Disclaimers: The Vampire Diaries belong to LJS.
Notes: Written for the Obscure Characters LJS100 challenge. Point of view of the nurse at the mental hospital in Dark Reunion, p.218. I knew I could find an obscure character in VD if I looked hard enough. ;)
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Alice Montgomery hated the patient in room 208. Most of the time, he was quiet, sitting there, staring vacantly into space. Even so, he still gave her the creeps. There was always an undercurrent in that room, a whisper of cold air, an anticipation that something /awful/ might just happen. And sometimes... sometimes it did. Old Mr Sulez would rise up, shrieking like banshee; sometimes, it was just inarticulate howling. That was bad enough, trying to calm him through almost inhuman cries; he could keep it up for hours, only silencing when either his voice gave out, or he was medicated. But once in a while, he would treat them to a spectacle, screaming about vampires. Everyone knew the story; he believed that he'd been attacked by one. No one believed him, of course, but when he started up Alice couldn't help the fear that crawled up her neck, making her hackles rise. For those brief moments, she could almost believe in what he said. It seemed his madness was contagious.
The old nurse eyed Mr Sulez's granddaughter warily as she walked -- it was almost a march, really -- stiffly past. The Sulez girl wasn't a stranger, but Alice had never known any of the family to bring outsiders in. They were private, keeping this shame to themselves. Yet here the girl was, and trailing behind her were three young people, most likely her friends. Alice pursed her lips, hoping that this wasn't some teenage prank or dare, a demand on the girl to see the crazy grandfather they kept locked away.
Their presence also made her uneasy. Mr Sulez hadn't had a screaming fit in a while, and she couldn't help but worry that so many strange visitors would set him off. Scant minutes later, she swore loudly and that high-pitched scream that came from 208. Not him; a girl, probably that red head. But it would set him off, of that she had no doubt. Swearing some more, she ran for 208, almost colliding with the attendants on the way in. They knew the old man's behaviour well enough, too. And sure enough, there he was, looming out of his chair, screaming out the words 'vampire'. It was a horrifying spectacle; he almost looked like the nosferatu he was shouting about, arms outstretched, eyes wild.
"Please," she said, raising her voice across the din as she attempted to communicate with the visitors, "You'll have to leave now. I'm sorry, but you'll have to go." She grabbed onto Miss Sulez, pulling her from the room, and cursed as the girl fought against her.
"Granddaddy--!" the girl wailed, and then Mr Sulez's rantings were cut off as the heavy door slammed shut.
The teenagers stood there for a few moments, staring at each other in shock. Well, good. For a prank like that they /deserved/ to be shocked. Alice had little sympathy for them.
"I /said, you'll have to leave now," she ground out impatiently, annoyed that they appeared to be ignoring her.
"Tyler said there was only one kind of wood that could hurt him-" the blonde boy was saying.
"White ash wood," the other boy cut in.
That did it. Obviously these teenagers were playing some monumentally silly game, and she'd had it with them. They'd put the welfare of one of her patients at risk, and that was beyond acceptable.
"Out! Now!" she shouted at them, anger making her face flush red. "Get out, right now!"
They stared at her for a moment, before the brunette boy spoke, "Senora, we're so--"
"I don't want to hear it," she snapped. "Just get out of this hospital /right now/."
They left quietly, and Alice watched them go, trying to calm her breathing. Of all the nerve... "Liz," she said to the other nurse on the desk. "I'm going for a break,"
She headed for the nurses break room, shaking her head as she went. She was getting too old for this job.
Fin.