In the Span of a Breath

Chapter 3

The door clicked opened and a doctor walked in startling Erin, making his heart rate skyrocket. His eyes flicked to the door then wearily traced the doctor's movements as he approached the bed.

"Good to see you up and talking. How are you feeling?" Erin considered the question.

"Well considering I was mauled by some huge ass animal, no strike that, considering I was injured by a huge ass animal and Paige was mauled but he is still here as if nothing happened and I feel like a million tiny gorillas are punching me in the head, while a throbbing beat is bumpin in my back, great. I'm doing awesome." As his tirade came to a close his voice had climbed an octave and a slightly hysterical laugh escaped.

"I was afraid something like this might happen. Sometimes after a traumatic event the brain will perceive things incorrectly. Just as dreams are influenced by our daily experiences-" in mid-sentence Erin interrupted with an aggressive, "Bullshit! I'm calling bullshit!"

"Oh Erin, watch your mouth." Came the stern chiding voice of his mother. It sounded more normal and for a split second he was grateful for that.

"But mom, he is lying, or something. There is no way I just imagined something that-" he blink away the memories, definitely not a dream. "No, just no." His eyes before, hadn't left the doctor but now he slid them over to Paige whose thick eye brows were doing something strange.

"Paige informed me and you told nurse Deseraie that you had been watching monster movies that night. I know this will be difficult to deal with but would it not be best to just forget what you think you saw? To try and move on from this frightening experience? The influence of media can be a powerful thing." The Doctor's eyes quickly flickered over to Paige then back to his patient, Erin none the wiser.

"Yeah, man, don't tell me you forgot. It sounds pretty heavy to have to live one of those movies in real life. Why do you want to cling on to something like that? You don't often dream of me getting mauled by beasties do you? Is that why you want to remember? So when I annoy you, you can conjure up those images?" Erin's eye brown climbed in horror at the implication but was caught suddenly by amusement when his friend feigned mock hurt by his over exaggerated facial expressions and body language.

"You're an idiot, Paige." He huffed and the corner of his mouth twitched up in a small fond smile. He let his gaze linger for just a moment longer before he fixed the doctor with a weary look. "So what you are saying is in the event of a traumatic experience it isn't uncommon for a person to confuse reality with what, a fantasy? A dream? If that is the case, then at what point would I have fallen into this dream state? I could give you everything that happened af-after I fell. " his voice crack as he tried to keep his mind clear. "But I clearly saw that thing was NOT a freakin mountain lion. There was nothing feline about it, not its face, not its fur, and certainly not its growl. I know what a cat growl sounds like, Mrs. Steedle has three, but this- this was n-nothing like-" he cut off with a sharp inhale and brought his arm up to rub fiercely at his eyes. The creature's growling and snarls echoed in his mind and then the memories flooded back with a vengeance. His heart kicked up and his breathing came in short shallow gasps, he heard someone talking but it was lost against the loud rushing in his ears. He was vaguely aware of the pull of stitches as his body curled in on itself and the heels of his hands pressed into his eyes. He couldn't breathe, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't breathe; he couldn't see anything but sharp teeth and black fur and glowing eyes. He couldn't hear, nothing but inhuman growls and snarls and God, the ripping of teeth through flesh.  

It felt like the horror went on for hours but was maybe just minutes, possibly seconds for all he knew when suddenly there was a warm pressure on his left shoulder that slid over his arm and held his wrists. Some gentle tugging and a blurry, albeit, familiar face was in his vision. For the second time in not even an hour the voice cut through his panic.