Not That Kind Of Witch • Kai Parker #1

39: butchered

The morgue had been dark, seedy and just the right amount of artificial light. The rest of the hospital was the exact opposite. Fluorescent lights burned Valerie's retinas as she speed-walked through the busy halls of the hospital, Damon's incessant mumbling to 'hurry up' assailing her ears.

Her palm covered her eyes from the intense light and Bonnie skipped alongside them, trying to keep up with her tiny legs.

"You still with us?" Damon chided, rudely pushing a man in scrubs out of his way.

There was so much noise, every altercation, movement and sound was amplified as if it was filtered through surround sound. Valerie's head was a light with a constant buzz that was vibrating her temples. Her breathing began to stutter and her heart felt in her throat. She was seriously freaking out.

Valerie stopped. Her hands went to her forehead and she crouched to get away from the light, the strong glow burning through her closed eyelids. She heard a voice say something, it was asking her something, maybe.

"Hey! Get it together! We're almost out of here." Damon's harsh voice spoke close to her ear.

She felt Bonnie's hand come to rest on her shoulder as she whispered in her other ear, "Val, calm your breathing and concentrate on our voices."

Valerie tried and failed, her face screwing up at the assault that assuaged her ears. She felt Damon's and Bonnie's arms interlock behind her shoulders as they basically carried her towards the edit.

Everything became a jumble of too much noise and too much light. She thought they may have gone down in an elevator but she wasn't cognizant enough to be certain. It wasn't until she was so close to the exit that she could smell fresh air that Damon and Bonnie's pace stunted from what they heard.

The hospital emergency doors must have slid shut because the anti-sceptic hospital smell once again burned her synapses, making her nose twitch.

"Valerie?" A frantic voice almost whispered, but Valerie heard it. She heard it.

Damon tried to keep them walking but Bonnie was still frozen. The buzz of the overhead lights was dimmer where they were but was still painful to endure as Valerie opened her eyes.

She thought she recognised that voice.
"Valerie!"

Damon dropped her arm and stepped forward as Valerie heard a commotion and several more voices join the fray. That's when she saw him. Keller was strapped down to a gurney, his eyes frantic and pupils overly-dilated.

"Valerie! Hey, stop-"

Several nurses were holding him down as he thrashed and kicked out, attempting to sit up, his eyes fixed on her. Blinking rapidly, she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
He was clearly high as could be and he'd seen her.

"Hey! That's my sister. Valerie! Valerie, please!"

She could feel the tension pouring off Bonnie in droves as she hesitantly caught Damon's attention. He was stood watching her brother thrash like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Anger clouded his eyes and disgust turned his upper lip. He clearly felt contempt for her druggie brother.

"Damon, you should compel him. He thinks she's dead."

Valerie wanted to nod, that sounded like a good idea.

She frowned when she realised her eyes were no longer hurting so bad. She could keep them open and she was. Her eyes were locked on her brother. The nurses were beginning to notice them, some casting suspicious or sympathetic glances at the three of them.

She thought she heard the sound of a nurse apologising to Damon for something. Something, she couldn't make out, or didn't want to.

All she could hear was a loud clanking of metal sliding and hitting against something. Zeroing in on the source of the noise, Valerie blanched.