She Runs Away by Georgia Wagner

Author:Georgia Wagner [Wagner, Georgia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-19T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Dr. Miracle Bryant stared at Artemis, blinked, and adjusted her sparkly glasses. The You go girl! in rhinestones across her pink sweater seemed like the perfect advice at that moment, but Artemis hadn't shaken her own shock quickly enough to make a dash for the stairwell.

Now, she found herself staring at Dr. Bryant, her mouth slightly unhinged.

Dr. Bryant stared back. For a moment, the two women mirrored each other in the way their arms suddenly dropped at their sides; their hands went limp. Dr. Bryant breathed slowly, a rattling breath. She swallowed, and her bedazzled sweater rose and fell with an ample bosom.

Then, the middle-aged coroner turned on her heel with a squawk, reached for the door and tried to slam it shut. Again, Artemis was impressed with how lithely the buxom woman moved. She snagged the door handle, trying to tug it closed, but Forester lunged forward, placing his foot in the way, preventing it from closing.

“Ack! Donna! Hide in the bathroom! Lock the door!” Dr. Bryant was shouting. She then snatched something off a desk inside the bedroom. A big, yellow phone-book. The type Artemis hadn't seen used in years by anyone from her generation.

But now, Dr. Bryant brandished the phone book at Forester, then at Artemis, shifting it back and forth, her eyes fierce behind those sparkling glasses.

“I know kung-fu!” she yelled, desperate. “Don't make me hurt you!”

Artemis sighed, Forester glanced over, shrugging sheepishly, his foot still wedged in the door.

Now, Dr. Bryant began stamping on Forester's foot. “Hey! Hey, stop that!” Forester yelped.

“Don't come near me, you traitor! Murderers! Help!” Dr. Bryant began shouting.

Forester let out a desperate sigh. Artemis was shaking her head at the sheer bad luck of the situation. Forester shoved into the room, though, hand darting out, clapping over Dr. Bryant's mouth and holding back a scream of, “Fiends! Desecrat—Mumpfh!”

Now, Forester pushed the older woman gently into the room, while still holding his hand over her mouth. He looked sheepish and was muttering like the engine of a motorboat, “I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry—yah, stop licking my hand!”

Artemis followed quickly, her stomach twisting in horror at the situation. She slipped into the room, glancing quickly over her shoulder.

No one had reacted to the noise.

Perhaps no one had heard.

Or... a more grim interpretation. Perhaps such sounds were commonplace in a nursing home like this.

Artemis quickly shut the door behind her with a faint click and spun around, her back to the cool metal, facing the room.

Most of the small room resembled a hospital. A single room with a cot in one corner and a lumpy, old couch in another. There was evidence in the form of a floor-set litter box and tabby fur on a couch that some other creature lived in this space with the usual denizen, but there was currently no sign of the cat.

A very old woman, with thin strands of hair, was sitting upright in her bed, under piles of blankets, ignoring the entire scene and murmuring to herself as she did a sudoku puzzle.

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