The Monarch Effect (DISCONTINUED DRAFT)

Chapter 5

"S-Santha? What are you doing?" With a sharp intake of air, Samuel stood up with his chair, putting Sammy down next to him. There was a pause between them that had each one in a chokehold. She looked at him with a silent, confused and heart-trodden gaze. "Wade?" He said, walking over to his companions. The little boy trailed step-by-step behind the host and held onto his leg. Wade's mass of curls moved from side to side, the eye in the opening was closed. The four looked at each other defeatedly. Samuel looked down at the points of his shoes, then at the scared boy seemingly cutting circulation from his right leg. "Right," He said nodding after another breath. "I guess we wait it out, as per usual, and pray for the best." He had turned around to walk into the darker area of the Studio, away from the blinding green screen behind the fronting screen. The others followed him into one of the bedrooms and went to sleep.

***

The next day was a lot busier than the one before it. A college party had went haywire and a fire started, with many students injured as a result. It was on the news that morning an hour after Müller made it into work, and there were already already at least twenty patients he checked over in the ER, with many more in waiting. Then, to make it worse, a med student was following him around asking questions about what he assumed was a friend of hers.

"Please, Dr. Müller, I haven't seen her since 2:00 yesterday, and no one else knew where you guys went!"

"Look, miss, I can't talk right now, maybe she's in the next room, I don't know. All I can do right now is to go down the line to make sure each of them are alright." Samuel had his head held in his left hand. The chaos caused him to disassociate to much of the area around him, trying to focus on getting to the next area as quick as his legs could take him, only to be interrupted by the young woman behind him.

"Doctor, I know your busy, but you have got to help me!" Samuel had put his other hand up and halfway closed his eyes. "Please!"

His head shot up to look at the woman behind him as he sped up. "I'm sorry, I can't." He then retreated back into the comfort of his hands, which now acted as a helmet.
"But Müller-!"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" The doctor slapped himself as soon as he blew up. He had whipped around at breakneck speed, which made the girl jump. He shook his head and regained awareness to the things around him.

"Doctor, are you okay?" Asked the woman. Samuel was heaving when he looked at the student for the first time. Taking a deep breath, he looked up and down to see a young, sun-tanned woman with bleach-blonde, rippled hair wearing red scrubs with a floral pattern. He noticed swallowtail butterflies were paired with each flower, which caused him to look directly down to near-matching heels, which brought her up about an inch. Then, at that second he looked directly up at her dark eyes, which were filled with worry, matching up with her lips opened just enough to show her teeth.

"I assume you're an intern. What's your name?"

"Jessica. Je-Gasner," She stumbled. "I'm a medical student learning to be a nurse. My friend is an intern on the psychiatric side of the building. She disappeared yesterday, and I thought you might have had an idea?"

He looked down and grunted, then looked back up at her. "I'm sorry, I can't help you. I work with illnesses of the physical kind, not the mental. If you'd like an answer, go talk to someone over there when you can. For now..." A news coverage report on a nearby TV mounted on the wall caught his attention. There was an older man, maybe around 50, relaying a new conspiracy surrounding the fire, saying it was a rouse to cover something up. When asked about that "something," he didn't give a concrete answer. "That man doesn't know what he's talking about," Samuel retorted.