Chapter Text
Mallory lay back in the seat with a bored expression, the incessant hum of the broken ceiling light an unpleasant reminder of her status. The occasional coughing of patients and rushing of nurses and doctors left her no peace and each time she would slowly drift into a comfortable state the tapping of heels or a sneeze would break her out of her thoughts.
The whispers were still there, they had become background noise at this point, vague hisses and giggles. Her vision was blotched with dark spots, and the hospital smelt faintly of lemon, everywhere she went the faint scent of lemon never escaped her, and instead of the average person who would find it calming, Mallory found it foul, it was bitter and constant to her.
“-Am? Ma’am?” She shook her head and looked up with wide eyes towards a man calling her name with a friendly smile, she blinked and stood up with a forced smile. She wasn’t necessarily unhappy to see him but she was always terrible at forcing a smile, it was a wonder that she was accepted as a receptionist.
“Sorry sir, do you have an appointment booked?” Mallory struggled to maintain her focus as she could feel herself nodding off.
“Uh- Yes with a Dr… Vincent? I’m just here for a checkup, under the name John Smith.” He peeked over the desk as Mallory tapped on the computer with a raised eyebrow.
“John Smith? Do you have a wife named Jane Doe?” He chuckled with a sigh whilst rhythmically tapping the receptionist's desk, waiting for her to tell him to take a seat.
Her life had become so utterly mundane that the most exciting thing that happened to her that day was she met a man with an utterly mundane name. She went back to leaning back in her seat, staring at the ceiling that would occasionally morph and entertain her for a split second whilst also gently tracing the tattoo on her wrist.
She was pushed against the wall, the rolly chair slamming harshly as she let out a grunt and looked towards her aggressor in confusion only for her face to light up with a small smile. Maggie wasn’t a particularly close friend, more just a friendly colleague and Mallory was happy with that, that's what she wanted it to be and no more than that.
The odor of blood and vomit emanated from and stained her bright blue nurse's outfit as Mallory gagged a little in disgust only to be pushed into the wall again with a friendly chuckle.
“I’m on break and I bear gifts.” Maggie smiled invitingly as she held out a cup of coffee, Mallory grabbed the scalding hot liquid and immediately started to guzzle down the pitch black and bitter coffee with a smile.
“You’re a lifesaver Maggie” Mallory grinned, her accent curling around her name when she spoke. “Why’s it so empty anyways?” She gestured to the mildly empty waiting room, with only mildly sick patients.
“I think most patients are in the free emergency clinic, it’s just one of those days.” She said with a shrug as she gently sipped her coffee, glancing around the strangely quiet reception.
“Well boring for me.” Mallory frowned. “It’s taken all my energy just to stay awake today.” She made a point of rubbing her sunken eye bags as she blinked drearily.
“Wow, that must be so difficult.” Maggie said with a pointed look and Mallory laughed sheepishly “At least you get to sleep in tomorrow.” She nudged her with a grin as Mallory looked back at her with a confused frown.
“Tomorrow..? No no… I have work tomorrow.” She shook her head, fidgeting with the cup and jogging through her mind.
“No you’re definitely off tomorrow… have you.. Taken your meds yet?” Maggie tiptoed around the subject, speaking those last words in a secretive whisper.
“I-I this isn’t because of that, I definitely have work tomorrow.” Mallory gave a resounding nod, absolutely sure that tomorrow wasn’t an off day, it couldn’t be because.. Because she just knew.
“How would you know anyways, wouldn’t I know my own schedule better?” She said slightly smug
“I know because you always have the day off the day before I do, I’ve told you multiple times..”
“Yes but I know I have work tomorrow, I have.. Something to do it’s.. I just know I have work tomorrow.” Mallory said, completely sure of herself and unwilling to budge on the subject.
“Mallory please, just.. Trust me, take tomorrow off, at least.. Take your meds and then reconsider.” Maggie gave her a small pleading look as Mallory looked at her with an unsure gaze and finally sighed, giving in.
“Fine.. I’m probably going to be even more bored, I don’t have anything planned.” Mallory groaned and leaned back against the chair, spinning herself around. “I’ll probably just be holed up at home, I’m gonna be a hermit for the rest of my life.”
“You need to get out more, haven’t you considered rejuvenating your love life again? I could definitely hook you up with someone and there's this delicious steak house in town” Maggie wiggled her eyebrows with a sly smirk, Mallory simply snickered.
“Please it’s just going to be like every other guy saying “Oh this chick is crazy!” Mallory imitated a haughty American accent with a whine. Maggie laughed at her ridiculous accent, tossing the now-empty coffee cups in the trash and wanting to reveal her true intentions for coming here.
“Ok I also came bearing another gift, I know how much of a scalpel jockey you are and a little birdie told me that there’s a neurosurgery going down.” Maggie looked at Mallory invitingly with a raised eyebrow as Mallory smiled giddily and nodded in agreement, not before waving over a coworker to take over for her.
“What kind? Wait, is it on the skull or the actual brain? Let me guess, tumor removal?” Mallory rambled on with a giddy squeak as they made their way towards the O.R viewing room.
“Right on the money, pituitary tumor removal.” Mallory’s eyes lit up in excitement.
Mallory lightly pumped both of her fists, Maggie would always grant her the pleasure of sneaking her into the O.R viewing room so they could observe the operations that took place, it was one of the very few exciting occurrences in Mallory’s life.
Maggie creaked the door to the viewing section slowly, making a shushing motion with her pointer finger to which Mallory promptly mimicked zipping her mouth and tiptoed into the dark area.
Mallory bent down, her eyes searching for said surgeons and when her eyes snagged on them, she was immediately captured by their swift movements. Their total communication as they carefully worked through the surgery, each cut, each motion clean and fast.
The amount of precision it took to remove something so poisonous from something so fragile, to do it with such care, to have the patient's life in their hands. It gave Mallory a thrill, the stakes of it, she loved it.
She murmured the steps under her breath, word for word perfectly and at one point subconsciously mimicked performing the surgery herself. Her hands moved with all the skill of an actual surgeon, yet there she stayed, stuck as a receptionist, stuck watching from the sidelines, and she had accepted that.
———☼———
Mallory stepped out of the cold neon hospital, letting the calming sensation of the fresh air hit her skin and her eyes not being harassed by the harsh light of the hospital. The streets were generally empty except for the occasional car or drunk.
She hated walking home, the only way home at night was an empty street way. Most people would love the peace and quiet, but not Mallory because it was the loudest when empty.
She focused her mind, her eyes stuck in a straight line as she kept telling herself to ignore the whispers that grew increasingly violent. She couldn’t make out what they said but they were loud, angry, and threatening. Hissing in her ears and grinding on her head, giving her a pounding headache that felt like her heart was stuck in her head rather than her chest. The whispers were now accompanied by the haunting sounds of crushed glass, she despised it.
She couldn’t resist her eyes being pulled in every direction, darting from every alley to dark corner and the shadows slowly morphing. She was being watched, the figures in the dark became more human, their humming resonating more clearly in her mind. She knew they were following her, they must be.
When arriving at her dingey apartment she quickly rushed inside, fumbling with the lock and running down the hallway towards the elevator as the lights flickered behind her. Once the cold metal doors finally closed, she sighed in relief and leaned against the wall, the metal box acting as a getaway.
Once on her floor, the lights stopped flickering, she had calmed down and the whispers were now reduced to quiet giggles and murmurs that she had become accustomed to. She flipped through her shiny new keys until she found the right one and unlocked her apartment, taking comfort in the safe haven she had built for herself.
Mallory loved the attic shape of the apartment, it reminded her of the sitcoms she would watch when younger that she took slight comfort in. She slipped her shoes off and threw them to the side along with her grey cardigan on the couch and untucked her blouse out of her uncomfortable pencil skirt.
Her apartment was fairly lavish considering her minimum wage job. Various medical and Egyptian textbooks were stacked up to the ceiling along the walls, a king-sized bed that had too many pillows needed for one person but that was a purchase Mallory would never take back.
She remembered she needed to take her meds and groaned as she realized she would need to get up from the couch and actually move. She bumbled to the bathroom, pulling the light switch and lighting up the dim brick wall and irritating her eyes as the light reflected off of the mirror.
Mallory took in her appearance with a sigh, trying to hastily pat down her hair that stuck out in every direction with water only to make it look greasier than it already was and her frown deepened. She tried to rub away her reddened eyes as if it would take them away and rub the dirt out of her eye.
She unscrewed the cream white cap and dumped a few pills into her hand, Mallory stared at the cylindrical white pills in her hand and tossed them down her throat, swallowing them with a grimace as she began to regret taking them dry.
The medication helped a little, she didn’t feel as withdrawn, she was more energized, and the voices were quieter, reduced to murmurs instead of actual people. Once she started taking it she felt herself become more.. Relaxed, actually doing things instead of simply laying in bed all day. Maggie was the only half-friend she had made, the meds made a difference but not much. Not enough.
She refused to see a therapist, she would reluctantly take her medication but a therapist was a definite no. It would happen again, the poking, the prodding, the interrogation, she refused.
Her hobbies would satisfy her, after all, who needed a therapist when one could simply read at home. Mallory had to occupy herself in some ways considering how mundane her life had become, she had a certain… Obscure hobby that she had grown expert in, cigar rolling.
Everyone she met would always be confused that she of all people had taken such an interest in a strange hobby but she loved it, it wasn’t the most healthy but it calmed her down, got rid of the whispers, and the smell of smoke drowned out the smell of citrus gave her a moment of peace. She could use one right now as she slumped towards where she kept her already rolled cigars and grabbed a lighter.
There was also one other reason she liked smoking cigars. As Mallory unlatched the window lock and raised it open she lit the cigar, letting the ash fall onto the cement ground far below and the smoke curl around the wind, slowly drifting into the night sky up above.
After a few drags her eyes became heavy, her mind became quieter and she turned around.
Mallory was met with the familiar lioness, she was stone-faced and nearly touched the ceiling with her height so she had moved to lie on the couch. She spoke no words but would always stare at Mallory, she smiled at the sight. Mallory had always asked psychologists if this was normal, to only hallucinate a certain thing in certain states but was never met with a clear answer. She liked observing what her mind could conjure, such a detailed hallucination of a goddess down to each hair.
Once Mallory finally somewhat relaxed she made her way over to her desk, detailed with ornate wooden carvings that she was fascinated by and fond of. She opened her laptop and gently tapped the ash off of the cigar as she gathered her books, coughing when her throat was ambushed by dust but smiling when the now gone dust revealed the crocodile-headed goddess. She flipped through old stained pages and skimmed through each highlighted section.
She stared up at the pinboard on the wall that was filled to the brim with her extensive notes, what she was more focused on was the map next to it containing large splotches of red.
Mallory was getting closer and closer every day with each location that was crossed out as she began her search, typing in the words Arthur Harrow.
———☽———
It was 2:00 am without her even realizing it, and only when she realized her mind became bleary and in desperate need of rest but she forced herself to stay awake, slapping herself until her cheeks became red and walking towards the kitchen in hopes that she still had some instant coffee.
As she rifled through the cabinets a frantic knock alerted her of someone else’s presence. Her heart began to pound, they must be here, who else would knock. Mallory was sure they had come and that the voices, the shadows that watched had finally found her home and decided to take action.
Her breath was stuck in her throat, she moved towards the door, not letting the floor creak under her gentle footsteps. Mallory went up to the door and squinted through the peephole, her worry was immediately mellowed when she was simply met with the sight of her neighbor.
She glanced to the side of the door just to assure herself that her trusty metal bat was still there in case she needed to defend herself. She unlocked the door but left the chain in and opened the door a crack, only showing her eyes.
He snapped his head up when he heard the door open, his calloused hands nervously running through his curls.
“..Hi Steven, can I help you?” She said cautiously, she had only met him a few times before in passing and he seemed like a relatively nice man but they didn’t seem close enough for him to visit her in the middle of the night.
“Hey Mallory, could you do me a favor?” She was immediately baffled by his accent, it felt so fake in comparison to his regular British accent. It was so obviously forced in a way that would usually make her laugh. “I’m going to be out of town for a few days and I got a goldfish, could you feed him?”
He held out what she assumed was a spare pair of keys to his apartment, she eyed him skeptically. He felt fake, his mannerism, the way he spoke, wasn’t the man she had met before, granted she never really interacted with him often but it was all off.
But it was just a goldfish, right? She needed something to do anyways and Mallory didn’t want to come across as an ass. She bit the inside of her cheek in thought before finally relenting and quickly grabbing the keys from his hand.
“No problem.. How do I take care of a goldfish..?” She just realized she had accepted a task that she was completely unfamiliar with.
“It’s uh.. It’s a goldfish, you feed it twice a day.” He nodded as if convincing himself more than her as she nodded and made a note to remember to do so. He immediately turned around, not bothering to say goodbye, and made his way to the elevator.
Once she realized he was a safe distance away Mallory fully unlocked the door and stepped out halfway.
“Steven?” He took a second to respond, strangely delayed in his reaction, he turned around with a questioning look. “Are you uh.. alright, you seem a little frazzled.”
He paused, trying to hide his slight panic at the question and his mouth becoming slightly, searching his mind for a decent but believable answer, her quite simple question managed to make him wonder more about how to appropriately respond.
“I’m fine, I’m just.. Excited to go out.” He forced out a smile that made Mallory struggle to hide her weirded-out expression at how odd he was acting.
“Oh well.. Have fun.” She awkwardly waved and retreated into her apartment with a sigh, her thoughts immediately pushing her doubts aside and focusing once more on the Egyptian textbooks that started to wear down on her and a wave of exhaustion hit her like a tsunami.
She slumped towards the bed and collapsed on the soft but rickety mattress with a comfortable sigh. Letting her mind drift into a peaceful calm, where no voices, no thoughts, no one could follow her. Her only little safe haven, although it usually didn’t stay that way for long.