The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa turned and watched him go and disappear into an exam room before smiling brightly to herself. Things were already starting to look up at work.

Now, she needed that same energy to spread to the other parts of her life. She checked the time and saw that she was finally free to go. She typed a message to send to Elias.

Alyssa; About to leave the hospital. Be there soon

Alyssa lowered her phone and walked into the locker room to grab her backpack, stuffing her things inside before walking out of the room.

She glanced around the hospital, taking in the stark white walls and flooring and the light chatter from workers and patients.

She was willing to dedicate her to life to an environment like this, but she wouldn't change her dream for the world.

She knew that she would experience devasting things. She would want to quit at times, but she had to focus on the reason for why she wanted to be a doctor in the first place.

The development of medicine and the preservation of precious lives coaxed her on. The future was so bright and full of potential. She just had to reach it.

Her smile immediately turned to a frown when she stepped outside of the hospital, though. A heavy torrent of rain thundered down all around the hospital and as far as she could see.

Thunder rumbled up above in the darkness of the night sky, and it was obvious that this storm wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

"Are you serious?" she muttered as she looked at the parking lot in front of her. Her car, which was a junk box that she managed to scrape enough cash together for, was in the sea of cars just ahead of her. She was going to get soaked, though. 

Alyssa knew that she couldn't just keep standing there. She gripped the straps of her backpack tightly before charging into the downpour of rain.

It soaked her backpack, hair, and scrubs as she dodged around the cars, looking for her own. It was hard to see through the rain and darkness, but she caught a glimpse of its red body.

She cut to the right to try to sneak through a row, but her sneaker skidded across the ground.

She gasped as she slipped and fell to the ground, landing hard on her right side. Her arm and knee took the brunt of the fall. A burning sensation flared across her arm as the asphalt scraped it.

Alyssa winced as she rolled onto her stomach, pain pulsing through her from the nasty fall. She moved her arm slowly, feeling it ache with each movement.

Once she brought it into view, she could see the blood washing away from her wound due to the rain. She couldn't see how bad it was, but it hurt. 

She pushed herself into her feet, hobbling slightly from the pain in her knee. Even the pants leg of her scrub was ripped slightly.

A faint grumble left her as she looked up, trying to find her car again. Instead, her eyes landed on a figure across the lot.

Well, she believed it was a person. It looked more like a shadow, and it was staring right at her.

An uneasy feeling filled her as she stepped back. Maybe it was just a person checking to see if she was okay.

But why was he just staring? She swallowed hard before hurrying to her car, wanting to get out of there. She was fine enough to get to Elias' place.

She didn't want to go back into the hospital. Her rushing into the downpour and falling would've been for nothing.

Without looking back to see if the shadow was still there, she turned her car on and sped off to Elias' apartment. But her uneasiness wasn't left behind. It followed.

*******

Alyssa knocked on Elias' door before pressing her hand against the outer part of her forearm, trying to dull the ache echoing through it and stop the blood from steadily leaking out.

She didn't think that she broke it, or she hoped that she didn't. It hurt to move it, but she needed to take care of the bleeding first. She bled all over the right side of her scrubs while driving.

Elias opened the door a few moments later. He parted his lips to speak, but his eyes immediately zeroed in on the blood. He took a step back from her.

"What happened?" he asked, looking uneasy and startled.

Alyssa almost gave him a strange look. She expected him to come closer and check on her, but she seemed to be freaking him out. Maybe he was afraid of blood.

"I fell in the parking lot," she explained to him as she stood in front of his doorway. She wondered if he was going to let her in or not. He didn't seem to have that much of an inviting presence to him right now.

Elias didn't even look at her face while she was talking. He couldn't take his eyes off the blood. After a few moments, he finally seemed to snap out of his shock.

He motioned for her to come inside as he stepped away from the door.

Alyssa walked inside slowly, almost afraid that she would spook him more if she moved too fast. She had never seen him act so strange before.

"Are you okay?" she asked him as she watched him step around her to close the door behind her.

Elias nodded.

"It's just… a lot of blood," he said, seeming to force the words out. He led her to the bathroom and gestured to the cabinet beneath the sink. "I might have some bandages."

Alyssa stopped at the sink and started washing the blood off her arm.

"Sorry for the mess," she said, knowing that she walked inside dripping wet.

"It's fine. I'll grab you some clothes," Elias replied before heading out of the bathroom. He almost seemed to rush from the room, like he couldn't wait to get out of there.