It had been a few weeks after her incident with the blood-soaked cotton balls, and the monster has since been scantily toying with her. Every few days, the gruesome monster would try to wiggle its way out of her consciousness and force her to feed on some droplets, if not tube shots of blood.
With Dr. Illustrado still out, she was stuck with double-dosed medications she got from Ms. Dagondon. It was getting tiresome going to the clinic, or just getting forwarded text messages from the secretary telling her to continue with current treatment had.
Anna thought of going to a different psychiatrist for help, however, she didn't want to risk herself getting exposed since the rest of the psychiatrists were employed at their hospital and the last thing, she wanted was disclosing the condition she have with her team. She would rather keep it to herself than be judged by the prejudice eyes of most of her workmates.
Anna woke up around 3 in the afternoon. It was another day for her shift, and she was hoping that the monster inside would behave by then. She had been feeding it for the past shifts and even going as far as saving extra tubes of blood samples just to keep her hunger at bay.
She rose up from her bed and went immediately to the bathroom where she stared at herself in the mirror, loathing at the person she has become. There was no hint of the monstrous maw nor the messy hair she had transformed into once before, but there was this feeling inside her that was telling her that sooner or later, she will succumbed to her damned form and will take over her, feeding on all she loved and knew.She cursed under her breath while opening the medicine cabinet. She looked at the number of pills she was about to drink and mumbled a prayer as she pills went down her gut.
"Please, make me relax." She drank some water. "Dear Lord, help me." She said before starting her day with her usual routine.
She took a bath and proceeded to cook some food for herself. A while back she noticed that after tasting blood coming from the cotton balls, Anna took a strong aversion to salt and garlic. Her normal and tasty sinangag became nothing more but a bland version of fried rice. No garlic. No salt.
Anna noticed that even a small taste of salt or garlic could upset her stomach giving her diarrhea for days and not to mention the painful sores that grew inside her mouth and tongue felt like it was burning her entire orifice. No amount of sore medication and antibiotics could heal it, but the moment the monster woke up and filled its share of blood, the wounds immediately healed.
Since then, she had decided to eat bland food. She prepared bland, saltless and garlic-less meals for herself. She never enjoyed eating it, but her body was giving her problems if she went against it. Even the smell of garlic to her was like tear gas, it was enough to make her cry in agony and gag just by its aroma.
Anna knew her symptoms was getting worse by the day. No matter how much she tried, the beast inside her kept on sneaking out once in a while to ask for its own sustenance. She was afraid that she might find herself the way she did in the slaughterhouse a few months back if she resisted. The last thing she wanted was to be controlled by the monster inside her once again.
She hurriedly ate the tasteless boiled pork and rice before cooking food for Rico who will be taking a 24-hour shift after one of their colleagues' mothers sadly passed. She donned her face masks and gloves before beginning to cook his favorite adobo.
She started by chopping garlic finely while being careful not to let juices and pieces of it go to her skin. After that, she immediately sauteed the garlic along with some onions, then the chicken thighs. It was a laborious process for her especially because of the ingredients involved. Every time she took a pinch of salt and soy sauce, she felt her skin crawl and itch. She tried her best to stop herself from touching her skin after cooking.
Anna immediately disposed of the gloves and mask carefully, placing them inside a small plastic bag which she placed in her backpack's side pocket to be dispose later once she was outside the house. She prepared her boyfriend's lunch inside his lunch box and packed it as quickly as she could avoiding taking a whiff at the newly cooked adobo.
She arrived at the hospital and started her shift peacefully, just like any other shift she had the past few weeks. However, she felt something different about tonight and couldn't place her finger on it. She felt anxious, as if someone was watching her somewhere. She looked around but it was only her and her colleague who was silently looking at the charts.
"Hey, Lilian." Anna tried to catch her colleague's attention. "I am going to administer the medications for 11pm." She said.
Her colleague nodded but not before giving her a handful of ticket she prepared for their recently admitted patient.
"Oh, before I forget!" Lillian scratched her head with her blunt tip of pen. "You need to give these to patient Gomez, Room 5.
Anna checked the medications and brought it with her. She went around the wards and other rooms checking their IV lines, giving the prescribed medications to the patients before heading on to patient Gomez's room.
Patient Simon Gomez, 18 years old and a volleyball varsity player for Unibersidad de Sta. Teresita in the Metro. He got admitted earlier after complaining about stomach pain and vomiting of fresh blood earlier that day.
Anna greeted the patient's parents and checked the patient's IV, before administering the medications.
"This is for his stomach…" She lifted the syringe showing them the medicine. "It will calm it down." She smiled.
Just as she was about to administer the medication, the patient suddenly woke up and began vomiting blood. The stench of iron, guts and a certain smell of rot came bursting into the air. Anna immediately sounded the alarm and took a bucket out of the bathroom.
The crimson color of the patient's vomit along with his food swirled on the floor. Anna tried closing her eyes, hoping the beast inside her won't awaken, unfortunately it did.
"Feed me!" The monster growled as her stomach slowly twisted itself.
"We are going to need some clean towels and another bucket!" Anna told her colleague just as she arrived in the room. "Oh, and page doctor—"
"He's coming in a jiffy—" Lilian interjected as she went back to their station to get some towels and the patient's chart.
Anna turned her focus back to the patient. The poor patient was still vomiting profusely when it suddenly grabbed her by the neck and tried to bite a large chunk of her neck off her. Luckily, the father was able to see this and was able to rip her off his child's grip before it could inflict some damage to her.
The patient contorted its body into grotesque angles while it growled and hissed at them.
"Food!" The monster inside her growled in excitement. "He's giving me food!"
Anna realized the stench she smelled of death and rot earlier was the same stench of musky yet horrid combination she smelled in her locker room a few weeks back. She froze in fear as the monster inside of her was trying to wriggle out from her.
Finally the doctor came with some other nurses and helped restraining the savage patient. However, it was an uphill battle for them. As the nurses were simply thrown away by the sheer strength of the patient.
"D-doc… What's going on with our son?" The father's voice trembled as he asked.
"I don't know yet…Mr. Gomez." The doctor tried to calm them down, but their son's condition wasn't helping them at all.
"Anna!" Lillian shouted. "Lil' help with the hand here!" She said as she placed her petite body over the arm in an attempt to immobilize.
Anna jumped back into reality and simply ignored the voice monster inside her head. She immediately grabbed the patient's wrist and shoulder pinning it with all her might. She could hear the patient growl and even looked at her in one point before grinning at her.
"D-don't let go!" Anna said to her colleague.
"U-useless…." The patient suddenly whispered. "Useless all of you!" He shouted before contorting his body once again.
Anna could feel every muscle and bone of the patient move grotesquely and unevenly in a chaotic rhythm of tetany. The patient's eyes were locked into Anna as he screeched as the doctor finally administered a calming drug to him.
The patient slowly calmed down. Anna felt the patient's tensed muscles relaxed. She was able to finally get herself a breather when the patient slowly looked towards her and grinned evilly as it vomited towards her with fresh blood, before slumping down, unconscious on his bed.