Royal Children’s Hospital of London
Pain. Lots and lots of pain. I woke up in a strange bed, in a strange place. I could vaguely remember the ambulance ride in pieces. My legs were a dull ache and my chest was throbbing, it felt as if someone had ripped it apart into small chunks and put it back together the wrong way. I looked down and saw that my chest was bandaged up, along with this new revelation, my own clothes had been removed and I was wearing a pair of hospital PJ’s, I poked the bandages testing the pain level, a white heat shot through my chest. Pain level on a scale of one to ten, this has to be at least an eleven I thought grimly and continued examining my surroundings. I tried to sit up but the pain in my legs stopped me, I strained to look around through the gumminess of my eyes. I peered cautiously through a gap in the curtains that surrounded my bed and saw a creamy-yellow coloured wall and a nurse sitting behind a reception desk,
No window to see the outside world, I thought crestfallen. I focused my attention instead on what was inside my little section. A TV, a couch, the bed I was on, an IV drip and a pulse and blood gas monitor, I looked at the sheets and struggled to read the name printed in big bold blue letters, I tried to sound out the letters under my breath but found speaking harder than trying to see. A nurse and a hand full of doctors came around the corner of my curtained cell,
“You’re going into theatre again so that these doctors can operate on your legs, now I’m just going to give you some general anaesthetic so that the doctors can operate on you without you being awake.” the nurse said, and stabbed me with the syringe full of what she claimed, was the anaesthetic. I shivered as the coldness of the fluid flooded through my veins. I stared at the nurse as she and the doctors wheeled me along white washed corridors. After a while, I was so dazed and confused from the constant twisting and turning labyrinth like passageways, I slumped back against my pillows and watched through heavy lidded eyes, I soon fell into the oblivion of drug-induced sleep.
Once they had finished operating, they placed me in a large, white, sterile room with other patients who had come out of theatre, to awake from my drug-induced sleep.
I struggled to the edge of consciousness, fighting the blackness.
I awoke without opening my eyes, trying to avoid thinking about what had happened; when I decided to crack an eyelid, I saw white washed walls and closed my eye again, the light reflecting off the wall sent sparks of pain shooting through my head.
I must have dozed off as I woke up with my heart beating a hundred miles an hour, I had a strange feeling that someone or something was watching me. I looked up and saw a nurse gazing at me from across the room, she looked at me with sympathy dancing in her eyes, she looked away and walked out of the room hurriedly. I mentally shrugged and turned my attention to myself and examined my battered and bruised body, I saw the IV drip was still in my arm and on the other arm was a blood pressure monitor; I looked up and saw several concerned faces look at me, most of them were nurses and a few of them were doctors.
“How are you feeling?” a voice asked me, I looked in the direction the question had come from and found the face of the nurse who had stabbed me with the syringe full of anaesthetic, I lifted my arm up and put one thumb up in the air then let it fall back to my side,
“Sleepy,” I croaked out with a smile, it felt like I had gargled with sandpaper and slept inside a tumble dryer,
“Can I have some water please?” I continued, as soon as I had said it a hand came into my view holding a paper cup full of water, a few nurses helped me get into a position that let me drink the water without choking or spilling it everywhere. I nodded my appreciation and let the deliciously cool liquid that was in that tiny paper cup, trickle down my throat, it had a sweet taste to it, but it satisfied my thirst and made me content enough to fall again back into the grasp of sleep, I swear there was something in the water. They had me wheeled back to my curtained prison.
I started to dream. Of wild flowers and trees of every kind, in the distance a ramshackle, abused house was leaning to one side. I walked across fields of corn, through meadows full of lush green grass. I entered a forest, the dappled shine of the sun flashing at me through gaps high in the canopy; I looked up and saw the trees stretching high into the ever-blue sky, as if they wanted to reach the heavens. I felt like I had enough energy to fuel an entire city bigger than London, I felt that I could run forever. My hands were sweaty, my face was hot and a small irritating insect was whining in my ear incessantly, I wiped my hands on my shorts and continued walking. The tickle of grass on my bare feet was refreshing to the sterile, cold tiled floor of the hospital, the sounds of the birds and small animals were so different to the dead silent hospital rooms that it almost hurt to stand there and listen. The smells of the surrounding forest were sharp and fresh in my nostrils, and I breathed in deep, held it and let it out slowly, it felt good to be outside. I set off at a brisk jog and soon I was sprinting through the forest, trees flashing past, animals going back into their homes hurriedly as I flickered past them in a blur. I soon slid to a halt and gulped in the fresh air as if it was running out.
A shadow flitted across my vision as I was looking skywards, a pretty bird that was coloured with splashes of electric greens, reds, blues and yellows, was flying just in front of my head, it squawked as if to say follow me, come this way. I watched it as it flew to one of the trees up ahead and rested there on a branch, content as a cucumber to wait for me to pass underneath so it could continue flying, it squawked again but it sounded different as if it was trying to say don’t go that way! Follow me, I know the way! I ignored it and continued walking towards the house, if you could still call it that.
After a few minutes, I reached a path that lead up to the door and started to jog along it, gravel crunching underfoot, I had left behind the sound of the forest, but I knew that the birds should still be making noises but there was not a peep, something had scared them and it was still around. The silence of the birds made me nervous, my hands started shaking, I clasped them together, and I looked up, the sky of endless blue had turned a dangerous black like an evil, ugly dark stain. I lifted my head and sniffed, looking around for danger, I half expected some ugly deformed creature to leap out and eat me.
I sniffed again, the sharp tangy smell of rain heavy in the air, there was a storm coming and it was going to be violent. I broke into a run, sprinting across the drive towards the house, chased by the rain as it came down in big fat heavy drops, chased like a frightened dear by dogs, I took shelter under the eaves of the roof and stood there staring out at the world as it was being drowned. Well no point standing here out in the wet, I thought and turned around to knock on the door to find it already open and inviting, oookkk, that’s freaky I shuddered and stepped cautiously into the house, the door slamming shut with a wet, sickening thud after me, I shuddered unnerved. Inside it was dusty, dank, and dark and smelt of mildew, it would have been better to stay outside,
Oh how positively charming I thought sarcastically, and continued into the musty house, taking dainty little steps, as I got deeper into the house I noticed that it was becoming easier to see, light was coming from somewhere. Sure enough down the hallway there was a cosy little room with a fire in the grate and a strange looking chair standing in the middle of the room, the firelight throwing strange shadows over the walls. The chair had figurines that I had never seen before on the top, it was facing the fire and looked very appealing indeed. I looked around, and went and eased myself into the plush, red, fuzzy chair, rubbing my hands together, the heat of the fire seeping into me in waves. I had noticed that it had gotten dramatically colder when I had first entered the house but now it was positively freezing, my fingers had taken on a bluish tinge that did not look healthy.
How strange, a fire running but no one about to watch it, I thought as I put another log into the grate, feeding the ravenous hunger of the now happily roaring fire. I looked about the room I was occupying, there were big dust-covered photos of some past life hanging on the walls, and above the fireplace was a big moose head; I grimaced at the grotesque image. The wallpaper was yellow and torn with age, it was peeling away from the walls; it looked like it might have once depicted various birds in flight that now, faded and discoloured looked more like different coloured smudges than any recognisable animal.
I started to doze off as the warmth of the fire washed over me, thawing out my frozen appendages; I sat listening to the crackling of the fire my eyelids sliding shut on the verge of sleep. I didn’t notice the shadow growing on the wall, or the soft padding of leather-clad boots on the timber floor until it was too late. A rough material in an even rougher hand came over my nose and mouth; the material smelt and tasted bad, as if someone had bled over it, I tried to fight the restraining arm to no avail, the other arm came snaking round the chair to press against my chest, pushing me into the strange material of the chair. It felt like I was trying to breathe underwater, the material was stuffed in between my teeth acting as a gag to stop me screaming, not that there was anyone around to hear it. The person gave me a sharp blow to the back of my head for my efforts; I soon gave up as everything became hazy and went black.
I felt myself being dragged, not that that is possible as I’m unconscious but it was more a sense you get, like when you’ve been at the beach in waves, when you sit still or lie down you feel like you’re still in the water being smashed to a pulp by the incoming tide and frothy meter high waves. The person dragging me lifted me up over their shoulder, and kept walking until they came to a halt and dumped me onto the floor.
The cold woke me up, it seemed that someone had decided to throw a bucket of ice water over me to jolt my senses, I was sure that only a few minutes had passed but it felt like ages since I was knocked unconscious; the person had retreated into the shadows, cowering. I couldn’t see their face. This room was worse than the one I had come from, the wallpaper was cracked, yellow and only just holding onto the wall. There were patches of mould, dirt and other substances that I did not want to put a name to on the walls, there was a leak that was dripping like a waterfall onto the floor and a great big dirty stain in the middle of the floor that looked a lot like blood.
I noticed that I was not alone; there were others in the room, not just me and the creepy guy in the corner. They were short and stocky figures; some of them were tall and slim, they all boasted ropey muscles bulging beneath their black attire. They were cloaked, with a cowl throwing shadows across their faces, one of them approached me and gripped my chin hard and turned my face this way and that as if they were examining an item for sale.
This one must be the inciter, I thought and stared fearfully at the shadowed face. My heart was beating too loud for my liking, the person looked down at me through electric blue eyes, and I tried to avoid the soul-piercing glare they were giving me.
“She has a strong mind and her soul is almost as pure as an angels, it will give me great pleasure to destroy her completely,” said one of my captors in the corner, by the look in their eyes they would enjoy ripping me limb from limb very much.
“No!” said the one in front of me, their voice sounded feminine but it was hard to tell, it sounded like they very rarely spoke or smoked a lot,
“We cannot afford the risk of destroying her too badly, we’ve already been over this a thousand times Daniel,” they continued, the one called Daniel looked sullenly at the one in front of me, “I am aware of that Jennifer, but under the circumstances we cannot allow her to live,” Daniel said her name like it was a bad taste in his mouth,
“I know the circumstances and understand them well enough to take the correct action Daniel!” Jennifer thundered, Daniel visibly shrinking,
“You are to never question my authority ever again!” she continued.
One of the hooded figures walked up beside Jennifer and placed a restraining hand upon her arm, “That’s enough Jennifer; I think you‘ve frightened Daniel enough that he won’t be able to shit for a month,” they said, the others snickered
“I suppose you’re right David,” Jennifer sighed and looked at me, David also turned and looked at me.
I was shivering from the cold, I was trying to curl timidly into a ball, trying to be as small and insignificant as possible, I felt miserable.
“Ben, go and get the restraints,” David commanded one of the silent figures.
He hauled me to a chair that was sitting in the corner and held me there in an iron grip as Ben restrained me with a length of coarse rope; he tied my wrists behind the chair tightly then tied my feet to the chair legs. David then dragged the chair into the middle of the room, in the middle of the dark stain on the floor. When Ben was pleased that he had bound me securely he gave me a strange look and stood back, the others forming a circle around me.
Jennifer stepped towards me carrying a nasty looking knife in one hand and a book bound in something that looked like black leather in the other, the others stepped forward in anticipation, looks of ecstasy crossed with lust on their faces. Jennifer opened the book to a page that was marked with red; she started speaking aloud in a strange language, reading the words from the book. Something flashed across her face as she read, what it was I could not tell but it looked like I wouldn’t have time to puzzle over it as she was coming closer with the knife poised above her head ready to come rushing down into my chest. The others were creeping slowly closer, waiting for the moment when the knife let my rich lifeblood splatter across everything, I wanted everything to just stop going so fast, I wanted to wake up and leave this place. Suddenly I had an idea, probably not the best idea in the world but if I had any way to delay them I would take it, my invisible light bulb nearly exploded,
“Wait, Wait!” I screamed, praying that they would listen. Jennifer stopped midsentence,
“What is it you want now?” she asked exasperated
“Don’t bother to beg for mercy, save your breath,” Daniel said with a snarl, disappointed at the delay, he was craving for blood and he hadn’t fed for days.
Jennifer ignored him and motioned for me to speak,
“What do you want with me, why am I so important that you have to kill me, who are you, what are you going to do to me, what have I done to annoy you?” the questions came flooding out; I bit my lip in anticipation, hoping that they would stop and answer me.
Jennifer and David sighed,
“Why is it that they have to try and stall us?” David said rolling his eyes,
“It’s almost as bad as begging for mercy,” he continued,
Jennifer looked at him and said, “Well she is only young I guess we could answer some of her questions,”
David shook his head, “You know that He won’t be pleased about the delay and will probably have you beaten and put into The Prison or He could just destroy you,” he said warningly,
I was mistaken, David is the ringleader not Jennifer, she must be the second in charge then but who is this He? Obviously their master but who is he? I thought pondering over this little morsel of information, anything that would help me escape was welcome.
While I was musing, Jennifer and David had gotten into heated debate over whether or not to answer my questions, by the looks of things David was losing as Jennifer was holding the ritual knife threateningly.
“Ok, you can answer some of her questions but be quick about it, we cannot afford to be late,” he said holding his palms up in surrender, Jennifer nodded her satisfaction and looked at me.
If my assumptions are correct then I believe that David has a soft spot for Jennifer or he’s just scared of her, I thought with an inside smile.
“What is it you would like to know about first?” she asked, a cruel smile tugging at the corner of her mouth,
“Well um… who are you and what are you going to do to me?” I asked hurriedly,
She looked at me like I was stupid, “Well it’s obvious that we are probably going to maim you and possible even kill you, and as to who we are well…” she looked at David, he waved for her to continue.
* * *
Daniel was getting impatient and was wishing that things would just speed up so he could feed on the rich blood that was flowing in the girls’ veins. Oh how he was craving the taste of hot blood in his mouth. He could not contain himself, couldn’t wait for the stab of the sacrificial knife. He lurched forward, nails’ lengthening into long yellow, wicked claws, his clothes ripped, unable to accommodate the different sizing, his clothes fell away in shreds, coarse patchy fur was spreading across his body like a rash. His face elongated to become a muzzle, his mouth exploded as teeth grew and shifted, incisors lengthening and sharpening to ragged points, bones popped and cracked shifting to fit a different body structure. In Daniels’ place was a full formed wolf craving blood, capable of ripping the diminutive girl into shreds.
* * *
to be continued..... XD