RILEY
"There's some good news for you Riley." Dr. Aaron Shaw beamed at me, seeming enthusiastic for a reason unknown to me. It was kind of unusual of him to summon me at six-thirty in the morning when all I needed was to curl up in bed, sip on my much-needed dose of caffeine, and have nothing to do with whatever bullshit he'd planned to say.
I was a bit hesitant to ask my question. "What's the good news Doctor?"
Aaron's good news was hardly considered good these days. The other day, Nurse Irene was getting some good news and the next thing, she was shipped off to the Children's Wing and now she hardly got any sleep. Last time I checked, Irene was a walking robot- nurse on auto-pilot, her hair in disarray.
I shuddered.
The corners of the young doctor's eyes crinkled and I already hated the next words spilling out of his mouth. "Dr. Liu, as you may be already aware is still in Malaysia for the seminar, but he and I skyped this morning and he asked me to pass on this news to you since he won't be here for another week."
"Please don't put me in the Children's wing."
He laughed and waved his hand like I'd cracked the best joke ever, "Of course not, Riley. You are one of the most hardworking nurses that we have, so we kept your best interest at heart. Dr. Liu is giving you a promotion. You will be transferred into the C wing for the Mental-Health unit."
Wow. Joy!
There was a catch and he hadn't gotten to the best part yet.
"And?" I pressed on.
"You will get an extra bonus every month, overtime and plus all your allowances will be covered." He said still working that plastic smile.
This was too good to be true. Miracles never happened in my case.
Aaron pushed a plate of chocolate chip cookies towards me. "Here. Have some. My grandma makes the best cookies."
So it was that bad. He had to practically resort to bribing me with delicious cookies. When I tried to pick a third, he reached for the plate and placed it under his table. That smile was disappearing by the second. Grandmama's cookies were too precious.
"You will be assigned to only one patient. You'll have to do the usual; serve him breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Take him for his routine checkups, make sure he takes his medicines on time and assist the doctor in charge."
"Him?" I asked. "How old is he?"
Aaron inspected a blue manila file, leafed through a few pages and said. "Jackson will be twenty-seven next month."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, you want me to change man-diapers every morning of a twenty-seven-year-old mentally challenged man who probably likes to throw tantrums. No wonder I'm getting this promotion."
"Not mentally challenged, just mentally insane."
Fan-fucking-tastic!
He continued. "You don't have to bathe him or wipe his ass. I assure you, he is capable of doing all that on his own."
"Great. That makes me feel so much better." I said sarcastically.
"You'll feel even better to know that you won't have any night shifts. Of course, you may be called to assist the doctors if needed but that would be occasionally. There's no workload here."
That did sound like less work and overall a good deal but things weren't sitting right with me.
"Wasn't Nurse Roxanne also transferred to the C wing? Did she also get promoted?"
Aaron shrugged. "Well, she did but things did not exactly sit well with her what with Roxanne always complaining about everything. We just sent her off to a short vacation."
I nodded. That did not explain why she was sobbing hysterically and running out of the wing as if her butt had caught fire. Aaron thought I was stupid. I had experience working with mental patients, how bad could this be?
"Okay. Sounds good."
That grin was back. "Awesome. So, I'll have the paperwork ready and you can start tomorrow. Just visit the office first thing tomorrow morning. Dr. Bennett will have all the introductions and other formalities in order."
"Dr. Bennett? I've never heard of him."
"Oh, right." He said, taking a sip of his coffee. "We have new recruits this month. Fresh out of medical school. So he's my new—"
"Errand boy." I blurted out.
Aaron chucked. "Is that what you think of me? I was gonna say 'trainee' but, errand boy would do too." He winked and I laughed along with him. No matter how sneaky Aaron was he was the only doctor who didn't always have a rod up his ass. He was easy-going and fun, the type you complained stuff to hoping he didn't kiss and tell. I for one liked Aaron for being the cool doctor.
"Any more questions?" he asked.
"No."
"Off you go then and good luck on your new adventure."
I rolled my eyes.
* * *
"Let me get this straight. You've been promoted from being the eye candy for elders to being a nanny for psychopaths? How much were you getting paid again?" My younger brother Ken asked. He was three years younger than I but still acted like an older brother. He felt obligated to take up the role of the family head after our parents died in a car crash.
Kenneth was studying to become a vet. It had always been his dream, and even though he was smart enough to get a scholarship that would cover all the expenses, we were still working hard to make ends meet. He worked part-time in the veterinary department of Woodville hospital. He loved animals. Ken's pet died of sickness when he was ten and I still remember how much that had affected him, feeling helpless about not having the power to help the animal had somehow stuck with him and he'd decided to become a vet.
"It's not like I have a choice. Plus, it's a good raise for playing personal nurse for a single patient." I said, serving him a generous amount of lasagna.
"Do you seriously think like that or are you trying to convince yourself?" Ken sighed.
"I'm serious. We need the money and I will take this opportunity. It doesn't matter to me where I'm transferred to as long as they keep the end of their bargain."
"Look at yourself, Riley. You hardly have any friends; you never go out like other twenty-five-year-olds'. Maybe it's time to let me be the man of this house for once and handle things my way." He suggested, taking a small bite of the food.
I clenched the fork in my hand so hard, the knuckles were turning white. "I let you be in charge and then what, Kenneth?" I asked and he closed his eyes and sighed because I'd just said his full name and his expressions told me he wasn't in the mood for another argument. I continued. "You think your part-time job is gonna be able to cover the rent or the electricity bills?"
His face fell and I knew I shouldn't have said that. "Hey...I didn't mean to say that. I'm sorry." I apologized.
"I'm just saying you shouldn't have taken this offer. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into." He said, his clear blue eyes staring at me which reminded me so much of our father.
"I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself. Don't worry about me, concentrate on your studying."
"I just want you to live a little." He added, murdering the poor lasagna with his fork.
I felt guilty for losing my cool just a minute ago. Ken was always looking out for me. I kept a hand on his. "I will."
Maybe it was the exhaustion of running around in the hospital every day doing whatnot. I knew I needed this promotion or demotion, or whatever it was that the doctors had planned for me. An exclusive nurse didn't sound that bad.
"So do you know this patient?"
"Cannot disclose patient personal information." I reminded him, “hello…HIPPA.”
“Oh, c’ mon. We're family. Any info you give me isn't going anywhere. I just want to make sure you're not getting involved with someone who's a bat-shit psycho."
I shook my head, taking a sip of the chilled water. "All I know is that his name is Jackson and he's twenty-seven."
"That name kinda sounds familiar. I wonder if I know him." Ken was lost in thought. "I'll ask Cayla tomorrow. She's like the walking encyclopedia. I won't say anything about you getting assigned to him. I'll just casually ask her, be discreet about it."
Cayla was his co-worker in the veterinary department, also had a huge crush on Ken. I wondered if she would be gray and old before my brother even asked her out.
"Cayla's a nice girl. She told me the other day that she wanted some help for a research project that you guys are doing."
"Right." He said.
"You should help her out."
Ken nodded, and just like that I'd done my part by playing the cupid, but he was the one who was supposed to take this more seriously. I sighed and started shoveling down some salad, anxious and excited for my first day tomorrow in the mental health wing.
Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
I looked at myself in the mirror the next morning and realized that I looked haggard and exhausted. I didn't remember the last time I had any proper sleep. Jackson Wolfe had been on my mind. I'd played out my first meeting with him and there were a few scenarios that I imagined it would play like and all that came to my mind was Agent Starling and Hannibal Lector and it didn't help because then I kept rolling from side to side all night until my alarm went off at five-thirty a.m.I stared at the bags under my eyes and decided to dab some concealer, apply some compact powder, and a nude shade of lipstick. Nurse Maddy who was also my good friend in the faculty said that darker shades always suited me but wearing heavy makeup wasn't even allowed in the hospital.I heard the shower turn on in Ken's room which was my cue to prepare breakfast for him. I cooked fried eggs on toast since that topped his list of most favorite breakfast of all time. My brother was a low
Aaron rubbed his forehead in frustration. "I wish I could say that it's not a big deal, Riley but I can't because this could go out of our hands at any point of time. Jackson is out there somewhere doing god knows what, all because he tricked you into thinking he was Paul Bennett.""I know. He was just too convincing, Aaron. If you were in my place you'd probably mistake him for a doctor as well. Trust me." I pleaded, this time the tears trickled down my face without me even realizing it. This was a big deal. A psychopathic patient was out in the open because of my mistake. I could lose my job, or worse, someone could get hurt."Paul wants you out of this wing." He said handing me a box of Kleenex."Just what I needed!" I said sarcastically.Marvin, the ward boy came rushing into the room without even knowing. The short, timid guy seemed agitated."What is it, Marvin?" Aaron asked."You're not going to like this, doctor." He said and without
"It's nice to see you again, Nurse Riley." Jackson mocked me."Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about you." I retorted.The last time that I'd seen him in the office, he'd been wearing the doctor's white coat, but now he was dressed in the patient's blue uniform. The few top buttons of the uniform's shirt were open, the sleeves folded shy of his biceps and that made all the tattoos visible that ran down the length of his arm. I was at such a distance that I couldn't tell what the tattoos were about and that made me curious.Jackson chuckled a low rumble, the type that was best suited in an office cubical rather than a mental asylum. Looking at him, no one would think he was crazy but that was the truth. He was bat-shit psycho, just as Ken had mentioned. What's even scarier was that he seemed like the kind of guy who could easily blend with the normal people if they didn't know about the demons that befriended him."Come on, don't be like that. We
Jackson was so close that I could feel his minty breath fan over my face. I tried to act like I wasn't scared at all but it wasn't working. I felt raw fear claw into my skin like never before and I guess he sensed it because he was grinning at me like a lunatic. It seemed like he could read my mind and my body. He raised his arm towards me and I cowered in reflex. I felt his fingers move slowly down my arm in a teasing way."W-what are you doing?" I asked him."You're scared of me, aren't you?" he asked."No. I'm not scared of you."Jackson laughed. "You don't sound so confident." He leaned in very close to my ear and whispered, “I can hear your heart beating out of your chest.”"If you try anything, Jackson. Just anything at all, I'll scream."He moved closer, leaving absolutely no space between us. Our bodies were pressed against each other with the exit right behind me but I couldn't move, not when a six-foot-three giant was t
When I woke up the next morning, I had a severe headache. Even though I'd managed to throw up all the medicines that I'd consumed last night, I realized some remnants of it must have remained inside my body. I looked out of my bedroom window and noticed it was still drizzling. The clock read nine a.m. so I had about an hour before my shift started. I was working a twelve hours shift today because Aaron had literally pleaded me since they were short-staffed. Majority of the nurses preferred to steer clear off Jackson and I couldn't even blame them.Due to my unusual shift timings, I was never home and so Ken and I rarely got any time to spend with each other as a family. Scribbled notes, texts, and phone calls were the only communication that went on for a few days now and I blamed it on my transfer to the Mental Health Wing.I pulled myself out of the bed reluctantly, making a beeline for the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, I was dressed in my Nurse uniform, seated at
"Jackson, that's enough!" I shrieked, but it was too late. Mad-Dave's face was bloody and his eyes were rolled back, a tooth fell to the floor.Cody, the Man-child didn't seem to be bothered by this. He just casually threw us a look as if we'd just disturbed Mister Panda and his television time together. I seized Jackson's arm and tried to pull him away but his eyes spelled murder. It was like he was possessed. Jackson was too muscled and strong; he didn't even budge when I pulled him. I needed to tread slowly out of this situation; one wrong move and I'd probably end up looking like Dave."Jackson," I called out to him. "You need to calm down. Dave is a bully; he's just messing with you."Jackson turned his furious eyes at me. "Nobody fucking talks about my mother like that!" He yelled at Dave.It was funny how one nasty word about his mother had driven him into a fit of rage when he was the one who'd killed her in cold blood. Maybe Jackson had some seri
When I drove to work the next morning, I saw some police cars and a wide yellow tape wound around the area. Media vans and TV reporters swarmed the premise.What the hell happened here?The sun was coming down too harshly; I retrieved my sunglasses and wore them, that way no one would find out who I was staring at. I glanced up towards the troublemaker’s window, Jackson was staring right at me, he smiled and waved. I didn't bother waving back. He was back in his old room.I approached the entrance slowly. Paul appeared to be stressed and talking to a police officer who was scribbling something on a memo, his co-worker sipping on a latte. I entered the hospital building to find all the nurses being questioned.A group of people had already crowded the elevator area so I decided to take the stairs. I climbed up, two at a time when Marvin almost crashed into me on the third level. He grabbed both my shoulders as if stopping me from walking fur
Detective Alicia led me to a room that was now set up with a bunch of equipment and there were a lot of people in the room being questioned, others were going through files and papers, typing on their MacBooks. A young officer looked up from his laptop towards me and back at the screen."Please have a seat, Miss. Frazer." Detective Alicia pointed at the chair as she settled in the chair across from it. She had a memo pad and a pen in her lap. "How are you doing today?""I'm good, Detective. Thanks for asking.""I have some questions so let's get it over with." She said. "How was David's behavior usually?""He liked to pick fights with the other patients. Harassed most of the staff. Frankly speaking, I don't think anyone here would miss him in the slightest." There, I said the truth. Just because Dave was dead, didn't mean we had to pity him. He had it coming for a long time.Detective Alicia nodded, scribbling something in her notepad. "When he had