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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Voodoo_Clerk on 2024-12-16 21:57:46+00:00.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

After Sinclair’s announcement to the nurses, an entire month went by. And in that amount of time, 14 patients committed suicide. And as a result, 14 nurses were consumed by Sinclair’s shadow. My already busy schedule ballooned completely as I had to take on more work to cover the patients left behind by the eaten nurses. I finished every day exhausted and drained. It felt like as soon my head touched my pillow it was already time to begin my shift. 

But despite the hellish month, there was one bright spot. And that was Todd. No matter how busy I was, I delivered him food and sat with him when our outside times matched up. We would joke with each other and he would keep me updated on certain patients that were the most likely next to commit suicide. He also continued to get me small gifts. More scrunchies, cute little stickers I could use to cheer myself up, and even one time an energy drink. 

“How do you even get this stuff?” I asked him one day as we sat together on the benches in the garden. Other patients milled about, a few new ones had been brought in and they were still going through detox. The heroin addicts especially needed my attention since they could barely function while going through their withdrawals. It was one situation in which the strange black pills that Sombra use are actually useful. Only taking one a day is more than enough to combat the symptoms of withdrawal and detox. Any more than one a day and you risked turning into a husk. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Todd answered me, nudging my shoulder with his and giving a little giggle as he sat back on the bench. I pouted at his vague answer but I supposed that he was entitled to some secrets. 

“Well, thank you regardless. Without you, I don’t think I could get through a day of working here.” I sighed. I felt exhausted and completely drained. Being a nurse is already not an easy job. Coupled with these working conditions? And I was starting to feel as tired as Sinclair looked. 

“I’m sure you would. You’re a tough girl, Red,” he said as he fiddled around with his empty juice box. “I bet you could 1v1 Nurse Whore and win.” He giggled again and I joined him. It certainly would be cathartic to beat the absolute shit out of Nurse Taylor. If I could I’d grab one of the metal trays we serve the food on and smack her across the face with it. 

“If that ever happens, I’ll be sure to do it in front of your room. Get you some entertainment.” I smiled at him. I looked down at my watch and sighed. It was already time to get back to my shift. I looked over at Todd and noticed that he was busy looking off into space. In the moment I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. 

“Wha-?” He turned his face quickly to look at me. His pale gaunt face went red with embarrassment and I couldn’t help but smile and this time, peck him on the lips. It was only a quick one, but it felt like I was instantly reignited.

“As thanks for keeping me sane.” I quickly stood up and shuffled away. My face felt like it was on fire and I was sure that it was probably as red as Todd’s had been. I spared a glance back at him and he had his face hidden behind his hands and I could hear soft groaning coming from behind them. I smiled again and quickly dipped inside of Sombra. And returned to my duty as a nurse. 

As I went about my duties of making the beds and administering medicine, in a much kinder way than Nurse Taylor had shown me, I was walking down one of Sombra’s millions of hallways when I suddenly caught the whiff of smoke. For a quick second, I thought that maybe there was a fire somewhere. As I walked down the hall in search of the source, I heard voices. One of them was undoubtedly Sinclair. I quickly slammed myself against the wall and carefully tiptoed my way closer to the room that he was in. 

“How can you smoke this?” An unknown voice asked. It sounded, hollow and empty. I got close enough to be by the door, and against my better judgment I carefully stuck my head into the room. It was a vacant patient’s room and in there, smoking cigars, was Sinclair and Spencer. “It feels like I’m smoking a campfire log,” Spencer complained as he smoked one of Sinclair’s cigars. 

“I assure you, it’s far better than those noxious cigarettes you smoke.” Sinclair was sitting in a chair against the wall, enjoying his cigar. Spencer had his back to me with his hood down and puffs of smoke emerging from him as he sputtered and coughed. 

“At least mine can taste like mint.” Spencer huffed as he took a few more puffs of the cigar. He took a seat on the bed and as he turned to do so I quickly had to cover my mouth and pull my head back out into the hallway. 

Spener’s entire lower face had no skin or muscles to speak of. And the hand that was holding the cigar up to his face was completely devoid of skin as well. He was almost completely skeletal. And yet, he was completely fine. He was talking, smoking, and seemed to not have a care in the world. 

“So, how is the project I asked you to work on?” Sinclair asked. This got my attention, and despite how freaky Spencer looked, my curiosity pulled my head back to peek into their room. “I didn’t just call you here to smoke with me and inject my patients with more of your drugs.” Sinclair exhaled smoke from his nose and waited for Spencer to answer. The partially skeletonized man gave up on his cigar and crushed it against the stone walls of the room. 

“Well, I can be ready for an actual test in a few days. The samples you provided me with decay incredibly quickly so I’ll require more if we are to do an actual test.” Spencer explained, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a box of cigarettes. 

“It won’t be easy. Its already annoyed that we’re even doing these tests, to begin with. Feels like I’m going to replace it.” Sinclair sighed, leaning back against the chair and suddenly taking notice of me. “What do you want, woman?” He scared me by how suddenly he saw me spying on him. 

Caught completely off guard I had to make up the most convincing lie I could think of. “Nurse Taylor sent me to see if there’s anything you might need, sir.” I held my breath waiting for his response. And whether or not I was about to be consumed by his shadow. But to my relief, he just let out an annoyed sigh and waved me away, 

“We don’t need anything. Go and try to make yourself useful somewhere else.” I nodded, quickly. I looked over to Spencer to see if he would react in any way to my seeing him like this. But he simply nodded at me and went back to smacking his box of cigarettes against his skeleton hand. I made sure not to stay my welcome and quickly went about my business, with Sinclair’s words in the back of my head as I walked away. 

The rest of my day was uneventful, besides breaking up a fight in the rec room over a stolen jigsaw puzzle piece. After the two were separated and the puzzle piece was returned, I was finally allowed to clock out for the day and return to my room. As I scanned my ID to enter the employee-only section and began walking past the kitchen area, I heard a few nurses gossiping about Spencer as I walked passed them. 

“I swear, every time he comes to visit, this place just gets so much worse.” One of the older nurses shook her head and nursed her cup of black coffee. “I remember the first time Mr. Sinclair brought him here. That was when the pills showed up, and the patients started turning into Zombies.” She sighed and shook her head. 

So I wasn’t just standing there awkwardly, I decided to enter the kitchen area and just went to the vending machine. Pretending like I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on the conversation going on just a few feet away from me. 

“I swear I saw him injecting one of my patients with a syringe. Next day? The whole room was quarantined. When I asked Mr. Sinclair about it? I was told to mind my own business and get back to work.” Another nurse tsked and finished the microwaved meal she had been eating. I made sure to pretend like I was trying to decide what I wanted to get from the vending machine. 

“If this keeps up, I don’t know how much longer I can keep my sanity here,” The first nurse said again, her hands visibly shaking as she struggled to hold her mug to her mouth. Before any other nurse could speak up, they all quickly shot at attention when the door to the employee-only section opened and Nurse Taylor entered with a scowl. 

“What the fuck are you all doing standing around?! Do you want another one of us to get eaten?! Go do your jobs! NOW!!!” She screamed, and all of the nurses quickly tossed their dishes in the sink and their uneaten food in the trash before shuffling away and out into Sombra’s halls. “You! Didn’t you hear-” She started to yell at me before she noticed who I was. “Oh, Cassie! I’m so sorry you just finished your shift didn’t you?” 

“Y-yes ma’am.” I nodded, quickly just ordering a chocolate bar and waiting for the machine to spit it out for me. Taylor nodded and I noticed just how disheveled she looked. It seemed as if she also wasn’t exempt from the rules Sinclair had in place. The vending machine finally finished dispensing my chocola...

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