Transcendence ✹ Septicgab

Ten

The detectives wanted to keep me in the clinic, just in case my mental state would be deemed too hazardous for others. I didn't hear about much that happened in the clinic, except for one thing..... a new patient.. and no one actually told me.

"Good morning, Ethan," Dr. Reynolds came in. "I.. um.. I have a little bit of news.."

"You found out I'm not lying?" I asked, and she hesitated to say. "There's a new patient.. isn't there?"

"I'm not authorised to say."

"So that's a yes."

"Like I said.. I can't say," she continued.

"It's one of them.. isn't it?" She continued to stay quiet, which answered my question. "Isn't it?"

"Ethan, I am not authorised to say."

-

Dr. Reynolds made the rookie mistake of leaving behind a keycard that let her come in and out of my room. When it was getting late, I looked out for security. It was clear, so I moved.

"Okay... the files are behind her desk.." I flipped through names until I found a last name I recognised. "I was right.." I found a room number and snuck there as quickly and quietly as possible. "302.."

310
309
308

I continued walking until I saw 302. Inside was the person whose file I had found. She sat with her back turned toward the door, crying softly. Her shoulder length hair looked ratted and had blood dried within each strand.

"Hey.." I whispered. She turned around very slowly. "What all do you remember?"

"I didn't kill anyone," she choked back tears. "They're saying I may have... They're saying my boyfriend is dead... they're saying I killed him..." The woman started to hyperventilate. "Ethan... What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," I sighed. "But it makes me feel a lot better having someone else here.."

"Reynolds wouldn't tell you anything, would she?" I shook my head no. "Figured... She was very superficial with me.. Just asked me about everyone wh-"

"Asked about everyone who was there..?" I finished her sentence. "She asked me, too... When I first got here, that's all anyone ever asked me about... I said your name.. and well.." I sat down on her hospital bed. "I had my morning session with her today, and she seemed... out of it."

"How the hell did you get to me?" She asked.

"She's not very observant," I held up the card. "So.. Since it looks like we're gonna be here for quite some time..." I stood. "Shall we make this a regular meet?"

"I mean.." She said. "Yeah.. I'd really like to remember some more things.."

"The patient in room 315 is missing." I heard someone outside say.

"Shit," I said. "They're gonna make sure I'm really locked up.." I waited until I could make a mad dash out of her room and back to mine. I chucked Dr. Reynolds's card behind her desk to make it look like she dropped it over there when she was packing up her things for the night, then rushed into my hospital bed. The guard walked by as I was laying down, acting like I was asleep.

~

I woke up, screaming her name, but when I looked around, she was nowhere to be seen... Neither were my friends. My surroundings were unfamiliar, and as I stood up, I still couldn't recognise a single piece of the room.