Silence Falls

Jack had spent the next morning informing Bert on what Hermanni had told him. Of course he couldn’t mention that Hermanni predicted the precise time for them to put their plan into motion. Jack had enough time to make up a fabricated story before he met up with Bert. The young man was so thrilled he embraced Jack instead of kissing him this time, which Jack much preferred over the latter. Bert then pressed Jack to go straight to the Women’s ward and brief Otep on their plan. Jack agreed to and headed over to the Women’s ward where he was in for a major surprise. While striding down the hallway to Otep’s cell, Jack saw something in his peripheral vision that had him ceasing in his tracks. He stopped breathing and closed his eyes as he turned to peer into the Phlebotomy room to verify his fear. Otep was strapped down on a bed with a vacant expression on her face. She watched as the nurses spat over their craving to nourish their caffeine intake with some coffee from one of the break rooms. Otep was so close to telling them to stop whining and take her goddamn blood already so she could go when she saw the door open and Jack enter. The nurses looked up to discover the Orderly standing there with a giant nefarious grin on his face as he rubbed his hands together, his eyes locked on their restrained patient.

“Oh boy, looks like you ladies got a good one here!” Jack tributed to the nurses, very much looking the part of a creepy Orderly much like the rest of his co-workers.

Nurse Lucinda stepped forward. “Jack, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in the Male ward?”

Jack spared a fleeting glance at Lucinda before spinning his lie. “I have found a new keen interest for Phlebotomy as of late, and I was hoping I could quench my curiosity on your available patient here.”

The nurses eyed Otep and then each other before shrugging it off. “Sure, what the hell? We need coffee anyway so…don’t break anything or get blood everywhere.”

Jack watched both nurses take their leave before rushing over to Otep’s side, hissing down at her. “What the hell did you get yourself into now, woman!?”

“I got bored.” Otep grumbled nonchalantly, aware that it wasn’t a fitting excuse.

“Are you serious!? What the fuck is wrong with you two?!” Jack exclaimed to himself before scanning around. He couldn’t just free her, or else they’d both be in big trouble for it. He had to find a way to hoax her blood having been drawn throughout his time in the Phlebotomy room.

“Blood bags are in the fridge. And what do you mean by ‘you two’?” Otep questioned him as she observed Jack spin around to snag himself two bags of blood from the fridge in the corner of the room.

“You know exactly who I’m comparing you to!” Jack growled before tearing each bag open and
pouring them into the empty glass jar that was meant to contain Otep’s blood. He felt her follow him as he discarded the bags into the trash can along with the thin tubing that was supposed to be used to drain the blood out from her arm.

“No offense, Jack, but you don’t have to put yourself out to rescue me. I’m not your patient, remember?” Otep reminded him as he came back over to stand beside her.

“Trust me, I’m aware of that! I normally wouldn’t insert myself in a situation like this IF it wasn’t for the imminent future forestalling ME from allowing YOU to become incapacitated.” Jack explained before reaching over to unfasten her from the medical bed.

Perplexed by what Jack was saying, Otep frowned up at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’ll explain when we’re alone, but right now I need you to act like I took half of your body weight in blood.” Jack conveyed quickly right before the doorway opened, and in walked the two nurses with their steaming coffees. They paused their chatting once they noticed Jack was unstrapping their patient from the bed. Otep immediately got into character as the ‘passed out patient depleted of blood.’

“Wow! You’re done already?” Jude gasped in admiration, a proud grin on her face.

Jack nodded as he chatted with Jude over his shoulder. “Unfortunately. She’s knocked out pretty cold so I thought I’d thank you guys by tossing her back into her cell for ya.”

The nurses looked at each other and shared an agreeable nod. “Sure! Feel free to get her sinful ass out of this room.”

The two Nurses went back to work while leaving Jack to transfer their patient out of the room. He tried to depict himself as a dissatisfied Orderly as he carried Otep into her cell where her cell mates were hanging around. Jack carefully placed the immobilized blonde down onto a vacant bed before shooing off the remaining cell mates with hollowed threats to their lives. Otep opened her eyes and sat up when she finally heard her cell door shut and lock.

“Alright, tell me what's going on, Dracula?” Otep teased Jack, making him roll his eyes at her nickname.

Jack took a seat across from Otep on the other bunk bed. “You know, I still can’t get over the fact that you don’t give a shit about what happens to you in this place. It doesn’t make any sense!”

Otep sighed and decided to shed a little light on her nonchalant demeanor. “Look, this place and these assholes are something I’ve already faced before. It was pretty much my childhood. I’ve been beaten, raped, drugged, and left for dead a thousand times. This place doesn’t scare me much. Not to mention I’m constantly drugged every second of every day here…actually that could be the main reason as to why I don’t give a shit…” Otep muttered that last part to herself, although Jack was listening attentively.

“Well we’re really gonna need you to keep it together, Otep. I’m dead serious. We need you.” Jack ordered her sternly, making her raise her eyebrow in puzzlement.

“And why do you need my help, exactly? I’m just a patient here. There’s nothing I can do, but get into trouble or behave myself.” Otep reminded him with a shrug.

“Maybe not for long.” Jack baited her, watching a smirk inch across her face.

“Did Bert finally change your mind about helping us?” Otep asked him, certain she had it all figured out.

“No, it was actually your friend Hermanni that did.” Jack reported, making Otep’s smirk falter.

“Wh-What did you s-say?” Otep stuttered, straightening up from her relaxed pose. Her brain was trying to register what Jack had said. He couldn’t have said Hermanni’s name just now because he doesn’t know about Hermanni’s existence. No one seemed to.

Jack hesitated to repeat himself because of the way Otep had reacted to Hermanni’s name. For as long as he’s known the girl she’s always had herself unflappable, but he could tell he had clearly dropped a bombshell on her. Averting his eyes, Jack softly clarified. “I said...Hermanni. He convinced me to get you all out of this Psychiatric Hospital, and in return he’ll help me stop all these people from imprisoning any more people within these swamps forever.”

Otep took a long time before replying, her mind racing on WHAT exactly Hermanni vowed to Jack, and HOW exactly he planned to get the job done. “You don’t have to explain anything else to me, Jack. Trust me when I tell you…I understand why you believe he can help you. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

Jack’s brown eyes immediately snapped to Otep with astonishment. He figured that the reason Hermanni didn’t want him to mention his ‘special gifts’ was because no one else but him had known about it and he wanted to keep it that way. But judging by the look in Otep’s eyes, he wasn’t the only one after all. She’d witnessed it too! “Wait, have you…are you saying you‘ve…seen what he could do?”