Blue Moon

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

"Do you think she saw anything?" The first voice was high and worried.

"I don’t know, but she was in a pretty bad way when they found her." The second voice was low and firm.

"What do you think happened, Mandy?"

"I don’t know, Shell, maybe she thought she’d go for a walk and pick a fight with a doberman." The second voice dripped with sarcasm before continuing in a more reasonable tone. "Maybe someone broke in and forced her to leave. Maybe she just stepped outside to throw out her rubbish and someone got between her and the door so she had no choice but to run for it. There are only two people who can answer that question, and one of them will as soon as she wakes up." The voice sighed before continuing in a waspish tone. "And how many times have I told you not to call me Mandy?"

There was silence for a moment.

"Do you think she’ll be ok?" The first voice had dropped to a whisper.

"Well I heard the doctor say that she was making a remarkable recovery, so yeah, I’d say so. She’ll probably be awake soon."

Kate realised that the voices she was hearing were not part of a dream and opened her eyes to find out what the commotion was. As she looked around she immediately realised that she wasn’t in her comfy flat anymore. Instead the faintly antiseptic smell coupled with odd beeps and the bustle of people in the distance told her she was in the emergency ward at the hospital.

As she looked around trying to figure out how she had got there she saw Michelle and Amanda standing just outside the curtained cubicle talking in hushed voices. Clearly they were the source of the conversation she had just heard. Though she wasn’t aware of having made a noise Amanda suddenly whipped around with eyes narrowed suspiciously and saw she was awake.

"Hey Kate, how’re you feeling?"

Amanda and Michelle moved so they were standing next to the bed and Kate swallowed painfully.

"I’m ok," she croaked. Her throat felt like it was on fire and a dull throbbing pain had started in her head as the white ceiling light seemed to pulse in her vision. "What the hell happened? How did I end up here?"

She saw Amanda and Michelle exchange a look before Michelle took a deep breath and gently took one of Kate’s hands.

"There was an attack a couple of streets away from your place. A police man was killed and, uh, shredded I think is the term I heard used. You were found lying nearby, your clothes were ripped to ribbons and you were unconscious. The cops seem to think that the killer was attacking you and got interrupted by the guy who died, the attack was really vicious like the monster was severely pissed or something. Much worse than last time, they had to cordon off the street for three blocks, apparently there was a bit of a mess."

Kate felt her face drain of the little colour it held and become numb as she stared at the ceiling. Michelle’s words seemed to be echoing in her mind and she found herself mouthing them in silence while Amanda and Michelle watched with mounting concern that she might pass out again. Meanwhile one thought kept pounding at her brain.

I could have died. I could have died. I could have died. I COULD have DIED.

A broken sob tore from her throat and her eyes burned with hot tears. She couldn’t remember anything about the night before and she was terrified.

"Do you know how you ended up out there, Kate?" Amanda asked in a soothing voice.

Kate shook her head slowly from side to side on her pillow and felt the hot salty drops rolling down her cheeks like drips of liquid fire. The last thing she remembered clearly was eating dinner the night before. Everything beyond that was a hazy blur filled with pain and heat and screaming. Michelle seemed to notice her distress and quickly jumped into the conversation.