Nightshift 49: Main File Storage
[from here]
Through the door was only darkness, but she'd expected that. On this trip Nunnally hadn't the luxury of the flashlight that lived under her pillow, since she wasn't given the opportunity to prepare, but it truly was nothing but a luxury. Darkness was something that she knew well, for the time she'd lived in it far outweighed the time without, and tonight the only monsters she'd encountered walked on two legs and dwelled in the light.
She stumbled forward a few steps, expecting an open hallway, but after only a couple of steps her outstretched hands encountered cool metal. Startled, she turned back toward the door through which she had just walked, but it slammed closed again as though someone had pushed it. But... there was nobody there. Not unless they weren't breathing, or her senses had utterly abandoned her, which she couldn't rule out as a possibility.
Nunnally drew in a breath that shuddered lightly despite her attempt to keep it steady, then began to examine the object against which she was leaning. Neither wall nor door, investigation revealed, but... a cabinet of some kind? There were handles for drawers, and when she pulled one her fingers found nothing but papers. Files? Where....? Was it possible that there was more than one door from that room and she'd gone to the wrong one? A fresh wave of pain pulsed through her head at that thought and she caught her lower lip in her teeth as frustration welled up inside her. All that work, only to take the wrong way out? There was no getting around it, though -- she had to get out to where the others were, as inevitably there would be patients wandering the halls at night. Someone should be out there for her to find. She just had to find them.
She drew in a breath and held it for a moment, then carefully pushed off from the cabinet. Her steps were hesitant and uneven, but she moved unerringly back toward the door where she'd been. Hopefully the way out would be easy to find; she didn't have the energy to search for long. All she wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but that would mean giving up. And she wouldn't do that. Not now. Instead she turned the knob and half-fell through the doorway.
[to here]
Through the door was only darkness, but she'd expected that. On this trip Nunnally hadn't the luxury of the flashlight that lived under her pillow, since she wasn't given the opportunity to prepare, but it truly was nothing but a luxury. Darkness was something that she knew well, for the time she'd lived in it far outweighed the time without, and tonight the only monsters she'd encountered walked on two legs and dwelled in the light.
She stumbled forward a few steps, expecting an open hallway, but after only a couple of steps her outstretched hands encountered cool metal. Startled, she turned back toward the door through which she had just walked, but it slammed closed again as though someone had pushed it. But... there was nobody there. Not unless they weren't breathing, or her senses had utterly abandoned her, which she couldn't rule out as a possibility.
Nunnally drew in a breath that shuddered lightly despite her attempt to keep it steady, then began to examine the object against which she was leaning. Neither wall nor door, investigation revealed, but... a cabinet of some kind? There were handles for drawers, and when she pulled one her fingers found nothing but papers. Files? Where....? Was it possible that there was more than one door from that room and she'd gone to the wrong one? A fresh wave of pain pulsed through her head at that thought and she caught her lower lip in her teeth as frustration welled up inside her. All that work, only to take the wrong way out? There was no getting around it, though -- she had to get out to where the others were, as inevitably there would be patients wandering the halls at night. Someone should be out there for her to find. She just had to find them.
She drew in a breath and held it for a moment, then carefully pushed off from the cabinet. Her steps were hesitant and uneven, but she moved unerringly back toward the door where she'd been. Hopefully the way out would be easy to find; she didn't have the energy to search for long. All she wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but that would mean giving up. And she wouldn't do that. Not now. Instead she turned the knob and half-fell through the doorway.
[to here]