Clockwork

Chapter 1

She'd always hated hospitals.

The lights in the waiting room were harsher now that night had fallen outside. Letting out a little groan, Leah rested her head in her hands to hide her eyes from the artificial lights. It's been hours since she had started waiting in the blank little room; she had flipped through all the outdated magazines and watched people come in and out of the hospital and still there was no news about the surgery.

Just as Leah broke into a small cry, the PA system rang throughout the hospital.

"Leah Stone? Leah Stone, please come to room 304." 

She leapt up, and started running towards the room. A wonderful thought filled her head.

Maybe Jessica's fine, she thought. After all, it was a small procedure, which required about an hour of healing at maximum. She's fine, right?

She arrived at the room and took a deep breath. Slowly, she placed her hand on the silvery cold doorknob, and just as she was about to twist-


An eerie shriek blasted through the crevice in the door, pushing Leah back. Instantly, Leah opened the door and yelled, "Jessica!"

"Yes, Leah?" She was sitting on the operations' table inside, one leg crossed over the other, blood running down her fingers. There was a devilish glint in her eyes, something she had never seen before and unease welled up inside of her.

Still standing in the doorway, Leah eyed the surgery room. Something was off about the room.

"Jessica..." She said slowly, her hand gripping the doorknob painfully. "Where're all the doctors?"

"Oh, they're just taking a little... rest." Her friend's voice sent shivers down her spine. Something was wrong, but what?

The room was clean, pristine even. The surgery equipment was all laid out neatly, but there were no signs of the actual surgery taking place.

Something dropped onto the floor and Leah jerked back in fear. A little red dot was splattered on the shiny, polished floor. Hesitantly, she crouched to look at it.

It was blood. Another drop fell not far away. Slowly, she raised her head to look at the ceiling and saw red all over the ceiling, all the blood slowly draining to the floor. Drop by drop, the puddle turned into a pool of blood.

Leah lowered her gaze to see Jessica's eyes roll back in her head and slump off the table. Instinctively, she dashed forward and caught her friend before she hit the floor.

"Jessica? Are you alright? Jessica?!" Leah yelled, as she smacked Jessica's face, praying she was okay.

Groggily, Jessica moaned, "Huh? What happened?" Her eyes a misty amber, unaware of her surroundings. Leah loosened her grip on Jessica, when she fell back again.

"'I've got you, Jess," Leah whispered, "let's get you back home."

Jessica wondered what she'd just done. Why she felt so out of it, why she felt so dead, random, misplaced, she didn't know. Suddenly, consciousness came back to her in full force. She noticed Leah standing up and moving towards the door. Jessica looked around the hospital room. Staring in awe at the blood splattered around the previously perfectly white room, Jessica shrieked. "What is happening?! Why is there blood everywhere?! Leah, Leah, Leah, what happened? Are you okay? Am I okay?!"

"Calm down." Leah said nonchalantly. Taking another glance at the room, she brought Jessica over to the messy bed in the corner of the room and sat her down, preparing to explain what she'd just witnessed.

After explaining what happened after Leah walked into the room, Jessica could only sit there, paralysed, afraid to move. "Okay, but I didn't hurt you right?" she almost mouthed.

"No, no, I'm fine." Leah stood up, walked to the window and gazed out of it, longingly. She turned around, looked Jessica in the eye, and sighed, "Jess, what happened? Did you feel anything? Did you faint? I just don't understand."

"Leah, I rea-"

"It's fine. We'll try to find out what happened later. I don't know what caused this debacle but make sure you stay awake; sleep probably had something to do with it. For now, all we really need to worry about is what we're going to with all this blood, those bodies somehow stuck in the ceiling." The sight of her friend in danger terrified her, but for some reason, the idea of blood all over a hospital room, with the doctors and nurses killed didn't seem to bother her very much. She left the room, and returned soon with a mop and bucket. She approached the pool of blood in the middle of the room. Leah went on about cleaning the room.

Jessica watched in horror. "H-how do you not care that I just killed someone?! You're wiping the blood away like it's absolutely nothing!" Jessica jumped off the table and yelled at Leah, "Hello?!"

Leah paid no mind, continuing to clean. After about 10 minutes, all the blood was mopped away. The only issue remaining was the bodies. After fiddling around with a ladder she'd seen outside the janitor's office, she decided to give up. All the bodies had bled out already, so she needn't worry about more blood falling, but that made it all the more disturbing. She grabbed Jessica's arm, as well as the mop and bucket, and dragged both downstairs to a laundry basin she'd seen while waiting for her friend. "Jessica, wash your hands, very thoroughly; ensure there remains no trace of blood. Meanwhile, I'll be washing this bucket and mop to ensure no trace of blood is found."

Jessica did as told, and Leah did as she said. After they had finished, they went back to Jessica's surgery room and gathered her belongings. It was nearing 2AM now, and somehow, no one noticed all the ruckus going on, thank god for that. The two left the room and closed the door. They arrived at the exit of the hospital, when they were interrupted by the woman at the registration counter, telling Leah she had to sign out as a visitor. "What about Jessica? Do I sign her out, too? She's finished her surgery."

"Oh, dear. Don't you think you're a little too old for imaginary friends?" the woman chuckled. "Martha ain't no fool, honey."

"Huh?" Leah turned around. Jessica was right there. Unsure what was going on, she joked, "Ahh, you caught me!" she laughed with Martha, "So, where do I sign out, then?"

Martha pulled out a piece of paper. "Right here, sweetheart."

Leah signed, and she left with Jessica, completely perplexed. "What was that? Do you think that incident had anything to do with it?"

"Most probably," Jessica wondered aloud, "oh well, let's go home."

The two went back home, to Leah's house. "Mom, Dad, we're home! Jessica got back safely!"

Leah's parents, Alice and Daniel, both exclaimed, "Oh, thank god, you're both safe!" The two dashed forward and hugged their two girls. "Guess what you're getting for dinner, girls? Your favourite; poached salmon with roasted potatoes!"

Leah and Jessica fakely exclaimed with joy. Food was too trivial a thing to worry about after what they'd witnessed tonight. "Are you okay? You looked pretty freaked... does it have anything to do-" she was interrupted.

Jessica let a tear out of her eye and sniffled, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry. I'll see you down for dinner in a bit." The two continued going their separate ways, to their respective rooms.

Leah plopped on her bed, grabbed a book, entitled George Junior and the Stifled Stagnation, a riveting tale about a man named George trying to find out what's killing the citizens in his town, and started reading. Well, skimming, at least. She couldn't take her mind off what had just happened. She shook her head, and continue reading, trying to stay away from the topic.

Jessica went to the washroom to wipe her tears. She still felt drained. She stumbled to her room and fell over her bed. She thought about the hospital incident, but for all the wrong reasons.
The operation has commenced.

"Kids! Dinner's ready!"

"Coming, mom!" the two girls shouted.