She looked up at the sign on the door. "604," she breathed. She put a code into the keypad on the handle.
It bleeped and opened.
She peered into the room.
A dark haired man was on the metallic table, a white sheet pulled up to his neck. It looked as if he had just been cleaned up.
Albany could already feel something in her gut, it was the anger she felt before. She clenched her fists and stopped by the body's side. She looked at the paperwork left on the small table next to the patient's head. She ran her finger down until she found a name. "Theo Galavan," she looked back at his face.
"You want to learn about me..." a ghostly voice echoed in her head, "touch him."
Albany hovered her hand above the man's pale forehead.
The voice was more firm. "Touch him..."
She let her hand rest on his skin. An image flashed in her mind's eye.
She was standing in front of an audience. The lights blinded her eyes, she could only see the first few tables before her. She looked down to see she was in a magician-like costume. She could feel her lips letting out a wide smile.
A sharp pain hit her neck.
She turned to see the man known as Theo Galavan. The sharp pain was coming from the knife he had stabbed into her neck. She began to fall. The pain was unbearable. Her throat and mouth filled with blood, so much blood. She tried to talk, but it came out as nothing more than a gurgle.
Emotions filling her head. She couldn't decipher them, there were so many. It was overwhelming. The light began to fade away. The last thing she saw was Theo Galavan towering above her.
Albany ripped her hand from his skin. "You're the one that killed him." She stared at the body. She slapped him across the face, then jumped back. She held her fisted hands close to her chest, trying to stop shaking with the overwhelming anger that had nearly overcome her. She looked over at the door. She had to leave this room before she did something she regretted.
"This is Doctor Albany Lux speaking. The date is the fourth of April 2016. I am situated in lab 306 with patient 826. The patient had began shallow breathing. It is steady and faint alongside his heartbeat. Drip therapy has been increased to ensure the patient is receiving the vital fluids needed for further progress." The button clicked. "Right, sir, what shall it be today?" she took his arm in her hand. "It was this one wasn't it?" she felt the knotted muscle in his arm. She began to massage it to try and get it out. "I went into 604..." her eyes staid on his pale arm. "I hope there isn't much pain when you wake up." She glanced at his neck.
Stitches lined a large proportion of his neck, presumably where he was stabbed.
"It must have been horrible..." her thoughts trailed off. "Tell me, is it true what they say about your life flashing before your eyes?" she placed his arm back down and pulled a small light from her lab coat. She lifted his eyelid with a finger and shone the light in. She observed his pupil dilatation for a few seconds. "Once your breathing and heartbeat is stronger, you should be able to open your eyes. I think it will be a while before you can speak, possibly longer than other patients due to your injury." After checking the other eye she took a closer look at his neck. "It has healed nicely. Hopefully it has done just as well internally. Well, we will find out when you wake up, won't we?" she smiled. She placed the torch back in her pocket. "That dream last night, it was so clear." She ran her finger along his cheek. "You're getting stronger each day."
Jerome lay motionless.
"But do me a favour Mr Valeska." She moved closer to his ear. "Wake up soon and stop these dreams."
A figure stood in an alleyway. The moon illuminated the floor and threw shadows onto the walls.
Albany placed her hand on a stone wall to find her way towards the figure. She saw a glimmer of ginger hair. "Jerome?"
He was covered in blood.
Her hand shot to her mouth in horror.
Jerome held a knife. He pointed it towards the ground beside him.
Albany followed the knife's end and saw a figure slumped on the floor, a pool of blood around him. She crouched down in an attempt to identify him.
A chubby man, brunette hair, brown eyes, dressed in a cheap business suit.
She reached out to him.
"I do the touching, not you!" a voice shouted.
It was her father's voice.
She jumped back and was caught by hands behind her.
Jerome moved around in front of her and held out the knife.
She looked down at the silver weapon, blood covering most of the handle. She took it.
A smile crept onto Jerome's face. He stepped aside to clear her path.
Albany held the weapon by the blooded handle and looked upon the slummed man. She knelt down in front of him and held the knife high in the air with both hands.
"Trust me..."
She brought the knife down onto her father's chest.