Delilah Recovered **2017 Watty Winner**

chapter four

Chapter Four

Before Dee could open her eyes, another wave of pain rocked her entire body. She tried to catch her breath in between the swells, with every inhale the smell of disinfectant mixed with urine burned her delicate lungs.

She heard weary footsteps shuffling across the floor and before she could open her eyes a man with warm milk and cookies voice asked, "What do we have here?"

He gently placed his hands on her forehead and the pain instantly dissipated. Now her body was pulsating with a warm peaceful glow.

"Another victim of The Triple Moon, perhaps?" He inquired.

She glided on a smooth current until he pushed open her eyelid and shined a bright light into her shocking violet eye, causing him to recoil from her.

Dee's pain returned with a rush that caused her body to shoot up like a rocket. "Is this Hell?" She asked, blinking away the blazing fluorescent lights.

"Also referred to as Chicago City General," he chuckled as he took a step toward her bed. He was wearing the standard issue green scrubs with copper stains, remnants from his other patients. His trainers looked like they had run several marathons.

"Now, I need you to slowly lay back down. Can you do that for me?" He asked.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Is it okay if I help you?"

Dee nodded. He gently placed his hand on her back and slowly guided her down. She looked up at him. She saw his sad, red-lined hazel eyes, framed in dark circles. His strong jaw was covered in salt-and-pepper stubble. His shoulders were permanently hunched from collapsing his large frame over hospital beds night after night. This broken man held her life in his hands.

His eyes read hers, acknowledging without words, her fear and her pain. He then gave her a caring, fatherly smile. "I am the best ER doctor here. My one and only job is to make you better. You got me?" He said placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. And for some reason, Dee believed him.

"Now I am going to get the nurse in here to get you something to help with that pain," he said winking before turning to leave.

For a moment, Dee closed her eyes. She heard the floor creak and she opened them to find a man standing in her room. He had dark, wild, curly hair and warm Mediterrean skin. He wore a white T-shirt with a harness around his shoulders. Dee frantically pressed the call button. Before the nurse entered her room, he had disappeared.

"There was a man. He had muscles and tight jeans," said Dee pointing at the empty corner.

"Sounds like my kind of man," the nurse teased, smacking her gum as she pulled a syringe out of her pocket.

"You didn't see him?" Dee asked.

"No honey, I didn't," the nurse said, plunging the syringe into Dee's arm. "But if I do, I'll be sure to send him back to your room. Okay doll face?"

Dee found herself in a field surrounded by semi-darkness and an expanse of soaring trees. She looked up at the sky. There was a round iridescent moon on the rise over the tips of the trees. What did Tabitha Anthea call it? It was the Hay Moon. It was the seventh full moon of the year. She heard the trees sway as a woman in a dark robe emerged from them. Dee couldn't make out her face because it was covered in a hood. The woman walked to the center of the field, lifted her arms to the sky and a ten-foot high flaming bonfire appeared. Then, more women filtered out of the shadows in flowing robes circling the pyre. Dee counted twelve in all.

Slowly, in a trance-like state they circled the fire chanting, "Aperiesque ostium."

"Aperiesque ostium."