By: IsisRose
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hospital or any of its characters
Chapter 4: Deal With It
Down in Hook's Kingdom, Chris sat on the couch with soft music playing in the background. Hook entered and sat down on the couch next to her, clearly suffering from the effects of a long day on call. Sensing that he was worn out, Chris poured him a glass of wine.
"Thank you," he said, taking the glass gratefully.
"Rough day?"
He finished the wine in a few gulps and shook his head. "Just long... And a little strange."
"Strange?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow. "In this hospital, the word 'strange' takes on a whole new meaning. Care to clarify?"
Helping himself to more wine, Hook's brow furrowed in thought. "Have you ever heard of a girl named Blake Winters?"
"Isn't she Mr. Bates' replacement?" Chris asked. "I think Dr. James mentioned something about her."
"Yeah, that and she's also one of our newest patients."
Chris stared at him in mild surprise. "Why? What happened?"
"She took a spill down one of the elevator shafts. One guess as to which one."
She continued to look at him, now in disbelief, her mouth slightly open. "Not...?"
"Yep. Shaft two." Hook set down his glass and stood, walking across the room to the dresser. Chris frowned at his back.
"But I thought all that was over with. I mean, it could be a coincidence."
"That's what I thought," he said, pulling a clean shirt over his head. "So I asked her about what happened, but she didn't react very well."
"How so?"
"She got really quiet, a little defensive. I think she might have seen something that she isn't willing to share."
Chris tilted her head in curiosity. "What do you think she saw?"
"I don't know, but I have half a mind to get Mrs. D in here again." He sighed. "I'm gonna wait and see what happens first, though."
Down in the Old Kingdom, Blake once again wandered the halls. She was despondently searching for an exit. And for once taking his orders to heart, Paul was also wandering the halls, searching for Blake.
She came to the end of the hall and there she saw a sign with two arrows on it. Under one of the arrows, she read the words 'Pain Room'. Remembering the door from her last visit, she followed the hallway that the arrow was pointing to. As she walked down the hallway, Paul appeared through the sign. He watched her for a moment, his lips curling into a wicked grin, before he strolled casually after her.
Not noticing him, Blake stopped in front of the doors to the Pain Room. She reached out and closed her eyes, waiting—anticipating—for something to happen. But unlike last time, she didn't wake up. She opened her eyes only to find that she remained in front of the ominous doors.
Annoyed, she pushed them open with both hands to find a pair of nasty-looking fangs no more then two inches from her face. She froze in shock. Upon closer examination, she realized that the fangs were attached to a young man. He was only a few inches taller than Blake, and, consequently, she found herself staring straight into a pair of haunting green eyes.
"Boo!"
The exclamation was practically barked at her, making her jump in surprise. She slowly backed away as he moved towards her threateningly. "What's wrong?" he asked her, a slight sneer in his voice. He snickered. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"You're not real," she said, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself than anyone else.
"Really?" he asked mockingly. "Then what am I?"
"You're a concussion-induced hallucination brought on by a severe blow to the head."
He laughed out loud. "Wow! And you came up with this all by yourself?" Blake found herself forced against a wall as Paul continued to close in on her. "Then tell me something," he requested, stopping in front of her, their bodies almost touching.
Blake pushed herself harder against the wall as he leaned in closer to her face. He brought his mouth up to hers and she could feel his ice cold breath on her lips. Her fear rose as she continued to look straight into his dark, empty eyes.
He moved his head, bringing his mouth to her ear and whispered to her. "Does this feel real to you?"
Suddenly he grabbed hold of her shoulders and, with unearthly strength, threw her down the hallway. Paul's menacing laughter filled the whole corridor as Blake landed hard on the ground ten feet away from where she had been standing. No sooner did she hit the ground than she pulled herself back to her feet and took off down the hallway, not bothering to look back at her attacker.
Paul sighed to himself as she disappeared around the corner, his voice filled with amusement. "I love it when they run." He vanished from sight.
Blake ran down a long corridor before ducking into one of the rooms and stopping to catch her breath. She looked in between the cracks of the doors, trying to see if Paul was looking for her. As there was no sign of her mysterious attacker, she relaxed, resting her head against the doors.
As she turned around to face the empty room, something rushed at her. Whatever it was, it was so fast that it was barely a blur. The force of it knocked her off-balance and she felt a burning pain below her right shoulder. Catching herself on the wall, Blake looked down to see a cut on her upper arm. Turning back, she saw Paul standing a few feet away, holding a knife.
Back in her small hospital room, Blake appeared to be fast asleep on the bed. She began to stir fitfully, and her face twisted with pain as her right arm fell over the side of the bed. A cut opened on her upper right arm, as if sliced by an invisible knife. Blood trickled down her arm and dripped down onto the floor from her fingertips.
Paul moved in front of the doors, cutting off Blake's exit. Blake, gripping her bleeding arm, saw another door across the room. She looked back at Paul, who noticed her eyeing the exit. He smirked. "Go ahead. I dare you."
Despite the 'as if' tone to his voice, she decided to make a break for it. She launched herself away from the wall and Paul disappeared. Reaching the other door, she flung it open. She entered another hallway just as Paul reappeared in front of her and grabbed her tightly around the arms.
Her mouth dropped in disbelief. "That's no fair," she said as she struggled against his grip. "You cheated!"
"Ghost," He stated simply, raising his eyebrows in a sneer. He flung her into the opposite wall and she collapsed to the floor. With the wind knocked out of her, Blake pulled herself over onto her back. Trying to catch her breath, she looked up to see Paul standing above her, knife in hand.
"Say goodbye, sweetheart," he said mockingly. He raised the knife.
Blake whimpered and, as she put her arms up over her head, a deafening roar sounded throughout the hallway. Suddenly, a large brownish blur tackled Paul to the ground, sending the knife skittering down the passageway. He rolled over, getting to his feet, only to meet the familiar snout of a certain anteater-like creature that happened to be looking at him furiously. The creature stood protectively in front of Blake, snarling at Paul from a fierce mouth full of fangs.
Paul froze. A look of actual fear is in his eyes, but there was also a palpable hatred there. "Son of a bitch!"
The creature lunged at him and he disappeared just as it would have hit him. Seeing that Paul was gone, Blake put her arms down and sat up to see what was going on. She was shocked to find a big, brown, furry thing staring at her and she slid backwards as it moved towards her.
"N... nice..." She paused, thinking for a second. "...Thingy. Stay." She hit the wall as it came even closer. It sniffed at her as she pushed her back against the wall. "Oookay..." She whimpered again as its snout came right up to her face, but she soon relaxed as it showed no sign of wanting to attack her. "This... this is... Oh man, this is odd." She lifted a shaking hand and, very cautiously, she reached out to pet its head. It seemed to enjoy this attention as she went on to scratch behind its ears. "You know," Blake observed after a moment, "you're actually kind of cute."
"Well, you're not so bad yourself," the creature stated, although its mouth never moved.
Blake jumped back away from the anteater, eyes wide in disbelief. "You can talk!"
It gave a kind of half chuckle. "Yeah, I can dance too."
"Who..." She stopped and started again. "What are you?"
He turned away from her. "Just think of me as..." He paused and began to lumber off. "A pal," he concluded after a moment. He started to disappear from sight and Blake reached desperately out after him.
"No, wait! I..." She suddenly felt the familiar sense of falling...
...And found herself once again sitting up straight in her hospital bed. This time, however, she had a souvenir. She looked down at her right arm to see the prominent cut still there, blood running freely from it.
