Bloody Pasts Part 1

August 23rd, 1966

"I promise it will all be okay, Ma'am. Every single one of our doctors in this hospital are intelligent and well trained at what they do." The receptionist at the desk looked at the patient will a reassuring smile. She focused back on her desktop computer to sign in the woman for her monthly checkup as she was four months pregnant.
"As you know, Ma'am, your assigned doctor is out today on a family emergency, but your replacement for today is completely capable of the same things," the receptionist continued as she typed away, knowing the patient was still uneasy. This caused the patient to huff in anger, training her eyes on the typist.
"Well...does it really have to be a woman? There isn't anyone else in this place that could do my checkup? I mean, what hospital would even hire a woman! It's a man‘s job, for fuck’s sake." The receptionist glared at the woman as she locked eyes once more.
"I understand your complaints, but there is nothing I can do. We are a very busy hospital. The largest one in Berlin. If you don't like the way we run Tauben, then I can only suggest you move to another Emergency Care Facility." She did not receive a response from the patient, leading her to gesture to the sitting area for her to wait. The woman reluctantly agreed as she sat in the closest chair, sighing.

The Secretary rolled her eyes as she picked up the hospital phone. "Doctor Wogel, your 10am patient is here and ready to be called...Alright, thank you." She placed the phone down as she turned her attention to the lady now sitting in the waiting room.

"Ma'am, you will be seen in room A203, now."



The medical room was cool and dimly lit. It was furnished with a desk, chair, an examination table, and shelves containing gloves, hand wash, and other necessities. A window was placed in the middle of the back wall across from the door with curtains drawn back, allowing more light to come in than just from the two warm lights on the ceiling. A small safety cage was attached on the outside of the window that could be unlocked and swung open to allow entrance to the fire escape in case of emergency.

The doctor of room A203 sat at the desk, awaiting her patient that she was assigned only last night since the original doctor called out. Her dark hair was half pulled into a neat bun, while the rest of her hair framed her round face. Circular glasses sat upon the bridge of her nose. She, of course, accepted the task as she barely gets work since the Medical field is less than welcoming to her, but she has grown to ignore such things. The doctor prepared the typical forms to fill out that is required for each patient of hers.

The door to the room opened, signaling the doctor to stand and greet her patient. She held out her hand to the woman.

"Hello, my name is Doctor Marie Wogel. I'm sorry about the inconvenience with your previous doctor, but I promise I will be just as helpful."

The patient took Marie's hand quickly, and just as quickly shook it to get it over with. The look of disgust on her face was noticeable to Marie. She had seen that face many times before. Every patient she has had had given it to her. Marie's eyes widened as she forced a smile toward the woman.
"Shall we?" Marie spoke as she motioned for the woman to take a seat on the table.

Doctor Wogel picked up the clipboard holding the forms and began.

"Your name?"

"Eleanor Straub"

Marie smiled, "Beautiful name. Eleanor is my middle name actually." Her smiled was not returned. Marie cleared her throat.

"Alright...Date of birth?"

"September 20th, 1929."


The questions continued to be answered, which took only a few minutes. After which, Marie quickly walked over to the glove box to grab a pair of gloves. The patient narrowing her eyes on the doctor.

"Alright, Miss Straub. I'm going to start your fetal ultrasound. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

The patient was silent for a moment before responding. "I'm sorry, but is there someone else? A male doctor, perhaps?" Marie raised an eyebrow at the response as she slowed her pace back to Miss Straub.

"I...I'm sorry?"

"You heard me, nurse. I'd like a doctor here so he will be able to actually tell me if something is wrong with my baby. Obviously, you are not fit for the job."

Marie stopped in her tracks, completely caught off guard. She had been glared at, and even made fun of behind her back, but never was she ever asked to see a 'real doctor', mainly because her patients had never been so upfront before to say such things.

"Ma'am, I think you might have misunderstood. I am a doctor, not a nurse." She half laughed in attempt to break the awkwardness growing in the room.

"No. You're not a doctor. You're a nurse. A nurse who apparently needs to learn her place. I don't know what school you went to where they allow women like you to pretend to be medical professionals, but you obviously need to relearn what life is like. Now, as a patient of this hospital, I demand to see a doctor."

Marie furrowed her eyebrows, loosing any hint of a smile or politeness to her features. Her vision was a dart, aiming for the target that was the nasty woman. Her breathing became heavy as the woman stopped making eye contact all together, pen and clipboard still in hand.

"Ma'am," Marie tried to continue, growing impatient, "If you would just-"

"Don't you ma'am me! I don't need to speak to you any longer, nurse. I am tired of this conversation. You obviously can not be helped and you are what is wrong with the world." The woman's voice became louder as she continued. "I don't know how you think you could ever possibly be a doctor in this world. You are a disgrace to everyone in this hospital!"

Marie snapped. Her hand releasing the clipboard, allowing it to fall to the ground. Marie ran up to the woman, pen still in hand, and began to plunge it into the patient without remorse. Over and over again, the pen went into the body, and was pulled out while Marie yelled in a blind rage. The makeshift weapon left bloody holes everywhere around the woman's chest and neck.


She fell to the floor, gasping for breath and bleeding out as Marie stood over her body, pen still in hand. Eventually, the gasping stopped.

Marie stumbled back, looking straight ahead now until she hit the wall with her back and slid down to sit on the cold tile floor. She finally let the pen roll out of her gloved hands. He eyes panned down, locking onto the now, or soon to be, lifeless body. She closed her eyes quickly and scrunched up her face in sadness at what she had done. "Oh god." She couldn't believe what happened. Her thoughts were rapidly changing. What should she do? What if someone heard? Where should she go?

She opened her eyes quickly, and shot up to stand, breathing heavily as she had subconsciously held her breath while she thought of everything. She looked around, trying not to focus on the body, and her eyes landed on the window. Rushing over to it, she slid the glass up to allow access to the safety cage. She quickly held one of the bars and tried to push it open, but failed due to the heavy metal lock and chain keeping it in place. She cringed and closed her eyes, shaking the cage frantically.

"Please, please, please." she mumbled quietly to herself.

When it was obvious that it wasn't budging, she hoisted herself up to sit on the windowsill, and began to crawl between the bars, hoping her figure was small enough. She managed to get halfway through, and using her arms, pushed on the bars to finally fall completely through, leaving bloody glove-prints on the bars and she let go. She picked herself back up and began to quickly run down the metal stairs, being careful not to fall from wearing heels. Once she reached the ground, she threw the gloves by her feet before running back to her apartment, not catching a cab since blood covered her entire front. She ran down back alleys, and through trees to not be seen. Whether it worked or not, she finally arrived to her apartment building that, thankfully, was on the bottom level.

After quickly unlocking the front door and entering her home, she stopped. The thought of what had happened moments before, distracted her from the fact she ran miles to get home. She looked around, almost as if her mind was accepting to find the police even though she was alone. It was dark and quiet as she stood there. Looking around, she stopped on herself. A mirror on the other side of the room allowed her to see herself. Her blood soaked uniform of a white button up and black knee length skirt and belt. Her disheveled hair from running away from the scene, and her clean hands that were spared from the murder because of the gloves she tore off.

She walked up close to the mirror, looking herself in the eyes. She began to cry. Her fatigue and emotions finally poured out all at once. She fell to the floor and held herself. Her hand stuck to her shirt from the blood that was starting to dry. She would stay there for many hours.





CHAPTER 2

"Hey. Get up." Marie, who was still on the floor sobbing, looked up at the familiar voice. Looking up revealed a figure in the mirror, standing up and looking down at her. It was herself. She was in the same stained outfit, same messy hair, same dirt covered heels. The only difference was she seemed unfazed by the situation. All she did was motion for Marie to get up.

"Get up, girl. You need to calm down and get out of here," the mirror figure continued. "It won't take long for them to piece it together once they find the body in YOUR room. I say you got a day before they start knocking down your door." Marie stood up and began to rub the tears from her eyes before looking at her reflection.

"I thought I got rid of you in therapy," Marie replied, locking eyes with the conscious figure in the mirror. The reflection chuckled slightly.

"You really think a little therapy would make you normal? Well...even if it did, you definitely fucked up all your progress with what you pulled today. Now, pack your shit and go." After the reflection finished its last words, it reverted back to Marie's normal self, copying her movements like a mirror should and gained the sadness in her features once more.

"Alright," she replied quietly to herself before turned to head to her bedroom, already planning on what to bring and where to go.



Clothes, ID, and any sentimental things of value, and money was all she could think would be worth packing. One thing was missing. Her passport. She needed it to get out of the country which she knew what the best option. She searched around her room, turning out drawers and shelves. When it didn't show, she looked around the living room and kitchen, getting frantic.

"Come one. Where is-," There was a knock at the door. Marie froze, eyes turning to stare at the handle. It was only a short moment before she slid over to look through the peephole of the door. She saw a woman with hair pulled back and was in a formal dress uniform. It didn't take her long to realize it was Allison, the Tauben Hospital Receptionist. Marie unlocked the lock and deadbolt slowly before cracking the door slightly just so the lady could see her head, and not the blood soaked clothes.

"Doctor! Marie...Hi." Allison had a look of worry and fake joy plastered on her face. "I had noticed you left early, and you left this in your room." Marie's face went pale at the fact she had seen the room. The woman held up Marie's missing passport, her hand shaking a little as she held the laminated form. Marie swallowed before replying.

"Thanks. I didn't...realize I left it there," she said with a small smile, but her smile was met with sad eyes.

"Marie...I know what you did." Allison's eyes went grey as Marie stared at the floor in between them before backing away from the door, allowing the receptionist to open the door and walk in before closing it behind her, keeping any passing people a look at Marie inside. As soon at the door clicked shut, Allison's hand flew up to cover her mouth as she burst into tears. She knew what happened, but seeing Marie's form covered in blood from her uniform to her fair skin was a whole new layer of truth to what she already knew. Marie joined in her weeping.

"I'm so sorry. I swear I didn't mean to kill her. Please forgive me," Marie said in between choked sobs.

"I know...I know, Marie. I went up to your room when the appointment was supposed to end hours before and...I saw her, but you were gone. I-...I couldn't believe what I saw, but now," she gestured to Marie, "I see all this this. How did you even get out of the hospital without being seen?" Allison handed the passport to Marie while asking.

"I...I squeezed through the safety cage on my rooms window."

"...It's not your room," Allison quickly replied as she fumbled with her hands, seeing Marie's obvious confusion.

"I have access to the computers...that means I was able to take you name off the room and assign you to a completely different floor." Marie smiled and teared up as she went to hug Allison, making sure no blood was getting on her.

"You have no idea how much this means to me. You... saved my life."

"I know. And assuming you wore gloves, which I assume since your hands are spotless, no one should be able to figure out it was you. It's just...I know you're a good person, and I couldn't think about you getting caught or even killed. " Marie stared at the ground at the thought of those possibilities.

"Marie...you still need to get away from here though. That's why I brought your passport. You need to get out of Germany."

"I know," Marie replied, "but where." There was short pause before Allison walked over to the landline telephone, and dialed a number. As it rang, she looked and Marie and held the phone out to her.

"Go to America." Marie quickly nodded and grabbed the phone, preparing to book a flight. Afterwards, the two women hugged once more, saying their permanent goodbyes with tears shared. Marie dressed into a clean simple outfit with a tan coat and clean heels, grabbed her bag, and headed out, calling a cab to the nearest airport in Berlin.


CHAPTER 3

5pm. Same day


After calling the airport to book a flight, they had told you the earliest flight available for same day booking was at 5:30. "Perfect" she thought to herself. Just a few more hours, and Marie would be long gone from Germany. She was currently standing on the sidewalks of Berlin, the afternoon sun casting herd shadows on her tan coat. She began to ponder in her wait of a cab to take her to the airport.

Was she doing the right thing? She obviously wasn't in her right mind at the time of the murder. If she told her old therapist, maybe she can get off lightly. Lightly? What was she talking about. Even if it was ruled that she was not of sound mind, she would still be taken away. Watched everyday, and she definitely would be allowed to continue her career in the medical field, but is this all really worth keeping? No she would be living as a runaway killer who will live with this at the back of her mind forever. She figured the only reason she is able to think semi-clearly now is because the adrenaline is still keeping her moving. Marie began to dread the future of when she will be able to sit down and actually think about all that has happened. Would that break her?

"Excuse me, Miss?" Marie was broken from her concentration as a woman tapped lightly on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I was calling out to you, but I guess you didn't hear me. Anyways, are you waiting for a cab?" Marie turned to look to the side of the woman to see a cab parked on the sidewalk, awaiting a passenger. A little girl stood next to it, seeming to be waiting for the woman. Her daughter, perhaps.

"Its just that we noticed you were waiting longer than we have so I wanted to offer this cab to you," the woman continued, smiling. Marie looked back at the woman and returned a smile, waving her hands in disagreement slightly.

"Oh no, no. That is alright, ma'am. You can take it. I'm only heading to the airport, which isn't very far. Ill wait for the next," Marie replied. The woman's face lit up slightly.

"Really? Well that's perfect because we are heading there too." The mother noted the two large luggage bags that were carried by her and her daughter. "We can just go together." The woman gave a thumbs up before turning on her heel to head to the car, instructing her daughter to put the bags in the trunk and get in. Marie walked up the car as well, her bag being the size of a purse, so she wouldn't need to place it in the trunk. She allowed the two strangers to get in first, the daughter being in the middle, before Marie joined them and closed the door. It was a big enough car to give the three women room to sit without touching, though the daughter leaned on the mother as she seemed to be tired. A very young girl who probably tired herself out from playing before the flight.

"Where are you ladies heading this afternoon?" The driver asked while looking at them through the rear-view mirror.

"Airport please, sir. Oh and miss," she directed her attention to Marie, "Since its such a short trip, I'll pay for your ride." The mother smiled at Marie as her daughter quickly fell asleep on her side. Marie thanked her for her generosity.

Kindness.

Marie was used to it. Most people, besides the ones who knew of her being a female doctor and resented her for it, were kind to her. Her fair, sweet features, thin stature, and neat hair always made her approachable to people, whether they were kind as well or not. She would always be offered rides, drinks, and would mostly just receive kindness in general from people. Marie would usually accept it, though now, it was different. The people haven't changed, but she has. She wondered how the two would react to what she did? How they would react to knowing they were sitting next to a woman who early this same day killed a woman in cold blood. How they would react to knowing that the reason she was going to the airport was not for a vacation or visiting a friend or relative, but to flee the country in hopes she could evade punishment. How would they react?

The ride, as said was short. It was only ten minutes until they reached their destination. Marie thanked the woman again before walked into the airport, leaving them to grab their bags and go their separate way.

She was used to airports. She had practiced medicine in America years ago for two years of medical school. It was an amazing learning experience, but she never knew she would be back, let alone for a reason like this. Marie walked up to the main desk and to a receptionist that seemed to have no line.

"Good afternoon, miss. Can I help you today?" the man asked with a smile.

"Yes. My name is Marie Wogel. I called earlier to book a same day flight to America." The man moved his attention to the computer at his station, looking through the scheduled flights.

"Yep. Youre hear, miss. Your ticket has been prepaid this morning through your bank account. All I need is to see your passport and ID." Marie nodded while handing his the documents that she hand ready in her hands before she walked to the desk. He took it kindly from her hands to check the information with the records on hand. After a quick glance, he handed them back with a smile.

"Everything looks good. You flight is at exit 8. Have a nice day."

"You too," she quickly replied.


As she got to the line at the correct exit, she found the line had already started boarding, first class before the rest. They would board the flight and sit there till the takeoff time of 5:30, which was only 15 minutes away. She followed the line, walking through the metal detector, which of course didn't go off for her bag of only clothes and a few other items or sentimental value.

As quickly as she got there, she was aboard the plane and placed in a window seat besides another random passenger, waiting to land in America.

"They're gonna find us, you know. I feel it." Marie shot her eyes away from the window to look in the direction of the voice. What she saw was herself replacing the stranger who was in the seat previously. The version of her that took the seat of the other passenger was still wearing her doctors uniform. Covered in the blood she washed off herself hours earlier. The hallucinated Marie looked nervous this time. Not as stone faced as before from the mirror.

"Not now...please," Marie spoke quietly to herself.

"Why not now? I'm freaking out just as much as you. Someone is bound to find out." The hallucination continued, feeling the plane begin to move forward to gain speed for takeoff. The movement making Marie feel rushed and trapped with herself.

"You finally feel bad for what we did?" Marie asked.

"What?! No of course not! I don't care about that bitch. She was terrible. I'm nervous about being caught. You know what will happen! They'll detain us! Put us in an institute! We'll be kept their forever!" The hallucination became louder as it went on, basically screaming by the end of it. Marie placed her hands to her temples in pain, wishing the episode of insanity to end.

"Get out," She replied quietly still but more stern.

"No Marie. So what if we murdered that woman! Now all we have to focus on it working together to escape!" it continued. Marie bent her head down slightly, still covering her head.

"Go. Go. Go!" she shouted at the herself, gaining the attention of the passenger beside her.

"Are you...alright?" they asked concerned and slightly taken aback. Marie looked up once more, removing her hands from her head as she saw the seat was taken up by the normal person once more. She locked eyes and smiled sheepishly.

"Oh...yes, yes. I'm fine I just-," Marie looked out the window, noticing they were in the air now. "I just...am really bad at flights." She forced a laugh.

"Oh. I get it. I used to be the same. Don't worry," the stranger replied. Marie sighed in relief as she looked back out the window once more, seeing Germany from way above. She frowned, it finally setting in that she was leaving everything behind. She wasn't really leaving too many people behind. Mostly friends and a few family members she was never in contact with that often, but she was leaving her home, her job, and her life.



CHAPTER 4


-We will be arriving at Santa Fe Regional Airport in about 10 minutes. We would like to thank all our passengers today for choosing to flying with us at Berlin International.-


The passengers on the plane began packing up anything they used around their seat after the end of the intermission. Marie looked around at the sudden movement of most people collecting their belongings. She on the other hand continued what she was doing previously, her small notebook being the only thing she took out from her bag. Earlier she had asked for pen from a flight attendant to write. She had hoped to never have to write in it again for it was her old journal from therapy. At the time, she didn't feel too terrible about her mental state. A few hallucinations of people who weren't really there, voices that were coming from no where, and dreams that kept her from sleeping. Her therapist had seen many cases like Marie's and had given her a task of writing in a journal that was given to her every night after her day was finished and she was about to go to sleep. It had been close to a year since her therapy was finished, the last page in her book having a small note written by Marie saying, "I'm finally finished! Hello again life!" She frowned at the note, sad that that her wish of never coming back to the notebook was not going to come true, but somehow she knew since she "finished" the therapy that she would never be completely better. Oh, how right she was.

She had taken the time of the flight to write a new chapter as she referred it as. A new chapter in her crazy mind. As she finished, she began to read it over in her head.

"August 23rd, 1966

I'm back. I wish I wasn't. Honestly, I thought that the last entry a year ago in September would be the final entry, but no.

I did something bad. Real bad, and I do not know what to do about it. I've never had a problem that I couldn't tell anyone before. Well, other than little secrets you keep as a kid, but this time I really can not tell anyone or else bad things will happen.

I feel terrible for saying that though. As if anything that would happen to me would be any worse than what I did today. All because of what I did, I threw away everything, though.

Everything is gone. I don't even know what Ill do when I get to America. All I know is this plane is heading for New Mexico, and I've never even been in this state.

I hope luck is on my side, even if I don't deserve luck.

-Marie Wogel"

Rereading it, Marie felt empty. These entries were originally supposed to make Marie feel better bout her life and day, though she supposed that this therapy exercise didn't have murder in mind.

The plane began its descent at the New mexico airport, cuing Marie to finally put her notebook back into her bag and await her exit. Now that she was finally in America, her stomach began to turn. Not because she was alone in a different country, but because she had no plan. No idea where to go, no idea where to sleep, no idea what to do. The only thing she knew she had to do was trade in her German money for American currency in the airport, even if she was not going to get as good a rate as she would at a bank.

-Alright passengers, we have finally landed. Please wait until the exit lights come on before you exit the plane. Have a great day.-



The passengers had exited, and everyone filed into the airport seemingly in a pack before spreading out among the building. Long rows of seats scattered the main room, filled with waiting and sleeping people. Food courts lined the walls, sending multiple scents to roam the air, and a low rumble of many people talking all at once echoed across the building as the people went on with their business and plans, none of which Marie had. She walked forward, heading to where she believed the currency exchange to be, reading everything slowly and carefully as she tried to bring her English language studies to the front of her memory from when she studied Medicine is Washington, DC. She squinted her eyes at all the text as if that would make her understand better. After a few moments of comprehending the signs scattered around the large area, she was interrupted by an all too familiar voice. She sighed.

"So what are we going to do know? You obviously don't have a plan." Marie rolled her eyes as she kept herself from looking at the hallucination.

"You know, you're almost like a dove." The hallucinations comment peaked Marie's interested.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well you're a seemingly innocent, sweet creature...who under pressure, flew away from its problems. Though, by the looks of what I'm wearing," it motioned to the still bloodied uniform it was Marie was wearing earlier, "I guess you're more of a dove covered in blood. How fitting." it laughed before disappearing once more.

"Well, you're a lot of help," Marie said out loud to herself is an angry one, gaining the attention of a few onlookers.


MEANWHILE


"And we have to be here for what?"

"We were told to pick up someone very important, I don't know who or why, but I tend not to ask questions that I don't care about."

"'Aight Scotland, but didn't we just get a call saying they aren't showing up. That means we can get out of this place. Its hot, I'm tired, and I'm hungry."

"She said 'might not show up' not that they aren't showing up, and if your hungry, then go get something to eat. There are places to eat her for a reason, lad."

"You want me to get what? A fucking stale pretzel? I complain a lot about what we have back at base, but that shits what royalty eat compared to this garbage."

"Jeremy...shut up...Fine. We'll leave, but only because I'm hungry too."

"Thank Jesus."

The two men stood from the small table they were waiting at. One tall stocky man with a black eye patch, modern enough to where it wasn't out of place with today fashion. The other a slightly shorter young, thin man wearing an unlabeled baseball cap. The young man stopped and whistled and pointed forward for a moment to get the attention of his friend on to what he saw.

"Look at her, Scotland. That's a woman right there." He winked. The Scottish man looked at the lady he was talking about, and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Uh...Jeremy, I think she might be...talking to herself?" Jeremy looked closer, but shrugged.

"So what, that's just more personality. Imma go talk to her," he continued as he began to walk forward, followed by the Scotsman who definitely did not agree with his actions. As they got closer, they could hear the woman talking, confirming the Scotsman's assumptions. When they got closer, they could hear she wasn't speaking English, but that didn't stop Jeremy.

"Hey doll," he said once he got up to her, "you need any help?" He asked in a sly tone.



Marie looked to the side in reaction to the question. Realizing what he said, she smiled nervously.

"Oh, me? Um...yes, but it's... not something you would be able to help with. I just need to... read better,"she replied, struggling to get the words out. His eyebrows shot up.

"Woah accent! My name is Jeremy. Where are you from beautiful?" He held out his hand for her to shake.

Taking it, she replied, "Germany."

"Oh wow, another one? You guys are everywhere aren't you?" He was stopped by a hand hitting him on the back of the head.

"You only know one other German, idiot. I'm sorry about him, miss. I'm Tavish." He shook her hand as well.

"Doctor Wogel. Marie Wogel."

"No fucking way," chimed in the young man who was quickly hit on the head again.

"Stop cursing in front of the lady, dumbass." Jeremy glared at Tavish, rubbing the back of his head.

"Its okay," Marie replied, "I know a female doctor is a little out of the ordinary."

"What? No." Jeremy stopped rubbing his head as he turned his attention to the doctor. "I don't that you're a girl. Its just that German I know, hes also a doctor? Why the fuck do you guys like that so much?" He asked while laughing. Tavish raised his hand, which made the young man flinch.

"Get moving, tiny," he said sternly, which caused Jeremy to do just that, leaving Marie and Tavish alone.

"I'm sorry about him. He is...quite literally the most stupid person in the world. Though you mentioned you were having troubles reading? You mean because its English, right?" Marie nodded while looking back to the signs which she did understand, just not completely.

"Yes. I learned English a long time ago for school. Speaking is easy,... its the writing and reading that I find slightly...challenging."

"Oh so you're here for school again?"

Marie laughed in embarrassment. "No, no. I do not actually...have a plan. I have no idea what to o or where to go, If I am honest. I came here on a whim. No real reason, but I am now regretting it." She looked down slightly, adjusting some hair that flew don in her face and tucking it behind her ear. There was silence for a moment, Tavish pondered.

"Well, if there is one thing my ma taught me, is to be a gentleman. If you will let me, Ill take you somewhere you can stay until you figure out a plan. The only bad thing I can think of is that you'll be near the idiot more often, but not if you avoid him on purpose," he offered. Marie was taken aback. This was a whole level of kindness she had not be shown before, though she supposed that was probably because she had never been in a situation like this before. She couldn't deny that the offer was needed.

"I would love the help if I am not imposing. Especially since you live together. Another person staying at your house could be a lot to handle," she replied. He looked at her for a second before laughing.

"Oh we don't live together. I mean... we do technically, but not in the way you think, lass. We both work together and our work provides us with a huge building of sorts that has plenty of rooms and a cafeteria, lounge, and stuff like that. Almost like a hotel, but...it's also our work. We have to be on-sight at all times, ya see. Ill put you in one of our empty rooms. You wont be in the way, you can eat there, sleep there, everything. Its all company owned so we don't care. We were heading there now so you'll ride with us." As he explained, they began to walk to the entrance of the airport where the car was parked.

Marie couldn't believe she was excepting such an offer from a complete stranger, but what else could she do? Not to mention they both did seem friendly, if not a little energetic. So she agreed.

"I don't know how I can repay you for your kindness, Mr. Tavish."

"Don't worry about it, Miss. We all are pretty nice here in this area, if not a little crazy," he joked while also being completely serious. "Though...about that German the my friend mentioned," he continued, gaining the attention of Marie as the sudden seriousness worried her. "Ya see...everyone I work with are pretty normal, but I'd be lying if there weren't a few people to watch out for. We are kind of like...hired body guards in a way? That's putting it in a nice light, though, and we are nice people, but...when it comes to that doctor we mentioned, try to stay clear of him, lass." Marie looked Tavish who had began to eye her to show he was serious.

"Why?"

"Well, I don't want to scare you, miss, but in my opinion, he is not someone an innocent young lady would want to be around such as yourself." Marie nodded while looking back forward to where they were walking. Yeah, "innocent" she thought to herself.

"But, if you really just stay in your room and at the cafeteria area, and don't go many other places, you will probably rarely bump into anyone of us, let alone the doctor. So you'll be fine." He finished with a smile and a thumbs up in her direction as they both exited the building, him holding the door for Marie.

"Thank god, Scotland. I thought you died in- Oh are we taking the cutie?" Jeremy shouted from the car, causing Tavish to roll his eyes.

"Also try not to talk to him. You can sit in the front, and Ill make him sit in the back like the child he is." Tavish laughed at his remark and he began to walk you to the car, yelling at the young man to move to the back, which he did with a tantrum of sorts.

"Thanks, for all the help again, and all the warnings." Marie smiled at Tavish as he closed the door for her when she sat in the passengers seat.

"No problem, miss."



CHAPTER 5


The new acquaintances began to drive in the small black car, heading to the building that was explained to Marie as a place of work and living of the workers. Tavish, the tall stocky Scottish man, and Jeremy, the thin young man who seemed self centered and energetic. The two men who honestly gave Marie her best shot at having a decent start to her life in America after only knowing her for about a half an hour.

"How far away is your work?" Marie finally asked after about ten minutes of driving.

"Not too far...just far enough to where we aren't seen by many people," Tavish replied.

"Yeah, doll. It's like on this really long dusty road that almost no one uses. Really isolated. Ya know...so no one can here you scream," Jeremy chimed in, followed by Tavish reaching back in an attempt to hit it from his comment, but ultimately failed as the boy moved to the side easily from not being buckled in. The Scotsman drew back his head to the wheel once more, allowing Jeremy to place his head back in between the two front seats, making himself more apart of the conversation between Tavish and Marie.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you both again. You have no idea how much you are helping me."

"Stop saying sorry, doll. It's honestly great having another woman around...not for anything weird or nothing. Just to talk to," he added quickly, getting a glare from Tavish from the rear view mirror.

"Another woman? Does she also work with you two?"

"Oh no," Jeremy continued. "She was the one who hired all of us, technically. Well, her boss did, but she was the one who did all the stupid interviews, and garbage. She's a looker though," her said with a sigh. Marie looked back at Jeremy and smiled.

"She sounds nice." Jeremy smiled at the response and sat back in his seat.

"She is."


They continued to drive, Marie becoming more thankful Tavish was the driver considering she found Jeremy to be quiet dangerous and childish behind a wheel even after only talking to him for a little while, but though her trust of the men grew, her nervousness of where they were going began to grow as well. What would the place me like? Why was is purposely hidden from plain sight? What were the other workers like. Hell, besides these two, the only other worker that was mentioned to her was basically a warning.

Who was this German doctor that she was literally told to avoid? Marie began to wonder what he did. As a doctor, he obviously works there to help the workers if they are injured on the job. Depending on what that job IS exactly would even correspond to what kind of doctor he is. Perhaps he is a surgeon for the workers if their job has to do with construction? Obviously any injury on a construction sight would be serious enough for an on-sight surgeon, and depending on the importance of the building, it would make sense of why they would need to live on-sight as well. Though, why would they need to hide the work site?

Marie shook her head, almost as if to get rid of the thoughts and questions that were piling in her head. She should just ask them what they do if she was so curious, though according to Tavish, they were going to be there soon. Marie decided to wait for the answers instead.


After a little while more of driving, and listening to Jeremy rant about anything and everything, Tavish took a sharp right turn that surprised Marie. At the angle they were driving on the road, the large sandy plateau on the side of the road seemed continuous, though once Tavish finally turned, she could see it was continuous, but split down the center into a back road of sorts that lead down to a large white brick concrete building. Marie's eye widened at the sudden path that seemed to not exist moments before. Tavish chuckled, noticing her expression. The Scotsman pulled into a small parking lot with only one other vehicle, it being a white RV, and swung around the edge to park across from what looked to be the front door. The rumble of the car stopped at Tavish turned the car off and pulled the keys from ignition.

Almost immediately after the car was parked, Jeremy hopped out and began jogging to the door. Marie unbuckled but was stopped by Tavish.

"Before we go in," he started, "I'm going to take you straight to your room, and I'll show you the cafeteria in about a hour or so after you get settled in because I assume you haven't eaten much today," Marie nodded slightly. "I will say though, we might bump in to people at some point, but you don't have to talk to them if you don't want to, okay?" He gave a thumbs up to confirm. Marie cleared her throat.

"Actually...before we go in, I'd like to ask something since we are on the subject." She looked around, not seeing any sign of construction around the big white building, which proved her theory wrong. "What...do you guys do here? I mean..." Tavish sighed, knowing exactly where her question was heading. "I mean, you keep warning me about these workers, but I can't help but wonder why? If they are anything like you two, they couldn't be all the bad, right? " This question caused Tavish to rub his head, thinking about how to respond. He had been attempting to keep her being here nice and simple, and tried to keep any real knowledge from her, but Marie actually asking is something he wasn't prepared for because he knew he didn't think she deserved to be lied to.

"Miss Wogel, if I'm being honest...I believe it would just be better if you didn't involve yourself with our work at all. Even just knowing might be too much. Which...honestly, me saying this doesn't make us sound all that good." He ran his hand down his face before continued. "Lets just say we work for a man who hired us to protect their property. "

"Like...body guards?" Marie asked.

"Um...yeah. I guess you can say that." Tavish laughed nervously before getting out, cuing Marie to follow his actions, and they joined back together after they passed the front of the car.

"You know, you mentioned how I kept warning you about the other guys, but honestly they aren't that bad. They're nice when you get to know them...they just...aren't all that normal. Especially not compared to someone as innocent as you. " He laughed, as he held the door open for Marie, the coolness covering her from the air conditioning clashing with the heat of the summer heat.

"Well, here we go, miss."