Disclaimer: Once again… I, like millions of others, don't own nothing…
New Deep
Chapter 1:
~@~@~@
And even though the moment passed me by,
I still can't turn away.
I saw the dreams you never thought you'd lose
Tossed along the way;
Letters that you never meant to send lost or thrown away.
And now we're grown up orphans that never knew their names;
Don't belong to no one that's a shame.
You could hide beside me maybe for a while
And I won't tell no one your name
I won't tell 'em your name
Scars are souvenirs you never lose
The past is never far
Did you lose yourself somewhere out there?
-Name
~@~@~@
"Ma'am… Ma'am."
Huh. That's weird. Who the hell calls me "ma'am"? No one I know, that's for sure. Oh well…
"Faye. Faaaaye." He was calling me, whispering my name on his lips. Lips that curled upward just slightly, wide enough to let me know he was happy, thin enough to tell me he was keeping it inside. Emotions were always kept for himself, like they were too fragile to be displayed to others in case of a mistake and they shattered them.
"Did I ever tell you how much I like your name, Faye?" He said softly, slowly. Then he moved forward, closing the gap between our mouths. Oh shit, I gasped mentally, melting so absolutely that I knew I was going to slip through his hands and collapse on the floor.
But I didn't.
The goddamn nurse cut in.
"What-the-fucking-goddamn-hell-this-better-be-fucking-good!" I leapt out of the hospital seat, still half asleep, and straight into the nurse herself.
We tumbled to the ground as if in slow motion, complete with time enough to catch the looks people threw us and to realize that my little yellow outfit was really not going to work in my favor this time.
Indeed, it did not, although the tiny nurse's skirt helped the other woman even less. Suffice to say, by the time we untangled our limbs (thankfully, she broke my fall), we were both red in the face, but the nurse was upset.
She attempted to collect herself, resetting her mini quickly and throwing glares at every patient who even appeared to take an interest in us. With a glower, she snapped, "Your friend is out of the critical phase of his recovery and we're allowing you," she said it like her too-tight, too-short clothes were entirely my fault, "to visit him. If you would, follow me."
Heels clacking loudly on the sterile floor, she swished off, nearly taking me out with one shoulder. "Geez," I said under my breath. "It's only your dignity…"
I lost track of our route as the realization of what I was approaching hit me.
Him.
"I'm not going to die. I'm going to see if I was ever alive."
Our footsteps took a turn; we darted around a bent woman riding in a wheelchair.
…I wonder if I'm still dreaming.
I stopped a hair's breadth from crashing into the girl again, and stepped back quickly before she decided to stab me with a needle full of something dangerous. "Here he is," she turned to me, pointing a hand to the door. "The amount of blood loss was particularly difficult, not to mention the sheer number of bullets we had to pull out." I looked at her, hearing the pointed tone in her voice. It was obvious she knew the kind of person inside the room, the kind of person she had aided.
Suddenly I hated her.
Like hell you know the kind of person that's in there.
"…-n you're done," she was saying, "There are a couple of men in Room 433C who have a couple of questions for you, if you wouldn't mind."
The way she said "questions" made my stomach flip. "Excuse me?" I put a hand up, halting her flow of words.
She looked flustered and stopped, a frown percolating on her face. "What?" She snapped, a full-fledged glare blossoming as I was silent, collecting my wits. "You know, lady," she expelled haughtily, "I have a lot of other things that need tending to that are a lot more important than you at the moment, so excuse me while I-" I grabbed her arm and hauled her backwards, slamming her into the wall.
"Hey," I barked. "Hey!" I waved a hand in front of her dazed eyes. Maybe I used a little too much force. "Focus, honey. Right here. Look at me. Look at my eyes."
She began to struggle weakly, but I seized both her hands and locked them in my grip while I turned her over, her face pressing into the cold wall. "Let me go! Oh my god! Oh god, let me go!"
"Shut up!" I hissed in her ear, darting a look around the hallway which was thankfully empty. Damn, but I always had a tendency to skid head-over-heels into these situations without thinking of who's around. "Hey," I started, pulling my Glock out and pressing it against her back. "Hold still. That's a good girl. Now. Who are the guys with all the questions?" I shook her. "Answer me!"
"I don't know! I don't know," spilled out between teary sobs.
I closed my eyes for a moment, wanting to slam her against the wall again and knock her unconscious. I'd be saving humanity for a few hours from this weak dumbass.
"Come on! You must have heard. Who are they? Their names!"
Feeling her beginning to struggle against me, I shoved the gun against her skin harder. She fell still immediately. "Please, oh god, please don't shoot me, I'm just a nurse! I d-didn't mean to snap at y-you!" She blubbered, almost incomprehensible.
I sighed. "Damnit, you're fucking useless, aren't you?" I asked, only half-serious as to want an answer. "All right…" I was thinking fast, when the solution hit me. I allowed a smug grin to grace my lips for a few seconds before I got to business, pleased as usual with my ability to think on my feet. I could always improvise on the spot; it was a talent I'd possessed since I was young.
…yeah. Since I was young.
I was tempted to wander, to tread down the same well-worn path I walk on each and every night. But I couldn't. Not now.
After all. Asshole needed me again. And I'm a sucker like that.
~@~@~@
"Fuck this. Fuck you. Shit, but I need a smoke right now." I groaned, privately cursing him with every foul word I had ever picked up. Finally, hanging out with criminals and shady characters for years paid for something besides debt.
I couldn't help but smile slightly, however, somehow deeply satisfied that the nurse's clothes hung baggy on my body. "Humph," I grunted approvingly. "You need to lay off the chocolates, hon. Getting a bit chunky round the waist." The chest, though, was a bit of a tight fit. I felt like I was about to burst, or send one of the buttons flying. Well, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.
Guys seemed to like that type of that thing, anyway. Most guys, my mind amended, moving forward to the man in the adjoining room.
Fuck it. That wasn't the point.
Pushing the unconscious nurse further into the storage closet and maneuvering a few janitorial items to delay her discovery, I poked my head out the door.
"Hey, Utari-san, did you hear the rumor?" With a jolt, I jerked back in, drawing the door with me as close to shut as I dared to and still hear.
"Huh? What are you talking about Onru-chan?"
"I can't believe you haven't heard about it yet!" The high-pitched voice squealed enthusiastically.
"Well, whatever it is, I haven't."
"I know! And I can't believe it! It's just too hot not to hear."
"Some people actually do their jobs, instead of hanging around in the Nurse's Lounge, exchanging babble."
"Oh please. Don't be jealous just because I get all the info around this joint. Plus you gotta have something to chew on to make this place workable."
"I still don't know why you're in Med School if you hate it so much."
A pause. "Maybe it's for all the juicy gossip! Like this little tidbit! That I can't believe you haven't heard."
"Well, you gonna tell me, Onru-chan, or not. Otherwise, I have stuff to do before my shift is over. Itari-san is such a bastard sometimes."
"Your supervisor? Yeah, he is, isn't he. I don't like him. He yelled at me on my first day. Can you believe that?"
"Onru-chan."
"Okay, okay! Jeez. I don't know why I even talk to you. You're so anti-social… Here's the low down on that new patient we got in yesterday. The one that looked like Swiss cheese?"
"Green-haired guy? He's probably some punk gang member. I don't know why the fuck we take them in."
"Yeah. I would so have slipped him some Ruthen when the doctor wasn't looking. Guys like that don't deserve second chances." My hands tightened around the doorknob, till in the corner of my eye I could see the whiteness of my bones through the skin.
"What's your point?"
"He's a killer! He deserves to die- oh! You meant about the rumor. Right. Well. Horu-chan told me she had to show some really sketchy looking guys in. They were asking her all these questions, about her and if the guy had woken up yet, if he said anything, if the doctor said anything 'interesting.' Just like that. 'Interesting.'"
"So? They were police, probably."
"That's the thing. They weren't wearing uniforms, if they were really cops. Don't cops always have to wear their uniforms?"
"Not if they're not there on business."
"Well, anyway, Horu-chan said that she saw they were carrying guns. Every one of them. In their suits. 'Cause that's what they were wearing- black suits, every one of them."
"So, what? Can't people wear suits anymore?"
"That's not the point! It was the same suit! Not like when most people get together and they're all wearing something different, you know! Like, same make, same model, same little red dragon on the slee-"
"Wait. What did you say?"
"Uh… same little red… dragon?"
"No… No…" The man was cursing low in one long string of breathy, fear-filled obscenities that made even my eyes shoot up. If only I wasn't nearly incapacitated by the lead that filled by belly and polluted my system. Oh god. Red Dragons. Here.
Shit. I hate it when I'm right.
I didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. My ears stopped functioning. In its place, my brain cells scrabbled around like mice in a spinning wheel, going round, round, round, over and over that same fact.
Red Dragons.
Here.
Damnit. What was I waiting for? The pair's voices dwindled into murmurs, and then silence passed over the hallway like the fist of Death. I waited an extra second, pitting my ears against the whirring of the air vents, but there were no other voices. So, I slipped out and shut and locked the door firmly.
"Sweet dreams. You helped a lot." She couldn't hear it, but maybe it would make waking up a little less bad for her.
I walked over and opened his door.