The Skin Thief

Chapter 84

My body goes slack, my mind numb. The pain comes in waves, stinging, burning, and aching. I can't see. I can barely even feel it as he carries me. I have no idea where I am. Time moves slowly, and the world feels distant.

I've been here before and I'll be here again. Pain will pass. It always does.

"He's still alive," I hear Marcus say, his voice sounding strangely far away. A muffled voice replies. Is he on the phone?

Time passes again as I dip in and out of consciousness.

"Thank you, Doctor. I know it's late..."

"...get her to a hospital..."

"...more danger there... Mr Salt..."

I open my sore, puffy eyes, taking in a deep breath. Bright lights burn my eyes and I let out a panicked whimper. Tears spill, and I feel them dripping down the sides of my face. Marcus appears above me. He is blurry, my vision impacted by the swelling. Despite that, I can see that he is pale.

"You're okay, Ivy," he says. "I've got a doctor here, she's the best of the best."

I try to speak, to ask where here is, but my mouth is swollen and I can feel my energy depleting.

"Shhh," he says softly. "Don't try to speak."

"I've got the drip ready and anaesthesia to numb the area ready for stitches," the doctor says in the background.

He nods his head and looks back at me. I feel his hand on my head, gently stroking my hair.

"We're going to look after you, Ivy. Doctor Trell is going to numb the areas where you need stitches and we're going to give you a drip with morphine in to help with the pain."

"Sleep?" I manage to stutter. He smiles softly.

"Yes, Ivy. You can sleep," he says. I let out a long breath, my body relaxing and shut my swollen eyes.

I feel a slight pinch in my forehead and wince. A moment later, hands grip my wrist. There is a stronger, stinging pain and I know it is the doctor inserting the IV line.

Numbness fills me once more and I let go of my body. But I don't want to sleep. I have something else in mind and now is the best time to do it.

Heaviness presses against me and my muscles tingle. My breathing evens out and soon, my body is asleep and my consciousness is floating above it. I stare down at my body and gulp. I am a mess.

I've been stripped down to my underwear, which is covered in blood. My blood.

A deep gash sits from the outer corner of my left eye, up to the hairline on my temple. There's another, deeper slice across the top of my right breast, starting at the armpit and ending in the centre of my breasts, right at the cleavage. My bra is completely drenched in deep, browning blood.

My face is completely swollen, my eyes surrounded by great bight bruises and my lips cut and puffy. More giant bruises are beginning to form over my stomach, especially on my ribs.

The skin that isn't covered in drying blood, is unnaturally pale.

For a few seconds, I watch as the doctor, a woman wearing a fancy blouse tucked into a black pencil skirt, expertly begins to stitch up the cut on my breasts, her hands steady and her actions quick.

Marcus holds a flannel, dipping it into a bucket of water beside him and gently dabbing away at the blood.

Blood.

I look down at my ghostly hands and smile.

Clarkie's blood is still embedded under my nails from where I scratched him. It glows gold and a thin thread leads away from my fingers into the world outside. I look back at my body and then at Marcus.