#OH NO ! my battery’s dead on my cell phone. and i really wanna call ya.

[towl]

other songs can try but they will never be everything by b2k

[eddiesgazebos]

IT31|| Nursing Is Never Easy In The Dark

The one where Eddie works late at the nursing home and the lights go out.

word count: 1781

Thank you @zombiewhore for being an amazing co-writer!! Thank you @bitchinheart for some of the ideas in the story!!

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Eddie forced a friendly smile as he walked past the nurses' station and toward the patients' rooms. He was tired. After a 9hr shift, he really needed sleep. But instead, he continued working. He needed the overtime. The money was going toward his wedding at the end of the year. This was his first time working throughout the night.

He walked into Mrs. Hockstetter's room, holding a small cup of pills in one hand and an apple juice in the other.

"Good evening, Mrs. Hockstetter" he spoke in a friendly tone. "Time for your medication" he walked over to the side of the bed. The woman just looked at him with empty eyes before turning her attention to the open window. He sighed softly and carefully pressed the button to lift the top part of her bed with his pinky finger. "Come on, you know the drill"

"Hmph," she mumbled. She held out a shaky hand. He carefully handed her the cup of pills, waited for her to switch hands, then handed her the apple juice. "Is my son here yet?" she asked with a weak voice before dumping the pills in her mouth.

Eddie frowned and held his hand out for the empty cup. Both of her sons had been dead for years. Avery, her youngest, died as a baby while her oldest, Patrick, died when Eddie was in middle school from a bad accident down by the barrens. After losing both of her sons, the woman went crazy. Now, here she was, in the same nursing home that Eddie worked in.

"Not yet" Eddie talked softly. He knew better than to break the news to her. Nurses had tried for years to do so. She'd go through a major meltdown then go right back to believing her son would be visiting her. It broke Eddie's heart.

She didn't say anything. She handed the cup back to Eddie with shaky fingers and sipped on her apple juice.

"Now, you know the drill" Eddie warned with a playful tone. The woman rolled her eyes, opened her mouth, moved her tongue around, then went back to sipping her apple juice and staring out the window. "Thank you for cooperating. they should be bringing a snack around soon. I heard it was apple pie tonight!" he told her before turning back toward the door. She didn't make a sound as he left the room.

Eddie's friendly smile quickly vanished as he entered the halls of the nursing home. He felt completely drained. He finished up the few patients that needed their evening medicine before walking back to the nursing station and letting his body collapse in a computer chair.

"You look dead" his co-worker chuckled.

"When I get home, I guarantee I'll sleep for about four days straight" Eddie yawned and rubbed his tired eyes.

"Can't be doing that. You come back in tomorrow evening" his co-worker added, pointing his finger toward the schedule. Eddie rolled his eyes and sunk into the seat.

"How about we don't ruin my fantasies over here?"

"Alright, alright"

Eddie looked up to the sound of a patient's call light turning on. His jaw clenched and his tired body forced it's way back up the back of the chair.

"I got it" his co-worker waved his hand at Eddie before walking down the hall to the appropriate patient. Eddie sighed in relief.

He stayed slumped down in the chair, his body finding the odd position comfortable. He felt his eyes growing heavy and soon, he was drifting off to sleep before he could even realize it was happening.

He woke to the sound of wailing coming from down the halls followed by screeching and hollering. Eddie forced his eyes open and looked around. The nurses' station was dark as were the halls going every which way around him. He pushed himself up in the chair, his spine cracking with his movements. A little grunt escaped his lips.

He looked around. He could only see certain areas that were under the emergency lights. Was there a power outage? The generators really should have kicked on. He looked around for his co-workers then stood up. He figured they must have gone to calm the patients so he did the same. He walked down the hallway and entered the first room he could hear noise coming from.

Mr. Keene's room.

Eddie walked in and quietly hushed his unnerving hollering voice.

"It's alright Mr. Keene, no worries. The lights are just out but they'll be back on soon" he talked calmly.

"Ah, Eddie" his voice had lowered. "Little Eddie from the pharmacy" Eddie sighed. He heard this every time he entered his room.

"That's me, much more grown now" Eddie chuckled, the same line he used every time Mr. Keene decided to talk about the pharmacy days.

"Tell those rotten kids to get out of my room, will ya?" he nodded toward the side of the room. "I need to get some damn sleep once that screamin' out there calms down" Eddie looked to where he nodded. Seeing nothing, Eddie slowly raised a brow. Mr. Keene wasn't one of the crazy ones.

"What kids?" Eddie asked gently. Mr. Keene gave him an unsatisfied glance and rolled his eyes. The man pointed a finger out toward the same corner of the room.

"Are you going blind, child? They're right there!"

"I don't see any kids, sir" Eddie sighed. Mr. Keene scoffed and rolled over to his side, mumbling at the kids to leave. Eddie just shook his head, exited the room, and moved on to the next. He was successful in calming most of the patients down but hadn't run into any of his co-workers the whole time.  They usually woke him up if he dozed off before they went off to break.

Eddie slowly walked back down the dark hall, making sure not to run into anything. As he passed Mrs. Hockstetter's room, he could hear her talking. He slowly peeked his head in and listened.

"Patrick, you know better than being rude to Avery, dammit!" she scolded, wagging her trembling finger. "Leave him be" Eddie raised an eyebrow and slowly walked into the room.

"Hey, Mrs. Hockstetter. Do you need anything?" he asked, looking around the room.

"No, no. Boys do you need anything?" She looked at the end of her bed, nodding her head slowly. "Is there any dessert left? Patrick and his sweet tooth"

"Um, Mrs. Hockstetter, what are you-" his voice trailed off as he heard a loud bang come from the hallway. He turned around quickly and looked at the closed door with curious eyes. "Hello?" He called out and walked over to the door.

"Patrick, the door has to stay open. They get annoyed when it's closed" Mrs. Hockstetter sighed from her bed. Eddie gulped and slowly opened the door, feeling a force trying to keep it shut. "Pat, away from the door"

"I'll um...look into that dessert" Eddie spoke quickly before dashing out of the room. His lungs threatened to deflate. Goosebumps rose from his arms. He felt like he was a kid again, running away from Patrick Hockstetter and the Bowers Gang. He just shook his head. "She's just crazy" he mumbled to himself. He walked down the hall and looked at the nurses' station. His co-workers still weren't back.

He looked around and frowned to himself. Where could they possibly be? He rubbed his face, sat in the chair he fell asleep in beforehand and leaned against the desk. He took a couple deep breaths then heard a soft bell. He slowly stood up, looked down the hallways, then noticed a little kid's bike riding down the hall. He gulped. The bike rode up to the nurses' station, turned it's front wheel toward the desk that Eddie sat at, and came to a halt.

Nobody was sitting on the bike.

Eddie quickly got out of his chair and looked around for a reason. Shivers ran down his spine. His throat felt as though it was closing.

"Hello?" Eddie called out. He heard a child's giggle and then gentle footsteps dashing down the hall. His jaw trembled and a sudden rush of cool air blasted his body. The papers on the desk started sliding around and Eddie jumped back away from the desk, falling over the chair that was still behind him, and crashing to the floor. A pain-filled grunt sounded from his lips.

The child's giggle rang in his ears again. Closer this time. As if the child was right over him. Heavy breathing came from the air closeby too, a little off to the side from where the child's giggle was. Eddie scurried backward and stopped when his back collided with the filing cabinets.

"Where is that damn nurse" an old lady's voice could be heard from just past the desk. Eddie forced himself to his feet and looked around to find nothing but the doors ahead to be completely open.

The capricious fall air blew in from the open doors. Eddie, shivering, rushed over to close them but found a force fighting against him.

"Oh come on!" Eddie groaned.

An eery creak came from the doors before they slammed shut, forcing Eddie to back up or be hit by them. He bit his bottom lip and pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his scrubs. He quickly called his fiance, Richie.

The phone just beeped. Eddie looked at the screen, noticing that he had no service. A second after, the battery drained completely and the phone died.

He turned back toward the nurses' station and noticed the chair that he once sat in spinning in circles. The handlebar and front wheel of the children's bike turned again and took off down the hall. A low groan from within the walls rumbled Eddie's bones and caused tears to well up in his eyes.

"I wanna go home" he whimpered to himself. A loud cackle came from behind him. Eddie rushed forward, stumbling into the nurses' desk. He looked over his shoulder and saw a shadowy grey figure right in front of the doors. He stood with his back tight against the desk. He watched as the shadowy figure slowly vanished.

Screams, laughs, and hysterical cries came from the patients down the halls. Eddie quickly covered his ears, slid down the desk, and curled up on the tiled floor. Every muscle in his body tensed. Every strand of hair on his body stood. He slowly rocked back and forth.

Suddenly, a hand squeezed his shoulder. Eddie screamed and lifted his head, looking up at his co-worker. The co-worker jumped back and stared at Eddie with wide eyes.

"Jesus! Are you alright?" He asked. Eddie breathed heavily and stared at him then looked around. The lights were on. Everything was quiet. The shadowy figures were long gone. "Eddie? Should I call Richie?"

"I-I... I think I need to go home" Eddie slowly stood to his feet. His body still shook from fear.

"I don't think you should be driving" he stated worriedly.

"No, no I'm fine" Eddie quickly walked to the back room, grabbed his stuff, then dashed right out of the building.

He looked back once and only once.

A child's bike sat on the front lawn. The handlebar turned toward him. The giggles of a child rang in his ears again.

Eddie ran to his car and drove home.

He quit the following day.