Paul sat up in bed, his side fighting him the entire time. He reached over towards the phone on the bedside table, and pulled it onto his lap. He dialed Roy’s cellphone number.
"Hello?" Roy’s voice was shaky.
"I just wanted to hear your voice." Paul smiled.
"Paul, I have a ton I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Are you alone?"
Paul glanced around his room. He had been lucky enough to get one of the few singles in the hospital.
"Yeah, I’m alone."
"Good."
Paul listened as Roy filled him in on everything that he had heard from Carla and William. Paul couldn’t believe half of what he was hearing. It was all so outlandish. It sounded like something out of old Italian horror film.
"So, how does this connect to Julie?" Paul cradled the phone between his neck and shoulder, and adjusted the phone’s base on his lap. His hips were still sore from the crash.
"We think her father may have been connected with the group somehow, but we aren’t sure."
The sound of Paul’s door creaking made him jump.
"I’ll call you back."
"What’s the matter?"
A chill went down Paul’s spine as Nurse Fitch entered his room. She didn’t smile. She just looked at him, her eyes unblinking.
"I have a visitor."
"Is it the nurse I told you about?"
"Yes."
"I’ll be there in two minutes."
Paul heard the phone click.
The nurse walked towards his bed slowly, a smile on her face and one hand behind her back.
"You seem to be recovering nicely." The nurse’s voice was sickly sweet.
"I am. I guess being a health nut paid off." Paul gave a small chuckle.
Nurse Fitch just shrugged.
"What are you doing in here?" A young orderly popped his head in the room. "You have rounds over in the ICU."
"Just checking up on one of my old patients." She gave Paul a wink, and then turned and left the room.
As she left Paul caught a glimpse of a small, shiny object in the hand she had clasped behind her back.
A scalpel.
Paul forced himself out of his bed, and moved as quickly as he could towards the door that led into the room. He threw himself against it, the door slamming shut under the weight of his body. He reached down and found the lock.
Click.
He hobbled back to his bed, his whole body in pain. He wasn’t letting her in again. He had gotten lucky once, but he knew she would be back.
The group Roy had told him about flashed into his mind. He suddenly wondered if Nurse Fitch had a husband, and if she did, if he was still alive.
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