that he had a little headache. And drifted into a peaceful sleep.
Chapter 11
No!” he shouted and bolted up from a dream.
It took his eyes a tick to adjust to the darkness. He saw the little carton of milk with the picture of Emily Bertovich. He saw the old fuzzy TV bolted high above the room. And his mom asleep in the big chair right next to him. And he remembered.
He was in the hospital.
It was quiet. The only light came from the clock. It glowed green and hummed 11:25 p.m. Christopher almost never woke up in the middle of the night.
But the dream was terrifying.
His heart pounded against his breastbone. He could hear it like a drummer hitting sticks inside his body. He tried to remember the nightmare, but for the life of him he couldn’t recall a single detail. The only proof was a slight headache that felt like bony fingers pushing on his temples. He crawled under the covers to feel safe, but the minute his body relaxed under the thin, scratchy blanket, he could feel a familiar pressure under the drafty hospital robe.
Christopher had to pee.
The balls of his feet hit the cold tiles beside his bed, and he tiptoed to the bathroom. He was about to open the door when he got this strange feeling. For a second, he thought that if he opened his bathroom door, there would be someone there. He put his head against the wood of the door and listened.
Drip drip drip went the faucet.
He would have called out, but he didn’t want to wake his mother. So, he gave the door a slight tap. He waited, but there was no sound. Christopher gripped the handle and started to open the door. Then, he stopped. Something was wrong. It felt like there was a monster in there. Or something else. Something that hissed. The hiss reminded him of a baby rattle. But not from a baby. From a rattlesnake.
He went into the hallway instead.
Christopher walked through the darkness and the quiet hum of machines. He peeked up at the night desk where two nurses were sitting. One of them was on the phone. It was Nurse Tammy, who was always so nice and brought him extra desserts.
“Yes, Dad. I’ll get the wine at the state store for Mum’s birthday. MerLOT it is. Good night,” Nurse Tammy said and hung up.
“Does your father know it’s pronounced mer-LOW?” the other nurse asked.
“No, but he put me through nursing school,” she said with a smile. “So, I’ll never correct him.”
Christopher swung the door open for the men’s room.
The room was dark and empty. Christopher went to the urinal. The short one. It took him a while to navigate the hospital gown. As he peed, he remembered how Special Ed always went to the bathroom right after remedial reading class. He would stand about four feet from the urinal and try to sink his “long shots.” Christopher missed Special Ed. He couldn’t wait to see him for Bad Cat 3D tomorrow!
Christopher was so excited daydreaming about the movie, he didn’t hear the door open behind him.
He went to the sink to wash his hands. He couldn’t exactly reach, so he strained to stand up tall enough to get the soap. The automatic soap made a groaning sound and threw a small dollop on his wrist. He got his hands coated in the soapy goo and reached up to trigger the automatic sink. But he wasn’t tall enough. He reached and he strained but nothing worked.
And then, the withered hand came from behind him to turn on the water.
“She’s coming,” the voice said.
Christopher screamed and spun around.
He saw an old woman. Her face was wrinkled, her back crooked as a question mark.
“I can see her. She’s coming for us,” she said.
She lit a cigarette, and in the flicker of light, he saw her stained dentures. Perfectly straight and yellow. A cane in one hand. The cigarette shaking with age and arthritis in the other. Her hand moving her cane. Tap tap tap.
“Little boys need to wash their hands for her,” she said.
Christopher backed away from her as she puffed like a dragon.
“Where is the little boy going?” she said and walked toward him. “Little boys need to wash their hands clean!”
His back hit the handicapped stall. The door opened like a rusty gate.
“You can’t hide from her! Little boys need to get clean for her! Death is coming! Death is here! We’ll die on Christmas Day!” she