Nightmare in room 28
Characters: Various Setting: Various, Mid afternoon
"Good morning."
It was the first thing Kasper heard before opening her eyes from the darkness she had slipped into upon resting her head upon the pillow of her bed. She definitely did not know that voice. It was new, a hint of age in the gentle tone as she woke from her slumber. She took a deep breath as the bright light pierced her corneas for what felt like the first time. The white washed ceiling hardly helped what was supposed to be a gentle awakening.
A strong force hit her head once, then twice before it was gone. She had awoken from a very strange dream, one that felt so real. In fact, she was sure it had to be and she marked the feeling in her expression, her brow knitting as she looked around the seeming hospital room. A curtain separated her from the rest of the room, but she could not believe where she was.
She looked down at her arms, fresh marks and the dressings of a wound upon her left wrist tugged at a faint recollection. This was not the first time she had been there. It even smelled the same.
"How are you feeling Miss Lombardo?" The white coat asked him. She couldn't quite make out his face as he peered down to the clipboard in hand. Before she could even breathe a word, he interjected, marking off something upon the paper. "He's waiting for you," he informed as a matter of fact.
She parted her lips, entirely perplexed. "Who's waiting for me?" she questioned softly, narrowing her eyes as he simply turned away from her. "Wait!" she called out, moving her legs out from the blankets of her hospital bed. A tug stopped her in her tracks, she had not even noticed the IV sticking out of her right hand. Immediately, she pulled it out of her skin, grimacing slightly as she caught the tail end of the brown door closing behind the doctor.
Without hesitating, Kasper took a quick pace to the very same door, latching on to the knob with her hand and realizing that she was dressed entirely in hospital attire. The dress was drab and an echoing reminder of the simple routine of life and death. It upset her only in the slightest until she pulled open the door, returning her attention to catching up with the very strange doctor.
She tried to follow him, emerging in to a crowded corridor of patients and staff. He was slowly becoming lost to her, but she moved quickly, bumping in to others who made little to no reaction until she caught up. At least she thought she had. In his place, a nurse with the blackest of hair awaited her. "He's right in here," she assured, handing her a clear plastic glass filled with water. Kasper took it simply out of an unsure state and the nurse in turn pushed open the door for her.
Cautiously, Kasper moved into the dark room. The door closed with a loud bang behind her, and after looking back at it, she revealed her visitor upon turning back to look ahead of her. "Jeremy?" she questioned, rather astonished. "I don't understand."
"Please, sit down, Konnie," he invited with a gentle tone. His usual trademarked suit and fedora was exactly how she remembered him, but how she did remember him was from a different place entirely. Here, sitting at the large wooden table in the middle of a hospital was not exactly where she thought she would see him next.
Taking his invitation, Kasper approached the table, feeling rather skeptical of it all. She pulled out the metal chair, its legs scraping against the concrete floor, making an awful sound as it did so. Neither of them paid any attention to it, but she definitely felt it tremble her entire body like an earthquake.
Blinking a few times, she settled into the seat, her back propped lazily against the bars. "What are you doing here?" she questioned, a hint of suspicion in her voice. It was as if they were sitting across from one another under the light of a very familiar police station, some place she wished she never had to see again. Her anxieties were beginning to betray her.
Jeremy shook his head slightly, drawing up his hand to remove his fedora. "You just don't understand it sometimes, Konnie," he advised, "It's quite the shame though. You could have been so great."
Kasper narrowed her eyes at the statement. "What're you talking about?"
He smiled, a genuine look of empathy upon him. There was something behind the way he held himself. The careful tones of concern to her entirety. She could definitely not finger what it was he was trying to tell her, but she knew that he was trying to tell her something. It irked her and a flare of annoyance rubbed at her, causing her to sit up straight, leaning in a tad.
She seemed intrigued in a way but without saying anything, she simply watched him raise his other hand from below the table, placing a pack of cigarettes upon it. He slid it half way across the table and she hesitantly reached out to slide it the rest of the way toward her.
"I'm not here to tell you about me, Konnie," he began to explain, "I'm here to show you what's really going on."
"But I-" she was interrupted.
"We could have done great things together, you know," he interjected, standing up from his position. He walked around the table and held out a hand for her to follow. For the first time she did not hesitate, taking it and being led up. Her eyes were locked with his and he held her hand up, placing his free one around her waist. "Come with me for now."
He let go of her waist, leading her away from the table. As she turned her head, she let go of his hand and walked along the grass beside him. Jeremy seemed to have a proper poise around him, but it was not full of a superior aura, it was simply that of a cat-like grace. Something more natural and refined. She followed him as he guided her until he stopped a foot away from the large, lush oak tree.
He turned to face her, drawing up his left hand and brushing the fingertips along her cheek. "I'll remember you," he informed, leaning in to kiss the other cheek.
"Thank you," she spat out, not entirely sure why she said it. When he turned to part ways back the way they had came, she wanted to shout out, tell him not to go, but instead she let him go on his way, watching him for a moment as he casually took his steps across the field of tall grass.
Returning her attention to the tree, she spotted a familiar face sitting cross legged at the base. Reggie's eyes were closed, his arms drawn up to his chest as though holding something tightly against it. She took a few steps toward him, kneeling down before him. "You're going too fast, little mermaid," he said, his eyes still closed.
"Too fast for what?" she asked, leaning in a tad.
He opened his eyes slowly, unveiling the hourglass. "You just need to slow down, or time won't go on anymore," he answered as she reached out to touch the glass as the sand that was falling began to slow to a stop.
"Don't touch that!!" Wren's voice called out, causing Kasper to jump in her position. She looked up, finding Wren's naked body come around from behind the tree. She slapped Kasper, slapped her so hard across the cheek that she thought her teeth had fallen out. When she did, an overly projected laugh exerted from the other side of the tree.
Kasper's eyes had shut, but as she opened them, she looked to find the naked, smiling face of Charlie crouched down next to her. "Stupid bitch," he giggled, "You still haven't seen him yet."
Standing up quickly, Kasper had enough of the strange state of things. "Fuck all of you!" she shouted. Reggie shook his head, a disappointment displayed across his face. "It needs to be done now," he concluded.
"He didn't deserve you!" Wren screamed, grabbing one wrist as Charlie took the other. Kasper pulled back but the grip of their hands were like vice grips. She was going nowhere. Charlie continued to giggle as Wren back handed her across the other cheek.
The wind picked up, blowing the white fabric of Wren's dress into Kasper's face. "He's coming for you soon, so take your punishment," she said harshly.
A tight squeeze at her neck had Kasper gasping for air. Her wrists had been released, but Brady's grip was worse. "You fucked and you fucked!" he bellowed, tossing her to the ground by the neck with such force, the wind felt knocked right out of her. His camouflage uniform blended well with the sand all around them. She drew up her hands to protect her head but nothing came.
After a short moment, she removed her arms and everything was dark again. A small rumble from beneath her had her scrambling from her spot, shoving back with the heels of her boots. The ground began to part and from it, the mangled corpse of Caroline slowly crawled out.
"You should have went!" Wren scorned, smacking the back of Kasper's head as she came around then faded into the darkness. Caroline was still partially in the ground when she grabbed her ankles, nailing her to the ground indefinitely.
"Fuckin' bitch," Pippa stated, kicking Kasper right in the left shoulder as he walked past behind her.
Another kick at her back had her falling forward on herself. "You made him do it!" she heard, her eyes only faintly catching the fading figure of Leandro as he continued his way ahead.
"Hold her down," Cal said with care as he knelt down next to her, her body falling back. Every inch of her felt like it was on fire, but she could not see who had her.
Then there was Becka, sweet Becka with her innocent smile and needle in hand. She hovered over Kasper with a casual wave. "It will only take moments," she said, nodding to the good doctor as he looked up at her.
Faces she had seen but never really knew all look down at her, mixed between those who had scolded her. "It was all for this," one said.
"Worthless," another stated.
"Michesseoyeo" she couldn't even understand that one.
"Tisk, tisk."
"He's here!" Wren exclaimed, causing everyone to look up ahead, but Kasper could not see beyond them. They seemed to be in awe and more than anything she didn't want to know. She didn't want to see what they saw. Struggling hard, her tears started rolling, and she screamed harder than she ever screamed before.
Caroline's body crawled on top of her, hair falling into Kasper's face. Blood dripped form Caroline's mouth and though Kasper screamed, she did not scream for the sight of the corpse. Eventually, it crawled off her, moving along as though just passing. Kasper continued to scream. She already knew, no matter how bad she didn't want to.
And finally, there was Jamie, her only son. His bright smile instilling fear into the depths of her bones.
"I'm sorry mom," he said sympathetically, stabbing her right in the gut.
That scream echoed into reality, Kasper's eyes forcing open from the nightmare. She jerked upright with the end of her scream bouncing throughout her room. A cold sweat had overtaken her. Her entire body trembled and exerting a few heavy breaths, she listened to the following silence, a faint hum of electricity shattering her entirety.
She reached over, immediately swiping the lamp on her dresser. It landed with a crash, shattering the bulb and base of it from the force of her arm. The reaction was simple fear and adrenaline mixed within her blood. There had been so many nightmares before, but none of them were so strange before. It left her with an awkward, awful feeling in the pit of her stomach.