Chapter Text
Rick checked the clock. 3:30pm. Throughout the rest of the day, the man kept strangely glancing over at Rick as if he wanted to tell him something, but was too afraid to. Rick hated to admit it, but something about their conversation left him feeling confused. As much as he told himself that he didn’t care about whatever it was that the man refused to tell him, he still wanted to know; it was slowly killing him. He didn’t want to inquire the man again for fear that he’d scare him off and then Rick wouldn’t have a free ride home. Thinking of which, when was he allowed to leave from this wretched place? He had been here for far too long. By now, he had assumed that he would be allowed to go home or, the more likely outcome, was forced into a mental hospital on account of him desperately trying to take his own life.
While he was distracted by his thoughts, he didn’t notice his nurse come in, followed by his doctor.
The nurse was walking slightly in front of his doctor, and not because they couldn't both walk through the door frame at the same time. Since the chair that the man had now sat in for a few days straight was adjacent to the doorway, the nurse, Nancy Rick recalled, saw him first. Her false smile faltered as she saw him; she gave him a feigned disappointed look accompanied by a slight head shake in disapproval. The man looked too nervous to perceive her masked judgment.
Rick looked up at the nurse who had resumed quietly chatting with the doctor. His doctor cleared his throat.
“So, on account of this hospital being just recently built, we haven't found the time to acquire an adequate staff as of yet so things haven't been running as, um, smoothly as we’d like them too. Because of this we haven't been able to mark a few things down that were supposed to have been written down immediately after your arrival here, so that must be taken care of before you depart. On a side note, your arm has been healing very well and so we trust that you will make a speedy recovery--”
“Great.” Rick monotoned.
“Yes, it uh, well, I suppose it is, so we’ll be happy to send you on your way after we just ask you a few questions.”
Rick growled. Answering questions just for the sake of writing something down was completely stupid and a total waste of time.
“Li, li, listen buddy; you just gave me the green-light to go here so I’m, I’m not going to just sit here and answer a bunch of your stupid questions,” he then stood up and started trying to walk out of the room.
“But Mr. Sanchez! We haven’t yet discussed how you'll pay your bill! Or--” Rick just kept walking.
It only occurred to him after the fact, as he received many wide-eyed stares from passing patrons, that he remember that he wasn’t indeed, wearing real clothes; he was wearing--only wearing--a backless hospital gown that took the appearance of a barber's cape.
“Oh my god,” he mumbled, slightly wanting to die. He then starkly turned around and marched back to his room.
“W, w, where the fuck are my clothes?” Nancy, the doctor, and Rick’s neighbor all stared up at him. Nancy and the doctor looked petrified with their eyes wide and mouths agape while his neighbor was desperately attempting to stifle his laughter.
“F, fuck it; I’ll find it myself.” He then started stumbling down the hallway towards the receptionists desk.
Having overheard the conversation and not wanting to get too involved with whatever this situation was, the receptionist quickly fetched a large ziplock looking bag that had been labeled in his full name; his clothes were visible underneath the transparent plastic of the bag. She held it out with a disturbed look on her face as he slapped it out of her hand with the ferocity of a petulant child. He then marched himself back to the room he had been staying in, hoping to find his neighbor for his promised free ride home.
He quickly reached the room again only to find it empty.
“S, shit,” he swore under his breath. Where the hell did that fucker go? Deciding to take advantage of his time, he put back on his clothes from the bag. As stupid as he felt like it was, seeing the clothes he wore from that night triggered some rather unwanted and unpleasant memories. He had not had proper time nor adequate setting to deal with and fully process everything that had happened that night. He’d been trying to avoid thinking about it, but it felt inevitable to not to. As he pulled on the clothes, he noticed with small repugnance how much blood coated the sleeves of his shirt. The articles of clothing even without the blood were very gross, so Rick cast a disgruntled look at them. Finally having his clothes back and on his body, he went in search of the man.
He started peering down hallways and into different rooms, silently cursing himself for not swiping the guys keys when he had the chance. Walking around the hospital, he noticed that it seemed really hectic, like everything had just been thrown together at the last minute; it was as if nobody here actually had real experience or even knew what they were doing. Some of the lights flickered and were completely off in other corridors. Nurses seemed to be frantically running around.
Before he knew it, he had somehow circled back to the receptionist desk.
“Damnit!”
He started complaining and grumbling,deciding to look from a new direction, getting really close to just saying “fuck it” and attempting to walk home, when the man suddenly appeared beside him. He was running. Really fast. As he passed by Rick, he had taken hold of his upper arm and yanked him along.
“TIME TO GO,” he yelled as he started dragging him along by his right arm; Rick had to resist the temptation to yell out in pain.
“WHAT?” he yelled back instead. Then, from behind him, he heard what sounded like a moderately sized mob of people chasing him. Suddenly, the fire alarm went off and bells and screaming drowned out all conceivable noise. Rick was august with what was happening, and surely confused as hell, yet, he blindly followed wherever it was that the man was trying to get too, which was probably the parking lot.
Busting out of a side door, the man released Rick’s arm and started sprinting towards an old car; the maroon paint on it was chipped and the windshield had a small but growing crack on it. None of the windows were tinted so you could pretty easily see the mess that was the inside of the car. It only now occurred to Rick that this man could be trying to abduct him, but the crowd of people chasing them was enough of a convincer for him to just get in the car. But why were the people chasing him, though? Was that a police officer in the crowd? WHAT WAS HAPPENING??
He yanked open the passenger door and threw himself inside, trying to ignore the flashes of overwhelming pain coming from his arms. The man did the same and started to frantically jam the key into the ignition, praying that it would work. When the engine turned over he shouted in triumph, like it was rare for his car to actually start.
“FUCK YES!” as soon as the car started rumbling to life, they peeled out of the parking lot, rounded the corner, and then and sped out onto the freeway.