The John Doe at the Miskatonic University Hospital in room 233 had been there in a coma for so long, that calling him simply, John Doe, felt strange. What the nurses decided to do instead was call him Johnny. Johnny Doe.
Johnny had been found unconscious in the university library. It seemed that he broke into the library in the middle of the night, the next morning, the staff found him on the floor, foaming from the mouth. Nothing in the library had been taken or moved to anyones knowledge and the idea became that for some reason, Johnny had some sort of mental collapse as soon as he entered the library illegally.
The morning he was found, he was rushed to the university hospital. Since then, Johnny had been in a vegetative state. No one from the university recognized him and when the local police came to check him out, he didn’t fit any wanted or missing person reports. Johnny Doe, seemed to have appeared from nowhere. This is even stranger when the police discovered no way in which Johnny was able to get into the library. The doors and windows were locked and nothing appeared to be forced. There also were no keys missing from the facility or staff and nothing on Johnny’s person in which he could’ve broken in the building with. Johnny’s appearance at Miskatonic was in fact a mystery.
One night, after Judy and Helen changed Johnny’s bedpan, Helen began her nightly ritual of wiping the drool that always came out of Johnny’s mouth. His head seemed to be permanently turned to the left and he always had a towel between his head and shoulder. Helen noticed something that was a bit strange that night. Johnny’s drool, wasn’t clear as it usually was, but had an odd metallic quality to it. It looked as if an oil of some kind was swirling around inside of it. There were tints of blue, silver and green that sparkled thought it, catching her eye. She made a mental note that she should say something to the doctor, but that thought was quickly replaced by something more pressing.
The earth suddenly shook with a terrifying roar, knocking both nurses to the ground. It was the biggest earthquake that either Judy or Helen had ever felt, and Judy was originally from California. Johnny’s bed rolled from one side of the room to the other, pulling down all the equipment hooked up to him. Doors slammed and windows cracked. The ceiling in Johnny’s rooms split as did many of the walls throughout the hospital. The lights pops and shattered, sending sparks and glass cascading down upon them.
The darkness of the room happened so quickly that Helen’s eyes could not adjust. She grabbed what she thought was the window sill to help her to her feet just as lightening struck outside. She was frozen. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She knew that they must be lying to her about she thought she just witnessed. But, another lightening strike, made her a believer and validated her sight. Out there, probably miles from where she stood, was the silhouette of a creature. The thing towered above the buildings of Arkham and the surrounding areas. She could make out arms with massive hands and long claw like nails. The head seemed round and larger than the proportions would lead you to believe. Those things didn’t send fear through her body as did the giant wings that were open wide on either side of the beast. Glass from the window exploded onto her face as the sound of another terrifying roar filled the air. The roar wasn’t from the earth shaking, it was from that thing!
She turned and screamed out to Judy, but she couldn’t see anywhere. She reached out and felt the bed and it was empty. She thought that Johnny must’ve fallen out of the bed during the quake. She called out to both of them, then remembered that Johnny was in a coma and couldn’t answer her.
Lightening struck again and she saw Judy on the floor, lying motionless in a pool of blood. She had to wait until the lightening stuck again before she could see that Judy’s throat had been viciously ripped out.
The air inside Helen’s lungs, wouldn’t leave her body. She tried to force it out but her lungs were not responding. She turned to leave the room when lightening struck again and there she saw a figure standing in the doorway. The figure’s head was leaning to the left. It was Johnny. He was awake!
She called out to him. He didn’t respond, but moved closer, very slowly.
She backed up to the broken window and the closer he came, the more her fright swelled inside of her. Johnny had blood down the front of him, from his mouth to his waist. That wasn’t what made her go mad. It was how Johnny was.
His legs moved towards her, yet they were still. His hands were clenched tightly in balled fists, yet his fingers remained outstretched. His arms hung at his side, yet they moved with a fluid nature towards her. His eyes were shut, yet he peered into her very soul. He remained motionless yet he had transversed the entire room from the doorway to the window. Johnny was in a coma, yet was able to murder.
