Interlude 2-3: Closing Time
Interlude 2-3: Closing Time
It had been quite a few weeks since Rubble had been admitted to the hospital after the Inkwell House job. Weeks of rest, physical therapy, and more than one surgery on his leg. Fortunately, between what little insurance he did have, his friend’s generous contributions, and a little help from a certain local wealthy family, his only out-of-pocket was the copious amounts of not-hospital food he kept getting smuggled into his room. His nurses would probably be much more agitated about that if he hadn’t been sharing.
The boys had been visiting constantly in the last few weeks, and the girls even dropped by on occasion. Mostly Indigo, by virtue of them not actually having been able to go on a date yet. Apparently, cafeteria food and the in-house movie didn’t count, which Rubble made sure to file away for later. She’d brought a friend or two with her on occasion, like Sunny Flare or Lemon Zest, who both gave Rubble the distinct impression that they came along mostly because they didn’t like to be left out of anything. That and Zest seemed to get a kick out of Rubble’s many, many monster hunting stories.
Today brought with it a rather large gathering of people, as it was the day Rubble was due to be checked out: just in time, too, as Thanksgiving was only a week away. It was one of Rubble’s favorite holidays, even given his rather small family, as he liked food as much as the next teenage boy. There were a few other, more personal reasons, but mostly it was food. His mom, as busy as she was, had somehow worked it into her schedule in the last few years to become an amazing cook, by teenage boy standards.
The aforementioned crowd consisted of his three closest friends, naturally, Indigo, and a couple of girls from Crystal Prep he’d only met once or twice ever. As indigo ushered her friends into the room, Rubble and the boys all greeted the crowd with an assortment of raised eyebrows welcoming smiles.
“Uh, nice to see you too, Zap, but what’s with the entourage?” Rubble grunted, having been rudely awakened only a few minutes before by an obnoxiously cheerful Double D, and thus had yet to work all of the sleep out of his eyes, or voice. Spooky had just taken a seat by the door and watched, while Treble was currently floating around outside the room, as there wasn’t much space to congregate. It helped that he’d developed a sort of flirty repartee with Nurse Redheart.
Indigo shrugged sheepishly as she took a seat at the foot of the hospital bed. “We actually just came from a… thing. Not really a party? I mean-”
“It was a book signing,” one of the girls answered. The one with pigtails and light blue skin. Oh yeah, Sugarcoat. And the other one is… Sun something. Something something road flare jokes SUNNY Flare! Got it, Rubble remembered. “And the library is only a block away, so we came here to pick you up on the way home,” she explained tersely.
“Really?” Spooks asked brightly.
“JESUS,” Sunny barked, jumping half a foot away. “Where the hell did you come from?!”
Spooks shrugged. “Yeah, I get that a lot. Anyway, who was doing the signing?”
“Just a local author, Title Paige. She writes a murder mystery series I enjoy,” Sugarcoat explained, making some room for herself to sit down on the windowsill amidst the balloons and flowers.
Spooky racked his brain. “Nope, sorry. Can’t say I know her. I read mostly grimoires and history books.”
“Why does that not surprise me,” Zap deadpanned. “So listen, we got the van all fixed up, and there’s plenty of room to stretch out, so you should totally come with us!”
Dusty and Spooks shared glances. “Um, not that we don’t mind pawning his grumpy ass off on someone else, especially since the only car we have between us is his ratty old station wagon,” Dusty started, “But why are you trying to hijack our cripple again?”
Rubble leveled a glare at Dusty that could have reforged a beach into a stained-glass window. “Setting aside the many, many things in that statement that make me angry, he has a point. What gives?”
Indigo shrugged unconvincingly. “Awww, no reason, I just thought-”
“She wants to see the hideout,” Sugarcoat interjected.
“Dude!”
The pigtailed girl raised an eyebrow as Sunny scoffed. “Really? You expected Sugarcoat of all people to not rat you out? Please. Anyway, the nurse said something about letting you out in like, an hour or two-”
“Hour and twenty, he gets out at noon,” Treble offered from the hallway.
“-yeah that, thanks. So while you all are getting chatty I’m gonna go raid the gift shop,” Flare finished, turning on her heel and walking out.
Sugarcoat gave Zap a look. “Are you two gonna get all mushy and weird while we wait?”
Rubble grunted in what he assumed to be a manly style. “I don’t really do mushy.”
“It’s true,” Dusty offered. “He’s kind of the anti-mush. Well, unless he’s turning something gross into something even grosser and dead. Then there’s a lot of mush. But not the good kind, you know? More like-”
“Yeah that’s good I’m leaving now,” Sugar groaned, sitting up quickly and following Sunny out.
A third set of footsteps joined them as Treble called out, “Hey, wait up! I wanna hit the cafeteria.”
Spooks looked around the door frame to watch the three disappear around a corner. “Annnnd, they’re off.”
Rubble groaned as he shifted in the bed. “Alright, y’all can get out. I gotta get dressed.”
“Awww, I’m pretty sure I can hang around for that,” Indigo teased.
Which made RM smile. “Zap, I like ya, but honestly, I don’t think I’m ready for you to see me naked yet.”
Zap blinked a few times. “Um… that’s like, the opposite of what you’re supposed to say.”
“Nah, he’s right,” Dusty chimed in. “I mean, we’ve all got battle scars, some more than others, but Rubble is… well, let’s just say he’s doing you a favor kicking you out.”
“What kind of favor?” she asked hesitantly.
“Ever seen a Hellraiser movie?” Spooks asked, rather seriously.
Zap gave Rubble a concerned look. “Um-”
“This is the part where I tell you it’s perfectly find to be weirded out by the idea,” Rubble offered. His voice was a shade gentler than normal. “Really, you’re not gonna hurt my feelers if you skip out for a bit.”
“Ok, but don’t think this means I don’t wanna get busy with you down the road,” Zap insisted, making for the door. Spooks and Dusty followed.
“Eh, hang out with us long enough and Rubble’s scars will be the most normal thing you’ll see,” Dusty chimed in in what he obviously assumed to be a helpful tone.
“That doesn’t surprise me either.”
--------------------
Treble was more than happy to saunter off in the company of a couple pretty girls he didn’t know. Which, given their line of work, would most likely get him killed one day, but it was a risk he was willing to take. Which he’d said many, many times. “Ok, so like, are any of your teachers monster hunters, too?” Sunny asked, breaking the silence as they navigated the maze of corridors looking for the elevator. The signs weren’t a great deal of help, as there seemed to be a number of elevators, and not all of them went to every floor, for some stupid reason.
DT shook his head. “Nah. I mean, there’s a couple that’ll stick around and throw a punch or two, but not like, regularly. Closest we got’s the Rainbooms, and our physics teacher, Mr. Atom.”
“What, is he like, a vampire or something?” Sugarcoat asked with no lack of snark.
“No, he’s a loup-garou. Very different,” Treble explained.
“Wha-you’re shitting me,” Sunny asked, stopping in her tracks. “You have a monster on staff? And you haven’t aced him yet?”
“I fail to see the difference. Loup-garou is just french for werewolf,” Sugarcoat said stiffly.
“That’s your complaint?” Sunny hissed.
“Actually, that’s a common misconception. Garou means werewolf. Loup means wolf. So the term loup-garou translates roughly as wolf-werewolf, which is due largely in par to the fact the first of their kind was a wolf-form,” he explained. Seeing the lack of convinced expressions on their faces, he sat in a nearby chair and continued, “Look, a werewolf is someone with an affliction. Lycanthropy is a disease. Magical in nature, yes, but it’s still a sickness. We don’t hunt people with lycanthropy unless they’re killing people. There are plenty of ways to deal with it without going on a murderous rampage. Just some people are more apt to use their problem as an excuse to chomp a few hearts out.”
The girls took seats next to him, which he took as a cue to keep talking. “Loup-garous, on the other hand, are people possessed by animal spirits. It’s actually a newer phenomenon than lycanthropy, which is a disease as old as any. Becoming a loup-garou is actually a choice,, in almost all cases, as you have to let the animal spirit possess you willingly. Animals usually don’t have the kind of spiritual strength or guile to overwhelm or deceive a human into accepting them as a passenger at the best of times. Not to mention the criteria for an animal spirit to remain behind long enough to find a host are exceedingly rare in nature. Most loup-garous actually perform a ritual to become what they are. And any animal can possess a human, under the right circumstances, or with the right spellcasting.”
Sunny rubbed her temples. “Oh god, it’s like being in class. Ok, so putting that all aside, what kind of animal is your Physics teacher possessed by?”
“Red panda,” Treble answered. Seeing the looks on their faces, he added, “No seriously. He had a pet one a few years back and went kind of loopy after it died. So, being the bright and laudible scholar he is, he found a spell to keep the little guy’s spirit around, and let it possess him. Let me remind you, the guy teaches high school science classes now.”
Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. “Wonderful, next you’re gonna tell me ex-Principal Cinch is a vampire,” she scoffed, standing up to continue searching for the elevator.
The other two followed suit. “Actually, we thought that at first, mainly because she’s crazy as shit and super creepy, but it turns out she belongs to that rare breed of subhuman that cryptozoologists refer to as Bitchus Maximus.”
Sunny’s laughter rang through the halls and woke more than one person as they continued on.
------------------------------
Once they’d actually located the gift shop, after a longer span of time than any of them would like to admit, the trio perused for maybe a minute or two before deciding that, even given it’s rather generous selection of novelty items, there wasn’t anything they actually wanted to buy. They sauntered out of the little shop, and began their search for the elevator again. “Who the hell puts the cafeteria and the gift shop on different bloody floors?” Sunny huffed, as they turned another corner.
“There’s probably more than one shop, and they want you to walk by all of them before you leave,” Sugarcoat observed. “Also, the elevator is this way.”
Sunny turned on her heel, having walked down the opposite hallway, and strode after her friend, Treble following right behind. “So who else in town is a monster?” she asked Treble, continuing the conversation they’d left off once they’d run into the crowd at the shop.
“As far as I know?” Treble asked, “Not many. I mean, there’s probably a bunch in the city, near you guys, but the outskirts are actually a worse place for someone to hide out if they’ve got inhuman blood or something else riding shotgun. Smaller communities ae harder to hide in, and with the internet the way it is, even the smallest outcrop could out you to the whole wide world if you screw up.”
“Wouldn’t living in a city be just as hazardous, then?” Sugarcoat mused. “All those camera phones and security cameras?”
“Kind of? It’s a double-edged sword. Sure, there’s more ways to get caught, but people in the city are a lot more self-centered by nature. Most people are too busy staring down their phones or looking at their feet as they walk to notice really anything. It’s the places with tight-knit communities, where everyone knows everyone else, that make it harder to look normal. Also, where the hell is this elevator again?” Treble groaned, having reached an intersection that looked a lot like all the others.
“This way,” Sugarcoat said, pointing to her left.
“Wait a minute. Didn’t we pass a bunch of purple bellflowers on the way?” Sunny asked, looking around at the decorative plants.
Sugarcoat nodded. “Yes, that’s how I know it’s this way. The flowers are right there,” she stated, pointing at a particular pot.
“Um, Sugarcoat, those are green. Why… oh, right. Colorblind,” Sunny added apologetically.
Treble raised an eyebrow. “Really? Like, completely, or-”
“No,” Sugarcoat interjected. “I have tritonamaly. Purples and greens all look dull and similar to me. Also, I know these are the right flowers, cause they’re under that stupid ‘Hang in There’ cat poster.”
Sunny took a closer look. “Hey, that is the same poster.”
“Um, they probably have a bunch of them. It’s not exactly hard to come by,” Treble noted.
Sugarcoat sighed. “True, but those are the same flowers. And they can’t be green, Sunny, the only green bellflower is Bells of Ireland, and those are long stalks with bells in clusters. These are campanula, with individual bells on their own stems. Those are purple.”
Treble’s ear twitched as he took a closer look at the flower. “No, she’s right, Sugar. These are green. Like, warning-label toxic green. And… you’re saying they can’t be green?”
“Yes. So unless you’re screwing with me, they’re probably fake. And given the way you stare at my ass, I doubt you’re trying to be a dick. Unless you’re just that kind of person,” Sugar added thoughtfully.
“Nah, that’s a Dusty thing. Also, am I really that obvious?” he asked, giving the flowers one last, cautious glance.
“No, I was hazarding a guess. Good to know, though.”
Treble’s shoulders slumped. “Goddammit.”
Sunny slugged his arm as they started walking in the direction Sugarcoat insisted the elevator was. “Ah, don’t get all whiny. If she had a problem with it she’d have told you to stop, wouldn’t she?”
Treble raised an eyebrow, not saying anything, but he followed along with a bit of perk in his step.
A minute or so later, they found their target. “See?” Sugar insisted. “I told you it was here.”
Sunny rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah magical plants lead the way something something. Just hit the button. I’m getting hungry.”
Treble reached past the two bickering girls and hit the call button, then waited a few moments before a *ding* announced the cage’s arrival. The doors slid open, and the trio hopped in, Sugar poking the button for the floor above them. “Huh, that’s weird,” she noted.
Treble’s ear twitched again. “What is?” he said, leaning around her shoulder to look at the panel.
“I could have sworn this elevator went all the way to the sixth floor. But the top button is five. Strange,” Sugarcoat noted, then dismissed it with a shrug.
“Hmmm...” Treble said thoughtfully, leaning on the wall. Another ear twitch. “Wait, weren’t these walls metal? Why’s there wood paneling now?”
“Ha!” Sunny barked. “I knew we got on the wrong elevator!”
Treble’s eyes darted back and forth across the elevator cab cautiously, as he chewed his lip.
Sugarcoat sighed and kneaded her brow with two fingers. “No, we didn’t. This is elevator C. I remember because you made a terrible joke when we found it the first time. ‘I C we found the elevator!’ Remember?”
“Yeah, then explain the walls, Sug- OK what is WITH the ears?” Sunny demanded, turning her attention mid-sentence to Treble.
He waited half a second before responding, seemingly snapping out of a reverie of sorts. “Hmm? Sorry, it does that whenever I get nervous. Something’s… wrong here.”
Sunny was about to ask him what, exactly, was wrong, but was interrupted by the elevator coming to a halt and dinging their arrival. The three stepped out, Treble a bit slower than normal, and stopped a few feet from the door. “Um… Sugarcoat said slowly. “This doesn’t look like our floor.”
In fact, it didn’t look like any floor of the hospital. The walls where pale white instead of taupe, the posters were simple, with block letters and short sentences, and carts and wheelchairs were strewn about at odd intervals. On top of all that, there didn’t seem to be anyone else on the floor except them.
“Ok, no, we’re leaving,” Treble insisted, grabbing the girls by the shoulder and turning them all around to get back on the elevator.
Which was now gone. In its place was a bare white wall with a single framed picture. In block letters, it said, “Hang in There!”
Sugarcoat looked at Treble scathingly. “I don’t know how, but I blame you for this.”
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Spooky?
Hooray! More words!
Ooh... Shenanigans in a hospital are never good. Too much pain and loss in one place. Shoulda paid more attention to those impossible flowers instead of staring at their asses, Treble.
8860784
Spoopy
Haunted Hospital... well this is about to get creepy as fuck
8860848
Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion HD Renovation
Oh !YES! It’s back!!
DOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
*cough*
In any case, the only thing worse than going down a rabbit hole is doing so in a hospital. This is likely going to get weird before it gets better, even if we are still in an interlude.
it begins...
Oh no... abandoned hospitals... too much concentrated pain, loss, and blood in them, especially in abandoned ones. If it wasn't for the fact that they were several stories STRAIGHT UP, I'd advise breaking a window and hightailing it. But the staris are also an option...
I think.
Oh no, twilight zoned. Here we go again :)
Why does this not surprise me?
Translation: "You are Screwed!"
Knew it. Even for a hospital they were way too lost. Add in impossible flowers and they should NOT gotten in that elevator.
I let a tiger spirit possess me!
It's pretty cool... but he's obsessed with revenge against some Indian kid named 'Mooglee' or something.