The Psychic Next Door

Chapter 8: Him

Freshly bandaged and cleaned up, I now paced wildly in the ER's seating area, waiting for news from Polly. Her injuries were far more serious than mine, and they had carted her off for X-Rays nearly an hour and a half ago. I was starting to get ansty.

A low voice came from behind me, making me skid to an immediate halt. "You're with Ms. Greenbury, yes?"

I turned. A tall, handsome man in a white coat and mint scrubs was standing before me. His name-tag said he was a resident.

"How is she?" I asked, worried.

"She's got a fractured ankle, but otherwise, she'll be fine," he said, his voice lilting with a gentle Indian accent, as he checked his clipboard. "Could've been a lot worse from what I hear. Dropping a glass coffee table while on the stairs? Dear me." He shook his head.

"Yeah, can't say it was fun." I forced a smile.

That 'glass coffee table' was the cover story we had come up with in the car. After all, we couldn't exactly tell the doctor that we had just faced some sort of a... Even now, I struggled to put it into words.

"You can go see her now." He pointed down a short hall. "She's in the far bed. We're just waiting for her cast to set, then you can go home."

"Great. Thank you so much!" I said and then darted away, following his finger. The double doors at the end opened up into a large ward. I glanced up and down the rows, trying to spot Polly. Most of the beds were empty, save a mother with her young son, who was counting the fresh stitches in his arm; a teenage girl in a volleyball uniform with a bag of ice on her knee, surrounded by a few of her teammates; and one bed, at the end of one row with a crowd around it.

That had to be Polly.

As I walked over, no one noticed me; they were too enraptured with Polly as she was busy retelling our cover story.

"So, halfway up the stairs, I misplace my foot, and whoosh!" She made a swiping motion through the air. "My foot goes out from under me. So, I fall and, in the process of falling, let go the coffee table. It lands on my leg before sliding down and taking out poor Rachel, my friend who I came in with. And then the glass did what glass does when it's dropped, and my ankle did what ankles do when you drop a coffee table on them. They broke!"

Her small crowd laughed, completely under her charms. Still, though Polly was giving it her all, I could see a noticeable difference in her eyes. They were darkened... not quite dead, but they had come close. They had seen the kind of things you couldn't unsee.

A nurse clapped his hand to his face in horror. "That's awful!"

Polly shrugged casually, playing her role well. "It's as simple, and as stupid, as that."

"Guess next time you'll leave the heavy lifting to the men!" teased a silver-haired doctor.

Polly's jaw clenched for a moment, and then her mouth swept up into a brilliant smile. To an outsider it might look enticing, but I had seen it enough times to know what it really meant. It was a good sign to back off. "Right you are, doctor!" Polly said through her teeth.

I cleared my throat to save Polly from the gawkers. They all turned to look, and Polly's eyes brightened as soon as she saw me. "There you are!"

I waved awkwardly as I waded through the group of people, making my way to her bedside. "Hey! How are you feeling?"

"Like I could use a drink," Polly cracked, and her group of admirers chuckled; was it only me who saw how forced it was? Poor Polly.

"We all could, honey," came a voice from behind me. It was a nurse, who looked very imposing despite her short stature. She nodded to the crowd of people around Polly. "But these guys need to earn it first." She clapped loudly twice. "Get back to work, people! Let the lady rest!"