November 15th 2015, 10:52 AM;
James and Sirius
"How could this happen?" James moaned, dragging down the flesh of his cheeks with both palms. "We're only a week off the deadline!"
Sirius felt himself becoming nauseous the third time he furiously clicked through the email.
Sirius Orion Black,
It has come to the school board's attention that you and Mr. James Potter have yet to sign up for your senior internships, which I'm sure you've been informed is mandatory for your graduation this year from St. Godric's school for boys. I have taken notice of your and Mr. Potters close relationship and pulled some strings as to acquire somewhere with room for the both of you, St. Beverly's Children's Hospital to be exact. You'll find the address under the attached link, please forward this email to Mr. Potter. You can thank me later, Black.
-Minerva McGonagall
"No, no, no! I can't do it, I won't!" James whined, collapsing backwards onto his four poster bed with another soft groan. "We can't be nurses, we're boys! Young, healthy boys who intend to live past twenty-five. I told you she'd be the one to kill us, I told you!"
"Get a hold of yourself, Prongs!" Sirius whipped around in his office stool, tearing his eyes away from the screen of James' desktop. "We aren't going to die. We'll just, uh. Lay low. Joyrides in wheel chairs, snack machines, etcetera." Sirius felt his shoulders failing him, all the summer fun, all of their plans. Gone. Just like that, with their negligence to find bearable internships and an email from their principle.
"Oh god, you're right," Sirius admitted defeat with a sigh, smoothing his hair back in his stress before letting his arms fall numb at his sides. "Well, when do we start?" James questioned after a solid minute of dead, depressing silence. Sirius silently pulled himself back to face the desk, reading the email one last time before clicking the blinking paperclip on the lower right corner of the email, bringing up a Microsoft page of neat bullet points. "Uh, James. What day is it today?"
"Sunday, why?"
"Twenty-five minutes."
"What?"
"The internship starts in twenty five minutes."
James sat up abruptly, cussing under his breath. "Well, where is it?" He demanded urgently. Too impatient for Sirius to read out the entire address, James moved to hover over his shoulder, still murmuring swears. "That's forty-five minutes away! What happens if we aren't there on time?"
"We're fired," Sirius deadpanned, glancing nervously over his shoulder. "What happens if were fired?" James gestured for him to move faster. "What d'you bloody think happens if we're fired?" Sirius roared, rocketing up on his tipy toes. "We don't graduate!"
"Fuckin' hell!" James growled behind his jaw, racing to his wardrobe to filter through clothes thrown discarded on the floor until he found a brown windbreaker he deemed acceptable. "Well c'mon then! Why're you just standing there!" James snapped, pulling the jacket over one shoulder before tripping his way through tying his sneakers. "You know what this means, don't you?" Sirius flashed him a wicked grin, James looked up, suddenly very pale. "Sirius, no."
"Sirius, yes" Sirius nodded his head vigorously. "We are not driving that death trap, we might as well end up signing ourselves into that bloody hospital."
"My motorbike is perfectly safe, thank you very much," Sirius tilted his chin upward, crossing his arms.
"I'd be a lot less worried about that stupid bike if you actually had a license to drive it," James scoffed, starting down the hall with Sirius on the back of his heels. "Don't be such buzz kill, Prongs." Sirius smirked, snatching a blue bike helmet from the hat rack and shoving it to his best friend's chest. "See? I'm safe."
…
November 15th 2015, 3:57;
Remus and Tonks
Most children are accustomed to waking up in the morning to the blare of their alarm clock and the aroma of eggs and toast, Remus Lupin does not have the luxury of an alarm clock, instead he shares a sleeping space with the loudest of the schizophrenics, the one and only, Tonks. Blood curdling screams bounce off the interior of his eardrums, the thrashing of sheets and limbs project into shadows against the previously calming, dust speckled moonlight.
"Frank," Remus groaned miserably, massaging the sleep from his eyes with his knuckles. "Youget'er," a tired, faint voice moans from the mass nest of sheets in the twin bed beside him. With a pause and a sigh Remus swung his bare, numb feet to the cold tile floors. Taking a second to feel for his glasses on the nightstand and let his eyes adjust before hurrying to the side of the still screaming, still thrashing 10 year old girl closest to the window. His oxygen tank wobbling along behind him.
"Hey, hey Tonks! Shhh, hey. It's alright, you're alright. Shhh Hey, you just got out of psych, I know you don't want to go back, Tonks, come on." He whispered, crouching down beside her and gently holding her sweaty wrists to put a stop to the thrashing. She sobbed against him, sucking up greedy, rapid breaths. "R-R-R-Remus, t-the ants. They're in my hair again Remus, y-you have to believe m-m-me!" Tonks wheezed, repeatedly colliding her forehead with his left collarbone.
"Hey, hey. I believe you Tonks. I believe you," he moved her wrists so she sat with her bone thin legs dangling over the side of her mattress, her doughy brown eyes rimmed with red staring him down, locks of bright pink hair stuck to her red cheeks with sweat and snot and tears. It wasn't often for her that she was told by anyone other than Frank or himself those three little words and it broke his heart endlessly. "I believe you, Tonks"
"Remus, the ants, you have to help me, you have to get them o-out," she sniffled, her sobs reduced to steady tears. "I'm tired, Remus. I see them there nearly every night and I need them gone, and I'm so so tired, I just want, I just want them to be g-g-gone," her breath caught in her throat, her eyes welling up again and whimpers filtering through her quivering white lips. "Hey, hey don't do that," he squeezed her hands gently as he thought up a solution to the imaginary ant problem.
"Hey, you know what we'll do?" he smiled, leading her by the hands off her bed and across their room to the exit way. "W-what?" She asked, wiping her cheeks with the sleeves of her gown. "Hold this for me," he lifted his green oxygen tank into her skinny pink-tinted arms before leading her into the dark hall of the hospital, doing his best to remain noiseless.
It didn't take them long to arrive at their destination, the third floor girls private bathroom. Tonks watched him curiously, but remained silent. He took back the oxygen tank, watching her hands immediately move to thread through her hair before he crouched down to his knees, feeling over the underside of the counters. He checked the backs of the sink pipes until he found what he was looking for, a surface far too sleek to be the grimy, dusty backsides of the hospital sinks. "Bingo," he grinned, tearing away the silver duct tape that held them in place.
Tonks returned his goofy smile when he stood up, presenting to her a pair of silver barber shears. "Alice snuck them in last week," he explained, lifting her up and onto the granite counter top, "No more ants?" Remus held the shears around her bubblegum pink hair, just above her chin. "No more ants," she agreed.
November 13th 2015, 11:27 AM
Marlene and Alice
"Where are Mom and Dad?" Marlene demanded coldly, crossing her arms against her chest and sitting up tall, despite being on the verge of tears. The taller girl sighed, looking up at the ceiling like she'd just been told to do the dishes. "Where are mom and dad, Maddi?" Marlene tried again, looking down at her lap, her head bobbing up and down with each word. "They're busy people. You really can't expect them to show up at a moments notice, can you? Besides It's not like you've ever cleared your schedule for them." Maddi tightened her pony tail, an annoying habit that especially got on Marlene's nerves today.
"They aren't coming?" Marlene scoffed, nearly laughed in her disbelief. Maddi shrugged, holding herself in a way that made her look distant, bored even. It infuriated Marlene to no ends. "They'd come if it were you," Marlene spit, the sheets held at her sides in a death grip. That got her attention. "They'd come if you were sitting here, instead of me. If you overdosed, o-on your stupid fucking heroine! You stupid fucking, junkie!" Marlene roared, throwing her arms up boneless to fall down over her eyes, she shook her head, chuckling silently.
Maddi's eyes darted around in shock horror to make sure no one was listening in on them. "Would you keep your voice down? You know if anyone-!"
"They'd come for you Maddi!" Marlene sniffed, wiping violently at her cheeks. She hated that she cried when she was angry, which she almost always was. "You can't blame me, Marlene." Maddi balled her fists, her face going pink in its entirety. "I came, and I know you wouldn't if it was me in that hospital bed." With that Maddi decided the conversation, or the visit wouldn't be worth her while and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Marlene emitted a pitched growl from the back of her throat, feeling for the closest thing that wasn't nailed down and flinging it to the avocado green stucco wall, which just so happened to be a TV remote. It projected a satisfying 'thump!" but left no dents. The next second the door opened a crack, Marlene glared up hatefully, expecting to come face to face with Maddi once again, but in her place she found a pair of wide, green eyes, staring curiously back from the doorway.
"What en hell.." a small voice with a thick Russian accent faded out as the green eyes slowly trailed down to their owners feet, where the remote lay motionless. "Sorry," Marlene mumbled, giving up her posture. "Es not my wall," the girl shrugged, continuing across the room. "Well, et kinda es."
"What." Marlene deadpanned. "We are rroom mate," the green eyed girl held up her purple duffle bag for emphasis. "Why dju theenk there was two extra beds en here?"
Marlene watched the Russian girl unpack into the small white dresser beside the bed closest to the window, stacking paperback books on the nightstand, and hunting down power outlets. "So, I take it your not new here?" Marlene asked, obviously not as content as her with the thick silence hung between them. "No," she answered bluntly, without taking her eyes from the jewelry she was working on untangling. "What happened to your room mate before me?"
"Dyeed," she hummed indifferently. "What?" Marlene yelped, her voice cracking and her cheeks flushing white. The Russian girl smirked into her lap, her eyes flickering up. "Keeding, she's home."
"That's, that's morbid!" Marlene shrieked, wiping at her eyes. "Are ju cryeeng?" the girl's voice softened noticeably. "No!" Marlene snapped, straining her neck the other way. "I am sore-e."
"It's fine, I'm fine," Marlene insisted. Taking a second to compose herself, before turning back to look at the green eyed girl, who was looking right back at her. Concern numbing her sharp stare. "What's your name?" Marlene asked quietly, determined not to let herself cry. "Uhm, Alyona Masson, Alice in Engleesh."
"I'm Marlene Mckinnon"
Alice chuckled lightly. "What?" Marlene asked, minding her tone to not sound defensive. "Deed ju know ju have ze same last name as ze mayor? I deednt thenk "McKinnon" was that popular, that es all."
Marlene felt her mouth go dry. "No, I didn't know."
November 15th 2015, 11:12 AM
Lily
By some miracle James and Sirius arrived at the hospital speeding ticket and injury free, the duo now stood before a woman with bushy red hair sat leisurely at the front desk, filling her nails and paying them no more attention than you would a fly on the wall. "Err, hello," James cleared his throat, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Mmm?" the ginger secretary nodded without looking up. "We're uh, the interns. From Godric's," Sirius tried when James was dismissed, this caught her attention. "Oh are you really?" she asked, glancing down at a leather wrist watch. "You are seven minutes and forty-seven seconds late." She observed, looking over their nervous expressions. "Well, that's alright," she shrugged. "You can stay seven minutes and forty-seven seconds late to make up for it."
"Oh, okay then. Should we-" James began, but faded out when she held up a finger to shush them, using her other hand to push a Bluetooth earpiece further against the side of her cheek. "Excuse me boys," she mumbled, practically flinging herself out of her office chair and starting down a florescent white hall to their left with impressive sped. James and Sirius shot each other a look of mutual understanding before firing after her. "Where 're we going nurse lady?" Sirius called, but she didn't answer, shouting unintelligible commands into her bluetooth, by now the three of them were in an all-out sprint, her pearl white sneakers squeaking against the shiny tile floors. James and Sirius decided to pass the time shooting their questions into either of the redheaded nurse's ears.
"What's going on?"
"Is everything okay?"
"Was someone shot?"
"Where are we going?"
"We, aren't going anywhere." the nurse extended her arms at her sides, blocking them from moving any further down the corridor. "Excuse me boys," she eyed them nervously before disappearing behind a set of white double doors, James and Sirius pressed their noses to each of the blurred glass rectangles, trying their hardest to interpret what was happening outside. Red and blue lights flashed and that familiar siren blared, the siren that always meant trouble. Almost as soon as the nurse disappeared behind the white double doors they swung open again, causing James and Sirius to stumble backward as they were faced with a hoard of shouting men in all blue, they surrounded a gurney. some held beeping equipment most were just focusing on the gurney, or rather whoever occupied it.
James and Sirius were left unnoticed as they chased the huddled doctors back down the fluorescent white corridor, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever the big fuss was about, and when James did, he stopped dead in his tracks, watching the mob continue on down the never-ending hall, back to the lobby, but his feet felt like cement. It took Sirius a moment to take notice that James was no longer at his side, looking over his shoulder.
"Hey, mate? You alrigh- woah!" Sirius jogged back just in time to catch James by the elbows when his knees buckled below him, his feet remaining glued in place. Only did they really budge when James scrambled to his knees, ducking his head into the nearest potted plant and spilling his guts all over the fertilizer. She had such a pretty face, the problem was the left of her forehead was nothing but flesh and blood and bone, oh god. He saw her bones'. He saw her skull, he really did. There was glass, glass in her cheek and glass in her chest, and that hair- oh god that hair. It was deep red, but obviously not red enough, because it was stuck together with dry blood. Like, like bubblegum. He remembered Mrs. Potter sitting Sirius down and having to shave everything off, he remembered Sirius crying all the way through, and he might have smirked into that potted plant if he hadn't gagged first.
That girl was going to die.