NOR - Jill & Charlie's thread

[Piano man]

Louie trys to take in all of Jill's questions and answers them as best he can.

"I don't know fully how the caverns came to be. That was never my area of expertise. To be honest I'm not allowed to know all of the history. I had one task that I was assigned that I focussed on fully. There are other members that have the knowledge that you want to know. The one exception was my father. He was the head betrayer back in his time. He couldn't bring himself to do it and there was almost a disaster. Another betrayer stepped in and did the sacrifice for him. He was shamed and I never saw him again. I think my mother had him killed. She is one of the exceptions that I referred to earlier. She lives for violence. I think it angers her that I'm so much like my father. The one question I can answer is yes, it does have to be a child. Not only that but they need to be innocent, and most importantly they can't know what is going to happen. They have to trust the betrayer fully. This is why I have the title betrayer, and once again someone from my family can't fulfill his duty."

[Laraqua]

Corey's back arches up off the mattress and he exhales loudly. He begins to tremble and seize up, his limbs flapping about in different directions as though he were trying to hold someone off. His eyelids flutter open, revealing eyes that had rolled up to the back of his head.

"Doctor!" cries one of the children, a little boy who goes rushing for the door. Jill and Louie don't recognise the little boy. In fact, they don't recognise most of the children in the room.

[Piano man]

Louie looks at the little boy for the first time and realizes that he doesn't know him. Things are getting stranger. He knows all of the children in the ward. He puts up a hand to stay Jill, just in case her instinct to help the children takes over.

"Something isn't right. I don't recognise most of these children, and the ones I do recognise are asleep. I suggest we get out of here. I don't think that this is one hundred percent real. We should be skeptical of everything we see. This hospital is messing with out minds."

Louie grabs Jill's hand and tries to drag her away. This just seems wrong and he doesn't want to get suckered into a trap.

[imme]

Jill does take a step toward Corey, but Louie's hand and, more importantly, his words, stop her in her tracks. "You're right, I don't know these kids. And come to think of it, I don't know a Nurse Hammond either. That is, not outside of the dream." Besides, there's nothing I could do for Corey that one of the doctors here couldn't do better.

As she allows herself to be dragged off, Jill seems to wake up more. "Wait, your special magical vial? They sell them at the gift shop! What in the world is going on? And what happened to Corey?"

[Piano man]

Jill's words puzzle Louie.
"How can they sell these at the gift shop. This was created to keep me safe. This dam hospital is playing with our minds, and if you don't know Hammond then which one of use is loosing it. I have full memories of everything I've told you. How are your memories. Are they clear or fuzzy. We have to determine what is real before we continue. The one thing we can agree on is that something is desperately wrong here."

Louie let's go of Jill's hand and sits on the the floor. He puts his head in his hands and tries to concentrate.

"How could she not remember? I'm not going crazy. There are too many things out of place. We don't know the kids, We both have memories of what we are assuming was a dream. How could we have had the same dream?

Louie stops and looks up at Jill.

"What were you doing before you woke up here?"

[imme]

"Well, Hammond could exist, I've just never met her."

"Um, Nurse Sarah and Aidan, who with child protective services or something, went up to the roof to try to catch the helicopter so we could start loading the children into it. Hammond and I stayed with the kids, to figure out how to transport them, and to take them out of the room so they wouldn't wake up and find the gore everywhere." Jill shudders again at the thought. "And, well, I'd lost a lot of blood, I guess. I just kind of ... passed out. And woke up here."

[Laraqua]

Doctor Sutcliffe comes running into the Children's Ward at the sound of the children's cries. She barely glances at Jill and Louie as she moves toward the bed, but then she pauses, her eyes twitching from one to the other. A few nurses enter behind her. Louie recognises only one of them. "Awake?" she murmurs, but turns her attention to Corey.

[Piano man]

Louie see Dr. Sutcliffe and starts to panic inside. The urge to flee is overwhelming.

"Let's get out of here Jill. We need to talk. Anywhere you want to go I'll go." Louie leans closer and whispers to Jill" Dr. Sutclilffe is supposed to be dead, and I don't recognise those other nurses, and I know most of the one's in the hospital. It makes me wonder if this isn't the dream, but that's rediculous.....isn't it?"

[imme]

Jill whispers back. "I don't know, but why should they be surprised that we're awake? Something weird is definitely going on." She also feels the desire to flee (on her miraculously healed leg?), but waits for a moment to think. "You said there was a room that was immune to ... whatever this hospital does. Take us there."

[Piano man]

Louie starts to lead Jill down the stairs.

"Now keep in mind that nothing is what it is supposed to be. I wouldn't be suprised if this room was different. Right now nothing would suprise me. Its on the bottom level right by the stairs. It's not immune to the effects, but it has wards set to protect us from the effects. Nothing is fool proof."

[imme]

Jill nods and follows Louie in silence. As she walks she tries to order the thoughts flying through her head, unsuccessfully.

[Piano man]

Louie leads Jill down to the room that he is sure should be there. At least he thinks he's sure. His mind races as all of the possibilities run through his mind. This is just like one of those on line roll playing games I'm part of, only real. I'll never play one of them again.

[Laraqua]

The SDK room is unlocked. Inside are three computer-laden desks, one of which is being used by a rather frantic pair of youths. The computers look different somehow... Slimmer. Judging by the youths' uniforms, they're students here. There's a pair of bookcases, a filing cabinet and other odds and ends. The calender on the wall says something odd.

May, 2008.

Not 2005.

[Piano man]

Louie stops dead in his tracks as he sees the calendar. He turns to Jill an motions for her to leave.

"It's official. I've lost my mind....and about three years if that calendar is correct. That would explain why I don't recognise half of the people here. How could I have no memory of the last three years. I woke up mopping. I've fallen asleep on the job before but three years. I say we go check out the caverns and see if they are still there. If they aren't then I think I'll go the psych ward and check myself in. Something of my memories has to be real."

[imme]

Jill looks shocked and follows Louie from the room. "But I've lost three years, too! Sure, go check for the caverns, but I've got to call my husband." She looks around, trying to remember where the nearest phone might be, or was 3 years ago, and checks to see if she has any change. I really should ask him again for a mobile phone.

[Piano man]

Louie stops in his tracks.

"I'm so sorry Jill. I got caught up and have been thinking only about myself. If it's just the same to you I'd like to stick together untill we figure something out. Let's go find a phone. I'll give you your space so you can talk in private, but to be honest I'm really scared right now."

[Laraqua]

There are payphones on the first floor in the waiting area, in the emergency area, and sitting aboard wheeled tables for movement into the various wards - but these would probably be kept in a store room somewhere.

[imme]

"Thanks, Louie. Let's go to the waiting room." Jill turns and leads the way. Now that she's decided to call her husband, all sorts of fears have started to crop up. Anything could have happened in three years. What if I really have forgotten three years of my life?

[Piano man]

As Louie walks with Jill his mind races. To keep from going crazy he decides to talk as they walk.

"We should discuss what we know and see if we can come up with some clues as to what happened. What we know is, both of us have memories of a catastrophe. Something supernatural that seemed to want to kill everyone. We both seemed to wake up and now it's three years in the future. Everyone that we recognise is asleep, and people we thought were dead are still alive and here. Could everyone we saw before we woke up be sharing the same dream, and if so how. Or are you and I the ones who are dreaming. Are we dreaming at all. I've seen enough movies to know that something ain't right, and nothing should be ruled out. Maybe there is some kind of time flux which moves us from time to time, but that wouldn't explain why someone I thought was dead would still be alive. What do you think?"

[Laraqua]

Jill reaches the payphone in the time it takes for Louie to finish his contemplation.