Jack In The Box novel Chapter 6

The next morning when I woke up, I had a severe headache. Even though I’d managed to throw up all the medicines that I’d consumed last night, I realized some remnants of it must have remained inside my body. I glanced out of my bedroom window and noticed it was still drizzling. The clock read nine a.m so I had about an hour before my shift started. I was working a twelve hours shift today because Aaron had literally pleaded me the other day since they were short staffed. Majority of the nurses preferred to steer clear off Jackson and I couldn’t even blame them.

Due to my unusual shift timings, I was never home and so Ken and I rarely got any time to spend with each other as a family. Scribbled notes, texts and phone calls were the only communication that went on for a few days now and I blamed it on my transfer to the Mental Health Wing.

I pulled myself out of the bed reluctantly, making a beeline for the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, I was dressed in my Nurse uniform, seated at the little dining table, gobbling down bread and Nutella (my go-to breakfast when I was feeling too lazy to cook). I filled the thermos with steaming coffee, picked my car keys and made my way downstairs.

“Good Morning, Mrs. Rossi.” I greeted Mrs. Rossi, the Italian lady living downstairs.

She glanced at her left wrist; I wanted to remind her there was no wrist-watch on it. “It’s lunch time.”

“Good Afternoon, then.” I said.

I usually ignored her smart comments. She was usually grumpily but invited me over for tea during her good days, also baked some delicious Banana bread. The woman had over a dozen cats in her house who lazed around on every possible flat surface. The cats were super fat and cute but hated my guts for some reason.

When I approached the parking, I remembered I’d left my car in the hospital parking lot. Next thing, I was standing by the road with an open umbrella, trying to hail a cab.

I didn’t feel like visiting Jackson’s room that day. I knew it was my job, but he was also unlike other patients that I’d dealt with. Jackson was a high functioning psychopath; he was also manipulative and intelligent. He seemed like a normal person one minute, and you never know when the wheels in his head were turning and he was plotting something life threatening against you. That part of him scared me. It was a given that I couldn’t even read his mind.

The entire day I avoided going to his room and instead decided to tend to other patients. I’d told another nurse to serve Jackson’s breakfast and lunch, warning her about his manipulative and flirtatious tactics. I’d loaned her ear-plugs.

Afternoon arrived and I was seated in the hospital cafeteria with my friend and co-worker Madeline aka Maddy. She was talking about a fight she had with a fellow nurse, further complaining about how she was going to break up with her boyfriend because he wasn’t giving her enough time. I continued to nod my head throughout the conversation, pushing around the salad in my plate.

“You’re not paying attention to what I’m saying!” Maddy pointed.

“What?”

“How are things going with Jackson? You don’t seem quite that happy with the promotion.”

“Not really. You know Maddy, I’ve been good at handling people like Jackson in the past, but somehow I feel like it’s not working this time. He’s just too difficult to figure out.”

Maddy nodded. “I’m surprised you even said yes to Aaron’s offer after all the rumors surrounding him."

“What kind of rumors?”

She moved closer and whispered. Maddy had the blazing gossip eyes on, “People say that he wasn’t always crazy, it was like a switch went off and he killed his own mother. Can you imagine? And then he went on a killing rampage and murdered people in the most brutal way possible. They found severed body parts and do you know the guts and intestines...”

“Maddy, I think I’ll live without the gory details.” I told her although I’d already lost my appetite.