I stared off into the darkness of the night hoping my brain would go numb and the call lights would stop going off. But the thick black wouldnt take me. The darkness out the hospital window was unrelenting. No matter how I begged it would not take me into its depths and fantasy.
The traffic light accross the street was flashing red constantly reminding me of all the IV pumps that needed reprograming, all the bags of NS that needed rehanging, all the butts that needed wiping. And then pure black. Black. It jolted me back into reality from my trailing thoughts. At least this time they were about work and not something totally unrelated. Like Jay.
"Hey, the powers off across the street." I stated to all the nurses at the nursing station. Nothing but hums and groans as the others charted furiously on their patients. Barely even a look. Oh well, I thought to myself. Time to get moving again, no one else is going to take care of these people. A smug reminder of my own voice in my head. Was that supposed to be my conscience? My inner child maybe? So typical, I thought. Totally trying to self diagnose again.
I can hear jingling even before it gets to me. Darlene, the respiratory therapist always carried a huge ring of keys hanging from a caribeaner clipped to her scrubs. She was a tall woman, carried herself well. Obviously athletic, totally into rock climbing from the looks of her. Her eyes glint and peer into me from the corners of them as she practically floats past me. I kept watching her and then she gave it. The sign. She touched her caribeaner and unclipped it from her scrubs. She was rubbing the keys with her slender fingers. And she looked back, silently motioning me to go with her.
We entered the patients room, the man who had spit on me the night before. I wasnt mad at him. He didnt know what he was doing. The poor thing had Alzheimers...end stage. He had no chance. "Aerial." Darlene said, " should we really do this?" "I dont know, Im ninety percent sure I saw it. In fact, I know thats exactly what I saw." I'm always so wishy washy. I cant help it, its the way I was born. Always so eager to flip flop, I can never really make up my mind.
"OK" Darlene said. "Lets do this".
As quick as a flash of lightning the room began spinning like you were standing in the eye of a tornado. Darlene stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes tightly shut like a child afraid of monsters. At the bedside I placed my two fingers on his forehead right over the center of his eyes and began mouthing the words: Warlock in the shadows show me your true self. Warlock in the shadows show me your true self. And again, warlock in the shadows show me your true self. "Dar open your eyes, look!" I love this part. I looked at every inch of my arm extended to touch this man. Every inch of my skin shone like crushed diamonds and I just drank it in. It was the subtlest pink of pinks mixed with gold flecks and crystal. My scrub top looked silly donning such an expensive looking arm. I giggled to myself as I thought.
"I cant look! Every time you do this I get motion sick. If I look Im going to barf!" Darlene said. "uhh whatever, just watch Dar, focus on him. You can see his mark as long as Im touching him." And just then it began to glow in a hazy grey above his eyes on his forehead. I always thought it so profound that it was in the same place as the preverbial third eye. It was beautiful, like a celtic knot but much much more intricate. The room was spinning faster and papers floating everywhere. Darlene said "wheres the key? We have to get the key!" "I saw it in his valuables bag in the closet" I said. As she ran to the closet bumping into chairs and things a loud knock pounded on the door. Just as the door was opening the room stopped, papers returned to their rightful place and my arm swiftly moved to my side. One of the nurses was checking on the patient as she walked by. "I heard something fall" said the brand new nurse right out of nursing school. Her name was Sunny. Of course her name would be Sunny I thought to myself. "We're fine" I said while giving her the nastiest look I could. Her face dropped as she shut the door and walked away. Thats the problem with trying to do this at work but I had my reasons.
"Aerial, do you think you could just do the floating thing instead of making the room spin next time we see one of these things?" exclaimed Darlene.
"I guess so but I had to use alot of power to get his mark to show through. He doesnt have much life left in him so I had to use some of mine,and unfortunately I have a tornado effect" I said to Dar as I jabbed her in the ribs while we riffled through an old mans belongings.
The key was beautiful. It looked like this mans mark. Almost like a celtic knot made from some sort of iron or black metal but more intricate, more refined. It had a bright red ruby right in the center. It almost seemed to glow it was so deep and saturated with color. It must be old I thought to myself. Just as I thought that Darlene whisked the key out of my hand and shoved it into her pocket. "Not tonight, hes too weak now" she said. "Tomorrow we'll come back for him, when hes regained some strength...and power". "Fine, but I'd just like to get this done now. I can make it look like he just stopped breathing. Its so much less paper work Dar." I whined with a big sigh. "Come on, hes already lost alot of his strength. Lets just put him out of his misery before he figures out who has his key." I firmly propositioned. "Remember the last time we let someone live without their key?"
"I dont think I like this" I mentioned as we walked back to the nurses station. "Neither do I" said Dar. "But we have no choice, I dont have my book with me". "You should just save your spells into your blackberry you know" I said rolling my eyes.
I sat down right at the same computer I was at before. But now more excited, almost giddy. I had chills running through my arms and a strange tingling sensation in my fingers where I had touched the key. Thats weird I thought, none of the other keys had a physical sensation with them. Hmm something I'll have to test when I can get into the warlocks powers tomorrow.
Darlene waited for me next to my car as I walked out after a long hard shift at the hospital. "You coming to the gym this morning?" "Yeah, I should but Im just going to go home and sleep and get some of the stink off me." "Alright" she said"Be ready tomorrow night." "Dont worry so much Dar, I'll be ready".
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