Chapter 16

She heard the trundle of a small trolley rattling against the hard stone floor.
With painful slowness Kat opened her eyes and sat up slowly, her bones aching and creaking at every slight movement.
A jolly nurse dressed in a crisp dusty blue blouse and skirt, with a starched white apron and a tight bun clipped back briskly at the back of her head was coming towards her, with her trolley full of steaming packages.
"What's this?" Kat managed to ask.
"Dinner! I came to you first because you're in a Private Room, I heard on a grapevine you'll be out in a couple of days!" She smiled falsely.
"Oh." Kat replied quietly, and watched silently as she brought a small tray with a bottle of water and a steaming box of pasta and a sickly red dyed tomato sauce on top.
She grimaced - but concealed it quickly.
"Thanks." She replied hoarsly, trying not to let her disgust at this slop show in her voice.
"Do you want anything? A wash? Some company? A game?" She asked kindly, as she handed Kat to frail plastic knife, fork and a slim knapkin.
Slowly, Kat slowly spooned some of the mess in her mouth.
Mmm. Not bad.
"No thanks." She spluttered.
The Nurse smiled hugely and trotted out - scraping her trolley along the floor.
Kat finished off the pasta, and sunk down in the bed, leaving to bowl quivering ontop of the tray.
"I feel much better...In fact I should go home right this minute." She muttered vaguely and fell into a much needed sleep.


Light danced through the paned windows and the stuffy heat pounded at my chest.
I turned around and examined the place.
It was a church - of sorts.
With paned windows and...something else - something else I couldn't quite see.
I felt like a fairy.
I could feel an invisible wind whipping my hair, swirling my white, fresh dress.
I danced in the small space between pews, feeling as light as a feather twirling, whirling.
There was a defeaning crash and the church seemed to darken.
The light through the windows dissolved and I became just a small pale speck in a sea of darkness.
Slowly - creeping through the shadows came Cythanie.
She wore a veil of black netting, thick and in many layers, which trailed down past her slender feet and several centimetres of trailing material.
Her eyes burned a viscious red, her full red lips pulled tightly together.
She leaped high in the air - I felt a brush of cold air, and suddenly everything turned white.