Hello, this is a short story I wrote in the last couple of weeks that’s kind of a departure from my usual work. I’ve written fiction before but this time I wanted to try something a little different, plus I know Halloween will be here soon and I wanted to do something spooky to celebrate. This story is about a man dealing with a severe mental health crisis, I’ve dealt with a similar situation in my past so this is a bit personal for me. I wanted to try my hand at horror and I hope you like it, let me know your thoughts -Rick
Greg looked at the pill bottles lined up on his bathroom sink, Lamictal, Depakote, and Risperdal tablets of various milligrams in clear orange tubes with white screw-on caps. He cracked each bottle open one by one and shook a single tablet out onto his palm. He stared at them for a moment, one was oblong, another shield shaped, another was white and round. For the first 33 years of his life he hadn’t needed medication, at least nothing beyond a week-long regimen of pills for pain or an infection, and it was a weird feeling to have to be committed to taking medicine like this every day for the rest of his life. His doctor, a short man named Fred Thomas he’d met at the psychiatric facility, told him that due to the nature of his condition not being medicated could lead to another psychotic break like the one he’d suffered a few weeks ago.
Greg had crashed his car into a guard rail near a freeway overpass after suffering paranoid delusions about someone, some unidentified force, who was out to get him. He’d been acting erratically and not sleeping for days prior, sending nonsensical text messages to his friends and family before deciding to get behind the wheel of his car to make his escape. After the crash passersby who had gone to help Greg found him ranting incoherently at the top of his voice while blood streamed down his face caused by his head slamming into his car window. Thankfully the police were on the scene quickly and had gotten him to a hospital.
After his injuries were treated, Greg was taken to the facility where Dr. Thomas had diagnosed him with schizoaffective bipolar disorder and ordered an involuntary 72-hour hold. Greg’s memories of his stay were hazy, but he could remember being wheeled into the facility while lashed to a gurney, whatever part of his mind that was still sane looked at the residents in gowns lurching about with saliva dripping from their mouths and thought “I don’t belong here, I’m not crazy!”
The first couple of days were rough for Greg, he kept insisting that the staff were trying to kill him and had to be restrained and sedated several times. He felt as if he was living in a dream that he couldn’t wake up from and none of it was real. On his fourth day he calmed down a bit but was still very skittish. As the therapy and medication began during the subsequent days Greg found himself more apt to listen to the staff and less prone to his paranoia. Sessions with Dr. Thomas helped ground him back to reality. After his three days were up the doctor recommended that he stay a while more, Greg was disappointed, but he understood. As Greg improved, he looked at the other residents who were still struggling with the conditions and pitied them, he saw them acting violently with staff and screaming and was reminded of how he acted when he first entered the facility, he cringed at this thought.
There wasn’t much to do in the facility save for watch TV or work on the puzzles and games the staff laid out. Greg had spent a lot of time in the entertainment room where the TV was guarded by a sheet of clear Lucite to prevent the residents from breaking it, the remote was always up for grabs but there were a few moments throughout the day where Greg could sit and watch cable news for a little while without being bothered.
He didn’t enjoy watching the news before he was admitted to the facility but the anchors reading copy about the events of the day gave him a sense of calm, a reassurance that the world was still spinning. There was one resident named Amelia, an elderly woman whose gray hair was always tied in a bun, she had been in the facility for quite a long time but insisted her husband was coming to pick her up “very soon”, one of the staff had informed Greg her husband had been dead for 7 years. Amelia would sit next to Greg on the uncomfortable couch, and he would lend her the remote so she could watch her corny soap operas at high volume. One night at bedtime one of the orderly’s, a heavyset black guy named Bradley, had tried to take the remote out of her hand and Amelia had screamed and bit him.
Along with Amelia there were lots of other characters at the facility. There was a middle-aged woman named Heidi who’d lost custody of her son years ago due to her untreated mental condition, Greg could hear her wailing at night from her room and during the day she would argue with the nurses about how she “Had to get back to David” with manic bursts of energy before she’d get escorted back to her room. There was a tall man named Christopher who’d just stand in one spot and stare out the window into the courtyard for hours every day, Greg had never seen him move or heard him speak. Greg and a group of others had been allowed to go into the courtyard to get some outside time and he’d seen Christopher staring at them and it made him unsettled. There was also a slender bald man named Richard who would go on long rants about Jesus, Greg had seen him scrawling crucifixes and bible verses on the walls of the entertainment room with markers several times before staff had stopped him. All this motivated Greg to do whatever he could to improve his mental state.
One thing Greg hated, besides the no phone rule, and the piercing alarm sound which played over the speakers in the morning, another thing were the beds. The mattresses were thin and covered in plastic and sat on hard plastic frames, the pillows were also thin and didn’t give proper support to his neck, he’d wake up with pain all the way down his spine. Sleeping was tough and it didn’t help that Greg’s roommate, a developmentally disabled man named Henry, would constantly urinate and mutter to himself throughout the night. There was little ventilation, so the room constantly smelled of piss. Greg had complained about this, but the staff had just shrugged their shoulders.
After 8 days at the facility Greg was allowed to return home, his time in the place had been a blur, but that was understandable considering he’d been out of his mind for a good portion of it. His dad John had picked him up and driven him back. Greg had been allowed to call him after a few days at the facility, his dad’s voice had been choked in tears and Greg could remember his eyes welling up during their conversation. It had been hard on them both, Greg had had mental health struggles in the past, but they had never manifested in such an extreme way that he required hospitalization. In any case he was overjoyed to be free of that place and felt he had a new lease on life. His dad dropped him off and walked with him into his apartment, they chatted for a bit, hugged and John asked Greg if he was alright several times. Greg insisted that he was and saw his dad out. He watched from his apartment window as John got in his grey sedan and drove out of the parking lot. As his father’s car disappeared from his view Greg got the strangest feeling, he couldn’t put his finger on it though.
Now it was over a week later a Sunday night and Greg was preparing to head back to work the next day. He hadn’t done much with himself since leaving the hospital as he felt that too much stimulation could have affected his mind negatively. He was resigned to sit on the couch, relax, and let the days go by while avoiding social media as best he could. He’d catch himself checking Twitter from time to time, but he limited himself to only using it for a few minutes at a time throughout the day and tried to interact with more wholesome content. Greg had also taken up some hobbies to get his mind off things, he was experimenting with cooking and had even tried his hand at painting as well. Even if his food was bland or his art amateurish, he felt it was important to spend as much time away from screens as possible.
Greg had taken his meds and was sitting on the couch checking his phone while the evening news played on the TV. He had a plate of homemade risotto in front of him, but the rice was undercooked. After he had gotten his phone back Greg had tons of emails, and updates he had to sort through along with tons of concerned text messages from his friends and family. He had gone through them one by one and reassured his loved ones that he was doing fine. It was almost midnight and Greg was getting tired, his phone buzzed, and he looked down to see a text message from a his friend Matt who he hadn’t spoken to since being admitted to the hospital. It read:
“What are you doing?”
Greg responded that he was just chilling then asked how Matt was doing. After a moment another text appeared from the Matt, this one read:
“Greg, you’re not alright man!”
What the hell is he talking about? Greg asked himself, Matt was known to not take things too seriously and to play pranks occasionally, but this wasn’t funny. Greg texted him back asking him what his problem was, Matt responded.
“No one’s out to get you!”
Greg frowned, he was getting tired of Matt’s weird attitude, was he doing okay? Why was he saying these things? Greg asked him bluntly what he was talking about and got one last response from Matt.
“Hey man, stop!”.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he tossed the phone on the coffee table. Just then the TV changed channels from the news to a soap opera like the ones Amelia watched. The volume started going up on its own, it became a deafening cacophony. Greg panicked, covered his ears, reached for the remote and caught a glimpse of his phone screen, Matt’s texts were just the word “Stop” repeating over and over in more frantic messages. There were so many the phone started scrolling by itself going faster and faster until the screen was just a blur while the dramatic music from the TV drilled into his ears.
Greg awoke on his couch with a start, he sat upright and began looking around. It was 7 O’clock in the morning and the sun was shining through his window blinds. His heart was racing in his chest and sweat dotted his brow. It was just a dream he thought, a terrible fucked up dream, but just a dream. He groaned and began rubbing his head, which ached dully. Nervously he reached for his phone and checked the messages to find there were none from Matt and breathed a sigh of relief, why would there be? He thought. His back ached as well as his head, slowly he got off the couch and walked to the bathroom to take some Ibuprofen then made his way into his kitchen to prepare some coffee, he had to be at work in an hour. He thought about calling in and taking an extra day off, he was sure his boss would understand. But he needed to get outside and get back to living his life, the sooner the better.
Greg figured his dream was the result of unrealized trauma from being involuntarily committed, he figured there would be some instances where he’d have trouble discerning reality from illusion. He had spoken to Dr. Thomas shortly after being released from the facility and he’d told Greg that it wasn’t uncommon to have some residual effects from his condition that the medication would take care of. The thing that set Greg on edge was the fact he couldn’t remember falling asleep, but he figured that sooner or later that would fix itself.
Greg arrived at work for the first time in weeks, it was a small office in a plaza that was shared with several other businesses including a sports bar named Pappy’s. Greg and his coworkers would sometimes grab beers there on Fridays after their shifts ended. He couldn’t believe it, but he was looking forward to getting back to work. He entered the office and saw the receptionist, Barbara, filling out some paperwork on a clipboard. She smiled at him like always and he made his way to his cubicle. Greg’s job had become partially remote, he and his coworkers still had to report to the office at least two days out of the week but Greg was happy to show up in-person full time, at least for a little while even if that mean the building would be near empty most days. He made his way to his cubicle and saw Alex, the stocky bearded guy who sat at the cubicle across from his, at the coffee machine.
Alex noticed him, smiled, and told Greg that he was glad he was feeling better. Greg nodded and said he was too and the two chatted for a bit, Alex was into sports betting and mentioned how he’d won $300 on a parlay two nights ago when Nikola Jokic had scored a triple double against the Lakers. Greg didn’t follow the NBA nearly as closely as Alex, but he remembered hearing about Jokic’s performance, although he could’ve sworn that game had been weeks ago. But Greg figured it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility a guy like Jokic could score like that quite often. Alex prattled on about sports for a while longer while Greg nodded along, then he returned to his workstation as another guy walked up to Greg.
He was a younger sandy haired guy with a muscular build who Greg didn’t recognize right away, but after a moment Greg was pretty sure he’d seen him in some client meetings before, although he couldn’t remember his name. The muscular guy drew closer, and Greg could see by the ID on his lanyard that his name was Curtis. Curtis said he was glad to see Greg, told him that he’d given them quite a scare, but that Greg looked good, and he was sure that he’d be out of there soon. Greg was a bit confused by this statement, he wasn’t quite sure what Curtis was referring to, maybe a return to working from home? Since the pandemic Greg knew a lot of people liked being able to work remotely. Greg said he was happy staying at the office for now and a look of concern spread across Curtis’s face. There was an awkward moment before Curtis smiled again, clapped Greg on the shoulder and told him he should just focus on getting better. Curtis then looked over to his left and nodded at someone across the office, Greg followed his glance and saw it was his boss Frank who was standing in the door of his office. Frank nodded back and turned to Greg, calling out to him.
“Gregory! Good to see you! Could we have a word?”
Greg turned back to Curtis, but he’d already started walking down the hallway to the other section of the office. Greg turned back to Frank, smiled, and walked over. His boss Frank wasn’t a bad guy but had been standoffish in the past, Greg had been a bit nervous at what his reaction would be to him returning from such a mental health episode, but Frank had a big smile on his face and Greg felt reassured. His boss shook his hand and welcomed him into his office, the two sat down and Frank spoke first.
“So, Greg, how are we feeling?”
“Good sir, really happy to be back and I’m ready to put some hours in.” Greg responded cheerfully. Frank met his gaze, smiled warmly, and said:
“Greg, I want you to feel comfortable here, I know you’ve been through quite an ordeal. I’ve known plenty of people with issues like yours during my time here and through effort they were able to have success out in the world.”
Greg nodded and said, “Yes sir, I’m trying my best to get back to a good state of mind, I think coming back to work helps.” Franks smile faded slightly.
“Back to work…” His boss responded, “Yes I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”
Frank looked down and began scribbling something on a notepad, as he wrote Greg looked around his office and saw a photograph of a teenage girl in a cap and gown on a shelf behind Frank, he recognized the photo, but didn’t remember if he’d seen it in his boss’s office before. He wondered if it was Frank’s daughter although he could’ve sworn, she was in her 30s, maybe this was an old photo or maybe it was his granddaughter or niece. Frank stopped writing and looked back at Greg to say:
“What I think would help, is treating your mental health like a job, in a sense, it’s like something you have to do every day and do well in order to thrive.”
Greg nodded at this, “That’s a good way of looking at it, sir.” Frank’s smile widened and he said:
“I want you to give it your all, stay focused on the progress you’ve made and if you feel you need any help you can ask me or anyone else in this building. We all want you to get better, Greg.”
Greg smiled and he and Frank stood up to shake hands before Greg went back to his workstation. As he walked back Greg could see Curtis standing near the adjacent wall and looking at him for a moment before Curtis turned and said something to the heavyset black man standing next to him, someone else who Greg thought looked familiar but couldn’t place right away. There were a lot of people coming in and out of the office, a lot of them were clients who he only knew in passing and he rarely learned their names. Greg saw that they were wearing standard office attire, polo shirts and slacks, but they also had on sneakers, which was against the company dress code. Greg didn’t think much of this since things had been casual around the office after the pandemic.
He passed the cubicle of his coworker Amy and saw her looking through what looked like a handbook and making notes in it, on her computer monitor she had some charts pulled up, it appeared she was doing some accounting. He greeted Amy, she turned around, and her eyes lit up.
“Greg!” She exclaimed, “I didn’t know you were back already!”
She got up from her chair and gave him a hug. Amy was young, had long brown hair and was very cute. She was wearing a dark blue blouse, it was a similar color to the shirt that Curtis had been wearing, she looked good in it. Greg had been tempted to ask her out a couple of times in the past but knew she had a boyfriend. As they embraced Greg could smell that she was wearing a new perfume, he liked it. She let go and took a step back, Greg noticed she was now wearing a ring on her finger but decided not to mention it. Amy and he chatted for a bit, mostly small talk, Amy told him that she’d been worried, but Greg reassured her that he was doing a lot better. They finished their conversation with Amy telling him that he could come to her if he had any problems. Greg thanked her and walked back to his desk. He noticed Alex was back at the coffee machine, dude loved his caffeine.
Greg turned his computer on and as it booted up, he headed to the break room vending machine, bought himself a pack of M&Ms and returned to his desk with them. The login screen came up on his monitor, Greg typed in his password and got an error message. He was a bit confused by this; his memory was still a little foggy, but he was sure he’d typed the password in correctly. Still looking at the monitor he opened the bag of M&Ms and poured them into his hand, he set the bag down on his desk and with his free hand typed the password again, and again he got an error message. Greg sighed and looked down at the M&Ms in his hand, only they weren’t M&Ms, they were pills, oblong, shield-shaped, and round and white pills. He gasped loudly and dumped them on the floor, they scattered and bounced on the carpet.
He stared at them unbelievingly for a moment before he heard Amy’s voice asking him if he was alright. Greg looked up and saw her standing near the wall of his cubicle with a concerned look on her face, he began stammering.
“I…uhhh…I just, I just saw that they were uhhhh…”
He looked down at the floor and saw M&Ms scattered about, one he had crushed into the carpet with his foot. He looked back up at Amy and although she still looked worried her face also appeared as if she were a little annoyed, Greg felt embarrassed and bent down to start picking them up. Amy told him not to worry and grabbed a broom and dustpan from the supply closet. She swept up the spilled candy while Greg watched, his face still hot with embarrassment. Amy finished and dumped the M&Ms in a nearby garbage can. She told him to just take it easy and returned to her desk, Frank was standing next to it, they spoke in hushed tones and shot quick glances at Greg. He and Franks eyes met, and his boss gave him a smile. Greg did his best to return it even though he was still freaked out. He didn’t want to be known as the office psycho and was feeling self-conscious.
Greg grabbed the bag with the rest of the M&Ms and tossed it into the garbage, then turned his attention back to his computer and typed in his password a couple more times, each time he did the error message popped back up. Frustrated, Greg sat back and rubbed his temples, wondering if he should just tell Frank he wanted to go home. “Need help?” Asked a voice behind him, Greg looked around and saw Jordan, the I.T. guy, standing next to his desk. Greg gathered himself and told Jordan that he needed help logging on since his password wasn’t working. Jordan gave him a smile, said “No problem”, and slid in next to Greg to begin typing. Jordan logged into a different profile with the administrator password but told Greg he could still access the software he needed. Greg said he felt a little embarrassed that he couldn’t remember his password, Jordan told him it wasn’t a big deal. Greg noticed that Jordans hair was styled differently than usual, and that he was also wearing a blue polo shirt and sneakers. He made a remark about how everyone had dressed the same and Jordan chuckled and opened software on the computer that Greg didn’t recognize. It looked like a bookkeeping program, but he couldn’t remember ever using it, Jordan typed Greg’s name and some other information into the prompts, a small notification popped up saying that the records had been updated and Jordan closed the software. He turned to Greg and told him that if he was having any more problems to give him a shout, then he walked off and disappeared around the corner. Greg saw Curtis follow Jordan around the corner and shoot him a quick glance before also moving out of sight. Curtis seemed like a nice guy but there was something about him that set Greg on edge.
Greg worked diligently on his computer for a while, Greg’s job of data entry wasn’t particularly difficult besides the need to make sure he was inputting correct information. But he’d been at the place three years and felt he’d reached a point where his accuracy was top notch, so much so that he had been responsible for training new employees with the software he used. Greg knew a lot of workers these days felt disenfranchised with their jobs, but Greg didn’t really share their feelings. He’d been unemployed for stretches over the last decade and knew how important stability was, he was grateful his company had let him return because he had heard stories of other people being let go from their jobs for taking extended medical leave. Whatever issues Greg had with his company he was glad to let them go if he had a steady source of income. That said, there were times when the job got extremely repetitive, and Greg felt burnt out on more than one occasion. Even so Greg found the nature of his work wasn’t a hinderance to his mental health improving like a higher stress job would be.
Greg texted Matt again, he was concerned about his friend, but Matt hadn’t responded which worried Greg more. He put that thought to the side and turned his attention back to his tasks. As he worked the skin under the smart watch on his wrist began itching, he tried to take off the watch to better scratch it but for some reason the clasp didn’t want to release, Greg pulled on it frustratedly, but he didn’t want to damage the band so he opted instead to just slide a pen under it to scratch the skin and would mess around with removing the watch later. Greg’s eyes were becoming sensitive to the light of the monitor, so he decided to take a breather and head into the break room to grab a pop from the vending machine. As he entered the room he saw Bob, a middle-aged customer service representative with his trademark white mustache sitting in his usual spot at the small round table next to the cabinets and looking at his phone. Bob saw Greg and greeted him but didn’t get up from his chair. Greg took a couple singles out of his wallet and looked into the vending machine, deciding on what beverage he wanted when Bob spoke up.
“Hey bud, how’re you doing?” Bob asked, not looking up from his phone.
Greg was admittedly tired of getting asked that question, but he responded:
“Doing fine, feeling better…how have you been?”
“Good, good,” came Bob’s response, he asked Greg if he’d seen the new movie “about the guy who’d built the atomic bomb”. Bob was a movie buff, and he enjoyed talking about films with his coworkers. Greg typically enjoyed discussing cinema with him, but hadn’t that come out over a year ago? In any case, he was relieved to have someone ask him about something other than his mental health for a change, but he had the feeling he and Bob had already talked about that movie. Granted he and Bob had talked about a lot of movies over the years, it wasn’t too uncommon for older movies to get brought up during their conversations, Greg could remember the atomic bomb movie had been very popular as well, so it wasn’t surprising for it to be brought up again. He told Bob that he’d seen it a while ago and had enjoyed it. Bob said “Cool, I liked it too” while still looking at his phone. Greg turned back to the vending machine and selected a Mountain Dew. A bottle dropped into the dispenser, Greg took it and told Bob he’d talk to him later, his older coworker didn’t respond so Greg shrugged and walked back to his desk.
It was lunch time and Greg was hungry, Curtis walked by his cubicle followed by Amy and asked him if he was ready to eat and Greg replied, “Hell yes”. Curtis chuckled and he and Amy made their way down the hallway, they began talking to each other Greg thought he overheard Amy say, “I like his attitude” and Curtis said something in response, but they were too far away for Greg to hear it. Greg got up from his desk and was about to grab his phone, but it wasn’t where he left it. He didn’t see it anywhere on his desk. He checked the drawers but still didn’t find it, after a moment of searching he decided that he’d look for it after lunch, it couldn’t have gotten far. Greg turned and saw Alex at the coffee machine again and Bob still sitting in the break room looking at his phone. He also noticed Jordan looking at him from across the office, their eyes met, and Jordan nodded, Greg nodded back and saw Jordan look down to write something on a pad he was holding before walking out of sight.
Before he headed to Pappy’s to grab a burger, something he dearly missed in his time away, he stopped in the bathroom. As he entered, he saw someone using one of the stalls and smelled a strong scent of piss. Greg wondered if the guy in the stall was having a problem but tried not to think about it. He went to the sink and popped two pills into his mouth, washing them down with a handful of water from the faucet. He then started washing his hands, as he was doing so, he heard the guy in the stall muttering to himself, it echoed off the ways and a chill went down Greg’s spine. He finished washing his hands, grabbed a handful of paper towels and walked hurriedly out of the bathroom.
Greg was struck with a sense that things were…off about his company. He had chalked it up to some aftereffects of his time at the facility or his medication earlier but now he was getting nervous. The way his coworkers were acting was weird, wasn’t it? Greg felt like he was being monitored somehow. He figured his coworkers would regard him differently when he came back, after all if you know your coworker had gone crazy wouldn’t you treat them differently? But Greg felt that things were a little too different for his liking, it reminded him of his time in the facility. He could sense a panic attack coming on, so he closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing, he had learned some techniques to handle stress when he was at the facility and now was a good time to put them into practice. He closed his eyes, breathed slowly in and out, imagining he was in a grassy field with the sun shining above. He repeated affirmations for a while, you’re out he thought to himself, you’re out of that place and you’re not going back, you’re home now and everything is alright. He continued for a couple of minutes until he felt more at ease, then proceeded to walk to Pappy’s. He wondered if he should risk getting a beer to ease the stress more easily, then thought better of it.
There was a long hallway that connected the back entrances of all the businesses in the plaza, technically the entrance to Pappy’s was employees only but they made an exception for Greg and his coworkers. The hallway was empty except for Greg, and it was eerily quiet save for his footsteps. Greg noticed there was caution tape stretched out over one of the doors and as he drew nearer, he could see the interior of the business was being remodeled. He could see that they’d been tearing out an interior wall among other things and could also see the studs and wiring behind the large holes that had been hammered into it. As he got a better view inside, he spotted a crucifix scrawled onto the wall and his eyes grew wide. He closed his eyes and rubbed them and when he opened them again, he looked and saw it was just a construction symbol the crew had spray painted onto the wall, although he wasn’t sure what it signified it did resemble a crucifix, his eyes were playing tricks on him. He shook his head and scolded himself for scaring so easily then continued into Pappy’s.
He entered and took a seat at the bar; he rested his elbows on the counter and had an urge to pull out his phone before remembering he’d lost it at the office. Greg felt a twinge of disappointment and noticed Curtis and Amy were sitting at a table to his right, Curtis saw him and raised his drink which was water with a slice of lemon. Greg waved back and laughed to himself at the thought of how healthy some people tried to be, come on man Greg thought, can’t you at least order yourself a Coke? Greg turned back and looked at all the bottles of liquor lined up behind the bar, Jack Daniels and Hennessey and Grey Goose, and his urge to get a shot for himself was rising. He hadn’t had a drink since his “incident”, knew he shouldn’t drink during work hours, and was worried that alcohol might have a bad interaction with his medication. The bartender, a big friendly guy named Dean, walked over and asked Greg if he was having his usual, which was a Pappy deluxe burger, fries, and Coke. Greg said that sounded good, Dean nodded and began filling a glass for him while Greg looked around the bar, one of the TVs on the rear wall was playing a soap opera and he noticed an old woman was sat at a table watching it, he couldn’t see her face, but she was wearing her hair in a bun.
Suddenly there was a commotion on the other side of the bar, Greg looked and saw that two of the bar employees were breaking up a fight between two women. One of them was screaming “You know where he is! You know where he is!” repeatedly as the bar worker struggled to hold her back. Dean walked out from behind the bar and commanded them to take the women outside. The screaming woman was flailing wildly, she kicked her leg and knocked over one of the tables, spilling drinks everywhere. Greg saw Curtis and Amy run over to help ease the situation, he didn’t know why they wanted to get involved. A waitress walked up to Greg with his food, and he asked her if he could get it to go, the bar was a little too overstimulating for him at the moment. The waitress left and returned with a Styrofoam box, Greg paid her and walked out. He cast a glance over to where the old woman had been sitting, but she was gone and the TV was turned off, he scanned the bar but didn’t see her anywhere. He thought that was odd, another thing that troubled him was that he could remember bar employees’ shirts had been black the last time he’d been at Pappy’s, but today they had been blue.