Part one: The Raven

Chapter 1

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, I had this annoying Spanish project ;;. But now I'm (almost) done so here it is. Oh, and btw I decided that since Poe's works reflect this story I am going to try and post a verse every chapter. Enjoy

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.' Edgar Allen Poe The Raven

Mercy General Hospital October 3 3:00 am

Munch walked down the white washed walls of the hospital. Despite his numerous visits to hospitals during his career, he had never quite gotten used to coming here. The stench of antiseptic could not quite mask the smell of the sick and dying, and Munch hurried down the halls into the elevator. Cradling his coffee in one hand, he flipped through the notes he had taken when the doctor briefed him on the phone. She was a Jane Doe, and they could not find any identification on her body. Needle marks on her arms and a bottle of pills in her skirts suggested a junkie, but blood tests will tell eventually. With her ragged clothing she could possibly be homeless. The only thing they found on her besides the pill was an anklet with the name of some sort of institution written on it. It probably was some sort of rehab, but the strange thing was neither he nor the doctor has ever heard of it, and he knew almost all of the public rehab centers in New York City. He doubted it was a private institution; she looked like she could barely afford food let alone an expensive rehab center. He stepped outside the elevator, still lost in thought.

He wove and ducked around the halls effortlessly with the half attention of one who has been there multiple times. Turning a corner he found the room he was looking for. Going inside, he stopped in shock. The room was empty.

The bed was neat and tidy with the blankets folded on top. The room showed no signs of having been used. Walking back outside, he first made sure he had the right room, he had been in situations where he yelled at a nurse and found out it was the wrong room and had no intention of being in that situation again, then headed out towards the front desk.

"I'm looking for a Jane Doe in room 102. Can you tell me if she was discharged?" He barely kept the impatience out of his voice, and he swore he saw the nurse go extra slow through the files. "Yes, she was discharged about an hour ago. Apparently she was a mental patient of a hospital. I have the address if you want."

Kleppinger Institution 4:15 am

The weather seemed to reflect John's mood perfectly, gray and drizzly with no signs of stopping. Stepping out of the car, he dug his hands deeper into his pocket as a gust of chilly air blasted through. Fin, grumbling about getting up at ungodly hours and needing a pay raise, shivered in his jean jacket.

Kleppinger Institution was a large gray monolith of a building that looked more like a dungeon than hospital. It was a square block of cinderblocks, with heavy metal bars barring the windows. The front was an expanse of dirt with patches of scraggly brown grass. The only other form of plant life was a large gnarled tree the color of old ivory. The top branches were blackened and stunted from a past lightning strike. A couple inmates were out, pallid ghosts with dead eyes. Munch shivered. "And you were asking me where the government took all the people in the black helicopters." He said, raising an eyebrow at Fin. Fin merely rolled his eyes and walked up the roughly cut path.

The reception room was gray and drab, with a couple of posters that only succeeded in enhancing the overall wilted look of the room. A woman sat in the front desk, her long red nails tapping away at a keyboard. She looked up irritably at the intrusion, and after a long draft of her cigarette finally called Mr.Kleppinger.

Mr. Kleppinger, or 'doctor Kleppinger' as he liked to be called though he has never been to medical school, was a small greasy man. In fact, everything about him seemed to be greasy, from his insincere smile to his slicked back hair and moustache. Extending his hand, Munch noticed that his hand was shiny from grease, and he surreptiously rubbed his hand on his pants.

He smiled widely, showing crooked yellowing teeth. "Yes, yes detective Munch, we've been expecting you." He said, flashing an insincere smile. "You're here about the girl, yes?"

"That girl had a name." Fin started in his usual charming manner, and Munch groaned inwardly. It wouldn't kill him to have some tact; they might need him on their side later.

Something flickered across Kleppingers face, and then vanished. His face darkened. "I believe this is all a misunderstanding. You see, Marie" he said, putting emphasis while glaring at Fin "suffers from acute dementia and poryphia. She is a lost case, hooked on drugs and constantly running away. It's not like I don't care about my patients, but I cannot devote all my energy to one patient who's a lost cause, I have other patients who stand a chance in recovering." He was livid now; his face was an ugly shade of red and his eyes bulged out.

Then, as quickly as he got angry he calmed down. Smoothing his hair with his hand he sighed. "Well, I suppose I'll let you go see her. Bernard will escort you to her room. Bernard!"

Bernard was a hulking mass of flesh, with a small beady eye. The other eye was missing, and the gaping socket was covered with a thin film of cloth. He had a tuft of blond hair on his head and a scraggly beard that reached down to his massive chest. Looking at Munch, who looked like a thin stick compared to him, he smiled slowly. Munch held back a wave of revulsion. His teeth were tiny and round, like tiny pearls in a monsters mouth. He felt his hackles rise and in his head an alarm went off. A mix of his natural intuition and his numerous years on the street has given him the ability to size up a person at glance. There was something not right, something dangerous about this man. But he had no choice but to follow him as he started down a corridor.

The corridor was an ugly shade of green, somewhere between puce and pea colored. He stuck in the middle, trying to ward of the screams and moans of the insane. He was unsuccessful. Faces leered out at him as they screamed insults and babbled. After what seemed like an eternity the came to a small door. This one was heavily barred, with an electric lock instead of the usual key lock he saw in the other section. Bernard turned towards them.

"No hard objects and no weapons of any kind." He said, Munch nodded absently, he had been briefed at the car and both he and Fin had left their guns in the car. Somehow it didn't feel right, like a part of him was missing. Taking a small card out of his pocket, Barnard slid it through the lock and pushed the door open.

Taking a deep breath, Munch walked into the nightmare room.