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Ashleigh wasn’t sure what she had expected to see when she arrived in Renee’s room.

They had told her at the nurse’s station that things had taken a rough turn. Renee was violent and resistant even in her sleep. She kicked and thrashed and yanked her own IVs out multiple times, even after being given heavy sedation.

The flowers Ashleigh had grabbed on the way to the hospital had been given to the nurses. They had told her that nothing could be brought into Renee’s room. In fact, Ashleigh was required to wear a special suit just to visit her.

Now she stood at the end of Renee’s bed, staring down at her friend. She looked like she was sleeping. It would have appeared peaceful if not for the restraints, IVs, bruises, and cuts covering Renee’s skin.

She had been at the hospital for two days. Most of the bruising should have been practically healed by this point. Which meant there was something wrong with her system, or the bruises had been much more severe when she was first brought in.

That wasn’t the only notable difference in Renee’s appearance.

She had always taken pride in her beautiful red hair. Taking care to style it differently every single day.

But now, there were bald patches on her head. Chunks of hair torn straight from the scalp.

Ashleigh felt a tug in her stomach. Pity, sadness, regret.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, “I wish I knew how to help.”

“Me too.”

Ashleigh jumped, surprised by Bell’s voice at the door.

“Sorry,” Bell said, “didn’t mean to scare you.”_.

Bell closed the door behind her, walking over to check the monitors.

“Less than a week and I have had to treat both of my best friends for mysterious medical conditions,” Bell said as she made notes in Renee’s chart. “I’m kind of glad I have a limited social circle.”

Ashleigh gave a half-hearted smile at Bell’s attempt at lightening the mood.

“How is she doing?” Ashleigh asked.

“Honestly?” Bell said, looking back at her, “I don’t know.”

Ashleigh sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyes were drawn back down to the bed.

“Are those really necessary?” Ashleigh asked, indicating the restraints.

Bell glanced down at Renee; a sad expression fell over her face.

“Unfortunately,” Bell said, “Yes.”

“Why?”

Bell hugged the chart to her chest, looking at Renee’s peaceful expression. Then, she reached out and moved a strand of hair away from her face before speaking.

“Right now, she seems to be sleeping peacefully. But that’s because we have put her into a medically induced coma.”

Ashleigh turned her eyes to Bell, shocked by what she had said.

“After we decided, we did remove the restraints,” Bell continued, “but we quickly realized that was a mistake.

“Even under heavy sedation, Renee was still reacting to whatever put her in this state. She was thrashing and kicking. Ripping her IVs… she was on doses that have brought down Alphas in a frenzy….”

Ashleigh could see from the look on Bell’s face that the past two days had taken a toll on her. She was tired and confused by whatever was happening to their friend.

“It didn’t matter which sedative we tried. Renee’s adrenaline levels kept spiking. Her body was burning out from the strain,” Bell sighed. “So, we put her in a coma. We keep adjusting the medications, pushing, and pulling just enough to keep her down for a few hours before switching to something else as her body adapts to the dose.”

Bell set down the chart on the table beside the bed. Then she turned her attention to the restraints. She checked the pressure, looked at the skin around them for bruising or signs of damage.

“These have to stay on because we don’t know exactly when she will adapt to the sedatives, and when she does, she comes out swinging.”

“Goddess…” Ashleigh whispered, horrified by what she was hearing. “How could this have happened? The last time I saw her, she was fine. It hasn’t been that long….”

“I saw her a couple of days before the full moon,” Bell said, “she was fine.”

Bell reached down and touched her injured arm absent-mindedly, Ashleigh noticed.

“Did something happen to your arm?” she asked.

Bell looked back at Ashleigh, surprised, then at her own arm. Noticing for the first time the way she was gingerly touching it.

“When I found her, she was….” Bell began. Pausing to try to find the right words. “I don’t know… it was like she didn’t see me… at all.”

When she thought back to that moment in Renee’s room, it made her heart pound loudly in her ears. It left a small scar in her mind, a moment where she thought she might die.

“Her place was trashed, like torn up. Claw marks on the walls, decorations destroyed, spoiled food on the ground.” Bell recounted, “I went upstairs to her room. It was worse in there than anywhere else.”

Ashleigh listened closely, but it didn’t make any sense. Renee was not only a very tidy person but a very organized person. She was someone who would organize their clothing by color.

“I found her in the closet. She was in the corner; the lights were all off, so I couldn’t see her face,” Bell continued. “I got too close. Renee was… she had a psychotic break.”

“What?”

All Ashleigh had been told about Renee’s condition was that it was severe. She had no idea until now about the details.

“She jumped at me with a knife,” Bell stated.

Ashleigh gasped.

“She managed to cut me deep. But luckily, Peter had already sent some people after me. So they were able to pull her off me before any other damage was done.”

“Bell…” Ashleigh said softly.

“I’m ok,” Bell smiled, shaking away Ashleigh’s concern, “I’m ok.”

Ashleigh nodded, knowing that Bell had no desire to talk about how she really felt.

“Do you have any idea why this is happening to her?”

“I don’t,” Bell sighed, “but it’s strange.”

“In what way?”

Bell thought for a moment about whether to share her thoughts. Unfortunately, she had no objective evidence at this point. She was still waiting on lab results for both of them. But, in the end, something told her she should.

“It’s a lot like what I saw you going through before your heart stopped,” Bell stated.

Ashleigh felt a cold shiver down her spine.

“Your adrenaline shot up; your brain activity was through the roof. You said that you had a nightmare, that it felt real to you.”

Ashleigh swallowed the anxious lump in her throat at the mention of the dream.

“Too real,” she whispered.

“A nightmare…” Bell nodded. “The best way I can describe what I think Renee is going through is that she is terrified. Like living in an endless nightmare.”

“How is that possible?” Ashleigh asked. “Could we have both been exposed to something around the same time? Maybe something that she had more access to than I did?”

“I’m not sure….” Bell replied, “but it wouldn’t hurt to check her house, see if we can find something that you recognize.”

Ashleigh nodded.

***

Granger stepped carefully around the garbage and debris scattered over the bedroom floor. He noticed a dark stain on the ground in front of the closet.

‘Blood,’ he thought to himself, then with a smile, ‘must be Bell’s.’

He looked around the room; finally, his eyes landed on what he had been searching for. He made his way to the nightstand beside the bed. There sat a vase filled with water and two lovely, though slightly wilted, flowers sticking out of it.

He quickly grabbed the flowers with his gloved hands and shoved them into the garbage bag he had brought.

Then he picked up the vase, dumping the water onto the floor, before throwing it against a wall. The shattered glass would easily blend in with the rest of the chaos in the room.

Granger noticed the time; the patrol would make their rounds momentarily. He couldn’t afford to be seen exiting Renee’s house. He made his way to the window, carefully climbing out. He jumped into the tree just in time to see the patrolman walking in his direction.

Granger made it to the forest without being seen. Once he was a safe distance away, he burned the flowers, satisfied that he had destroyed the only evidence that tied him to Renee and Ashleigh.

Now there was only one thing left to do.