TESTED
Janelle Stalder
She was
going to be sick. Missy followed the heavyset woman in front of her down a
hallway that
was so
stark and white it made her want to reach down and tear her shoes off, just in
case she
happened
to be bringing dirt in with her. It was eerily silent too, except for the sound
of their
footsteps.
The woman, Margaret, led them into a small office. One look at her desk and
Missy could
tell the
same sanitary standards from out in the hall did not apply here.
Old coffee
cups and wrappers littered the surface amongst the mounds of paperwork. How
the woman
managed to accomplish anything was baffling. Taking a seat, Missy tried to keep
her
focus on
Margaret as she made her way around to her own chair, rather than on the
disaster between
them.
“Thank you
for coming in on such short notice,” said Margaret. The bland, abrupt tone of
her voice
suggested otherwise.
Plastering
on her best fake smile, Missy said, “It was my pleasure. I was very excited to
hear
I’d been
called back.” That wasn’t a lie.
After the
disaster of finding a way over into the eastern ghetto, (something she never
wanted
to
experience again), and navigating her way around the other side of the city all
alone to locate
Bridgette’s
old apartment where she was currently staying. Then approaching this place to
present
her resume
and afterward having to wait a whole week without hearing back, she was way
beyond
excited to
be sitting where she was. A huge part of her had been starting to think all her
effort had
been for
nothing when she hadn’t heard back from them.
When the
nice woman who lived next door, Karen, passed along the message that someone
from the
Institute of Medical Advances had come around looking for her, Missy had
literally jumped
for joy.
The message simply stated that they wanted another meeting with her. Hopefully
this meant
she was
getting a job. Otherwise she was going to have to figure out a way to get back
into the
western
ghetto. She shuddered at the thought.
“We’ve
recently become rather short staffed and are looking for someone to help with
our
evening
shift,” she said. “Would you be available for something like that?”
Considering
she was alone in an area she knew absolutely nothing about, the answer was a
resounding
yes. Getting her sister to finally let her leave had been more than difficult,
even though
Michael
had given Missy his phone in case they needed to contact each other. She’d
never realized
just how
stubborn Phoenix could be. Or how ridiculously emotional, if her constant
crying on the
day Missy
had left was any indication. However, when Missy had actually arrived in her
new
apartment,
a massive step forward for her and an incredible act of independence, she’d
instantly
regretted
fighting so hard to leave.
Not that
she’d been suffering her from usual panic attacks. Those had surprisingly been
few
and far
between. Most likely that was due to the fact that Missy hadn’t really need to
leave the
apartment,
other than to get food when she ran out. No, it was more because of the
unnerving quiet
in the
place. She was just so used to having people around. The girls had been a
constant presence,
and all of
them loud and rambunctious. Well, except Pixie. Now she had no one to keep her
sane,
and as she
had waited to hear back from the institute, she had realized just how nice it
was to have
the people
she loved around her.
But she
was doing this for Tyler. She had reminded herself of that constantly as the
hours
ticked by
and her anxiety grew. Any time she’d had the urge to call her sister and beg to
come home,
she’d
reminded herself that Tyler could be experiencing horrible things under the
instructions of
Douglas
Hatcher. She was finally doing something to actually help her sister and the
others, and she
wasn’t
about to back out now.
“I’m
available for whatever you need,” Missy replied.
“Perfect.”
Margaret slammed a thick folder on the table, making Missy jump. “We need you
to handle
the dinner shift, as well as any blood samples we might need, and anything else
that might
come up
throughout the night. How do you feel about needles?”
“I don’t
mind them if they’re not poking me,” she answered honestly.
The other
woman actually smiled at that. “I know what you mean. That’s good then. The
evening
shift starts at six and ends at six. It’s not easy but you’ll be well
compensated.”
Missy
nodded. She couldn’t have cared less about the money, since she wasn’t planning
on
sticking
around long enough to really earn much. As soon as she found Tyler, she was
getting them
out. If
she found Tyler.
“I’ll need
you to read over the rules before you start. I’m also going to provide you with
a
uniform.”
“Rules?”
“Regarding
the patients,” explained Margaret. “We do very specific, unique testing here at
the
institute. Some of our patients are rather…dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
Missy gulped, her mouth quickly going dry.
The woman
laughed at her horrified expression. “Don’t worry, dear. All the patients are
secured in
individual rooms. They won’t be able to get at you. Each door has an opening
where you
can slide
their dinner trays through. It’s perfectly safe.”
“What
about when I need to take blood?” Missy asked. She was starting to wonder if
this
was as
good of an idea as she’d originally thought. Just find Tyler
quickly, and none of this will matter, her
inner
voice said.
“Our male
technicians will have them properly restrained when that happens, not to worry.”
Easy
for you to say, thought Missy.
She passed
a single sheet of paper over. “These rules just state that you’re not to enter
the
rooms,
under any circumstance. Some patients will try to trick you into opening their
door. For no
reason are
you to do that, do you understand?”
Missy
nodded.
“There are
also some points there about any interaction with the patients. Some might try
to
speak with
you, but we advise you to keep any communication brief and limited with them.”
“Okay…”
Margaret
smiled, standing up. “I’ll go retrieve your uniform while you look it over.
When is
the
earliest you can start?”
Missy
looked away from the paper to stare at the other woman. “Whenever you need me,”
she said.
“Great,
you can start tomorrow.”
Her feet
hurt, her back hurt, if it were possible she’d even say her hair hurt. For two
nights now
Missy had
been following her co-worker, Heather, around, learning everything there was to
know
about the
institute. It was practically a jail, except the sounds from the prisoners were
possibly
worse. She’d
never been in a prison, but Missy couldn’t image anything being more disturbing
than
this
place.
Her job
was simple really – deliver food through a small slot, and move on. So far she
hadn’t
had to
have any actual interaction with the faceless people behind the doors. Heather
was nice
enough.
She liked to talk and Missy had no problem simply listening.
However,
she was getting increasingly more frustrated. Not because of the other girl,
but
because
she hadn’t had one glimpse of Tyler in the entire time she’d been there over
the last couple
of days.
Considering she hadn’t seen anyone, period,
she was starting to wonder what the chances
were that
she was even going to be able to find him in the extensive building.
The doors
had no windows in them, so it was impossible to even try and get a peek inside,
unless she
were to bend down and try to look through the meal slot, but that would look
weird and
suspicious.
And since she’d been stuck with Heather the entire time, there was absolutely
no way of
doing
something like that even if she’d wanted to.
What if he
wasn’t even here? There was absolutely no way for her to tell for sure. And
working
nights was starting to take a serious toll on her body. Working until the wee
hours of the
morning
was hard enough, but then she had to go home to a place she wasn’t quite
comfortable
with yet,
and try to sleep when daylight lit the room. Thankfully Bridgette had some dark
curtains to
block out
most of the light, but it was still difficult. Her body wanted to be up when
the rest of the
world was.
Her sleep was off, her eating habits were starting to become atrocious, and
overall she
just felt
like crap. Having no progress in what she was meant to be doing here wasn’t
helping.
Sitting at
the nurses’ station, she let her head fall down onto her folded arms to have a
quick
minute of
rest. The dinners had already been given out, so it would be another twenty
minutes or so
before
they had to make the rounds. Their ‘inspection rounds’ were a joke. It
consisted of them
walking
down the hall and calling out to each patient through the door. The patient
responds and
they move
on. Missy had asked what happened when they didn’t respond, and Heather just
shrugged
her shoulders saying, “We just keep going. We’re not allowed to go in the room
and check
on them,
in case they’re tricking us.”
A tapping
sound had Missy lifting her head, her body stiffening at the sight of a man
standing
on the other side of the counter. He wore a similar outfit to the ones they
wore, plain white
scrubs, so
she knew he worked here. That didn’t help ease the discomfort at having a man
she didn’t
know so
close. Even though she knew there was nothing to worry about. They were in a
workplace,
where
other people were. What was the worst that could happen? Of course, her mind
was never
quite
rational in these situations.
“Evening,”
he said with a smile. She didn’t like the feeling his smile gave her, or the
way his
eyes took
her in slowly.
“Hello,”
replied Missy.
“I have a
patient that needs some blood taken for the doctors. I was told to come and get
the new
girl,” he explained. “All the other nurses are busy. And since I don’t recall
ever seeing you
before, I’m
going to assume you’re the new girl.”
She
nodded.
“Geoff,”
he introduced, reaching out a hand.
“Missy,”
she said, shaking his hand quickly before pulling her hand away. “I haven’t
taken
blood yet.
Do I need to bring something with me?”
“Heather
set the tray up for you over in room B. I’ll walk you over.”
Palms
sweating, Missy stood up and followed him down the empty halls.
“I’m
warning you,” he said, breaking the silence, “this one is a bit aggressive, but
don’t let
him scare
you. There’s no way he can hurt you.”
She had to
consciously force her feet to keep moving while every nerve in her body
screamed
for her to turn and run. This was overwhelming and her heart was likely to beat
right out
of her
chest any moment. By the time they reached the room, she was sure she was about
to have a
heart
attack.
Wiping her
hands on her pants, she looked down at the needle and vials laid out for her,
and
forced
herself to calm down before entering the room. Holding on to the tray, knuckles
white, Missy
followed
Geoff into the room where two other male technicians stood in front of a third
restrained
to a
chair. They parted at their entrance to reveal a very pissed off looking, and
disturbingly
breathtaking
as he pulled at his restraints, Tyler.
Their eyes
met and her hands instantly started to tremble. Without her realizing it, Missy
had
completely
stopped moving. She stood, staring at him with a mixture of horror and relief
that she’d
finally
found him. Those clear green eyes swept down her slowly before rising to meet
her gaze once
more.
She felt
trapped and spellbound by that stare that pinned her to where she stood. Even
her
lungs
seemed to have stopped working as she held her breath at the sight of him.
Silently Missy
prayed
that he wouldn’t let on they knew each other. Obviously he would realize she
was there to
save him,
so they needed to play it cool before any of the other three men in the room
suspected
something
was off.
A low
growl vibrated from Tyler as he slightly curled back his upper lip, his sights
still locked
on her.
Missy instinctively took a step back. When he spoke, it was only one word, said
so darkly
and
huskily she almost missed what it was.
“Mine.”
