lights out » d.h [INACTIVE; INCOMPLETE.]

Memory Lane

"You bitch! You fucking whore all you do is sleep around! GET OUT!!" He throws a chair across the room, falling on his knees, crying into his hands.

"Patient Liguori! This is unacceptable!" Jill yells at a patient with wavy to curly short brown hair. "Guards take him to his room, now!" she points to the hall.

"Woah.." I walk towards Jill. "That was a scene," I raise my brows.

"I'm used to it, he does this a lot," she rolls her eyes.

"What's his name?" I fold my arms.

"That's Pj Liguori, he has post traumatic stress disorder, but he's known for getting a lot of flashbacks with his ex girlfriend," Jill frowns a bit.

"Oh, I feel bad for him," I face my head to the direction of the floor.

"You'll get used to it, like I said, he does this a lot," Jill walks, strutting to Phil's way.

I walk around the room, eyeing all the patients, making sure they are all settled. I exit the room into the hallway where there's a bulletin board up in the middle of the dirty yellow brick wall.

There were pictures posted with familiar faces such as Ms Grundy, Jill, Chris, Pj. I look at a certain photo, that had caught my attention. The photo had every nurse and patient in it, and of course Ms Grundy. The only difference between this photo and the others is everyone is smiling, including Ms Grundy. There were tall trees in the background, it was obvious it was taken at night, but the light from the fake fire pit in the middle illuminated on each face, especially on a face I wasn't familiar with.

This male was sitting by patient Lester and patient Kendall; he's just as tall as patient Lester, but not as innocent. The light reflecting in his eyes, helps show it's depth. They are dark, emotionless, and cold; almost insane. Those eyes were the thing familiar about him to me, I know I've seen similar eyes like those crazy ones before.

Unlike his eyes, his smile meant more. His smile was so big his dimple was obvious. His teeth are perfect within a sense they were taken care of. His smile was so real, so big, his cheeks kept sticking out.

His hair was short, but long enough to have a perfect fringe. His fringe laid perfectly there, except the curls in his hair tried to hide the style. Bits of his hair were wavy, other parts were straight, but a majority of his hair were in curls.

I try to look at other photos, yet my mind kept wandering about the previous. There's something mysteriously wrong about that photo; With no reasoning behind it, I just keep getting drawn to that photo.

I look around the hall, checking if anyone is looking. Once the coast is clear I rip of the photo from the board, fold it into a small square, and stuff it inside my bra. Seems pretty ridiculous, but I know no one would suspect a picture would be in there so–.

"Bell?" A familiar voice comes from behind.

I jump, turning around to face Jill. I place my hands behind my back, holding them. I smile slightly, letting out an uncomfortable giggle.

"Everything good?" Her right eyebrow rises.

"Just a little out of it today, I'm still trying to get used to these hours," I fake yawn.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you, I feel bad for being a bitch towards you the other day about him. I wanna let you know, you are free to ask questions about Dan," she smiles, tucking her small strands of auburn hair behind her ear.

"Really? Thanks Ji-"

"But- you have to tell me, how do you know his last name?" She cuts me off.

I remember back to the time Joey asked about him, that day he told me Dan's last name is Howell. How could he possibly know that? I've known Joey my whole life, I know his all his friends, I'm sure I would know about a Dan Howell.

"My flatmate asked me if Dan's last name was Howell, I thought I would ask you, and well here we are," I put my hand into my skirts small pocket.

"Oh, that's, uh, weird," she twitches slightly.

"I'll ask him about it later, yeah?"

She nods her head in return, "that'll be handy, be careful, I wouldn't trust anyone associated with Dan before he got put in here, okay?"

"What do you mean?" I say, worriedly.

She stands there, twiddling her thumbs, looking down at the stained checkered floor.

"You said you'll answer my questions, so answer this one, why should I be careful?" I walk closer to Jill, concerned but upset.

"He did some pretty bad stuff back then, most people he was friends with helped him with his dirty work. Look, maybe your flatmate just read about him in a magazine, newspaper or something. Just, for the sake of things keep your eyes open, even when they're closed."

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" I raise my voice, anger intertwined with each word being spoken.

"Nurse Bowman, nurse Anderson! You have patients waiting for your assistance in there," she points to the room with her wrinkly fingers. "Get back in there, and help the other nurses out, immediately!" Ms Grundy protests.

We nod our heads in unison, walking back to the lounge.

"I'll explain more, I'll call you tonight," Jill whispers.

"I need more than an explanation, I need the truth."

— unedited.