The Pretenders (ON HOLD)

chapter 11

Inside the hospital, Peter could feel something tugging at his gut. This weird feeling just kept sweeping over him. There was like this little red flag that just kept waving at the back of his mind saying, “Danger! Warning! Get out of here, stupid!”

He kept reasoning with himself though. Come on, seriously. What was so bad about hospitals anyway? Wendy was fine with it, so why shouldn’t he be OK?

He was OK though. Better than last time, at least. Well, mostly because Wendy hadn’t removed her hand from his arm like she did before. She kept her warm, gentle grip on his forearm the whole way, tugging him along slightly. He loved it how she was always in such a hurry. It was kind of cute.

But, even though Wendy’s touch was calming (for some reason he couldn’t understand), he still couldn’t shake the increasingly growing feeling that something bad, something dangerous, was close. It was silly, really. Because hospitals are supposed to be a place of help, care and recovery. Plus, Wendy was there.

Well, actually it wasn’t like Wendy was going to jump in and protect him from whatever evil he was sensing, or something. It would probably be him protecting her. So, Wendy being in the hospital with him wasn’t really that helpful after all…

Whatever.

It was just this really strong feeling. Almost screaming for him to get out of there. But, why? It was just a hospital. It wasn’t going to kill him. In fact, if he were dying, going to the hospital would do the opposite of killing him. So what was his problem?

They rounded a corner. Wendy turned and told Peter that Simon’s room was just down the corridor. But Peter didn’t hear her.

Because there he was. Peter didn’t know who he was, exactly, but he could tell that this stranger was bad news. He had dark, silver streaked hair that was styled in a Pierce Brosnan kind of way. His eyes were light blue. His build average. Tall, lean. Your average James Bond looking guy.

But it was something about him that made Peter freeze on the spot. Maybe it was the way that he made eye contact with Peter, even though he seemed to be deep in discussion with the person in front of him. Maybe it was the way that the doctor’s coat he was wearing seemed too clean. Maybe it was the fact that Peter had never seen this man before, even though he was living in one of the least populated towns in America.

Or maybe it was all of those things together, that made Peter turn to Wendy and whisper, “I have to leave. And if you were smart, you would leave too.”

Wendy seeing whom Peter’s gaze was so fixated on went, with a light laugh, “Oh, that’s just Simon’s doctor. Why? What’s wrong with him?”

“Wendy,” Peter mumbled, the blank look on his face scaring Wendy a little, “That’s not a doctor.”

“What do you mean, Peter? Of course he i-”

It was at that moment that the ‘doctor’ turned towards them. Peter didn’t know what happened but seeing that man’s face looking straight at him, it seemed to trigger something in his mind.

The next thing he knew he was crouched on the floor clutching his head, from the intense pain. Blocking his ears to try and stop the screaming. But then he realized the screaming was coming from inside his head. And so were the flashes of a scared looking woman. A screaming woman. Just flashes. But they were causing him so much pain.

He was rocking back and forth, wincing and gasping. Vaguely aware of Wendy shouting his name in the background. And then the woman in his mind was screaming his name.

He didn’t want to hear it. But blocking out the memories just caused more pain. And fear. He heard himself yelling for it to stop. And he could hear Wendy urgently asking him what was wrong. He could feel her grip on his tense shoulders trying to shake him out of his state.

But he couldn’t block out the crying woman.

And then there he was. The ‘doctor’.

Smiling.

But this wasn’t one of those friendly smiles. This was a cold, sadistic smile.

And frankly, it scared the hell out of Peter.

Then it all vanished. There were no images flashing in his mind. No screams ringing through his ears. Just the sound of his pounding chest and heavy breathing. And Wendy’s worried voice.

“Wendy,” he heard himself rasp. “Wendy.”

“Yes Peter. I’m here. What’s wrong? Are you OK? What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” she said fighting back tears of worry.

“Don’t cry,” Peter managed to say. But this just made Wendy start spilling over.

“What happened, Peter?” she asked trying to calm down. She had placed her hand on Peter’s forehead to see if he was OK. The she had slid her hand down to his shoulder. Well, that helped him calm down a little bit.

But he was still shaking.

“I have to get out of here,” he said, sounding a little strangled.

“Then go. Just go. Don’t worry about Simon. Just…go,” she replied without hesitating. But Peter could hear the deep concern in her voice.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

And then he ran.