Sleepwalk Read Online Free Page B

crutches and even then she needed help. She couldn’t put any pressure on her right leg at all so it came as quite a surprise when Nurse Helen Dawson on the n ight shift saw her hobbling unaided through the ward intent on reaching the double doors at the end of the corridor that led to freedom.
    ‘Ellie!’ She rushed to her patient’s side and reached f or her arm ... ‘What are you doing?’
    ‘Get off!’ Ellie turned on her and Helen saw that her beauty had vanished beneath a wide eyed vacant expression and an angry veil of bitterness as she pushed using both her arms with some force until Helen felt herself falling backward in the corridor and felt her back jar as it hit the wall.
    ‘Bloody well lemme ……bloomin – derrer … Bitch!’
    Ellie turned and began to hobble falling occasionally against the walls and then smashed into an empty trolley and hung onto its rail for a few seconds , still mumbling nonsensically . Helen could do nothing but watch. She felt her heartbeat quicken with the shock of what had just happened. After a few seconds Ellie seemed to have a renewed strength and took off again back the way she had come. The nearest phon e was the other side of this patient who at least now was heading in the right direc tion . She seemed to know exactly where her bed was and was using her broken limbs with some ease. Once Ellie was safely past the desk the nurse called security and sent for the duty d octor then followed her at a safe distance ; watched her climb awkwardly into bed and curl up in a ball with the exception of her plastered leg which was hanging over one side. She was sound aslee p before reinforcements arrived, a picture of innocence.
    ‘At least we now know the probable cause leading to your wife’s injuries and we can look at ways to treat her problem and help pre vent any further injuries’ the d octor was saying. ‘Somnambulism or sleep-w alking as it is known is not very common in adults. Children and adolescents are more likely candidates. I’d like to carry out some tests on Ellie to rule out certain causes. I have booked her in for another CT scan . T he re are no further signs of any infection, i nternal bleeding or clotting but we would like to check for any other abnormalities.’
    ‘What, like a tumour or something? Is that what you suspect Doctor?’
    ‘ It’s too earl y to say at this stage but there are a number of things we need to rule out before we can proceed with any treatment. Now how long have you been married… or rather, living together? Does your wife have any history of this kind of behaviour? Have you ever woken up at night and found that she had left the room for example? I want you to think back, anything…. anything unusual?’
    ‘Well…….. We’ve been married for two years and together for just over four but… not really. I mean, yes I’ve woken up and she’s been to the bathroom or t o the k itchen to get a glass of water but……. That’s quite normal isn’t it? I mean I do that myself, often . She…. often talks in her sleep but really I don’t see the relevance . She’s never gone long and she always comes back to bed.’
    ‘I understand you have recently moved house?’
    ‘Yes. Yes….. Now I wish we hadn’t. We wanted a garden for Ollie you see. We lived in a ground floor flat before. This wouldn’t have happened there would it?’ Oh Jesus Ellie. How could I have doubted you? Oh please God don’t let them find anything….
     
    The sun was high in a cloudless sky when Felicity woke up and drew back her curtains.
    ‘Another day, another dollar’ she spoke softly to the cat with no name. She’d never given him a name. It didn’t seem right. He was so territorial it was like he had more right to be there than she did. He got called all sorts of different names like ‘nuisance’, ‘tabby’, ‘tiddles’ or just ‘cat’. Today he was ‘cat’ and either way he didn’t seem to care as long as he got fed and got the