damned_institute | Night 58: F31-40 Hallway

Entry tags:

kairi,
rita

Night 58: F31-40 Hallway

Something horrible was going to happen. Rita was sure of it. She didn't know what, but receiving an unknown injection from an army that already had a reputation for screwing around with people definitely wasn't good news. And if the things she read on the bulletin that day were to be believed, she had every reason to feel uneasy.

Rita wasn't going to take this lying down. No, she was the greatest mind in all of Terca Lumireis. If anyone could do something about this, she could.

If it was a chemical they injected her with, then maybe there was a chemical that could just neutralize its effects... so before those effects became too severe, Rita was going to hurry to the medical wing, where there had to be something she could use.

Had to be something. Had to be something. She wasn't panicking.

Rita snatched her backpack, gave the room one last frantic glance, and then took off without another word to Kairi. She didn't want to give the girl a chance to try to stop her.

[to here]

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Whatever it was "Code 1-8" was supposed to mean, Donna hadn't bothered over thinking about. She'd had more important matters to address - ones that were much more personal. For starters, the Doctor had invited himself over, so before he got there, she had to be sure to be prepared. Wearing her proper clothes and keeping his specs nice and secure until she was sure he had the right leverage. She'd honestly be happy with just the ring getting traded back to her, but there was always the chance that he might try to sweeten the deal. If she held out, that was.

The other matter had been about as long standing as well, though had nothing to do with trading items. Donna had kept the letter she'd gotten the day before, sealed as she had received it, sitting tight in her desk drawer. The reminder that it was supposed to be from her "family" had kept her from even peeking at the thing, as had the fact that she had the Doctor there for analysis. He had his screwdriver back after all; he should be able to sonic the paper and see if it was anything dangerous.

"Look at me, getting all paranoid..." Donna huffed, throwing down the letter onto her bed before having a seat herself. It was just a stupid letter! It couldn't be any worse than a pink slip or something.

Just as she'd started thinking about opening the thing, the lights had started lowering for the start of night. Normally Donna would have welcomed the start of night since it would mean less waiting for her visitor, but something was different this time. Instead of sighing out of relief, Donna instead lifted her head and watched the lights with wide eyes. "W-wait a minute!" she called, as though the lights might react and stop their lowering. If the lights went off, then she'd be left in the dark.

And for some reason, that was that last thing Donna wanted to have happen to her right then.

Though announcements passed between the Radio and Intercom alike, the only responses given to the breaks in silence was a shaking torchlight. As soon as the lights had fallen, Donna had dived for the torch beneath her pillow and flicked it on before her face. Since then she had been sitting, back pressed to the wall at the head of her bed as she kept the light before her - close enough that a part of her was always touching the beam that trembled with her shaking hands.

She wasn't able to explain the reason why she'd needed the light, or really why she'd withdrawn against the darkness at all. She knew she wasn't scared of the dark. That she'd actually faced before in the form of invisible alien shadows. Though she would have admitted at the time that the Vashta Nerwhatchamacallits might have been enough to give her some nightmares, the aftermath of it all hadn't left her with any lingering fears of either them or the dark. Even if the Doctor had said that there was a reason to, you know, be a little more careful in dark alleyways.

Careful she could be. So for her to be hiding out in her room with a flashlight on?

"The bloody hell is wrong with me!" Donna breathed out angrily as she drew the torch beam back to her face following the most recent intercom announcement.

[Running nonstop from here]

F32, F32...

F38, F37..... F35, 34, 33—and here it was! F32! He reached for the knob and turned it, pushing into the room with a "Sorry!" and half doubting he'd find her there at all. "Are you—..."

The half-started question died on his lips. He wasn't sure if she'd still be here or if she would have gone off by herself in a huff since he hadn't arrived at her door promptly after it had unlocked, but he hadn't at all expected to find her pressed against the wall, clutching her flashlight. A frown started to form, brows drawn in confusion, and the intended question changed: "—alright?"

Donna was lucky she was so proud. Otherwise the moment the door had opened she might have let out a scream, and wouldn't that have been something to explain to the person responsible for her opening door? Instead of screaming, she swallowed the desire and shot the torch light to the doorway, caring little for whether or not she blinded the person.

So he'd finally come.

"Where the hell have you been?!" she shouted angrily, venting since she needed something to try and focus on. Anything that wouldn't return her back to sitting rigid on her bed. Yelling at the Doctor had always been good for easing her nerves, and since it was the Doctor, she knew there really shouldn't be a reason for her to act that way anymore. Despite that, she remained in place, trying to keep the light steady on him and watching with eyes she did not realize were opened wide.

Light, in his eyes, again.

The Doctor winced, raising a hand to shield himself from the light of Donna's torch. "Sorry, I was—..." It was probably best not to be entirely honest; even though he'd just nodded off during dinner, he A) wasn't sure how she'd take it, and 2) didn't particularly want to admit it.

He moved to the side, ducking his head as he shifted to get out of the light. He let his hand drop once he was no longer blinded and then tried to finish: "—held up. Bit of a delay. Sorry."

Blinking a few times as his eyes started to readjust, he took a few steps in Donna's direction. "But I did bring that ring."

Donna didn't care why he'd gotten held up, or for his apologies over it either. Just like the night before, she'd gotten left alone in the dark for longer than anyone should have had to handle!

"You're bonkers if you think a ring is going to make things better," she warned dangerously, forgetting for a moment that she was supposed to be bartering for specs, "Not unless you've gotten some 'priceless diamond' from God knows where stuck on it!"

Though even that wouldn't have worked just then.

With him coming into the room, she didn't have to diverge the light so far and brought it back to her. He was so late that she wanted to bark him out as punishment, but she couldn't bring herself to make him leave. Being alone again seemed to be the more unnerving of her options. Not that she was going to let him know that.

"You're the one who told me to bring it!" the Doctor defending, trying to remind her in the same breath. "I'll be having my specs back, thank you."

He came to a stop by the opposite bed and took a seat on the edge.

"You're not mad I'm a little late, are you?" It seemed like she was (and maybe it was more than a little—he wasn't entirely sure), but it also seemed a bit.... silly. "I'm here now—and well... You said before that you had something for me to look at? Let's have a look, but specs first."

She'd asked him to...? Oh! That ring! In her unintended panic she'd all but forgotten about the actual reason why the Doctor had been coming, choosing to focus instead on the fact that he should have been there. Now that she'd had more of a reminder, she was able to fish out the glasses she'd been holding hostage. "Right," she gave them a small glance before holding them out, expecting he'd make the extra effort to lean over and get them, "There's this letter in the desk drawer. From my 'family', or so it says. Haven't opened it, but you can look at it if you want."

She didn't trust either the letter, or going to get the thing herself. The Doctor was free to go get the thing himself if he so desired. Donna meanwhile was keeping herself to the bed where she had the torch keeping things lit.

When Donna finally held his specs out for him to take, the Doctor fished the ring out of his coat pocket and gave it a quick check to make sure nothing had changed since the night they'd used it. He got up from his newly occupied spot on her roommate's bed, reaching out to take the specs with one hand and holding out the ring with the other.

Once the specs were back safely in his inside coat pocket and the exchange complete, he turned his head towards Donna's desk. "From your family?" he echoed. "How did they manage to send you a letter here? —No; how did they know you were here?"

He took quick strides towards the desk, curious about the letter and its contents. "Well, assuming it's really from them at all," he added, rounding the corner of the desk. He pulled the drawer open. "Let's have a look."

Donna snatched the ring quickly and held it in the light to make sure it was the one she'd let him borrow. When she was content that it was, she let the exchange be finished with no comments about his glasses. However much she really wanted to say that he looked dorky while wearing them, there was something more important to discuss.

"Like I'd know," she huffed with a slight eye rolling. "Those guards only said it was from them, so it's probably not really with how this place works."

Gramps wouldn't have been the type to send a letter anyway. If he'd found out anyone had locked away his granddaughter in an insane asylum, there'd have been nothing stopping him from storming the place. Donna knew exactly which side of the family she'd gotten her tenacity from, and heaven help anyone who got in Wilfred Mott's path.

Regardless, there had been a letter though, and it was easily spotted in Donna's desk drawer. The envelope it was in was nothing special - plain and white as any other - but the letter itself was a bit different. For starters, it had been done in construction paper, or rather there were a few separate pieces of paper within the envelope. Two were made of colored construction paper and had childish doodles and stickers covering them amidst some potential writing. If one could decipher the large and sometimes reversed lettering, they would see that the blue piece said "Miss U Mommy" and the pink "Get better Mom".

The more uniform of the papers was a normal piece of white paper with none of the drawings of stickers. It was a clear message written in a neat cursive:

Hello Jane,
I hope you don't mind the kids' letters. They didn't want to use the regular paper because it wasn't pretty enough. Ella said it wouldn't look good on top of your desk. The stickers were Josh's idea though. I guess they wanted to give you a present that way. Since we're not allowed to send anything, that is.
They ask about you every day. I've been telling them that you're on a trip and will come back home soon, so they've not been asking anything more than when you're coming home. I think that's for the best, even if we did plan on telling them about stuff like this when they were older. I never thought it would come up like this though.
Are you being taken care of? I know this place isn't the one from before, but Dr. Moon was the one who recommended it, so I'm sure it's a good fit. I've been hoping to come and see you for the visits, but with the kids it's been a little difficult. Hopefully I'll be able to see you soon. I can't wait to see you again. The real you. I know it's tough, but you've done it before, and I know you can do it again. We're all praying for you.

All our love,
Lee Josh and Ella

To say Kairi was afraid for her roommate was an understatement. She watched with sad eyes as the other redhead fled from the room, refusing to sit in silence and simply allow whatever fate that would fall upon her happen in solitude. She couldn't help but envy the girl's strength in such a situation. What was going to happen to her? She was able to move freely, however, so that gave her reason to believe she at least wasn't going to get experimented on, so that was always a plus. Still, it didn't stop the princess from worrying.

Sighing, Kairi collected her things (sword, flashlight.) and headed out of the room, heading towards the Recreational Hallway. She hadn't been able to reply to Sora's final message due to sleeping, so she'd simply have to wing it. Or, perhaps, sneak across the Rec field's wall and check on the other side of the doors. That could always work too, right?

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Night 58: F31-40 Hallway

F32

F32

Aaaaaaaaaagh, I'm so sorry. orz

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Whoops, lost track of this one...

f36

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