Words were powerful in a place such as this and you had to be careful how you used them. The mentally ill could misinterpret what you meant and were susceptible to suggestions. She would have to tread carefully from now on. Betty turned down the hall, intending to head to a desk where nurses did their charting for each patient, but stopped when she heard a laugh.
Betty was working the evening shifts now and the hallway was going dark. Between poor lighting and few windows the hospital could become a very dark place at night. She stopped and looked behind her but there was not anyone there. Studying the hallway carefully Betty could see there was not anyone there and the sound would have had to travel over 50 feet from the end of the hallway to reach her. It must have just been an echo, she thought as she started walking once more.
She stopped once more when she thought someone came up beside her. She was startled because she hadn’t heard anyone coming up behind her but she could see their shadow out of the corner of her eye. Turning she saw once more that there was not anyone near her but she heard the laughter once more.
Spooked and ready to be out of the hallway Betty picked up her pace and all but ran to the desk in the middle of the second floor. The area was well lit and two other nurses and a doctor were at the station. Betty sat down, breathing slightly heavy as she reached for a chart.
“Are you alright, Betty?” One of the female nurses asked. Jackie was a large African American woman who always had a smile on her face. A widow with two small girls the woman still managed to find the joys in life. Something Betty thought was unusual when the woman worked in a place liked this but she liked Jackie and enjoyed working with her.
“Oh, it is just my own nerves spooking me, Jackie. You know how it is in those long dark hallways.” Betty laughed at herself now that she was in the reassuring light and with others around. All of the patients were in bed by now; she must have been imagining it.
“It is easily done in this place, that is for sure. You got the chart for Ernie Myers. I need to make a change to his medicine regimen.” Betty handed the chart over and went back to checking off the medicines she had given out earlier.
“Hello, hello, hello. And what are you fine ladies doing on a night like this? Anybody up for some wine and dancing?” Travis Brown, the patient Margaret had spoken to Betty about on the first day she came to the hospital, walked out of the hallway she had been walking up earlier.
“Boy, what are you doing out of bed? You know it is sleep time. Do not make me call Ben up here now, go on back to bed.” Jackie’s hand was already on the phone as she spoke, her pinky finger twitching on the dial.
“Alright, alright Miss Jackie, I will go. I just wanted to see if any of you ladies might want to listen to some music with me, maybe get tied up in some dancing.” The tall man, pudgy with dark hair and dark eyes, was a sight that disgusted Betty. He thought he was handsome but he was not, his eyes were too mean and pig-like, his lips always set in a cruel slant that made him look intimidating rather than handsome or charismatic.
He eyed Betty as he spoke, his right hand tugging at his beard before smoothing it down. Betty repressed an urge to shiver in disgust and tried to keep the disdain from her face. Travis winked at her before he left the hall, leaving once Jackie picked the phone up.
“That man sure does give me the creeps.” Jackie murmured quietly, admitting far more than Betty had observed.
“You too?” Betty asked, feeling she had just made an ally.
“Girl, that man scares me something fierce but he’ll never know it. If you let them see the fear in your eyes they’ll roll over you like you was nothing more than a cricket in the road. You got to stand tall around them and let them know who is boss. Do not ever let them see the fear.” Jackie gave Betty a stern nod of the head and went back to her charts.
Later that evening, as Betty was preparing to leave, she heard the laughter again. A shadow swooped by her as she turned around swiftly. She was in the nurses’ locker room and heard the sound of male laughter coming from the area of the showers. Betty felt her pulse go into overdrive and fear blossomed in her chest. Men weren’t allowed in the locker room.
Betty grabbed her purse and ran out of the door. Looking behind her she did not see anyone. She ran to the nurses’ station and called out for one of the security guards to come with her.
“There’s a man in the women’s locker room. Hurry before he slips out!” Betty ran back to the room with the guard on her heels. “He is in one of the showers, I heard him in there laughing.”
The guard ran in, calling for whoever was in the room to come out. Betty stood in the doorway, holding the door open with her back. She saw the guard going to each shower stall and pulling open the curtain. There was nobody in there.
“What’s all the ruckus little missy?” A male voice asked.
Betty jumped as the voice spoke and looked out of the doorway to see Travis standing there.
“What are you doing out of bed? Get back to your room!” Betty shot out, her voice stern, brooking no argument.
“Why, I just wanted to see what had you in such a bother pretty lady. Something spook you?” The piggish man asked.
“Do not touch me! Now, get back to your bed.” She ordered.
“I only wanted to see if your skin was as soft as it looked. I meant no harm.” He said, his hand going back to his beard to tug on it before smoothing the hair down. He licked his lips in a way that he meant to be seductive but came out as perverse and obscene instead, “You sure are a rather delicious looking little thing.”
“You are disgusting. Guard; get this man back to his room!” Betty called out to the guard, stepping away from the troubled patient before he could touch her once more.
“You touch her Travis and I will break your fingers. Come on, back to your room.” The guard pushed the man but he looked back at Betty once more before he went.
“See you later sweet thing!” He gave an awful laugh as he walked away and Betty knew he had been the one in the locker room. That was the laugh she had heard.
Betty went in early the next day to talk about the incident with Margaret. She knew she was new to the job and did not want to start complaining but she really did not feel safe. Her dreams had been haunted by the man’s laughter and she awoke at one point unable to move, certain that Travis was standing just over her, waiting on her to move before pouncing on her. The dark circles under her eyes were a testament to just how poorly she had slept.
Betty knocked on the door to Margaret’s office and pushed the door open when Margaret called out.
“Hello Betty. My you look tired honey! Have a seat.” Margaret waved at the two chairs in front of her desk.
Betty sat down in one and tried not to wring her hands. She decided that the best thing to do was to just get it over with.
“I need to talk to you about Travis Brown. Something has to be done about him.” Betty blurted out.
“Ah, I thought that might be the problem. The guard left me a note about the incident last night.” Margaret held up a piece of paper and waited for Betty to continue.
“Our manuals say we are to report anything like this and so here I am. Normally I would just brush it all off but the man seems to be fixated on me. He was following me around the facility and last night he made some very disgusting suggestions.”
“But he has not harmed you? Has he touched you at all?” Margaret looked concerned but somehow cold, detached even.
Betty felt confusion and hurt, she had expected more from Margaret. She was not sure what she expected exactly but she knew where Margaret’s question was leading.
“Not in a violent way but yes, he has touched me. He touched my face and tried to touch my hair. I found it far too personal.” Betty could not repress the shiver the memory sent through her body.
“We will keep an eye on you both then. I have instructed the guards and orderlies to keep watch on him. You will have to continue to interact with him but that is all we can do
for now.” Margaret looked away from Betty, staring at a spot behind Betty’s head. “Until he does something violent we can’t do much more than that.”
Betty stared at Margaret stunned. She did not have to be a psychiatrist to know where this was heading. The man’s past made it clear where all of the behaviors the man displayed were leading to. She started to say something but Margaret cut her off, the other woman’s gaze still not meeting her own.
“Stop being so paranoid Betty. You will be under watch every moment you are 'on the floor' so to speak. This is something you will have to deal with from time to time. You are young enough, pretty, and you are new and all of those draw attention. Things will calm down, I promise.” Margaret still was not looking Betty in the eye and Betty did not like that one bit.
“I see. I will do my best to follow your advice then, Margaret.” Betty’s words were clipped and there was an air of accusation to her tone. She tried to not be angry or hurt but Margaret’s unwillingness to help upset her. Betty stood from her chair and went to the door.
“Betty, I do wish there was more I could do but my hands are tied.” Margaret said as Betty left without speaking. She really did sound contrite but that did not ease Betty’s mind.
Betty walked through the halls with her back straight and her head high, going up to the second floor to the nurses’ station. During the day nurses were there and they all gave Betty sympathetic looks. Jackie, the nurse Betty was making friends with, was there too and took Betty’s hand in her own.
“We will watch out for you honey, even if they won’t.” Jackie promised with a smile.
Betty smiled back and asked for a report about the patients that day. It was routine now, asking how the day had gone, who was agitated, who was too calm. Calmness could mean a storm was brewing or that a patient was sinking into a depression, they both needed to be watched. Betty listened to the other nurses’ reports then gathered up the charts of the patients she would be working with. She checked to see which were due for medicines and went to prepare them.
The rest of the evening was spent pretending everything was alright but Betty was dreading speaking to Travis. The man had deeply disturbed her and she knew he was around. She kept seeing his shadow and hearing his laughter. He would always be near, lurking around a corner or hiding behind a door to walk out after she passed. She hadn’t had to speak with him yet, that was a blessing.
Betty was heading down to the cafeteria, planning a salad in her head, as she kept an eye on the hallway’s darkest parts. Betty knew the slightest thing would set her off, her nerves were strung tightly, and her pulse was racing. She kept rubbing her hands down her pants because her palms were sweating so much. Betty was afraid and she did not like it one bit.
Jackie had offered to go to the cafeteria with her but she had decided she had to be brave. The guards reported Travis was in his bed and there was no way he could get past them. She was safe, she just could not get her body to believe that. Her fight or flight response was working overtime and would not let her body calm down.
Betty was almost to the cafeteria door, her hand reaching out to push the doors open, when something hit her from the back, and she flew into the door. Her nose broke immediately and blood spurted all over the glass before she slid down the door. Betty did not even have time to scream before her feet were jerked and her body started to slide down the hallway as her head bumped on the floor.
Confused by shock and pain Betty finally tried to turn over, reaching out to grab onto anything that might halt the sliding.
“Help! Somebody help me!” Betty kicked her feet, hoping that would dislodge her attacker’s grip but he just grunted and grabbed her ankles more tightly.
The only sound that greeted her at first was a snicker from her attacker. Betty looked back to see who it was but all she could see was a shape in the near darkness.
“Stop!” Betty heard a male voice shouting from the other end of the hall. “Stop right there!”
Betty’s feet dropped suddenly and the man disappeared into a door, she saw it was the door to the stairs as she sat up and pushed herself back to the wall.
“Guards! Down here! He went down the stairs!” Betty looked up to see one of the doctors racing towards her, his light hair gleaming in the darkness. Her knight in shining armor had appeared. Betty smiled up at the man through the gore on her face and then promptly passed out.
Chapter Seven
“Are you alright?” The doctor asked as he and a guard lifted her to a gurney a few moments later. “Let me see what’s happened.”
The doctor held Betty’s face still as her eyes blinked open and he shone a light into her eyes. The doctor swung the light back and forth then made a sound of approval. He then used the light to check her nose.
“Are you breathing alright?” He asked as he gently felt around her nose.
“Yes, I am alright, just shaken up and my nose hurts. Did I faint?” She asked, looking up at him with confusion.
“Yes, you did, it is hardly any wonder. Let’s get you to an exam room and clean you up. I am Doctor Adam Raines, by the way, Ms. Taylor. You are safe now.” The doctor nodded at the guard and the guard pushed her along the hallway and down to an exam room.
Jackie came running into the room and took Betty’s hand.
“You alright?” She asked, her question weighted with far more than she had said.
“I am alright, Jackie, honest. I am okay.” Betty replied with a reassuring squeeze. “I think my nose is broken from the feel of it, though.”
“I believe you are correct Ms. Taylor, you have got a lot of swelling, and you are already getting bruises under your eyes. Jackie can you get Ms. Taylor some ice please?” The doctor smiled kindly to the other nurse and she shook her head and took off.
“Jackie sure is nice.” Betty said as the doctor tilted her head back. “How did you know my name?”
Betty remembered meeting the doctor on the first day but she hadn’t seen him since then.
“I met you on your first day here. I am working nights the rest of this month so this is the first time we’ve met since then. I am sorry it is under such bad conditions.”
Betty felt something she had never felt before as she looked up at the doctor. An overwhelming urge to giggle bubbled up her throat and she had to fight hard to push it down. She told herself she was just reacting to the situation and that it meant nothing, she was not interested in this handsome young doctor.
“Alright, sit up, let’s get you cleaned up and taped up before Nurse Jackie gets back with that ice. You may have some bleeding throughout the night but you should be fine. Why don’t you head home early? I think you need a rest after that.”
“We are not going to call the police?” Betty asked quietly, suspecting she already knew the answer.
“I can’t identify who it was, can you?” He paused, his brownish green eyes boring into hers. When Betty shook her head, he continued. “These things happen in facilities like this. I am not saying you have to get used to it but it may happen from time to time.”
“I understand. I just wanted to make sure. Did Travis get out of his room? Is that why the guards were out like that?” She asked, holding her head up once more so he could wipe her face with a wet towel.
“No, as far as I know he was in his room. We heard you screaming and came looking for you.” Doctor Raines began placing tape over Betty’s nose, trying to keep it in place. “At least we do not have to put your nose back together. You may end up with a bump on it and it may be crooked but I do not think it is going to be too bad.”
Betty smiled at the doctor, not sure what else to say. She wanted to run home and cry into her pillow but she had a feeling she might lose some respect at work if she did that. She only had an hour left on her shift anyway. She had taken some acetaminophen and continued on with her shift.
Jackie came back in and handed her the ice, bringing the salad Betty had been longing for with her.
“I thoug
ht you might be hungry still. You take that on home with you and we will see you tomorrow, alright?” Jackie was the charge nurse and had the ability to allow other nurses to go home.
“I think I will stay. Have my salad and finish my shift. My nose isn’t going to feel better for going home.” Betty tried to smile again but the pain in her nose finally became too much.
“You tough girl, you tough. You can stay on if you want but if you need to go home you just tell me so.” Jackie displayed the gap in her otherwise perfect white teeth and Betty let her eyes do the smiling this time.
“I will let you know. I just need to finish up my charts and I will be done anyway.” Betty looked over at the doctor. “You done with me?”
“Yes, but I want to ask you a few more questions while you eat, if you do not mind.” Jackie left the room as the doctor spoke. “And you might want to change your dress before you go back out.”
The doctor was pointing at Betty’s dress and she looked down to see she was covered in blood.
“Oh yes, I believe you are right.” A tissue was not going to get all of the blood and dirt out, she was not sure the dress would ever come clean again, in fact.
“Did you see the guy at all or recognize him?” The doctor asked. “If we can identify him we might be able to deal with it.”
“No, nothing was recognizable. I expect it was Travis though. He has been giving me problems.” Betty tried the salad but put it back down. She had something draining down her throat, likely blood, and the salad just tasted horrible and it made her face hurt to try to eat.
“Right, well, we will keep an eye on him. When are you off again?” His question was abrupt and distracted Betty from trying to wipe at the blood on her dress once more.
Thriller: Emily Page 23
