Monster of Blue

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

     The rhyme leaves the old lady broken. Slowly, she rocks back and forth, clutching desperately to her hair. I try to inquire further about her strange words, but asking more questions gets me nowhere. She's gone. Disappeared in her head. Senile. Despite the questions left unanswered I call in more nurses to help hold her down as I do a quick job of drawing her blood, momentarily forgetting her nursery lullaby.  

     Dr. Long—always one with impeccable timing—arrives just as soon as I finish drawing her blood. He takes one look at the lady before motioning me to follow him back outside to the other side of the drawn curtain, and with a tired sigh he voices my thoughts, "Shae, the lady in there is senile; has been for years. Don't take to heart anything she says."

     Giving a brisk nod I agree with the doctors words. Even a small child could tell that the poor woman is lost in the maze of her thoughts and memories, unable to truly function in the world today. Still...I can't help but feel disturbed by her haunting statement. What did she mean by 'I wear his mark on my wrist'?

     "I understand Dr. Long," I say, "I didn't mean to make her freak out. I'm not even sure what I did to begin with." He pats a hand on my shoulder, kind eyes gazing into mine.

     "Most likely you made a slight memory pop up, but that can be caused by anything from your body shape to the way you move," he explains, "It's not your fault." I smile and say "thanks" as Dr. Long starts to walk away to his next patient of the day, brown eyes focused on the clipboard in hand.

     "Children should learn to behave..."

     "Eat too many cookies and you'll get a visitor..."

**** 

     "You just had to make one of the patients lose control today didn't you?" Anne asks, annoyance clear in her voice. I ignore her and focus on the unconscious patient before me, checking their heart monitor and fluids. The young woman huffs and snatches a pair of elastic gloves from the box beside me, knocking it to the floor. I turn, a snappy remark on the end of my tongue but she's already halfway down the hall and well out of hearing range.

     With a frustrated groan, I pick back up my clipboard before walking back down the hall. My eyes roam over the names and numbers, the two mixing together as my eyes are weary from exhaustion.

     Then the busy sounds of the hospital stop.

     I quickly look up from the clipboard at the sudden change and see a blue suited man standing at the end of the corridor. His stance is relaxed with hands in his pockets. Face seemingly...swallowed up by shadows. A faint deep chuckle reaches my ears and looking closer I can see his shoulders jerk. I turn around, searching for anybody else. Anne, Shirley, one of the doctors, but...no one is there. The hallways are devoid of all life. Turning back around I let out a squeak of shock. The man has disappeared. 

     Shae...,a voice calls, Shae... 

     Shae...

     A plump hand lands on my shoulder shaking me awake. "Shae, are you ok?" A soft female voice asks, the familiar hospital noises returning.

     Unfocused I sputter out, "Wha...What? Oh...I'm fine. Sorry just spaced out for a bit. I'll get back to work right away." My eyes scan the area and a slight of fear runs up my spine. I'm not in the hallway at all but in the nurse's station, without the faintest memory of walking here. 

     "Darling, you're pale," Shirley states, ushering me into one of the few rolling chairs, "Are you sure you are feeling well? Why don't you sit down and tell me what's wrong." I shrug my shoulders in reply. Is it worth telling her I am seeing illusions? Should I lie about it? Taking a deep breath I slowly let it out, calming my racing pulse.