8 Into darkness

From the cold air of the night grazing my skin, to the warm morning sunlight kissing my cheek and... Burning my corneas on the same occasion. I can't say my curtains are the best at keeping natural light out like I pray for them to do every morning. 

I turn to face the opposite way from the window, but that movement only drills the reality that the night is over further in, when I sense restriction in my motions. Then Memories of last night come flooding in; the date, Nathanael, the wolves, Nathanael being a... Werewolf? and finally, the thing that inconveniences me the most right now, the fact that I didn't get out of this stupid dress before falling asleep. 

I push my body off the bed and trudge closer to the window. I cast a not so meticulous look through the glass, take a moment to fully absorb and accept the idea that the world has yet to end since yesterday and that life goes on, still. 

My second stop after my window is none other than Izzy's room. She's the one that set me up on this date with him, after all. She ought to have more information about him; more than I've gotten out of him for sure. 

At this point, I can't even be bothered with knocking. I just sling the door to her room open. Only to find that she's already up and gone with the wind, very possibly to work. Which isn't that bothersome when I think about it. I'd planned on going to the hospital to see if I could use the labs anyways. I'll just see Izzy there. I wash and freshen up before getting into something more comfortable to walk in. I leave the apartment building shortly after that to head in the hospital's direction.

It feels odd and I am not sure I can express the why or the how of it. Only that it's odd to just amble the town's streets like nothing ever happened, not after the night I had yesterday. But, I have this itch on my lips that I can't seem to appease no matter how much I scratch. The need to talk about what I saw with someone, just to know that someone other than me can share these crazy thoughts that suck on my sanity, a little more with every minute that goes by. Not to mention, the heaviness I can't seem to shake off my shoulders. I'm not sure for how long I'm going to have to carry it with me, but it is getting tiring. The impression of being stalked isn't a fun one to have. It's constant, incessant and omnipresent. And yet, when I look around me, nothing seems to have changed. I see the same faces I always do every morning when I go to work, approximately the same number of people. Nobody that stands out. Simply nothing out of the ordinary…

What feels odder, however. Perhaps, a little more than I thought it would, is this sensation overtaking me as I walk through the hospital doors... It has only been two months since I quit and yet it feels like a century. I miss working here with every cell in my body and yet... I can't wait to get shit done and leave, as soon as I possibly can.

I head straight towards the reception desk. I know it's Izzy's shift so, she should be here. But upon arrival, I can't see her anywhere. I take a seat across from the reception desk and wait for a few minutes. During this time, I note that it's an overall quiet morning, as per usual for a Sunday, of course; but for every other day as well, come to think of it. From time to time, I catch sight of a nurse or a doctor occasionally walking in and out of rooms. But other than that, the hallway ahead of me remains pretty much empty. I breath in the scent that has been lingering in my nose ever since I left this place. A bitter taste builds up in the back of my throat as I recall the last time, I walked this hallway. I thought I'd never be able to set foot here again, considering the circumstances in which I'd left, but here I am. Desperate needs call for desperate... Whatever. 

Five minutes in, and I decide that I'll talk to Izzy later, once I'm done with the labs. Fortunately enough for me, and as I said before, the hallways don't seem to be all that crowded. The hospital hasn't been equipped with security cameras yet, so I'll add that to the list of small blessings I have so far. Perfect grounds for me to sneak in and out of the labs without drawing eyes towards myself. Well, except for the pair of eyes I constantly feel on my being but... Hell. The fact that I know this place like the back of my hand doesn't hurt either. 

I reach the large, white double doors that I've been walking towards in the matter of four minutes tops. The hospital isn't really all that big for someone to lose their way in it. I pause and ponder on either I am truly going through with this or not. Torn between the desire to see my workstation once more and the disdain I've harboured towards myself for the past two months. I feel like gravity is rising underneath my feet, pulling me lower and closer to the ground beneath me. I feel invisible chains entangle my heart. I feel... Many things at this moment. Nevertheless, what needs to be done has to be done.

I peek through the small crack I made when I slightly opened the door. I thought I'd at least find someone inside since the doors were unlocked. A not so Virtuous Someone could easily sneak in here and seriously damage the equipment or loot the place. The chemicals and testing gear in here aren't cheap, but well... I don't work here anymore, I don't need to get my panties in a twist over this kind of negligence.

Whatever the case maybe, I just need to get what I came here for done. I do my best to block everything else in my mind out. I pull the plastic evidence bag out of my backpack. I do the necessary to handle everything with as much care as I can. First things first, I am already hindered by the fact that I can't get a viable sample off of the shredded purse. All of the saliva tests available here rely on having a certain quantity of fluid. So, all of those are already crossed off the list. I could try to pick a few traces of it for the microscope. Although, I am not sure what I am supposed to be looking for. I know that wolves are carnivores, therefore, their saliva should be more acidic than that of humans and herbivores but again... I can't test for acidity. I also know that wolves' saliva may contain a number of antiseptics and antibacterial, as well as different kinds of bacteria to that of human saliva, which explains why it helps for them to lick their wounds. 

"Rosie? What are you doing here?" 

"Izzy. How did you know I was in here?" I say after I spun around to see her standing at the doors.

I'd poured my entire focus into my sight, hoping something concrete would translate under the microscope lenses, that I completely forgot where I was. Well,... Where I am…

"Emily told me you were waiting at the reception, but when I got there you were already gone. I tried calling you, but your phone is off," she says as she waves her phone in hand.

So much for sneaking in undetected, I guess, "And naturally, you just assumed I'd come here?" I ask.

"Actually, I was a bit surprised. I assumed you'd never want to come back here after quitting but well... The first thing I did was go by Whitemane's room. I thought you wanted to know more about Nathanael after your date with him," 

I cringe a bit at the thought. I must admit, she did offend me a little with those words, "That would've been extremely inappropriate, I am not that creepy now, am I?" 

"Of course not. You wouldn't have barged in with one thousand and one questions about their relative that you went out on one date with. No, you would've pretended to be a nurse and collected all the information you needed from that poor woman," she explained.

"So, it's a woman?" I utter a bit too hastily before correcting myself, "I mean, you really have no faith in me, have you?" 

"Rosie, I have known you for years and we are at a point where I am literally setting you up on dates with complete strangers and you still go out on them anyways. Even when You don't seem to be the least bit interested. Now, I don't know if you do that out of curiosity or boredom, all I know now, is that you're out of fucks to give," she speaks with a more serious tone. I know her like she knows me, whenever she does take that tone with me, it means she's not angry, she's not upset. It means she's disappointed. She drags a chair and sits closer to me, her eyes on my gloved hands.

"Ouch... Well, that hurts," 

"You sneaked into the hospital labs for god knows why so, spare me your bullshit, please. Just... What's wrong with him? What's not to your liking this time around?" she says.

"Okey. One, I went on one date with the guy and there's plenty to dislike about him," lord knows there is, "Two, What's with the attitude?" I already know the reason behind her attitude, I just think it is misplaced. I get her frustration with me, I really do. But at the end of the day, she'll have to accept that she can't live vicariously through me. No matter how close to each other we are.

"nothing... It's just...Forget it," she sighs, "So, what are you doing here anyway? I know you miss your old job but, I don't think it's the only reason you snuck in here," 

"Look, I know I am being weird, but I can't explain everything right here, right now. I really need everything you know about this relative of his,"

She sighs again, this time a little longer than before, "Well, you're a little out of luck. All I had access to was her name, her room number and the major cause of her hospitalization, car accident. I tried to get more about her from her chart, but for some reason, the nurses were instructed to never leave her chart in the room. In fact, I think I only ever saw one doctor and one nurse go in her room; besides her family members I mean,"

"Which doctor was it?" I ask.

"Doctor Dale. He personally tended to her case," she says.

"Wait, why did you try to get more information about her?"

"I don't know. Just seemed fishy after a while,"

"And you still thought it was a good idea for me to go out on a date with her relative?"

"More or less. Rosie? What happened last night? Please, just tell me. It's... me...C'mon," she begs as she glances between me and the shredded purse nearby.

"I know, I know. I promise I'll tell you everything. It's just too complicated and... Crazy for now, I need to make sense out of it first. Can you get me a copy of the information you have about her? That, and I'll have to find a way to get her complete file from Dr.Dale," 

"I really don't like this... I don't like this. No. Not one bit," she admits.

"Yeah well, you set me up on that date with him. So, deal with it now,"

"Alright, I'll...," she doesn't get to finish her sentence, her phone buzzes in her pocket. 

She's being called at the reception. She picks herself up and walks out of the lab after promising to get me what I'd asked of her. 

Immediately after she'd disappeared behind the doors, my full attention fell back on what I had on hand before she came in. I try and I try but keep failing to distinguish anything under the microscope. Nothing that would prove the attack ever happened. Wolves don't really run wild around Grimesbrook so again, the best anybody will believe is that my purse was munched by a dog.

The police might have a better chance at proving it was a wolf's bite. It might even become a priority considering the disappearances could be the doing of these wolves... But then again, ordinary wolves wouldn't be this good at covering their tracks. I mean, no bodies? Nothing? I know for a fact, I wasn't facing ordinary wolves yesterday so...

I fall so deep into my contemplations that I completely fail to notice the presence behind me. Come to think of it, I didn't hear the door open or close... I turn around just in time to spot a figure standing behind me. Female I think, I can't be sure. All I have the time to see is her long hair before I feel a sudden, sharp and searing pain to the head; everything went black after that...