Nightmares (slow updates!)

Chapter 25

Patrick's POV

"You need to come to the hospital" Belches fuzzy voice spoke through Henry's kitchen phone. My face scrunched in confusion, the fuck would I go to the hospital for. "What the hell for?" I replied, annoyed by this phone call that I was sure had to be a prank.

There was a long pause filled with static before he spoke again. "Somethings wrong with Poppy." he answered. Immediately my mind went into over drive. "What the fuck do you mean something is wrong with Poppy? I was just with her this morning. What's wrong with her? And how the fuck do you even know that?" I said back, my voice coming out as more aggressive then I had meant for it to. "I-I don't know. I found her on the ground, she was covered in blood"

I quickly hung up the phone, not bothering to continue the conversation. Lucky for me I had picked up my dads old truck on the way over to Bowers house, it was the whole reason I came over here in the first place. I exited the house and hurried my way over to Butches workshop.

"I gotta go" I said as soon as I opened the door. Henry looked over at me from where he stood over the trucks engine, oil and grease smeared across his face. "What's wrong?" He questioned, pulling the hood shut and moving over to the toolbox. He grabbed a rag and began wiping his blackened hands on it. "I don't know yet." was my only reply. Hurriedly I got in and started the engine before heading off towards Derry medical center.

The drive felt like it took an hour. Every second of not knowing if poppy was ok made me feel sick. Once I finally parked, I got out and sprinted inside. "Can you tell me what room Poppy Moore is in?" I asked the receptionist. She gave me a side eye before slowly typing on her computer. Her slowness made me want to jump across the counter and break her fingers one by one. "Yes... Poppy Moore... that would be room 273 on the second floor" the women told me in her obnoxious voice. I immediately walked away from her and towards the stairs.

I sprinted up to the second floor and before I even started to look I saw Belch walk out of a room. I hurried over to him dodging some nurses and pushing past some visitors. "What the fuck happened? Is she ok?" I rushed out as soon as I made it over to him. He looked startled, as if he had seen a ghost. "I don't know what happened. I found her laying on the ground by the road, she was all bloody and when I tried to ask her what happened she kept saying something was trying to kill her. I-I didn't know what else to do but bring her here" he replied.

I gave him a slow nod, confused by what he was saying. I walked past him and pushed open the heavy wooden door to her hospital room. As I entered I saw Poppy sitting on the bed. My eyes widened in disbelief as I noticed all the blood. It was all over her clothing, covering her hair, and I could see where they had wiped it off of her face. There was a dazed look in her eyes as she stared at the floor.

I rushed over to her, taking her red stained hands into mine. Her eyes met mine and a look of fear and sadness washed over her face. "I thought you were gone." She said. She spoke slowly and her voice sounded horse, like she had been screaming for hours. "What do you mean?" I questioned, not understanding why she would say that. The room filled with silence as she just stared at me. "Poppy, what happened?" I asked, praying that she would just fucking tell me.

"I think I'm going crazy." she whispered as tears began pouring down her face. Her expression changed into a numb stare, like it was to much to even feel. I had never seen her like this before, she seemed completely broken. I stood and and moved over to the bed, sitting down next to her and pulling her into my arms. "Don't say that, You are not crazy" I reassured her kissing the side of her face.

Suddenly I heard the door open and in walked a short man in a white lab coat. He was wheeling a table in behind himself with a bunch of assorted medical instruments on it. "Alright poppy, lets have a look at that cut" he said moving over to the bed. I quickly got up and out of his way, sitting in a chair that was a few feet away. She didn't move or respond, she just sat there. The doctor proceeded to move her hair out of the way, exposing the massive gash on the side of her head.

Gore was usually something I was a big fan of, but the sight of her injury made my stomach turn. "Oh, wow. Ya that's definitely going to need a couple of stitches. How'd that happen?" The doctor asked. " I fell" she replied, still unmoving from where she sat. He nodded slowly at her response. His eyebrows were knit together as if he was thinking about something. His eyes flickered in my direction, a suspicious look taking over his face as if I was the one who had done the damage. I wanted to say something, ask him if he had a problem, but knowing it would only upset poppy I kept my mouth shut.

I watched as he grabbed a flashlight from the medical tray and turned it on. He instructed Poppy to look as his nose as he began shining the instrument in her eyes. "Poppy, do you know what today's date is?" He asked after turning off the flashlight.

Her eyes shifted to me as if she wanted me to answer for her, like she was unsure. "I...I don't remember." she finally said. "And do you know where you are?" He continued as he started to clean her wound. She looked around the room before answering, as if she hadn't even noticed where she was this whole time. "At the hospital"

I got up and held her hand as the doctor had her lay back. He started an IV on her opposite arm and told her that he was just giving her some pain medication. I knew at that point something was seriously wrong. She didn't move or cry or flinch for the entire 30 minutes that he was working.

"Alright. We are all done. I had the receptionist call your father and he said that it was alright to go ahead and release you after you were treated for your injury. I will be sending some pain medication home with you as well as care instructions for those stitches. It also seems to me that you most likely have a concussion so I'd feel so much better if I knew someone was going to be at home with you to wake you every 2 to 3 hours." He rambled on as he cleaned his work station and threw away his plastic gloves.

"Patrick's gonna be there." she replied to him with a nod. She seemed a bit more aware now but that could have just been the medicine. The doctor eyed me up and down before giving a hesitant nod. "Alright. Well as I said, if she falls asleep make sure you wake her up every 2 to 3 hours. That's just to make sure she's still coherent and no complications arise from the head injury" he grabbed a couple of papers and handed them to me before telling poppy the nurse would be in shortly and exiting the room.

We went through the process of getting her checked out of the hospital despite her telling me over and over that I could leave. Of course I didn't, refusing to leave her side as I awaited for the nurse to let us know she could leave. It wasn't until we were making our way out of the building that I noticed her only clothing was a tank top and a pair of pajama shorts. I picked her up and carried her to the truck, not wanting her bare feet to get burned by the hot asphalt beneath us. After opening the door I set her inside and shut it. I got in and started the engine and we headed off towards the house.

When we arrived in the driveway and got out of the car, poppy walked sluggishly behind me as she held my hand. I unlocked the door and and walked inside, but Poppy stopped on the porch. I turned around to see a look of terror in her face. "I don't wanna go in there" she said, shaking her head in disapproval. "Poppy, it's ok. Nothing going to hurt you I promise." I said, doing my best to reassure her. She just kept shaking her head. "I don't wanna go in there." She said once again. I was just confused at this point.

Letting go of her hand I headed off towards her dads office. Maybe if I showed her that there was no one else here and that she was safe that she would come inside. I noticed as I approached the office doors that there was blood on the copper door handle. The print looked strange and large, not like anything poppy's hand could have made. I hesitantly pulled the door open.

Once the door was fully opened I noticed 2 sets of bloody footprints on the wooden floor. One set was poppy's, I could tell by the size, but the others where much bigger. They were printed on the floor in a way that made it clear that whoever's footprints those were, was chasing Poppy as she tried to get away. My eyes flickered to her fathers wooden desk which was now adorned with 4 long scratch marks and the dismembered rat that lay on the floor. What the actually fuck.

The sight of the prints made me so fucking angry. Angry that someone else had been in the house. Angry that I wasn't here to stop them from touching her. Angry that someone even wanted to hurt her in the first place. I didn't know who they belonged to but one thing I knew for sure was I would never let anyone touch her again.

AUTHORS NOTE: Just for reference I know it's weird that she was released from the hospital with no parent present but i think poppy is the type of kid who is and has been very independent for a long time and I don't think her dad would be that worried over a cut on her head.