A Spirit Broken

By IsisRose

Chapter 1: Changes

Two nights have passed since the night of the séance. For that select few who would remember, not much has changed. Aside from Mary's picture and the earthquakes, everything is seemingly normal. But not all is right within the Kingdom. Unfortunately for them, some things remain the same.

It was a cloudy Saturday morning in late October. Carrie made her way through the parking lot of Kingdom Hospital when a voice called out behind her. "Carrie, wait up!"

She turned to see a pale girl with long brown hair, about twenty years old, jogging towards her. Carrie smiled at her. "Morning. What are you doing here? It's not even noon yet."

Catching up to her, the girl gave her an 'oh-very-funny' look. "Well, believe it or not, I'm here to work." Carrie snickered.

"Work? You?"

"Yes, me. At least now you can't complain about me loafing around all the time."

"Or borrowing money," Carrie chimed in, happy at the prospect that she may be getting some of her money back. The girl rolled her eyes as they entered the building. They passed the security office where Otto was asleep at the monitors. Blondie gave them a curious look as they pass by.

"But doing what? You're not a med student," Carrie said calling for an elevator.

"Working down in the medical library. And I'll be helping Mrs. Powell reorganize medical records." The elevator doors opened and they walked in.

"The medical library? You mean the police are done..." Carrie trailed off at the end, as if it was too horrible even to mention.

"Yeah, they finally decided that it was a suicide." She rolled her hazy blue eyes.

"And you don't buy it?" The elevator doors opened and they stepped into the ICU.

"Well, think about it, he was an old guy and, from what I could tell, definitely not suicidal. Besides, when Bobby told Kelly what he saw that night, he said Mr. Bates was handcuffed to the chair. Does that sound like a suicide to you?"

"Not really," Carrie reluctantly admitted as her stomach begins to churn.

They turned a corner and continued down another hallway. "The weird thing is that the police didn't find any handcuffs."

"Well, maybe Bobby was wrong..." Her friend's expression turned to doubt as they stopped at the nurses' station. Her face went pallid at the thought which occurred to her. "So, what? You think he was murdered?"

Her friend sighed. "I don't know. The whole situation just doesn't add up."

"Well, either way, are you going to be okay working down there?"

Her expression turned from one of intense thought to one of amusement. "Well, I don't know, Carrie. Will you be okay working up here?"

Carrie narrowed her eyes mockingly. "Oh, very funny." Her friend gave her a cheery smile.

"I thought so."

"Hey girls!" They turned to see Sonny and Elmer walking down the hallway towards them.

"Morning." Elmer didn't respond to the girls' greeting as he was currently occupied with hospital charts. "Elmer?" The other girl snapped her fingers in front of his face, snapping him out of his daze.

"Hmm...? I'm sorry, what?" He looked at her the way someone would look at a stranger they had met on the street as opposed to a friend.

"I said 'good morning'. Where were you? You looked about a million miles away."

Elmer looked at her in a peculiar sort of way. Almost like she was an alien or something else as equally bizarre. "Oookay... I'm sorry, who are you?"

She let out a perplexed sort of laugh, while Sonny and Carrie pondered the thought that Elmer had lost his mind. "Yeah..." She finally said after a long and awkward silence. "Okay, well, I'd better get to work before I get fired on my first day." She began to back away uncomfortably. "I'll see you later, Carr..." She walked off down the hallway, a little insulted at the fact that Elmer was acting so oddly towards her.

As she disappeared around a corner, Elmer realised that two of his friends were giving him unimpressed looks. Carrie swatted him upside the head. "What the hell was that?"

Elmer backed away in panic. "What? What did I do?"

"That was cold, man." Sonny shook his head.

"What? What was... Who was that?"

Carrie's mouth dropped. "You have got to be kidding me."

"That's Blake," Sonny said. Elmer looked at him in the same 'Close Encounters' way that he used to look at Blake. "Blake Winters? Carrie's housemate...?" Elmer shook his head slowly. Still not a clue. "You've known her for over a year now..." Sonny proded. Nothing. "You dated for, like, three weeks last November." Elmer's eyes are started to glaze over.

Carrie began to look concerned. "Elmer, did you hit your head?" She looked at the back of his head and began probing for lumps.

He pulled back, brushing Carrie's hand away from his scalp. "Stop it, I'm fine. I think..." His face twisted in confusion. "Uh, I gotta go do something." Before either of them could say another word, Elmer took off down the hall, in the same direction Blake had taken, leaving the other two to stand there, mystified.

"That boy just keeps getting weirder and weirder," Sonny concluded at last. Carrie nodded and they left to get back to work.