"What's wrong with me?"
"Nothing's wrong with you. In fact, you're a healthy, strong young woman who's recovering very well, but you should try to get some rest." Victoria frowned at the bland response. "Do I have leukemia?"
A glance. "No. Those tests were inconclusive."
"I don't understand. How can I be absolutely fine if I've been here in a coma for five days?" Her voice sounded petulant even to her.
Dr. Mills hesitated, looking first at Holly. "We have different theories, none one hundred percent conclusive. But your complete recovery in such a short time ... well, there is no way to explain that medically." He paused, and then smiled brightly studying her chart. "The main thing is that you're alive, and recovering. You are a very lucky young woman."
The luck of the devil ...
Her muscles tightened with unexpected dread and for an instant, Victoria felt violently ill. The beeping of the heart monitor matched her escalating heart rate. How does a normal, healthy girl have a blackout and end up in a hospital for five days with no memory? And why wouldn't Dr. Mills look at her?
"I just want to go home," she gasped, black spots marring her vision as the cramping feeling in her stomach intensified. The heart-rate monitor beeped erratically.
"We need to keep you just a few more days for observation," Dr. Mills said, pressing the button for the floor nurse.
"Observation?"
Like she was some kind of freak.
A wave of anxiety overcame her. Heat flooded her limbs and she flung the blankets aside, clawing her hospital gown. "It's ... too hot in here!"
The day nurse came into the room bearing a tray, and Victoria stared warily as Doctor Mills prepped one of the syringes on it. A drop of pale liquid formed at the needle's tip.
Full-scale panic. "What's that for?"
"It's just something to help you rest," he said, emptying the syringe into the IV connected to her wrist. A cool sensation slithered along the hot veins of her forearm.
Victoria's eyes connected with his deep brown ones. What she saw there made her breath hitch. He looked at her with both fear and fascination, the way she'd once felt after seeing a two-headed snake on the Discovery Channel; an aberration of nature, fascinating yet obscene. Unnatural.
Her eyelids drooped as Doctor Mills faded into the background of the room.
"Aunt Holly?" she heard herself say thickly.
"It'll be okay, darling," Holly said, stroking Victoria's hand gently. "I'm here."
"I don't want to close my eyes. The monsters ..."
"I'm right here, sweetheart."
"They're coming ..."
THE NIGHTMARE'S TERRIBLE fingers touched everywhere, holding her prisoner in that space between dream and reality. Flashes of shiny, corrugated metal, the smell of fire and sulfur heavy in the air, and the blood, so much blood, it was everywhere—on the ground, on her clothes, on her hands. Oh God, her hands. What had she done? Their faces were gruesome in death, their bloodied arms grasping her, pulling her down into hell with them.
Her body jerked. She was older now, lying in a sterile hospital bed. Molten lava flooded into her body, drowning her. She was imploding, her skin splintering as something unimaginable inside her struggled to get out. She felt it tearing its way through her body, shredding tissue and bone and skin like paper until it was free. The creature turned slowly, agonizingly. Burning red eyes blazed into hers. The demon had her face.
She couldn't stop screaming.
"Tori, wake up," a worried voice said, shaking her. "Victoria! Wake up!"
Her screams dissolved into strangled gasps as she struggled to sit up. A kind, wrinkled face swam into focus. "It's okay, love. It's just a dream. You're safe now."
"Oh God, Aunt Holly, their faces!"
"It's okay, it's over now. It was only a dream. Take a deep breath, sweetheart."
"It wasn't just the car crash this time, it was something worse. Did you ever see The Omen? Well, in my dream, I was the baby ... I was the devil."
"No one could live through what you've been through and not have terrifying moments," Holly said kindly, stroking Victoria's back with a soothing motion. "Now try to get some sleep, it's early."
"Aunt Holly, I should have died with them. It's just not fair to be so lucky."
"Hush now, darling. You've been through a lot the past few days. Please just get some rest. Things will look better in the morning, I promise. I love you."
"Love you, too."