Of Illnesses And Antidotes

Chapter Fourteen

Standing close to the row of shelves, I pretend to be interested in the vast array of medicine the aisle has to offer. At the same time, I listen to the other pharmacy assistants chat to their customers, handing over the medicine in return for the prescription notes. They deal with one subject, and then another comes along, and then another and then another. Every minute or so, I take a step further down the aisle, trying to look busy. Not that anyone is going to notice me. They're too busy having a gossip.

All of a sudden, three blares of a siren ring out and the voices cease. My eyes light up. They return briefly a moment later then vanish into nothingness. Instead, they're replaced with the sound of footsteps, echoing down another aisle as the assistants head for the storeroom. I hold my breath. I wait.

One minute...

Something crashes loudly against the ground. Laughter breaks out from the storeroom.

Two minutes...

The rasping of rusted brass fills my ears.

Three minutes...

The pitter-patter of gentle steps emerges from the silence. There's a clanging as the side door is shoved open.

Four minutes...

It closes with a bang. I am alone.

Hurrying towards the storeroom, I slip inside and quietly close the door behind me. Spinning around, I cross the room to the row of coat pegs hammered into the back wall. Long, white coats take half of them up; the other half are bare, covered in nothing but stale air. I start on the far left and check the nametags of each coat. When I am two pegs away from the end of the row, I find the coat I'm looking for. I shove my hand into the first pocket and withdraw only a used tissue. The next pocket provides more luck; I discover the small, laminated card that I'm looking for. My eyes light up and I slide it into my breast pocket. Grabbing a random white coat, I slip it on then pull a surgical mask over my lips. Turning around, I head straight out of the storeroom and out of the pharmacy.

Destination: The Mysterious Room.

Stepping out into the corridor, I look from left to right before jogging over to the double doors. I peer into the narrow glass pane and eye the main hall carefully. A long line of young subjects extends from one side of the hall to the other. They queue up to the serving hatch, awaiting their evening meal. Slowly, the queue crawls forward, person by person, as they're handed their dinner individually. Each one is deep in conversation with those nearby, oblivious to anything going on around them. It's the perfect cloak of invisibility.

Pushing against the doors, I take one step into the main hall and pause. Nothing. Not a single reaction. Smiling to myself, I wrap the coat around my chest tightly and steal through the hall, heading straight for the opposite set of doors. Opening them silently, I nip through the crack and carry on down the corridor.

It's still the same as I remember. The walls are plain and dull, the light dim and flickering, the air stiff with cold and thick with the pungent smell of disinfectant that lingers in every crevice of every room inhabited by every doctor. I become a lot more grateful for the surgical mask compressed against my lips.

Veering to the left, I follow the winding corridor all the way around until I reach the pair of whitewashed doors. Glancing ahead, I notice no doctor striding this way. No cardboard boxes. No concealed faces. Just a gloomy grey void, gaping wide, ready to swallow up anyone and anything. I take a step closer to the doors. A step closer to The Mysterious Room. Dipping my hand into my pocket, my fingers enclose around the identity card. Taking it out, I tap it against the keypad and wait. The screen flashes green and the words Dr Ellen Craig - Authorised appear quickly a moment or two after. Pressing my hands against the doors, I take a deep breath then push them wide open and disappear inside.