The Monarch Effect (DISCONTINUED DRAFT)

Prologue

Your home computer has not crashed and become useless. In fact, it works perfectly fine. The world has not ended. Almost everything is the same as it was last year. Yes, there have been technological advancements, but nothing too big. G. W. Bush is the new president, 17 American sailors were killed in a bomb linked to Al-Qaeda, astronauts are going to the ISS in late October, Medical spending has increased and mental health clinics are on the rise. The year is 2000; the new millennium.

On the west side of Nebraska, 30 miles above the Tri-state area, stands the Freudian Hospital and Research Institute, the FHRI for short. Newfort University's Department of Health Education hospital provides care for the needs of both physical and mental health, providing services from general health to inpatient therapies and wellness. The Hospital itself was once run by cooperating doctors, Samuel Müller and Dennis O'Malley, who are highly qualified in their respective fields and took charge of both sides of the Institute. O'Malley was the head Psychiatrist and Müller was the head Physician, and both conducted research experiments that played into each other's roles every once in a while. However, the majority of his time was spent helping individuals in need of their services.

Being a researcher whose specialties ranged from basic diagnosis to performing complex surgeries, the young Freudian graduate Dr. Müller is arguably the busiest of the two doctors, with patients in need left and right. When talking to certain patients, especially new ones, his demeanor would change, and he didn't seem himself. Usually, his normally English sounding accent—being born in Birmingham— became either a bit stronger or weaker depending on the age of his patients, along with his tone of his voice. Very rarely, he'd lash out at some patients, then slap himself in the face and apologize. Why he did that, no one in the facility knew, so some who didn't know much about him yet just assumed he was just using a calming sound for the younger patients.

Even more concerning, Müller would suddenly leave work early without anyone noticing; vanished, as one long time employee puts it. "There wasn't any reason to; he had no family of his own and his only known job at the time was at the hospital. He usually worked 12-14 hour shifts with the occasional all-nighter. Some hospital workers said he loved his job almost too much, and when he left, there was a sort of feeling of emptiness inside us all. When he returned, if at all, no one ever questioned him and he was treated as normal." Marley Arnolds was once a frequent patient of Müller's while in college."If you asked Müller where he was, he'd give you this look, staring at you as if you were crazy. I even heard once that he sent a note over to O'Malley labeled 'possibly psychotic' about one of his patients. Otherwise, he was just a friendly doctor with a weird accent. Everyone seemed to forget about it when he came back, though, like he were there the entire time."

O'Malley, according to some, was the exact same way. "If Müller is gone, you wouldn't have found the other," Says Jenna Salvada, an investigator on Samuel's Case. "Why is still a complete mystery, but the theories that surrounded the two had circled around the entire hospital." One such rumor is that they were in a homosexual relationship, with evidence being that Müller is sometimes effeminate and O'Malley's divorce with his second wife at the time. Jania-Chanelle Daniels, a long time nurse, and on of Müller's closest friends, tells us, "They always eat with each other at lunch. When I asked them, curious myself, O'Malley had laughed it off as a joke, but Müller... To put it simply, it was a 'no.' Even now, a proper explanation as to why they had left their posts at the same time, which meant many tests went on standby and serious patients were kept in waiting for another doctor, hasn't been said," Nurse Daniels goes on, telling us, "Of course, no well-meaning doctors, especially Samuel, would just leave their patients to go out, especially since they always collaborate with their research." The idea was quickly thrown out of the main circles.

More rumors involved secret experiments being conducted on unaware patients. The story being told depends on the one telling it, such as whether there was government involvement or not. The typical story involves Müller and O'Malley performing unconsentual and highly illegal experiments on a patient of their choosing. Sometimes, they'd harvest organs, and other times, they'd torture them for fun. One such story even suggested that they were aliens, disguised as human researchers from the Andromeda system, and were part of an invasion plan. The evidence, which people were surprised to even find, is that there were large, unopenable elevator doors near their offices. They appeared to have no lock and weren't even labeled on any maps of the building. No one was allowed to go into them, not even the janitors.

O'Malley eventually had to come out and say something, telling reporters at the time that if such a thing were to have happened, the hospital would have closed down a very long time ago. According to him, they were entrances to old facilities that were so beyond code, they shut them down completely. This statement did not help those with anxiety, paranoid mothers and people of the like. However, one newfound piece of evidence aroused further suspicions. One day in early May of 2000, a lost ward patient found Müller go into the door after checking around to see if the area was clear. The only description of the allegedly non-existent room was of darkness, as the patient's view was blocked by what appeared to be a door over an inch thick. There was not a key or computer in sight being used. He wasn't seen for the rest of that day. "Of course," as Salvada puts it, "this could go into Müller's random fascinations with computerized mechanics, but no one would have thought he'd have time to make one, let alone do it silently."

Other theories and stories we've heard included an underground trade market, secret laboratories, government holding centers and offices, a military training center and many others. One more or less sensible man by the name of Frank Hoover suggested to us that they may have been a private breakroom "in case the day got too crazy." "Whatever the case may be," Salvada says, "there was no denying that people thought Müller and O'Malley weren't who they appeared to be. At this point, they could've been anything doing anything. But you need to remember that they'd be back by the next morning, ready for the oncoming day."

This has been the Nightlight Podcast radio, Newfort Nebraska.