Jeremiah Dupree
Physical state: Chilled but healthy
Mental state: Alert
No one was coming forth to greet him, a fact Professor Dupree found both a source of relief and of anxiety. So Dr. Atkins hadn’t come back wondering where the other professor had gone. His presence had either been yet to be missed, or it had been decided to find him later, once the tour ended.
Of course, this brought up a different question: who was coming then? It was possible it was a nurse delivering medication to another patient. Coincidences did exist, after all. Some coincidences, however, were too perfectly timed to be considered coincidences. Too contrived by the universe to be anything but part of the greater pattern. This felt like one of those. Finding the infamous
Faye Desdemona, only to be frightened away by an approaching asylum worker? If he was caught, he’d likely be banned from the building and unable to fulfill his promise of returning. Surely, this wasn’t a coincidence. He slowed and and glanced over his shoulder, distant mumbled words echoing. The dim lights made it hard to see who it was, at the corner of the hall. Perhaps two of them? One walked away, one walked up the hallways. Professor Dupree considered going on, hoping he wouldn’t catch the person’s attention.
Yet, as the man passed under a light, deliberately and slowly walking up the hall, Dupree blinked. Now, there was some distance between them. He didn’t know the staff of the sanitarium particularly well, having always been an outside observer. He could simply be imagining it, as Emil had gone off a while ago, and surely it wouldn’t take so long to find a nurse to return to the group. He could even be back already, the nurse knowing the building’s layout better than any of the teachers or students.
Because the alternative was that
Emil was the one walking down the hallway, wearing a doctor’s coat.Jeremiah watched, a little dumbfounded and not unimpressed as the doctor walked to Room 125 -
Faye Desdemona’s room, it was no coincidence - and spoke, too quietly for Jeremiah to hear as far as he was from the door. He watched regardless. Despite the inability to hear, the long pause in front of the door told him enough: an exchange was occurring. This was no mere notice of an entrance, this ‘doctor’ was speaking to
Faye Desdemona, not as a deliverer of medicine, but as another - another curious scientist? Just like him. It had to be Emil. Emil had deceived him, given him the slip to visit her. He may not have gone to the bathroom at all, instead sneaking off to find a suitable disguise. A key too, it seemed, as Emil reached into his pocket and slipped something into the lock. The door swung open and Emil stepped inside.
Faye Desdemona had said she wanted to meet with him as well.
Coincidences existed, but they were exceedingly rare.
As Emil went inside, Jeremiah slowly walked down the hall, careful in his steps - heel-toe, heel-toe, not too fast, leave no sound. Emil would be allowed his time. Jeremiah had been allowed it, after all. It was a clever idea, he’d say that much.
But later, he was going to give this sneaky little brat a thorough scolding.
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