I had been nervous up until the point that they administered the medicine that would put me to sleep, and then I just didn't care. I didn't care that my new house was haunted. I didn't care that I may have brought it with me to Chad's. I didn't care that Billy was sitting next to my bed staring at me. I didn't care that I might not be able to do hair again. I liked not caring.

I hadn't realized that I had even fallen asleep until I woke up and saw bright lights over me. I could see the different things in the surgery room reflecting in the shiny, silver light covers; nurses, me, the doctor. But what caught my eye was what appeared to be a woman standing above my head next to one of the nurses. I knew she didn't belong here because she had on a dress, not scrubs, and her hair was hanging down around her face, not up in a hat like everyone else’s. My happy medicine had left me and I was filled with terror.

I jerked my eyes up to try to see the woman standing by my head, but I only saw a nurse.

"She needs a refill," I heard the doctor say. "She's waking up on me."

I brought my eyes back down to look for the woman's reflection again, but instead of finding her reflection, I found her. She was standing by my bed, leaning over me so that her face was just above mine. It was the same drawn face I'd seen last night at Chad's. Her hair was a mousy brown and looked like it hadn't been brushed in... well, ever. Her eyes matched her skin—a pale white, almost grayish color—and her stare was so intense that I could feel it, even under my sedation. Her mouth was open like she was screaming, but no sound was coming out of it. I had a feeling that at this moment, I looked a lot like her. I wanted to scream, but when I opened my mouth, nothing came out, which was probably a good thing, since the doctor was still working on my arm.

As the nurse gave me a refill of my sedative, I felt myself returning to the same careless state I had been in not too long ago, making the fear that had tried to consume me subside. I shut my eyes, welcoming the drugs to engulf me, but before they took me away, I heard a voice. It was soft and weak and sounded like it was whispered right into my ear.

"Help me…."

My eyes flew open to find that the horrific-looking zombie-woman I'd just seen looming over me was replaced by a sad, defeated looking girl. She looked to be about the same age as me, but she looked hard, like life had been cruel to her.

"Please."

As my medicine pulled me away from her pleading stare, something seemed familiar. I knew this girl; I'd seen her before. Before I could figure out where I knew her from, I was gone.

I woke up in a recovery room with my arm heavily bandaged and throbbing. The doctor was supposed to fix me up, but it hurt worse now than it ever had. I was afraid I would be sick when I woke up, but thankfully I felt okay, just thirsty.

As I stared up at the lights over my bed, I started to remember how I'd woken up during surgery and was glad that they noticed enough to knock me back out. I remembered how he'd said I needed a refill on my sedative... and how the room was bright and smelled sterile... and the way everything reflected in the silver light covers... and...

Her.

I quickly sat up in my bed, causing my head to swim. When I was finally able to open my eyes back up without feeling like I was going to be sick, I saw that I was alone. Had I dreamt it? Maybe it was the medicine making me hallucinate.

"Oh, you're already sitting up," my nurse boasted. "I thought you'd still be asleep after that second dose we had to give you."

"Can I have some water?" I asked as I laid back down.

"I'll get you some ice chips first. If that sits well on your stomach and doesn't come up, you can move up to water." Ice was fine with me. My mouth was so dry that I'd probably lap water out of a puddle. "I'll be right back," she said as she walked out.

I shut my eyes, thinking back to the scary woman who'd I seen—or imagined—in the surgery room. I tried to push her grotesque face out of mind, still feeling slightly nauseous from where I'd sat up. But when I did, it was replaced with the sad version of her; the one I thought I recognized. Where did I know her from?

"Here ya go," the nurse said as she walked back in and handed me a cup of crushed ice. Who knew frozen water could taste so good.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"Did you drive or did someone bring you?"

Ugh... Billy. "Someone brought me."

"You'll be able to leave soon, so you might want to call someone to come get you."

I knew Billy had said he was staying, but surely he still wasn't here. "Would you mind seeing if there's anyone in the waiting room who's waiting on me?"

"Sure."

It was already two o'clock in the afternoon. If he was still here, then he'd missed work. I'd rather have to call a cab than to know that he'd been here all night long.

I finished off the cup of ice before she finally came back in. "There are actually two people waiting for you in the waiting room."

"Two?" I knew one was probably Billy, but who was the other one? Everyone I knew was at work and Chad should still be asleep.

She nodded. "They told them that you were out of surgery and in recovery and that you'd be able to go home soon."

I wish I could go home. "Did they say who's here?"

She shook her head. "Have you used the bathroom yet?"

"No, but I can." I hadn't gone since last night, and even though I hadn't drunk much, I really needed to go.

As I walked into the bathroom and went to pull my panties down, which I was thankful that they let me keep on, the realization of what I was in for set in. It felt so awkward wiping with my left hand, but I did it; pulling my panties up was another thing entirely.

My nurse came back in about thirty minutes later and said I was good to go and gave me instruction papers and told me I needed to follow up with the doctor in a few days. "Do you want me to get the two gentlemen who are in the waiting room? One of them will have to drive you or you'll have to call someone to come get you."

Gentlemen? I really hope that gentleman number two was Eric, because the only other guy that knew I was here beside him was Chad. Oh, please tell me Chad isn't in there with Billy. Since I was staying with Chad, I'd have to ride home with him, which I'd rather do, anyway. I did feel bad that Billy had stayed up here all night and had even missed work just to stay with me, just to have me turn around and leave with someone else. But then the vision of him in our bed with that girl popped into my head and I didn't feel so bad.

"Do you want me to bring them on back?" the nurse asked again.

"Um, do you mind asking who's here?"

"Sure. Just sign this for me and I'll be back to get you."

I went to sign the release papers, only to be reminded that I'm going to be one-handed for a while. Trying to sign my name with my left hand was like trying to drop it low on the dance floor—I could do it, but it wasn't pretty.

"There is a Billy Jakes and a Chad Bales waiting for you in the waiting room," my nurse informed me as she came back in.

I was afraid of that. "Could you do me a favor?" She took the paper and nodded. "Could you only bring Chad back and tell Billy thanks for me?"

"Sure."

I hated doing that to him, but not as much as I hated what he'd done to me, which was much, much worse.

***

As I walked into Chad's living room, my heart sank and my stomach lurched. No wonder he'd come to the hospital; it looked like a murder had taken place.

"I'm so sorry." I felt terrible. I barely knew him and had practically destroyed his couch. "I hope it comes off," I said, looking at all the dried blood. It was leather, so maybe there was still hope.

"It's fine. I'm just glad you're okay. Sit down and I'll get you something to drink. I've got Coke, Gatorade, milk, and water."

"What color Gatorade?" I asked as I sat in the only chair that wasn't covered in blood.

"Orange."

"I'll take that," I told him as I started to salivate. I was starving, too, but didn't want to ask for food; he'd done enough already. I'd get something to eat later.

He came back and handed me a big glass, which I quickly started to gulp. He sat down on the floor in front of me, leaning up against the coffee table. I couldn't read the look on his face. Did he think I was crazy? Did he regret inviting me to stay here? I wanted to know what he was thinking.

"So, what happened?" he asked, interrupting the silence.

He had been so glad to see me when the nurse had brought him back, or at least he seemed to be glad, that he didn’t question me about anything. He didn't even talk about it on the way here. All he'd said was that he was glad I was okay and asked how I felt. But now that I was here and I felt okay, he wanted answers, and I couldn't blame him.

I told him about how I'd found his note and started reading a book on his kindle. "I turned off the lamp and pulled out the light so if I got sleepy I could just lay it down and go to sleep." I told him how I'd seen the face and how I'd broken the lamp.

"How did you get to the hospital?" He knew I didn't drive myself because my car was still here.

I told him that I almost called an ambulance but opted to call Billy instead. I quickly moved on to the part where I saw the face again during surgery. "I thought I might've been hallucinating, but she looked so... so real. She scared me so bad, but then they just doped me up again."

"Why didn't you call me, Jacynda? I'd have come and got you."

"Because."

"Because why?"

I shrugged. "You were at work. And you've been nice enough to let me camp out here that I didn't want to bother you." I took a deep breath. "Anyway, I saw the girl again right before they knocked me out. I know her. I didn't know from where at first, but now I do. It's Mable."

"Who's Mable?"

"Henry's wife. Remember?" He still looked confused. "The man who built my house, Henry Kauser. The lady who came to me and told me to help her was his wife."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. It's her. I remember her from the picture that Rich showed me. And I bet you money that Henry's the one who's haunting my house. What if he killed her? Rich said she'd went missing. What if he's the reason she went missing?" It all made sense, sort of. "And what if he killed her sister, too, when she spoke out against him?"

His face was still unreadable. "I don't know. I could talk to Rich about it; tell him what happened here and about the woman. See what he and Jeff think. I need to talk to Susan, too; see if they've had any luck finding someone to clear your house."

"Well, at least we know what we might be dealing with here. Or at least I hope that's all we're dealing with. I could handle the thought of some evil man haunting my house and not Lucifer, himself." I shivered. "But still, he's an evil man. I felt it."

"I did, too." He admitted as he rubbed my knee and stood up. "That's why I wanted you to come here."

His touch made my stomach flutter, or maybe it was from my insatiable hunger. "Thanks. And thanks for coming to the hospital."

"No problem. It was a rather interesting wait today," he said with a slight grin as he walked into the kitchen. "Are you hungry?"

I cringed, wondering if he and Billy had talked. "Yes. And what do you mean by interesting wait?"

"Grilled cheese sound good?"

"It sounds better than good," I replied as sat down at the island that separated his kitchen and living room. "How long were you at the hospital?"

He smiled at me again. "I was there all day. When I got your text, I thought I'd come home and sleep for a bit before I came and checked on you." He shut the fridge door and looked at me. "But when I came home to what looked like a scene out of a horror movie, I went straight up there." He turned around and grabbed the bread and a pan out of the cabinets. "I don't see how a girl so small could lose that much blood and still be alive."

"How do you think I feel? I about passed out at the sight of all of it. But back to your interesting wait."

He knew what I was getting at, so he continued to tease me. "Well, they told me which waiting room to wait in, and when I got there, it was empty. The lady at the waiting room desk asked who I was there to see and I told her you. I figured if she got any news she'd tell me, so I sat back in one of the chairs and went to sleep." He looked at me and smiled but didn't say anything else.

"That doesn't sound that interesting."

"No, it wasn't. The interesting part came when your ex-boyfriend showed up."