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  “I have to get you out of here,” she stammered, making her way around the bath and pausing for a moment as she looked down into the water and saw that the man's flesh was already turning bright red. She tried to reach in and grab his arms, but the heat forced her back until she realized she had no choice.

  She turned to look toward the door.

  “Help!” she screamed. “I need help in here!”

  As she heard footsteps racing along the corridor, she took a deep breath and then plunged her hands into the water, desperately trying to get hold of Rodney's arm. For a fraction of a second she felt no pain at all, but then her hands and arms began to turn numb. She grabbed the man's armpit and began to lift him up, but her fingers slipped and she pulled back, bringing her scalded arms out of the water with patches of Rodney's boiled skin dripping down onto her wrist.

  “Jesus Christ!” one of the doctors shouted, rushing toward the bath but stopping as soon as he looked into the water. He stared for a moment at Rodney's flesh, which was starting to lift off his body and reveal chicken-white meat, and then he turned and threw up.

  “Help him!” Elly screamed, ignoring the growing pain in scalded arms and trying once again to pull Rodney out. “We have to get him out of this thing!”

  “What's wrong?” Rodney asked, watching as more nurses arrived. “Can someone please tell me what's going on? I...” He paused, and finally he frowned as blood began to blossom all around him in the water. “I'm starting to feel a little weak.”

  ***

  “Yes,” Doctor Calder replied a little while later, as he and Elly sat alone in the staff room, “I'm afraid so. There really wasn't anything we could do for him by the time we got there. His internal organs were...”

  His voice trailed off.

  “Cooked?” Elly whispered, her eyes filled with tears.

  “The damage was far too severe. The only consolation I can offer is that due to his condition, Mr. Pickering felt no pain at all. He was aware in the last few seconds that something was wrong, but he lost consciousness very quickly once the blood loss began and, all things considered, he passed away reasonably comfortably given the circumstances. The lack of feeling in his lower body meant he didn't feel any pain whatsoever.”

  Elly stared down at the crumpled piece of tissue paper in her hands. “It's my fault,” she said finally.

  “We'll get to that.”

  She shook her head. “It's my fault.”

  “There'll be a review of exactly what happened. You'll have to testify, and of course you won't be able to work until that process has been completed. The review will look at procedural failings that might have contributed to this tragedy, and it'll also consider the possibility that... Well, we have to look at human failings as well.”

  She paused, before reaching up and unpinning her badge from the front of her uniform. Her hands and arms were heavily bandaged, although she'd been relatively lucky and had only suffered minor burns. Still, she felt a lot of pain as she removed the badge.

  “Here,” she said firmly, handing it to Doctor Calder. “Take it.”

  “How are your burns?” he asked as the took the badge.

  “Fine.”

  “You need to -”

  “So can I go now?” she asked, getting to her feet. She felt dizzy for a moment, as if she might collapse, but the sensation quickly passed.

  “Elly -”

  “I just want to go,” she told him, heading to the door. “I want to -” Stopping suddenly, she saw that a dozen or so nurses were gathered in the corridor, waiting for her to come out. When they saw her, most of them turned and pretended to be busy with others things, and she realized everyone was talking about her.

  “Elly,” Doctor Calder said, making his way over to join her, “everything's going to be okay. You're a good nurse, one of the best here.”

  “They blame me,” she replied, trying to summon the courage to walk out into the corridor.

  “Do you have someone at home? I don't think you should be alone right now.”

  She paused, before turning to him. “My mother.”

  “Your -” He frowned. “Okay. Well, that's good. I was under the impression...” Another pause, before he put a hand on her shoulder. “Elly, we all make mistakes. The important thing is to ensure that this ultimately makes you stronger. Now I think maybe I'll walk with you to the exit, and then I'll be in touch in a day or two to talk about the inquiry panel. How does that sound?”

  Hearing sobs from along the corridor, Elly saw a woman being led into one of the other rooms.

  “His wife,” she whispered, taking a step forward. “I have to talk to her.”

  “No.”

  “I have to!”

  “Elly, no!” he replied, grabbing her shoulder and holding her back. “Legally, you should make no contact with the family whatsoever.” He paused, before leading her the other way. “Come on, let's get you out of here. You need to go home and start working on your statement for the inquiry panel.”

  ***

  “You don't understand,” she said few minutes later, as she sat alone at the bus stop with her phone in one hand, “it is my fault, Mom! I was supposed to double-check the temperature before he got in.”

  She dabbed at her eyes as she listened to her mother telling her not to blame herself.

  “If I'd done my job properly,” she continued finally, “I'd... Mom, can you let me speak? Mom!” She sighed. “There's no point talking to you about this, you're not listening.”

  Turning, she saw the bus approaching in the distance.

  “Mom, I'll explain when I get home,” she added. “Just try to understand one thing, okay? If I'd done my job properly, I'd have caught the mistake and that man would still be alive. You're right, mistakes do happen, and that's precisely why we have rules and measures in place to avoid them. And I screwed that up.”

  Ignoring her mother's reply, Elly cut the call and slipped her phone away. She knew she'd end up talking about the incident all night, and she wanted a little peace before then. There was a part of her that wanted to go into town and just try to take her mind off things before getting back to the house, and she found herself wishing that she was the kind of person who could get blind drunk and let her hair down. As the bus pulled up and she stepped onboard, however, she knew there was no point delaying the inevitable. Besides, she had nowhere else to go, and no-one else to spend time with. Apart from her mother, there was no-one in her life.

  Half an hour later, she slipped her key into the lock and opened the front door, before stepping into the apartment.

  “Hey, Mom,” she muttered, already feeling exhausted at the mere thought of having to explain everything. “I'm home.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Today

  “You're about to roll me into a ditch.”

  “Huh?”

  Stopping suddenly, Elly realized he was right. She was in the process of wheeling Mr. Lacy through the dark gardens around the side of the hospital building, but she'd become so distracted by thoughts of Doctor Carmichael that she hadn't noticed herself heading straight for the edge of the path, which gave way to a shallow ditch. Muttering a quick apology, she turned the wheelchair and began to push him toward the far end of the garden.

  “You seem troubled,” he said after a moment.

  “Sorry. I'm fine.”

  “Is something on your mind?”

  “Of course not,” she continued, forcing a smile. “You're not cold, are you? I know it's a little odd to come out for a walk in the middle of the night, but I know the day team don't have time and, well, I figured you'd been cooped up in that same room on that same ward for the best part of a week.”

  “It's nice to get some fresh air,” he replied. “I don't sleep much. I used to work on the trains, remember? I used to sit on the side and watch the night rumble past.”

  “It sounds beautiful.”

  “It was. Lonely, but beautiful.”

  She glanced up at
one of the dark windows. Counting along from the end of the building, she felt certain that she was looking at the window to Doctor Carmichael's office, but there was still no sign of him. It had been a few nights now since her evening with him at the bar, and since then she hadn't seen him at all. She'd asked around, of course, and had been told variously that he was scheduled to have a few days off, that he'd called in sick, that he was 'probably around somewhere', and even that he'd gone out of town for a conference. Everyone had a different explanation for his absence, but none of them really sat well with her, and every time she'd tried his phone she'd found it to be switched off.

  “Not this way,” Mr. Lacy said suddenly.

  Realizing she was getting distracted again, Elly slowed and saw that they were headed toward a turn that led to the yard.

  “It's okay,” she replied, “no ditch this time. I thought we should go inside now.” She wheeled him around the corner and began to take him across the dark yard, with its solitary light at the far end. “You're still a little -”

  “Not this way,” he said again, reaching down and grabbing his wheels in an attempt to stop the chair.

  “What's wrong?”

  “I don't want to go this way. Take me back the way we came!”

  “But the door over there is -”

  “Not this way!” he shouted, sounding as if he was on the verge of panic. Reaching down again, he tried to stop the wheels, only to get his finger caught. He let out a gasp of pain, and Elly finally brought the wheelchair to a halt.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I told you! Not this way!”

  Crouching next to the chair, she saw that his finger was only bruised.

  “What are you, deaf?” he muttered. “Don't you pay attention to anything?”

  “Of course,” she replied, a little shocked by his sudden anger, “but...” Turning, she looked across the dark yard, and for a moment she thought back to the story Sharon had told her about a nurse who'd been murdered many years ago. It wasn't beyond the bounds of possibility, she figured, that Sharon had been spreading the same ghost story all around the ward. “There's nothing here,” she continued. “See that door over there? That leads right back inside, and then we'll almost be at the ward again.” She turned back to Mr. Lacy and saw that he was staring ahead with a hint of fear in his eyes. “Come on,” she added, forcing a smile, “it'll take twenty seconds. You're not scared, are you?”

  He paused, before turning to her, and this time she could see that he was on the verge of tears.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked. “Are you feeling okay?”

  She waited for a reply.

  “Mr. Lacy -”

  “Don't you see her?” he asked suddenly, his voice cracked with fear.

  She turned and looked across the yard again, but apart from the electric light on the far wall, all she saw was an expanse of battered concrete and the frosted windows of rooms on either side.

  “I don't see anyone,” she said cautiously, although she couldn't help but look at the window near the corner, where she'd seen a figure on her first night. There was no-one there right now, but even though she knew she should stay calm, she couldn't shake the slowly growing feeling that something was watching.

  “Please,” Mr. Lacy whispered, “take me back the other way.”

  “There's no need to be scared,” she replied. “It's just -”

  Suddenly she heard footsteps. Turning, she looked across the yard and realized she could hear someone getting closer. She glanced at the windows, but there was no sign of anyone, not even as the footsteps approached.

  “Get away!” Mr. Lacy shouted, raising his right arm in front of his face as he leaned back in the chair.

  Elly opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but the footsteps were even closer now. As suddenly as they'd started, however, they stopped once they were right next to the chair.

  “Get her away from me!” the old man screamed, before turning to Elly and reaching out to her, as if he was trying to climb out of the wheelchair. “Get her away!”

  “Wait,” Elly stammered, hurrying around to the back of the chair and quickly pulling it back through the darkness until they were out of the yard. She kept going, taking him past the ditch and around the corner, and finally she stopped. In the silence all around them, the only sound came from the old man's muffled, hysterical sobs as he shuddered in the chair.

  Elly stared at the corner, half expecting the footsteps to return, but there was nothing.

  ***

  “Everything's going to be fine,” she said a little while later, as she tucked the blanket around Mr. Lacy and settled him back into his bed. “Maybe we were out for too long. You're not used to it.”

  He stared at her, but now that his panic had subsided he seemed curiously quiet, almost suspicious.

  “You should get some sleep,” she told him.

  “You didn't see her, did you?” he asked.

  She paused. “See who?”

  He looked away, toward the window, almost as if he expected something to appear in the darkness outside.

  “Was it a nurse?” Elly asked finally. She waited for a reply, but he seemed not to have heard her. “Has Nurse Cassidy been talking to you? It's very easy to trick yourself into thinking you've seen something that isn't there, you know. If she told you some silly old ghost story, you mustn't let it get to you.” Again she waited, but he was still staring at the window. “I'll have a word with her,” she continued, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We won't go out tomorrow night, we'll give it a rest and wait to see if you feel better at the end of the week. Don't want you catching pneumonia.”

  “I'm old,” he said suddenly. “I'm an old, old man.”

  “You -” Pausing, she realized it was his own reflection he was seeing in the dark window. “There's nothing wrong with being old,” she told him. “You're going to recover from this stroke, you know. It'll take time, but eventually you'll be back on your feet and back in your apartment with your cat.”

  He shook his head.

  “You'll see,” she continued. “Trust me.”

  “I should have known this would happen,” he muttered. “The world just has a way of...” He paused, before turning to her. “I don't believe in God. Never have, never will. Still, sometimes I feel like there's a hand manipulating things behind the scenes.”

  “We all feel like that sometimes.”

  “You don't understand.”

  “What don't I understand?” She paused. “If you give me a chance -”

  “Did you see her?”

  “If you mean in the yard... No, I didn't see anyone.”

  “Of course you didn't,” he muttered, turning back to the window. “She doesn't care about you. Only me. The voice warned me.”

  “You should get some sleep,” Elly replied, realizing that she wasn't going to get a straight answer out of him, not while he seemed so agitated. “I'll come and check on you in an hour,” she added, heading to the door, “and if you're still awake I'll see about getting you a pill.” Stopping at the door, she looked back at him and saw that he was still staring at the window.

  For the next few minutes, she checked on a couple of the other patients, but she couldn't stop thinking about Mr. Lacy's strong reaction to the yard. She'd never believed in ghosts, but then again she'd never seen anyone get so scared simply because of an open space. By the time she got back to the office and began to make notes on the charts, she could tell she was struggling to concentrate and she realized she needed to get rid of all the crazy thoughts swirling in her head. Figuring that it was time for her fifteen minute break, she headed out of the office and toward the stairs, and finally she opened the door at the bottom of the stairwell and stepped out into the dark yard.

  She paused, waiting to see if anything happened.

  “Hello?” she called out.

  Silence.

  Although she felt ridiculous, she knew she had to prove to herself that there was noth
ing out there. She took a few steps forward, shivering slightly in the cold air, and looked around.

  “Hello?” she said again. “Are...” She took a deep breath. “Priscilla? Priscilla Parsons, are you here?”

  She swallowed hard.

  No answer.

  Making her way to one of the windows, she peered at the frosted glass. A week ago, on her first night, she'd thought she'd seen a figure on the other side, but now the window was too dark for her to see anything at all. She leaned closer and put a hand against the security glass, almost expecting to see a hand on the other side, and she waited for a few seconds before telling herself that she was allowing her fears to run out of control. As for the footsteps she'd heard earlier, she figured those had just been someone inside the building, and the sound had echoed across the yard in an unusual but perfectly explicable manner.

  Turning, she looked around and realized that there was no ghost. Still, she felt a little unnerved, so she took her phone from her pocket and brought up her mother's number. As she began to talk, she was oblivious to the fact that several dark figures were shuffling closer, making their way unseen through the shadows.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Two years ago

  “So you acknowledge, Ms. Blackstock, that you should have checked the temperature of the bath before Mr. Pickering was lowered in?”

  Sitting on a chair in front of the three-man panel, Elly paused for a moment before nodding.

  “There's a temperature gauge on the side of the bath, is there not?” the panel's chairman continued. “I think I've used those baths before, they have a little gauge, it's quite easy to see. I understand that a technician has examined the gauge and determined that it's in full working order.”

  Elly nodded again.

  “So we're not talking about an arduous task. You could have just glanced at the gauge, and you would have seen that the temperature had been incorrectly set.”

  “I could.”

  “But you didn't.”