Lisa stared at Jackson Rippner unable to move, she felt his bony fingers clutching at her hand, the smile that had twisted across his lips looked like it had been spawned in hell. Lisa felt like screaming and sobbing and calling out for help but all that escaped her was more of an awkward gasp.

Jackson pulled at her hand and jammed the sensitive pressure point on her wrist hard into the metal bar encompassing his bed.

Lisa felt her arm go numb, she let out a sharp cry of pain and stumbled forward stopping herself directly above Jackson's face.

Jackson raised his head up close to Lisa's ear, and laughed a little, "What are you doing here Lisa?" he said in a satanic whisper.

Lisa was practically touching his neck, she could see black and blue splattering the smooth skin from the hole she punctured in it's bony interior, she watched as it pulsed ever so slightly to his breath. Suddenly a wave of anger spilled into her and she felt like grabbing a thousand pens and stabbing them all into that flawless skin.

She wrenched her self away from his weakened grip, straitened herself up, regaining her dignity, and picked up her brown purse she had dropped. Lisa turned and looked him with flaming eyes, "Your not looking to good, Mr. Rippner," she snapped in a voice laced with malice. She wasn't lying either, he looked deathly emaciated and his normally full and tan face was covered up with a sickly pale.

He looked at her with glossy eyes, let out an airy laugh and rolled over.

Lisa stared at the back of his head, what a little kid, she thought sarcastically.

"I wouldn't be so cocky," he said in a daunting motherly tone, he propped himself up on his elbow and took a sip from a glass on a table beside his bed. Hmmm… where did hi IV go? She thought glancing at his empty hand, well the nurse did say he pulled it out, but I could have sworn I saw it before…Oh well. As Lisa's observant eyes dismissed the mystery of the missing IV, they however did not notice that Jackson's breathing tube was considerably loosened and he had a strip of white cloth in his hand.

Lisa was meanwhile, infuriated by this smart remark, he is the one who is broken and weak in a hospital bed! In a fit of fury Lisa carefully placed her finger on the power button of Jackson's Breathing machine.

Jackson simply laughed.

Lisa wrapped her fingers around the tube itself and emitted just enough pressure to scare him.

For a fleeting second a look of shock and terror crossed Jackson's face, but he quickly regained hi cool and gave her an icy smile.

Lisa was satisfied for the terror she thought she evoked, and she returned his smile with an even icier one.

Little did Lisa know that slight look of terror emitted by Jackson was not at the fact that she was threatening to take out his breathing tube, he didn't need it, he actually was fine with out it, the horror evoked in him had its origins in the fact that when he rolled over, he had loosened the tube for an easy and quick removal, and the fact that Lisa was so close to foiling his plans had terrified him.

"I'll kill you," Lisa whispered with hatred.

"You don't have the nerve."

"Don't I."

She pulled a little harder and Jackson tensed.

"Fine then, kill me," he said confidently.

Lisa felt very close to tears, No I can't cry, I can't show him how scared I am. Her grip on the breathing tube loosened and her hand dripped off it in defeat.

Jackson laughed gave her an almost godly stare, and from his mouth came the most unlikely words, "Five, four…"

Lisa stared at him, is he counting? She thought in disbelief.

"Three, two…"

His head was moving closer to hers till he was an inch from her face. The satanic smile returned to his face and there was an ever so fleeting silence.

"One."

Lisa felt terror cover her as if someone had poured a bucket of it on her. "W-what," she

muttered.

RRRRRLLLLAAAANNNGGGGGAAAAALLLLAAANNNGGG!

Lisa shot up and swiveled around, there were cries of surprise and loud chatter erupting all over the halls, lights and sirens were going off as the fire alarm made its warning known.

Lisa let out a gasp and turned back around to face Jackson. She screamed when she saw him standing directly in front of her, he through his hospital smock on the floor revealing normal street clothes.

Lisa screams were fitting right in to all the commotion in the hospital, no one knew the trouble she was in!

The last thing she saw was Jackson's hellish face laughing as he jabbed a pressure point on her neck.

Blackness.