In the dark- An Alice and Jasper story

I wandered slowly down the halls, stopping at each numbered door to peer into the slot, making sure everyone was safe inside. For my first day on the job, I thought I was doing pretty well.

The last door in the hallway was room and patient 19-5-5-18. Doctor Zelner, the head physiatrist, wouldn't tell anyone the patient's real names. "Just call them by their room numbers' he had advised me as I headed out to make my rounds for the first time.

I slid open the metal slot tentatively and peered inside. Unlike the other rooms - which were harshly lighted - this one was completely black. The only light was from the hallway, which bled into 19-5-5-18's cell.

"...Patient 19-5-5-18?" I called.

"Do you know what that stands for?" A small, feminine voice asked from the gloom. I pulled back, my hand moving to close the small hole, but I couldn't.

"What does it stand for?" I asked softly, breaking the only rule Zelner had given me.

"Seer," she sighed. I frowned and peered intently into the dark cell, looking for the person behind the voice, but I couldn't make her out.

She was still in the room - my job was done. I closed the slot and plunged Seer into the darkness once more.

It wasn't until that night that I realized where she got the name from. The letter S was the nineteenth number. The patient's numbers meant something.

.

I slammed the shutter closed as patient 1-14-7-5-18 lunged at me with his hands curled into claws and his face twisted demonically. I backed away from the heavy metal door until my back bumped into the stone wall of the hallway. I slumped against it, trying to catch my breath.

"You okay?" I whipped my head around to find the source of the sound, praying it wasn't an escaped patient. I sighed in relief to see the janitor, Frank, coming down the hallway. I pointed weakly to Anger's door, and Frank laughed.

"Yep, he's one crazy son of a bitch. Have you met Hungry?"

"...No, why?" I glanced at Hungry's door, which was beside Anger's.

"Be careful around her," he warned, "She seems nice and sweet, but once you mention food she attacks worse then Anger."

"Why is she here?"

"She refuses to eat. Skin and bone she is." John said, and I shuddered. Some people here had truly disturbing problems.

My wandered back to Seer. "What do you know about 19-5-5-18?"

"Hmm. She claims to have visions of the future. Her parents brought her in and told the town she died. Got her a grave in the cemetery across town and everything. It has her day of death as the same day she was brought here." There was an odd look in his eyes.

"Do you believe her?"

He checked to make sure we were the only ones in the corridor. "Look Jasper, don't tell anybody I said this, but...I do believe her. I really don't think she should be here." He whispered.

"Do you know her birth name?"

He shook his head, "Only Doctor Zelner knows that. He has a whole bunch of files on the patients."

We parted ways, but my mind was stuck on our conversation. He believed Seer, which made me curious about her. What was her real name? What was her family like? What was she like?

I checked on the other patients in a daze and before I knew it, I was back at her door. I wasn't going to talk to her. I was just going to make sure she was okay and then leave. No need to break the rules any further.