Ghost in the Walls.

[onlynothuman]

Two patients vanished in the wee hours of Friday morning. Later, careful review of the security cameras tells most of the story; Harvey Dent's murder of the orderly, releasing Simon Garoux, escorting him out of the maximum security wing. Simon fleeing him, vanishing into a staff bathroom. -Vanishing-. He didn't reappear until three minutes later,

Comments

[hopeyrhappytoo]

Alex is not very happy about the escapes. Much less so about the murders. The bodies. The missing whatnot and etcetra. Those bits are more than a little disturbing to her.

So she spends most of her day making sure the rest of the patients are all right, for a relative definition of such. Making sure, in a round about way, that no one else has escaped.

But, eventually, she'll find herself in a therapy room. Alone and reading file. Eddie's, Harvey's, Simon's.

But...is that scratching at the walls? In the walls?

[onlynothuman]

It's not an on-purpose scratching. It's the sound of a trying-very-hard-to-be-silent young man trying to pull himself from under the floor up into the wall, around two water pipes and the duct for the central vacuuming.

[hopeyrhappytoo]

On-purpose scratching, not on-purpose scratching. Either way, Alex is thinking the place has rats now or something. And it very well might.

She'll press her ear against the wall and listen.

[onlynothuman]

His hand is only a few inches away from her head, really, on the opposite side of the gray wall, holding onto a joist. He swears quietly as a sticking-out nail tears his stolen pants and scratches his leg.

"ow, fuck..." Damn cheap construction.

[hopeyrhappytoo]

So. That's a little concerning, isn't it? She'll...you know what, she's just going to rap-tap-tap on the wall. Questioningly. "...hello?"

[onlynothuman]

See, that would make him go silent, like with Dan. Except she spoke.

"...Doctor Drake?"

[hopeyrhappytoo]

So...not a rat. Not a talking rat. A talking patient. Or a staff member, but that seems less likely. Still...

In her wall. In her wall. That's not exactly something they cover in training or a book that isn't by Charlotte Gilman.

"Are you all right back there?" Well...really, it seems like the thing to ask.

[onlynothuman]

"... No." The baseboard moves a tiny bit as he tries to get his pants-leg loose from the nail. "I think I'm dead." What? It's the first thing he could think of.

[hopeyrhappytoo]

"You're not dead. Not if you're talking to me. How did you get back there?" She taps at the baseboard. Oh, Arkham.

[onlynothuman]

He taps back. Tap-a-tap. "I don't know."

[hopeyrhappytoo]

"Who is this?"

[onlynothuman]

"I forget." He might be getting into this. He's still stuck.

[hopeyrhappytoo]

"Do you need help? Are you hurt" Tap, tap tap.

[onlynothuman]

The baseboard jumps as he finally jerks his trousers free. Thump! "No. I'm beyond help."

[hopeyrhappytoo]

And, of course, the baseboard jumping makes her jump. "I see. Why?" One of the patients, then. Gee, Warden. You sure are doing awesomely according to Alex.

[onlynothuman]

"Never was insane, and now I'm dead." There's more quiet scraping, as he tries to stand up inside the wall, sucking in his breath to get through a thin spot.