Dearest Penguin People.
Here is the latest chapter of Max and Sebastian, the end of Part One. When we left off last week Sebastian met a small demon skulking in the hospital halls with an eye on Max.
To everyone who reads the chapters as they come out, a huge thank you. It means the world to me.
If you are new to Max and Sebastian please click the link below…
Part 1 - CHAPTER EIGHT
Max sat on her hospital bed and watched TV. The news told her that a new president had been elected. No one seemed that excited. She watched stuffy men in gray suits analyze repercussions for the next four years. It meant nothing to her. The only future she saw was on this uncomfortable, creaky bed with a cracked vinyl mattress that she could feel through the rough sheets. The weather girl promised sunny skies. Fog and a light rain outside her window said otherwise. To make things worse, she was attached to a heart monitor that effectively glued her to the bed.
Her new roommate had been taken for x-rays. The blond goddess with the broken leg had hated her on sight. All it took was one look, the one reserved for the unclean and it was decided. Max was trash.
The goddess’s parents had filled her side of the room with flowers and stuffed animals. Max’s half of the room boasted an empty clear plastic cup with a chewed-up straw dangling from the side.
Max glared at the obnoxious display of gifts. It would be a shame if some of them ended up in the red hazardous waste bin or perhaps fuzzy feet up in the toilet. These things happen.
A quick rap at the door and Anne walked in. Max fumed and lay back down. The goddess’s ill-gained loot was safe for now.
Anne checked Max’s heart rhythm on the monitor.
“How is it?”
“Good enough to dance to.” Anne checked the IV in Max’s left forearm which had been put in “Just in case.” As she bent over Max, her eyes glazed over. She removed the heart monitor leads with mechanical fingers and let them drop to the floor.
Max gazed up at her with clear violet eyes. “Bye now.”
Anne left the room without looking back. As she walked toward the nurses’ station, she stopped to rub her head. She had just been in that poor little girl’s room, but she couldn’t remember why. Maybe she should go back. Another patient buzzed with an impatient double tap. She pasted a smile on her face and headed down the hall.
Meanwhile, Max fought off the tedium. She wished Sebastian would hurry back. He had been in and out all day. As she sulked the soggy hiss of wheelchair tires rose above the drone of the TV. The goddess and her parents had returned.
They made a point of not looking at her as a silent orderly helped the goddess pivot from the wheelchair to the bed. Her mother tucked her in with long, sculpted nails, the warm scent of cardamom wafting off her in waves. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Rachel, honey.”
Rachel risked a sideways glance at Max. “Are you sure you can’t stay a little while longer?”
Then the universal sigh of put-upon adults. Max almost felt sorry for her.
Again, her mother spoke. Her father never looked up from his cell phone. “We have plans. We discussed this.”
“Whatever.” Rachel knocked on her cast with impatient fingers. “I hate this thing. It itches.”
“You’ll be fine. We need to leave, or we’ll be late.” Her mother gave her a peck on the cheek and they left.
Rachel scowled and looked around the room. She saw the monitor leads on the floor. “The nurse is going to be mad that you took those off. Didn’t she tell you not to touch them?”
I didn’t do it.” Max glared at the ceiling.
Rachel whistled under her breath, already bored. “What are you watching?” she asked.
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
“Well, can I have the remote then?”
“Sure.” Max tossed the remote at Rachel’s bed only to have it bounce off the bed rail. She sighed and slid out of bed.
Rachel watched as Max limped over to her side of the room, dragging the IV pole behind her. “You hurt your leg, too?”
“I was born this way.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Rachel’s face didn’t show it.
Max handed her the remote. Her fingers accidentally brushed against Rachel’s outstretched hand. Rachel grimaced and pulled her covers up to her chin. Max bit her lip. Was she that repulsive to this little princess? But then she noticed that Rachel was looking beyond Max to the open door.
A pall fell over the room.
“Hello again, little Missy.”
Leonard was leaning against the door frame. He pushed greasy hair out of his face with sweaty fingers.
“You seem familiar,” he said.
Max inched further down the rail toward Rachel. “I don’t know you.”
He moved closer. “I think you do.”
Sebastian appeared in the doorway behind him. His eyes began to glow.
Then the soft squelch of rubber soles on linoleum. Anne popped into the room. “Someone pressed the call button?” Her pleasant face soured when she saw Leonard. “Why are you here?”
“I thought I’d ask the ladies if they needed anything.”
“No. We’re fine.” Rachel dropped the remote. “You can go.”
Leonard backed out of the room, hands up. He smiled at Max. “See you soon.”
Anne led Max back to her bed and pulled up the blankets. “I will see you two tomorrow. Try not to have any wild parties without me while I’m gone.”
Sebastian’s head snapped up. He rushed out of the room, his body disappearing in a spray of ectoplasm.
Max watched him go through narrowed eyes and then turned to Anne. “You’re nicer than I wanted you to be.”
Anne crinkled her brow. “I’m not sure that’s a compliment.” She looked at Rachel. “Do you need anything?”
Rachel just shook her head and flipped through the stations. She was through talking to the people beneath her.
“Okay, have a good night then.” She stopped and looked down. “Young lady, I told you not to disconnect yourself from the monitor.”
“I didn’t. You took them off a few minutes ago.”
“Now why would I do that?” Anne reached for the leads and then froze, her gaze far away. Her hands dropped to her sides. “Goodnight, ladies,” she said.
Max looked up at her with eyes of dark amethyst. “Good night.”
Back at the nurse’s station, Sebastian was looking at the shift schedule. One name had been erased and in its place was Leonard with the letters “OT” next to it. The creep was working a double. He sighed, sending frost across the countertops, short-circuiting a desktop.
Behind him the air crackled.
“Why so glum, chum?”
Sebastian spun around. The floating head of a middle-aged man with blubbery lips and a face the color of netherworld liverwurst stared back.
“Oh, it’s you,” Sebastian said.
“It’s nice to see you, too.” The head dipped and rose in the fluorescent lighting.
“What is it, Eugene?”
The head sank until it was eye-level with Sebastian. “You constantly getting my name wrong is hurtful and demeaning.”
“You’re a toad-faced beach ball. So, I really don’t care what your name is.”
“Just say it.”
“Sure thing, Francis.”
“It’s Bob.” The pallor deepened in its cheeks.
“Okay Bob, I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. Now go away.”
Bob growled under his breath. He snaked his way around Sebastian and peered at the schedule. He sucked in his lips, making his cheeks puff out.
“What?”
“Funny about Leonard. He used to work in the Morgue until last week. He hates it up here. It would take an act of God to make him work a minute past his off time.”
Sebastian’s heart sank a little. “It’s not God I’m worried about. I should be going now.”
“Wait, you never talk to me anymore.”
Sebastian swirled impatiently in place. “I don’t come here to see you.”
Bob’s head faded in and out, a little less confident. “Be that as it may, I need to ask. Have you found my body yet?” He glanced down at the empty space beneath him.
Sebastian’s gaze was clear and unwavering. “Nope.”
“You’re sure? It’s your fault, you know.”
“Yeah, I’m a real degenerate.”
Bob weaved and floated around Sebastian. “If you don’t mind me saying, you’re looking a bit ragged around the edges.”
“I do mind. I’ll be going now.”
Sebastian drifted down the hall.
Bob followed him. “I’m not a bad guy.”
“Right.”
“I’d stay away from Leonard if I was you.”
“He can’t hurt me.”
“But he attracts things that can.”
This gave Sebastian pause. He turned around. “What kind of things?”
Bob hung motionless in front of him. “Dark, nasty things. They come here looking for anyone they can pull back in, bring to their persuasion, if you know what I mean.”
Sebastian let his face go flat. “I don’t.”
“Of course, you do. And even if you’re immune to them, I’m not sure about your little friend. She’s definitely a bit glinty.” Bob pursed his lips. “She looks familiar. Do I know her?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Absolutely nothing.” Bob wavered. “But still, I think she’s being watched.”
“You mean the sociopathic Shih Tzu?”
Bob blinked and looked behind him, searching the hall. “You met Buttercup?”
“Buttercup? Seriously?”
“You should get your little friend out of here.”
“And just where would I take her?”
“That’s up to you. But do you really want Buttercup around when the girl moves on? Think about it.”
Sebastian had thought about it and had no answers. He floated motionless in the hallway. A thought occurred to him. “It’s like she expected to find Max here. You have any ideas about that?”
Bob froze mid-air. “I should be going now. Good luck and all that.” He winked into nothingness.
*****
Leonard dragged a broken wheelchair behind him. The metal leg rest scraped the floor with a horrid screech. He set it with the other chairs in the small area between nurses’ stations. He could take it to Maintenance, but he didn’t see the point. Everything was broken anyway: the equipment, the patients, the staff.
The girl was broken, too. He had felt it in the hallway, a damp chill, like something rotting in a basement. A quick look in her eyes revealed something he already knew, that monsters come in all sizes.
He sank into one of the chairs. Something prodded at him, tried to come out. Memory or dream, he couldn’t tell. Another girl’s eyes followed him. He heard the familiar rush of water against cold river stones. Then a brief cry and a frantic splash. Leonard twisted his hands in his lap. Some monsters never die.
As a side note…none of this was written with AI and I kindly ask that no one use it for training purposes. Thank you :)
so incredibly good. i love and want more. (also coffee cups as soon as i’m able!)
Interesting. Some monsters never die. :)
Missed the penguin!