from between the two bloodied hands he held up. "Wash up. Time for coffee."
Pulling the shroud of paper and plastic off my head, I followed Caitlin out of the operating theatre and down the stark, breezy corridor to Recovery. I ripped the shoe covers off, too, keeping my hand by her cheek as I hopped and struggled to keep up.
I didn't struggle for long. The orderly left her bed under a patch of ceiling decorated with cheerful stickers for children. I glared at him, but he left without a word. I dropped my disposable stuff in the bin by the entrance and paced around her bed, waiting for Caitlin to wake up. There were no visitor chairs in Recovery. You were either staff or a recovering patient.
I felt drained from standing in readiness to calm Caitlin while forcing myself to watch my first surgical procedure since I'd dropped out of university. Since Alanna had died. Since I'd sworn I'd hunt down the bastards who'd hurt her and... Caitlin. Right now, my primary concern was Caitlin. There was nothing more I could do for Alanna. Take care of Caitlin.
I waited and watched, seeing slight movements as the drugs wore off. Caitlin woke up sooner than they said she would. Even the doctors underestimated her.
"Stop smiling at me," Caitlin mumbled. My eyes flew to her face. She glared at the ceiling. My eyes followed hers to the Disney characters I knew she despised.
"Death to Winnie the Pooh?" I asked.
"Death and hell afterwards, for enjoying my pain," she replied slowly. She shifted so that she could see me. "You're all dressed up like the theatre staff. You didn't perform the procedure, did you?" Her eyes were wide with worry.
She didn't trust me. My heart hurt. Such a simple operation could have been done by an intern, if I'd finished my degree. "No," I replied. "A qualified surgeon did your skin grafts. I watched to make sure you were okay, just like I said I would."
She relaxed. "How did it go?"
I smiled. "The doctors patched you up and you snored."
Her brow wrinkled. "I don't snore. What else?"
I laughed. "The doctors are having strawberry tarts with their coffee today."
She looked wistful. "I wish I could join them."
"I can get you one as soon as you're cleared to go," I offered.
"A doctor or a tart?" Caitlin asked, starting to smile.
I stared at her, lost. Surely she couldn't be making fun of me.
"You'll get a doctor to give you the all clear and then I can buy you cake..." I began.
Her breathy laugh shut me up. "Thank you, Nathan," she said softly, closing her eyes. Somehow, I still felt like she was laughing at me.
"Any time," I replied. I meant it, too.
41
Four of them.
They all said they were called Chris.
All sounded different.
Hurt me differently.
Too dark to see them.
Didn't see their faces.
Only the voices.
Different voices, different hands.
Four different pricks who could only get a girl by force in the dark.
Wanting to hurt them back. Kill them.
Couldn't get free.
So tired...
Enough of my nightmares for today. You promised me cake, Nathan.
42
"Want to watch some TV?" I asked Caitlin. We were done with breakfast. I'd helped her in the bathroom while the trays were cleared away. I wasn't game to even mention the laptop. After her marathon effort two days ago, she'd agreed to try to tell me more yesterday, but it hadn't been long before she was too tired to talk.
She nodded and I hit the power on the remote. I flipped through the channels, hoping we wouldn't get stuck with any kids' shows.
"Oh, wait," she said suddenly. "That didn't look too bad." I blipped back to the one she indicated, with a bunch of people sitting in a helicopter. It looked familiar. "That one."
I settled into the chair beside her bed. "Is that... Jurassic Park? I haven't seen that since I was a kid."
Caitlin nodded, a slow smile appearing. "Nor have I." The smile faded fast.
"Do you want to watch this?" I asked her, my fingers poised over the remote. I'd take all-day cartoons if it meant she wouldn't cry.
She looked resigned. "Sure. It'll be fine." Her eyes were already on the screen. She folded her arms across her chest, pressing her lips together.
I stared at her for a few minutes, just waiting.
"What?" she asked finally, turning to me.
I nodded at her crossed arms. "It doesn't look like you want to watch it. What's wrong?"
I think she held out for another minute before she relented. "The first time I saw it as a kid, I had nightmares about velociraptors for weeks."
"Have you seen it since?" I probed.
"No," she admitted. "But even the thought of them still freaks me out."
I fought to keep the laughter out of my voice. "So you don't like this movie because you think you might have nightmares after watching it?" I tried to keep my face expressionless.
"Yes," she replied defensively.
"Nightmares worse than the one you told me about yesterday?" I asked gently, my eyes not leaving hers.
Her face hardened. "No. Velociraptors sound like a picnic after... what they did to me." Her voice faded from fierce to a barely audible whisper. She swallowed. "Bring on the dinosaurs. Watching them eat people will be fun." Her expression was fierce.
I laughed. "Even the bloke on the toilet?"
She struggled not to smile, but she gave in with a breathy laugh. "Yes, even when the T-Rex eats the man on the toilet." She laughed properly. "There aren't enough scary scenes in toilets."
I grinned back. "Yeah, because the world needs more crappy horror scenes."
We both settled back to watch dinosaurs eat people, even the T-Rex with the toilet. I heard Caitlin's musical laughter again at that part and smiled to myself. Maybe she was finally recovering from her ordeal.
As the movie progressed, my thoughts turned dark once more. If Caitlin was more scared of the men who'd hurt her than a pack of vicious, intelligent dinosaurs, then I needed to know what she knew, so I could hunt the bastards down.
I resolved to try again later. I'd set up the laptop and ask her to tell me more as she cried and cried and... I tried to be a heartless bastard. Yeah... no.
It could wait until tomorrow. Let her be happy for today.
Oh, wait. No, not tomorrow either. The next day. Tomorrow'd be her eighteenth birthday and I didn't want to spoil it by upsetting her. The day after tomorrow, then.
Two days of peace wouldn't be too much of a delay. It's not like the hospital was going to be overrun with velociraptors or vicious bastards, plus she'd been in surgery yesterday. She deserved a rest. She'd been unconscious for almost two weeks – what more could happen if we waited another two days?
43
The second I stepped out of the lift I heard Caitlin's voice. I'd gone downstairs to get some flowers – it was her birthday, after all, and I didn't know what else to get her.
I sprinted down her ward to the sound of her screaming. Another nightmare – and I wasn't there to wake her from it. I hadn't been gone long, but I'd wanted to wake her with the sweet-scented flowers. Liliums, the florist had called them. Ah, fuck, who cared what they were called? My feet pounded on the carpet as her screaming grew louder. Where in hell was her guard? Fuck, Navid had been standing guard by her door when I left, drinking his coffee like his life depended on it...
I skidded into the room to see the nightmare had become more real than it should have. She fought someone real. Someone I'd never seen before. Someone who should never have been allowed in.
"Leave her alone!" I ordered, striding over to her. I threw the flowers into the sink, barely registering that there was already a bunch there.
In shock, he let go of her and Caitlin fell harmlessly back to the bed. I saw her eyes snap open, disoriented and scared.
He was still too close to Caitlin,
his eyes not leaving her.
"What did you do to her?" I thundered, taking another step toward him. He started to back away, so I spared a glance at Caitlin.
She blinked, lying there, stunned. Then she saw him. Her eyes widened in shock.
She didn't invite him – she was as surprised to see him as I was. I needed to get him away from her and out of here, so she'd be safe again. "Get away from her!"
"I didn't mean to scare you. I wanted..." he began, but I cut him short with a fist to the face that he didn't see until it was too late. He was piss-weak, though, going down like a sack of surprised potatoes. I don't think he'd ever been in a fight before. He climbed awkwardly to his feet, backing away in the direction of the door.
He looked at Caitlin. He saw something in her face that hardened some sort of resolve in him. Instead of leaving, his face firmed up and he tried to fight me. I dodged a few wild swings that didn't connect as I waited for the opportunity to lay this idiot out on the floor for the second time. This time, he wouldn't be getting up again. Right...
I was forced to stop mid-swing as Caitlin stood between us. Oh, God, she shouldn't be out of bed yet. She was shaking and I reached out to steady her at almost the same instant he did.
"Don't you dare touch me." She lifted a face contorted with fury. He immediately tore his hands away.
He edged away from her. His eyes jerked from her hands and wrists to her ankles and feet, slowly dragging his gaze up to her thighs, his horror growing as he stared at her rainbow of bruises. The sheer sight of her was enough to incapacitate him, the useless idiot.
Movement caught my eye and I saw a trickle of fresh blood pool beside her foot. A scarlet flower blossomed on her nightdress. The skin graft. She'd ripped her stitches. I