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Chapter Four: One is enough, two is too much, three is hell too many!************************
A couple of days have passed since that strange incident. It seemed that everything was back to normal. Abby had again started on her shifts at County. Everything looked great, and she seemed happy, except that, she's not. Every time she closes her eyes, the nightmares would start to haunt her. And every time she opens them, she would always find her face wet with tears. Sometimes the voice just whispers in her ears. But most of the time, it was very clear and very loud. When she wakes up, the voice is still ringing in her ears.
This time was no different.
Her eyes quickly opened wide. She rubbed it as she sat upright from the couch she had been sleeping. Her eyes were moist, but there were no tears. 'Good, I ran out of tears.'
From another part of the room, a deep voice spoke. "Are you alright, Abby?"
She quickly turned around to see Luka, who stood in front of his opened locker. "Yeah," she answered. She stifled a yawn. "Just a bad dream, I guess." She chided herself. 'That's the understatement of the year.'
"You look terrible," he observed. "It looks like you could use more sleep."
Abby rolled her eyes. "Well, thank you for that observation." She said sarcastically. "You could've at least told me I look tired." She grinned at him.
"Okay, you look tired," he answered. "But terrible is a much better word to describe you."
She stood up and smacked him playfully in the arm. "And you don't know how to flatter a woman." She countered.
"Seriously, Abby," he said, "maybe you should go home and take a rest. I noticed that you've been spending so much time here than before."
"No, I'm fine, Luka, really" she quickly answered. She gave him a tight smile.
Luka shook his head in disapproval. "But you are clearly not getting any decent sleep." He reasoned. "Let me talk to Weaver, maybe-"
Abby cut him off. "No, don't. I told you, everything is fine." She looked at him earnestly. 'Besides, the less I sleep, the less I see those nightmares.'
Defeated, Luka sighed in frustration. "Okay, you win. But please, don't overwork yourself, Abby." He pleaded her, his eyes cast downwards.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Luka looked up and caught her eye. She gave him an assuring smile. "I'll be fine." She repeated.
A moment of awkward silence passed.
"I should be going now." Luka finally said.
Abby nodded. "I guess. See you tomorrow." She gave a little wave.
Luka smiled and started for the door. However, before he could open it, Susan came barging in.
"Whoops, sorry 'bout that, Luka," She apologized.
"No problem," he answered with a smile. He gave a small wave to the two women inside and left the room.
"So," Susan said as she turned towards Abby, "you two hold secret meetings now, eh?" A mock expression of suspicion was on her face. "Does Carter know about this?"
"As usual, your timing is impeccable," she answered, going along with the joke. She slightly shook her head. "You always ruin our midnight tryst." The two women shared a hearty laugh.
"How is it out there?" Abby asked.
"You know, its same old, same old." She answered with a wave of a hand.
"Is it bad?"
"Well, if you compare it to the abscess draining I did this morning on that man's butt, I'd say not really."
Abby couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, if you say so." She got out of the sofa and started pouring Susan and herself a cup of coffee. "So, any news about that boyfriend of yours?"
Susan rolled her eyes. "Sure. Okay, here's the news: I dumped him."
Abby walked over Susan and handed the coffee to her. "Why?" she looked at her, puzzled. "I thought you two were getting along well. You said he was the perfect gentleman you oh-so hoped for."
"Yeah, so did his wife thought." She answered dryly.
Abby nearly spat out the coffee. "He was married?!" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah. That son of a bitch never told me."
Abby stifled a laugh. "Oh well, you win some, you lose some."
Susan suddenly brightened up. "Hey, what about that old friend of yours?" she exclaimed. "What was his name?" she snapped her fingers as she tried to remember.
Abby stiffened at the mention of him. However, Susan was oblivious to it. "Will, his name is Will." She supplied. She was about to say was, but she caught herself.
"Yeah, Will. Well, I kinda thought he was hot." Susan said to her with a wink.
"As much as I regret to inform you, Will is nowhere to be found." She tried to pass this off as a half-joke, but her own words stung at her.
"Aw, are you serious? Have you tried contacting him?" Susan pleaded at her playfully.
She forced a smile. "Yeah. I called his motel room, and he wasn't in there. They told me he checked out." She lied to her. No, she wouldn't tell her the truth. She wouldn't tell her what the people there told her. She wouldn't tell her that a William Reed never stayed there. Even the fact that no one ever actually saw his face there.
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"Ready, steady, lift," Carter said as they hauled the trauma patient into the gurney. Gallant examined the patient with his stethoscope. Beside him, Abby hooked the patient to a pulse ox machine.
"Lungs are clear," he announced.
Carter nodded. He examined the lower torso of the man on the gurney. "It looks like a pelvic fracture."
"Pulse ox is 80." Abby declared.
"Blood pressure is eighty over sixty."
"Dr. Carter, he's losing blood fast."
"Alright, Abby, push in two units of o-neg. Chuny, get a blood count. Malik, call radiology and order a pelvic x-ray." They worked swiftly and efficiently. "Someone call surgery."
Thirty minutes later, they had managed to stabilize the trauma patient. Malik and Chuny wheeled him towards surgery, where Dr. Corday had been waiting.
"What time is your break?" Carter asked Abby as they walked towards the front desk.
"Uh, not for about another hour." She answered.
"Great, me too." He exclaimed with a grin. "Meet you up at Doc Magoo's?" He asked as he grabbed a chart.
"Sure, why not," Abby answered.
"Great," Carter said. "See you later." He walked away with a wave.
Abby smiled at him. She lingered for a moment before walking away herself.
"Hey, Abby," Frank suddenly called out to her. "I've got something for you here." He whipped out a piece of paper and handed it to Abby. "Someone dropped it off."
She opened the letter. The message was short and simple. A cold chill ran down her spine.
"You alright, Abby?" Frank curiously asked.
"Yeah," she mumbled. She stared hard at the letter in her hand. She read it over and over again, trying to decipher the message. But every time, she arrived at the same conclusion. Her hands trembled as she read again the letter:
We're watching you.
Her mind screamed wildly at her, as she remembered Will's dreadful warning. 'You're next, Abby. You're next.' She quickly crumpled the paper and threw it on the nearest trash bin. She stormed off, leaving the confused Frank wondering.
*************************
"I thought you would never show up," Carter greeted her. "I have been standing here for five minutes you know."
Abby smiled at him. "I just had to finish something back inside." She walked beside him and pulled him in a hug.
Carter leaned and kissed her. A few seconds later, they pulled away. "Good thing you came out when you did, 'cause I had my eyes set on that pretty nurse from radiology to invite to dinner." He playfully said.
"You wish," she retorted. They walked hand in hand towards the diner. They entered the building and walked over to the booth in the corner. A few moments later, a waitress approached them.
She smiled at them pleasantly. "Can I get your order?"
Carter turned to Abby. "Coffee and pie?"
Abby looked tentative. "Uh, no. I'm looking for some excitement." She joked. "A chocolate sundae, please."
The waitress turned towards Carter. "How about you, sir?"
"I guess I'll have that coffee and pie then."
"Okay, I'll be right back with your orders, folks." She turned and left the couple alone.
When the waitress was out of earshot, Carter snorted. "Excitement, yeah, right."
"Why, what's wrong with a sundae?" she asked with a laugh. "We've been ordering that pie for a while now, so I want a little excitement."
"Sugar rush, you mean." Carter corrected her.
Abby laughed out loud. "Hey, don't be bitter because I'm getting more excitement more than you do!" she teased.
"I see you're starting to adopt Susan's sense of humor!" he shot back with a laugh.
Abby looked at him with a glint in her eye. "Oh, I'm telling. I'm definitely telling!" Their banter continued until the waitress came back, their orders in hand.
******************
Two mysterious figures stood in the shadows. From a distance, they watched as a couple walked inside the diner. The man by the garbage bin lit a cigarette and immediately took a long drag. Fifteen minutes later, one of them finally spoke.
"Start the car," a deep voice ordered, as he disposed his cigarette with a forceful stump.
*****************
Carter and Abby laughed as they got outside. They were suddenly interrupted when Carter's pager went off.
"Another trauma?" Abby asked.
He nodded. "Looks like it." They quickened their pace and walked towards the ER, with Carter ahead her.
From the corner of the street, a headlight suddenly went on. They didn't notice the car as it silently sped towards them in the night. It was like an arrow looking for its target. Silent, swift, but very deadly. First, it was a hundred meters away. And then seventy, and then fifty. The low rumble of the engine finally caught Abby's attention. She turned her head around to see the speeding car thirty meters away from her. Her heart became stuck in her throat.
"John," she managed to choke out. The car was nearing, fast.
He quickly whirled around to see the car, like a raging bull headed straight towards Abby. "Shit!" he shouted.
Without further thinking he dashed towards Abby. With barely a second left, he shoved her hard towards the pavement. Just as they were both falling to the ground, he felt the car as it passed by them, inches away from them. Blood pounded in his ears, as they lay in the pavement for a second. "Abby, are you alright?" he immediately asked her. "Talk to me, Abby." Frantically, he looked up to see Abby sitting on the pavement. She trembled hard as she clutched her arm. Blood was also gushing from the side of her head. He stood up, and winced as pain from his back shot through his body. He quickly dismissed this and walked up to her. Carter was oblivious to his own blood gushing out of his arm.
Abby felt like her heart was beating twenty times fast. The speeding car freaked her out bad. No, not because they tried to kill her, but because she knew that it wouldn't be the last of it.
"Carter? What's going on?" from the other side of the street, Chen called out. Beside her stood Haleh.
He turned around to see the two women. "Help!" he shouted. "We need help!"
Chen motions for Haleh, who dashed inside, probably to get some help. Within a few seconds, Susan, Malik, and Dr. Weaver rushed outside. Susan ran Malik towards them as the Dr. Weaver and Chen attended to the patient unloaded from the ambulance that arrived.
****************
Susan looked at the x-ray before her. Carter and Abby were sitting on the same bed. Carter's left arm was bandaged, while Abby's right hand was in a cast.
"It's only a crack, so the cast could be removed in a week or two." Susan said as she faced them both.
Carter nodded, while Abby looked away.
"Maybe I should admit both of you," she said.
Carter protested. "No, it's all right. We'll just head home tonight."
They were interrupted as the door suddenly opened and Dr. Weaver walked inside.
"Everything all right?" she quietly asked. Susan nodded in response. "Abby suffered a cracked wrist and a small cut in the head. I sutured a fifteen-centimeter cut on Carter's forearm." She gave her their charts.
Kerry gave a sigh. "I'm giving the week off to rest. Just check in once in a while, so we know how you're doing."
Both of them looked gratefully at her. "Thanks, Dr. Weaver," they both said earnestly.
"I don't suppose you could tell me what happened, could you?" she asked.
Carter just shrugged. "I really don't know, Kerry. One moment we were rushing towards to ER for a trauma, and the next thing I knew, a car was heading straight for Abby."
"Aren't you going to report this to the police?" she asked.
Carter shook his head. "As much as I liked to, I can't. I never got the chance to see the plates. Hell, I never even notice what type of car it was." He confessed.
Kerry nodded. "I see. Well, I guess you two should head home now and get some rest."
Susan was about to open her mouth and say something, but Kerry cut her off. "Susan, could you drive them home? You could also go home afterwards. I already called Pratt and told him to come in the morning. It looks like it's going to be slow tonight, after that major trauma."
"Of, course, Dr. Weaver," she answered with a nod. "And thanks, by the way,"
Kerry smiled and dismissed it with a wave of her hand. When she exited the room, Susan finally spoke.
"Is she a mind reader or what?" she joked. This elicited a smile from both Carter and Abby. "Just let me get my coat, and we'll be on our way."
A few minutes later, they were walking towards the front doors. However, before they could get out, Frank flagged Abby down.
"Hey, I got another one for you," he said. He handed her a small piece of paper again. "Must be some secret admirer, huh?" he commented. "I wonder how Dr. Carter would take this."
"Could you guys wait a second," she called out to Susan and Carter.
"Hurry up," Susan answered. "I'm freezing already." Both she and Carter have already gone outside.
Abby's hand noticeably shook as she tried to open the letter. She tried to fight back the tears that threatened to fall down. It was another cryptic message from the same person:
I told you we were watching.
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Okay, I hope that was long enough for you. I promise to write and post the next chapter as soon as I get these things out of my head and into those test papers. ^_^
Hope you guys enjoy! ^_^
Cheers!!!!