“Well yes, being dead then I suppose they are ghosts… But not the romantic, floaty, see-through kind in old-fashioned clothes that you sometimes hear about in stories. Although they are dressed oddly. In a style I don’t recognise, I mean.”
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He chews something over for a while. “At the handover - before all hell broke loose - Harris was ranting about dead men. Said they ‘took Lawton’. Just before he opened up, he yelled we were in league with ‘them’.”
“It’s sounding to me as if there’s something affecting people there. And it comes on quickly, too.”
“Ranting about dead men? So, it’s not just me then. I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.”
[@Shimmin, is Stella able to describe in any detail how the people in her dreams are dressed?]
Mostly tattered uniforms of some sort, with a few civilian clothes.
Roll me some History.
Between the stress of the dreams and their condition, it’s hard to be sure exactly what you’re looking it. The men in uniforms have the sort of old-fashioned blueish jackets that have been used everywhere from the Union army to station attendants and hotel doormen. The others have the typical cheap three-piece outfit, looking somewhat dated. At a guess, maybe about 50 years ago?
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This might explain Harris’s reaction to uniformed police officers… But Stella keeps her hazy recollection of the dead mens’ appearance to herself at this point. It’s not something she really wants to dwell on.
Unless Green or McQueen have anything more to add, Stella will say goodnight and head for her room.
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You all return to your rooms as the staff begin to clear up the empty cups. You were told the attendants will (quietly) look in on you every 30–60 minutes after 10pm to record your behaviour; otherwise, you’ll be left alone for the night. Each door is left open a fraction, allowing in some light from the corridor. You’re free to do as you wish now, and decide when to go to bed.
Are there any particular bedtime routines you have? Anything you’d like to do in particular before 10pm?
At 10pm, Dr. Thorne sits down at a table at the end of the corridor where he can see all the patients’ room doors.
McQueen makes the long trek to wherever someone won’t pester him for smoking, has a last pipe before bed, and retires for the night. It’s not exactly unusual for him to go to bed sober, but it’s not the majority of nights either.
If nothing else intervenes, he’ll probably wake up after a few hours, spend half an hour writing down bits of story, then go back to sleep.
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Stella will jot down in her notepad all the snippets of information she has collected during the day. Might be newsworthy, might not, you never know…
Then she’ll read “The Second Shadow” for a bit before she tries to find that elusive thing called sleep.
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