Hidden Abnormality

24. Missing Six

Chapter Twenty-Four

  Panic. Chaos. Flashing red lights. People running around like ants on a mission for the death circle. All of these and more perfectly described how Hallway A was acting when I arrived for work. All the while, many upsetting words would describe how I felt at not knowing why such a thing was happening.

  None of the scurrying ants would tell me as I passed them. I got to my office and David wasn't sitting behind his desk. I was starting to get annoyed. What the heck was happening?

  I turned around toward the hallway again, and David slid in front of the walkway. He grumbled when he saw me staring at him like a deer caught in headlights. "I have been calling you, searching for you, and waiting for you to arrive. Everything is a mess!"

  "I didn't get any calls," I trailed off. I began to smack any pockets I had in search of my smartphone. None of the seven pockets in my choice of clothes this morning held my phone. "I must have left it at home."

  "Next time, don't!" David screamed at me. It may have been just to be heard over the scuffing and squeaking of hundreds of shoes on the tile in the hallway. He pushed me out of the cove that held my office and toward the back of Hallway A. "Everybody is on high alert and Supervisor A wants to see you."

  "Did I do something?" I inquired.

  David shook his head. "I don't know all the details. Nobody is talking; just running around like madmen. What I do know you won't like."

  "Spit it out."

  "A few, very few, patients went missing late yesterday. It happened when the shifts were changing. For both the occasional guard and employees."

  "Am I being rushed–" I took a breath as I almost fell to the tiled flooring. Readjusting my coat, I looked at David scornfully. He looked at me sheepishly and stopped pushing me around. Instead, he started walking beside me. "Am I being rushed because one of those patients was mine?" I finished.

  He nodded. "But not just any patient."

  We arrived at the Supervisor's door and I had no time to ask what he meant before I was ushered inside his office. There were a few other enigmatologists and doctors in here as well. Lauren, Dr. Inquiridor, and Dr. Opus being three of them. I bet he enjoyed having such a spacious office. My office just barely fit three people. Maybe the difference was in how we kept our workspaces clean. That, or it was because he was higher on the food chain.

  "Mr. Mestiere. You finally arrived. I think your servant was beginning to lose hair at your inactivity," Dr. Opus jabbed.

  I stared at him blankly. "I hope you don't mean to say that you missed my presence, doctor."

  Lauren snickered. "He means to say that he was beginning to lose his hair at how much he cared for you. Your absence was deeply troubling our dear doctor of Hallway Z."

  Opus sneered. "I was not–"

  "Enough." Everyone's attention turned to Supervisor A. "Let's get to business, shall we?"

  That's when I noticed how quiet it was in here as opposed to in the hallways. Did they soundproof his office?

  "Dr. Agridulce, you have one missing patient from Hallway H. Mr. Denim, you will be accompanying the doctor as Hallway H is a part of your jurisdiction," the supervisor started, "Dr. Humilem, you have three missing patients from Hallways B and D. Ms. Captiosus, you will be accompanying your doctor. Dr. Opus and Dr. Inquiridor, you both are missing a total of two patients. Mr. Mestiere, you will be following up with the both of them, as Hallways Y and Z are a part of your jurisdiction."