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A Rose's Tears
By Crimson Eclipse
A buzzing sound echoed within the confines of the room as a blinking machine suddenly whirred to life.
A petite woman materialized inside of it, and suddenly, she was dropped heavily onto her buttocks.
"Oof!" Bright blue eyes glared angrily at the device. "Stupid transporter is malfunctioning again." She flicked her long dark hair away from her eyes to turn her glower at the soft cushions the machine was supposed to drop her off into.
In said room was a bunch of pads, but not ordinary pads that you might see on the floors of a dojo or something. These were pads on the walls, ceiling, and floor that couldn't be torn up.
Sitting on top of the padded floor was a girl, small, and seemed very helpless. But the reason for her containment was a deadly secret that could not be opened to humans.
A few halls down, the woman continued to grumble loudly under her breath as she got ready for work. "Dumb transporter, never works and leaves me with a sore butt everyday..."
"Satou-san?" The woman spun around, her eyes wide open in surprise.
"Kensuke?" She gasped in surprise. Dr. Kensuke Shiwatori was a doctor here in the hospital. Nice, good-looking, and polite, it was no wonder he was popular with the patients... and the ladies.
He nodded at her. "Satou-san, lately I've been... a bit stretched out and I was hoping-"
"-That I would help you." Miyako finished the sentence for him. He flushed and nodded again. She sighed. "Sure, I'll do it. Just stop calling me Satou-san. It's Miyako. What do you want me to do?"
"Well," he said awkwardly, "there's this one patient, she's a little trouble, but you're a very competent doctor and I'm sure you can handle it and-"
"I'll be fine doctor." She said interrupting him, repressing the urge to roll her eyes. Miyako would bet that all of his admirers didn't know of her colleague’s habit of babbling. While it was somewhat endearing, it could get on your nerves a bit.
He smiled at her in relief. "Thank you. She's in the room next to the patient who thinks he's a noble living in the medieval times."
Miyako nodded in understanding. "You mean James? Okay."
"Thanks so much Miyako!" The harried doctor ran off. "You won't regret this!"
"I hope not..." She muttered under her breath, watching him run around the corner. Miyako blinked. Wait. Wasn't that...?
Sounds of someone pretending to conquer a nation sifted lightly through her ears, even through all the padding...
As Miyako passed by a cell, she suddenly stopped and peeked through the barred window. Inside, a slender male sat a pompous look on his face. Miyako waved slightly at him.
"Hey James." She sighed when all he did was stick his nose up at her and turn away to survey his imaginary kingdom.
Miyako had known him before he had ended up this way. The combination of too many role-playing games and the death of his close friend had driven James into a state of madness that no one could figure out how to get him out of. He was partly the reason Miyako had decided to go into this particular field of medical care.
The dark headed female moved away from his cell and to the one next to it. Making sure she was wearing all the necessary gear, which basically was her doctor coat and a bag full of supplies, Miyako took a deep breath and put out a hand to open the door.
Here goes...
On the door, in clear view, sat bold letters etched in, showing the name of the person residing in it- Haruko. Miyako faced the brass plate, summoning up the courage to open the door. Dr. Shiwatori was a highly respected doctor and because of that, he had the patients who needed the most help.
The girl's ear twitched at hearing movement near her door. She made an audible whimpering sound, much like a dog. She tried to hoist herself on one arm, showing that she was wearing a black t-shirt underneath an easily torn straight-jacket, not that she was crazy, she was a special patient, one with a mind, but without certain control over it.
Miyako took a step into the room... and was almost blinded by the stark white of the padded room compared to the darker hallway she had just come from.
It didn't take long for Miyako to locate the small shuddering body located against the side of the room. The woman unconsciously activated her normal way of starting with a new patient.
Step 1: Try to find out what is wrong with the patient.
"Hey there." Miyako said softly to Haruko, kneeling down so she could be at eye-to-eye level with the girl.
Haruko growled this time instead of whimpering. Since she had just done her at least twice a day routine, she was still in the mode of it. Yellowish fangs were partly bared and her eyes weren't that of human. The pupil's were like diamond shards, and the iris was much bigger than a human's, almost like a cross between a wolf and... possibly something else, but not a describable something.
Huh.
Well, there's the problem.
Now, Step 2; How to help.
Erm... That was a bit of a challenge. Miyako remained squatting in front of Haruko, her cerulean eyes watching the girl, not suspiciously or cautiously, but thoughtful and open, as if she wasn't worried at all by the fact she was face-to-face with someone who wasn't completely human. Someone who had the potential to hurt her very badly.
Although, this could be because she worked at a mental hospital in the 26th century. Things like that had a tendency to happen.
Inwardly, Miyako cursed. She had heard of someone several years ago discovering a way to make people nearly indestructible. Strong and intelligent, this "super-generation" would far surpass all the "normal" humans.
So, the man would thought up of this went ahead and tested this on several babies, not pausing to think what side-effects this might have on them.
The result was children that seemed half-human, half-something else. They were perceived as freaks, shunned by everyone, sometimes even by the woman who had given birth to them.
Yes, Miyako had heard of all this, but she had never seen one, let alone known that there were some being quarantined within the very hospital she worked in.
So forgive her if she had absolutely no clue what to do.
Haruko shook her head, back to her whimpering. She sat back on her butt and clutched her head. She started breathing heavily again. Her eyes squeezed shut, and when they reopened, they were human.
With a shudder, Haruko opened her mouth to speak. "Hello...” She ventured, having lost a lot of social skills from being locked up. Her voice was raspy and airy from clear lack of use.
Miyako blinked.
Then she blinked again.
Then she blinked again just for the heck of it. A smile curved across her lips and Miyako held out a hand to the younger female to shake. "Hello. I'm Miyako Satou. You are...?"
Haruko looked inquisitively at the hand, not sure of what the gesture represented, but she knew, somewhere inside that it was common in socializing, she just couldn't remember it...
At first, Haruko had to think for a minute what her name was. She had been told to memorize the letters engraved on her door, but it had been so long since she had talked in the first place, it was hard to remember what sounds made what. "Haruko..." Was her eventual reply, more airy and raspy than her last word.
Miyako frowned. Then she turned to dig through her bag that had lain forgotten next to her for the past few minutes.
"Not here... Not here... Definitely not here..." Miyako mumbled to herself. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she straightened up, a triumphant look upon her face. "Aha! I found it!"
Miyako pulled her hands out of the bag and proudly displayed the water bottle in her hands. "Here it is!" She offered it to Haruko. "Want some? It sounds like you need some."
She thought about what she just said for a moment. "Ah!" She said hastily. "I don't mean any offense..."
Haruko stared at the bottle for a minute, before extending a shaky, pale hand to take the bottle. She automatically knew how to open it, which surprised her a bit. She started drinking the water, slowly at first, until about half of it was gone. She set the bottle down and searched for the right words to say.
"Thank you." She finally said, uncertain if this was right. Her voice sounded a bit rejuvenated, but the rest was just from lack of use.
Miyako's smile widened farther. "You're welcome." She pulled the broken straight jacket off of the girl. "I need to give you a quick check-up, to make sure everything is working okay."
Haruko nodded, thinking about something. She got a distant look, staring at a crack in the big metal door; it was just a smidge open.
"Can you do me a favor?" She suddenly spoke up, not even thinking about the actual words before they flowed out and rolled off her tongue.
Miyako jerked in surprise, nearly letting go of the instrument she had pulled out. She looked at Haruko, startled. "Uh... Yes. Of course. What is it?"
"I need to get out of here. This place...the confinement is truly what is driving me crazy..." Haruko started, still staring at the door.
Miyako looked thoughtful. "I suppose it would be a good idea for you to walk around a bit- although you wouldn't be able to go outside. The air became too polluted for humans to breathe in a few decades ago, so someone invented the transporter and the thing that creates artificial oxygen."
Miyako sighed. "Unfortunately, it would make me lose my job if I let you wander around the building, since there is a potential danger that you might get hurt. I'll ask my superiors if I can bring you with me to somewhere that people don't go to that often, but I can't promise you anything."
She finished up what she was doing and stood up. "Now I need to go check on my other patients. Stay here, I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible and tell you if my bosses went for it or not."
And with that, Miyako left, clutching her black bag and looking a little panicked. Darn! She was late for a check up with another patient!
Just to let you all know, this story is actually a role-play between me and my friend. After a while, I realised that it was really good and decided to save it onto my computer so that way I could come back to it whenever I wanted. Then, after remembering that there is such thing as fictionpress, I thought "oh, maybe we could post it on the internet for everyone to see!" So I consulted my friend about it and so here it is! Hope you enjoyed. The next part should be coming... next week sometime.