Haunted MTL Original – Frail – Ryan Sullivan
“Frail” by Ryan Sullivan
The full-time care wing of Dayspring General Hospital was darkened to a dim light throughout the main hall when Clara’s night shift started. She worked as a part-time nurse at Dayspring overnight as she took graduate courses for medical school during the days. She was often exhausted during her nursing shifts, but coffee helped. That, and Dayspring was usually quiet at night, so all Clara had to do was make hourly checks on the patients and she was good to go.
The night crew usually consisted of anywhere to three to five nurses at night, but Dayspring was understaffed, so only Clara and one other nurse, Janet, were working. Clara sat at the main desk filing paperwork into the computer when Janet came back from checking on some of the patients.
“How is everyone doing tonight?” Clara asked as Janet took a seat at the desk beside her.
“All of the rooms seem good; no alarms going off, thank the lord,” she answered as she shifted through files in the cabinet. “Damn, the day crew don’t know what they’re doing anymore.”
“Is everything okay?” Clara asked.
“Yeah, just a rash of spotty work from our lovely dayshift coworkers,” she said. “We have a new patient in Room #7 but I can’t seem to find any paperwork on her. It looks like she isn’t checked into any of our records.”
“Do you think she doesn’t belong in this wing?”
“Woman, I doubt it,” Janet said. “She looks older than most of our other elderly guests and as frail as fine china. My chips are on the dayshift misfiling it with another wing in the hospital. I’m gonna have to go down to archives on Level 1 to see if I can find any duplicate copies of her record so we don’t have any nasty, medical surprises with her if she starts stroking out. You good to watch things up here?”
Clara hesitated for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll be good for a little bit. You can go down.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” she said. “I’ll try to be quick. I know you get anxious on your own up here.”
Janet went out the door leading to the stairs as Clara tried to refocus on inputting data into the computer before her hands trembled. She took a deep breath to calm herself of her anxiety when the monitor on the wall started beeping, which signaled that there was something wrong with a heart monitor in one of the rooms. The flashing red light beeped underneath the marking for Room #7, the room of the patient with no record.
Clara shot up from the desk and made her way down the dimly lit main hall. With each step, she became more anxious until she reached the room. She took a deep breath and opened the door.
She entered the darkened Room #7 as the heartbeat monitor beeped relentlessly. Not knowing what could be ailing the elderly patient laying still on the hospital bed, Clara inched closer and closer to the woman, her gut turning over nervously.
She turned back nervously to look at the door. “J-Janet!” Clara yelled, but there was no response. She slowly put her fingers on the elderly woman’s neck to check for a pulse and was surprised to feel a steady beat. Clara, puzzled, checked the heartbeat monitor to discover that the sensor had fallen off the patient’s finger and landed on the floor, setting the alarm off. She felt a sigh of relief and knelt to the floor as she grabbed the sensor. As she rose back up, Clara was greeted by the elderly patient staring at her.
Clara jumped and dropped the heartbeat sensor. “Are… are you okay, ma’am?” she asked, frightened.
“Oh, deary,” the woman said. “I was perfectly fine until someone yelled out for a ‘Janet’ while I was asleep.”
“I am so sorry, ma’am,” Clara said sheepishly. “The heartbeat monitor went off, and I-I got nervous, so I…”
“No need to explain yourself, deary,” the woman said. “All is well. Just trying to get some humor in tonight. My name is Isabella, and you are…?”
“Sorry,” she said. “My name is Clara. I’m one of the overnight nurses.”
“Clara,” Isabella said. “What a wonderful name for such a young, pretty thing like you.”
“Awe, thank you,” she said. “I’ll let you get back to sleep, Isabella. It was nice meeting you.” She took a few steps toward the door.
“Wait,” Isabella said. “Please don’t leave me yet. It’s rather lonely here. Would you mind sticking around for just a few minutes more?”
Clara learned long ago not to upset some of the more elderly patients lest yelling would occur, so she went back to Isabella’s side. “Sure,” she said. “But only for a tiny bit.”
“Thank you, deary,” she said. “I’ll only take a moment of your time. I used to be quite the catch back in my day. All the boys would fight each other to try and gain my attention, much less my affection, but that can only happen for so long before age catches up. I miss having those boys near me. Does that happen to you too, Clara?”
“No, not really to that extent,” she said with a reserved smile. “I mean, boys always come up to me, but I’m far too busy for a relationship right now. I’m still in medical school.”
“Wasted beauty,” Isabella said. “Life is ever so fleeting. You’ve got to take advantage of your youth while you can. Do you mind if I take a look at your hand, deary? It’s been so long since I’ve seen a hand not covered in wrinkles or liver spots.”
Clara was uncomfortable, but she relented and gave her hand to Isabella.
“Ah yes,” she said as she grabbed Clara’s hand. “So young; so pretty. Thank you for being here for me. This youthfulness will do just fine for me.”
“Fine for you?”
Isabella’s grip grew tighter. “Why yes. Just the age I was waiting for. I thought I was gonna have to settle for that older coworker of yours, but thankfully you came to my room instead.”
“Excuse me?” Clara asked. She tried to pull her arm away, but Isabella was locked on tight. Her skin started to tingle, and then burn. “Please let go of me! You’re hurting me!”
Isabella’s grip grew stronger every second, as her strength weened.
“What are you doing to me?!” Clara yelled.
“You’ve been wasting your youth, deary,” Isabella said with a devilish grin taking form. “Don’t worry, I’ll put your beauty to good use.”
Clara’s hand withered away rapidly as her veins became more defined, her skin paler. She dropped to her knees.
Isabella sat up, her liver spots gone, her body leaner. She slid out of the bed and finally let go of Clara’s hand.
Clara laid frail on the ground, all of her strength sucked out of her, her body covered in wrinkles. “W-what did you… do?” she asked.
“I just came for a fill-up, old-timer,” Isabella said as she neared the door. “Make sure to get some good life insurance before you pass on. Old age can take forever to kill you, but when it does, it hits like a freakin’ train. Toodles!” She left the room as Clara shook on the ground.
“Hello, Clara?” Janet asked a few minutes later, entering Room #7. “Oh my God, ma’am! Are you okay?”
Clara was crying and shaking, unable to get to her feet.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you right back into bed, ma’am,” Janet said as she picked up her and helped her onto the bed. “I’m so sorry, my coworker Clara was supposed to be monitoring the rooms. I don’t know where she’s gone off to.”
Ryan Sullivan is a short story writer based out of Hopatcong, New Jersey. A lover of all forms of fiction, nothing quite feels right to write other than horror.
Poised Potion Poison Potential, an RPG story by Jennifer Weigel
(There – I finally said it! Second time’s the charm. Can we move along now?)
So I think Barbarella is losing it. Like she’s been sneaking healing potions. We never did manage to get to an alchemist before she downed one of those unmarked flasks we got off the goblins when we took their lair. Yeah, we all know they’re healing potions but I can’t help but think the goblins weren’t getting their goods legit. I mean, they are goblins, ‘nuff said. And I’ve heard some of the black market varieties have other weird properties too, so I fear maybe she’s gotten a bad one or something.
Anyway, she’s been acting strange, spending a lot of time by herself. And not working out, like usual, but rather rifling through the treasure trove. Not that she’s at all sneaky about it. I mean c’mon, it is Barbarella after all. She’s kind of the polar opposite of discreet. She’s always been more of a don’t-tread-on-me and mess-with-my-buddies-mess-with-my-war-axe kind of a girl.
It’s making Squidge suspicious. Yeah I know, Squidge is a bit edgy anyway, but they’re acting even more so now. They seem to have an even tighter grip on whatever things they’ve stashed away all up in that cloak of holding or whatever it is that they never take off and that makes it hard to remember much of anything about them. Hell, I don’t even know what gender they are, not that it matters anyway. I don’t concern myself with what Squidge is or isn’t up to so I don’t really care; generally the best is to assume the worst and move on. Nosing around in Squidge’s business is like begging for a stab wound to the back in your sleep, if you know what I mean. But they’ve been acting even more paranoid than normal, so I think they’ve noticed that something is off too.
You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve even had to down a healing potion; I tend to stay in the far back and let the other two hack n slash, it’s safer that way. And health elixirs aren’t my cup-of-probiotic-smoothie-protein-tea (it’s all too snake oil salesman fad craze diet antioxidant stuff for me). I’m more of a freewhellin fireball flingin kind of spell-slinger. The healing arts magics are a bit too… mushy gushy lovey dovey for me.
We aren’t a goody-two-shoes fixer-upper team, more of a nice-fill-in-the-blank-I-think-I’ll-take-it kind of ensemble. You know the type. #thuglifeforever. But times like this do make me wish we had a paladin or a cleric or even a druid to tag along. Where do you find the moral high grounders when you need them anyway? Sure, I guess I could go to a church or something, but some of the lesser evil critters I’ve wagered pacts and bargains with may not take too kindly to that. And the nature nice guys are all save-the-treants which generally doesn’t mesh with the whole fireball jive.
I guess Squidge could ask someone, but they only really talk to The Guild and just in that you-don’t-stab-my-back-I-don’t-stab-yours kind of sense, so we don’t have anyone to consult with on these kinds of things. It’s certainly not worth seeking out a 100 gp pearl for a wizened old wizard to snort for further clarity, even if the relative scarcity and exchange rate has made them significantly smaller and easier to haul around at this juncture, assuming you can find them at all. I swear, if the alchemists didn’t need to get high to get anything done it’d be a whole lot easier for everyone. And don’t even get me started on the Oracle, that nympho dominatrix bitch. Suffice to say I will NOT be going back there anytime soon, for ANY reason.
So here we are. Maybe whatever it is’ll pass on its own. But I noticed a couple more of those goblin healing potions have gone missing. We all know they don’t work if you aren’t hurt. And I swear I saw Barbarella take her own axe to the shin before she downed one when she thought I wasn’t looking during my nightly séance with the campfire flames. My cohorts don’t realize I can actually do more than it seems from my ritual state. The demonspawn that grant me my powers aren’t always all-engrossing, especially if I’m channeling things I’ve done a bajillion times already and not trying to harness something new. Frankly sometimes it’s best to tune the spirits out since they pontificate at length for no reason, but I suppose I’m not one to talk.
I keep coming back to this thought though. Why would Barbarella hurt herself just to chug a stupid goblin potion anyway? Usually those dares go the other way. Goblin potions taste like bad grog two days following a dwarven ale upchuck hangover, and that’s if you’re lucky. Often they’re worse. And they’re not even that good as far as healing elixirs, mending maybe a minor flesh wound at best. They’re crappy, no getting around it, and a last resort at best. Why would she deliberately go out of her way to drink that shit?
You know, there’s a whole stash of the things left, and I am a bit down on health myself. Maybe I should try one to see what the allure is. Perhaps the camaraderie and shared experience could help me get Barbarella to sober up and leave the toxic sludge alone. Or at the very least, maybe I’ll understand what she sees in them. Perhaps they’re new and improved, but I seriously doubt it seeing as how they’re still just ill-obtained swag we got off some low-level goblins. You know, no one ever really gives goblins anything worth having unless they’re trying to exploit them in some way, and even then it’s really not worth it, seeing as how the goblins don’t have anything anybody wants to barter…
I swear those potions were in this satchel here; we had like over 100 of the things. Oh, here’s one, way down in the bottom of the bag having fallen under some of the other crap we looted that wasn’t worth much of anything. Wow I really had to dig deep to fish that out, and it’s only been about a week since the goblins’ lair… In the light looks like the same ol’ ordinary purple black pink tinged sludge we normally find, a tad more sparkle factor but not enough to care. Now why are Barbarella and Squidge both looking at me like I’m holding the golden goose egg of everlasting mana and fingering their weapons?
If you enjoyed this RPG story by Jennifer Weigel, perhaps you will want to see some art from previous campaigns or read the Twilight saga, both on Haunted MTL here.
Check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s writing here at Jennifer Weigel Words.
This is the kickoff to a new series exploring nature that is kind of horrifying, at least in ways. Our first subject is Vampires Among Us. There are lots of animals named for vampires, sometimes due to folklore and sometimes for their appearance (like the Vampire Squid), but most of these animals don’t have blood sucking tendencies.
Bats & Birds
There are legit vampire leaf-nosed bats in Central and South America that drink blood. They feed on mammals and are often shown to feed on livestock. They’d be kinda cute if they weren’t so creepy. There are also vampiric birds: some finches in the Galapagos have developed the taste for blood of other birds, mainly seabirds that flock to the islands to raise their young.
Leeches & Lampreys & More
And then you get into leeches and lampreys and other denizens of the water that are known to attach themselves to larger creatures and drink their blood. Leeches were even believed to have medicinal value (and still are in certain circumstances). And there are also numerous plants that are known to be parasitic and feed on other plants, wrapping their roots or vines around others to steal nutrients.
Spiders
Now I’m going to drift off into the realm where this becomes truly horrific. Spiders. Now, spiders aren’t vampires per se, seeing as how they actually kill their prey – they don’t just feed off of it while it remains living and wanders about its business. But because of their structure, they cannot eat solid foods, so they have to inject their prey with enzymes to liquefy it so they can slurp it out like a protein shake. That’s sort of vampirism on steroids if you ask me, just the kind that no one is coming back from.
Bloodsucking Bugs
But let’s get back on topic. Now let’s consider mites and ticks and fleas and mosquitoes and the like. Some drink blood for their survival; others do so as part of their reproductive cycle (like mosquitoes which otherwise eat fruit and nectar but need the extra protein from blood to grow their eggs).
Ticks need to feed on blood once at every stage of their life cycle and can pick up diseases along the way (like Lyme Disease) but don’t always do so. Different ticks are more likely to come in contact with different things and often humans are not their preferred meal but they are opportunistic and will feed on whatever is available when necessary. Symptoms of illness from tick bites may take years to develop and can have really weird side effects (like the allergy associated with Lone Star Ticks which makes a person unable to consume mammalian flesh).
Anyway, here are some brief glimpses of vampirism in nature. Thank you for joining us for Nightmarish Nature and may you avoid getting bitten by any true vampires among us… And I still think spiders take first place in the creepy eating category here, even if they aren’t technically vampiric.
This story came to me in a sort of roundabout way from a rather unusual source. So I thought I’d share it with you, dear readership, and see if you can make heads or tails of it. – Jennifer Weigel
Dread Pirate Rum Tum Tugger could tell this was the right spot.
The site, beneath the sweeping limbs of the Live Oak, Spanish Moss swaying gently in the breeze, was a perfect match to the crude map he had bought off that soothsayer Deuteronomy.
The earth moved easily, as if it had been excavated previously. He dug in with greater fervor with each swipe. The sandy soil gave way to reveal something hard. He scooped and smoothed the remaining detritus from the surface as he uncovered a box.
The carton was simple.
No markings; no ornamentation; no writing. Just a plain cardboard crate, brittle from having been buried for so long but still sturdy. He hoisted it from its burrow.
“Ha HO!” he shouted to the passing breeze, rousing a small cloud of birds that erupted from a nearby thicket. They captured his attention for a moment, but he quickly refocused and returned to his task.
The box was locked but no difference.
Any self-respecting ruffian like himself could pick a lock in seconds. And he did so with panache, as was his way. He pried the lid open and licked his lips.
Inside was the legendary Kernel of Eternal Life, a small sparrow’s heart, still beating.
Artwork description: Myself as Dread Pirate Queen Miss Kitty wearing black bell sleeve shirt and black vinyl skirt with strapping leather belt over leopard print shirt and tights, with strapping leather boots, pirate head wrap and leopard cat ears.
Image text reads: Purr! Avast ye mateys, Dread Pirate Queen Miss Kitty invites ye to check out her booty stash and dig ye up a dungbie prize. Seek ye some buried treasure! Just grab ye a plastic litter scoop and dig… dig… dig… to ye heart’s content.
I created this image for a promotional poster for a performance piece in a charity art show in which I, as Dread Pirate Queen Miss Kitty, hawked a carnival sideshow style sidewalk installation. For a mere $5 donation to the animal shelter the show supported, gallery goers could dig around in a kiddie pool full of litter to find a prize: a cheap plastic trinket from the dollar store. I had some takers, including one kid who seemed to really enjoy the digging and whose parents were all in, saying “You know, you can totally do that at home too.”
For more cat antics, we invite you to read C-2747’s logbook here on Haunted MTL. Feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or on her writing, fine art, and conceptual projects websites.
Brandon
May 14, 2020 at 9:30 pm
Omg this is like an old twilight zone episode! Love it!