How many red flags can a small town have?

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A/N, One of those dialogue heavy chapters.

Introduction to Mark, Kyungsoo, Jaehyun, Officer Johnny and the little details before the action starts next chapter. Thank you for being patient. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I had fun thinking of it!

Bora sat in the infirmary with Dr. Eldridge.

Dr. Eldridge had very coincidentally passed both of them while he was heading back to the infirmary. He was in shock—not because there was a solid Nurse Jane right there, but because Bora was trying to forcefully speak to her.

Everything happened so fast. Bora was pulled away, the woman grabbed by two of the guards Eldridge had called out for, and she was being shoved forcefully back into the infirmary. Bora’s mind was reeling as she shakenly supported herself by pressing a palm against the door.

“Bora…” Dr. Eldridge’s voice rang out with a click. Bora knew for a fact that had locked the door of the infirmary. “Bora, what were you doing in that building?”

Bora gulped, the female telling herself to get her together when she lifted up the list he gave her.

“I was trying to find Renjun,” she told him. “You were the one who told me to work down the list of patients.”

Dr. Eldridge raised his eyebrows, snatching the list from her fingers. He scanned it before a look of realization settled. He swallowed hard. It was obvious he was worried… About what, Bora didn’t know.

“I see… My bad, Bora. I…” He paused. “I forgot to update the list. Renjun was marked as reformed just recently.”

“Bunny said his tongue was ripped out,” Bora murmured, Dr. Eldridge eyeing her. “She said some student named Ahyoung—”

“Kim Dahyun is a pathological liar, Bora. You’d know if you went through her files. She was undergoing therapy before she was put here at ARA.” Dr. Eldridge took a deep breath. “Is there anything else you want to know?”

Bora knew he wanted to see what she knew. She knew it wasn’t the smartest to say anything, but she was curious as to what he’d say. She took a deep breath.

“That woman out there,” she began. “That was Nurse Jane.”

Dr. Eldridge’s face remained still, so Bora continued speaking.

“I saw her photo before. Uhm, one of the towns people had showed me a photo of her…” She gulped, quickly adding that she didn’t know who it was. “I remember her face clearly.”

Dr. Eldridge blinked, nodding softly to show that he understood. “You must have been surprised. I understand.”

“What is Nurse Jane doing here, Dr. Eldridge?” Bora asked softly, anticipating his answer. She expected him to tell her that she was sick and undergoing something. She expected him to tell her that she decided to stay in the academy for reason, but Dr. Eldridge’s answer was not what we expected at all.

“That isn’t Nurse Jane,” Dr. Elridge finally said, taking a seat. “That’s her twin sister. Katie.”

“What?” Bora wasn’t going to mention the birthmark that she saw, but she reckoned that it was possible for twins to have similar birth marks.

“Look, Bora. ARA’s curriculum is one of a kind. Nurse Jane was an empathetic woman, a curious woman, and a very intelligent woman. Her sister, Katie, is quite the opposite.” Dr. Eldridge smiled. “Like light and shadow. Her identical twin sister is here until we decide that she’s ready to mingle with the outside world.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Bora asked, Dr. Eldridge shrugging.

“She’s a lunatic, that one. Nurse Jane decided to put Katie in our care when she decided to follow her own sister here one day.” Dr. Eldridge leaned back. “Nurse Jane left and we have Katie here. I would have to tell you that this is confidential information, Bora. These illnesses… They typically aren’t something a family should be proud of.”

Bora nodded, the female knowing full well that she didn’t have any right to question him if she really was a patient.

Did Bora buy the story?

Maybe… Maybe not. Bora knew one thing: She was curious enough to not let it go.

 

[Back to Center Ashgate]

The walk back to center Ashgate was filled with Bora being lost in her thoughts. She reached out to the one person who she could trust to explain everything to, Byun Baekhyun absolutely taken by the story.

“Interesting… I have made up my mind. I’m currently in Elderwise but it’s getting boring here…. How about I pay you a visit?” The phone call ended with Bora telling him that she’d talk to him later.

Upon reaching the center, she noticed that Jaemin was in front of the Na-Mart, struggling to take out the trash. She heard him grunt, the male looking up before bouncing up onto his feet to wave at her energetically.

“What is up, Nurse Bora!” He greeted, Bora giving him a small smile of acknowledgment.

“Need any help there, Nana?” She asked, Jaemin shaking his head.

“Naw.” Jaemin his lower lip. “The more the merrier they say… But don’t fret if you can’t help. Our helper is out back.”

“Let me help,” Bora said, noticing that there were endless cartons of food.

“I can’t believe Na Papa and Na Mama let the supplies and stocks arrive the day when the trash gets picked up,” Jaemin complained. Bora stepped over a carton of eggs. Who put eggs on the floor?

“I just can’t wait to go to Heyward university!” Jaemin blabbered. “I have had two cups of coffee too many. This morning it was one coffee for me, then I got a free coffee from Aera noona. Then a moment ago our helper there gifted me another one to me to bribe me into giving him a seven-month holiday.”

Bora decided to help with what she could, grabbing a box of canned foods.

“Sardines, sardines…” She murmured, heading to where the sardines label was and began to place all the canned items on the shelf. The lights flickered slightly, Bora hearing Jaemin complain about how the new bulbs were.

Bora felt like someone was watching her. From her peripheral vision, she saw a movement and she turned just to see that there was no one. Weird.

Bora placed three cans on the shelf, her ears pricking up at the sound of footsteps.

“Hello?” Bora called out, the female turning just in time to see someone walk past her aisle. “Hello? Nana?

There was no response. Should be my imagination, Bora thought. She chewed on her lip. There was a whirring sound from the light bulb above her and Bora looked up just in time for the lights to go off.

It was pitch black.

“Nana?” She called out again, her arms spread out in front of her as she tried to see in the dark. Bora stumbled when her foot caught in an empty box. She grabbed one of the shelves when she froze, hairs on her neck standing up ever so slightly when she heard it.

Breathing….

Right. Behind. Her.

Bora’s stomach tightened, the sound of breathing becoming louder and louder in her ears. Bora whipped her head around just to ram herself into a man, a scream curdling up in .

Then the brightest flashlight she has ever seen was shone straight into her eyeball.

Bora’s flinched as she squinted, trying to shield herself from the light when--

“HYUNG!” Jaemin yelled, standing a few feet away from both of them just as the lights went back on. “Why are you shining the flashlight in her eyes? This is why I believe chilvary is dead!”

Do Kyungsoo grunted, lowering the flashlight down. His eyes were fixated on hers.

“Just checking,” Kyungsoo murmured under his breath. He inserted the flashlight into his tool belt.

“Checking what? Who in Ashgate should we ever check for? We know every living and breathing person who gets off that train!” Jaemin yapped.

“Shut up and drink less coffee next time. You are irritating,” Kyungsoo said, Jaemin giving him a shocked pikachu face.

“You are not getting your seven-month holiday!” Jaemin exclaimed, wagging a finger at the older man.

Kyungsoo stared at him. “I asked for seven days.”

“I was going to give you seven months from the good graces of my heart… Now I change my mind!” Jaemin said as Kyungsoo shook his head, moving past the yapping teenager. “Yes, begone! You forest thot!”

“Na Jaemin!” Bora voice rose. This time, it was her voice that was stern. “There is definitely no need to call Mr. Do a thot!”

“Maybe ‘pariah’ would have been a better word…”

“That is no way to speak to another human being,” Bora said to the male. “He didn’t mean to do… whatever he did.”

Jaemin’s face fell, and he slumped down. “If you say so. These days he’s been shining his super-duper mega flashlight into everyone’s eyes. I think he wants to be an optometrist. Big dreams for our town recluse.”

Bora blinked. “Is being an optometrist considered a big dream?”

“Of course,” Jaemin replied, looking at her as if that was a weird question to ask. “Small town people tend to have big dreams, Nurse Bora.”

 

[Bora's dream]

The following day was a blur, Bora focusing so much on the local town patients. She was so tired by the time she had entered the clinic at 7 pm that she didn’t notice that she had eight missed calls from her brother by the time she was out of the shower.

The night, Bora dreamt that a hand was holding her.

Her eyes darted back and forth in the darkness, her hands tightening against the human-like hand when she felt a pang of pain. She could see the knife as it sunk deep into her chest. When she turned, she came face to face with herself, her hand over her heart as she began to bleed.

All over the floor. She watched herself fall onto her knees, her lips mouthing softly.

Save them.

Her alarm rang. Bora bolted up. She wiped away drool from the side of her lip, her hand finding her phone just to see that there was a total of 12 missed calls from Baekhyun.

This wasn’t new, Bora thought. Baekhyun had the tendency to call her even with the slightest inconvenience. He had called her over a missing book before, bombarding her with questions. Baekhyun had an obsessive trait, but Bora also believed that was what made him a great journalist.

When she called him, he answered straight away.

“Noona!” He whined, and she gave out a tired ‘mhmm?”. “Where were you? I was trying to reach you!”

“Is it an emergency?” She asked, Baekhyun telling her that it wasn’t an emergency, but it was juicy. “What’s up?”

“Did you see what I sent you?” He asked and Bora cracked open an eyelid to open her messages. “Judging by the pause, you didn’t.”

“What am I looking at?” She asked, still not comprehending what it was. It was a birthday post, Bora not even bothering to read it, the female slumping back onto the bed.

“I kept thinking about Nurse Jane…” Baekhyun’s voice trailed. “I did some sleuthing. What you’re looking at is a birthday post written by her mom.”

Bora sat up, staring straight at the screencap that Baekhyun had sent as she read the words.

“Happy birthday, my one and only daughter. You’re my princess and will always be my princess.”

“Baekhyun, not to be a party pooper… but what if Nurse Jane’s twin, Katie, is just not in a good relationship with her mom?” Bora asked, Baekhyun clicking his tongue and telling her to go to the next photo.

It was a photo of a baby held in her mothers’ arms.

“You’re telling me a mom who posts all about her daughter, her daily life, and just everything in general would not even mention that her daughter has a twin? You’re telling me she only held one daughter in her arms when the twins were born? There is no mention of a Katie at all… Besides, noona.” Baekhyun paused to take a breath. “Jane and Katie? Shouldn’t it be like Jane and Janet?”

“Not all names have to rhyme or start with similar consonants, Baek,” Bora replied, knowing her brother had a thing with similar sounding names. “I would love to take your research as gospel, but I know better than to judge people from their social media posts.”

“Mhm…” Baekhyun fell silent before he sighed. “I get it, but there’s also one more thing.”

“What is it?”

Another photo was sent and Bora saw that it was the latest post of her mother.

“Nurse Jane is not home, noona. Her mother posted a fb-post that she has been missing. It’s been almost a week they haven’t heard from her. You told me Dr. Eldridge said she went home.”

Baekhyun sniffed.

“She did not go home, noona. No one knows where she is.”

[Kim Doyoung, brother of Kim Dahyun/Bunny]

Bora only had Nurse Jane in her thoughts when she realized she ran out of milk. She was counting the steps on the pavement to the Na-Mart when someone bumped into her, snapping her out of her mind for a moment just to see a man giving her an apologetic bow.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized back, noticing the wallet that had fallen to the ground. A photo was staring straight at her, Bora immediately recognizing the girl in the photo. “Oh… Kim Bunny…”

“Kim Bunny?” The man said, picking up his wallet and offering her his hand to shake. “You mean, Dahyun? You must be the new nurse. I’m Kim Doyoung, Dahyun’s brother.”

“I know her by Kim Bunny,” Bora said, giving his hand a polite shake. “I saw her two days ago at the academy.”

“Ah… Of course. We sent her almost a year back. Uhm, can I buy you a cup of coffee?” Kim Doyoung asked.

Bora agreed, both of them sitting down at one of the outside seats of the café. Kim Doyoung was prim and proper. He spoke softly, gently, but Bora was sure he had a stern side to him.

“How’s Dahyun— I mean, Bunny doing?” Doyoung asked carefully, stirring his cup of black coffee. 

“What happened that made you send her to ARA?” Bora asked back, Kim Doyoung leaning on his chair before a fond look crossed his face.

“Dahyun was a cheerful child, Nurse Bora. So much light in her eyes. Do you know why she calls herself ‘Bunny’? She used to have this stuffed toy with bunny ears that she loved so much. Until now, she always has pigtails because it’d remind her of that stuffed toy. That stuffed toy was breaking apart, but she held onto it. My parents decided to throw it out one day.” Doyoung paused. “But that is nothing compared to the other things my parents decided to do to her.”

Bora watched as he looked down, gazing at his hands. She flickered her eyes over to his hands, noticing a line across his wrists. Doyoung closed his palm into a fist before continuing his story.

“My parents are hard people to win over. We first let Dahyun get some talking therapy with Matthew before he left. She was so anxious. She would get panic attacks in class. She would feel so depressed on some days, she wouldn’t even eat.”

Doyoung’s expression was mellow.

“The things she would tell Matthew, Nurse Bora… “I wish I was never born”, “I know for a fact that I am a waste of space”, “No one ever listens to me”,” Doyoung murmured. “Of course Matthew just told me so I would keep an eye on her. Then he left for his PhD.”

“I heard Bunny was getting better,” Bora told him, Doyoung nodded.

“She was… She was talking more. Writing more. She had worlds in her head that she liked to visit, and she’d tell me all about it.” Doyoung frowned as if he was reliving the memory. “But my parents didn’t want her to write in her journal or talk about a world that did not exist. They told her to learn the piano, learn French, do something useful.”

Doyoung snapped his fingers. “Just like that, Nurse Bora… Dahyun began to drown again. One day when she was forced to practice the piano for four hours, she slammed the cover of the piano onto her fingers so hard they all broke.”

Bora thought that this was what Bunny was talking about—her getting into a psychotic break when Matthew left.

“Because of that incident, I decided I didn’t want her too far away from home, but also no where near my parents. I sent her to ARA. I visit her every three days whenever visitations are allowed. She doesn’t come out when my father comes along.” Doyoung smiled at her. “She’s in there with Jeno. Not that I’m happy she’s dating someone who is addicted to prescription pills, but I guess I should be happy that she’s not alone.”

“Jeno’s a good kid, too,” Bora told him, trying to soothe him. “I’m sure it’ll all work out in the end.”

Doyoung concluded that he had hope too, the man paying for her coffee before asking to walk her to the grocery store.

“You don’t have too,” Bora told him, but Doyoung insisted with his lips by her ear.

“I see someone staring at us.” He winked, Bora looking up to see that Matthew was across the street. He was acting like he didn’t see them, ducking behind the bus stop with his long coat billowing with the wind.

“It’s a small town, Nurse Bora. Usually doesn’t take much for me to catch hints.”

“What does that mean?” Bora asked, standing up and Kim Doyoung shrugging.

“Let’s just say that I’m sure me walking you to the mart will help spark up a conversation between you two.” He smiled. “Hardly think it’ll be about your long list of patients. I know interest when I see it.”

Bora glanced over to the bus stop, but Matthew was already gone.

 

[Gr

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mandalee
Beeen so busy! Had this in drafts for far too long! Don't be a silent reader -- Upvote, Subscribe, and Comment! (Hopefully), see you soon :)

Comments

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Nicole121314 #1
Chapter 11: Baekhyun missing or just went to some adventure of his own haha...
suholeadernim #2
Chapter 11: I wish you continue this ;(
Sharo001
684 streak #3
Chapter 10: I loved the end! Mathew and Bora made a lovely little family with the boys. Now, I am invested in what exactly that marble will turn out to be and how it involves Sehun. I’m hoping you will decide to write it at some point. In the meantime, I am getting ready to start your new story. I am also enjoying ‘I’m Here for You, Always,’ your plots are always so interesting.
Myzurah
#4
Chapter 11: Would this really the last, or there will be another bonus chapter about what happened to Baek?
Lucasfatboy
#5
Chapter 11: Last chapter 🥹🥹
findingalaska #6
Chapter 11: T__T So its discontinued! Really! Thank you for giviing us such a good story but istg, whyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Elderwise sounds like sth i would read! Sending love. xoxox
leetakashi
#7
Chapter 11: I’m mad this is discontinued because LJ is so funny. I like how his issues are about fitting in Aether and battling “complex” emotions regarding Bora. It’s so cute how he calls her “mum”! Matthew being salty is so funny, he now reminds me of The Bracelet Club the more dorky he is. Thank you for such a wonderful story, I hope Baekhyun is safe in Elderwise even if it’s something that we may not get to read.
Myzurah
#8
Chapter 10: For sure, you won't ever disappoint with your fantasy themed stories. I would make all your stories into a movie/series if I'm a producer hahahhha.
silverfixofweed
#9
Chapter 10: I'm so happy that L.J finally got a home! Ashgate was prolly the most traumatic for everyone D:D. Oh Sehun is a new character now? I dint expect anything more, but if there is, count me in! The twins are hilarious NanaxJaemin JenoxL.J. Why is Nana calling L.J babes? XD that is funny. This story was more serious than the rest bt you did the fantasy tag justice <3 feels so unfinished in a way :(
somnambulis #10
Chapter 10: oooooohhhhh oh sehun's name came out