hazbin hospice - wake-up call
A sharp ringing echoed through the small room, bouncing off of the solid white walls.
Agatha groaned as she lifted herself off of the metal table that the asylum called a bed, pushing her thick hair out of her face and blinking groggily.
“Up and at ‘em #0547, remember your meds” came the annoyingly neutral voice of her orderly nurse, ‘what was her name again?, Stephanie?, Stacy?, whatever it didn’t matter that much’.
Grabbing the pill bottle from her nightstand, Agatha reluctantly popped the medication in her mouth and swallowed, like hell she was gonna drink the water here.
The momentary discomfort of the pills quickly disappeared as Agatha adjusted her eyepatch, not bothering to do much to fix her appearance.
‘What’s the point?’. The young woman was known for that catchphrase, it was less of a hopeless comment and more of a genuine question.
The door to her room opened and the monotone nurse began to walk Agatha to the cafeteria for ‘breakfast’ if you could call the nutrient sludge they served food.
The asylum’s hallways were all squeaky clean and blindingly white, it would hurt anyone’s eyes given more than 15 minutes.
As soon as the double doors to the cafeteria opened, Agatha made her way over to the large table in the corner where she knew the only tolerable people would be.
“Ay, there’s our cyclops psycho!” Anthony’s affectionate yell rang out, the tall man pulling Agatha into a casual embrace, ruffling her hair.
Agatha smiled at her fellow patient; Anthony had become like an older brother to her, they had a mutual understanding yet loved to bicker.
Agatha blinked the sleep out of her eye, looking over who was at the table.
There was a woman a bit taller than Agatha with dull brown eyes and a messy red mane: that was cherri.
A thin pale man with black hair and grey eyes: Arthur pentious, the group’s know-it-all.
A small skinny woman with a red bob and a fringe covering half her face: Nera, nicknamed affectionately by the group ‘nifty’.
And a tall lean man with short blonde hair and shiny blue eyes: Anthony.
Just as Agatha was doing her mental head count, two more approached the table.
A tall man with caramel brown skin, curly short brown hair and the greenest eyes: Alastor, some said that he and Agatha looked very similar.
Another man with dark skin and shaggy hair with streaks of silver in it, a general tired air about him: Harold, also nicknamed as ‘Husk’.
The two men were carrying trays of breakfast food -shitty porridge and toast with orange juice- however alastor was still in his straight jacket, unlocked it may be but it still hindered on his grip.
“Good morning, my fellow lunatics!” Exclaimed the eccentric alastor, placing two trays in front of Agatha, Anthony and nifty before sitting down with his own tray, right next to Agatha.
The two had formed an odd relationship to say, much like siblings but alastor was notably protective over the group, almost in a fatherly way.
“Morning, Al” Agatha mumbled, shoving a spoonful of mysterious mush into her mouth.
Alastor simply smiled fondly at the woman’s usual lack of enthusiasm.
Just as Agatha was about to speak again, noting the dead rat by her feet, a voice sounded loudly on the tannoy.
“Attention patients, we would like you to all be on your best behaviour as the owner’s daughter is conducting her work here for an unspecified period of time”
A small amount of static sounded after the tannoy went down and the group looked at each other with great confusion.
“Some rich kids coming here to play doctor?” Husk grunted with exasperation, the group had seen plenty of people come in just to act uptight and jumpy, treating the patients like wild animals or charity cases.
“God fucking damn it…” Agatha mumbled, not wanting to deal with another pushy intern.
Alastor noticed her distress and placed a comforting arm around her shoulders, fiddling with a strand of her long brown hair.
This gained a smile from the smaller woman, leaning into the warmth of his touch.
Her moment of comfort was swiftly cut short as the double doors to the cafeteria opened, revealing a thin woman, around husk’s height, with pale skin, long blonde hair and big brown eyes.
The stranger was wearing black slacks, a pink dress shirt and a white doctor’s coat, all topped off with a bedazzled lanyard.
‘Great, it’s one of those…’ thought Agatha, first impressions were important and this one screamed ‘rich girl’.
To the group’s dismay, the young woman began to approach their table, holding a tray of her own that was pink and shielded in tinfoil.
“Hi, I’m Charlie!, I’m here to help the facility!” The woman exclaimed cheerfully, however the group just huddled closer together, either glaring at her untrustingly or staring wide eyed.
“Hello, chancy…” alastor said through a gritted smile, glowering at the young woman.
“Oh uh…it’s Charlie” “Whatever.” This was the usual coldness anyone outside the group received from Alastor, Agatha had never questioned it as most were not to be trusted in this place.
The blonde didn’t seem deterred in the slightest, taking a seat in between nifty and Alastor.
“Anyways, I got to assign myself to a few patients here and I heard you guys are pretty close!” Charlie wriggled her shoulders as if trying to cheer up the group.
“What’s it to you?” Cherri asked sharply, pointing her spoon at Charlie.
Charlie clicked her tongue thoughtfully and widened her grin. “I’m conducting a new form of therapy that focuses on relationships and redemption!” She said joyful.
It took a moment for the group to process before they all broke out into amused laughter: manic cackling, breathy chuckles and contained giggling alike.
“Oh I needed that…” Arthur commented, wiping a tear from his eye.
Charlie huffed with frustration, much to the group’s amusement.
“Look toots, this idea is sweet and all but we’re beyond help” Anthony stated nonchalantly, taking a sip of his orange juice.
Agatha nodded in agreement. “It’s true, we all have more murder victims than we have fingers”.
“Hey I never murdered!, i simply experimented on people causing their bodies to shut down!” Arthur attempted to defend himself, but was met with a collective deadpan.
“My dear doctor, you have the highest kill count here, don’t be modest” Alastor said, returning to his usual enthusiasm and completely ignoring the horrified looking Charlie.
“Oh…I’m sure we can-“ the bell rang out for free time and the whole group stood up, walking towards the activity hall and chatting amongst themselves.
“Can we make jewellery together this time?” Nifty asked excitedly as the group moved through the hallway, holding hands with Anthony.
“Sure thing, shortie, it’s your turn to pick anyway” husk responded calmly, ruffling the small woman’s hair.
Arthur nodded along with the idea of crafting, guiding cherri through the hallway arm in arm.
Alastor and Agatha were at the back of the group, laughing together over something unsaid.
Charlie’s smile went unnoticed by the group as she followed close behind, maybe her methods would work on these people, but first - she gripped her tray tighter - cupcakes.
