Eldritch

Chapter 19

Lisa bursts through the front door of her home, Martin and Sophie following, each holding an arm of Daniel's over their shoulders, and dragging him through the living room while he slumps in their grip. 'Get him onto the island,' Lisa orders, swiping the fruit bowl from the counter top in the kitchen.

As they haul Daniel's body onto the surface, he squeezes his eyes shut and continues to cry with the pain. Lisa yanks the first aid kit from under the sink and snaps it open. 'Get his jacket and shirt off.'

Martin strips Daniel's leather jacket from his back, which is spotted with blood spatters. He throws it to the ground and Sophie starts peeling his blood soaked t-shirt from his skin, exposing more of the nasty wound on Daniel's side. 'Oh my God,' she says as she looks to it. Her hands quivering, Martin takes over and pulls his friend's t-shirt off.

'Shit,' Lisa says, as she looks to the contents of the kit.

She tosses Daniel's car keys to Martin. 'I need you two to go get some wound dressings.'

They nod and together, they rush out to the car. Lisa grabs a cloth from a drawer and splashes it with cold water. As blood continues to seep from his wound, he howls in agony. He hovers his hand over it and pants heavily. 'Sean, he's gone, we need to help,' he splutters, attempting to sit up. Lisa places her hand to his chest and pushes him back to lie flat on the island.

'We're going to focus on you, first. Please, let me in to clean the wound, Daniel.

'I'm going to be sick,' he whispers.

Her eyes widen, and she makes a grab for the basin from the sink, holding beneath his face as he cocks his head to the side. He retches loudly and splutters for a number of seconds. Her face scrunches up as he spews, and she looks away.

Once he's finished, she places the bowl to the floor and turns back to him. His face continues to drain of colour as he rests his head back on the surface. He closes his eyes. 'Let me go,' he whispers.

'No,' she enforces. 'Daniel, I'm not letting you go. You're not to die on me, do you hear me?'

She jabs his chest with a finger and he opens his eyes again, but only slightly. His lids are drooping. It looks as though he's in a state of delirium. That's what Lisa thinks, anyway.

'Mom, leave me alone. Let me sleep,' he murmurs.

'Definitely delirious,' she whispers.

Lisa takes note of the beads of sweat pouring from his face, and places her hand to his forehead. 'You're burning up.'

She grabs a tea towel and dashes to the freezer. Emptying a handful of ice onto the cloth, she continues to talk to him. 'Come on, Daniel,' she says. 'Stay awake.'

She squeezes his hand, and wraps the tea towel up with the other. She ties it with a rubber band. Once the ice pack is rested on his forehead, she goes back to tend to the wound. The cool of the ice against his skin seems to revive him slightly.

She hovers her hand over the wound; it's raw and deep. His flesh has been torn a couple of inches open and is continuing to weep and gush blood. Lisa closes her eyes, takes in a deep breath and releases to stop her squeamishness getting the better of her. She gently presses the cloth to the gash and holds it for a moment. While she focuses on stopping the bleeding, Daniel grabs her arm to get her attention. 'Why are you doing this?' he asks. 'Being so nice?'

She smiles weakly. 'I might be a bitch, Dan, but I wasn't going to let you die,' she says. 'I still care about you, you know.'

As he holds the ice pack to his forehead, he smiles. 'Thank you.'

She grabs a fresh cloth from the drawer and takes a small bottle from the first aid kit, dousing the cloth with its contents.

'I need to disinfect the wound,' she says. 'This is going to sting a bit.'

He nods as she comes closer to him. He cries  as she presses it to the wound. She rubs it against the raw flesh and he clenches his teeth.

Then, with a damp rag, she gently cleans the cuts on his face. As she leans over him, he smiles at her. She smiles back and turns to throw the blood soaked rags into the trash can.

Sophie and Martin enter, carrying a packet of dressings. Lisa takes a tube of ointment to apply to the gash. Daniel would greet them, but the fever is getting the better of him. He's too fatigued. He allows his eyelids to fall closed, and his hands fall to the sides of the countertop.

When he awakens, he's propped on the couch, Sophie holding his hand, and holding the ice pack to his forehead. 'Hey,' she smiles. 'How are you?' She turns toward the kitchen. 'He's awake.'

Lisa and Martin come out into the living room and take a seat on the carpet as he slowly rises upwards. Martin grabs a shirt from the coffee table and tosses it to him. 'We had to go back to our house to get the dressings, so I grabbed some clothes for you to borrow. Put this on.'

'Thanks, dude,' Daniel says, as he pulls the shirt over his head, wincing with the pain still throbbing around his wound.

Martin nods, smirks, and tosses him a denim jacket. 'I know denim isn't your thing, but it's cold out tonight, so I figured you could do with a jacket too.'

Daniel smirks back. 'It'll do for tonight, I guess,' he jokes. His smile fades and he glances to the others earnestly.

'Guys, that thing took Sean. We need to stop it before it gets us all.'

The three of his friends that are left fall silent and nod, their heads bowed as they think about their horrifying reality.