Rouge

Rouge - Chapter Twenty-Seven

The hospital ceiling was pale gray, just like the rest of the room. Just like the rest of the building, in fact. Jenny Smart was sick of it. She’d been there only three days and already she wanted to leave.

Jenny breathed a long sigh and let her eyes roam the dim, empty hospital room. Water dripped into the tiny sink in the corner where packets of plastic gloves were stashed. In the distance she could hear gurneys rolling through the corridors and padded feet on the linoleum floors. There were soft voices from the receptionist desk a few doors down. It was late, and there were hardly any workers around. Valerie had said goodbye for the night, and she was alone.

Alone. It had become her life since she graduated college and became a teacher. Her work consumed her during the day, and then she caught the subway to her empty apartment in a building filled with grumpy tenants and busy families with loud, screaming kids. It was a wonder she got any of her marking done. Then she curled up with a book on the couch and tried to ignore the thumps from her roof or the arguing of her newlywed neighbors. When she finally crawled into bed, she stared at the empty pillow beside her and always felt an ache in her chest. Alone.

At least it wouldn’t be for much longer. It had been a long time coming anyway. The smoke from the fire that infected her lungs only sped up the process. For that, she was grateful. She couldn’t imagine living for so long in such a dull, depressing, sick place like this.

She was grateful for Hunter. Apart from her mother – who lived in the Hamptons and sent flowers before coming down to visit days after the accident – the young girl was her only friend. Jenny wasn’t one to go out on the town with a bunch of girls or hit up bars and chat to burly men clasping pints of beer and hoping to ‘get some’. She was a science teacher, nothing special.

And now her theories were becoming a reality right before her eyes. Perfect timing, she thought sarcastically. And what happens now, Jen? She gazed at the ceiling, feeling ill and weak and altogether furious with her body. What can you possibly do with the biggest scientific discovery of the century while your body deteriorates?

She already knew the answer to that. Nothing. There would be no point. Her time was coming. It had been for a while now.

Jenny felt unpleasantly cold in her hospital bed. She drew the itchy blue blanket further up her neck and felt a shiver go through her. Usually the hospital was perfectly comfortable, but tonight it was extra chilly.

Painfully, she turned over on her right and stared at the bedside table. Next to the pile of books people had kindly delivered was a glass of water. Frowning, she peered through the silver glow from the streetlight outside. There was no condensation on the glass and the water was foggy, as if it had been frozen solid. She reached over and touched the glass.

It felt like ice and hardly rippled.

Miss Smart’s raspy breath came out in puffs of air and she peered around the room again. The curtain was drawn across the opposite bed, but she knew for a fact there was no one in it. Had another patient come in while she was sleeping earlier? Miss Smart would have awoken. She was a very light sleeper, especially in a foreign place.

Why is it so cold in here? She clawed at her blankets, but it made no difference. The cold was seeping through her veins, all the way to the tips of her toes.

The slightest cracking sound snapped her head to the side and she stared in horror at the glass of water that was slowly darkening, turning to ice before her very eyes. Her heart pounded, but it was no longer connected to the heart rate monitor. No one could hear it thudding against her chest. She watched the mantis-green curtain, waiting - for what, she didn’t know - until she felt the uncontrollable need to scream.

The second she opened her mouth, her throat constricted. It closed in on her completely. She went suddenly stiff and fell back on the pillow. Her blood was slowing. She could feel it thickening, freezing inside her. Her muscles tightened and she couldn’t even move her eyes to the curtain on the other side of the room. But she could hear it rustling.

Footsteps padded at an achingly slow pace across the floor.

The water in the glass hissed as it expanded, crackling like bacon in a hot pan.

And the shadow of a man came into her vision, his silhouette blocking the light from the window. Jenny felt panic rise in her, but only for a moment. Then, she realized she knew exactly who it was.

Death. Finally, he had come for her.

The shadow loomed upon her and she saw his face. The eyes were psychotic and chilled her every bone. He was smiling, but then the smile started to fade. The longer he gazed at her, his eyes searching her face for something she didn’t understand, the more he frowned. Before she could decipher the confusion and – wait, was that hesitation? – he opened his mouth and breathed down upon her.

Jenny felt her entire body crack like the ice in the glass and her eyes drooped shut. She fell into a cold darkness and knew she would not be surfacing again. But in that darkness, she was released from the pain that gripped her body. At last, she was free.