The Monster Within - Book 1

Chapter 12

I run through the hospital doors and down the corridor to my nans room. She's lying there in her bed the colour almost completely gone from her skin. She doesn't feel as warm as she usually does when I wrap my fingers around her hand.

'It's me nan. I'm here.' I tell her, knowing I won't get a reply.

I pull a chair over to the bedside, without letting go of her. She looks so much like my mother as I watch her sleep. All the features I see in my mum, I can see in her. My mum truly was her double and I can't help but wonder if my mother would have looked like her at this age. A sight I'll never get to see. Tears fall freely, as I sit there, not sure what else I can be doing. Surely there has to be something I can do to help? Anything? But as the tears get heavier and heavier, my head drops into my arm, muffling my cries in her bed. 

'Cassandra?' A faint voice calls, causing my head to shoot up to look at my nan.

'Yes, I'm here.' I say, brushing the tears away as I try to keep it together for her.

'My sweet girl. Don't cry for me.'

'I'm sorry.' I mumble, feeling myself welling up again.

'You're not the... one who should be... sorry.' She slowly huffs out.

'Why? What do you mean?'

'I made you come back here.' She almost whispers in her raspy voice.

'Don't be silly. I wanted to.' I tell her, squeezing her hand in reassurrance.

'No, listen to me....' She says with a little pause to catch her breath. '...There's something you need to know. Your father...'

'My father?' I furrow my brow at the mention on him.

'He had a debt that needed to be settled.'

'Nan, why are you telling me this?'

'He made a deal with the Conri family. That his first born daughter... would be promised to their first son.'

A small snigger escapes from my throat. I'm not even sure why I made the sound because she looked like she actually believed what she was telling me.

'You must listen to me. That's not all...'

There's a knock on the door, as Doctor Grant walks in.

'You're awake?' She says with a smile on her face, looking at my nan. 'I'm glad you're here Cassie.' She says walking up to the bed and pulling out Esters health chart. 'Time for some more medicine.' 

 She walks to the table at the edge of the room and fills a syringe before coming back over and feeding it into Ester's drip.

'That should help with any pain.' She tells us before saying her good byes and leaving the room.

'What were you going to say nan?'

'What?' She asks me in confusion.

'You were talking about the Conri Family?' I remind her.

'Oh, I don't remember.' She says. 'I'm feeling tired now. I think I'll sleep for a little bit.'

'Okay, nan. I'll be right here with you. I love you.' I choke out.

'I love... you... too.'

I hold her hand as she falls back to sleep. Not knowing that, that is the last time I will speak with her.

At some point whilst I'm sitting with her I must of drifted off to sleep as I wake up in the hospital room, in total darkness, still holding her hand.

'That's strange.' I say to myself. 

Surely someone, anyone would have come in to check on her by now?

I look at the watch on my wrist for it to tell me it's past midnight. Why hasn't anyone tried to wake me?

Then I feel it. The presence. The same feeling that shoots through my body whenever he's near. It isn't until I feel that pull when I notice how unusually dark and silent the room it. All I can hear is nans shallow breathes and all I can seem to focus on is the darkness seeping in from the corners of the room.

'Am I dreaming?' I ask him, before he walks into view, standing in the room naked as usual.

'Yes.'

'Wow, he talks.' I reply, a little surprised he answered my first question. 'What cryptic message do you have for me tonight?'

He doesn't say anything.

'Nothing to say all of a sudden?'

He starts to reach a hand out to me, as he edges closer.

'Wake up.' He whispers as his hand comes into contact with my arm.

I sit up startled in my chair, back in the room with the daylight soaking through the window.

My nans breathing is laboured. The faint breaths mixed with large gulps of air.

'Nan?' I say to her. 'Someone Help.' I scream at the door as I lean across her body and push the assistance button.

'I'm here nan.' I comfort her, still holding her hand as we wait for someone to come and help. It takes seconds for the room to fill with doctors and nurses. As they move to surround her, I'm pushed back, feeling her fingers slipping through mine. All I can do is wait and watch their fruitless efforts as my nan stops breathing and the heart rate monitor flatlines. A sound I will never be able to forget. My legs give way underneath me as I drop to the floor. I feel doctor Grants hands on my arms as she tries to talk to me. But I can't hear anything she says. It's all just static as I come to terms with my last family member, leaving me.

Her mouth moves as she talks to me, but that's all I can seem to focus on. I don't even notice when she drops to the floor next to me, pulling me into her arms. I didn't even realise I was crying until I felt her perfectly still body, pressed against mine as it shook from uncontrollable sobs. We stay there like that, on the floor as the other doctors and nurses leave. I don't stop crying until there's nothing left. No more tears. No more emotions... There's just nothing left. 

In the absent of tears and crying all I can hear is the melodic thud of Petra's heart beat. It soothes me as I turn my face to her neck, smelling the sweet scent coming off her skin. Then I get that feeling of hunger. The same feeling I got when I was with Justin in the car. The same feeling I got before something made me bite him. I pull away from her as quickly as I can and force myself to the opposite side of the room.

'Are you okay?' Petra asks, holding a hand out to me.

'I...'

Her eyes widen in fear. 'Cassie... What's wrong with your eyes?' She exclaims.

My eyes? I look up into the window in front of me. Two yellow eyes stare back at me, filling me with a terror. The skin around the eyes is black and veiny and horrifying to look at. I turn from the beast staring at me before I realise it's me. My hands shoot to my face as I touch the raised, bumpy skin.

'No...NO, NO.' I panic, before fleeing from the room without looking back at Petra or the spotless white sheet covering my nans body.