The Hunters of Artemis: The Return of the Hunters

Chapter 30: New Leaf Psychiatric Hospital

The smell of bleach and scented candles assaulted my nose as I stepped into the lobby of the New Leaf Psychiatric Hospital. More than an hour's drive away from Gray Birch, it took us four days to track down the hospital Teresa May had been residing in for the last fifteen years--the name alone taking us two days to find out. We had had to talk to what felt like each and every adult in the entire town before we found someone who knew Teresa's mother. 

It took the day after that before her mother would even speak to us, and another before she would tell us where Teresa had been for the last fifteen years. We had spent the rest of that day walking to the edge of the city where the hospital was. 

It took us twelve hours.

Jack blowing out air brought me back to the present and I took that instant to look around the room. The lobby was a sterile white with demure paintings hanging on a few of the walls, the colours muted pastels in abstract shapes. The floor was made out of gray and white tiles that echoed when we stepped inside. 

Anna shivered next to me and shook her head. "I don't like this one bit," she whispered as a nurse clad in all white passed us without a second glance, too busy tapping the syringe filled with clear liquid he held in his hand.

"Is that even up to code to do that?" Atlanta asked, wrinkling her nose.

A middle-aged woman with a tight blonde bun was sitting off to our right at a desk labelled 'reception', far too absorbed in the large stack of papers she was rifling through to notice us all as we tried to get her attention. 

"Excuse me?" Lyra finally said. 

The woman looked up, eyes wide. "Hmm? Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't notice you there." She quickly straightened the pile of papers. "What can I do you for?"

"We were hoping to see Teresa May today?" I asked hopefully. "Um, and if not today, we were hoping to know when we could next see her. It's important."

The receptionist froze. "Teresa May? My... My, my, my, I don't think..." She glanced at us through narrow eyes before typing something out on the desktop, her fingers flying across the keyboard. The lobby was silent save for the tip-tapping of her nails on the keys, and the awkwardness was almost tangible as we waited for her to finish whatever search she was doing. 

The woman sighed as she clicked on a few things, her eyes darting around the screen before nodding. "You're all lucky. Today is Teresa's garden day. I just need you all to--" She paused as she counted the multitude of us. "Actually, I'll just need one of you to sign in with how many people are here, and then I can send for someone to take you to Teresa's garden."

While Atlanta signed us in, I heard Hannah whisper, "Why would she have her own garden at a psychiatric hospital?"

Lyra shrugged.

Within minutes, a young woman who must have been in her twenties came around the corner. Her dark skin was highlighted by the crisp white of her uniform, her dark eyes made brighter by the shimmery eyeshadow on her lids. Her short and curvy figure made her look much more approachable than the stiff blonde woman at the desk. She smiled brightly at us. "Hey there. My name is Chanelle. I can take you to Teresa now, if you like."

"Yes, please," I said, maybe too quickly.

"Follow me."

We followed Chanelle through the narrow, sterile hallways, the smell of bleach overpowering at some points, others full of so much perfume or fragrance that my eyes watered. Finally, we came to a big open area full of tables and chairs, likely the dining area. 

This was the first room that had bright colour in it. Each table was a different colour with chairs to match.

A few people, mainly younger or middle-aged adults were sitting at a few of the tables chatting, each of them wearing the same uniform, though each outfit was a different shade of red, blue, or green.

A young man's head popped up as we entered the room and his face broke out into a grin. His face was gaunt and far too thin, his cheekbones jutting out uncomfortably far. His uniform hung much more loosely on him than any of the others, and when he waved at Chanelle, his arms were painfully thin. 

"Good afternoon, Travis," Chanelle greeted, waving back. 

We moved past them and came to a set of glass doors that lead outside into a garden. Past the patio and a length of shrubs, I could see two women; one woman with curly brown hair in a pale blue shirt and black pants, the other in a pure white uniform.

"Teresa is just outside," Chanelle said, gesturing to the doors. "I would be fragile with her, though. She's not entirely... With it." Shrugging, she twisted the door handle and pushed out. "You guys can take as long as you like. Enjoy your time with her. She doesn't get many visitors."

With that, she turned around and was back on her way to whatever she had been doing before, leaving us to make our way into the gardens alone.