The Headshrinker's Dilemma

Chapter Sixteen

Hospitals had a funny smell. There wasn’t a foul stench. No odor that bemoaned dirtiness or dankness, just an arid and abrasively distilled smell. Floors had obviously been mopped and cleaned, disinfectant lingered within the walls. Maybe it was all mixed with the smell of sick people. Dale remembered Felicia, how she had an odor and it smelled, for a lack of a better word, sick, or maybe it was closer to death, the two seemed to go hand-in-hand. And when you entered into her room, the air seemed different, almost putrid, defiantly vile. Imagine that mixed with a futile attempt at cleansing and the scents that come with that – that’s how hospitals smelled.

Dale stood in the lobby of the hospital, taking it all in. The place wasn’t crowded. He was kind of shocked, the Emergency Room of a hospital was usually crazy filled and busy. Dale did a quick count: less than ten. He then noticed the two security guards in the far corner talking. They were both sipping coffee, smiling. One was a man and the other a woman. The man had a certain stance about him, his demeanor felt more relaxed than it should have been for a security guard. Dale surmised that it was the female security guard that was the catalyst for that as they both seemed very much into their conversation and each other. Dale moved slowly in.

He approached the front desk. He deliberated what his next move should be. He could ask the nurse that stood in front of him for – he stopped. He realized that he didn’t know Cashier Girl’s name. What the f**k? Dale was amazed. He tried to wrap his mind around it – how he could have gone all this time without knowing her name? He loved this girl, had fallen in love with her in a span of a day and a night but didn’t even know her name. It then occurred to him that he didn’t know the Jamaican Girl’s name either and he had slept with her, had been ready to surrender his love for Cashier Girl to her – and he didn’t know either one of their names! The realization was disconcerting.

“Excuse me, sir… Can I help you with something?” one of the security guards, the man, had come over to him.

Dale didn’t want to look the man squarely in the eyes. He didn’t know if there were pictures of him up yet or not, he knew he had to be a wanted man.

Dale shook his head: “No – No… I’m fine. Just – Just hate hospitals… I’m – I’m waiting on a friend.”

Dale hurriedly nodded and tried to move on about his business.

“I understand that – what’s your friend’s name? Maybe I can help,” the security guard answered back, his voice trailing behind Dale enough for him to know that the security guard was following him.

Dale turned slightly, enough to give the indication that he was looking back at the man while still trying to move forward, a normal enough motion, he thought.

“Ah, I’m fine, sir – thank you anyway –” Dale hurriedly found a seat and sat down. He lowered his head as if he was tired, and then scooted into the seat readying himself to get comfortable, like he was planning on being there for a while.

He didn’t look up but he could feel the security guard standing over him. The security guard was deciding whether or not he wanted to pursue any further questioning of Dale. Dale understood why too. Despite his trying not to be obvious, his attempt at being inconspicuous was an epic fail. Any good police officer would be able to see that there was something at least slightly off about Dale and his arrival at the hospital. Dale imagined that at this point, having murdered as many people as he had in the span of like forty-eight hours, that he had a certain look about him, maybe even a vibe or energy that shot off of him. He had never been a killer before so he didn’t know if being such did something to you physiologically. For some reason, Dale imagined that it did.

“Okay… Well, if you need something then please let me know – or just talk to someone at the front desk. Okay?” the security guard said to him.

Dale was relieved. He tried not to exhale too loudly.

“Thank you,” he answered, peering up slightly, not enough for the security guard to really see his face.

The security guard walked away. Dale looked at him under-eyed. The security guard glanced back a couple of times, his intuition telling him something, warning him about Dale, that he was a bad guy, a person there for misdeeds and possibly mayhem. But the security guards desire to get back to his conversation and the female security guard overpowered the truth that was inside of him. Dale was thankful for that.

Dale lowered his head again and closed his eyes. He knew he needed to be doing something, getting to Cashier Girl but the sitting down for a moment called to him. It felt good to just sit and breathe, to not be in some kind of parry with words or actions, not fighting to figure out his next move or calculating how to do something; Dale felt like he had been running his whole life – and he knew in many ways he had – that what he was going through now, the strange power to shrink heads that he had that had caused all these problems and subsequently put him on the run – was just the culmination of a life of inner struggle, turmoil, and a bunch of running. For a moment, Dale didn’t want to deal with it anymore. Just for a brief moment, Dale wanted to just sit still. There. In the Emergency Room of the hospital and not think or do anything. Dale breathed in deeply and then exhale. A few minutes later, he was fast asleep.

***

A couple of hours later, Dale was being nudged by the male security guard. He didn’t want to wake up, he was aware that he was asleep but he was in that in between stage, the limbo of existence and consciousness as he liked to think of it. Dale fought the nudges at first, but they continued, relentlessly. He finally opened his eyes to peer up into the security guard’s face.

“Sir?” the security guard started. “Are you okay? Are you still looking for your friend?”

The security guard was testing him. f**k. He had fallen asleep. But for how long? Dale looked at his watch. Too long. A little over two hours. He turned back to face the security guard who continued to stand over him. Dale realized that the guard was uncomfortably close, a way of blocking him in.

“Are you okay?” he asked again, this time his voice harboring a little bit more suspicion.

The other security guard was making her way over, the one that the male security guard had been flirting with. She was eyeing Dale. Dale knew what was going on. They were surrounding him. And that meant that they were onto him.

“Sir –”

Dale abruptly stood up, his movement pushing the security guard back some, a little off balance. The security guard didn’t like that very much, Dale could tell by his grimace.

“Sorry – it’s just been a long night. I’mma go see if I can find my friend,” he spoke hastily.

Dale shoved passed the security guard. He met the other security guard as she rounded the row of chairs. She continued to eye him. Dale looked away. He moved toward the nurse’s station, a million things running through his mind as he tried to settle on the best way to find and get to Cashier Girl. He was almost at the nurse’s station when he realized that there wasn’t a best way – Dale eyed the double doors leading to the back where all the ER rooms were. Was it worth it? Could he get back there and do what had to be done before the anyone got to him? Did it matter? He could take them all out and once he killed Cashier Girl he could reset everything. That was the plan anyway wasn’t it? f**k it. Dale gave the nurse standing at the nurse’s station waiting to receive him a look, flashed a wry grin, and then took off running towards the double doors.

“Hey!” the security guard yelled, he knew his voice.

More people yelled. Shouted. The female security guard. The nurse.

But Dale was already through the sliding double doors. The back smelled just the same as the front – that clinically distilled stench. All eyes fell on him as he ran down the hall hopping in and out of the rooms, hurriedly, frantically looking for Cashier Girl.

“Stop him!” the security guard yelled from a good distance behind, he and the other security guard had just come through the double doors.

The chase was on. Dale bounced in and out of rooms, pushing pass doctors and nurses that were in his way, several falling, Dale climbing and leaping over them. The scene was manic to say the least. The back of the Emergency Room made a kind of U and as he careened around to the other side he spotted a woman on a stretcher being ported down another hall by a nurse. Dale couldn’t see the woman’s face, but something told him that it was her. He felt it. Her. Dale looked behind himself – the security guards were gaining.

Dale ran toward the woman on the stretcher and the nurse. The nurse’s eyes widened as Dale ran up on them.

“Don’t – Don’t hurt me –” the nurse stuttered.

Dale wasn’t aware of how scary he must have looked running at the nurse. It must have been some sight. The nurse backpedaled as he approached and then stumbled down to the floor. The nurse rolled on his back and through up his hands to plead for his life. Dale ignored him. He was of no consequence. Dale rounded the stretcher to get a good look at the woman – he prayed that it was her – it was! But she was barely coherent. Her face sagging. Her eyes dazed. They had given her something for the pain. Obviously the good stuff.

“Hey!”

They were coming for him.

Dale grabbed the end of the stretcher and pulled. Hard. He one handed the end of the stretcher and then turned into a run. He sprinted down the hallway, the stretcher trailing behind him. An elevator. He saw the sign. He planted his feet some, sliding into a turn. Dale and the stretcher whipped around the corner. Dale repeatedly pressed the button.

He could hear the footsteps gaining. This was it, he thought. The elevator opened. He stepped back into the elevator, pulling the stretcher with him. He banged on the buttons, hitting the highest floor possible. The door closed just as the guards got to it.

***

They were alone. The elevator ride up was slow. Or maybe it was because he knew what he had to do. And she was right there for him to do it. But he hesitated. Looking at her. She was so pretty. Without her glasses, he could really see her, her facial structure, the uniqueness that was about her face and jaw line. She was really pretty. Dale was reminded of who this girl was to him – his girlfriend. His first girlfriend. f**k. His best friend. How all of that had happened in one night was surprising and beyond him, but it had.

Her eyes came more into more focus. They rolled around until they found him and stopped.

“Dale?”

Dale paused. He couldn’t bring himself to answer. Not with what he was about to do to her. She opened her mouth to say something else but Dale closed his eyes and pushed his hand forward to her head…