bring patients to him all the time"

"Oh" She replied. You saw her jokey side falter, her expression now somber, the way it was when you had asked about Eleanor days before. You wondered if she thought you wouldn't catch that; she was a terrible actress. "THAT'S an unlikely duo if you ask me, huh? He gives me the heeby jeebies"

"Oh shut it. He's pretty nice"

"You have an awful taste in men, ██████" She said, apparently horrified, which despite her blatant misunderstanding of the situation, you found absolutely hilarious.

"Oh shut up, Mila, it ain't like that!"

"ᵢₜ ₐᵢₙ'ₜ ₗᵢₖₑ ₜₕₐₐₐₜ" she teased, getting up from her seat and waving her hands around, like a child. A short lived yet hearty laugh left you both, before she nodded towards you and spoke in a more serious manner "Well, you still should come to Vicenzo's tonight. Being away from this place can do so much good for you. I swear these walls take a toll on everyone. I'll pick you up at Seven?"

You nodded and promised you'd go, getting up from the table and walking slowly out of the mess hall. Right now you didn't want your break to end. Mila and you walked down the hallway towards the main entrance room, from there you'd go to your left, downstairs, and she'd turn right to continue her work at the wards. You looked at everyone, greeted the ones you knew, and noted how dull and soulless the ambience in this place was, rather horrible and depressing. Perhaps you should take a break, it was well deserved after all.

⠀

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All dolled up you left your house at around seven p.m., hoping the party would ease your loneliness a bit. Mila's husband picked you up with her in the car too, and she complained about how your home was so far away from Krimson City, it might as well be part of Cedar Hill village at that point. You laughed, knowing it was the truth. It wasn't like you had another place to live, or even wanted another place to live. It was the same place you had lived through your childhood in, and it brought memories both of fondness and rage.

When you both arrived at the restaurant you scanned everyone around you; most of the occupants of the place were nurses or interns, both younger and older than you but every single one as sleep deprived as the next. You greeted everyone with a short wave of the hand and remained attached to Mila for the rest of the night; she was the only sense of familiarity you had in this sea of strangers.

Then again, every single one of them seemed so kind and glad to be out of Beacon. You wondered if that place was as haunted as the city, too.

"Suit yourself!' A coworker said, pushing some sort of alcoholic cocktail towards you. You stared at it for a second and thanked him in a whisper.

You didn't really like alcohol, it was bitter and burning, and made people unbridled and vulnerable. Still you figured it wouldn't do harm since you were surrounded by people, and you had a good friend by your side. And upon tasting it you found out it was rather sweet to the taste.

It was short before people were warming up to each other and to you, everyone was joking and having a pleasant time and despite the fact that you were pretty much unknown to them, everyone welcomed you with open arms and beautiful smiles. You all sang Happy Birthday to Silvia, clapping and laughing while you had another shot of whatever they were serving.

Halfway through the event, two women arrived, dressed up like everyone was but obviously tired and sweaty. Their apologetic smiles showed as everyone took turns to greet them in warm hugs.

"Sorry for being late, guys!" One of them said, joining the group on the table "We had a Jenkins last minute, but everything's good now"

Your ears perked up at this, demeanor changing for a second, and you noticed Mila's nervous glances towards you.

"Holy fucking shit, are you okay?" Another nurse asked, while you lost yourself in your thoughts.

That's Eleanor's last name. Could it be just a coincidence?

"Excuse me" you said, leaning over towards them, "you said 'A Jenkins'? What does that mean?"

"Oh it's just the way we call patients who try to kill us" One of the men said, rather nonchalantly, and it piqued your curiosity even more.

You were about to ask why so you could finally get that gnawing feeling out of your mind, but Mila held you back with her strong arms and proclaimed another shot, in which everyone followed through and drank, and forgot the incident completely. And once again you were left in your thoughts, feeling like a stranger to all of them once again.

"You're ██████, right?" A voice interrupted, from your side. It was the same man who gave you the drink, leaning towards you as everyone else seemed to tune out to their own little conversations.

You nodded, "That's correct" and offered him a polite smile, one he returned much more brightly. This guy, you had seen him before; he was one of the interns at Beacon, with dark and handsome features, a mischievous smile and seemingly kind eyes.

"I'm Mikhail, a pleasure to meet you!" He shook your hand, "I'm sorry if this is weird, but I've seen you around a few times and I wanted to get to know you" His behavior was rather charming to say the least, very courteous and polite when he talked to you, smooth in the way that was supposed to make your heart flutter and your cheeks flush, and it seemed he held good intentions. Still you felt rather nervous, like you were doing something wrong and didn't know what it was.

But you convinced yourself there was nothing wrong with just talking to him. So you did and found yourself chatting with Mikhail until it was dark and a lot of people had left, until you were a couple of shots past just tipsy and you could barely stand on your own.

"Oh? You want me to drive you home, ██████?" Mikhail said when he noticed you, and immediately rose to his feet to help you up without even waiting for your answer.

Mila stood up then, stopping his actions immediately. "Oh hell to the no, Andreyev" She said his last name with anger and took you from his arms, and this action alone made your so relieved, for some reason you were terrified of being alone with him "You're not taking ██████ anywhere, my husband is coming to pick us up. And you're drunk so shut up, you could drive off some cliff. And I prefer you to die alone"

After saying your goodbyes to the birthday woman you both walked off towards the entrance, and when you turned around your eyes met with Mikhail's rageful ones.

Back at your home you walked into your bathroom, washed your face off and changed into a soft, comfortable nightgown. You were glad to be alone once again, thriving in the silence and comfort that your secluded house gave you. The alcohol in your veins made you drowsy, and you laid down in your bed and gazed up towards the ceiling.

Right before you drifted off, you turned to see the frame of the door, where Eleanor stood, eyes ghostly and rageful under the moonlight.

Angry at you for letting her go.