Jack In The Box

I couldn’t stop the sobs that raked through my chest. Why did it have to happen with me? The worst feeling was how Aaron had looked at me with so much disgust. He was my superior, but more than that, he’d been my friend. The only man I’d looked up to and it killed me how he’d literally dismissed me out of his office. The accusatory look he’d passed me. He trusted me, but there was a definitely a shadow of a doubt where he wondered if I could possibly betray his trust.

I pulled out the paper tissues and blew my nose into it furiously, still crying.

If I saw Jackson in front of me right now, I’d kill him with my bare hands.

I heard a sound a few cubicles down from mine. When I’d entered the bathroom, I hadn’t paid attention enough to notice if anyone was using the other toilets because I thought it was obvious no one would. I’d purposely walked into the ladies restroom that belonged to the old wing which was situated close to the new wing but separated from the rest by a passageway and a stairway going down. There was a whole wing that was currently abandoned from hospital use and mostly only used by staff sometimes. No one came here.

So when I heard another sound, I thought my mind was just messing with me. If there really was someone in there apart from me, then they’d heard me crying.

And if they’d heard me crying, I would have to make up an excuse as to why I was crying.

Cautiously, I opened the door and noticed there was no one in the bathroom. I went and stood by the sink. I opened the faucet and splashed some water over my face. When I was done, I walked out of the restrooms.

The long passageway was spread out before me. Dark, and deserted. When I’d walked through it before isolating myself in the cubical, I hadn’t thought much of it because I was hurt and my mind preoccupied. Now that my head was in a clear state, the walk through the passage creeped me out. The lights above dimmed, and I knew that didn’t mean anything but I started to imagine all the slasher movie scenes. I walked two steps and made a run for it.

When I turned a corner, I stumbled and fell on the ground. It was Nurse Roxanne. Her body sprawled on the floor in a twisted angle, her eyes were vacant, staring upward.

She wasn’t alive. She was dead. I pulled myself up and ran down the hallway and out of the abandoned wing. I was scared and shaking by the time I reached Aaron’s office.

I didn’t even knock the door as I barged into the room.

Aaron glanced up from his papers. “You’ve been losing your wits, guess you’re losing some manners as well.”

I ignored the comment. “Aaron, the...the abandoned wing.” I stuttered. My entire body was shaking.

“What’s wrong? Why are you acting like you saw a ghost?”

“Nurse Roxanne. Roxy, I saw her sprawled on the floor. She was dead.” I said.

Aaron jumped out of his chair. “What?!”

“I saw her!” I said.

Aaron followed me outside and into the old wing. I led him to the place where I’d seen the body and gasped, my hand flying to my mouth.

The hallway was empty. There was no body there. No trace of anything, not even a drop of blood.

“Aaron, I wasn’t lying. I saw the body there. She was dead.”

Aaron sighed. “That’s enough Riley.” He placed his hand on my shoulders. “You’re just stressed with everything going on and you’re seeing things.”

“So you don’t believe me?”

here, I don’t see anything. How

body. How did it manage to vanish so fast? Had I really

called Maddy and told her how I’d been handed the suspension letter. She was shocked and said Aaron was being too harsh and that it wasn’t my fault. I felt nice talking to her by the end of the call. She said some of the nurses were going out for drinks this weekend to a club with a theme party. The theme being

sexy; totally club worthy. Plus it was my

A sexy witch.

heels that I hadn’t worn in a long time and doused myself in perfume, I was

to clear my head with all the crazy things happening,

as crowded as I thought it would be. Granted, we had turned up a bit earlier than necessary. People mostly didn’t turn up until mid-night. I met up with the girls near the bar, Maddy was dressed as Harley Quinn and another one of the nurse Jenna was dressed as a vampire. The others had bailed on us. I was kind of glad they had because I wasn’t really familiar with the other

the marathon.” Maddy commented, taking a bite of her fries. “It’s been a

eyes. “I’m good,

It needs some action.” Maddy said.“I’m your best

don’t you take your own advice and get laid

“I just did last night.

my brother Ken’s best friend. “Yeah. What about him? Did you

face. “Will you judge

what you’re gonna tell

babysit for his little sister so I agreed because he wanted to be there at a party. You already know, Conner is not my type and it was pretty apparent

had to be

a questioning look. She continued. “I put Cammy to sleep and then

at each other. Richard

mean, I used to hang out a lot with Conner at his house before when you first introduced me to him and that’s when I met Richard. He was in the navy and has a hot body, and is really experienced in areas I wish boys our age were. And

and he’s twenty years older

“I’ll handle him.” She looked dreamy. If she was a cartoon character, I could see hearts for her eyes. “Richard is seriously so mature and nice. He’s really not the pervy kind of older men that we usually see.” She stared into distance and I realized her eyes had glazed

hand

her head. “I wish my life wasn’t so complicated, Riley.” She

our age. She was more interested

each other, and if he makes you happy,

back to being playful again. “At least I like settled older men, but what about

fetish? And whats that if I may

teasing look. “Your fetish for bad guys, like

up, Maddy.” I said, my cheeks turning warm. I began fiddling with

know you have a thing for them. You’re

a thrill for all the bad people. Of course it didn’t justify for the atrocious crimes they committed but my obsessions had gone overboard until I’d started to feel ashamed of myself, the way I was ashamed that I was thinking of Jackson more than

she hadn’t spaced out but staring into a distance. At someone. “That guy’s staring at us. Oh no, he’s looking at

scary makeup. He wore a purple suit identical to the

down from the seat. “I...need to use

“Hey, wait!”

me a thumbs up before rushing into the crowd leaving me alone