In Dreams: Bleed Out

Blood Letting

Things were normal the week leading up to my murder.

I did the same things I always did.  I went to work, then home, work, grocery store, home, work, home, work, post office, home.  You know, the same boring thing day after day.

I tried to keep to my new diet due to having kidney stones.  Tried to exercise as I had been instructed.

Ha, who am I kidding! What the hell, might as well tell it as it is.  The only exercise I got was my job and walking to the post office on occasion, and I mostly did that when I was bored out of my mind.  I had been known to make that walk at any time of the day or night, and while this boring, sleepy town had almost no crime to speak of, I still tried to be cautious about my surroundings.  The hilarious thing is, I never expected anything to happen to me in broad daylight. Who commits a crime in plain view in the middle of the day? Scratch that, I know who.

The last thing I remember on that fateful day, was crossing the street across from the post office.  The sun was beating down on me relentlessly, and I was sweating myself silly.  I regretted walking at that point, and I remember glaring up at the sun before checking the street to see if it was safe to cross. A car horn beeped, making me check to make sure I wasn't in immediate danger, and then my memory gets a little jumbled up and weird.

When I woke up, I was laying on the ground in a cold, dark room that smelled of mold.  It looked like it was night, but I couldn't be sure.  The walls and floor were concrete, crumbled and broken.  Plus, I was wet, warm sticky wet.  It was seeping into my clothes and the back of my arms and legs.

I struggled to sit up, but my body wasn't really listening to me.  I felt like there was a lag between my brain and my movements.  I panicked and struggled harder to move.  My breathing quickened, and I was hit with a wave of dizziness.

"Oh you're awake!"  A cheerful voice greeted me. I moved my head slowly, trying to locate the source.  I took in the large dilapidated room, it looked like some sort of classroom, but also in a strange way not.  Had I hit my head?  I was so dizzy.  Behind me, on a broken concrete staircase, stood a woman, leaning against one of the only remaining sections of rail.  I tried to ask her what was going on, but my mouth wasn't forming the words correctly.

"Shush, shush now-don't try to talk or struggle too much, it'll just make you bleed out faster."  The woman scolded, shaking her golden curls sadly.

Bleed out?  What did she mean, bleed out?  I tried looking at my body from my awkward position on the floor.  Had I broken something or gotten hurt? How did I end up here?  I couldn't remember anything!

"Oh here... let me help you..."  The woman offered happily as she came down the crumbling concrete stairs.  She propped me up against the stairs and lovingly placed the IV tubing coming out of my arm in a better position.

IV tubing?  What the hell is going on?  I followed the path of the tubing with my eyes.  The clear tubing was less than a foot long, connecting to a needle in my arm.  It ended in a puddle of my blood.  A very large puddle.  That couldn't be right.  Didn't IV's usually have bags attached?  Wait..  This room wasn't an emergency room, it was falling apart.  Had the world ended? I felt like giggling, but I didn't have the energy.

"How are we feeling right now?  Has the dizziness set in yet?  What about the lethargy or confusion?  Oh well, the sedative probably takes care of that."  The deranged woman was searching my face eagerly with her sea green eyes.

The pool of blood around me was so big.  This woman was almost kneeling in it.  At least I knew what was soaking me now, not that it helped.  I closed my eyes and felt my head droop.

"Oh no, no! We can't have any of that!"  The woman said chipperly, lightly slapping my face.  I opened my eyes again and nearly giggled again at this crazy woman. She was dressed in an old fashioned nursing uniform, little white dress, shoes, cap, the works, hair done all up like a 50's pinup star.  She was a little plump, not overly so, just enough to make you feel comfortable in her presence.  I felt like something was wrong, but I couldn't remember what it was.

Wait-this shouldn't be funny, there was something bad happening.  My focus slipped again and I looked passed her to observe a chunk of broken concrete that sort of looked like a rabbit that had been impaled by a bit of rebar.  My mind kept screaming that something was wrong here, but it just wasn't bothering me that much.

"Look at me dear, look at me-that's a good girl! I do like to watch as the life fades from the eyes, you know."  She said sweetly, and that's when it hit me.  I vainly tried to move again, but my arms barely flopped.  I didn't want to DIE here!  But I was so, so dizzy.  I moaned and tried to sit up.  The 'nurse' pushed me back down again, saying "Nuh uh uh"

Jesus, this woman talked like a Disney character.  I noticed my ears had begun to ring, and it felt like my heart squeezed in my chest. This was very dangerous, I needed to....

What was it again?  My limbs were just so heavy.  I tried to readjust my position and couldn't move them at all, but I realized it didn't matter.  I was just suddenly tired, and I realized I felt...peaceful.  My muscles began to relax and my gaze lost focus.

"There it is."  The woman cooed  "Such a shame you went so quickly. The others seemed to have lasted longer, but oh well, it can't be helped."  She sighed sadly and shook her curls slowly.

My head dropped back, hitting the concrete of the staircase base, and the ceiling slowly became a fuzzy blur.  My breathing lagged and my heart stuttered. I didn't really care though, I was comfortable, and thought about how nice it would be to sleep.  The 'nurse' sighed and waited a few more minutes.  My lungs took too long to bring in the next load of air.

"Your bleeding has almost stopped.  I guess the show's over."  The 'nurse' sounded disappointed.  My heart squeezed again and I heard the broken concrete crunch as the nurse headed back towards the stairs.  My mind felt like it was floating free of my skull, and I kind of wanted to see if I could float away.  One more breath rasped through my lungs then my heartbeat paused for what felt like an eternity.  The 'nurse' hesitated for a moment on the stairs, and as if satisfied that I was not going to do anything else, slowly left the area.  I heard her footsteps fading in the distance.  My heart thudded heavily.  It almost hurt that it just kept going.  Apparently, it didn't want to give up yet, and I would have been irritated about that, but I was just too tired to care.  Another thud was followed by a shallow breath.  I wished I could shut my eyes, but I couldn't will the muscles to move.  The stillness was lulling me to sleep, maybe they would close on their own...  How long had it been now between heart beats?

A shadow swam across my blurry vision.  The room abruptly spun, and everything went dark.