The Intern in the Institution: Prologue
Many of us crucify ourselves between two
thieves: regret for the past and fear for the future.
"Five, four, three, two, one! Ready or not, here I come!" the young boy said, running towards the unknown building next door with a flashlight. Seeing a rustling in the bushes surrounding it, he screamed out, "Hey, no fair! We said no hiding near the building!"
"What are you talking about?" another voice called out, coming from the tree in the boys' backyard. "Are you going to the other side of the fence? Mom said we can't go over there! Remember: 'it's a nuthouse'."
"You should be one to talk, you're the one hiding right next to it. Wait 'til I tell Mom, she's gonna be so mad!" the first boy said, edging towards the bushes, pulling them away in one sweep. "Gotcha!"
A scream shot out as he dropped his flashlight and ran towards the fence.
"Johnny, go get mom! Go get mom!"
"What?" the other boy said, walking over to the bush, finding an eroded skeleton, it's remaining flesh being ridden of by a raccoon.
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"So what have we got?" Agent Booth said, walking into one of the large rooms of the Jeffersonian. Brennan and Hodgins were hovering over the skeleton, removing whatever flesh was left over. "Oh, god, I told you not to call me until all the gooey parts were gone..."
"What gooey parts?" Doctor Temperance Brennan asked, examining what was left of the skeleton's right hand. "No part of the human body is called 'gooey'. Slimy, maybe, but not gooey."
"Yeah, whatever. But in all serious, what have we got? My boss is getting on my ass for not solving enough cases lately, and I need to impress."
"Male. No sign of exact cause of death yet. More like a smorgasbord of murder tactics," Hodgins said. "But I can tell you someone smashed this guy's teeth in and made sure he didn't leave any evidence. Cut off his finger tips, so no ID from that. Not that a decomposing body would have enough flesh on it to make a proper ID."
"According to decomp, he died approximately three months ago..." Brennan said. "But he was found next to a heating duct, so he could have died as recently as two, three days ago."
"Wait. Heating duct," Booth said, his face lighting up. "You mean—This is the McKinley Mental Institute guy?"
"You seem a little too excited about that," Hodgins joked.
"No, no, this is the body that Parker's friend Johnny and his brother Hunter found. It's all Parker's been talking about."
"Are the police talking to the boys who found the body? Why were they going to a mental hospital? Is Parker friends with sociopathic second graders?" Hodgins said, his face dead serious.
"No..." Booth said, annoyed, "No! Johnny and Hunter were playing hide and go seek. They live next door."
"I can't imagine why anyone would want to live next door to a mental hospital," Bones said, her eyes focused on the neck of the victim. "And why their parents wouldn't set up a more reliable fence to keep them in."
"And the psychos in," Hodgins said.
"Well you should be one to talk," Booth said, grabbing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from his briefcase and taking a bite. "You're the one that was living with one for years."
"You know what, screw you!" Hodgins said, standing up straight and preparing to leave. "I told you not to talk about that."
"Hodgins, wait."
"What?" Hodgins said, annoyed until he saw what Dr. Brennan was holding in between her small set of tweezers. "A tooth. A canine too."
"It came from a dog?" Booth said, still chowing down on his sandwich, his chewing obviously irritating Hodgins.
"No, you idiot," Hodgins retorted.
"I was asking Bones, but thanks," Booth said, sarcastically.
"No, this is definitely human. Clean too," she said, holding it to the light.
"So someone cleaned the guy's tooth and then shoved it back into his jaw?" Booth asked, with a shiver.
"It might be a his signature..." Hodgins said, taking the tooth from Brennan. "It looks well-preserved...we might be able to get DNA from the pulp inside the tooth and find out who this guy is."
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Booth, Bones, Hodgins, Angela, Cam, Sweets and even Wendell gathered 'round to see the results of the DNA test. Word had gotten around that he had been found next to a mental hospital and everyone wanted to see if it was a patient...or an employee.
Sweets walked over to Hodgins and tapped him on the shoulder.
"I heard you snapped at Booth today," Sweets said, in his usual know-it-all tone.
"I didn't snap at him, I merely told him to step off," Hodgins said, nonchalantly.
"I know Zack is still a sensitive topic for you, and I know that this case is bringing up all the pain again, but you're projecting."
"Okay, Sweets? Just cram it. I was just annoyed. Not everything needs to be psycho-analyzed," Hodgins said. But the truth was, he knew he wasn't over the Zach ordeal a year and a half earlier. It felt like just yesterday to him, and he couldn't get around it. Not that he'd tell the suit pants wearing know-it-all, though.
"And the victim is..." Cam said, looking at the screen as it was loading, and tapping her legs like a drumroll. Then the file came up on the screen. She still had to click on it to see the information, but she took the opportunity to milk the situation and say, "Well, at least we know he's in the system. He's either been convicted of a crime, or he's served in the—"
"Get on with it already!" Wendell called out, his hands cupped around his mouth like a megaphone.
She clicked the picture and...silence.
It was of their beloved ex-squint: Zackary Addy.
I suck, I know. xD Don't worry, this story has much more depth to it than what you see on the surface, I promise. Oh, and the quote at the beginning belongs to Fulton Oursler, and I will be including quotes/lyrics at the beginning of each chapter to foreshadow parts of the story. :D Review for more! 3
P.S: I don't own Bones. If I did, I'd be driving around in a new Mercedes, not a leased Hyundai.