It was just a normal day at Darkplace Hospital which means it wasn't normal at all. Abnormal is the norm at Darkplace. Confused? Get used to it.

Dr. Rick Dagless, a strikingly handsome (but not in a girly or pretty boy way) young man strutted down the halls of Darkplace. He thought to himself Darkplace is a suitable name for this hospital, given the strange and dark things that so often occur here. What can you expect when you build a hospital upon the opening of the portal to hell? Nothing good, that's for certain.

Darkplace suited Dagless and not just because it was well-lit. Dagless had a darkness inside of him. Everyone he had ever loved had died. Some people say everyone they ever loved has died but actually, they just mean their grandparents and maybe their mum and dad. Guess what? Everyone's grandparents die. Now when a child dies, that is very sad. And when that child was part grasshopper? All the more tragic. The story of how Dagless came to have and lose his grasshopper son is a sorry tale for another time. Perhaps someday that story will be told, but not here. Seriously, don't expect to learn any more about that story than you already have.

xxx

Snuggles licked his little hand and rubbed it over his ears because, that's how rats clean their faces.

But Snuggles was no ordinary rat.

Or was he?

Fluffy, Jingle-Bells and Blinky were happily eating their bits of lettuce, not a thought in their furry little heads. Not one of them was over a year old. What did they know of death?

Snuggles was nearly five. He'd seen the world from his metal cage. He'd lost more friends than Blinky'd had hot meals.

But then, rats generally don't eat hot meals.

Snuggles didn't know why he alone had survived of his litter of seven. He could not comprehend why he still lived when so many of his companions had died. Was he special? Was he indeed meant for greatness?

"Probably," he thought to himself.

Snuggles watched the humans in their lab coats as they scuttled about the room. The humans were always about: giving them food and water, cleaning their cages, injecting them with long needles, shaving their fur and covering them with cologne. Snuggles had never minded the humans. There had been one or two who had sprayed him in the eye with perfume but for the most part, they seemed decent folk. One human had forced them all to watch really violent television but the program turned out to be quite entertaining and had a moral that justified the violence so, in fact, the rats not only didn't become violent as a result of watching the violent program, they actually became better rats in the moral sense.

No, Snuggles didn't mind the humans but he didn't care for them either. He was a rat, first and foremost and his loyalty was to his people.

And his people were rats.

xxx

Dr. Liz Asher nibbled a humble salad, casting an envious eye towards Dagless' double cheeseburger. The handsome young doctor could eat anything he liked and still be very attractive in a manly way.

Liz often found it difficult to balance the twin responsibilities of watching her figure and being a doctor at Darkplace Hospital but she persevered. She couldn't bear to let Dagless down, not when he gave his whole life to the hospital. It was almost as though he loved helping people too much.

"That was some case we had last night, Liz," astutely observed Dagless, "It's not often we get a case of a person with multiple personalities and some of them are suffering from amnesia."

"I think that case had all our heads spinning," Liz laughed luxuriously.

"Metaphorically, yes," Dagless clarified, "If any of our heads had actually been spinning, it would have been an even more complicated situation than it already was and it was already pretty damned complicated".

What Liz didn't know was that two of the woman's personalities were in love with Dagless but he only loved one of them in return.

It was just another day at Dark Place.

Just then, Lucian Sanchez came swaggering into the hospital dining room. He could be a bit of a hotshot with his fiery Latin blood and sometime he and Dagless butted heads but mostly they were buddies.

"Hey there, Buddy," Sanchez called as he approached their table, "Hey there, Liz. You're looking thin today. Are you losing weight?"

Sanchez was quite the ladies' man, he knew just what to say to make a woman lose her wits, even one who was smart enough to be a doctor.

Liz blushed and played with her salad, "Oh, Dr. Sanchez. You know just what to say to a girl. Sit down with us and eat. I'm sure you've been on your feet more than enough already today. We doctors certainly do need to work hard."

"You speak the truth, Liz," Sanchez agreed before turning to Dagless and saying, "Out of the mouths of babes, eh, Dag?"

Sanchez often called Dr. Rick Dagless, Dag. It was part of his devil-may-care personality.

"Let's hope we can have one quiet day in this hospital with no major disasters," Dagless mused, his dark eyes flashing with intelligence, "We could all use a break for once."

"You're not kidding," Liz eagerly agreed, "I'm up to a pot of coffee a day."

"You'd better watch it, Liz," warned Sanchez, "Your teeth will turn yellow and you won't be able to get a boyfriend."

Liz gasped and covered her mouth, worried about the caffeine stains on her teeth when she realized Dagless was laughing. The boys were having a laugh again. They were brilliant doctors but the were still laddish in their free time.

"It isn't nice to tease, Dr. Sanchez," scolded Liz. Dagless watched his colleagues bicker with a fond smile. He was far more complicated than his peers, despite his relative youth, because of all the pain he'd suffered in his life. His eyes held the pain of the years but his face remained youthful and generally unlined.

"Oh, Liz, you know I only tease you because I love you," Sanchez responded in a voice so creamy you could put it in your coffee, "In a purely professional manner, of course."

"Of course," Liz agreed though her expression indicated she would have preferred Sanchez weren't joking. Although she was an educated doctor and nearly a woman, Dr. Liz Asher could be a huge girl. She had crushes on Dagless and Sanchez. Mainly, she loved Dagless but sometimes, when Dagless had more interesting female prospects, Liz would turn her full attention to Sanchez. Peoples' feelings often fluctuate over time and it does not make her character 'inconsistent' if she fancies different men from time to time.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen much of you these past six months, Sanchez," Dagless adroitly observed, "Where have you been, buddy?"

"Excellent question," Sanchez acknowledged.

"I wish I'd thought to ask that question," Liz whispered to herself.

"Like I said, excellent question, Dag," observed Sanchez, "I've been working in the lab with the rats. I'm studying a new drug I've created to cure diabetes and I need to use rat subjects."

"Do the rats in the lab have diabetes?" asked Liz as she patted her golden curls.

"They do now," explained Sanchez.

"I assume you have yet to cure diabetes, Sanchez," observed Dagless, always ready to tease the handsome Latino, "If you had done something that impressive, you would surely have told us about it already, if only to impress any nearby women."

"Oh, Dag, you know me too well! No. I have not yet cured diabetes but I believe the day will come when diabetes will be a thing of the past. We'll all be able to live entirely on Mars bars and wine gums with no ill effect," spoke Sanchez with a passion that made his words all the more compelling. Words that reflected not just the thoughts and dreams of Sanchez but, in fact, of many other people as well.

"So, I guess there'll be no Mars bars for your rats, then," quipped Liz.

"Don't be silly, Liz," corrected Dagless, "No one feeds Mars bars to rats. It would be

terrible for their digestion."

Liz tried and failed to hold back her tears. Dagless and Sanchez shared a warm smile over the head of their silly girl of a colleague.