Violent Kisses and Violent Minds
Chapter Fifty Eight
Chapter Fifty Eight:
Matt awoke quite suddenly. In the dark hospital room, he shot upright in his bed, glancing around the room. He thought he’d heard something…
Looking around to his right, all that could be seen were various hospital machines lined against the wall of the room, ceasing where the little window resided. All that was visible outside of it was darkness, with a little light flowing into the room from the moon, which provided him with enough light to be able to make out the contents of the room, for the most-part.
His eyes next searching the left side of the room, he was quite shocked to see someone sitting sound asleep in the white, plastic patio chair next to his bed. It was Jess. He remembered she’d been sitting there before he fell asleep… she must have, too. Other than the sleeping form of Jess, and another few of the little plastic chairs, the room was in order. The door to the room remained shut.
Nevertheless, Matt, fully awake and alert now, kept his ears open, straining to hear the presumed noise again. He wasn’t sure what it had been - he’d still been half-asleep and his brain hadn’t been able to put it together. It was probably just someone coughing in the next room… they were in a hospital, after all…
But then, a spasm of curious fear threading its way through his body, he heard the noise again. He wondered what the noise was; at first, he thought it utterly indistinguishable between the scraping of a solid object on wood and whatever it really was, because it couldn’t have been that. It would have had to have been a cough from the person next-door…
Or, that’s what Matt would have liked to believe, until the noise sounded for the third time, by his count. This was no cough. It was nothing like a cough. He couldn’t possibly fool himself into thinking it now. In fact, he was now sure that it really was the sound of something scraping on the wood. The noise seemed to be issuing from around the location that the door resided, actually…
The fourth time he heard the noise was when he knew he had to act. He reached across his bed and began to shake Jess’ shoulders, easing her into consciousness. She opened her eyes groggily. “What?” she began to say, but Matt made a hushed shushing noise, holding a finger to his lips in the classic symbol of silence.
“Listen,” he instructed in a whisper, his finger still pressed firmly against his own lips, pushing them into an unnatural shape.
The two of them sat there in the dark of the night, Matt’s ears almost bursting with the suspense for the coming sound, Jess fully awake now with the sudden tension that filled the room.
And then, surely enough, the sound became present once again, piercing the cold silence of the dark night. It became continuous now, however, incessant. Up and down, up and down, the object scraped against what both Matt and Jess was sure was the door to the room.
“What do we do?” Jess asked, also in a whisper. “Call the nurse?”
“No,” Matt said, shaking his head, his fringe flopping around on his face. “She won’t get here in time, and if it’s that bastard that keeps bugging Sonny… put it this way, I don’t think a nurse on night-duty’ll stop him.”
“Then what do we do, Matt? He’s just outside the door!”
The scraping continued as Matt sat there, deep in thought. His brain was full of random ideas dancing through it, none of them plausible to succeed. As he yearned for one, just one to be a possible option, his wish was granted. He clung to the sudden thought as tightly as he would the ledge of a building he was falling from.
“The window!” he whispered urgently. “The window!”
“Go out the window? Matt, you have a broken leg!”
“Better than being dead,” he commented. “Besides, it’s already broken, how much worse could it get?”
Ignoring the lack of logic in this sentence, Jess rose to her feet and moved over to the window. She forced it open, though it gave up a fight, jamming half-way. When she went back to Matt, he was attempting to rise from the bed, the cast on his leg being nothing but an awkward nuisance. Jess assisted him as he hobbled over to the window. Just as they were about to climb out the window, Jess noticed the sudden silence in the room. All that could be heard was Matt groaning softly as he shuffled closer to the window.
“Does it seem a bit quiet in here?” Jess whispered to Matt.
Then, a third voice was brought into the room. Matt and Jess experienced a moment of horrified terror as they realised that they were not alone in the room.
“Why, hello there.”
They had a visitor.
Matt awoke quite suddenly. In the dark hospital room, he shot upright in his bed, glancing around the room. He thought he’d heard something…
Looking around to his right, all that could be seen were various hospital machines lined against the wall of the room, ceasing where the little window resided. All that was visible outside of it was darkness, with a little light flowing into the room from the moon, which provided him with enough light to be able to make out the contents of the room, for the most-part.
His eyes next searching the left side of the room, he was quite shocked to see someone sitting sound asleep in the white, plastic patio chair next to his bed. It was Jess. He remembered she’d been sitting there before he fell asleep… she must have, too. Other than the sleeping form of Jess, and another few of the little plastic chairs, the room was in order. The door to the room remained shut.
Nevertheless, Matt, fully awake and alert now, kept his ears open, straining to hear the presumed noise again. He wasn’t sure what it had been - he’d still been half-asleep and his brain hadn’t been able to put it together. It was probably just someone coughing in the next room… they were in a hospital, after all…
But then, a spasm of curious fear threading its way through his body, he heard the noise again. He wondered what the noise was; at first, he thought it utterly indistinguishable between the scraping of a solid object on wood and whatever it really was, because it couldn’t have been that. It would have had to have been a cough from the person next-door…
Or, that’s what Matt would have liked to believe, until the noise sounded for the third time, by his count. This was no cough. It was nothing like a cough. He couldn’t possibly fool himself into thinking it now. In fact, he was now sure that it really was the sound of something scraping on the wood. The noise seemed to be issuing from around the location that the door resided, actually…
The fourth time he heard the noise was when he knew he had to act. He reached across his bed and began to shake Jess’ shoulders, easing her into consciousness. She opened her eyes groggily. “What?” she began to say, but Matt made a hushed shushing noise, holding a finger to his lips in the classic symbol of silence.
“Listen,” he instructed in a whisper, his finger still pressed firmly against his own lips, pushing them into an unnatural shape.
The two of them sat there in the dark of the night, Matt’s ears almost bursting with the suspense for the coming sound, Jess fully awake now with the sudden tension that filled the room.
And then, surely enough, the sound became present once again, piercing the cold silence of the dark night. It became continuous now, however, incessant. Up and down, up and down, the object scraped against what both Matt and Jess was sure was the door to the room.
“What do we do?” Jess asked, also in a whisper. “Call the nurse?”
“No,” Matt said, shaking his head, his fringe flopping around on his face. “She won’t get here in time, and if it’s that bastard that keeps bugging Sonny… put it this way, I don’t think a nurse on night-duty’ll stop him.”
“Then what do we do, Matt? He’s just outside the door!”
The scraping continued as Matt sat there, deep in thought. His brain was full of random ideas dancing through it, none of them plausible to succeed. As he yearned for one, just one to be a possible option, his wish was granted. He clung to the sudden thought as tightly as he would the ledge of a building he was falling from.
“The window!” he whispered urgently. “The window!”
“Go out the window? Matt, you have a broken leg!”
“Better than being dead,” he commented. “Besides, it’s already broken, how much worse could it get?”
Ignoring the lack of logic in this sentence, Jess rose to her feet and moved over to the window. She forced it open, though it gave up a fight, jamming half-way. When she went back to Matt, he was attempting to rise from the bed, the cast on his leg being nothing but an awkward nuisance. Jess assisted him as he hobbled over to the window. Just as they were about to climb out the window, Jess noticed the sudden silence in the room. All that could be heard was Matt groaning softly as he shuffled closer to the window.
“Does it seem a bit quiet in here?” Jess whispered to Matt.
Then, a third voice was brought into the room. Matt and Jess experienced a moment of horrified terror as they realised that they were not alone in the room.
“Why, hello there.”
They had a visitor.