Seven

Chapter 7

"Hey, man, get up," Steven, one of the orderlies, nudged Tim and gestured to the clock. "It's about time to bug out. Shift's about over. Man, I can't believe Salcedo let you sleep that long." 

Tim yawned, stretched, and pulled himself upright. "That felt good. I needed that nap. You try working in the Red ward next time." 

"No thanks," Steven scoffed. "I like to stay away from the extra crazies. I'd rather deal with the ones we got here." 

"They're not all crazy, Steve," Tim reminded him. "I think some of them just check in to get away from whatever's bothering them." 

"Yeah. Keep telling yourself that," Steven grabbed his overcoat. "I'm out, dude. I'll catch you later on!"

Salcedo, Mack, and the other staff from Blue ward's third shift already left, so Tim decided he'd head back home. The migraine from earlier was gone, and he felt a little better, but decided he'd take some over-the-counter pills just to make sure it didn't creep back up on him. He used to get them on his first deployment in Iraq, and migraines prevented a good night's sleep which was rare enough for soldiers abroad. 

The morning shift was there, so Tim walked down to the main floor to grab his things from the locker. Richards was gone, thankfully, and the security for the day was there, bright and early. 

"Can you double check that all the doors in the Red ward are secure?" Tim asked the guard coming onto the next shift. He was new, and Tim didn't bother looking at his I.D. lanyard hanging on his breast pocket. 

"Yeah, no problem," the man sat down, checked the security monitors, then took a sip of his coffee. "Anything odd happen on your shift or something?"

He thought of Nicole Whelan's "escape" from her room. "A patient in Room 346 got loose early this morning, but we handled it. I'd appreciate it if you just ran a few checks with maintenance just to make sure." 

"Yup. Gotcha," the guard walked over to the desk, grabbed one of the walkie-talkies off its charging base and called into it. "Hey, can we get Mr. Jenkins from maintenance to come take a look at a room in the main building?"

Satisfied, Tim headed out the door to find his truck. It was still dark at 5 a.m., and New England mornings often had light fog spreading over the hills and forests. Early morning accidents were common from people not paying attention to the narrow winding roads around those parts. Even though Tim knew his way by heart, he never took any chances. Sometimes he'd wait by the old storage area until the sun came up. He refused to hang out at the staff lounge or parking lot, because he hated looking like a loiterer with nowhere to go. 

He jumped in the truck, started the ignition, then drove over to the abandoned storage building. Nearing the old area, something caught his attention in the front. 

White. A flash of white running past the road and disappeared behind the building. This time, Tim was sure he'd seen legs. Pale ones.

Again! The same figure from the previous evening. "What the hell?!" Tim stopped the truck. He left it idling and stepped out.

The air was damp and heavy with fog, but as he walked over to the building about 20 yards away, the mist seemed to grow thicker. The lights from the truck provided enough visibility to see through the darkness, but Tim thought it was crazy that it was getting thicker. 

"Hey! I know you're here! Don't make me call security!" The deep timbre of his voice echoed throughout the nearby woods. 

Fuck. You're kidding me. Do we have to go through this again? Tim thought as he considered calling security on his phone. He wasn't even sure if the new guy was aware of the old road leading to the storage compound. 

Tim walked to the storage building. Again, he checked the front and side doors, but they were locked. The front door still had the chain around it, and no amount of pulling could open the side door. Narrowing his eyes, he scanned the general area. Besides the housing unit, there was nothing else but trees about 30 feet from the structure. There was a small grassy clearing, but it was overgrown with weeds. Nothing had looked like it was disturbed. With the fog, you can barely make anything out. The skies were starting to turn a light Egyptian blue, with peaks of dark violet wavering on the horizon. The sun would be up soon.

Paranoid, Tim headed back to the truck. As he was making his way in, he heard a faint female whisper some yards behind him.

"Seven." 

Startled, he turned around and saw no one there. Only the growing fog that was lightly swirling from his abrupt movements. There was no sign of Nicole. Tim ran towards the building, which was just a few feet away.

"Nicole!"

Tim's voice broke the eerie morning silence. He waited and heard nothing. Not even the loud wail of a wren or sparrow disturbed the atmosphere. The low rumble of his sister's truck was the only sound he heard in the distance. 

"Man, I must be tired," he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and headed back to the truck. "No sense in waiting around. Must be hearing things." 

Just as he stepped into the vehicle. Tim spotted movement just yards away. Through the mist, he had clearly seen a pair of pale legs and a short white gown move off towards the building. Not willing to give chase on foot, he shifted his gear to drive and slowly drove to the storage unit. His high-beams were on, which gave him a clear sight distance of 350 feet. 

What Tim caught was someone's pale hand peeking ever so slightly from the edge of the left side of the building. Oh, you can't hide from me. Tim sped up a little and drove the truck past the rear of the storage house. Using the flashlight his sister kept in her glove compartment, Tim pointed it at the direction where he'd seen the hand.

Nothing. No one was there.