Doing her rounds at the hospital often felt like visiting. No matter how hard her day was, or how stressful, some of the patients she tended always brought a smile to Orah's face when she walked into their room.
Mrs. Miller was eighty and partly blind, her coke-bottle glasses so thick they made her eyes look large and owlish when she wore them. She'd been having trouble breathing a few nights ago and her son had brought her in, more anxious than his mother was about her state and even more worried every time she broke into a coughing fit. They'd been struggling to get her blood oxygen up and that's why she was still here, an oxygen tube running beneath her nose and up over her ears, and medication in her system to suppress the coughs that wracked her frail body. Despite it all though, she always broke into a bright smile when her nurse entered and Orah felt like she was bathed in sunshine every time she went to check on her. It was one of the brightest spots in her hospital work, and one she may have spent a little more time at than was strictly necessary, just to let Mrs. Miller tell her stories about her sons when they were kids and the trouble they'd gotten up to.
The door clicked quietly behind her as Orah left that night, Mrs. Miller settled comfortably for sleep. It was nearing the end of her own shift and the ache in her feet and body left her grateful she didn't have much left to do. Some paperwork sat at the front desk for her to work through, but after that she could go. A gas station would have some quick, and cheap, hot chocolate and her cat would be a warm lump in her lap as soon as she settled in... it sounded like heaven right now.
A strange, unexpected flicker of the overhead lights pulled Orah's head up. An uneasy feeling wormed its way in, despite her stern efforts to push it down. The hospital was in good repair... the lights rarely flickered, but it wasn't unheard of...
Another flicker and Orah saw someone standing down the empty hall, their shoulders slumped and posture just... slightly off. She didn't know why it made her uncomfortable, her weight shifting from one foot to another. The young nurse was about to ask if they were a patient needing help when the lights flickered again and the words died on her lips. The figure was closer, as though they had flickered with the lights, and that uneasy feeling grew.
"H-hello? Can I help you?" Orah called, her fingers curling into her palms as she rocked onto her toes, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. The person looked... unkept, and now she was sure they must be a patient, even if her instincts tried to tell her something else. Another flicker and they were even closer, looming and leaning towards her as though reaching even with arms by their sides. Unease burst into full fear now, even as she screamed at herself it was stupid to be afraid.
She was a nurse in this hospital. An adult. She was a senshi, eternal level, and she had faced down scarier things than some stranger in her hospital... but her heart still raced, her blood pressure spiking. The stranger's face leered, lips curling up to expose their rotten, crooked teeth. Lanky hair hung into their blood shot eyes, their look manic... Orah moved to stumbled back a step as the lights flickered again and...
They were gone. The hallway was empty.
Orah gasped and breathed hard as she pressed a hand to her chest, darting gazes around to see where the menacing stranger had gone... but there was nothing. A sweep of the rooms in the hallway produced nothing but peacefully sleeping patients... and a careful question at the nurse's stand down the hall assured her no one had entered or left the hall except her.
She wan't able to shake the unease the rest of the night. Small movements in the shadows made her jump, but there was never anything there and she was even more grateful to leave when her shift was done.
Quote:
You're visiting a friend or family member in the hospital and while walking down the hall, the fluorescent lights flicker, long enough for you to notice an eerie figure standing at the end of the empty hallway. Another flicker and the shadow grows closer - it's a deranged looking person, hair unkempt and eyes sunken into their sockets. A third flicker and the being is only yards away from you now, more grotesque in appearance than ever. A fourth flicker and…the lights return to normal, the hallway just as empty as it was when you originally turned to walk down it. Was it all an illusion? Maybe you're a little extra exhausted? Whatever the case may be, walking down the hallway you can't help but notice a putrid smell stinging your nostrils until you manage to turn the corner…
