Things started coming back to Kate very slowly. The first thing that she realized that she was cold. Freezing cold. And that she hurt. All over. It didn’t seem like there was a single square inch on her entire body that didn’t throb with pain. Opening her eyes, that felt like eight ton bricks, and blinking several times, Kate’s eyes fought to focus in on her surroundings. She didn’t know where she was, but she did know two things.

1. She wasn’t dead.

2. She wasn’t in her dorm room.

Then the memory of her horrific night came back into her memory, and Kate began to tremble.

“Oh, Kate, honey,” Kate’s mother was at her side from out of nowhere, it seemed.

“W-wh-where--” Kate’s mouth seemed to had forgotten how to form words. Kate blinked, bringing her mother and her soft features into focus. Her face was a mixture of relief and concern.

“Oh, sugar. I’m so glad you’re awake. You’ve been asleep for ---let’s see-- about two days now. You’re in the hospital, angel. Oh, my goodness, I’ve been worried sick! Your father and Megan are going to be thrilled to hear that you’re awake!” Kate watched as her mother hit a button next to the bed Kate was laying in. “Bring Mr. Anderson and Miss Smith into Room 218 when they return, will you, please?” Kate’s mom spoke into a little box.

“Sure thing, Mrs. Anderson,” came a female voice from the box.

“C-c-co--” Kate stammered, when her mother looked back at her.

“Oh! You must be freezing! The doctors said you probably would be,” Kate’s mother replied. Kate watched as she hurried over to a little cabinet with tall double doors. When she pulled them open, Kate saw stacks of what looked to be blankets, sheets, pillowcases, and hospital gowns. “Here,” her mother said, laying a heavy blanket over the top of Kate.

“Let me get you some water,” she added, getting a little plastic cup from a table on the opposite side of Kate’s bed than what the speaker box was on. Opening a drawer, her mom retrieved a straw, and placed it in the cup. Holding the cup to Kate’s mouth with one hand, and holding the straw steady with the other, Kate’s mom helped her get a drink of the cool, refreshing water. Kate smiled after her drink. Her mom was in full ‘mom-mode’ and that instantly made her feel better.

“Wh-what happened?” Kate asked, her throat now moistened, and her voice coming back to her.

“Oh, baby! Well, you’re in the hospital. The Cook County Hospital. Did you know that they filmed that television show, ‘ER’ here? You know, the one with George Clooney?” her mom asked. Kate nodded, smiling. Her mom was infatuated with George Clooney. She probably knew more about him than he knew about himself.

Well, anyway, you were cut pretty bad by that---Alan guy,” Kate’s mom shuddered when she said the name. “You had to have a lot of stitches, and they have you on all these different pain medicines,” she continued.

Kate thought back to, apparently, a couple nights ago. The last thing that she had remembered, just after the searing pain of the knife cutting through her flesh were cops busting through the door.

“Oh, you’re awake!” Kate turned her head and saw her dad and Megan walk through the door to her hospital room. Kate was never so glad to see them, all of them. Kate watched as they walked over to her bed, and sat down. Kate’s mom was holding Kate’s right hand, and Megan took a hold of her left. Her dad rested his on Kate’s knee.

“How are you feeling, Katie-bug?” her father asked.

“Okay, I guess. Confused,” she answered.

“I was just beginning to tell her what happened,” her mother told them.

“Oh. Kate, I’m so sorry. You had told me about that ‘Pete,’ or Alan, but it didn’t seem like a big deal. I’m so very sorry,” Megan said with tears in her eyes. She gave Kate’s hand a little squeeze.

“It’s okay. I never should’ve accepted a ‘friend request’ from someone I had no clue who they were in the first place,” Kate replied. She gave Megan a small grin.

“Anyway, if you want to know what happened, after---well, you know-- we can tell you,” Kate’s father told her. Kate just nodded in reply. No matter how gruesome the details, or how awful the memory, she wanted to know. She needed to know.

“Well,” Megan began, “this Erin girl called me that afternoon, about five I think it was. She said she couldn’t give specific details or anything, but something terrible was going to happen to you, and that your life was in serious jeopardy. She said that she knew you really well, but she wasn’t able to help.”

“Right. And then Megan came to our house right after she got off the phone with her,” Kate’s mother inserted.

“Yeah, but we didn’t know what to do, exactly. I mean, this girl sounded serious, and she was, obviously,” Megan told Kate.

“So, I suggested that once we arrived in Chicago, that we go to the police, and tell them all we knew, and bring them with us,” Kate’s father said. His face was lined with concern.

“Yeah. Well, that Erin girl said it would be in our best interest, anyhow. She said that the people involved were extremely dangerous, and would be armed with at least a gun,” Megan continued.

“That explains why she seemed like she was trying to stall,” Kate thought out loud.

“What? What do you mean by that?” Kate’s father asked.

“Well, it’s just that this Alan had a hand gun pressed against my forehead. I can still almost feel the cool of the barrel now. Aman --er, Erin, stopped him. She said it would be too loud, and too--” Kate shuddered, remembering, “messy.”

Kate’s mother stroked Kate’s arm with her free hand. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

“So,” Megan continued after a moment, “we get to the cop shop--er, police station, and tell them our story. At first they didn’t believe us, but finally they agreed to come along.”

“Yeah,” Kate’s mother said, “this one officer, I forget his name now, but he had said that your story sounded ‘familiar’ somehow. That there were one or two students a year disappearing from the dorms every year, for the past few years now. They never have found a body, or the person or persons responsible.”

“But we have now,” Megan said, a huge smile spreading across her face. “Kate, we busted in there like it was nobody’s business!”

“Yeah,” Kate answered, laughing a little, “I remember that much.”

“Well, the rest is pretty much history. The cops cuffed those four creeps, and the EMT people brought you to the hospital here,” Megan finished.

“What EMT people?” Kate asked. She just remembered the cops. She hadn’t even seen Megan, or her parents.

“Oh, they were called in on our way over, I guess. One of the cops had told us, before we entered the dorm building. You know, not knowing what kind of condition anyone, especially you, was in or anything,” Kate’s dad answered her.

“Oh,” was Kate’s reply. “I see.”

A grimace crossed momentarily over Kate’s face.

“Oh, the pain meds are probably wearing off by now,” Kate’s mother said, looking at her husband.

“Yeah, they’ve kept you pretty doped up,” Megan informed Kate.

“You really have a way with words, Megs, you know that?” Kate said, smiling. She just smiled back in response.

Kate’s father reached over and hit the buzzer, and asked the voice on the other end if his daughter could get some more pain medicine. “Sure, we’ll be right in,” came the voice’s response. “Oh, Kate, before you get your medicine, I have a little surprise for you. I’ll be right back. Usually they don’t allow this sort of thing, but after a little coaxing from our end, the doctors agreed it’d be okay, just this once. Hang on a minute.” Kate watched her father leave the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

“What’s he doing?” Kate asked, turning her head to her mother.

“You’ll see, sweetie,” her mom replied, a smile plastered across her face.

A few minutes later, the hospital room door opened slowly, and her father’s head poked through, “Kate? You ready?”

“Yeah,” Kate replied, giggling. She felt like it was her fifth birthday again, when her dad had done the same thing when he brought her a pony from around the side of the house. She could almost guess what he was going to say next.

“Well, then, close your eyes,” her father replied. Yup, Kate was right. She just hoped it wasn’t a pony he had brought into the hospital room. Kate obeyed, and shut her eyes. Several seconds later, Kate felt something cold and wet on her hand that Megan had been holding a few minutes ago. Opening her eyes, Kate saw her loyal friend, Freckles, at her bedside wagging his tail happily.

“Oh, Freckles!” Kate exclaimed. Freckles licked her hand gently in response. A tear slipped from Kate’s eye. Looking up at her father holding onto Freckles’ leash, she asked, “How on Earth---”

“Well, Mark brought him up. I called and told him what happened, and your parents suggested that when you woke up, it’d be a fantastic surprise for you to see Freckles. So Mark drove him here,” Megan answered, simply.

“Is Mark here still?” Kate wondered. Surely he didn’t drive all the way here with her dog, and then turn around and drive straight home.

“Yeah, well no,” Megan replied.

“What?”

“I mean, he has a cousin or something here, that lives kind of nearby, so he went over there for awhile. He said he’d come visit you later, when you were awake and felt better,” Megan cleared up.

“Oh. I see,” Kate said quietly, stroking the top of Freckles’ head.

Smiling down at her dog, Kate remembered always having a ‘school girl’ type of crush on Mark. He had always been so kind. But they had never dated, not even kissed. They were always ‘just friends.’

Just then, a nurse walked in with two little cups in her hands. “Here’s your medicine, sweetie,” she replied. Helping Kate take the medicine, the nurse, ‘Patty,’ from what the name badge read, took a step back and said, “Those will kick in here shortly. You’ll probably get pretty drowsy, so you better say your good-byes for now. This adorable puppy can’t stay her too long.” Kate watched as the nurse looked down and nodded in Freckles’ direction, smiling.

“Okay, thank you,” Kate answered.

“Yeah, we better let you get some rest, Katie-bug. You’ve been through a lot. We’ll take Freckles and grab something to eat,” Kate’s father announced, looking at Kate, and then at his wife, and finally Megan.

“Yeah,” Megan and Kate’s mom answered in unison.

“We will see you soon,” Megan told her. “I’m so glad you woke up.”

“I’ll be back as soon as we’re done eating. I want to be here when you wake up again,” Kate’s mother told her, smiling. She leaned down and kissed Kate’s forehead.

“Okay,” Kate replied. The pain medicine was starting to kick in. The nurse was right, Kate was becoming severely drowsy. Her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton again, and all she could think about was sleep.

After a few more light kisses and gentle hugs, and a couple loving licks on her hand from Freckles, Kate’s best friend, parents, and her loyal companion slipped out the door, letting Kate drift off into a dreamless, comfortable sleep.