DIANA'S POV
Dr. Blackwell led the way to Kate's room. He needn't to argue anymore with my room preference for her, despite insisting the executive service. In the elevator, I counted six heavy sighs underneath his breath. If not for the men with ties accompanying us in the lift, I've already asked what's bothering him.
Kate was already sound asleep from the tiring trip and heavy doses of medications in her room. Her face is so peaceful, resting under the pink blanket that she find a necessity each night. Her mom was there anyway, humming softly while stoking her daughter's hair. As I stand by the doorway, I allowed myself a brief breath of relief before turning away. I suppose I wouldn't be needed there anymore. We didn't bother to get in the room, and so I decided to leave her in the good hands of healing of the DW doctors. "I should go".
"Good. But, there are a few papers you need sign, Doctor.", Dr. Blackwell said.
"Now?", I blink one, or two.
"It sooner, the better".
Dr. Blackwell was many things. Meticulous. Patient. Sometimes annoyingly thorough. But never hasty. Nevertheless, I agreed. It something that has be done anyway.The two men with ties followed us to his office. More of them were standing by the hallway. And they weren't even hiding. They were just... watching. I nodded at their presence, and received a tight expression back. As we reach the office, Dr. Blackwell turned to them. "We'll have a work-related confidential conversation. You may all wait here", his firm tone made them reluctantly agree to wait outside the door. "Come here and sign these papers", he said, unnecessarily out loud then, he led me to his table.
"Who are they, Dr. Blackwell?", lowering the mask covering half of my face, the suspicion wrung out from my tongue as it grew on me.
No answer.
"Why are they following me?".
Still nothing. His silence rang louder than any explanation. And that was enough for me to realize that the place beside Dr. Blackwell isn't as safe as I thought it always have. Dr. Blackwell sat on his chair, and spread a pile of random papers on the table. I was searching which documents to sign, but, none seemed relevant to me. "Don't use your car. The last time I used it, it was maneuvering on its own", Dr. Blackwell said lowly, along with a faint smiled and a slight nod, finger on a paper at where I would supposedly sign. Those words felt strange, and so were his actions.
Dr. Blackwell have never driven my car.
I turned my head to the men waiting outside the office, before shifting my gaze back to Dr. Blackwell. His expression never changed. I pretended to lay my signature on the paper with a black fountain pen. Then, on the next paper. And onto the next one. While I read between the lines, he tapped a small paper on the table. And I read:
Use the other door. Exit through the service elevator. B3 Parking - Slot303. Truck with tracker.
I swallowed hard, slowly putting the pen at rest on the table, before clasping my hands together. "Here you go", Dr. Blackwell handed me two car keys. One for my truck, and for an unfamiliar vehicle. He then organized the papers and kept them in his drawer under the table. "Thank you Dr. Woodsworth. You should be careful now", his words landed heavy in my chest. He spew them like lies, but his eyes were telling otherwise.
Honestly, I was having doubts if I should trust Dr. Blackwell. In fact, I don't really know if there's anyone I could trust at all aside from Scott. And so, I ignored his advice. "Thank you, Doctor", I went out of his office through the same door I went in.
The men with ties followed me.
They were matching my pace. Stopping whenever I do. The elevator door opened and a handful of visitors stepped inside."One more", the elevator operator said. I slipped through the narrow gap and looked at the dismayed faces of the men with ties. They waited for the door to close, with their gazes fixed on me.
My heart began to thump like crazy.
The realization that I'm being chased occurred to me that the descending elevator felt too slow. Reaching the ground floor, I coursed through the lobby buzzing with visitors, patients, nurses and volunteers. Perfect time to have that. I drifted with the crowd. Call me worst, I filched a beige coat resting on a patient's belongings cart and wore it as if it was mine, and swiped a black cap right next to it. I removed the hair cap keeping my hair, secured the mask over my mouth, and wore my new disguise.
Outside the lobby, I spotted a couple more men with ties waiting by my car, parked at the valet area. Thank goodness they were busy laughing over coffee and donuts with some petite hospital staff on break. I slipped through parked cars, and between cabs at bay until I was able to snuck in my truck in the back seat, avoiding their eyes. Inside my truck, I tried to look for something unusual. Something that doesn't belong there. In the compartments. Under the seats. On the sides.
As I was about to give up searching, my hand felt a small round object behind the steering column. A red light blinks right in its corner. For what it seems like a device, I thought it was the locator. My blood ran cold. Dr. Blackwell's strange warning echoed in my ears. How in the world didn't I trusted him?
Distraught with my heart thumping in my throat, I tossed the tracker elsewhere. I looked at the other car key in my hand and realized I can't drive my car even if I get rid of the locator. They'd recognize my truck at a glance. Timely, two ambulances arrive, causing tension at the entrance of the hospital. Paramedics rushed forward. Families cried out. Security scattered breaking the commotion, controlling the disorder. It was then I carefully get out of my truck, and meandered through the throng of crowd going back to the lobby.
I thought I was invisible, until I wasn't.
Halfway across the lobby, one of the men's instinct found me. Immediately, I changed direction. Stripped off the coat and tossed it on the side. Removed the black cap, and assisted to push a patient's bed. Every obstacle bought me another second. I switched on pushing a wheeled cart of medical supplies as I enter a restricted area. As I go beyond the glass doors, I prayed to the heavens to finally cut the chase. Solidly, I heard people behind me grunting as the security halt them at the glass door. "Medical staff only!".
The noises faded behind me, and so did the men with ties. My throat dried as my warm breath suffocate me under the face mask. Turning to a corner, I hurriedly went in the service elevator with Dr. Blackwell's car key jiggling in my hand. "Basement 3. Slot 303. Basement 3. Slot 303.", I repeated nonstop until the doors closed.
LATER
Standing in front of the condominium building where I live, the warm winds blew as it give me a terrible sense of familiarity. The inescapable déjà vu struck me hard that I remember the exact sensations all too clearly. The sun warming my skin. The gentleness of the wind brushing against my hair. And in my pocket, a folded piece of a paper that I need not to open anymore. For the second time, my dream is coming to reality. I tried so hard not to come by my home for any instance. Outrun the future, perhaps. Yet, here I am... standing exactly where the nightmare had begun as if fate had simply been patient to wait for me. While home is the last place I wanted to be, I just had to go. Ipomoea Alba. The moonflowers were growing in the corner of my home. The ingredient needed for Scott not to turn into a lycan in all the full moons of his life.
And so, I squared my shoulders and entered the building.
The first thing I saw made my skin crawl. The elevator was expectedly out of service. Just like in my dream. "Really?", a laugh almost escaped me, not because it was funny, but because the dream is happening, exactly like how it did. I approached the reception, not to ask about the faulty elevator in one of the finest condominiums in the city, but to ask for a phone. The lady in a sharp tailored black blazer, a matching A-line skirt and an accent scarf tied perfectly around her neck handed me a corded telephone, pulling a kinky wire. I dialed Scott's number. After a few rings, a woman answered my call. Her voice was smooth, playful and flirtatious. "Hello? Who's this?", I frowned. It seemed like she couldn't hear me for she keep saying hello. She laughed softly then...
She hung up.
I redialled, but his phone is already turned off. No misunderstood meaning went with it.
Fine. It gave me a hollow ache.
I just sighed and gave the phone back to the receptionist. Then I shifted to the fire exit, with its metal doors already swung open. Beyond it, spiraled the endless concrete stairs. "Ahh.. damn it", I whispered for the 21 goddamn stairs I had to climb for the moonflowers. It tripled my anxiety, really.
I sauntered up in a slow easy pace right in the middle of the stairs. The stairwell smelled of new paint and dust. The lights buzzed overhead. Some flickered, and some stilled in clear white beam. As the numbers crawled upward, I reached the 12th floor and froze at the stair landing. This is the part of the dream when the lights will flicker hard and a black figure will go up the stairs from the ground floor.
With my towering fear, I side walked close to the side rails as my palms get cold and sweaty. Slowly, I lifted my head. The lights above me crackled, flickering a rhythm as the light and dark alternate. "No..", the word barely escaped. Then, a sound echoed from below. Slow footsteps coming up one step after the other, like the ticking of the clock counting down. Too afraid to peek of what I imagined a figure in a cloak, I hurried my steps from walking to almost running.
Floor 15. My calm breaths shifted to the sounds of whimpering.
Floor 18. My legs were burning.
Floor 21, I bursted through the half open emergency door of my home, slamming it close taking a breather. I sighed deeply not in relief, because reaching my house is not when dream ends. The next thing that is about happen... is the cherry on top.
It was dark. Quiet. And... waiting.
The redolence of the plant I came for was all over. I followed the scent through the dusty floor. Another step closer the foyer made me jump. No fangs flashed before me. It wasn't a vampire, but a familiar face that made a smile replace my frowns. "Ahhh. You scared me", my knees nearly gave out. Then, something hard struck the side of my head that tilted my world. Darkness rushed in and his face was the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes.