I apologize in advance for anyone who is offended by my cockney accent typing...I tried VERY hard to get it right.
Chapter 11: Viking Man
The entire lunchroom was full of the available main staff members. Dr. Malkin was also called to the meeting, even though he wasn't a head staff member. He sat right next to Dr. Barr, who seemed disinterested in the entire affair. Dr. Malkin looked around, seeing doctors and nurses for the first time, all talking to one another, they all seemed...annoyed by the sudden meeting, yet curious to cause of it. Then Dr. Howard walked in with a brief case, and the crowd lowered their voices, but not all the talking stopped. Dr. Howard stepped in front of the crowd and raised his arm to quiet the crowd. The staff simmered down and the mood turned somber.
"As you all know," said Dr. Howard, "we've had the police running the halls of Rutledges for several days now. I'm sure the reason why has been passed around, correct?" The doctors and nurses nodded in agreement.
"What you all don't know is the reason why they all committed suicide." When he said this, he caught the entire staff's attention. Dr. Howard looked at all the faces of the staff, looking for any signs of anything.
"All the juveniles had been raped, multiple times."
There was a loud murmur throughout the entire staff. Many of the doctors started to look at each other, the nurses started to talk, others quietly cried, Dr. Malkin went pale, and Dr. Barr just sat there quietly. Dr. Howard noticed the two of them, he had looked at the other doctors and nurses, and they were the only two who had reacted in an abnormal way, and that raised red fags in his head.
"Do we know by whom?" asked one older doctor.
"No, but I do know this, it was a man who had access to the children. We don't know if there was more than one, but I do know it was someone in the juvenile ward."
"Could have it been an orderly?" asked a nurse
"Possibly, but from looking at the children's medical records and the work schedules, its more likely that the man is one of the doctors."
"We've never had a problem in the juvenile ward with rape before," said Dr. Barr standing up, "perhaps it was one of out newer staff members...or doctors." he gave Dr. Malkin a look out of the corner of his eye, seeing Jack look up at him with total surprise and disgust, since he was the only new doctor.
"That we don't know of Dr. Barr," said Dr. Howard with some inclemency, "but looking at the history of some of the patient who had been at Rutledges for several years show old signs of physical assault, some injuries as old as the time they were admitted." he said looking at Dr. Barr.
"We should do something about this," said Dr. Barr, "I propose we fire all the orderlies in the ward right now, and hire new ones and..."
"Oh, and I suppose we should fire the all the doctors as well," said one doctor who was very annoyed at Dr. Barr, "that wont solve anything and only..."
"He's just trying to help." interrupted one nurse.
"Let's not argue," said Dr. Howard, "we can't afford to fire all, let alone one orderly, we're short handed as is. Look, the police and I still have a lot to investigate, and we can't afford a war within the asylum. If the police saw us argue like cats and dogs, they'll shut down Rutledges for good, and we'll all lose our jobs and licences. I've called this meeting to talk about what we have to do with out only remaining child."
"There was one that didn't die?" asked a nurse.
"One failed suicide?" asked another doctor.
"No, she never attempted, this girl is in a catatonic state," said Dr. Howard, "the police said we have to have her in a cell, or they'll shutdown the asylum, we're already teetering in that direction. But unfortunately, the juvenile ward is closed for the investigation, and because we have refurbish the entire hall."
"What do you propose then Dr. Howard," asked the older doctor, "the only available room in the asylum is my wing, which is the adult wing."
"I know, but we don't have any choice, we have to put her in there for at least two to three days, just until the juvenile ward is finished." The staff was quiet, they knew that this was a bad thing to do, put a little girl into the adult ward. The older doctor, stood up and said confidently:
"Ill arrange everything as soon as the meeting is over, she'll have a private room to herself, and I'll make sure that only our female staff members are to see her."
"What about me sir," asked Dr. Malkin, "will I be stripped of seeing my only patient for the next three days?"
"Now, now Dr. Malkin," said Dr. Barr without looking at him, "would it really hurt her if you didn't see that little girl for a few nights," then he turned and faced him and gave him a hinting look, "or would it kill you if you couldn't sing to her for one night?" Dr. Malkin stood up.
"Just what are you insinuating at, Dr. Barr?" asked Jack grinding his teeth.
"That's enough, both of you!" called out Dr. Howard, giving them harsh looks. "Especially you Dr. Barr, you of all people shouldn't make accusations." Dr. Barr looked at Dr. Howard, then sat back down in his seat.
"Dr. Alder, when can you have the room ready?"
"By noon today." said Dr. Alder with a smile and a nod.
"Good, good...another thing, next week there will be another meeting, were changing hospital proto call, that will be on Wednesday at 3 o'clock. Thank you, you're all dismissed."
The staff started to leave the lunchroom, but Jack called out:
"I beg your pardon sir, but you never answered my question. Isn't that why I was transferred temporarily at the adult ward?"
"Wha-oh, yes...uh, Dr. Malkin yes...yes, Dr. Alder," called out Dr. Howard to Dr. Alder who turned around, "Dr. Malkin here, is allowed to see her for one hour a day, only one hour."
"Yes sir." said Dr. Alder, then left. Dr. Malkin was disappointed to only get an hour, but it was better than nothing so he left. As Dr. Howard picked up the unused brief case, Dr. Barr walked up to him and whispered in his ear:
"Doctor, I must protest, you letting him continue seeing the child, I honestly don't think that my dead friend's daughter should be..."
" 'Should be' what?," asked Dr. Howard, "Not treated by you. Dr. Barr, I know that you have been pushing to get her to be your patient, and quiet honestly, I don't think that you are the best for her." Dr. Barr looked at him, his pride wounded, he gave Dr. Howard a dirty look and said chocking down his anger:
"Yes sir." and marched out of the room. Dr. Howard looked at him, he thought it queer that Dr. Barr really wanted Alice. He didn't know the truth, but he felt in his heart, this was the right thing to do, for now.
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Alice re-emerged from the smoke, she felt at ease, she really enjoyed that wonderful song that Dr. Malkin sang for her, but then she realized she was no longer in his arms but alone in the office. She was sitting back in the big armchair, her body slouched a little, with her head sightly tilted, resting on the side of the chair, with her rabbit sitting on her lap. Then she could here someone unlocking the door, then she saw Paul, Dr. Malkin and another man she never saw before enter the room.
"You were right Mr. Redcliffe, she does look like a china doll." said Dr. Alder
"Yeah, she does, doesn't she," said Paul, "come on love," he said, picking her up and placing her in a wheelchair, "we're taking you to a new room."
They backed out of the office and headed down the hallway, to another hallway that Alice did not recognize. She could only look strait forward , but it was enough to get the layout of things. She noticed that when they came to the far end of the cream and green colored hallway and went past the double doors, the entire hospital changed. They entered a large area, she had no idea what the room was, and she couldn't get a proper look about it, so she was left guessing as of what it was, for they entered another double-doorway and came to another hall way. This hallway was the polar opposite of the juvenile ward, and what I mean by polar opposite is that it made the juvenile ward look like the cleanest, happiest place on earth. The tile here was once a sea blue, now it just looked like...well...I'll let your own imaginations think of what the adult ward looked like, Im feeling lazy. They first passed the recreation center for the adults, where many were in there, talking or cursing or just whatever, but when they all saw Alice being wheeled in, they all dropped what they were doing and looked at her.
Other orderlies that were standing guard over the patients, approached the small group and guarded them, because some of the other patients quickly approached the wheelchair, screaming and trying to touch her.
"That's my baby!" screamed one woman in her late forties, trying to grab Alice out of the chair, "That's my baby, let go! I want my baby!" she screamed as she was being haled away.
One man, wanted her hair, he had a freaky fetish for hair, long hair. "One strand," he shouted, "Just one strand, please just one!!"
Others continued on the same fashion, except one man. He was in the crowd of course, but he toward over everyone, he had broad thick arms, a barrel chest, stout legs and long greying red hair and beard, bald at the top of his head. He slowly walked down with the crowd, but as he was the only one not making a fuss, he wasn't set back to his cell. Several large orderlies stood by him, just to be sure, but he never did anything out of sorts. When they stopped moving the wheelchair, he moved in front of her so she could see him clearly. She looked at him and she looked at him, she felt a little intimidated by his girth, but she didn't feel threatened by him at all. As the doctors were exchanging information and orderlies were busy trying to contain a patient that went completely mad, they forgot to watch Alice. The large man slowly approached her, much like a kitten approaches a new thing, cautiously and with total curiosity. He slowly reached out his hand toward her, but then one of the large orderlies saw this and called out:
"Don't move, Viking Man!" He froze, brought back his hand and turned to face the man who yelled at him, but it was to late, four orderlies jumped on him and dragged him down and haled him back to his cell.
"Good lord, what was that, a man or a bear?" asked Dr. Malkin.
"No, that is Alastair, our largest and strongest resident here, he's Scandinavian descended, so the orderlies nicknamed him 'Viking Man', and because of that he no longer responds to his Christian name." said Dr. Alder.
"Why is he here?"
"He was convicted of murdering 10 of his coworkers in a mine about 20 years ago, after mutilating another person before that, but I'm not so sure he did it."
"Why, is he not violent?"
"He's...had several incidences of hurting doctors and orderlies, so I can't say 'yes' to that."
"Has he had a record of hurting children?" asked Dr. Malkin a little worried.
"Not to my knowledge. Don't worry Dr. Malkin, we'll take excellent care of Alice." Then they opened the door, and wheeled her in the new room, the room...lets just say the Grand Central Train Station's restrooms toilets are cleaner. The bed, made for a grownup, was covered in nasty stains and had a permanent impression of a body in it. They placed Alice in the bed, and she sort of sunk in the mattress...and it felt a little...moist.
"Doctor, this mattress is still wet." said an orderly.
"Oh, well go get another one...and make sure its clean." said Dr. Alder. The orderly left, and Dr. Malkin picked up Alice and handed her to Dr. Alder said:
"Hold on to her and take good care of her, I'll be back later tonight. Good day." with that he and Paul left the adult ward.
Alice was now scarred, she was in a place full of creepy people, strangers and it just was upsetting her. She wanted to go back to the office, it was better than this wretched room, this...this hospital. She just wanted to go home! She wanted to go home! Her mind was screaming, 'I want to go home!' but her body just sat there, just like a china doll.
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It was one hour before the lights had to go out, and Alice was just starring at the new ceiling, memorizing it. Then she heard people enter the room, she saw that Dr. Malkin had returned, just like he said he would, and there were two nurses that she didn't recognize standing by him. And unbeknown to Alice and Dr. Malkin, Dr. Alder was out side the door, looking in thru the eye slots.
"Hello Alice, how are you tonight?" said Dr. Malkin happily, but as usual received no answer. "I hope you're well, lets talk for a few moments. I want to talk to you, about that night when...that bad thing happened with the children." He paused for a moment, looking for any sign of anything, but nothing showed. The conversation went on for almost an hour, about that and other things, like Dr. Malkin's day and other subjects. Soon, was almost time for him to go, so he said:
"Well Alice, its almost time for me to go, I have something to show you before I go." he then reached inside of his coat pocket and pulled out something. It was a small music box.
"I had this music box," he said wile winding up the box, "made after my mother died. It was handcrafted by a famous artisan, and the only one of its kind." It was a very nice music box, round, about the size of two hands joined together, cherry wood with a cherry wood finish, lovely decorative markings carved into the wood.
"Would you like me to..."
"Dr. Malkin," said Dr. Alder, walking into the room, "I've heard about your...singing to this patient...and...with the children being...assaulted and all that rubbish...I just don't think it's...appropriate for you to sing to her anymore."
"What?" Dr. Malkin said rising up, "I've never hurt her...and my singing to her makes her sleep, she doesn't need tranquilizers this way. And besides, I wasn't..."
"That may be, but as she is under my supervision for now...I say no singing." Dr. Alder said unmoving. Dr. Malkin rubbed the back of his neck, looked at Alice, then looked at him again.
"May I at least play the music box for her? That's all I wanted to do in the first place."
"I...don't see anything wrong with that...for now," said Dr. Alder, "if she doesn't fall asleep," he said to one of the nurses, "get me some sedatives and a syringe." she nodded and watched Jack sadly wind up the music box. When he had finishing winding up the box, he opened the small, thin lid and inside revealed the clockworks that made the music box play whirling and moving the spindle that held the raised bumps that would pluck the tuned strands of metal that played the music. The music box was quiet, quiet enough that you would have to stop what you were doing just to hear the song, but it would be worth the pause because the music was very relaxing.
The melody played gently, and Alice found it very soothing, she wished though, he could sing to her again. She was thinking this, but then she got very sleepy and her eyes closed on their own and just before the music box stopped playing, she fell fast asleep.
"There, you see," said Dr. Malkin quietly, picking up the box, "no harm what so ever."
"Yes, it is an effective tool," he said, "have you ever tried taking the rabbit away from her?"
"Yes, but nothing draws her out of her catatonic state."
"We'll talk more in the morning, right now, lets leave her to sleep." All the nurses and doctors left Alice alone in the dark, but as she was asleep, she didn't mind.
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Suddenly, Alice woke up in the dead of night, she didn't think she had a nightmare, but her heartbeat said otherwise, it was palpitating at a phenomenal rate. She could do nothing, her room had no windows so it was completely dark. She could hear strange noises coming from just beyond her walls. She could here someone muttering in the dark about nothing, another woman was sobbing hysterically, one man was howling his lungs out. She could also hear scratch marks, just beyond the wall, next to her head. She was terribly frightened. Then she could hear someone open the eye slots, the bright light hurt her eyes, but she never squinted.
"Doctor, she isn't asleep anymore. She woke up."
"I thought as much, that Malkin may have best intentions in mind, but the old ways are much more practical. Hand me the syringe."
"I'm sorry Doctor, but all the syringes are dirty, all we have to offer right now is the oral medicine."
"Oh very well, fetch the nurses and the medicine I require."
After a few moments, Dr. Alder and two nurses walked into her room with a lamp. In his hands, Dr. Alder held the oral medicine in a small cup.
"Alright, prop her mouth open." commanded Dr. Alton. The nurses obeyed and opened Alice's mouth, then Dr. Alder placed the syrup like medicine in her mouth, then closed and covered her mouth with his hands and pinched her nose. The medicine tasted simply awful, ten times worse than cough syrup. But her body naturally swallowed it, due to lack of air, and he removed his hands from her face.
"Dr. Alton," asked a nurse.
"Yes?"
"Do you really think it was that new doctor that hurt the children?"
"No, I don't. I don't think he would ever hurt anyone, but...I've been wrong before," he looked into Alice's eyes, "this girl...is one of the worst cases I've ever seen, but...he was able to get through her with that song. Perhaps, tomorrow night, I'll let him sing." Having said that, they gathered their things and left Alice in the dark again. She was still scarred, and wanted them to leave the light, but they took it with them. Soon the drug took its affect on her and she drifted back to sleep.
Alice woke up some hours later, she didn't know how long the drug kept her asleep, but she was still slightly under its influence, as she felt very groggy. Then she could hear someone enter her room, she saw it was one of the nurses that came in the cell earlier that night. She picked her up and placed her in a wheelchair, she wheeled her into the lounge room, and then she motioned some orderlies and another nurse over to her, when they reached her, she said:
"I have to prepare the bathroom for this one, make sure the other patients don't approach her."
They agreed and they stood guard over the catatonic girl, as they were watching them, one orderly leaned in close and looked at her, then he picked up her arm and lifted it in the air slightly, then let go. Her arm stayed in the same position he had placed it.
"Why did her arm stay like that nurse?"
"She's catatonic," said the nurse, "they have a waxy flexibility of their limbs, or in short, their limbs," she said as she bent her arm into a waving position, then repositioned it in her lap, "stay where they're posed."
Just then one of the female patients, (whom she believed she was a vampire) jumped on another orderly across the lounge and began to bite his neck. Several other orderlies and nurses tried to rip her off of the poor man, who was now severely bleeding, and it took three men to hold her down. As the other nurses tried to carry the injured orderly to the surgical area of the asylum, it left the three orderlies on their own, who were being thrown around as is.
"Stay put nurse," said one of the guarding orderlies, "we'll help them, then come back." and the two orderlies ran to help the other orderlies to put the crazed woman into a straitjacket and fling her into the padded room. The nurse looked on, her attention totally off Alice, she never saw him approach. The Viking Man, who was in the corner of the room, was slowly approaching the wheelchair with the same air he had on the previous day, but he quietly eyed the nurse, ready to retreat if she saw him approaching. But just then, the mad woman leaped on another orderly and bit into him as well and the nurse bolted toward the fighting group to aid them, including the nurse who had returned to get Alice for her bath. Viking Man watched the nurse run off, then he attend to Alice walking around the wheelchair and then pulling up a chair, and stat right in front of Alice.
The man just stared at her, not with wild eyes or anything threatening toward her, but just with a thoughtful gaze, much like someone at a museum stares at a really weird work of art. Alice was looking at him too, wanting to ask him a question, but as she couldn't, she would just have to be content of just looking at him as well, thinking about how large the man was and how he did resemble a Viking. Just then, the rabbit that was precariously dangling in her left arm, fell to the floor. The man looked at it like a baby had fallen to the floor, rather than a stuffed toy rabbit. He jumped out of his chair and rushed over to the toy and gently picked it up, dusted it off slightly and very slowly and gingerly, placed the rabbit in her lap. Then he slowly sat back down and continued his gazing at the girl. Just then, with her own free will, she looked at the man in the face, and hugged the toy slightly which made the man as big as he was, jump slightly. But then, he smiled slightly, knowing that in a way, she was thanking him for his kind act. Then he reached out his arm once again toward her.
"Hey, Alastair's by the girl, stop him!" called out Dr. Alden. The orderlies whirled around, seeing the large man so close to the small girl. They ran toward the man, but he had already retreated to his corner of the room, cowering with his arms around his head saying in a deep husky voice and a very thick cockney accent:
"I ain't 'urt 'er, 'onest I didn't!"
"It's alright Alastair, your not in trouble," said Dr. Alder soothingly, "you are," he said to the nurses and orderlies, giving them a very harsh look, "I told you that she was not to be left alone!"
"But doctor, Susan went berserk and attacked two of the orderlies, it took all of us just to..."
"Enough of the excuses," said Dr. Alder, rubbing his head, "just take her away, we'll talk about this later." The nurse who had left to prepare her bath water, sulkily took the wheelchairs handles and wheeled Alice away. As the nurse turned the wheelchair, Alice caught a quick gimps of Alastair, huddled in the corner but looking at her with the same interest he always had. She couldn't help but wonder why this man had such a interest in her. But soon, that thought left her mind, because the nurse had reached the bathing room. Alice wasn't the only patient that was going to have a bath, there were several other patients already in the bathroom...male and female...naked...at the same time. This made Alice VERY uncomfortable indeed, but the nurse took her around to the far corner of the room where there was a large curtain rapped around a "private" tub. There was already another nurse behind the curtain, waiting just for Alice to be brought in.
"Here she is, make sure that you clean every inch of her." said the one nurse that wheeled Alice in.
The other nurse only nodded and then picked up Alice and placed her on a table, and then began to undress her. Now Alice REALLY felt uncomfortable, she was shy enough when her own mother bathed her...let alone a stranger, but seeing that she couldn't object she would have to deal with it. The nurse gently placed her in the water, which was slightly too cold for Alice's taste but good enough for a quick bath. Alice was embarrassed at first, but as the nurse washed her, she soon felt a little more at ease, soon enough the bath was over, the nurse picked her up, dried her off, redressed her in the standard hospital garments, placed her back into the wheelchair and they were soon exiting the bathing room. Alice was thinking to herself that it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would have been, being bathed by a total stranger, though she still didn't like it, but again she dropped the thought because she noticed that she was back in the lounge room again, and in the room to great her was Dr. Alder.
"Wheel her over here nurse, I want to try something with her and Alastair."
The nurse wheeled her by two chairs and then stood by, ready for the next order. Two other orderlies brought out Alastair, who had leg shackles on. The orderlies guided him to one of the chairs, and he sat in it (more fell on it) with a thud and the chairs legs groaned and bowed. Then Dr. Alder sat in the free chair and then said to Alastair,
"Now Alastair," he said, but noticed that he didn't respond to him so he began again,
"Viking Man," this time, Alastair looked at him, "I know that you have some interest in this girl, can you tell me why?"
The Viking Man was quiet for a moment, then said quietly,
"She...reminds me of me dead girl, govnor."
"Ah yes," said Dr. Alder looking at his records, "about 20 years ago, your only child, Emily died. Let's talk about her, Emily that is. What happened to her?" This was exactly what Dr. Alder wanted to hear, Alastair never talked about his daughter, and he believed that this was the root of his problems. Alastair was quiet and pale, looking at Alice with this strange look.
"Sh-she...she was...," he stammered out while his eyes reddened and tears rolled down his face, "...done in."
"You mean murdered, yes?" asked Dr. Alder. Alastair nodded yes.
"How, how was she killed?" asked Dr. Alder quietly, jotting down notes. Alastair said nothing, tears running down his face and running down his beard, he just shook his head and continued to quietly sob.
"She was mutilated, wasn't she Viking Man?" Here, Alastair broke down and sobbed very loudly and covered his face with his hands. Dr. Alder reached over and padded him on the back.
"It's alright Viking Man, she can't feel anything anymore, she's at peace. But I need to know something Viking Man, who killed her?"
"I was takin' 'er 'ome after visiting me mother, I 'as" said Alastair sobbing, "we were walkin' down the street, was dark by then and the fog was...so thick...she was excited to get 'ome and ran ahead of me, she did. I called 'er back, but she wouldn't listen, then I...I 'eard 'er muffled scream. I ran and looked, I did, but...the fog...was thick...I-I couldn' find 'er, then...I..." Alastair only shook his head then hung it, he couldn't finish the story.
"The police found her body near a light post at dawn, but you weren't anywhere to be found near her, why?" asked Dr. Alder. He didn't reply, only continued to shake his head sadly.
"That's alright, you've talked about it enough for today," said Dr. Alder, finishing up jotting down the story, then he looked at Alastair and said, "does she look like your daughter?" he said, referring to Alice. Alastair looked up and looked at her.
"Her eyes are the same color as Emily's." here he slowly reached out to Alice again, but Dr. Alder grabbed his hand to say 'no, you can't' and Alastair brought back his arm.
"Dr. Alder, a moment of your time sir." said an approaching Doctor. Dr. Alder turned around and saw who it was.
"Dr. Barr, what bring's you over in this wing?" said Dr. Alder, a little surprised and suspicious.
"Dr. Malkin is currently unavailable to see his patient tonight, and he has asked me to treat her tonight." cooly replied Dr. Barr.
"Well that's fine and all Dr. Barr but I have orders from..."
"Oh, speaking of which, I have a written letter from Dr. Howard allowing me access to the girl." he produced the letter from his breast pocket in his jacket and handed it to Dr. Alder. Dr. Alder studied the letter, looking over every letter carefully, after reading the letter, he finally said:
"Yes, of course Dr. Barr. You can see her right now, she's right here, and I think," he said looking at the orderlies, "that you can treat her in here just as well as anywhere."
"Of course Dr. Alder," said Dr. Barr at an unusual ease, "there's nothing wrong with that. And what of the...(chuckle) Viking Man there?" he said mockingly, pointing to Alastair.
"I think that he'll be just fine where he is, won't you Viking Man?" said Dr. Alder.
Alastair said nothing, but quietly stared at Dr. Barr with an odd look. Dr. Barr walked up to the chair that Dr. Alder was in earlier and sat down in it, scooted it up closer to Alice, and then just sat there and had a large cheesy smile on his face. Then he finally said:
"How are you feeling today Alice? Feeling better I hope after all," he said with a small sneer, "recovering from that nasty bit of pneumonia is bound to..." but he stopped his taunting and looked at Alastair, who was looking at him with a very violentgaze.
"I'm sorry, but it seams the Viking Man doesn't like me very much, perhaps I shall come back some other time," he stood up and straitened his jacket and looked at his pocket watch, "perhaps when he is in his cell perhaps, where he should be, for the safety of the other patients, after all Dr. Alder," he said looking at him with a cheeky look, "didn't he murder his own daughter? Alice would just be another..." But he never got to finish his rude remark, Alastair flew into an psychotic rage and went to attack Dr. Barr, but as there were several orderlies next to him and others waiting in the corner for any trouble such as this, they soon had him 'subdued' to a point. It took seven men to push Alastair back into his cell, and after he was out of sight, Dr. Alder said very angrily:
"You sir, know better than anyone of us that you shouldn't push a patients buttons in that fashion! You knew that it would set him off, and another thing," he said defiantly, "do not question my way..."
"Then don't question my way...sir," said Dr. Barr cooly, "after all, I am second head psychologist right under Dr. Howard, you may have been in the medical field longer than I, but I have six years seniority in the field of psychology, don't you forget that, Dr. Alder." Dr. Alder was fuming, but he was right, Dr. Barr, even though he was younger than himself, was his superior, but that didn't make him right. Weather as Dr. Alder could do nothing more than keep his mouth shut. Dr. Barr then said to the nurse that watched Dr. Alder take a ego-beating:
"Take her to her cell, and make sure that you tie down that gorilla," he said referring to Alastair, "isn't that what you would say, Dr. Alder?"
Dr. Alders hands were clenched into tight fists, his body stiffened up slightly but all he said was, "Yes, I would say that." and he let the subject drop.
"Very well Doctors." said the nurse and wheeled Alice back to her cell.
"I'll be back to check on the girl," said Dr. Barr headed for the door, "and I do hope that for once you'll keep any inpatient under control and in their cells." with that last ego-crushing remark, he left the adult ward. Dr. Alder was very angry, not only at Dr. Barr but at himself for letting Dr. Barr rip into him like that.
"Oh," he sighed while rubbing his head, "I'm getting to old for this nonsense." with that, he turned toward where Alastair's cell was, he had to make sure that the leather straps were tight around him, and so he couldn't escape.
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It was very early in the morning, around 3 o'clock a.m., usually when all the patients, drugged or not, were asleep and the night staff finding ways to keep themselfs awake and entertained. Alice on the other hand, was trying to think clearly, and piece together on what she had learned about the Viking Man. She thought about him, remembering on how he looked at her, she wasn't sure what to believe. All she knew is what she had observed, and what she knew about Dr. Barr. Alice was feeling very depressed, she was tired of not being able to move on her own, she was tired of taking medicine she didn't want to take, or being forced to eat when she didn't feel like it. All she wanted to do was to go back to her old life, any life other than this.
She then heard the door at the end of the hallway open, she heard someone walk down the hallway, past her own cell and it stopped about a few doors down from her own, then she hear the voice of Dr. Barr taunting someone:
"I see that they have you all tied up," he said quietly to Alastair, "and drugged I imagine. That wasn't the most intelligent stunt you pulled tonight, trying to attack me, I was only stating the truth. I just want to make sure that little girl is safe, from monsters like you." he said with thick sarcasm. Alice could hear the Viking Man grunt, but only for a moment. Then the foot steps continued and stopped in front of her door, she could hear him put the key into the keyhole and turn it. She heard him enter the room with an oil lamp in hand, he however did not close the cell door.
"'Evening Alice or should I say morning," he said, lifting her into a sitting position on the bed, "I've come to treat you, don't you worry," he said with fake concern, "the nurse knows I'm here." He pulled up a chair and sat at the foot of the bed, placing his head on his folded arms on which they rested on the metal footboard. He just stared at her, and she stared at him. He looked at her, almost mockingly, his eyes darted around, looking at every detail of her face. Then he finally said:
"As you know, I have been treating many insane people for several years now, some got better and left and went on their lives, others didn't and continued their pointless existence here...until they died." he said casually, like he was telling her a bedtime story, he got up and walked around the room, looking at the various objects in the room as he spoke.
" 'How did they die', you might be wondering? Well, most died of sickness or killed themselfs or other mysterious reasons...others just become to violent or uncontrollable and had to be lobotomied," he then approached her and leaned in very close to her, looking into her eyes, "that's when they cut open your head and cut out part of your brain so that you become nothing more than a living pile of wasted flesh and organs that only steals air and nourishment from others, you become something less than human, less than an animal, you become...much like yourself now, something that people just stare at and feel sorry for it." he said very malevolently.
"But I digress," he said returning to the chair, "your not completely like them, your just one small step above that, you have a chance. Yes some patients die here, like what happened to all those children, truly unfortunate," he said shaking his head slowly, "most unfortunate indeed. The strangest thing is, I gave them their medicine they all required, and a little something extra," he said with a small wink and a cheeky smile, leaning in to whisper to her, "a nice high dosage of an hallucinogenic drug that I whipped up, to bad it had...such a nasty, unforseen side effect," he said chuckling to himself, "that's our little secret." he whispered into her ear.
"But enough about that, I need to treat you," he said placing his hands into his pockets, "I've got a idea, lets turn it into a game, guess what's in my pocket," he said with a smile, "it a bottle of sedative and a syringe!" he said producing the objects, "This is a 'special' sedative. It's a different type of medicine that you normally take, with a little something extra in it," he put the needle into the bottle and retracted an amount of medicine into the syringe, "the sedative will make you sleep, while the paralyzing agent will...well, stop your heart. The other doctors will simply think that you had an 'allergic reaction' to the new medicine. I hope that we've had a nice conversation today, but its time to see your family again." he said with a large grin, he moved toward her.
Alice was completely frightened, there was absolutely nothing she could do. She couldn't scream, kick, bite, run...nothing. He sat on the side of the bed and exposed her upper arm. He gently rubbed the site where he was going to eject the poisoned medicine into her, then he lifted the syringe into position and was about to push the needle into her arm, when:
BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!
Dr. Barr whirled around and looked out the door, wondering what the heck was that. BANG!!! The last charge did it, the door burst off its hinges and Alastair was free. He had silently tore free from the leather straps and rammed the door down, and charged toward the room where Dr. Barr was standing. He saw this and quickly tried to close the door shut, but Alastair had speed and weight on his side and burst thru the door with ease. Dr. Barr, showing his true color, backed off into a corner, still holding onto the syringe. Alastair grabbed his arm and twisted it until the pain was to much for Dr. Barr and he dropped the syringe. Then Alastair picked up the man with ease over his head and thru him out the door and into the other side of the hall, where he lay still for a few moments. Alastair then gently picked up Alice and ran down the hall toward the far end of the hall, opposite of the lounge area.
By this time orderlies and nurses rushed in and saw the destruction and the down doctor. Dr. Barr, stunned but still conscious, pointed and said:
"He's determined to kill her, stop him!"
The orderlies obeyed and took chase, wile some nurses stayed behind to treat Dr. Barr and others left to get help. Alastair kept charging at doors and kept breaking them down, eventually, he did tire and was forced to hide in the visitation area of the Asylum. He walked to a corner and placed her into the corner. Alice was frightened, she didn't know what he was going to do. He then reached out to her, just like he did previously, and he began to stroke her head, and that's all he did, he petted her and that's all he ever wanted to do. Just then, for some strange reason, Alice was able to show on her face that she was scared and frightened. Alastair saw the look on her face, he scooped her up and hugged her, he sat in her place and while he continued to hug and pet her, he soothingly said:
"It's alright, everyt'in is going to be alright, I'm 'ere, I am...'ush now, its alright." And he kept stroking her and rocking her and repeating this until the orderlies caught up to him and they took action to get Alice out of his hands. One orderly ran forward and grasped onto Alice while another also ran up and hit Alastair on the head with a nightstick. While he was distracted from the blow to the head, the orderly who grabbed Alice, pulled and yanked her free from his arms. This made him angry and he reached out for her, but as soon as Alice was free from his arms, the other orderlies leaped forward and tackled him. There were at least 12 men holding him down, but he was still able to stand up, and try to get her. The man with the nightstick took no chances and wacked him on back of his head, knocking him out and he fell forward, landing on three of the orderlies in the process just as the other nurses, orderlies and Dr. Ader, and Dr. Howard arrived.
"What happened?" asked Dr. Ader.
"Alastair," said one orderly who wiggled out from the large man, then gently cradled his broken arm, "tore free from the leather straps, rammed his cell door down, attacked Dr. Barr, and ran off with the girl. Dr. Barr said that Alastair was going to kill her, and we found him holding her very tightly with his one hand near her head."
Dr. Ader and Dr. Howard looked at each other, then they looked at Alastair, then back at each other, both knowing what would happen next.
"You know Dr. Ader," said Dr. Howard quietly, "that this was his last chance, and now..."
"I-I know Dr. Howard, I know." said Dr. Ader very sadly. He then said to the orderlies,
"Take him back to his cell, Dr. Howard and I have some business to attend to for now." The orderlies did as they were told, it took 8 men to pick him up and place him on a table with wheels, and they wheeled him back to his cell, where they strapped him in again with new thicker bands and in a straitjacket, so as he could not escape again.
"I'll take the girl back to her cell," said Dr. Howard taking Alice in his arms from the orderly, "get the grounds keeper to come in and help you clean up the mess. In a few hours, Dr. Ader and myself will return and will deal with Alastair." he then turned around and slowly waked back to the cells. Dr. Howard normally walked down the halls like any young man would, full of confidence and a spring in his step, but tonight like that fateful night of the suicides, he walked like a man twice his age. As he slowly dragged his feet along the way, he looked at the girl, seeing that nothing about her demeanor had changed, but he decided to talk out loud, to himself rather than her, in which was fine, she wasn't 'aware' of him anymore, shortly after the orderlies had grabbed her, she has slipped back into the smoke.
"Well, this is a fine kettle of fish," he mumbled under his breath, "I don't understand it, Alastair in all of his years here, has never pulled anything like this before...never." He sighed as he reached the door of the cell hallway, and continued talking to himself, "True, he's had several...incidents over the years, but nothing of this magnitude."
"And now," he said as he reached Alice's cell and walked in, "with this on his record...we have no choice now," he said as he placed Alice back on the bed, then reached down and picked up the stuffed rabbit and placed it back into her arms and tucked her in again, "but to do it." He picked up the knocked over chair and went to place it back into the corner, he paused...looking at the chair with an odd look on his face. He studied the chair, then after looking at it for a moment, placed it back into the corner. He then looked at the door itself, looked at the hinges and the door handle and the locking mechanism on the side of the door. He rubbed his chin and stroked his beard.
"Alastair supposedly 'burst thru her locked door', but noting about the door is broken what so ever, let alone locked," he said as he jiggled the outer door handle, "while his own door is off its hinges..." he said to himself, then turned to the chair in the corner, "and why was that chair by the bed, not in its corner?" he thought for a few moments, then said as he walked out locking the door behind him, "I think I need to talk to some people, as soon as this business..." his voice trailed off as he walked down the hallway, he decided not to talk out loud anymore, since there wasn't much to talk about now, besides, he didn't feel much like talking anymore, he had such a unsavory task ahead of him.
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Alice reemerged from the darkness, wondering at first where all the men had gone, but soon realized that she was back in her own cell. She didn't know what time it was, all she knew was that somewhere in the room, that there was a lit candle or something of the like, because the faint light against the only wall she could see, began to flicker and dance slightly. so for about an hour she studied every crack and texture detail of the wall. (Wow...that sounds like fun! Don't it?) As she did this entertaining thing, she started to map out certain patterns in the wall (the ones she could see, as she couldn't move her eyes), and some of them looked like faces in the wall. Not just faces, there were some interesting pattens that looked like animals, trees and other things. Then she came on one that looked much like a Viking boat, and of course this reminded her about the Viking Man.
'I wonder what will happen to him now,' she thought, 'the men seemed upset with him, I wish I could tell them that he was trying to help me, and not trying to hurt me...at least I think he wasn't going to hurt me.' Then someone opened the door, and walked into the room.
"Hello Alice," said a familiar friendly female voice, "I've come to take you back to your room child." the woman picked her up and placed her in a wheel chair and during this placement, Alice saw that it was Nurse D, along with another orderly she didn't recognize. As they wheeled Alice down the hall, Nurse D and the orderly were talking about what happened with Alastair.
"I heard that one of the patients here took Alice here out of her cell and tried to kill her, is that true?" asked Dorathy.
"Yeah, it happened about two days ago," said the orderly (needless to say, that surprised Alice a little), "but don't worry, he wont be breaking out of any cells ever again."
They wheeled her to the adult nurses station in order to formally check her out of adult wing. As Dorathy was filling out the necessary forms, Alice was able to see down the cell hall. As she blankly gazed down said hall, she saw two orderlies emerge from one of the cells, but the orderly got in front of her line of vision and she couldn't see anything for a moment. But he soon moved of the way and she saw that Alastair was being guided by the orderlies toward the lounge area. At first she didn't think twice about it, but then, as they got closer to her, she noticed something different about him. He shuffled his feet and took tiny steps, his face showed no emotion, his eyes were glassy and blank and as they were about six feet away from her, she saw that he had two, three inch incision scars on his head. The orderlies paused for a moment, having to check with the nurses station as well, leaving Alastair standing there in Alice's sight.
"That's him," said the orderly with Nurse D, pointing to him, "that's the man that attacked her, he had a record of minor violence, but what happened that night, forced Dr. Alder and Dr. Howard to give him a lobotomy."
"He really could have hurt her, couldn't he?" said Nurse D.
"Yeah, he killed his own daughter years and years ago, and Alice does resemble his daughter slightly. He probably would have killed her if we hadn't stopped him, he did have his hand near her neck when we found them."
"Oh, well I'm glad that you stopped him, and that Alice will soon be safe back in the juvenile ward..." Nurse D and the orderly continued to talk to each other, but Alice wasn't listening, she was looking at Alastair. She felt so sorry, she fully didn't understand fully what a lobotomy did to people, but she saw that the warm gently eyes he once had, had glazed over and utterly aloof, nothing was there anymore, they seemed to take his very sole away. The other orderlies then returned to his side and gently pushed him forward, and in doing so, he slowly shuffled his feet forward and they continued onward. At the same time, Nurse D finished checking Alice out and so the orderly grabbed the handles of the chair and began to wheel her down the hall. Both groups, heading in opposite directions, soon approached each other. Alice tried to look at him as long as he was in her field of vision, he really wanted to say anything to him but mostly 'thank you' but as she couldn't, (and as it would have been totally pointless) she had to simply see him leave her vision, and say nothing. The group bypassed each other, and that was the last time Alice ever saw the Viking Man, ever again.
So sad... and this chapter is dedicated to my grandfather who passed away while i was typing this chapter and who Alastair is based off of...I miss you Grandpa.
Any new characters are mine.
