"Leroy, what are you doing?" Mary Margaret asked.
"I'm selling candles sister," he said.
Jerome was new, and so it was understandable that he got lost. He was minding his own business, sweeping the halls, and the lights went off. Jerome had been afraid off hospitals his whole life, and of the dark. One may think then, that it made no sense for him to be working in the basement of a hospital, but it was an easy job. At least, he thought it would be easy enough. But when the lights went out, he found himself alone, in the dark, in the basement of a hospital.
He groped around in front of him, trying to remember where the door was. He walked for a while, before he found it. He sighed in relief, and and unbolted it. He stepped in, and it immediately struck him that something was wrong. He was in one of the cells. He backed out, heading for the door.
"Who's there?" someone asked. He dived out the door and tried to close it behind him. He heard a sick crunching noise, and someone screamed. Whoever was in the cell had stuck their foot in the door to keep it from closing. He let up on the door, and it burst open. The occupant limped off, footsteps heavy, whimpering in pain.
"Whoever's there, stop!" he said. He got up, but it was pitch black. he couldn't see a thing. He found the wall, and walked along it: in the opposite direction as the escapee.
The woman held back a scream as she ran as fast as she could. She felt a door, and opened it. It was lighter here, and a lot more open. There were people here, so she crept along the wall, to a back exit. She slipped out the door, into the night outside, amazed that she'd made it this far. If she could just make it home- but where was home? She looked left and right down the street, and turned, walking away.
Archie Hopper was going home. There were no lights, and he had candles at home. He walked out of his office, and turned the corner. When he was just a few streets down from his house, he saw a woman in a hospital gown, limping down the street. He walked over to her.
"Are you alright?" he asked. She turned, startled, face contorting in pain as she put weight on her left foot. Archie looked down, and tried not to gag as he saw he foot. He took her hand.
"Come on, I'll take you to the hospital," he said.
"No no no no," the woman said, pulling away. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.
"You're hurt," he protested.
"No, I can't go there," she said, backing up. Archie held out his hands.
"Alright, no hospital. I can take you to..." he thought. "My house," he decided. He had lights there.
The woman gasped in pain as she sat in the chair. Archie sat down on the floor, and looked at her foot, wondering what to do. He had no idea what to do with something like this.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Archie asked.
She nodded.
"Because I don't know how to help you," he said. He sat there, thinking a few minutes. He looked up at her.
"Is it okay of I get a doctor to come here?" he asked. She thought about it, and then nodded.
"I need to change first though. They can't see me in this," she said, gesturing to the hospital gown. She looked up at Archie. "Do you have any clothes I could borrow?" she asked.
"Umm, sure, their men's clothes though," he said. She nodded.
"That's okay," she said. He went to get the clothes, and she limped her way to the bathroom. He cracked the door open and passed the clothes in, and went to call Dr. Whale while she was dressing.
Dr. Whale stood.
"Just don't do anything crazy with it for a few days, and you'll be fine," he said, indicating her now bandaged foot, which was badly bruised, but, miraculously, not broken.
She nodded. "Thank you Dr. Whale," she said. He nodded, walking over to the door.
"Give me a call if it's hurting to much, I'll give you something for the pain," he said. She nodded again, and he walked out. Archie sat down in the chair across from her. "What's your name?" he asked, curious.
She looked like she was thinking hard. "Umm... give me a minute, I haven't... I mean, it's been long time since I..." she trailed off, looking out into space. He cleared his throat, and she looked back at him. She smiled. "Diane," she said. "My name is Diane Mason," she said.