The lights are flickering on and off. They always flicker after hours in this hospital. It’s so creepy here. The walls are falling apart and the floors are covered in grime.
Seeing as though this place is for healing people, you’d think there would be more funding put into it. But hospitals are businesses, and as of right now, this place doesn’t make much money. Not many people work here either. Everyone agrees hospitals are necessary, but nobody wants to work at one.
I’m the only nurse here, now that it’s after dark. I have two floors worth of patients to keep an eye on. Luckily, most of them can take care of themselves. But I still have to spend a lot of time walking down dimly lit corridors tonight. Some are even pitch black. I wish I had a flashlight.
I’ve spent most of the night walking back and forth between three rooms. There’s old Jones with the broken leg. There’s Agatha, who’s comatose and on a ventilator. And then there’s Cliff.
What can I say about Cliff? I’ve never met anyone like him before. He doesn’t speak. He hardly even moves. He just stares at the ceiling with his mouth open. It’s uncanny. Almost as if he’s not even alive. Like a corpse that can still walk and talk.
I poke my head into his room. As always, he’s just lying there in bed, staring off into space. We have him hooked up to a heart rate monitor just in case something happens to him. Besides his catatonia, his heart rate is way slower than it should be. I heard there was something wrong with his brain waves, too. We don’t know what his problem is.
“Are you doing all right in here, Cliff?” I ask him, just as a courtesy. “Is there anything I can get for you?”
He turns to look at me slowly. His expression doesn’t change. He just looks at me with wide eyes and his mouth open, like a dying fish. Creeped out, I leave the room.
Cliff is still on my mind as I check on Jones and Agatha again. I heard he’s been doing worse and worse lately. He might not be much longer for this world. But it’s almost like he wasn’t here in the first place. At least, as far as I can tell.
As I head down the hall to check on Cliff again, I hear a floorboard creak. I pause and tilt my head. Is one of the patients out of their room? Do they need me?
I hear movement up ahead, and tense reflexively.
One of our emotional support cats, Casey, dashes past me. I sigh with relief. For a second, I thought someone was in trouble.
I walk into Cliff’s room.
He’s convulsing. The heart monitor keeps going up and down and up and down. His lips are trembling and turning blue, as if he can’t get enough air. His ragged gasps are filling the room.
I bite my lip and will myself not to panic. I’ve seen people die before. There’s nothing I can do for Cliff now besides try to comfort him.
“Cliff?” I ask. “Cliff, can you hear me? It’s going to be okay.”
I walk closer to him. As he does, his head lolls to the side and his heart rate slows to a crawl. He’s barely alive at this point. I’ve seen this happen before. In my medical opinion, he only has a few minutes left. I should probably move on to the other patients.
I turn to leave.
The lights go out. At the same time, a figure appears.
“Don’t scream,” the figure says, closing the door behind it.
I take a step back towards Cliff, aghast.
“What the hell?!” I demand. “Who are you?! What are you doing here?!”
“Keep your voice down,” the figure insists, taking a step towards me. “You’ll frighten the other patients.”
“Turn the lights back on!” I order.
“I would prefer not to,” the figure replies. “The lights… hurt.”
I try to calm down a little. Whoever this person is, they seem reasonable enough. Though I still have no idea who the hell they are or what they’re doing here.
I sit down in the chair next to Cliff’s bed. It’s there just in case Cliff gets a visitor. But he never gets visitors. And it’s a bit late for that now. His heart rate is still very slow.
“What are you doing here?” I ask the figure. “Are you some kind of psycho?” I sneer. “Do you want to hurt me?”
The figure glares at me. “If I did, you would already be dead.”
I swallow hard. I can barely see the ominous silhouette in this light. It doesn’t look human. Its limbs are too long and its frame is too tall. And what kind of human has horns? It doesn't seem to have a mouth, either. And its entire body seems strangely devoid of detail. Like a shadow seen from a distance.
“What do you want?” I ask again.
The figure looks down at me. I notice how sharp its claws are. “I…” It starts. “I cannot stay long. I wanted to talk to you before I had to leave.”
“Well, make it quick,” I retort. “I have a lot of patients to check on tonight.”
The figure chuckles. “Always so dedicated to your patients. I admired that about you.”
“What?” I ask, disturbed. I narrow my eyes at the thing. “How long have you been watching me?”
The figure looks at Cliff uncomfortably.
“For some time,” it replies vaguely. “I’ve seen you and what you do. You care for these people. You want them to get better. Even if they have nothing to give you in return. The people in charge of you… they do not care the same way. They see these patients as a source of income. You humans have corrupted the very concept of medicine. But you… you understand the point of it. To make people better, not to line your pockets. I… I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate it. I always thought that you humans were all evil. You’ve shown me that maybe I was wrong. Thank you.”
“Uh…” I don’t know what I was expecting this thing to say, but a heartfelt expression of gratitude was somewhere near the bottom of the list. “You’re welcome?”
The figure sighs. “I’m sorry to have frightened you. I must be wasting your time.”
“Hmm? Oh, no,” I reply, startled. “Uh, you’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like.” Even as I say it, I wince. This thing might be friendly, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t scare the hell out of me.
“Oh, no, no,” the figure replies. “I must be going soon anyway. And you have patients to check up on.”
“No, I insist,” I say.
The beast sighs again. “Thank you. But I must be going.”
Cliff’s heart rate flatlines. The being disappears. The lights come back on.
And I finally make the connection in my mind.