Friday, Ward 13
Thomas Woodson walked down the street, three bags worth of groceries in his arms. The street was busy that day, the people of London all out on the bank holiday. Thomas thought to himself how stupid he really was in wanting to go out today and do some grocery shopping. He knew that he had to however. They were running low on food, his wife and kids had started complaining. Usually his wife, Martha would have gone and got the food herself, however she was in bed with the flu. So it was up to Thomas to get the food.
He came up to a zebra crossing and looked to see if he was free to cross. He noticed a car coming towards the cross walk but knew that he could cross before the car would reach him. He began walking across the crossing, wondering why nobody else was crossing with him. He turned and saw the car, closes than before speed towards him. Thomas opened his mouth in shock. He heard a screech, a honk and all went into blackness.
Thomas woke up four hours later feeling terrible. He was in massive pain and groaned as he reached for his legs, trying to sooth them. Four white walls surrounded him. A black man in white robes stood beside him, a concerned look upon his face. Thomas looked at the mans badge and saw that it the man was a doctor. A doctor Barney Rushmound.
‘Am I dead?’
‘No, you’re alive. Just barely anyway. I thought we was gonna lose you, you know? Yes when they brought you in I thought to myself ‘no Barney, here is a man who’s going to be six foot underground very soon’. But you proved me wrong son. You made it, you’re thought the worst.’
‘Where am I?’ Thomas asked.
‘You’re at Blakeside Hospital, ward 13.’ he said with a smile.
‘The day?’ Thomas asked.
‘Why the day is Friday my good man. I hope you don’t mind but I had a look in your wallet. Just to check your name and that. Nice to meet you Tom. I called your wife Martha, ill in bed she told me. She told me that your Mother is taking care of your two kids, I thought it best not to let the kids know just yet about your condition. We don’t want to frighten them now, do we? Now get some rest, it’ll help the healing process. You lost a lot of blood and have a few broken bones but you should be ok. Sleep will help you recover.’
Barney left. Thomas looked around him and saw three other patients beside him. All of them were asleep, one snoring loudly. Thomas thought he’d join them. Sleep would help. He was still in shcok with the fact that he was alive. He had come so close to death, ever so close and yet he had survived. Somebody up there must like him, he thought to himself, smiling for the first time since waking up from the horrible ordeal.
He woke up, the white walls once again surrounding him. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 7:58 p.m. All three of the other patients were still asleep, the same one as before snoring loudly. Barney walked thought the door and smiled at Thomas. Barney was wearing his coat.
‘Well Tom, hope you had a good sleep. Time for me to head home. There’s a night nurse so you won’t be alone. These three won’t wake up tonight I doubt. Not with all the shit they’ve been pumped. See you tomorrow morning Tom.’
‘Thanks’ Doc.’
‘Call me Barney. Doc makes me sound like a rabbit.’ Barney said smiling.
‘Sure Barney. I’ll see you tomorrow and thanks. Thanks for saving me’
‘All in a days work.’ Barney said smiling. He walked out of the ward.
The night nurse was called Mary, a plump woman of forty two. She had just transferred to the night shift the night before and felt incredibly tired. She had been up for two days straight and felt her eyelids fall and fail her. Head down on desk, she fell into a deep sleep.
Thomas sat in the bed, staring at the clock, watching the seconds tick by. 7:59. There was silence in the room, no noise inside the room, none outside. Thomas found it strange that there was no noise outside as he heard lots before Barney left. Perhaps the night nurse didn’t do much. Just sit and check up on the patients every half and hour. Thomas wished that he could relax, wished he could just go back to sleep.
Flash!
The lights went out, darkness, the only light visible was under the door that lead to another ward. Thomas waited for the nurse to come, surely she would have seen that there was no light on ward 13. Nobody came.
Two small green pin pricks of light issued from the corner of the ward, accompanied with deep breathing that travelled around the room, hitting Thomas’s nostrils causing him to near be sick. The smell of the breath of whatever the green lights were smelled liked old rotting meat. Thomas was afraid of these light’s. He couldn’t understand why he was afraid. They were only light’s after all. Probably from the equipment in the room. And yet these lights seemed to be different from any lights he had ever seen before. They seemed to be…wrong. He looked more steadily at the light’s he noticed that they weren’t light’s at all, they were eyes.
The eye’s moved towards one of the patients bed’s, like a serpent, sliding across the room to a man asleep in his bed, completely unaware that a creature was about to strike. The eyes glimpsed across Thomas and he shivered. The eyes jumped onto the patients body and lay still, it‘s gaze pointing at the man’s face from what Thomas could see.. They hovered there for fifteen seconds and then vanished.
Flash!
The lights came back on, making Thomas shield his eyes. His eyes got used to the light once. He looked over to the patient where the green eyes had been.
The patient’s neck was swimming in blood, his eyes open wide, mouth open, small trickles of blood running down. The stomach of the patient had been ripped apart and Thomas could see the man’s intestine drooling out of his body. Thomas tried to scream but found that no sound came out, he was far too afraid. Scared of the thing with glowing eyes. Perhaps the eyes would strike again, perhaps he would be the next victim.
Flash!
The light’s went out once more bringing darkness upon ward 13. Thomas looked for the green eyes, his breathing becoming faster by the second, terrified that the green eyes would go for him next. The green eyes appeared in the same corner as before and looked at Thomas. They moved towards him. Looked at him making Thomas feel his heart skip a beat. Was this creature going to jump on him and do what it had done to the unfortunate patient before?. The eyes moved right and jumped. To the patient next to Thomas.
Fifteen seconds, the breath of the mouth reeking worse than ever, causing Thomas to be sick during those fifteen seconds. He counted them this time. He had to understand how long it took for the thing to kill so that if it decided to kill him he would know how long he had to endure the torment of the eyes. The eyes looked at him and he saw a mouth reflected from the green eyes, blood dripping, sharp fangs, drenched in blood. Then the eyes disappeared. He was scared now. Where were the eyes? How had they disappeared and what should he do? He tried to scream for a second time but found that no sound came out. He couldn’t scream, he was too much into shock and with him unable to move his legs he was a sitting duck for whatever the eyes were.
Flash!
The light’s went back on again, blinding Thomas. He turned his head to look at the patient next to him. Blood around the neck, eyes and mouth wide open, stomach open, gutted.
What the fuck is happening here? This is a dream, it has to be a fucking shitty dream. For fuck sakes, please make it be a dream. This can’t be real, it just can’t. Please God don’t let it take me. I’ll do anything, I’ll become a better person, I’ll give to the poor. Anything. Just don’t let the eyes get me, please God, I’m begging you!
Flash!
The light’s went off once again, leaving ward 13 in complete darkness. The two green eyes once again lay at the corner of the room, staring at Thomas. Even though Thomas couldn’t see the thing’s mouth he was sure that he was smiling at him, teasing him. He could feel it. Perhaps the eyes wanted to make him suffer a little while before they went for him. The eyes moved forward once more, towards Thomas and then moved left and onto the other patient, the last patient besides Thomas who had yet to be mutilated.
Fifteen seconds, the green eyes stayed locked onto Thomas. Thomas heard something issue from the mouth of the thing, whatever it was. Something that both worried and frightened him.
‘You shall die at twelve tonight.’
The green eyes grew brighter and then vanished.
Flash!
Ward 13 was once again lit. The man next to Thomas dead, neck and stomach done, blood everywhere. Thomas looked into the man’s eyes and saw the terror, the sheer terror of what had happened to him. That would be him soon. He looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 8:29. Three hours and thirty one minute’s until his death would happen. Not long, not long at all until the green eyes would once again appear, move forward to him and pounce, not on somebody else like before but on him. And then he would see why these three unfortunate men had looks of terror upon their eyes. He would finally see what the thing with green eyes looked like. This was a prospect that haunted him. What would happen when he was killed? Where would he go? Would he go to heaven? Or to hell? Or perhaps to a place where the eyes were. He searched around for the eyes and saw a lead, attached to the lead was a single red button. The call button. He grabbed it and pressed down repeatedly. Nobody came for the nurse was asleep. She had worked the day shift as well as the night shift and had fallen asleep by accident. He tried to scream but once more no noise came out. He began to cry.
One hour passed.
Another hour passed.
Another hour passed.
Thirty minutes passed.
Thomas screamed loudly, unable to move, he jerked his body around like a man possessed. He was in agony from the accident. But he had to get the attention of the nurse. He just had to.
‘Help, somebody fucking help me now. The thing’s going to get me in forty seconds. Somebody fucking help me!’
The nurse awoke from her sleep and ran to the ward door.
The nurse opened the door and ran in.
‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.
‘What’s the matter? Look around you!’
She looked around, checking his drip. She looked at Thomas with wide open eyes.
‘And what exactly am I meant to be seeing?’ she asked.
Thomas looked around and saw three patients, all asleep, one snoring. Not a drop of blood to be seen.
‘But they were all…blood…the green eyes. I swear, they were all...’
The nurse walked over to Thomas and lifted his cover over him. She looked at him with sympathy.
‘They must have given you some sort of drug for the pain which made you hallucinate, honey. These thing’s happen, just don’t worry about them. They’re not real. They just might seem real but there not. Try and get some sleep Ok?’
She walked away before Thomas could answer. He could feel the sweat from his forehead. Drip down his face. He wiped it away with his hand looked around the room, looking for the eyes.
It seemed so real though. I’m sure it was real. It wasn’t any drug that they gave me. The green eyes were real, I know they were.
Flash!
The light’s went out and the green eyes appeared once more, looking at Thomas, moving forward, hungry for it’s next victim.
