Who: Adrian & Toby Where: Mercy Hospital When: Tuesday 7/10
Adrian didn't like the fact that his sister had gone to the tunnel but it was like everything else that was crappy in this town; something he had no control over so there was no point in wallowing in it. It had already happened and he could only hope it wouldn't happen again. He'd managed to put it out of his mind while he and Mila watched a movie but driving to work kind of had his head all wrapped up around it again, so he was a little cranky when he showed up. Putting on a persona and becoming Nurse Adrian instead of Big Brother Adrian or Cursed Adrian was a nice change though and the morning flew by. It was around one o'clock that he started smelling smoke at random but that was kind of old news when it came to Mercy so he ignored it like always. It made more sense to him now, the place was haunted and maybe if Kane stuck around more, he'd see souls around or something. It was worth looking into, maybe, though Adrian had no idea what excuse to use to bring in a non-staff member.
His supervisor sent him to a late lunch and he was happy to see Toby already in the cafeteria. It meant he wouldn't have to eat alone and it'd be good to catch up. Once he'd gotten his food he went and sat down with him, waving at the nurse who was leaving the table. It looked like Toby hadn't been there for long so that meant they could hang out for a few and chat. "Hey man, what's up?" Adrian asked as he arranged his food, then started eating.
Toby had been on edge since he woke up that morning, but he couldn’t explain why. Maybe he’d slept wrong, had bad dreams that he couldn’t quite remember or at an angle that his brain didn’t quite tolerate. Or maybe he sensed something coming, but was too close to see it clearly. It was that last possibility that bothered him the most and he kept expecting AIR to pop up and steal him away. He knew it wasn’t likely, especially while he was working, there were far too many people to take notice, but that didn’t chase away the paranoia. Still, he tried his best to seem normal—normal for him, which he knew wasn’t quite the same as everyone else. He wasn’t sure if he was managing or not when Adrian joined him at lunch and he breathed a small sigh of relief. “Hey,” he said, his smile more tired than jovial. “I’m having a day. My brain’s all wonky. But otherwise good. It should be good. How about you?”
Adrian had worked with Toby for long enough to know that a case of 'wonky brain' wasn't going to affect his job so he didn't worry about that, he did give Toby a sympathetic little smile with a slightly concerned furrowing of the brows. "Anything in particular bothering you?" he asked and it was more a question of narrowing down than wondering what could be wrong. There were so many insane things happening in their lives and he still didn't know how Toby was truly coping with finding out about his boyfriend and his half-brother. The thought alone made Adrian reel a little and he couldn't imagine dealing with that kind of thing with Kane nor did he want to even try.
There were a thousand things that could be wrong, but none of them felt quite right. He did worry sometimes about the bizarre love triangle he was in, but when he directed his thoughts that way it didn’t seem to match the itch in his brain. Which was great because he didn’t want there to be anything wrong there. It was just complicated. There were lots of feelings to process and heads to try and stay out of. AIR was his biggest worry, but even that felt a bit wrong. None of his patients were on their deathbed, his still living family said they were fine, and all other friends he’d reached out to assured him they were good. Which left… he didn’t know. “I don’t know. It’s just this nagging feeling that something’s up and I’m missing it? If it was Friday, I’d say it’s the day, that the thirteenth is just bugging me, but it’s Tuesday, so maybe I’m just nutty,” he laughed a little and shrugged. “I’m fine. Really. Everyone seems to be good. Except the lime jello. It’s kinda… liquidy,” he said, poking at his with his spoon. “Should’ve gotten the chocolate pudding.”
"I have it on somewhat good authority that Friday the Thirteenth is not a very cursed day," Adrian said with a faint smile though he wasn't sure just how much Cecilia really knew. She seemed to know a lot though, so he opted to believe her because he had enough to worry about without thinking Kane was going out in the woods on a literally cursed day. "Here, you can have mine," he added and pushed his pudding over to Toby. It felt good, not being hungry all the time and he was only really eating because he knew he needed to. "Maybe Tuesday the tenth is bad luck, who the hell knows," he speculated before taking a bite of his food but the fact Toby was jittery was concerning, given his gift, so he didn't feel as flippant about it as he sounded.
“I’m not trying to con you out of your pudding,” Toby smiled, spooning himself a bite since Adrian had offered and it was there and chocolate made everything better. “I would be okay with no bad days. Not Tuesday the tenth or Friday the thirteenth. Though I’m glad to hear about the latter. It’d be nice to cross one thing off the list of things to worry about, even if it’s only one or two days a year.” He wondered who Adrian had gotten that information from and how they could possibly know, but he decided not to press it. This was one of those things that he wanted to believe and so he’d be better not to push too hard. “So what’s new with you? Any good gossip?” he asked, raising a brow. He had the feeling the answer was yes, but that Adrian wasn’t going to share with him. That was okay, so long as he filled the space with something. Toby was in need of a distraction.
"I'm getting my own place," Adrian said with a grin. "Might even get it next week if everything pans out.” He wasn't so sure that counted as actual hot gossip but it was the only news he really had. Good news anyway; he didn't want to go into the fact that Mila had gone to the tunnel or that he was feeling more guilty than usual about not coming out to her when she flat out asked him if he was dating someone. He still had the feeling that maybe she knew something, but that was stupid. She'd come right out and say it if she did. "Just getting the money thing out of the way and then I'm all good." His thoughts went to Kane, of course, and that it was probably lame that he'd specifically asked for a place on that side of the third floor and he gave Toby a somewhat sheepish smile, unsure if he picked up on that too or not.
“Where’re you moving? A house? No, an apartment. You gonna have a housewarming party? Can you still call it that if it’s not a house?” It was one of those times where Toby’s mouth was moving faster than his brain and it was only when he stopped to take a breath and a bite of food that Adrian’s expression registered. It wasn’t an invitation to prod his brain, but Toby could tell without a shadow of a doubt that Adrian’s thoughts had drifted elsewhere. “I think you’ve got something else going on,” he grinned, narrowing his eyes in thought. “A side hustle? What would that even be,” he snickered, purposefully forcing his brain down the wrong path. “You knit, don’t you? You knit scarves—blankets! And sell them on the internet. That’s it, isn’t it?”
Adrian laughed, appreciating the direction Toby took this in, especially since he didn't exactly approve of Kane, and for good reason. "I've got some intimate relations with some yarn that lives in the building, what can I say," he replied with a titter, eyes crinkling at Toby. "C'mon, you can finish the pudding. I'm not hungry." God that was a line he never got sick of saying and these days he could say it all the damn time. "I went looking for beds this weekend, got one picked out and ready to ship when I get the apartment, because yeah, it's just an apartment. Down in Castle View."
“Ahh, I see how it is,” Toby snickered, picking up on what wasn’t explicitly said. He didn’t approve of Kane, because he cared about his friend and worried about him getting hurt again, but he currently felt like the king of complicated relationships so he kept his mouth shut. Maybe it was a kink of Adrian’s; he wasn’t going to judge, he just wanted him to be careful. “Everyone’s in Castle View! Zach and Jai, you and your yarn dealer. I think Neil’s even there—the librarian. A friend of mine. You don’t know him, never mind. But it would make sense. Maybe I need to move apartments. Or get a giant house and just move everyone in. Like a dorm. We could have parties all the time! It’s a wonderfully horrible idea, isn’t it?”
"It is a wonderfully horrible idea, yes," Adrian said with a little laugh, trying to imagine it and coming away cringing. "As in it's wonderful how fucking horrible it is. I don't miss dorms or other people's parties. I'll pass, thanks." He gave Toby a warm grin because on some level it wasn't that bad of an idea if everyone got along. He just preferred his own space and some peace and quiet. Of course he wasn't picky these days and he hadn't actually lived anywhere alone for years but he was looking forward to it. "Funny though, everyone living in Castle Rock. I fully expect you to at least drop by and say hi when you visit your man." He wasn't going to ask how all that was going but it came to mind and it was hard not to think about how complicated Toby's situation was so his thoughts were probably loud already. He just never knew if Toby was 'listening' or not. "How's all that going anyway?"
“No worries, it’ll never happen,” Toby grinned. He knew they could never live all in one house. Not only was it impractical, but they would drive each other insane. He just liked the idea of having all his favorite people gathered in the same place, within arm’s reach. If he was a little farther into his relationship with Zach, he might have truly considered moving apartments, but he knew he was getting ahead of himself. If things didn’t work out, that would make things so much worse. “I’ll definitely drop by since I have more reason to be there, than you over in my direction,” he said. “Things are good. Normal-ish? I think? I’m still getting a feel for it, but it’s just peachy when I’m with Zach.” It was when he was away from him that he had his doubts. He didn’t even have to listen in to Adrian’s thoughts to know his situation was abnormal, but when was it not? Certainly not when he’d been a test subject as a child, nor when he found himself with abilities he could still barely control. Normal hadn’t been his goal in forever. It was a setting on a washing machine, not a state of his life.
Adrian had made a conscious decision not to judge because he knew very well he was in no position to do so. His own life was a mess - even if it had been cleaning up nicely lately - he was still keeping secrets and living a double life and he still didn't have the answers to why certain things happened the way they happened. The last time he'd gone into wendigo mode he'd mostly had control and he'd retained most of his memories so maybe that memory loss had been a simple stumbling block as he adjusted to the protective magic and found balance within. And then there was Kane and he knew it was fucked up but the longer it went on, the more he believed that what had happened between them at first had been a dark force of the town and not something telling about Kane. These days when he had nightmares about it, it was Cruz's face he saw instead.
"I know how that goes," he said with a little smile because he related to things being perfect while he was with Kane and maybe a little less so when they were apart. "I don't think normal is in the cards for us, but 'nice' could be. I think we both deserve a little nice."
“Right? It doesn’t have to be easy. I know myself well enough to know I’m a handful. But we deserve to have good things in our life,” Toby smiled. For him it was Zach, and friends like Adrian, and even all his old and new AIR friends. All of them came with complications, but so did he. Toby wouldn’t give them up for anything. Toby finished off Adrian’s pudding, then pushed the rest of his plate away. “So, where’ve they got you set up today? The ER’s kind of dead right now, but I’d love to see your pretty face on a daily basis.” It was good not to have a busy ER, but they always had to be on standby. There was no telling when the shit might hit the fan and they’d be overrun.
"I'm up in recovery, not being a proper nurse," Adrian replied. "But! Enjoy your peace while you can 'cause I'll be joining you this week. My papers just came through so now the top dogs can actually let me do my job without trouble." It was all coming up golden in his life these days and that kind of worried him, like he couldn't have this many good things happen without something horrible lurking at the end of it. It was a kind of pessimism he'd never felt before the Incident, but a lot had changed in six years. He wouldn't let himself wallow in it, he had to enjoy any good thing to the max before it slipped away. "I was gonna stop at the ER before I head back, let them know the good news and all. I'll walk with you."
“Hallelujah!” Toby grinned, throwing his hands up in the air. “So glad to have you back on the team, honey. I mean, recovery’s a pretty cush job, but it can be boring and we need people like you around when the world goes to hell.” Though they hadn’t worked together in years, Adrian had always been a good nurse and Toby doubted that had changed. If anything, he’d be even better, knowing a bit more about what they were dealing with when people got brought in. “Do you have a set schedule yet?” he asked as he picked up his plate and gathered his trash. “Days? Nights? Whatever they need you for? Personally, I’m kind of all over the place.”
'When the world goes to hell'. Those words might feel ominous to Adrian but the world was constantly going to hell, especially in a hospital. He'd worked horrible nights in an understaffed ER when it felt like the world was truly ending and he'd made it through that. He fondly remembered the times when those nights were the biggest trauma he'd ever faced. "I'm all over the place too," he admitted. "But I think they're going easy on me. I've mostly been getting day shifts lately, guess they want to keep an eye on me." He couldn't blame them. He might have his license back but there was still a lot of mystery surrounding his disappearance and no matter how desperate any hospital was for staff, there were definitely some limits in who they were hiring. "That actually reminds me, I need to go upstairs and sign some papers. Shit." He wrinkled his nose as he realized that meant his lunch was cut short. "Guess I won't be joining you. Unless you wanna ride with me." He was mostly joking, but Toby was done eating and they still had time to kill, maybe he was feeling restless.
“Give ‘em a bit and you’ll be old news,” Toby said with a wave of his hand. He’d heard the rumors surrounding Adrian, ranging from amusing to outlandish, but none came close to the truth. Toby knew he didn’t know everything, but he knew enough. He kept his mouth shut, as he’d promised, and knew the next catastrophe would draw the attention away from Adrian. It wasn’t really something to look forward to, all things considered, but it had been quiet for longer than usual. Just thinking about it brought his paranoia back to the forefront of his mind. “I’ll walk with you,” he offered. “I’ve still got a little bit of time. No reason to rush back.” If something was coming, he’d happily put it off just a little longer, though he knew he couldn’t wait forever. Hopefully he was wrong, that he was just a little too stuck in his head today, but he wouldn’t know until the day ended.
Oblivious to all that was bothering Toby, Adrian was in fairly good spirits as they headed upstairs and why wouldn't he be? Everything was working out in a good way. He could pay Caius, he was getting his own place and he was getting his job back fully. The madness of Point Pleasant was far from his mind at the moment which was probably a good thing since everyone needed a break from that every so often. He signed his papers, then headed for the stairs with Toby. They were half way there when a nurse he worked with came walking from the opposite direction with a noisy metal cart full of provisions. She stopped a few feet in front of them and raised her eyebrows curiously. "You're going to the ER?" she asked, then let the cart slide those few feets until Adrian caught it. "Thank you," she said and turned on her heel, laughing when Adrian shouted "You're welcome," after her.
Adrian rolled his eyes and shook his head, then glanced at Toby. "Guess we're taking the elevator." He hardly ever did if he wasn't transporting a patient, not these days at least when he barely got tired anymore.
“A little lazy won’t hurt,” Toby said with a shrug, heading to the elevator and hitting the call button. Working in the ER meant that he was pretty much on his feet all day, every day, so he’d take breaks when he could. As he waited for the elevator, his eyes ran over the items on the cart and his lips turned down. “Dammit,” he muttered. “I think we might be stuck distributing these.” Not his idea of a good time. He’d rather be working with patients. “Maybe we’ll be lucky and someone’s waiting to pick it up.” The elevator dinged and Toby helped pull it in, ignoring the inkling that luck wasn’t on his side today. That could mean anything, from his car failing to start to him stubbing his toe. Toby opted to think it was that sort of thing he needed to look out for, though as the doors to the elevator slowly slid shut, he had the sinking feeling that he was wrong.
Adrian just laughed at the idea that they might be lucky - or that someone might be waiting for them - because that just rarely happened in a hospital. Thankfully most of this stuff seemed to be going straight to the supply room and maybe they could pawn it off on someone else once they got downstairs. He leaned against the metal rail as the elevator started moving, eyeing the digital numbers. The elevator stopped on the next second floor but nobody was there and then the doors slid closed once again and Adrian pushed himself away from the wall and crouched down to peek at what else was on the cart since they were almost there. The elevator stopped, but the door didn't slide open and it was way too soon for them to actually have reached the ground floor. Adrian finally got that same sinking feeling that Toby had been battling all day, though his feeling was more annoyance and worry they'd be stuck in the elevator for a while. This wasn't the first time that had happened to him and the last time had only been for a few minutes, but still. The thought of possibly having to climb out while the elevator was stuck between floors made him think of horrible things like bodies getting cut in half so he really would rather not.
"Fuck," he murmured, glancing back up at the digital display where there was no number showing now. "This is giving me a major deja vu," he sighed and for now it was better to treat this like a nuisance than an actual problem.
When the doors failed to open, Toby’s stomach dropped and his body filled with dread. This wasn’t the sort of thing he’d been thinking of, but now that it had happened he was sure this was it. Or the start of it. He wasn’t claustrophobic, but being stuck in an elevator for any length of time brought forth every bad thing that could possibly happen in a hanging metal box. The only thing to be thankful for was that it was still—not going up, and not fucking falling. He swallowed, trying to tame his rapidly growing anxiety. “This happen to you before?” he asked, somewhat curious. Maybe that was the problem, that he’d never been stuck in an elevator before, so he thought of it as a crisis. Maybe it was just an everyday thing that people had to deal with. It could restart any second. “I am really not in the mood for the hospital to fuck with us.”
"Yeah," Adrian said as he jiggled the first floor button a few times. "This exact elevator." He'd heard scary stories about this elevator too, but he kind of hoped they were an exaggeration or flat out bullshit. There were so many stories about Point Pleasant and he'd never really believed any of them. These days he was no longer sure but he hoped only a small portion was actual fact. When the button didn't do anything he pressed the call button, frowning when they got no dial tone. He might not have been aware of Toby's worries before they got on the elevator, but now his worries radiated off him so Adrian didn't want to say anything to make him worry more. "Last time it was like... Two minutes tops. Like a hiccup - a small disgruntled ghost in the system." He gave him a small, reassuring smile, then pressed the call button again, holding it in this time. At least they were very close to the ground so they didn't have to worry about falling to their deaths or anything. Still, it was at best frustrating to be stuck in an elevator.
“That’s—that’s fine,” Toby said, attempting to convince himself. “Two minutes of hanging out, in here, with you, is fine. That’s nothing. I’m sure someone’ll come get us once they get the call.” All Adrian had to do was push the little red call button and it would alert someone, somewhere. Now that he thought about it, that in itself didn’t seem super reassuring. Who was even monitoring that shit around here? Toby watched as Adrian pushed the button the second time and took a deep breath when he saw how unresponsive it was. Try as he might to stop it, he was becoming jittery. “Fuck,” he muttered, then pulled out his phone, thinking he should go ahead and call someone. Reception was always bad in the elevator, but he had to try. “Calling McDaniel, just in case this takes longer than a couple minutes.” He said as the phone tried to connect. Once it began to ring, Toby put it on speaker and it answered on the last right.
“Hey, what’s up?” McDaniel asked.
Toby breathed a small sigh of relief. “Hey, we’re stuck in the elevator. Can you get someone to come help us?”
”Toby? You there, man?”
What little comfort Toby had from his co-worker answering the phone was lost in an instant. “We’re stuck in the elevator! We’re stuck. in. the. elevator!”
”Hello? If you’re there, I can’t hear you. Hello?”
“We’re STUCK!” Toby all but shouted before the line went dead. “Fuck!” he snapped, immediately trying to call him back, though this time the line wouldn’t connect. Whatever reception he’d had was now gone completely.
Adrian didn't like this but he was nowhere near as frantic as Toby was getting, maybe because he'd been here before and it was only a matter of time before someone noticed the elevator wasn't moving."Hey, Toby," he said as casually as he could muster as he tried to think of something absolutely absurd to ask him. Sometimes it helped when people were panicking, saying something so dumb that it stopped them in their tracks and reset their pattern of thinking. "Have you ever thought about how-" he stopped short because now it was time to panic. Smoke started wafting in from somewhere, he couldn't really see from where, just that it was coming from the floor and rising to the ceiling. He moved away from the back where it was the thickest and pressed against the door before turning around to bang on it. "Fuck. Fuck! Hello! We're stuck in here!"
Toby knew he was probably being a bit of a drama queen, escalating as quickly as he had, but it all boiled down to the premonition he’d had and he could only see it getting worse. What was worse than being trapped in a suspended metal box? Smoke and, potentially, fire! Of all the things for him to add on to the situation, that hadn’t even been on his radar. He made an attempt at sending a text, but when it didn’t go through he abandoned that avenue to help bang on the door. “Help!” he yelled, fist thumping against the door in an attempt to make noise. “We’re stuck!! Somebody help!” Though he’d seen Adrian push the call button once, Toby pushed it a few more times, hitting the alarm button as well. Then, just in case it helped, he hit the button for the floor above them and below them. He didn’t want to go down to the basement, especially if that’s where the smoke was coming from, but if it got the doors open then he’d deal with what was on the other side.
This time the elevator jolted and then it started moving in a far more shaky way than Adrian was comfortable with. It also didn't just move those few inches it needed for the first floor, it kept going down and Adrian could feel that all too familiar clutch of anxiety in his chest. He didn't want to go to the basement either, especially not like this. He had the wherewithal to notice that they were breathing just fine despite the smoke slowly filling up the elevator and he couldn't smell it but he didn't really have time to point this out to Toby before the elevator came to an abrupt stop. The doors opened but only a little, leaving only a small crack that neither of them was going to fit through. "Toby," Adrian said as calmly as he could muster, but his voice was still shaking. "It's... it's not real." And if it was, would his wendigo leap in for the rescue? He couldn't feel it, had no idea how to summon it and he was already afraid so that was obviously not helping.
“Oh shit! Oh shit!” Toby gasped as the elevator began to move. He grabbed hold of the side rails, despite knowing they would do little if the elevator chose to fall. It might not be as treacherous to fall from one story as it would be two or three, but Toby really didn’t want to find out. As the elevator screeched to a halt, Toby rushed to the doors, trying to strong arm them open with no luck. He didn’t dare try to stick his arm through the crack, sure that the elevator would drop any second, slicing it off. “What?” he asked, peering through the crack, trying to see what was on the other side. It was almost pitch black, leading him to believe they were somewhere between floors, but he could be wrong. “What do you mean, it’s not real?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized there was no heat with the smoke, that the fire they were apparently above wasn’t even close to boring them. It didn’t make any sense, but it calmed him slightly. For some reason he’d rather fall to his death than be burned alive, so one less peril was a relief.
Adrian had heard this story when he first started working at Mercy and he'd brushed it off as a tale to scare the newbie. But now... God he hoped this story wasn't all the way true. He couldn't even remember the details of it here in the thick of it, just that it had been creepy. "It's the fucking anniversary," he whispered and even if he knew it wasn't real, even if he was pretty sure they were going to walk away from this unscathed except possibly for wet pants and shaky knees - that didn't make him feel any better. Because what if this time it wasn't just a spooky thing they could scare the interns with in the future? What if this time... He couldn't even fully articulate his thoughts to himself, they were just a chaos of fear and a desperate attempt at trying to remember what they were dealing with while all his instincts were telling him to somehow rip that door open and get the hell out. The smoke was so thick near the ceiling he could barely see now and he fumbled around for Toby, clutching his arm as he crouched down instantly wishing he had stayed up. In the doorway right below where Toby was trying to pry the door open a face appeared. It was a man, badly burnt and looking terrified. He was clawing at the door and despite knowing it wasn't real, Adrian was torn between terror and the weird urge to help him. "Get us out!" the man gurgled. "For the love of God, get us out!"
Toby generally thought of himself as an intelligent person, but everything Adrian was saying was taking too long to register in his head. “The anniversary?” he parroted back, the pause in his hysterics providing silence just long enough to hear the creature on the other side of the door speak. Toby looked down just in time to see a charred hand reach through the crack and grab ahold of his scrubs, and that’s when he lost it. “Fuck! Fuck! Fucking let go!” he screamed as he tried to pull away. He’d never done well with burn victims; he couldn’t help but think of the AIR scientists he’d let burn, how they’d suffered one of the most painful deaths imaginable for what they’d done. They deserved it, he still believed that, but he felt guilty for it at the same time. It didn’t matter that he didn’t start the fire—he’d done nothing to stop Shane, and nothing to save them. This creature, ghost, whatever he was, wasn’t from AIR, but he conjured up the worst of Toby’s memories mixed with a nightmare. Toby couldn’t help him, he was already dead, burned in a fire that happened when he was only five.
Adrian's resolve to stay calm because this wasn't real was dissolving pretty fast. It wasn't like they were in a fun house with paid actors, this was really happening and he had no idea if they were in danger. When the crispy black hand grabbed onto Toby, Adrian freaked out too and ended up winding his arms around Toby to help pull him back from what he perceived was something pulling him away. It didn't make much sense, that gap wasn't even logically big enough for the ghost's arm so there was no way he could pull Toby through it. Adrian had seen weirder things happen though and his brain wasn't currently working on the logic frequency. The things Toby had told him about the fire at AIR were far from his mind at the moment, like most thoughts. He just wanted to get out of there and on some level he was wondering why he wasn't changing. Was he not afraid enough already? Would it take more death for the wendigo to surface? He wished it would show up now, he was so ill equipped to deal with this shit but the wendigo part of him didn't give a shit, it'd probably just laugh in the face of this horror. "I'm sorry," he found himself saying, not because he had anything to be sorry for but because he was on some level hoping empathy would somehow dispel this all better than outright terror. "You didn't deserve this."
Toby was too busy having a meltdown to remember that Adrian wasn’t completely human, and that was probably a good thing. He didn’t know enough about Adrian’s other side, how much control he had or if Adrian was even still there once it took over, and it would have freaked him out to know that there was a possibility that it might show up. Right now there was a monster outside the elevator and that was all he could handle. A monster inside as well would be two shades too much. Once Adrian helped pull him free of the burning man’s grip, he backed his way into the back corner, banging against the cart in the process, just needing to get away. He crouched on the floor, eyes locked on the man as Adrian’s words took hold in his brain. “I’m sorry,” he whimpered over and over, his arms wrapping around his knees as he shook in terror. They were going to die in there, he was sure of it, as he could not bring himself to fight against the elevator doors if that was what was waiting on the other side.
Adrian crouched down next to him, half shielding him from the apparition as he prayed for the wendigo to take hold of him just in case he needed to fight or pull them out of there somehow. It wasn't fair that his body was capable of so many amazing things he had no access to, abilities that were simply locked to him as a human being. He supposed it was the same with adrenaline rushes, they tended to unlock superhuman strength in people too. He had none of that now, just fear and worries for Toby who was not handling this well at all. Maybe Toby's fear kept Adrian in check because he felt like he had to keep his senses sharp and not succumb to panic.
The ghost outside the elevator groaned something incoherent and then, just like that, everything cleared. The smoke and the ghost disappeared in a split second and the only thing that remained was the gap in the door. Even if the smoke hadn't been real, Adrian felt like he was breathing proper air for the first time in too long and he gasped, staring at the door in case something else showed up. Something worse. Nothing did. The door closed and the elevator jolted before moving again, this time up to the next floor.
When it opened to a hallway that was boring in a comforting way, Adrian looked at Toby for the first time, half expecting him to bolt out of there like a frightened hare. When he didn't move, Adrian wrapped his arm around him and pulled him up. He didn't want to stay in the elevator for longer than he had to and when he saw the first signs of the doors starting to close, he hit the button to keep them open. "C'mon, let's get out of here," he said urgently and he had a feeling he was going to have to get Toby to the bathrooms or something to try to calm him down before they met anyone they worked with.
Toby held his breath when the elevator began to move, certain that it was going to drop them into the depths of hell where he’d get to experience burning to death first hand. When it opened to the crisp, clean hospital hallway, the difference was so jolting that his brain couldn’t immediately process it. He let Adrian help him up, glaring at the open doorway as if it might be a trip, though his brain knew that this, more than anything that had transpired in the last ten minutes, was real. Only when the doors began to close did Toby begin to move with any urgency, hurrying to the other side, on safe ground, before he lost his chance. His hands were still shaking and his heart was still pounding, despite being safe once more. He swore he could still smell the man’s burning flesh with each gasping breath. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” Toby muttered, nausea rolling through him as he let Adrian guide him away.
Adrian had clearly made the right call in aiming for the bathroom and he sped up a little when Toby spoke, wanting to spare him the pain of throwing up in the hallway. He steered him past some people that he barely looked at and pushed open the doors to the restrooms, ushering Toby to the nearest open stall. "We're okay," he said, even if his heart was pounding so hard he could feel his pulse in his ears. "We're okay now. Guess it was just our turn to see it." He hadn't even been sure there was something to see and that it hadn't just all been scary ghost tales to scare the new staff with. Now he knew. It was hard to imagine ever taking the elevator again but so many of the others did, even if they claimed they'd seen things. Then again he'd also heard stories that happened in the rooms or the halls, so he supposed the haunting of Mercy would bother them wherever it damn well pleased.
Toby was glad Adrian was there to steer him, otherwise he might not have made it to a bathroom. As it was, he ran the last few steps before vomiting into the toilet, instantly regretting both the green jello and the chocolate pudding at lunch. He knew what they’d seen hadn’t truly been real, but did that even matter when he could smell the burning flesh? When it could reach out and latch onto him with hands too burnt to hold? He’d never seen a ghost, but he’d always thought of them as transparent spirits that appeared at night, often with a sinister glow. This was nothing like that, yet he was almost sure that’s what they’d seen—a ghost, haunting Mercy hospital. He’d heard stories, but they didn’t hold a candle to the real thing. “It was so real,” Toby muttered when he could retch no more. “I could feel the heat. Smell… oh God, the smell.” He sat back, leaning against the side of the bathroom stall as he wiped his hand across his mouth. “I didn’t need that detail, you know?”
Adrian hadn't been able to smell anything but he wasn't about to doubt Toby's experience, it had absolutely hit him worse and that much was obvious, if he'd picked up on more than Adrian did then that made even more sense. "It's over," he said soothingly, lingering in the doorway and giving Toby a sympathetic look. "I've heard of this happening, I'm just not sure I believed it before..." It was a scary story, something that made his heart beat a little faster when he was working at night. But here they were, having just seen it in the middle of the day, real as anything. "I'm sorry, you wouldn't even have been in there if not for me." He sounded so calm, far calmer than he really felt, but he was also just so glad it was over and that they were out.
“I’d heard things, but I wasn’t prepared for that,” Toby said softly. Most of what he’d heard had been tame—doors locking and lights flickering with the occasional scream and scent of smoke. If today really was the anniversary, that could be why it was so much worse, but Toby also knew how random this damn town could be. “You can’t take the blame for an elevator attacking us,” he said, looking up at Adrian with a small smile. “I’d have gotten on one sometime today. I’m just glad I wasn’t alone, or with a patient.” Though he didn’t feel great now, he would have felt truly awful for freaking out like that in front of a patient. He’d seen a lot of shit working in the ER, but none of that stuck terror in him the way the burning man had, making him pretty much useless.
Toby sounded so subdued and even if he was calmer now, he looked pale and almost sickly with fear. It made Adrian want to crouch down and hug him but he wasn't so sure that was welcome when he might still feel nauseated. Adrian knew that just six years ago, that would probably have been his reaction too. Neither he nor Toby had been sheltered, but Adrian had just seen so many horrific things by now that the ghost they'd just seen had mostly looked sad to him, especially in hindsight. It felt a little surreal to look at a ghost like that and think, 'I've seen worse' but that was apparently his reality now. He was still surprised that he hadn't Switched, he had certainly felt afraid enough. Maybe if the ghost had grabbed him instead of Toby it might have driven it home... Probably just as well, he was at work and he needed to care about strangers here. The wendigo did not give a shit about anything. "Take your time," he said gently. "I'm gonna go splash some cold water on my face but I'm only a few feet away, okay?"
Toby nodded, his eyes closing as he leaned back against the wall of the stall. Almost as soon as his eyes shut, he opened them again, the burning man’s terrified face appearing in his mind’s eye. Though he knew all the things he should do to bring himself down from such an episode, it was much harder to accomplish when he still didn’t feel safe. His eyes ticked to Adrian, watching him instead. He’d maintained a sense of cool, even when he was panicking, and Toby envied him that. Times like these he was aware of how much of a train wreck he really was. “I forgot they burned,” he said softly, his hands still shaking as he ran them through his hair. “I think I could have handled just about anything else. Or maybe not. It’s not the kind of thing I want to find out.” He remembered being tortured—electrocuted, starved, waterboarded, and beaten. All those things scared him, but he didn’t really fear them happening again. Ghosts from the past tearing him limb from limb? That suddenly felt very real.
For a second Adrian thought Toby meant the people at Mercy and it seemed like a strange thing to say because of course they had burned. Some probably died of smoke poisoning first and he hoped that had happened to most of them because burning alive sounded horrific. There was something in Toby's voice though that made him realize he meant something else and it took a moment before he remembered what Toby had told him about AIR. Someone had started a fire with his mind and people had died there. Oh. No wonder Toby had completely freaked out, this was probably bringing back all sorts of PTSD for him. Adrian dried his face with some paper towels and tossed them in the bin before returning to Toby, crouching down in the doorway. "Someone else started that fire, right?" he said quietly, suspecting guilt was playing some part in Toby's emotions at the moment. "I don't remember you being a pyro." He offered him a faint smile and he wished it was within his power to send him home.
Toby had been speaking of the people who’d died at Mercy, though it was more that he’d never made the connection before. He’d heard about the fire, and the deaths, but for some reason it still caught him off guard, his brain dredging up different ghosts entirely. He’d never actually seen anyone when they’d been escaping AIR, but he’d been able to hear them at times, screaming as the flames engulfed them. “I didn’t start it, but I didn’t try to stop it either,” Toby said quietly, his eyes caught on something distant, not truly there. “I could have done something, but… We were kids, you know? Our pyro didn’t scare me near as much as the scientists did.” Even now, fire wasn’t the thing to scare him, just the after effects, the damage it could do to a person. It seemed like one of the absolutely worst ways to go. “It was so real.” he said, finally looking back at Adrian. “I thought it was going to pull me in with it, even though I couldn’t possibly fit.”
Adrian absolutely understood that and it wasn't weird at all. They shouldn't have seen a ghost, or smoke or be in a functioning elevator that suddenly started acting up like that; the impossible was possible, for better or worse. "I don't think it wanted to hurt us," he said. "I think it was just a sad echo from a tragedy that happened a long time ago. It's happened before, almost the exact same way from what I hear." He felt like it was important to let Toby know this had nothing to do with him personally, that this wasn't some vengeful spirit somehow connected to AIR. It was just Mercy and its sad history making itself known over and over again. "Do you want me to get you some water?" he asked, patting Toby's shoulder gently.
“That’s a little worrisome, now that I think about it. Once is a fluke, but twice feels like a pattern,” Toby said with a small cringe. At least it wasn’t personal. It had been a Mercy ghost, not an AIR ghost, even if Toby hadn’t been able to separate the two in the moment. Now that he thought about it, he could see the differences between the two, the eyes sad and scared and not set on some form of revenge. It helped settle the fear that had bubbled up inside him, but Toby was sure he’d remain rattled the rest of the day. “I’m okay,” he sighed, pulling himself to his feet. “I kinda wish I had a toothbrush, but I’ll get a soda. Now I’m thinking stocking a supply closet might be a good idea. Something mindless for a bit.” He took another deep breath. “You okay?” He hadn’t meant to ignore Adrian on that front; he’d just been too lost in his head to deal with anyone else.
Adrian nodded and gave him a wan smile. He didn't really want to talk about how he'd seen worse or how numb he was getting towards all the supernatural shit this town threw at them. He also knew better than to mention something about haunted supply closets. Even saying they probably weren't haunted would put ideas in Toby's head and that was the last thing he needed. "He just looked so sad," he said quietly. "It was more... Sad than scary. All those people who died here." There were more exits now, more security against fires, but he could too easily imagine being trapped inside the basement, terrified as the fires raged all around him. It was hard to imagine someone doing that to other people on purpose, but he knew what the occasion had been with AIR and they had all been children back then. "Do I know your pyro?" he asked, rather than dwell on those horrors.
“Lots of people die here,” Toby said quietly. It was a hospital, and it was Point Pleasant. Based on the number of gruesome deaths Toby had seen over the years, this one instance shouldn’t have phased him. He’d seen far worse, sometimes for reasons that couldn’t be explained. This one just hit all the right buttons for him, making an instance that should have been mildly frightening outright terrifying. Walking over to the sinks, Toby splashed a bit of water on his face, then patted it dry. “Yeah, I think you’ve met him,” he said, pretty sure that Adrian had at least met Shane at his birthday party, though he had no idea how long they’d talked. “He’s a good guy, but he’s fucked up. I think we all are. Some worse than others.”
Adrian stood up when Toby did, patting his back lightly as he stepped out of his way. "I'd be worried if you weren't a little fucked up after a thing like that," he told him and he couldn't really judge since he was fucked up too. He'd killed a man, not as a frightened child but as a raging adult, how could he really pass judgment on a group of kids who'd been tortured and lashed out? "I think I'd have freaked out more if I'd been alone," he added and he had a feeling that he'd stayed calmer than otherwise, simply because Toby was terrified. Like there was only so much fear to go around and Toby had absorbed a good chunk of it. He hesitated before speaking again, still feeling like it was none of his business but now he was trying to picture all of Toby's friends as traumatized fire starters. "So who is he?"
Sometimes Toby felt like he should be past it all, that he shouldn’t be impacted daily by something that happened so long ago. But what happened at AIR had changed his life; it had changed how his mind worked, giving him abilities that might not have ever come about otherwise. That affected every second of every day, making his past inescapable. He didn’t think of AIR every time he used his powers, but he never forgot it. He knew the others hadn’t either. “Shane,” he said after a moment. “The club manager from New York. You’d remember him. He’s charismatic and hot as fuck.” Toby wasn’t interested, but he had eyes and he knew Adrian did too. Shane was anything but forgettable.
That somehow wasn't surprising. Adrian remembered Shane and his very hot boyfriend Reza. It was probably partially their fault that he'd kissed Kane in the first place because the closet had felt very smothering that night and at some point he'd been drunk and kind of wishing these two men would just take him home with them. Shane had a powerful presence, the fact he could set things on fire with his mind wasn't terribly surprising but it sure put Toby's birthday party in a whole new light. "Is his boyfriend something too?" he asked and he had to wonder if Reza knew about Shane. They'd both been so nice to him that night, getting him an uber and everything. He felt like he'd been a bit of a wreck emotionally but Toby and all of his friends had made him feel so welcome.
“Reza’s a witch,” Toby said with a little twist of his lips. “I get the impression there’s a lot of them around here, but he’s the only one I know for sure. I like him. He balances Shane out.” He knew their history and hadn’t gone running, which earned him a lot of points in Toby’s book. He’d also stuck by Shane’s side when things got really shitty, when he had every right to walk. Toby might not know him very well, but he trusted and respected him. “This probably won’t surprise you, but most of my friends have something going on. I kind of think they must to put up with me.” Or it could just be that they were all living in Point Pleasant, dealing with some kind of bullshit at some point in their lives. Nobody got away unscathed.
"You know, I wish I could say you probably have some normal friends but I wouldn't know," Adrian said. "At least I'm not one of them. I used to be though, if that counts for anything. Back when we first got to know each other a little." Oh he'd been so normal and so clueless, he missed it but he also didn't want to go back to not knowing anything. It felt so dangerous to be in the dark about the realities of the world. "You okay to get out of here? I'll get the cart out of the elevator and walk you to the supply closet if you want." He'd probably get an earful for taking so long but he could handle it, he was doing what he did best and that was to take care of people.
“Addie and Silas are normal,” Toby said thoughtfully. “I mean, not really, but they’re non-psychic, non-witchy humans. They’re just quirky and run a funeral home. So, about as weird as possible by normal standards.” He’d found a smile by the time he stopped talking, quietly amused with his little circle of friends. He kind of liked it that way, if he was honest. It made him feel not so alone with his abilities. Toby took a deep breath, fortifying himself. “Yeah, I’m ready,” he said, nodding to himself, as if that would help convince him. “Chances of it happening again are slim, right? Just gotta avoid the elevator.”
Considering their experience lined up with the worst story Adrian had heard, he supposed they were safe for now. Anything else people had talked about was peanuts in comparison. "Definitely taking the stairs," he agreed and it was reassuring to see Toby smile again. He pulled him into a hug, figuring that it might help a little; Toby was a very physical person and a hug was good for mental health for anyone who liked touch. "We're okay," he said and maybe he too needed to hear that. "You're okay. We've had our share of ghosts now." There probably wasn't anyone keeping count and making sure things were balanced but he still thought the odds were in their favor.
“We’re okay,” Toby said in agreement, working to get those words burnt into his brain. He hadn’t been physically hurt, just scared, his mind doing most of the damage. The rest of the day might be rough, but he imagined the worst was behind him. He just had to focus on moving forward, ignoring the ghosts of the past and those in the elevator. It should be simple enough. Work typically kept him busy, the need of others typically taking priority when he wasn’t in actual danger himself. That’s where he needed to focus and hopefully the distraction would be enough that by the time it ended, he wouldn’t need it anymore.