Die Slowly || p.mochi

XV: Hope

The sun as it shone, 

and the silver of the moon,

seemed to pass,

 right through,

he was a ghost, 

No, even less than that,

He was naught.

***************************************

The hale was thundering on the roof of the manager's office. He kept all the windows open and the rain came in, wetting the floor and some papers near one of the windows. Maybelle was seated in front of the huge ebony table that was placed in the center of Mr. Davies' office.  The manager himself stood by the window, his back turned towards Maybelle. 

"A Polaroid camera?" Mr. Davies  sounded a bit skeptical. 

"I figured that the open ward's patients need some activity to keep them well behaved while awaiting verdict. Like Mrs. Brown," Maybelle added quickly, " She's allowed pens and notebooks and she writes all day to keep herself amused. I wondered if maybe, Jungkook too was allowed a certain activity he found immersing..." Maybelle looked doubtfully at Mr. Davies.

Mr. Davies turned back and looked thoughtfully at Maybelle. Outside, the magnificent clouds growled like an angry lion,and the window shutters banged and clanged. The rain fell down harder still, and the sky turned dark, like a moonless, starless night. Mr. Davies slowly made his way to his chair and sat down, facing Maybelle. He kept twisting his hands and looking out the window.

"I wanted to discuss something else with you first, child." Mr. Davies looked grave, his face old and ancient. Every line on his skin stood out against his unusually pale face. He cleared his throat nervously and looked at the door as though afraid there was someone eavesdropping on their conversation. 

"Oh." Maybelle felt sure Dave's pathetic gossip had Mr. Davies doubting her abilities. "Yea I couldn't help but hear what Dave and Mr. Jones were--"

"No it's not about that, Miss Smith." Mr. Davies waved an impatient hand, "I want to give you a heads up."

" A heads up?" Maybelle narrowed her eyes.

"A sincere advice." he once again looked at the door and lowered his voice to a dangerously grave whisper. "I don't know how long I will be here. I just want to warn you about certain things before they hand over my office to someone else."

"Wait, You're leaving?" Maybelle cried out in surprise.

"I'm being siphoned off, more like. And once I'm gone, things will get different around here Maybelle." Mr. Davies wiped his sweaty forehead with his sleeve. "There are people in this institute who hold more power than you or me. And their ways of running the hospital will not be pleasant. The man coming in my place is not a kindhearted soul. And he will chew you and your patients and spit you all out without mercy."

Maybelle  just sat there, transfixed. "I still don't understand."

"Let's just say some policies are changing. All the freedom you all have been given won't hold anymore. And because of that, you'll need to be careful." Mr. Davies took his handkerchief out and wiped his sweaty brows. 

"Careful?"

"Yes, Very careful. Give them no reason and they won't harm you. And you need to have a detailed talk with all the patients you're handling at the moment. First and fore most, You need to realize that that nurse Dave is a red signal. Once I'm out of this office, he, along with  few other people in the Paddock center, will be given the full authority to do whatever they wish to do. You need to stay out of their way." Mr Davies held up his hand as Maybelle made to interrupt. "Please Miss Smith. Just listen to me. I'm asking you to not give them any reason to hurt you or your case subjects. You will stay out of their way. And most importantly, you will stay safe from Dave."