Marked (The Secrets of the Djinn)

by Bonnie Lamer

  I hear a squawky voice coming from somewhere above my head. “How can I help you?”

  “This is Dr. Palis. I would like to talk to the nurse assigned to room 2452. Send her in here.” His voice has gone from silk to sandpaper in less than a minute.

  I feel him rise from the bed and hear his footsteps as he walks away from me. After a moment, I hear hushed voices as he lays out his plans with the nurse for my treatment. Soon, I should be able to move again. But right now, I’m going back to sleep.

  Chapter 5 - Brielle

  I can see! I’ve managed to open both eyes and now I can take in the bland walls and bed rails of my hospital room. I can even move my arm a little bit. I don’t know how long it’s been since the doctor decided to let me wake up but I’m sure happy he did. I hated being trapped in a motionless body. My periods of consciousness may have been brief, but they were long enough to set off my claustrophobia.

  I try moving my arm into my lap and after a couple of tries I am able to do it even though it’s incredibly painful. It’s wrapped loosely in gauze to help prevent infection, but the gauze is sticking to my healing tissue and pulls on it with every movement of mine. I probably should have just left it at my side. But I’m too excited to once again have kinetic control over my body. I attempt to move my other arm but a blinding pain shoots through my head and an image follows right after.

  It’s an image of the devil come to life. He’s huge and black with bright blue eyes and yellow teeth. Those teeth are clearly visible because he is leering at me as if I’m dinner. Then the whole memory comes crashing back.

  It can’t be real. There could not have been a devil in the road that split my car in half. It’s not possible. I must have imagined it. Or I was dreaming. Could I have fallen asleep at the wheel? That could explain why I don’t remember the accident.

  I have been working late hours at the gym after my classes and trying to fit studying in between the two. I’m lucky to get four or five hours of sleep a night. The accident must have happened after I left work, so of course I would be tired.

  But it seems so real. My memory of this creature that was strong enough to tear my car in two is so vivid I can almost imagine him, or it, standing in front of me right now. But then again it sounds like I suffered a head injury. I’m probably just going crazy. Oh god. Does that mean I’ll start having other hallucinations?

  Hallucinations like a girl racing into my hospital room and skidding to a stop by my bed. She must be a hallucination because I certainly don’t know who she is or why she’d be coming to visit me. She’s definitely not on staff here. She’s wearing skinny jeans that I’m pretty sure were painted on and a black tank top with a laughing skull on it. She has a black backpack slung over one shoulder and black work boots. Her hair is several shades of red. None of them natural. She’s not pulling off the look, though. Regardless of the black theme she has going on, her freckles and fresh, innocent looking face claim that she’s a good little Catholic school girl instead of a Goth or punk. She has several silver and black bracelets and an unfortunate piercing on her eyebrow. I don’t understand piercings. That had to of hurt. A lot. Unless she’s a hallucination. Then she probably didn’t feel a thing.

  Before I can ask who she is, she goes into a wild spiel. “Look, you don’t know me and you really have no reason to trust me but I’m here to save your life. You have to believe that’s what I’m here to do because I’m going to have to take you out of here and that will be so much easier if you just trust me and not make me explain right now. I know you’re in pain and everything but you’re going to have to just kind of suck it up otherwise you’ll be dead and I don’t think you want to be dead. So I’m just going to pull this IV,” she speed walks over to the other side of my bed and grabs my right arm, “and we’ll get you ready to go. I wish I had some pain medication for you but all I have is some Tylenol but it’s better than nothing I guess.”

  As she’s talking, she undoes the tape around my IV site and then pulls the slender little tube out of my arm. I would try to stop her but I still don’t have enough muscle control. But I’m pretty sure I can talk. “What are you doing?” I slur like a drunk.

  She looks up at me as she applies pressure to the IV site with the blanket. “I’m Brielle and I told you why I’m here. I’m saving you’re life. There are some bad dudes coming for you and I’m the only one who knows that and can get you out of here before they kill you. I can’t waste time saying everything twice, you know. You’re going to have to keep up otherwise we’re in trouble.” She lifts the blanket up to see if I’ve stopped bleeding, sees that I haven’t and then presses it back down on my arm. “Man, you’re a bleeder. I didn’t expect it to take this long.”

  “Sorry to be such a bother,” I slur, oozing sarcasm from every pore of my body. “You need to get out of here or I’m going to call for help.” My voice is growing stronger as adrenalin surges into my system. I’m gaining more muscle control as well. I reach for the nurse call button but she gets to it first. “Hey,” I say as forcefully as I can, “give it back!”

  “So a bunch of nosy nurses can come in here and cause trouble? Uh uh. We need to do this solo. Can you walk because I didn’t see a wheelchair on my way up here. I thought they would have some lying around waiting to be used but I didn’t see any free ones. I figured it would draw too much attention if I pushed some old guy out of his chair in the hallway. I guess I could put him in a supply closet or something. But really, if you could just walk it would be a whole lot easier.”

  “Do you speak in anything besides monologue?” I ask, struggling to get my arm away from her.

  Brielle has the decency to look sheepish. “Sorry, I talk a lot when I’m nervous.” She lifts up the blanket again and is pleased to see I’m not bleeding anymore.

  My voice is almost normal now. “Are you always nervous when you kidnap someone from their hospital room?”

  “Look, I know you don’t believe me but I really am here to help. There are some…dudes coming to get you and you won’t want to end up with them. Believe me. I’m your best choice.”

  I grab onto the covers when she tries to whip them back. “I’m not going anywhere with you. And who would possibly be after me or want me dead?”

  An unwanted thought pops into my head followed by a grotesque image. I remember the devil turning into a man. And the sounds of his screams as my car pushed him to the ground. He was probably a man all along and my mind made him a devil because I couldn’t stand the thought that I killed him. My mind turned him into a monster so it would be his fault instead of mine. But really, I’m the monster.

  I never thought of myself as a coward but apparently that’s what I am. I couldn’t face my own actions. My mind replays the accident over and over and each time, I see him as the monster that caused the accident, not me.

  Maybe someone wants to kill me for killing him. Is his family or spouse or someone coming to take revenge? Or is this girl tugging on my blanket the one seeking revenge? Good thing my muscle control is coming back so I can attempt to stay covered.

  “What’s going on in here?” a velvety smooth voice says from the doorway. My eyes swing to him for a first glimpse of the man who has been responsible for my care. And the sight of him is enough to make me let go of the blanket; nearly sending the girl flying backwards across the room. Tall, blond and beautiful are the words that come to mind. He has the face of a Greek god, as cliché as that sounds, and if the tautness of his shirt under his lab coat is any indication, he has the body of one as well. His eyes are the color of a deep blue, stormy sky. The kind of sky that precedes a tornado. Calm yet perilous. I find myself having that feeling again of craving his touch and wanting to shout at him to get out at the same time. I must have a head injury because no one would want to kick this guy out of their room.

  “Damn it,” Brielle mutters. “I was hoping to do this before you showed up. Now I have to take the time to explain everything all over when we only have a few mi
nutes. It took me forever to get here because traffic was all backed up and now we’re running late.”

  The doctor covers the distance from the door to my bed in three strides and takes up a protective stance next to me. Like a lion. Or a jackal who could turn on me at any time. I have no idea where that thought came from. Without taking his eyes off from the girl, he asks me, “Do you know this person?”

  “No,” I say, wanting to reach out and touch him. I appreciate that I don’t have the range of motion to accomplish that.

  A low growl emanates from deep in his throat. “Get. Out. Of. This. Room.”

  The girl’s eyes grow by three hundred percent but Brielle holds her ground. “I can’t. Not until she comes with me. I am not going to be responsible for those monsters getting her.”

  He cocks his head and crosses his arms over his chest. “You have two seconds to leave before I call security and have you committed to the psych ward for evaluation.” I believe he would. I know I’d be afraid he’d do it.

  But the girl isn’t. She puts her hands on her hips and glares at him. “Dude, you need to lighten up and focus on the important things here. She is in danger.” She points a finger in my direction in case it wasn’t clear who she meant. “You can either help her or get the hell out of here and let me do it by myself. I’d actually prefer that so feel free to go back to your other patients and forget all about us. But some big uglies are on their way; if they’re not already in the hospital. There’s only one way out of here that won’t be put on lockdown when these guys make their move and only I know how to get to it.”

  She is crazy. “You’re in monologue mode again,” I tell her which earns me a snarky look in return.

  She glances down at her watch. “Shit. We gotta go.” She reaches for my blanket again but this time it’s the doctor’s hand that stops her.

  He grabs her by the wrist and twists it, causing her to yelp. “Dude! That hurts.” She yanks her arm away from him then rubs it with her other hand.

  She starts to say something else but gets cut off by a voice coming through the overhead speakers. “Attention hospital employees. Code Bear. Repeat. Code Bear. Please refer to your hospital policy manual for more information.”

  “They’re here,” Brielle says. She sounds like a bad horror movie. Only she isn’t faking the terror on her face.

  The doctor doesn’t think so either. “Who are ‘they’?”

  She sighs in exasperation. “I don’t have time to explain. But if they’re in the hospital, it’s not going to take long for them to find her.”

  That overhead voice seems to want to emphasize her words. “Code red. Repeat. Code red. All personnel to take emergency action. Complete lockdown. Repeat. Complete lockdown.”

  The doc gives the girl one last look. It seems that an eternity passes in the seconds he stares at her. And she stares right back with her big, scared brown eyes. The next thing I know, he is the one tearing back my covers and scooping me out of bed. Nodding to the girl, he says, “Lead the way.” I’m too stunned to say anything.

  Chapter 6 – Escape

  “Dr. Palis, what are you doing?” a frazzled nurse says when we enter the hallway. “We’re on lockdown. All the patients have to stay in their rooms with the door closed.”

  “Look, we got this,” Brielle says, getting in the nurse’s face when she attempts to pull on the doctor’s lab coat. “You have like six hundred other people to take care of. Why don’t you go do that and not worry about us. We’re good. Right as rabbits. No worries here.” Is she on drugs?

  The nurse’s face is turning bright red. “I don’t give a damn if you’re right as a rabbit or not, whatever the hell that means. It’s my job to make sure all of the patients on this unit are safe. Including that one.” She thrusts a finger in the air towards me.

  The doctor stops and turns around. “I take full responsibility for this patient, Molly. I’ll make sure she’s safe.”

  “But…” the nurse sputters.

  She’s about to argue more when the receptionist from the desk rushes over to her. “Mr. Oden in room two is crashing. Can I call a code blue while we’re in lock down?” It only takes Molly half a second to decide that me being carried away by the doctor isn’t her top priority right now. With a last withering glare in our direction, she takes off down the hall; presumably to wherever Mr. Oden is.

  “This way,” Brielle says, leading us towards the stairwell.

  The doctor looks at her as if she’s an idiot. Which she very well may be. “You do realize the elevators have been shut down, right? I’m sure that whoever it is we’re running from will also be using the stairs to get up here.”

  “Who said anything about the stairs?” Brielle asks, stopping just short of the stairwell door. Instead of opening that one, she opens the door next to it and leads us into a linen room. Moving towards the back, she moves bins and carts of clean linens here and there causing all kinds of things to fall to the floor. Is she hoping to hide us in the piles? When the lockdown is over, someone is going to be wishing her a slow, painful death for making such a huge mess.

  “You propose we hide in a linen closet? What are you going to do, hide us under some sheets and tell us to be quiet?” I ask her. She doesn’t even have the decency to look back at me.

  Instead, she comes to a heavy, covered cart on the far wall and stops. She tries pushing it, but it’s too heavy for her. After a few more tries, she gives up. “Alright Dr. Muscles, I need you to put her down and help me move this.”

  “What’s behind it?” he asks, still holding me firmly in his arms. I’m kind of hoping he does put me down. I’m having that sensation again where I want to be anywhere except in his arms. A hot, muscled doctor is holding me tightly against him and I want to get away from him. When this is over, I seriously need my head checked again.

  Brielle rolls her eyes. “Look, you can either trust me or don’t. If you don’t, help me move this f-ing thing and then go on your way. If you do, then quit asking me to explain everything in detail while I’m trying to save all of our asses.”

  I’m confused. “I thought it was just me they’re after.”

  With another eye roll and a ‘my god you’re annoying’ look as well, she takes a deep breath and says, “That was true five minutes ago. But now you have our scent on you. If they catch you, they’ll know we tried to help you and then our asses are toast too.”

  “I have your scent on me now? Are we running from blood hounds?”

  While I’m talking, the doctor sets me gently on the floor, propping me up against the wall. I guess he’s decided to help her move the cart. When he turns around, I begin falling to the side and am barely able to hold myself up with my left arm. I’ve become a living rag doll.

  Regardless of the fact that I’m going to end up doing a face plant on the dirty hospital linoleum any second now, he steps away from me and helps Brielle push the cart. When it’s far enough for her liking, she pulls out a dagger like thing from her backpack and feels along the wall checking the wallpaper for something. God knows what. When she’s found whatever she’s looking for, she jabs her knife into the wall. Is she going to dig through the wall with a dagger? She should have brought a sledgehammer if that’s the case. It would have been a lot faster. But it seems there’s a point to her madness. She cuts a door into the wallpaper and peels it back. Behind it is a real door. “Where does it lead?” the doctor asks her.

  “Pick her up and I’ll show you.” Brielle is on her knees now with a couple of silver instruments that she’s using to fiddle with the door lock. It only takes her a second to get it unlocked. Obviously she’s had practice. Next, she pulls a large magnet from her backpack and attaches it to the door, pulling it open despite the fact that it has no door handle. The girl comes prepared. Wrenching the door open, she disappears, leaving us no choice but to follow her skinny little ass through it. The doctor scoops me up again and off we go.

  “Um, didn’t you hear the whole stair argumen
t a minute ago,” I ask when I see that she has led us to a different stairwell.

  She looks up at me from three steps down and grins. “These stairs haven’t been used since the sixties.” That would explain the insane amount of dirt and dust coating everything and filling the air. It swirls around as the fresh air from the door hits it. Just what my open wounds need, to be filled with dirt. “When they remodeled the hospital, this didn’t meet code.” She waves her hands in the air, indicating the entire stairwell. “Instead of tearing it out, they decided to lock it up, seal it off and forget about it; all of the doors have been papered over and no one remembers they’re here. They’re not even on the blueprints on file at the county clerk’s office.”

  “Then how do you know about it?” the doctor asks as we descend.

  She shrugs. “It’s kind of a hobby of mine.”

  “Your hobby is to look for hidden stairwells in hospitals?” I ask snidely.