Write, Wrote, Written

Sunday Scribblings # 82

Must be the full moon.  It always brings out the crazies.  The E.R. was packed, and Andie was entering the twenty-third hour of her twenty-four hour shift.  She took a clipboard from the triage nurse and glanced it over as she dodged doctors, nurses, and other patients on her way to examining station number four.  White male.  Twenty-nine.  Good physical condition.  Probable sports injury.  She was thankful for that.  He would be easy.  But she stopped when she saw the name of the patient.  Stephen Cahill.  He was becoming a regular.

“So, Mr. Cahill,” she said as she pushed the curtain aside, “What was it this time, rock climbing again?”

He grinned, and with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he asked, “Would you believe BASE jumping?”

“BASE jumping?”

“Yeah, you know, jumping off of high structures with a parachute.  I misjudged how slippery the top of the Washington Monument is.”

“No, I wouldn’t believe that.”

“Okay, then I was rock climbing.  I lost my footing and the harness caught me funny.  My left side hurts.”

“Well, then lift up your shirt and let me take a look.”

She stopped believing his excuses the fourth time she treated him in the E.R., but they still played this game.   She could have pushed harder for a reason, but something in the way he looked at her stopped her.  For all the playfulness she saw in his eyes, there was something else there, too.  He was pleading with her not to ask about the real reason he was there.  At least it didn’t seem so serious this time.  The last time, two friends had brought him in with a broken arm, a broken nose, and a dislocated shoulder.  That had happened rock climbing as well.

“You’re lucky this time, Mr. Cahill,” she said after she had examined his side, “I think it’s just bruised.  I’ll give you something for the pain, and you try to take it easy for a few days, but I don’t have to tell you all that.  You know the drill.”

Thankfully, he was her last patient.   Twenty-four hours and thirty-three minutes after she clocked in, she clocked out, and stepped out into the fresh air for the first time since the start of her shift.  It was dark, of course, just like when she had arrived.  Before she started her residency, her father worried about her being in the big city by herself, but she assured him that the metro station was only a short walk from the hospital and that if anyone tried to do anything to her, she could put her brown belt in Tae Kwon Do to use.

She never had a chance, though.  She didn’t even hear the man come up behind her.   Before she realized what was happening, he had her pinned against the wall of the building.  He was incredibly strong.  She couldn’t move at all.

“Look,” she said, “I don’t have much money, but you can just take my purse.  I promise I won’t go to the police.”

The man just laughed.  “The police can’t do anything to me,” he said, “and I don’t want your money.”

He turned her around so that she faced him.  At first, she couldn’t even make sense of what she was seeing.  The man’s twisted smile revealed exaggerated canines and his eyes glowed red.

“Don’t look into his eyes!” someone yelled.

The man and Andie both turned their heads in the direction of the voice.  It was Stephen, who launched his entire body at the man, or whatever it was.  When he impacted, the thing’s hold on her immediately ceased.  She fell to the ground, and when she looked up, she saw that Stephen had it pinned to the wall of the building.  It writhed in pain, but as far as she could tell, all Stephen was doing was holding a cross against its chest.

That changed, though.  In his other hand, he had a wooden stake.  In one quick underhanded motion, and with a surprising amount of skill, he jammed the stake into the left side of the creature’s chest, between the ribs.  It jerked once and then stopped moving.  Stephen stepped back and let it slide down the wall.  When it burst into flames seconds later, Andie screamed, but in just moments, all that was left was ash.

Stephen winced and clutched at his side.  Then he looked at her and grinned.  Just briefly, she saw something different in his eyes, this time–sadness, but the mischievousness quickly returned and banished it.

“Guess I just can’t stay away from the rock climbing,” he said.