Chapter 6
“Did you have fun last night?” Ella exclaimed loudly as she held Karina’s work blouse on the end of one finger, swinging it playfully from side to side. Karina felt her face blush as she grabbed it and made herself some coffee.
“So, how was he?” Ella asked as she pulled herself up onto the kitchen bench, dangling her legs playfully over the edge.
Karina tried to look innocent “What makes you think anything happened?”
“Karina, the entire apartment block heard the two of you last night.”
Karina buried her face in her hands “Ohhhhh nooooooo. How embarrassing.”
Ella laughed “Honey, trust me after the performance you two put in last night you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You did me proud,” she said as she slapped Karina playfully on the arm. “Is he still here?”
Karina let out a long frustrated sigh “No, he’s gone.”
“So where did you meet him?” Ella asked as she sipped her coffee.
“Down at the harbour the day Ian and I broke up.” Shame started to creep up on Karina as she told Ella. This was not the type of person she was.
Ella almost spat out the mouthful of coffee she tried to swallow “You only met him two days ago?”
Karina could feel regret ebbing at her, she had never slept with a guy she just met or had any one night stands. She was starting to feel cheap and used. “Don’t Ella, I feel trashy enough as it is without you making fun of me.”
“I wasn’t going to make fun of you. With a guy as smokin hot as Xavier I’m surprised you lasted two days. I certainly wouldn’t have.” Ella said as she slipped down off the counter and crossed off the previous day on her wall calendar. “Oh crap!”
“What?” Karina asked.
She pointed to the date “It’s a full moon tonight, you know what that means?”
“Yep, all the crazies will be out. Great, it’s going to be a long shift.”
Karina and Ella sat at their desk at the entrance to the mental health ward of Basinview Hospital. The ward, like the rest of the hospital was rundown. Everything appeared sterile and bland. The faded pale blue paint was in desperate need of re painting and the linoleum floors squeaked loudly under foot. The air conditioning worked inconsistently, so when the sun peered in through the wards western facing windows in the late afternoon, the patients had to make do with portable pedestal fans to cool them down. As much as the look of the hospital could depress a person, mental health was Karina’s passion. Much to her family’s disappointment, they wanted her to work in midwifery in preparation for becoming a mother herself. All they wanted for her was to find a good man, settle down and have children, like her older sister Helen. Karina wanted more out of life than that; she honestly felt she could make a difference in the world. Although she had to fight the system a lot to do it, government red tape was the bane of any nurse’s existence. It was her way of rebelling. Ella, on the other hand complained about the ward and the patients she had to deal with on a daily basis, but deep down she loved it too.
Andrea finished her rounds and joined the pair at the desk. “It must be your lucky day ladies”. She said in her high pitched girly voice. Andrea was a tall plump nurse with a short black bob. She thought she was much more important that she actually was and liked nothing more than trying to rein power over others.
“Why’s that?” Ella sighed.
“Larry has requested both of you today.”
Ella looked along the ward in the direction Andrea had come from “He’s here already?”
“No, Diane wouldn’t admit him; she sent him away and told him not to waste our time by coming back. But it is a full moon tonight so no doubt he will be back.” She couldn’t help laughing. It was a joke on the ward that the full moon was the busiest time of the month, but admission records for that date each month proved that it was no joke. Larry was affectionately known as a ‘full mooner’. Each full moon he would present to the hospital with a new array of symptoms or stories to be admitted for the night. No other time, only on the full moon. Each time he would request a different nurse, he had been around long enough to know them all. “What’s his ailment this month?” Ella joked.
Andrea shrugged her shoulders “I don’t know, I only saw him leaving, he was calling out for both of you as he left.”
“Great,” Ella moaned.
No sooner had they finished speaking of him, than the doors to the ward opened and in shuffled Larry. His clothes were dirtier and more dishevelled than usual. He wore dirty grey sandshoes that at some stage of their life had been white, the toes were worn through and his feet stuck out the end. His hair was matted and he had long bloodied finger scratches down each side of his face. Karina jumped up from her seat “Larry what happened?” He had never appeared at the hospital in such a state before.
“ Gotta let me stay, gotta let me stay. Not safe, not safe,” he shook his head frantically, his hands shaking with fear.
“What’s not safe?” Ella asked, trying to decipher the ramblings of this disturbed man.
“Streets, streets aren’t safe. Full moon not safe for Larry, not safe for Larry,” his face was pale and gaunt and he genuinely seemed frightened. His eyes were glazed and he didn’t meet anyone’s face. Larry was known for pulling stunts to try and stay overnight in the hospital, was this just another one? “Diane already told you to go Larry, we can’t help you. We can call a shelter for you to stay tonight.” Andrea offered.
“No, no, streets not safe, streets not safe.” He continued to ramble.
The three nurses all looked to each other, admitting Larry was bound to get them into trouble; they would be defying their matron’s order of not admitting him. This is where the system frustrated Karina the most. Larry was clearly in need of long term help, but if he was admitted here he was free to discharge himself whenever he liked, which was usually the case. Very few patients stayed longer than the 24 hour period required by law, especially if they were brought to the hospital by a police officer. “We have a mentally disturbed man who has presented to us with facial lacerations and suspected shock.” Karina chose her words carefully; she knew this would cross the line. She had to make sure that if she had to go before her superiors she had an iron clad reason for doing what she was about to do.
Ella smiled as she nodded her head in agreement “It is within our duty of care to help this man.”
Andrea crossed her arms and shook her head “I want no part of this, I’m going to do rounds.” And she headed down the hall.
Karina and Ella waited for Andrea to be out of sight before they snuck Larry into the opposite side of the ward. “Ok Larry, come this way.” Karina led Larry to the far end of the ward and into a small single room. “You have to stay in here ok, if Diane sees you she will throw you out.”
Larry looked up into Karina’s pale blue eyes “You good lady Nurse Karina,” he said as he touched her hand. Larry’s face turned paler and his eyes seemed to glaze over. “The wolf is coming.” He whispered, his voice holding a grave fear.
“What wolf?” Karina asked as she guided Larry to the bed, thinking nothing of his ramblings. Each month it was different, sometimes it was aliens, vampires or even Napoleons army. The wolf was a new one she had never heard before.
“The one who walks like a man but howls at the moon,” he mumbled as he slipped off his filthy shoes. Karina put on a pair of latex gloves and dropped them into a plastic bag on the end of the bed for Larry’s personal belongings. As he climbed into bed Karina pulled the covers over him and adjusted his pillows. She smiled politely and turned to leave. Larry grabbed her hand again and pulled her closer to him so they were now face to face. His nails were black with filth and looked as though they had dried blood on them. She could smell his rancid breath and see the dirt that had seeped into the deep crevices in his face. “Lycanthrope,” he whispered then howled loudly letting go of Karina.
She nodded “Ok Larry, you just get some rest. I’ll be b
ack soon to clean those scratches,” and she headed for the door.
“Beware Nurse Karina, beware.”
“Ok Larry.” She called closing the door behind her then quickly making her way back to the front desk, removing her gloves and sanitising her hands.
“So what’s his ghoul this month?” Ella asked as she handed Karina an admission form for Larry as she sat.
Shaking her head she answered “He said something about a wolf and a man and a lycanthrope, who knows what’s going on inside his head.”
Ella squinted her eyes as though trying to remember something “Lycanthrope, that’s a werewolf right?”
Karina shrugged absently as she signed the paperwork in front of her “I don’t know.”
“Anyway, are you going to see Xavier again or was last night a one off?” Karina felt dirty at the thought of Xavier leaving her last night while she was asleep. Last night had been the most passionate night of her life. Karina definitely wanted to see Xavier again.
“I don’t know, he just left in the middle of the night. What sort of guy does that?”
Ella smiled her cheeky smile again “The kind of guy that gets under your skin Karina.”
She shot a look at her best friend “What’s that suppose to mean?”
“Well it’s pretty obvious. You are upset about this guy leaving because you want to see him again, but do you really think he’s your type?”
“My type? You mean plain boring monotonous guys like Ian? You said it yourself, maybe that’s my problem; I go for the guys that my parents will approve of.”
Ella laughed “Oh Xavier is definitely not a guy your parents would approve of! You have just come out of a five year relationship. Your entire twenties, as it stands, have been with the same guy. Maybe it’s time to have some fun and not worry so much about what other people think.”
Karina started to fidget and wrung her hands in frustration “I don’t know what it is but he makes me feel alive inside. It’s hard to explain, but I feel angry and strong and womanly when I’m near him and I’ve only known him for two days and he’s disappeared and I may never see him again.”
“Did he give you his number?”
“No, I don’t know anything about this man other than he teaches at the uni.”
“Why don’t you drop by the uni?”
Karina looked at Ella in disbelief “Because I’m not a stalker!”
“Well then, since he seems to like the views at the harbour. After work we’ll have to take up walking.”
Karina shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I better go check on Larry,” she said as she pushed herself away from the desk and walked down the hall. As Karina opened the door to the room she found Larry clawing at his face. “Gotta get it out, gotta get it out,” he repeated, blood soaked peeled skin was hanging from his chin as more blood trickled down his throat soaking his clothes. Karina turned and shouted down the hall. “Call a doctor, Larry is self-harming, he needs medicating.”
The Beast Within Page 6