'To Kill A Nightingale' 2/11 By phoenix99 (xphoenix99@hotmail.com) Web site: www.members.home.net/xerxes42/index.htm X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X CHAPTER 2 X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X "Hey world, You've been travelling far, I've been waiting by my guitar My hopes and dreams are fading away, And I don't think I wanna stay..." -'Neil Armstrong', Starkicker X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X 12:58 am Intensive Care Unit St. Peter's Hospital They walked side by side down the bleached-white halls of the ICU, Scully's heels clicking loudly on the tiled linoleum. Their customary black trench coats waving behind them like capes, kind of a Batman and Robin image, though Scully would have been unamused by that description. They were finishing off their coffee as they tried to make sense of the conflicting stories they had been told by several of the people they had talked to. One nurse had reported seeing a woman dressed all in white with a sparkling, blue aura surrounding her, while another said she had heard that the angel had wings of gold and wore a dress of silver. Then there was a janitor who had sworn that the angel always came in the shape of a glowing ball of light that would transform into a young girl. The only thing any of the stories seemed to have in common was that the angel was a woman... and she glowed, which wasn't much to go on. Mulder was already frustrated with the lack of continuity between the stories, and was having trouble conceiving any kind of theory that he felt he could even present to Scully. Scully had already informed him of her opinion when she had bitterly remarked that the whole situation absurd. She was not all together convinced of the case's authenticity, of course. The fact that their investigation was based on one of his anonymous tips had not slipped her mind and the descriptions from the 'witnesses' weren't helping. They had investigated reports of miracle healing before, but most of them had been hoaxes. There had only been one that Scully hadn't been able to dismiss. Jeremiah Smith had met an unfortunate end, but he had always fascinated Mulder. He had often found himself awake at night, thinking about his abilities, his potential. The things he would have asked him if he hadn't been killed... the things he would have asked of him. The other explanation, the microchip, was still something they were not sure about and hadn't discussed in much depth. It would explain the angel sightings since that is what the boy with leukemia had thought he had seen... but this felt different, the stories were too conflicting, and no one had seen anything definite... at least no one they had talked to. Hopefully this next person they had been told to see could give them some more helpful information. They both glanced briefly into the rooms they passed on their walk through the ICU, unable to control their curiosity. It was mostly older people hooked up to bleeping, flashing machines. Their family sleeping near their hospital beds, the sounds of nurses chatting and the occasional commotion when someone new was brought in to join the party, were all familiar. They both knew those scenes much too well for people who didn't even work in a hospital, and it pained them both to be reminded of it. Despite this though, they continued to look, as they always did... They had not walked very far before reaching the nurse's station. Mulder walked up to the counter and asked for Ms. Ludenski and they waited as she was paged. "What exactly are you expecting that we'll find, Mulder?" Scully asked curiously, not knowing what she was supposed to be looking for considering all the descriptions they had heard. Mulder shrugged, "I'll know it when I see it, I guess.." "That sounds promising...," Scully murmured before the sound of approaching footsteps stole their attention, making them both turn to see a woman walking down the hall towards them. She was a small woman, shorter than Scully, but Mulder figured that was only because she wasn't wearing three-inch heels. She had curly brown hair which reached her shoulders and was graying in some spots. She had a kind face, someone that would be easy to talk to. Must come with the job.... Scully took out her ID and made introductions. "I'm Agent Scully and this is Agent Mulder; we're with the FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions." The nurse smiled kindly and motioned them to follow her down the hall. "You're here to investigate the angel?" Scully remained silent while Mulder nodded. "Well," The nurse stopped and turned to them, "I can't tell you where or when she'll show up... you may just want to stick around for a bit, she doesn't show up every night." Mulder's eyebrows knit together. "So, it's a girl? You're sure of that?" The nurse nodded confidently. "Oh yes, I'm sure...," she paused, reconsidering her answer, "Well, I've only seen her a few times... " "Did you ever actually see her heal the patients?" Scully interjected. The nurse pressed her lips together as she glanced down at the gold cross hanging around Scully's neck. She obviously didn't like being questioned about her credibility. The nurse's eyebrows went up a bit and she let out a frustrated sigh. "No, I have never actually seen her heal someone," she said, still looking at Scully's necklace, "but I've seen her leaving a room and a few seconds later we find the patient cured." "Can you give us a description of her?" Mulder asked hopefully. He was becoming uneasy and was shifting from foot to foot... he hated hospitals; they always made him nervous... to many bad memories. Scully gave him an annoyed look, which told him to stand still, so he tried--for about three seconds. The nurse probably thought he had to go pee. Ms. Ludenski thought about Mulder's question for a moment before answering, "I think she had blond hair and she seemed of average height...." "No wings or bright light?" He asked seriously. The nurse gave him a suspicious look as if he were mocking her, but when she saw the sincerity in his eyes she answered truthfully. "Now that I think about it, she may have been surrounded in a strange glow... but just because she didn't have wings and a gown doesn't mean she wasn't an angel...." They had stopped walking and the nurse went on to explain her definition of an angel while Mulder listened politely, asking her a few question here and there. However, Scully's attention had begun to drift until it had come to one of few white doors that lined the hall. Through the small window in the door, she could see a young boy lying on a typical hospital bed, the tubes and wires coming out of his body were hooked up to numerous machines. Sleeping in a couple of chairs beside his bed were a woman and man whom Scully assumed were his parents. The dark rings under their eyes made Scully wonder if this was the first sleep they'd had in a while. The child seemed so out of place among the rooms of elderly people. Scully turned back to the nurse and motioned towards the door. "Ms. Ludenski... who is in that room?" Scully asked, surprising both Mulder and the nurse with her question which seemed totally unrelated to what they had been talking about. The nurse glanced in on the scene Scully was looking in on and her face softened. "That's Kyle Anderson and his parents... he fell out of a tree house. His parents have been with him for the past week." She shook her head sadly, "He's been in a coma... " No one said anything, and the nurse began to walk away from the boy's room. Mulder delayed briefly as he watched Scully with concerned eyes. She turned and gave him a reassuring nod and he pressed his lips together in an attempt at a weak smile before following Ms. Ludenski. Scully lingered at the door for only a moment more before turning away and following suit. The nurse soon started up again on her ideas about the angel, how it had blessed their hospital and how it was a true showing of the Lord's almighty power. When there was finally a break in the conversation Scully took the opportunity to ask, "Would you be able to identify this girl in a line-up?" The nurse frowned, "I... I don't know... I probably wouldn't have to, you can't really catch an angel...." "Did anyone try to follow her? Have you seen how she enters and exits the building?" Scully questioned. Mulder felt kind of sorry for the nurse. He recognized this part of the interview. Scully was going in for the kill. She did it with a kind of carnivorous grace, creeping up on her prey and attacking before it knew what hit them. He envied her for it. That was why she was so good at blowing his theories all to rat crap. Though she usually directed her talents towards him, whenever she didn't he felt a kind of strange jealousy, as if she were cheating on him. He did not particularly feel like exploring the sick reasons for that. As his thoughts began to drift, as they usually did, a light smile touched his lips. He did not see the exasperated look Scully shot him when she noticed his glazed over stare. He didn't know why he did it, it just seemed like the most convenient time was in the middle of an interview or interrogation. It really seemed to piss Scully off, and that was always kinda fun... most of the time. He usually only did it when he didn't think the person they were interviewing had anything worthwhile to say. That or he was porn deprived and was in the middle of some sick daydream... she seemed pretty good at guessing which kind it was. If he was staring blankly at a wall, or some other inanimate object, he was bored. If he was staring at Scully, or any other woman, he was fantasizing. He was sure he had heard her mumble the word pervert numerous times in the past. At the moment, Scully's ear seemed the most interesting thing in sight. "We never thought of chasing her..., " the nurse tried to explain, pulling Mulder back to reality, "She doesn't use doors, she just appears...." Scully crossed her arms in front of her as she absorbed this information. "What have the patients been saying about it? Have any of them seen or talked to this... person?" The nurse seemed to be getting more and more agitated by Scully's skepticism, and mental poking. Mulder was slightly amused, but tired by the lack of any useful information coming from the people they had interviewed. "The patients usually don't wake up until the angel has gone...," the nurse replied confidently. Mulder felt the urge to heave a loud, melodramatic sigh at this point. This was looking less and less promising. No evidence, no credible eye witnesses; but then most of their cases were like that... this was routine. "Do you record the names of the patients who recover abnormally quick?" Scully continued. "No, sorry, we don't..." Ms. Ludenski answered, making an obvious glance at her watch. "Thank you Ms. Ludenski, you've been very helpful...," Scully said, almost forcefully. The nurse gave them a weary look as Scully tugged on Mulder's arm, leading him away from listening ears. "Mulder, I don't think any of these people really know what they did or didn't see." Scully said in a hushed tone, stepping aside as a nurse wheeled an empty gurney past them. "No, Scully, I think these people did see something, possibly an apparition. There have been reports of people being healed by the dead, spirits or souls; they are said to visit people in their sleep, and when they wake up they have recovered miraculously. Spirits and the souls of the dead were known in Greek, Norse and Native American legends to be able to heal the living.... There are also records of African oracles or prophets who can heal with just a touch of a hand... of course there is also the possibility that this falls along the lines of what we saw a few years ago." "Jeremiah Smith." She filled in. Mulder nodded in agreement, "Someone who can heal and possibly change their appearance; that way they could escape the hospital undetected. Considering the way this was brought to our attention, that would be the most obvious answer." "But why here? And why these people?" Scully motioned with her hand down the long hallway. "Maybe there is some link between the people who were healed... but since there are no records, we can't compare." Scully sighed. "I don't know if we are going to find anything here unless we actually see this--" Their conversation was cut off by a sudden cry from down the hall. The two agents jerked around to see a man come running out of a room, calling for a nurse. People started poking their heads out of other room trying to see what was happening while doctors and nurses were already filling the hallways, trying to find out where the yelling was coming from. Mulder and Scully rushed down the hall, pushing their way past nosey onlookers, and looked into the room to see what had happened. Inside, the same boy Scully had seen in a bed not ten minutes earlier was wrapped in his mother's arms, awake and trying desperately to calm his upset parents. To everyone's surprise, Kyle looked healthy and alert. The nurses made him sit back down on the bed as they began to check him over and draw blood. A few doctors were in the mix soon after, and all the while Kyle could be heard saying in a confident but slightly frightened voice that he was fine, he felt great. His father was standing bedside the bed holding his mother while this went on, both of them looking on and sobbing. Scully looked on with unabashed amazement, while Mulder began to scan the halls eagerly. She gave him a questioning look and he nodded briefly, understanding her unspoken words. He took off down the hall as Scully began to push her way into the suddenly crowded room toward the parents. "Excuse me..." Scully said, trying to get the father's attention by shaking his arm. "I'm Agent Scully with the FBI, did you see anybody in the room before your son woke up?" The boy's mother shook her head, still clutching her son's hand, but the father closed his eyes briefly, trying to recall what had happened, before he replied, "I think so.... I saw a girl leaving the room, and I was going to ask her what she was doing, when Kyle--he just--woke up..." The father looked back at his son and broke down into fresh tears of joy. Scully pushed her way closer to where the boy sat. She flipped her identification at the nurses and doctors and they all nodded absently. "Check the back of his neck." Scully demanded, praying that it wasn't what she thought it was. The nurses and doctors exchanged looks, before finally, one of the nurses bent over and examined the boy's neck. "There isn't anything here..." she said, giving Scully a questioning look. Scully leaned over and looked for herself, and found the nurse was telling the truth. Suddenly, the sound of an alarm made Scully turn. It sounded distant, like it was on a different floor. The doctors and nurses didn't seem to even acknowledge it. "What is that?" She asked to no one in particular. "Someone must have set off one of the alarms down stairs." One of the nurses said, looking up from where she was unwrapping one of the boy's bandages. "Probably just a false alarm... people keep using the emergency exits down stairs... but I'll go see if it's anything serious..." Scully's eyes widened slightly, and she began to fight her way out of the crowded room. Mulder.... X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X Mulder finally stopped, and found himself standing in some seemingly vacant hallway, somewhere in the basement level. It felt lonely, the only movement being the occasional person coming out of one room and entering another, but other than that the hall was empty. It seemed to mostly hold offices and supply rooms. He sighed in resignation and was about to give up his search when someone walking away from him down the hall caught his attention. He watched them for a moment then began to follow them, soon walking a little faster, then jogging lightly. The person was heavily clothed, and there was a hood covering their head, so he tried to get closer so he could see them without drawing unneeded attention to himself. When he was within twenty or so feet of them, they stopped and turned to look at him. There was a flash of golden blond hair from under the hood, then Mulder saw the surprised face of a girl. Her expression reflected little less than horror at seeing him, and they locked gazes for a moment. Her eyes widened as if she recognized him, and her mouth opened slightly as if she would scream. It was only a second before she bolted. "Hey!" he called to her. He was already running towards her full tilt as she turned quickly towards a fire exit a few feet away and pushed it open, setting off an alarm. He was out the fire exit a moment later, spotting her running form and chasing her into the underground parking lot. She disappeared behind a car, then seemed to reappear from behind another one impossibly far away. They zig-zagged amongst the cars as she ran for the exit. "Stop! FBI!" He shouted, his voice echoing off the cement walls. She glanced back at him, but did not slow down. Instead she made a sharp left, darting around the corner of a row of elevators. When Mulder turned the corner, she was gone, vanished. He slowed to a stop when he reached the middle of the lot, turning in a slow circle as he scanned the rows of cars. "I don't want to hurt you! I just want to talk to you!" He called out to the sea of vehicles. A few people had come out of the elevator, and they eyed him nervously before walking quickly to their cars. Trying to make one last effort, he pulled out his ID, "I'm Agent Mulder with the FBI! I need to speak with you!" he called out again, holding his wallet up in the air in front of him as he walked through the lot, checking between each vehicle. Suddenly, a few cars ahead of him, he heard something like the sound of shuffling feet. He stopped walking and listened as carefully as he could. Then he heard it again, only this time it was followed by the sound of a denting car door. Slipping his ID back in his pocket, he ran ahead to check it out just as the girl came out of hiding and began to run as hard as she could for the exit ramp. "Wait!" He yelled, but she only ran harder. She ran up the ramp and slipped under the toll gate with ease, running up towards the street. But Mulder, being too tall to bend under the rail, had to run around the end and it only increased the distance between them. They were out on the street now; the cold damp air causing Mulder's lungs to ache, the slapping noises their shoes made on the wet sidewalk sounding loud to his ears. He called out to her again, urging her to stop, but she wasn't slowing down. He was catching up with her though, his longer legs covering more distance and her baggy apparel was slowing her down. The streets were dark, many of the lights along the sidewalks were burnt out, making it hard to see much in the foggy air. They were soon at an intersection, but because of the hour there seemed to be no cars on the road; the green traffic lights cast an eerie glow on the cement. As the girl crossed the street she glanced back at Mulder over her shoulder, but as she did her foot caught on the curb and she began to fall. Mulder saw his chance and sprinted towards her, reaching forward to grab her. But as he closed the gap, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He thought he heard a yell, which was followed quickly by the sound of screeching tires.... But it was too late. X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X There was blackness. Strange noises filtered through the buzzing in his head; maybe it was voices, he was not sure. The pain he felt seemed to spread through him, as if it was travelling in his blood, reaching every point in his entire body all at once. He could not move; could not breathe. His first thought was the need for it to end, and that thought consumed his mind. 'Let me die' he begged as the pain grew increasingly unbearable. He tried to cry out in frustration, but nothing came out and he began to drown in the thick, metallic liquid in his mouth and lungs. He tried to open his eyes, but all he saw was unending blackness. When everything started to fade and his senses went numb, he became afraid. A mortal fear crept up on him like a horrific monster through the haze in his mind; its smooth movements terrifying and comforting at the same time. He wanted to struggle and fight against the monster, but he felt so tired... so tired.... Despite the pain he felt, he no longer wanted to die. He could not remember why or what had happened, his life did not flash before his eyes and he couldn't remember what reason he had to live. He only knew one thought, one drive, and that was to live. He needed to live. Then there was nothing. X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X END OF CHAPTER 2 X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X