Demons are People Too

Five

I knew straight away where The Key was. There, in plain sight. Just left of centre in a neat grid of stones found on the local beach. She had no idea what she'd discovered. What power she had. What... a rather nice collection she had. There were smooth ones and jagged ones and ones with purples and blues mixed into the blacks and greys. And the tidy, exact rows were organised in order of size and, strange for someone so young, shade of black. I expected size. Perhaps shape. No, it was colour. Interesting. Cool, in a human sort of way.

I reached out for The Key.

It seems baseball bats are the kin of locks. They are fully able to be used in the same location as a secondary security device. The one which hit the back of my head proved that.

I awoke. I was in hospital. My wrist was handcuffed to the gurney. A policeman was dozing in the seat at the end of the bed.

Oh.

Oops.

My arm moving rattled the metal cuff and the officer sat up with a jolt. He stared at me for a moment, apparently forgetting where both he and I were. Then he remembered and pushed himself up.

"You're awake, then."

Observant. I guessed he'd go far.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice feeling groggier than I did. That was fine. It'd fool the man into thinking he had someone he could keep captive.

I lifted my head, then planted it firmly back down in the pillow. Pain. That was what it felt like. Didn't like that. Perhaps the policeman's perception wasn't far wrong.

"Like skulking about in little girl's bedrooms, do you?"

"No, of course I don't." I could think of few things worse than having anything to do with children.

"So, how come we found you face down in one, then?" He leaned forward and smiled. He really needed to look after his teeth better. "If you hadn't tripped and hit your head, who knows what you'd have done."

"I just wanted The Key," I said. He wouldn't know or believe what key so it didn't hurt to tell him.

"Key? Key to what?"

The Gates of Hell.

"Erm... To..."

"Exactly. You don't have a story. Or, rather, you do. Would you like to tell me why you were breaking into that house? Are you a burglar? You don't look like one. A child molester? You don't look like one of those, either." He shook his head. "It takes all kinds. Maybe you're both?"

"I assure you," I said, trying to sit up again. I succeeded, though the room spun a little. "I'm neither."

The policeman stood and took hold of his radio.

"I'll be back in a minute. Don't go anywhere."

He pointed at the handcuffs and laughed as he exited the room. I heard the radio crackle and he began to speak to someone back at the station. I pulled frantically at the cuffs but they were solid and unrelenting. You're caught, they were saying. Deal with it.

Not a chance. I slid the ring attached to the bed, which I'd originally thought was a simple gurney, forwards, letting it slip down. Carefully pushing the chain over, I took the bed controls and pressed the button to lift the back. Then I did the same to the one to raise the middle part. Holding them down whilst trying not to vomit wasn't the easiest thing I'd had to do since entering the Mortal Realm and I discovered I hadn't mastered the art of multitasking. Anyway, I thought, it was a hospital. They'd be used to cleaning up patient's puke. I let it flow, being careful to miss the bed controls and my hands.

At first, I thought it would be a battle between the bed and my body with neither wanting to move as much as I was trying to get them to. The former seemed to have failsafe in place to prevent trapping of appendages and the latter just wasn't as bendy as it should be. I heard the crack as my spine stretched and distantly felt the growing ache as my joints were pushed to their limits. The bed folded against me, squashing me, but refused to go that short distance more. I moved as quickly as I dared. I didn't want to pass out and had the policeman, PC Edward Davidson, father of two, loving husband of an adulterous wife, to find me unconscious on the floor. I wanted him to find me not here at all.

On unsteady legs, I moved the handcuffs. The various parts of the bed were not going to meet, but there was one point in the corner of the side bars which would do nicely. The angle adjusted for movement as the patient raised or lowered the position. Right in the corner, normally out of reach for someone laid out on the mattress, was the sweet spot. I pressed the buttons again. There was the sound of motors and metal straining and then a snap as the handcuffs broke and fell from my wrist.

I looked around, hoping to see my clothes, but they were nowhere to be seen. There were drawers and a small cupboard but I didn't have time to search. I walked to the door and listened. I could only hear the sounds from the ward. Beeps and moans and subdued chatter.

Cracking open the door slightly, I peered out. I could see PC Davidson further down at the nurse's station. He was holding a vending machine drink and talking to a nurse. I assumed they knew each other from the way she was laughing at his words and touching his shoulder. There was a ward opposite my room. And empty bed over by the window beckoned me. I knew I couldn't walk out of the hospital. I couldn't run and flying was a no-no. I had to play it cool. Play it safe.

I could feel the draft on my buttocks but vanity and dignity could kiss them for all I cared. It wasn't my backside I was flashing in the hospital gown. I walked calmly, though unsteadily, across to the empty bed and slid between the covers, pulling them up. I kept my back to the corridor I'd just crossed and closed my eyes, holding my breath.

It didn't take long.

Mortals, no matter how hard they try, are rubbish at swearing. Even the most verbose curser is little more than a potty mouthed child when it comes to flaying their mother tongue with defecation. Still, the officer tried his best. I heard rapid footsteps, urgent calls on his radio and shouts between him and the nurse. After a few moments, quiet settled as he ran off to find me.

I gave it a few more moments before deciding to move myself.

"Come along then," said a voice. "Let's get you down to theatre."