Nightshift 30: Main Hallway 1-West
[from here]Once he noticed another crossroads--some stairs, and the branches to more pitch black hallways--he stopped, releasing Tyler and putting his free hand against the wall. Good to know it was there, whether or not he was a little unsettled
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It should have been as easy as breathing to will it open. He did it occasionally back home without a second thought. But now, there was nothing. The door never budged, and there was no flicker from his Power whatsoever. It was as if it had never been there, or if it had been extinguished entirely.
"It's no use," Tyler murmured, dropping his hand, trying to hide the way it trembled. He slid down the wall to sink against the floor and buried his face in his hands, fingers tangling in his hair in agitation. "There's nothing. It's not there."
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"C'mon, c'mon, get up," came his uneasy demand. Caleb wasn't there, Pogue wasn't there, but Reid was. He was calling the shots now, he was going to deal with this--divert the crisis and all that. And boy, was he ever going to pay the bastards back for doing this to Tyler. Tenfold, easy. "Stand up! We'll find a way--it's not gone."
Or at least, he desperately needed to prove that fact for the both of their sakes. Reaching deep for his own magic, vaguely afraid it'd be even worse than last time, he tried the first thing that came to mind: basic telekinesis. Namely, yanking Tyler's flashlight out of his hand and up into Reid's own. And when it actually worked, and the thing came at him like a shot, he relished the sting in his palm.
"See, look."
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"Yeah," he murmured, although his tone didn't sound convinced. "I see. But it's still not working for me, so I guess I'll leave the magic using up to you."
Another flare of panic, but he quickly squashed it. This wasn't the time or the place to be freaking out, no matter how fucked things were. Being without his Power was like... losing an arm, but he'd figure out something. Somehow.
Tyler thought ruefully that maybe he should have asked for a knife last night, after all.
Just then, his radio, which had been tucked in his pocket, started playing "Don't Fear The Reaper" and he jolted before laughing quietly, pulling it out just in time for a female's voice to start playing through the small box. He listened to the message in relief, then glanced up at Reid as he pushed himself off the floor.
"Looks like the Radio man had back-up."
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The joke was meant to ease the tension a little, help in whatever small way Reid could. He didn't like seeing Tyler like that--he never liked seeing any of his brothers on an edge--but especially not their youngest. Caleb and Pogue had their thing, and Reid and Tyler had theirs. They kept problems between themselves more often than giving them up to group democracy. Being there for each other, just their thing.
Reid gave the other boy an indecipherable, near-irritated look, his gaze slipping away soon after. "Yeah, great backup. Jack and Jill. I'm impressed," said Reid, offering his hand.
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"So what do we do now?" he asked, glancing around the darkened hall they were in, before holding out his hand to Reid once more. "And can I have my flashlight back. So I don't go rolling down a hill? Should we explore this floor, see if we can find anything?"
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"Yeah," he said shortly, flipping the flashlight around in his hand to pass it back handle-first, "here." Even just a tiny burst of Power made him feel a little strange and drained. "Don't know about you, but I'm not gonna stand around and wait for someone else to do it. Let's see what's behind door number one." He gestured to what shadowed doorways were visible outside the medwing and doctor's offices hall.
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These patients' utter curiosity, though, was enough to make the echo of childish laughter pass across the walls, reflecting until the source of the giggles would be mighty difficult to pinpoint. Was it coming from in front of them? From behind? Who could say? Really, really, who could say?
[Kat ♥]
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"Did you hear that?"
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He turned in the opposite direction of Tyler, though he didn't try too hard to see anything. The sound was coming from all over the place, it seemed like.
"Kinda hard to miss it."
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And just for a moment, to Tyler's immediate right, the slightest white flash could be seen; it was a child's form, cloudy and ethereal. But no sooner had it appeared than it vanished, leaving ever-constant giggles in its wake.
What probably felt a little more real was the air around the two patients growing heavier, as if the life-granting oxygen was somehow being sucked away from around them...
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He reached out, briefly clasping Reid's wrist for the faintest of moments, just long enough to get his attention. Then he whispered, "Run."
[ Running here]
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