༺The Evil Within༻Room 36

V. Curiosity

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"How can I feel this e m p t y?
I will not recover this time
This loneliness is K I L L I N G ME!"

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Ruben vanished immediately back to the hospital after his encounter with Sophie, stubbornly forcing himself to forget the moment of brief acceptance.

Strolling down the hall at a slow pace, he found himself lost in the rampaging ocean of thoughts in his troubled mind. Running through the experimental procedures planned for today, forming a mental list of the mental disorders not yet tested in the machine, and, of course, the best plan for avoiding Jimenez disruptive babbling.

Ruben found his heart suddenly leap into a rushing action as his body came in contact with another. Muscles tensed, blood drained, hands instinctively fled upwards. The reaction he had always found suitable since childhood when receiving physical touch whether it benevolent or hostile. Eyes lifting from the floor and widening in surprise as he swiftly jumped back, he saw not Jimenez, but his brother, Valerio.

"Oh! So sorry, Dr. Ruben," the stout man apologized immediately, adjusting his glasses, which had been knocked crooked in the accident. Ruben felt a soft growl of agitation escape his lips. His shaking, bandaged hands rapidly dusted himself off, his heart still recovering from the shock.

"It's alright, Valerio."

Ruben made sure to purposely exclude the 'Dr.' title from his name as an act of subtle spite. He never had much liked Valerio. He often accompanied his and Marcelo's experiments, which was hell for Ruben. Two Jimenez's at once? A living nightmare of idiotic proportions.

Ruben tried to continue down the hall, but was interrupted by Valerio.

"Ah, sorry to bother but did you happen to see Leslie anywhere this morning?"

"Courtyard," came the irritated reply. The bandage clad doctor briskly swerved around the older doctor and continued his trek, mentally spewing spiteful insults towards Valerio's intellect as he did.

Reaching the end of the hall, he approached a small white door located on the right wall. It was invisible to most because of its size and color, which was ideal for hiding the horrors located behind it. His bandaged fingers clasped around the key card in his pocket and unlocked the door swiftly, his entrance quick and fluid as to evade the chance of any followers trailing behind.

He was met with a descending flight of stairs. The light hanging above cast a sickly, pale, yellow glow to the concrete floor and walls. He made his way downward, rounding the sharp corner and sighing contently at the sight he now beheld. His sanctuary. His life's work. His home.

STEM.

The doctor offered a crippled smirk at his creation lying before him. Its massive size swallowed the entirety of the cavernous room. Like a brain stem its center, composed of steel and fat wires coiled around one another, stretched thickly from the ceiling to the floor. Its robotic tendrils strewn about and creeping along the floor, hissed and sparked as if in greeting of its master.

He inhaled deeply, contently analyzing the flurry of welcoming scents: blood, metal, various chemicals ranging from bleach to formaldehyde. Smells that most would deem repulsive, but brought a small sense of comfort and belonging to the young doctor. This was his element. Surrounded by half dead patients clawing at his feet, begging for mercy, their minds rotted and perverted by countless tests and experiments, screaming in agony as their very reality was stripped away by his own hand..