Lockdown

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

02/07/2019. 03:33 hours. Virginia Hospital, Arlington, Virginia.

Sarah always hated working the night shift. There was something eerie about hospitals at night that triggered her Spidey sense. Perhaps she had heard too many ghost stories. Her turn to cover the night shift had come around way too quickly for her liking. Neurology was almost always a doozy to work at night. She would do a walkaround once an hour to check on her patients, and then spend the following hour noting and then playing a game on her cell phone. A new patient had been moved to the ward earlier in the day, and so far, the staff had reported that he had been the perfect patient. He took his medication without argument and graciously allowed them to complete their checks. Sarah had just sat down to complete her charts when a choked cry startled her. She glanced over the nurses’ station and peered through the window of the room ahead of her. It was her new patient, Dr Spencer Reid, who was bathed in the soft light of the lamp above the headboard. His hands were twisted in the blankets, and his face was scrunched up in distress. His head rolled from side to side on the pillow. Sarah crept towards the room as quietly as she could, cursing when her shoe squeaked against the tiles. She stilled, eyes closed, and her bottom clasped beneath her front teeth. The young man did not appear to hear her. Tears were streaking down the sides of his angular face.

“Please, no…. Don’t do this…. Stop…..” Sarah opened her eyes at the sound of his shaking voice and reached a hand towards Spencer, then retracted it again. 

“Dr Reid? It’s just a nightmare, sir. You’re safe.”

“Stop…. I didn’t pass the sentence… Don’t shock me again….”

“Dr Reid? Wake up, please.”

“The train… Get off the train…. No…. NO!” Just as Sarah tentatively placed her fingertips on Spencer’s shoulder, his eyes blew wide open, and he sat up with a start, panting hard and sweat beading his brow. With a trembling hand, he pushed his sweat soaked curls out of his face, his hospital band sliding down his arm. Sarah carefully withdrew her hand. She had read that he had the potential to lash out, so they had to take care. Only the man in front of her was terrified, not angry. 

Spencer’s hand remained in his hair, holding it away from his face as he tried to ground himself. His other hand felt around the blankets. His breathing began to slow, and the tears stopped falling. Feeling the tickle of the tears on his cheeks, Spencer quickly brushed them away. He dropped the hand from his hair to the blanket and glanced to his right to see a young, blonde-haired nurse wearing pale blue scrubs. Her green eyes were wide, and she looked uncertain about what to do.

“Did I hurt you?” asked Spencer, his voice quivering. Sarah’s mouth gaped.

“No, not at all. Just gave me a scare, is all. You were having a nightmare.”

“Sorry about that. Could I have some water, please?” Sarah smiled softly.

“Of course.” She grabbed a plastic tumbler from the bedside unit and filled it from the water jug placed on the bedside table. She handed the cup to Spencer, who gratefully accepted it and sipped the contents. The cool water was refreshing against his parched throat. 

“Thank you. Could I perhaps have one of my books? I think I’m going to read a little.” Sarah slid the uppermost book from the pile that had been left beside Spencer and handed it over. It was War and Peace in its original Russian. Spencer offered her a smile and placed the cup down on the table. He set the book down on his lap and opened it to the first page.

Sarah could not help but watch Spencer from behind the nurses’ station in fascination as he read, his finger tracing quickly down a page before moving to the next. He had made it through a sizable portion of the book when he straightened up, the bones of his spine cracking as he did so. A single page was gripped between his thumb and forefinger. His heavy-lidded eyes were fixed straight ahead of him. Sarah frowned as she noticed blood seeping from his nose and over his lips. She pushed against the desk to stand from her seat and approached her patient.