Infernal

Chapter 1 - The Hospital

"Mr Preston, excuse me, the doctor's here." A short nurse said to Henry. He looked up. The stench of medical alcohol hit him, he made a grimace that made the nurse giggle. Henry's hands flew to his head, pain from the back of his head spread through his skull. Henry couldn't remember why he was here, or what caused him to be here. He heard heavy footsteps from the hallway outside the room, the sound echoed, and a moment after, a young blond doctor, around 22 stood in the doorway, he sent a Henry a nervous smile and said, with a raspy voice.

"Tell me, How are you feeling" the doctor's eyes turned from Henry down to the blanket covering him. Henry tried to adjust his position. The nurse hurried away out the door, seemingly without purpose. He decided to answer the doctor, when she reached the door, he could hear the buzz of the hospital, the door slammed with a loud *Thump* her steps slowly faded away.

"I was feeling okay until I woke up, my head hurts a lot... Tell me, doctor, how did I end up here, and while you're at it, where am I?" The doctors face changed, from relaxed to lightly stressed.

"As for where you are, that's easy... You're at St. Thomas Hospital in London... As for all I know, concerning why you are here, is that you had a small concussion, probably just a hit in the head." The doctor murmured with an anxious undertone, he tried to hide this with a nervous smile, it didn't work, and he knew just a second after the smile faded as a result.

"Thanks... " Henry mumbled, he wanted to say more, but just as he was about to open his mouth again, the nurse returned to the room, holding a syringe. Henry's heart froze, he started to sweat.

"Are you feeling alright" The nurse chuckled at him.

"I don't do well with needles. It's a long story... What's in the syringe anyway?"

"Oh, I can tell you, you're not the first who's afraid of needles. And that's just morphine, to take away the pain" Henry realized he couldn't argue with that logic, though he was highly uncomfortable with the whole situation. He bit his teeth, shaking. The needle pierced his skin, making him jump a little, he let out a small scream, which rebounded on the walls, this resulted in the nurse saying sternly, giving him a death stare.

"Sit still, it's just a little prick" A moment after the needle was out of his arm, he knew this, but was still stressed out. Henry decided to try and divert his mind by turning on the television that was situated just opposite of his bed on the white wall, the room looked incredibly dull, white with only the television and a window with a view of Westminster Palace and the abbey as a contrast. Without really noticing it, Henry's eyelids became heavier and heavier, and soon after, he was asleep.

He woke up the next day, by a loud ding, on his phone. Henry just awake, reached out for his phone, but unfortunately, he knocked it off the table by the bed. He wasn't too worried about this though, it was cracked already, so one extra fall wouldn't make that much difference. He wanted to check what had caused the ding, he had heard earlier, so he called the nurse to pick it up for him. It was an email from a Gina Rowe. The name sounded familiar, and a moment passed before it popped into his mind, where he knew her from. It was the vice-chancellor of Oxford University. She asked him when he'd be back teaching. He decided to write,

"Hello, Mrs Rowe.

I should be able to be back teaching next week. I had a small concussion, nothing to worry about. I'll be taking the rest of the week off sick.

Yours sincerely

Prof. Preston "

He hit sent and put away his phone. He picked a small black television remote and turned on the television on the opposite wall. He turned on BBC News...

"BREAKING NEWS WESTMINSTER ABBEY IS ON FIRE" The bar at the bottom of the screen read, as it ran over the screen, like an Olympic sprinter. A reporter came into the frame, she was standing in front of Westminster Abbey.

"Police and firemen advice people to stay clear of Westminster, as to aid in the rescue of our old church... " She said nervously. Henry didn't hear the rest, as his head had turned to look out his window. He could see a big black pillar of smoke, rising above Westminster palace, it was so huge a fire he could smell the ash and smoke. He fell into a trance, looking at the building burn. His mouth fell open. A doctor walked into the room. It wasn't the same as yesterday, this was a middle-aged woman. She coughed to get his attention.

"Mr Preston, you are free to go. We won't keep you since it was just a small concussion." He jumped out of his trance and turned his head to face the woman.

"Thanks, a lot. I'll gather my things and leave at once." He could hear a faint sound of sirens approaching.

He stood up from the hospital bed and took his clothes from the nightstand. The door slammed behind him, and he changed into his clothes. He folded the hospital clothes and put them on the bed. He picked up his watch from the nightstand. It was his grandfather's, somehow it survived the night before. His trousers were a bit dirty, but nothing you would notice right away, as they were black. He turned off the television, which was pretty much just noise now, as he had stopped listening to a long time ago.

He walked down to the reception where a short man stood, wearing a black trench coat. He asked.

"Are you Professor Henry Preston?"