Katie squeezed her eyes shut and tried to will herselfback to sleep, but the noises from the kitchen didn't sound like normal Jasonnoises. His footsteps were stumbly and the periodic stomp of him trying tocatch his balance kept her from dozing off again. He must have really tied oneon.
She sat bolt upright in the bed when she heard theclatter of pots and pans on the ground. Who knew being married to a teacherwould be so annoying? Great, he gets three months off and acts like a damn highschool kid in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, she would have to get up at 7in the morning and make breakfast for Kevin then take him to his Boy Scoutmeeting, all with no sleep because someone needs their hand held in the nightbecause he drank too much.
Katie threw the covers back and slid her feet into herslippers. The air was cold on her bare legs, so she put on her bath robe. Shewalked silently down the hallway, pausing to listen and see if Kevin was stillsleeping or not. She didn't hear anything, so she walked softly down the stepsto the bottom floor.
When she rounded the corner to the kitchen, she saw Kevinstaring into it. He had a concerned look on his face, and he jumped when sheput her hand on his shoulder.
His pale face, with sleep still in the corners of hiseyes, looked up at her, "Mom, what's wrong with, Dad?"
"Nothing's wrong. Go to sleep." Katie guidedKevin gently back to the stairwell with her hand, and he took one lastconcerned look over his shoulder before walking back up the stairs. When hismaroon sweatpants disappeared from sight, she turned her attention back to herhusband, who was noisily rummaging through the refrigerator, making gruntingnoises, and generally sounding disgusting.
"Hey!"
Jason offered no response. His back was to her, so shecouldn't quite see what he was doing.
"Hey, Jason! What the hell are you doing?" shehissed, her arms folded and her voice dripping with annoyance.
Jason turned around, chunks of raw steak hanging from hismouth. His wound had stopped bleeding, and had taken on a blackish hue.
"What's wrong with you? You're going to get e.coli." The meat fell from Jason's mouth and made a sickening slappingsound on the linoleum. Jason held out his arms and began advancing on Katie.
"Alright, cut the shit. I'm not in the mood. I'vegot to get up in three hours." Still he did not respond. She backed awayfrom Jason just as he came within reach of her. He lunged at her and for thefirst time, she noticed the wound on his shoulder. His mouth opened incrediblywide, and the part of her that ran on pure instinct brought her knee up intohis groin. The effect was minimal, and just as Jason was about to take a biteout of her face, she fell backwards. He toppled over her and onto the groundnext to her.
Immediately, she rolled onto her stomach, and begancrawling away. Jason clumsily clawed after her. She aimed a pink-slippered footat his face, and kicked as hard as she could. The force of the kick knocked himbackwards, which gave her time to scramble to her feet. She ran up the stairs,contrary to every instinct in her body, and ripped open Kevin's door."C'mon. We have to get out of here."
"What's wrong, Mom?"
"Just get up. C'mon let's go." Kevin popped tohis feet and followed after her. They stopped at the landing to see Jason atthe bottom of the stairs slowly making his way up, tottering back and forth andusing the wall for support. He snarled at them when he saw them.
"What's wrong with Dad?" Kevin whimpered.
"I don't know," she said as she shoved Kevininto her bedroom. She closed the door behind her and locked it. "Grab myphone. We need to call the police." As Kevin pulled her phone from thecharging dock, the wood of the bedroom door shuddered. It wasn't going to lastlong.
Kevin made as if to hand her the phone, but she refusedit. "Call 911," she huffed as she began dragging her oak dresser infront of the bedroom door. It shuddered again as Kevin dialed the numbers.
Chapter 12: Haldol and Bite Wounds
Clara was worried. The ride from the club to the hospitalhadn't been much longer than 30 minutes, but Courtney was already babbling andhallucinating. The E.R. waiting room didn't seem too busy, but as it usuallygoes with these things, even a handful of patients seemed to be too much forthe hospital to handle at once. Clara had filled out the paperwork as best asshe could, but there's only so much a person can do for another person. Who thehell knows their boyfriend's social security number? Psychopaths, and shewasn't one of those. Courtney wasn't in much of a mood to be helping her answerthe questions. Her first attempt at asking him his social security number hadled to an incoherent string of numbers that ended after the sixth one. When sheasked him if he could repeat that, he merely shook his head no.
She pressed her hand against his forehead, and flinchedat the warmth radiating from his brow. How long could it take to get into theE.R.?
Just when she was about to go up to the nurse's stationand begin making a scene, they called Courtney's name.
Clara helped Courtney stand, which was a chore. He hadlost all semblance of coordination, and after they had taken two steps,Courtney toppled forward on his face. He immediately tried to rise, but it wasno use. He seemed like a newborn horse trying to get to its feet for the firsttime.
The nurse that had called Courtney's name brought awheelchair over. Together, the nurse and Clara helped the helpless Courtneyinto the chair, while Clara apologized and said, "He didn't even drinkthat much." Clara followed with a growing sense of dread as they wheeledhim back into the E.R. proper.
They sat in a room with a sheet around it and machineryseemingly stationed haphazardly.
