"Excuse me!" Anna immediately ran away from the scene and called for Samantha.
"Sam…. Sam!" Anna opened the door and immediately went to the sink. "Need help!"
Samantha was preparing medications when she took a glimpse of her friends bloodied face.
"Oh my god!" Samantha dropped the medication tray she had and immediately took a piece of gauze from their first aid kit. "What happened?! Are you—" Samantha gave her the gauze.
"I am alright, his blood just spurted on my face. Can you get to him really quick while I wash this off and call for back-up?" Anna asked.
Without a word Samantha nodded and immediately went to the patient's room with gauzes and a dressing kit. Anna called up for back-up from the ER and a doctor to get the patient to calm down. While she was calling, the running blood from her face made her stomach grumbled. The scent of fresh blood was making her light-headed, as if someone or something was forcing its way out of her consciousness. She knew who it was, and she wasn't going to let it out.
She washed her face and scrubbed it with soap and water to rid of the smell, luckily it worked. But the hunger lingered on, albeit mellowed down.
Samantha went back their station after five minutes, giving Anna enough time to clean and compose herself.
"Need help!" Samantha said. "Need more gauze and a saline IV!" She sighed as threw her bloodied gloves to the trash can.
Anna tried her best to look away from the blood-drenched gauze in fear of kindling the hunger more. However, she had another incoming problem, she was going back to the room. With that in mind she focused herself on praying.
She went back to the patient's room and saw grisly scene of blood splattered in the sheets. The patient was still bound in bed but this time, he was calmer. The attending doctor and a few other nurses were catching their breath on the side of the room.
"Oh…there you are," The physician smiled. "We just need you to bandage his head." He said. "Don't worry, he's calm now."
Anna nodded and went to bandage the patient's head, this time without any struggle. After wrapping the wound, Anna then took the soiled bandages and gauze to dispose of it. As she walked through the hallway she prayed heavily as the scent of blood was sending her chills down her spine and a gurgling in her stomach.
She met Samantha on her way back to the nurse's room. Her colleague was bringing in some other medications ordered by the doctor, and she was about to administer it.
"Our Father who art in heaven…" She began. "Hallowed be your name… Your kingdom come…you w-will…" She stuttered as the monster growled inside her.
"Feed me!" The beast whispered.
"…be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." She immediately threw the gauzes to the trash bin and washed her hands just as she arrived at the station.
She opened her bag again and looked for her medication. It was clear that she was already overdosing on the medication Dr. Illustrado was giving her, but it was her only quick fix. It was either that or unleashing her other personality, the monstrous one.
The bottle of medication was already halved when she was done drinking her added dosage. The beast's voice was muffled once again, and she was finally able to contain her hunger. She took her phone and checked for any text messages, but there was none. She hasn't heard or seen a reply from Ms. Dagondon.
She wanted to shout and curse at her, but at the same time, she understood that she was already texting her after hours. As one of the persons from the medical field she understood pretty well that she was already disturbing her.
Anna put her phone back on her bag and slumped on the table wanting to leave the shift as early as she could. But leaving Samantha behind wouldn't be the best thing to do. Her poor colleague had to work for all the patients, all twenty of them with new admissions ahead and that was something she couldn't stomach. She knew how hard it was to be alone in a shift. She's been there and she was flat-out tired after the shift. With that though in mind, she had to continue… she had to soldier on.
The shift continued without anymore hitches, aside from the ticking timebomb that is the other personality inside her. It was already 12 midnight; the first four hours of their shift had passed. Samantha excitedly took out her lunch and placed it on the table.
"Anna! Let's eat!" Samantha excitedly said. "I am sooo damn hungry!" Her eyes opened wide as she opened her lunch box.
"Nah, I'm good!" Anna smiled. "Can I take a nap instead?" She asked,
"Are you okay?" Samantha said. "You seemed pale since earlier today?"
"I am doing fine." Anna lied. "I just need to close my eyes a bit."
"Okay, sister." Samantha nodded. "Get yourself some sleep. I will wake you up after 20 minutes."
Anna knew Samantha was trying her best to help her as much as she could and appreciated it. She smiled and took her phone to set an alarm before finally taking a nap. She slept for twenty minutes and woke up just as her alarm went off.
She was relieved to wake up in a dreamless sleep. She looked around and realized she was alone inside the station. Samantha might've been delivering her medications that's why she woke up alone. Anna stood up and drank water just to wake up her nerves.
Just as she put her water bottle down, she heard a knock on the door. She looked around and saw an old lady standing by the door.
"Good morning, Nay(honorific)! How can I help you?" Anna smiled.
"Ma'am, my patient's hand is swollen." She reported.
"Oh no!" Anna sympathized. "Let me get my tools and fix that for you." She smiled.
The old woman nodded and went back to her room. Anna followed and her after bringing her IV kit. They returned in the room and was welcomed by a smiling old man pointing at his IV line.
"Ma'am, look! It's swollen." He said. "Can you take it off?" The patient asked.
"Of course, Sir!" Anna smiled. "But we'll need to find another line to connect this too."
"Can you connect it to the phone line?" The old man joked.
Anna laughed sincerely. She was really caught off guard by the joke and found it very funny.
"That's a good one!" She replied. "But let's find a viable vein so you can get your medication more effectively."
"Oh, okay." The old man sighed.
"You can do it, dear." The old woman said. "This is for your own good."
The old man smiled at her and held her hand. "Okay, dear."
Anna could feel the love they have for each other. It made her smile and happy just looking at how their love lasted throughout the years.
Anna successfully removed the IV line from the swollen site and tried finding a better vein on his left hand. After a few palpations she found the cephalic vein to be the most viable. She asked permission if she could insert the IV and the patient hesitantly agreed.
"He is afraid of needles." The old lady said.
"I am not!" The patient retorted.
"He is." She winks at Anna. "Please be gentle with him." The old woman added.
Anna proceeded with the insertion; however, the patient was too shaky that it took her a while to finally attach the IV properly. As she left the room, the old man called her back.
"Ma'am, I am sorry." He pointed at the previous IV site. "But it looks like its bleeding."
Anna smiled and immediately cleaned the wound and made sure to secure the bandages.
She took the bloodied cotton out of the room and thanked the patient and his significant other for their patience.
As she walked down the hallway, Anna couldn't help herself but jitter as the smell of blood overwhelmed her. Her stomach began to cramp, and the voice beastly voice echoed in her mind once again.
Her body shivered and her heart beat violently. Her body began to move on her own and slowly picked up the bloody cotton. She sniffed it and smelled its freshness. It was calling to her. It wanted to be consumed by her.
She gained control of her body midway and threw the cotton back to the tray. She immediately rushed back to the station where she found herself alone once again. She went to the sink and began washing her face while reciting her prayer…
"Our Father…" She began.
"That's not going to stop me anymore…" The beast said.
"Hallowed by thy name…" She closed her eyes and prayed harder.
"Feed me." It growled.
"Thy kingdom—" Her body began to move on its own once again.
She struggled to take control of her body, but it wasn't working. She needed to focus more and thus she prayed loudly.
"Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven." She fought her hand from picking up the bloody cotton balls she used to clean the old man's IV site. "G-give…us this day our daily bread and forgive those who has trespassed against us!"
She did her best to stop it, but it wasn't working. Suddenly, her determination to stop her body began more hopeless than ever. As even the prayer and her focus couldn't stop her body from picking up the cotton.
Slowly, she was becoming hopeless. Her hope deteriorated and thus her prayer she use to strengthen herself instead became a cry for help.
"D-do NOT lead us to the test…But deliver us from—"
She opened her mouth and finally tasted the human blood for the first time. She licked the blood-soaked cotton balls and finally silenced the beast within her.