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Shivers radiated outward until her skin burned with goosebumps, each a needle pricking numb skin.
The world spun around her.
Before Eryn could make a clean break, Karen dashed over and reached to squeeze a hand on Eryn’s shoulder.
Eryn stiffened and slid out of reach, not trusting herself. She bit down hard to keep her teeth from audibly rattling.
“We did everything we could,” Karen said gently.
A laugh vibrated in the back of her throat, a resonant cheer in her mind as she relished the unmatched sensation of touching death.
Fucking bitch was testing her. To make her realize how close she was to losing her humanity.
Eryn folded her arms over her chest, squeezing tight to slow the convulsive chills. Her jaw trembled with the threat of an impending sob.
“Go on. Go home and get some rest,” Karen murmured, and nudged Eryn toward the locker room.
So close to alone, she picked up her pace as she rounded the corner.
“Eryn.” Only a distant echo under the blaring tinnitus, someone called down the hall.
Heart beating erratically under her ribs, she pretended she didn’t hear.
“Wait. Eryn.” The voice grew closer, footsteps tapping over the scuffed concrete of the hall.
Just reaching the locker room, she set her hand on the door.
The man waved to appear in her periphery.
She turned and forced a smile, gritting her teeth to stop the shiver. “Hey, Wade.”
Wade jogged the final few paces and slowed, coming to a stop too close for comfort. “Are you doing okay?”
“Yeah. Ready to be home,” she said quickly, before her jaw started trembling visibly.
“I was called in for an ED patient pleading to ‘embrace death,’ and sobbing about a winged creature. I think it’s the acute trauma, not a psychotic episode, but he’s stable enough and I’ll check back on him tomorrow. Maybe he can shed some light on… on what happened.” After the lengthy pursuit across the emergency department, he breathed heavily. “Awful. Simply awful. The trauma those poor folks went through today. And, Eryn, I know the toll that takes on the people trying to help. If you want to talk, professionally or as a friend, don’t hesitate, okay? Or you can talk to any of the other psychiatrists or one of the counselors. We’re here.” He quickly added, “For everyone in the department.”
“Thank you. Really.” She pressed the door. A healthcare professional collapsing just outside the ER guaranteed an exhaustive workup. She wasn’t sure what they would find. At a minimum, they’d think their thermometer was busted, or that she had some bizarre form of subacute hypothermia. She didn’t even want to know what her EKG or labs would show. A neuro exam would be wildly abnormal, and she wasn’t sure she could fake normal anymore.
He paused, his brow lowering as the psychiatrist seemed to remember his medical assessment skills. “Are you feeling alright? You’re pale as a ghost.”
She nodded emphatically, widening her teeth-gritting smile. “Long shift.”
“Of course. Of course. I’m sorry, I won’t keep you. Please. Don’t hesitate to call if I can help.”
“Thanks again.” Nausea swelled in her throat.
“Good. Good.” Wade backed up a step. “Do you have someone to drive you home?”
The strangest words she’d ever uttered flowed strangely easily from her lips. “Vann’s outside. Thanks.”
“Alright. I’ll see you around.” He walked backward with a gentle squint in his expression.
Empty. The locker room echoed, abandoned. Shift change was three hours ago.
Blood stained her scrubs. The chill of death penetrated deep into her skin. Near collapse, shivering hard, she went straight for the showers.
Pressure built in her sinuses, throbbing in her throat and swelling behind her eyes. Instead of the searing heat welling in her eyes she used to feel after a fucked-up night, the burn was ice. Liquid nitrogen infused straight into her arteries. As her breath halted and restarted, panting, she clutched at her chest to draw in more unnecessary oxygen. Instead of her breath warming wintry air and creating a foggy precipitate, the humid air she exhaled was crystalline.
