"Awww, man! Come on, I was on the thirty-first level!" Murdock whined as a V.A. nurse unplugged his game. "Can't I just play for a little while more?"

"Sorry Mr. Murdock, lights out means lights out. Time for bed." The nurse smiled at him, than left to get his pills.

Murdock frowned at her. He didn't see why they had to be so chipper about ruining his new high score. He glanced at Billy, who was lying on the floor under the window. "I don't wanna go to bed, Billy," He whispered to the dog. "I'm not even a little bit tired!"

Billy wagged his tail in agreement, standing and running to Murdock's side playfully. Murdock laughed as the dog licked his face. "I knew you'd understand. We should-" He was cut off by the nurse reentering the room with a cup of pills, which she handed to Murdock. Murdock gave her a grin as he put the pills in his mouth, than thanked her. "Nighty-night!" He called back to her as he moved to his bed with a fake yawn.

As soon as she was out of the room he jumped onto his bed, spitting out the pills and tucking them in his pillowcase. Billy gave him a dubious look. "Don't worry, Billy," Murdock comforted the dog. "I'll take them later. I just don't want any of those sleeping pills they like to try and sneak in there." The dog gave an uncertain wag of his tail, and then hopped up on the bed beside his master. Murdock glanced at the door, making sure nobody was sneaking around, than looked at his dog.

"So here's what I was thinking. We're gonna call Face, have him break us out, and then go to the airfield for a late night flight. Sound fun?" Billy gave a small woof, which Murdock responded to with a finger over his lips. "But you gotta be quiet, Billy! Don't want those nurses to spoil our plans, do we?" Billy shook his head as his master grabbed the phone.

Murdock waited patiently as the phone rang. On the fifth ring an annoyed Face finally answered with a "Hello?"

"Face!" Murdock whispered as loud as he could without alerting the nurses. "I need you!"

"What? What's wrong?" Face suddenly sounded on full alert and, most importantly, concerned.

" Me and Billy are getting claustrophobic in this little ol' room, Faceman! We were thinking a flight night, muchacho-"

"Murdock, can I call you back? I'm a bit tied up at the moment." There was a murmured laugh in the background, one that definitely didn't sound like Face. "Can we take a rain check for that?"

Murdock sighed, his soaring hopes plummeting quickly. "Yeah, alright. I was starting to get tired anyway..." He tried to throw an upbeat note in his voice, only half succeeding. Luckily, Face didn't notice.

"See? It all worked out alright. Maybe I'll drop by in the morning, and we can snatch a plane then…" His voice faded out for a moment, before coming back with a quick "Gotta go, Murdock."

Murdock sat in silence, listening to the dial tone buzz in his ear. Face hung up on him. His best friend in the whole wide world had just hung up on him. Suddenly he slammed the phone on the receiver. He jumped off the bed, yanking the phone out of the wall and carrying it over to his sink. "See ya," He muttered darkly at the phone before turning on the water and letting the water splash over the phone, soaking it. Leaving the water running he went back to his bed, sliding under the covers and brooding.

Billy whimpered, putting his paw on the bed, but Murdock ignored him. Just like Face ignores you, a dark voice added in the back of his mind. He's found your replacement, one who's not as crazy and a lot more fun. Now he'll just let you sit and rot in your little prison cell. You don't deserve to see him anyways, with all the trouble you cause- Murdock put his pillow over his head, muffling the voice. He hadn't heard that voice in a while. But part of him didn't even care anymore, didn't care how much the voice tortured him.

Murdock spent the rest of night tossing and turning in restless sleep, the voice whispering its dark sentiments in his dreams all night.