289 The Caterwaul

Cassie was a skilled nursing facility nurse caring for those patients trapped, fully alert, within catatonic bodies.

"A stroke can cause a consciousness to be 'locked -in,'" Cassie told Blake, the medical student. "We watch for them to communicate with subtle eye movements."

"What about those who don't even try?" he asked Cassie.

"Then the diagnosis of catatonia is probably psychiatric."

"I see," Blake murmured, scribbling in his notebook. "What about her?" he asked Cassie.

The Room B-14 monitor showed a pale, frail white woman with her head-of -bed raised 45º, just staring ahead.

"Who knows?" Cassie replied. "We're still observing her for any signals. Sad. She was a brilliant neurologist."

"Sad?" Blake responded. "More like ironic."

"Still," Cassie said, "all that brain power trapped in there. What a Hell-on-Earth."

"I'm going into Dermatology," Blake said. Cassie didn't appreciate his flippancy, remaining curt until he left.

Did my peripheral vision catch movement on the monitor? She focused on the patient in B-14. Must've been my imagination.

Then she heard it.

From the monitor—the shrill wail—a cross between howl and scream. Like the yelp of a cat in pain. Cassie felt bolts of shock toward the base of her skull. She swept her eyes on monitors 1-14. Before getting to the last, the horrible sound stopped; she failed to identify the source.

The other patients stared blankly ahead, but the former neurologist looked into the camera.

Like she's looking at me, Cassie thought.

She zoomed until the woman's face filled the screen. Their eyes locked. Suddenly, the woman let out that horrible screech.

"Where's Cassie?" Blake asked the next morning. The supervisor nodded toward B-14. Cassie had replaced its previous occupant.

"What happened to—" Blake began.

"Just woke up, got dressed, and left. We tried to hold her but she signed the "against-medical-advice" release. Just in time. Needed the bed as it turns out."

Blake felt a chilly ripple up his spine; his vision telescoped to pinpoint. The male nurse sat him on a chair until he regained composure.

"Ironic," he said.

"No, sad," Blake corrected him.

"I guess so," the nurse said, nonchalantly. "By the way, have you by any chance heard a cat around here?"

_____________

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For Tuesday, October 15, Day 289 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge

A Halloween story. 366 WORDS (without A/N)

77 DAYS TO GO! THIS CHALLENGE CATERWAULS ON, 366 MEWS A DAY.

There are currently three Vocal writers remaining in this feline 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. Schäfer (Feline-in-feigning)

• Rachel Deeming (Grimalkin-in-training)

• Gerard DiLeo (Supine in vaining)