I wake up eventually. I feel groggy, exhausted, and overall fatigue. I find myself sprawled out on a dingy stretcher. The room's cold, stone walls haunt me, and soon chills break out down my arms. I think back to when the shadow man had held me captive in a cave and broke me: when he first spoke of the necklace. The chilling wind reaches me just as his arms reach for my neck, but instead of trying to put the necklace on me, he sinks his claws deep into my throat—and then blood starts gushing down. I scream, but suddenly it feels as though the air has been ripped out of my throat. I can't yell for help. I can't get away now. Endless pain. And then his sick figure pounces on me to devour what's left of me, starting at the neck.
I bolt up gasping, screaming, and hyperventilating. I was so drowsy I must have fallen asleep right after I woke up, but it didn't feel like sleep, it felt real. Suddenly a group of people rush into the room. I'm still screaming. I'm still horrified. I feel demented. I can't think straight. The only thoughts that are clear are the ones telling me I'm about to be killed, or that the shadow man is waiting for me.
“What's wrong with her?!” A man shouts angrily.
“I don't know!”
“Inject her now, she's foaming at the mouth!”
I half hear what they are saying. I bring my hand up to my mouth—it is foaming—that's gross. I expect to pass out in a few seconds—I'm not completely sure why—maybe it was something I heard.
“Now!”
My head is dizzy and starts to spin as I prepare myself for a world of black, but then nothing happens. I sort of come to my senses when I see a girl tackle the man with the needle to the ground. As they get up about three men surround the girl, most likely about to beat her. As the first man swings I come alive again.
“Stop!”
The man spins around, shocked that I actually spoke.
“Let her go, she helped me!”
They pause, unsure of what to do.
“Let her go.” They look at her with disgust, then reluctantly agree. The girl quickly rushes over to me, and the men let her pass.
She wipes my head with a damp rag that comes from nowhere and tells me to lay down. I don't hesitate to listen. It does feel wrong to have someone my age taking care of me though, well, maybe twelve: two years younger. I try to focus on her hazel eyes so my head won't start spinning again. I gradually gain my senses back, and I can now focus in on the people in the room. They're just a rough looking group of medics trying to take care of me. Then the man I first spoke with enters the room.
“What happened here?” The man asks in shock. The other men surround him and fill him in on my little episode—and they make sure to tell him about my foaming mouth—which I find embarrassing.
“She probably shouldn't be bothered sir, she did just have an outburst...”
“Well she's better now right?” The man shoves right through the others and starts talking to me as if nothing is wrong.
“Vanessa, I need you to tell me everything about your encounters with the savage.”
Savage? Wow. I don't know if his lack of concern for me bothers me or is refreshing. “My name is Nessie. And I refuse to speak until I get some answers. Where am I? Who are you? And what do you want with me?”
I really should be relieved. I have gotten, well, adequate medical care, I was rescued from
a most certain death, I'm dealing with people now, and I might go home soon, but for some reason no relief comes. The man in the middle shares a glance with the group, and then turns back to me. He stares at me so long I start to feel as though I never should have spoken but then he finally starts talking.
YOU ARE READING
The Endless Night
Action"...never walk out alone..." Rumors have haunted the property around the little cottage for years. Vanessa Görtz and her family have just moved in and her parents are taking these rumors seriously. Vanessa decides to take matters into her own hands...
