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“He can’t be a werewolf.”
I said the words out loud, addressing the trees surrounding the parking lot. Tall, old trees, part of the forest that stretched from one side of town to the other. Prudence was a lovely old town that had a few creepy legends about things going bump in the night. I’m a logical person with a crazy active imagination.
No, this is Minnesota. People used to make up stories to pass the long winter. It’s not as if I live in Twilight country. We are practical people, down to earth.
The more I thought about it, the more I decided to chalk the entire event down to me being crazy, or that my mind was playing tricks on me.
But I wasn’t crazy.
There was still some of his blood under my fingernails. I noticed it as the sun started to creep up from behind the trees.
Being crazy makes one do crazy shit. Jumping into the truck, I pushed the pedal to the floor and exited the parking lot. I moved so fast that I disturbed the peaceful gravel covering the ground, making certain the lot didn’t turn into a huge puddle. I arrived home and stormed into the house like a person possessed.
When I got home, I took the shirt that was soaked in his blood and moved it into another bag. The bullets were now hidden inside an old tea box I would never use. It was a way to keep them as proof. After changing into scrubs and running my hands through my hair, I pulled my phone from the plug and drove straight to the hospital.
4
YANA
Instead of going to my ward, I made my way to the morgue. The white light and the septic smell comforted my stress-filled and sleep-addled brain. Our night security guy, Dino, was watching a movie on his tablet.
“Good morning, Miss Yana. Everything okay?”
“Good morning. Is Karl at work?”
“Yes. Do you want me to call him?”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll go scare him.”
Dino nodded and smiled as I walked over to the elevator and pushed the button for the basement. The elevator had mirrors. I saw myself from all damn angles. It sent chills through me.
“Zombie much?” I asked as the doors opened with a whoosh.
The door to the morgue was closed. A small button on the right said RING HERE.
After ringing twice, Karl, a pathology tech who had a crush on me since we were in high school, showed up. I recognized his footsteps before I even saw him. He was tall and lanky, as always. His long hair was up in a ponytail. Even though smoking was forbidden inside the hospital, he had a cigarette hanging from his lips. He pulled the door open with too much enthusiasm for such an early hour.
“Yana, what a surprise!”
His smile stretched, turning his face into a wax figure. It made me itch, but I smiled back. Karl leaned down and awkwardly put one arm around me while holding his burning cigarette away with the other hand.
“I missed you, kid.” His voice made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I tried to do everything I could not to pull away from him. I needed him. Fuck.
“Hi, Karl. Do you have a moment?”
“Yeah, sure. Wow. I’m so happy to see you. Do you want a coffee?”
“Sure, but I don’t want to keep you from work.”
“It’s not as if my patients are going anywhere, right?” He laughed and took a drag from his cigarette, releasing the smoke into the corridor.
I bit my lower lip in a flirty way, or at least I hoped that it was flirty. Being married most of my life, I wasn’t interested in flirting or paying attention when someone flirted with me.
“Pathology humor. Sorry. Come, let’s get a coffee.”
Karl put his arm around my shoulders and guided me. We walked to the small kitchen. He pushed a button on Keurig, which started to dispense my coffee.
“Milk and sugar, like you used to?”
