Daemonum

Chapter THREE

The clock on the wall tells me it's nearly two in the morning when a nurse finally calls my name. I've been curled in the fetal position in the farthest reaches of the emergency room for nearly half an hour, my bleeding arm wrapped in a thin towel and tucked between my knees and my chest. I unfold myself at the sound of my name, meeting the nurse where he's standing by the desk with - of course - a police officer.

"Emma, we're gonna take you back and get you patched up, now," The nurse informs in an irritatingly calm tone, motioning to the officer beside him. "Is it alright if Officer Adams comes back with us?"

I nod, knowing I don't really have much of a choice anyways, and follow him back to a small room with nothing but a thin curtain for a door. He has me sit on the paper-clad exam table, and try not to crinkle too much as I get adjusted.

"It's Emma Malcavech, right?" Officer Adams asks. "Do you mind if I just call you Emma?"

"I don't go by anything else, if that's what you're asking," My voice still sounds raw, and wrong.

I allow the nurse to gingerly pull my arm from my chest, peeling the towel off and examining the jagged cuts that drag from my the middle of my forearm to the ends of my knuckles. There's five of them, two of which are deep and still bleeding, the other three a little more superficial.

"I'll treat these first, then the cuts on your head and your neck," The nurse walks me through his process, and I frown, touching my face with my free hand and feeling around until my fingers brush over a jagged, thin scab near my left temple. Must have cut it on the coffee table, then.

"Emma," Officer Adams interjects once more. "Do you want to walk me through what happened?"

"Like I told him when I got here," I sigh, nodding to the nurse, "I don't know. I woke up, and someone was in my kitchen. She attacked me."

"Did she say anything?" Officer Adams is writing on a small pad of paper as we talk, and I wince as the nurse starts to dab at the cuts with alcohol.

"She said she thought I had kidnapped someone," I recall, "Cam, or Clyde, or... Kale. I think it was Kale,"

"Did she say why she thought you'd kidnapped Kale?"

"No, she didn't get much further than that before some... guy, showed up and started kicking her ass." The nurse lances at me, but I don't return his gaze. I just got attacked, I don't have the energy or the patience to watch my mouth.

"Do you know this guy? Had you seen him before?"

"Never," I shake my head.

"Well, can you give a description of him and the woman?"

"I couldn't make out much of the girl. She was thin, and had kind of brown eyes.... I did see the guy, though. He's taller than me, green eyes, kinda sharp bone structure," I pause, debating before adding the next bit. "Naked."

"Naked?" The nurse and Officer Adams echo.

"As the day he was born," I confirm with a nod. The two men share a look before Officer Adams clears his throat, scribbling something down and tucking his notebook back in his pocket.

"We've got a unit en route to your apartment, and they're gonna gather what evidence they can," Officer Adams says. "For now, I'm gonna leave you be to heal, but stay around because I might have some more questions for you later,"

"Will you ask your officers to check on my cat, Charlie?" I ask, even though it makes me sound like an old cat lady. "I ran out before I could think to check if he was okay,"

"I'll let them know," Officer Adams nods, saying his goodbyes and wandering out of the room, pulling the curtain closed behind him.

I wind up needing nine stitches, but they're the kind that dissolve in time so I don't worry too much about it. They wrap my hand and most of my forearm in white bandages, slap a bandaid on my head, and tell me to keep the scrapes on my neck clean. The black shape of a handprint is already appearing, but I don't think much about it as I'm checked out and handle the bill.