The Initiation

Chapter Five

  I was groggy when I woke in the morning and headed into the showers to wake up, telling Veronica to go ahead to the cafeteria without me. She promised to have an extra-large cup of coffee waiting for me after my shower, for which I was so grateful I could have kissed her.  

    I let the warm water flow over me and tried to wrap my head around what was going on, but I didn’t have any more luck now than I did when I tossed and turned all night in my bed.

    I went back to our room, and as promised, a large cup of steaming coffee sat on our desk. I dropped everything in a pile by the door and practically ran for it. My eyes closed in bliss as the first sip of sugar-fueled caffeine hit my tongue. I was forever in my best friend’s debt.

    My head wasn’t as fuzzy as I ran down to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat before my first class, but when I got there, I wished I’d had at least one more cup of coffee to deal with the commotion.

    It seemed the entire area was in an uproar, and the noise was deafening.  

    “What’s going on?” I asked the nearest student.

  “Haven’t you heard?” the student asked excitedly. “There’s been another attack!”

    “What?” I exclaimed, feeling the coffee I’d had threatening to come back up.  “Who was it, and when did it happen?”

    “It was Debbie Harrison, and it happened last night after she got dropped off by her date,” the student filled me in.

    My heart sank into my stomach, and I swallowed to keep the coffee down. “Is she ok?” I asked, hoping to hear good news. “She’s not… dead, is she?” Please no, I hoped.

    The student shook her head and said, “No, but she’s in the hospital. They say she got torn up pretty bad and is in intensive care.”

    I knew I had to get to the hospital to see her, and soon. Forget about my first class. This was more important. 

    Heading outside, I jogged back to our dorm room to see about calling a cab to get to the hospital. I hoped she might have more information about what attacked her.

    As I was making the call, Veronica came into the room. I glanced up from the notepad and shot a brief smile at her. She looked at me curiously, and I shook my head at her, holding up a finger for her to wait. She sat down on her bed to wait.

    After making arrangements for a cab to come to take me to the hospital, I hung up and turned to face Veronica.

    “What’s going on?” she asked, curiosity on her face.

    “Did you hear what happened?” I asked her. 

    When she shook her head no, I told her, “Debbie was attacked last night and is in the hospital!”

    She gasped, and her hand flew up to her mouth in shock. “What? How did you find out?”

    “The cafeteria was in an uproar with the news when I went down for breakfast, and some girl told me about it,” I told her. Then I added, “I’m going to visit her in the hospital to see if I can find out any more information about the attack.”

    Veronica looked worried and asked, “Why are you so concerned with this, Suze?”

    I looked at her while I got my thoughts together and said, “This is someone we know, and strange things have been happening for the past couple of days. I’m just concerned it’s going to continue, and if I can find out any way to stop it, I’m going to do whatever I can!”

    Veronica looked worried, then stood up and said, “Well, then, I’m coming with you to help you out!” 

    I almost panicked and told her not to come, but then realized she still had another class in about half an hour, so I asked her, “Don’t you have class soon?”

    She waved it off, saying, “What’s a class among friends?”

    I frowned and told her, “No, that’s not right.”

    She started to say something, but I interrupted her, saying, “You need to go to class. I know you’re doing well in this class, so I don’t want you to ruin your grade for me.”

    She started to speak again, but I interrupted her again, saying, “No, Veronica! I don’t have a class this period, so I’m fine, whereas you do! I’ll be fine going by myself.”

 Looking at me with doubt in her eyes, she didn’t say anything for a moment, then nodded, saying, “You’re right. Besides, it’s daytime, and no one’s been attacked during the day.”

 Nodding, I said, “True, so we both should be perfectly safe.”

 She smiled at me and said, “You are so wise.”

 “Don’t you know it,” I told her, grinning back.

 We hugged as she went to her class, and the cab arrived to take me to the hospital to see Debbie.

 “Be careful,” she whispered.

 “Back at you,” I told her, pulling away and looking at her.

 She waved as the cab pulled away from our dorm, and I watched her until she was out of sight. I turned around and settled into my seat, thinking over the events of the past couple of days.

 All I’d wanted to do was to join a popular sorority. Instead, it now seemed like I was in the middle of some horror movie. Could there really be werewolves roaming around our town? It didn’t seem possible, but the happenings going on seemed to suggest otherwise. 

 Before I knew it, we were pulling up to the hospital. I paid the driver and got out, looking up at the enormous building. What had happened to Debbie, and was she going to be alright?

 Shaking my head, I went inside and asked for her room number at the information desk. 

 I wondered what I was going to hear as the elevator took me up to her floor. I walked toward her room, dread pooling in my stomach.

 Her door was ajar, and I knocked twice before pushing it open, saying, “Knock, knock! Anyone home?”

 “Suzie, is that you?” I heard Debbie’s voice call out.

 I walked into the room, pasting a smile on my face, and said, “You got it, first try!”

 Stopping at the foot of her bed, I looked at my classmate, trying to keep the smile from fading. She was pale, with dark circles under her eyes. Both of her arms were on top of the blankets, and I could see bandages covered her arms. She also had one on her left cheek. 

 “How are you feeling?” I asked her.

 “I’ve been better,” she said, staring up at me. 

 I looked at her bandages and asked, “Are you in pain?”

 She shook her head a little, wincing at the movement, and said, “They’ve given me some great pain pills. I can’t feel much of anything.”

 I smiled a small smile and said, “That’s good, I guess.”

 “I guess,” she said, not smiling back at me.

 I stood there, not knowing how to bring it up, and she stared at me, a haunted look in her eyes.

 Finally, I took a deep breath and asked, “So what happened, Debbie? Did you see what attacked you?”

 Debbie broke my gaze and looked toward the window. She was silent for so long that I didn’t think she was going to answer me. 

 Looking back at me, she said, “It all happened so fast that I didn’t get a good look at it.”

 “What happened?” I asked her again. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

 Debbie stared out of the window for a few moments more, then looked back at me and nodded. 

 “Well, I’d just come back from my date with Luke,” she said. “I was… running late and was out past the curfew.”

 She wrinkled her nose at the mention of the curfew, then continued, “He brought me back to the dorm and, well, we were saying a long goodbye before I got out of his car.”

 Pausing and smiling at the memory, her eyes glazed over as she stared at the ceiling. I smiled a little as well, seeing how happy the memory made her.

 Then she frowned and looked back at me, saying, “When I finally got out of the car, he drove away. I stood there on the sidewalk, watching the car until I couldn’t see the taillights anymore.”

 She waved her left arm at me, saying, “I know, I know. That was a stupid thing to do, considering what had been going on these past couple of nights. But what can I say? I really like the guy.”

 I listened, nodding and not saying anything as I waited for her to get to the information I was there to get. 

 “Anyway, once I couldn’t see the taillights anymore, I turned around to go into the house, and that’s when it happened,” she said, then stopped, a frown on her face.

 I waited, then patted her arm. 

 She looked at my hand, then up at me, and said in a wavering voice. “Something hit me from behind and knocked me down on the sidewalk.”

 Holding up her arms, she said, “I scraped my arms when I fell and banged my chin against the pavement.”

 She went silent for a moment, then spoke again, her eyes taking on a haunted look. 

 “I was pushing myself up to get to my feet when something jumped on my back and bit me on the shoulder. I was in shock for a moment, then the pain hit me, and I screamed. That must have alerted everyone inside since the door opened and a mob of people rushed out. It must have scared off whatever had attacked me since it was gone before Angela reached me.”

 “Did anyone get a look at whatever it was?” I asked, frowning.

 She shook her head and said, “That chaos was too much, and everyone had different stories about what they saw.”

 I was silent for a moment as I took in her story. It was very similar to mine. 

 “Was there any sign of who attacked you?” I asked.

 She shook her head once more and said, “No one found anything.”

 We both fell silent once more, then I asked, “What do you think it was?”

 Debbie looked at me, and I could see the fear in her eyes. 

 Shaking her head, she whispered, “I don’t know, and I’m afraid to find out.”

 I went over to the bed and patted her arm, saying, “I don’t blame you.”

 I knew I’d have to talk to anyone who’d seen the attacker run away, and I’d start with Angela since she was the first one to reach Debbie.