Aunt Carol came rushing inside as soon as she heard my screams. They were loud, painful, and vicious. My voice changed into something I didn't recognize myself.

I lifted myself off the bathtub and my knees struck at the hard floor. I screamed once more. The pain—it was the worst I had ever felt. Every nerve in my body was stinging, being continually stabbed with something sharp, my bones were snapping, over and over again.

I stared at my hands that were flat against the floor. My wrist bones were poking, twisting, lurching as I cried.

What was happening with me?

"Eos," Aunt Carol ran to me. She grabbed my arms, hoping to take me off the ground. "What's wrong? What happened?" Her voice was filled with fear.

I could hear it, I could smell it.

Her fear.

My fear.

It was all over in the air and it was strong. Every emotion that Aunt Carol and I were going through, I could feel it—all of it.

I cried louder and screamed for the pain to come to an end. "I can't—I can't—I don't know." I stuttered as my throat closed a few moments later.

My nails scraped against the tiles of the bathroom floor, they elongated and then shortened. Images appeared in front of me again. My vision blurred to the point where I barely saw anything.

The sounds of my screams slowly came to an end as I fell flat on the floor, my breathing still uneven.

The pain subsided for a second. I felt nothing but horror.

Aunt Carol left and returned to the bathroom moments later with a phone in her hand. Sweat trickled from her head and she rubbed it while dialing for an emergency.

"It's going to be fine, Eos. You'll be fine. Just stay with me. We will go to the hospital and you'll be fine." She quickly said, her voice shaking.

Reaching out to the towels, she grabbed one and wrapped me around it while the phone was still pressed to her ear and her shoulder. Once the emergency call was picked up, she requested for someone to be sent through.

Nor were I or her aware of what was happening.

I went unconscious soon after, remembering and feeling nothing more.

It was surely hours later when I woke up only to be in pain again. There was no relief. I halted awake, crying and screaming in the hospital room as the IV's attached to my skin wasn't helping.

The nurses came by, calming me but nothing worked. My blood-curdling screams ran through the entire wing of the hospital. My voice was shrill with fear. I was panicking hard, dreading.

I was afraid.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. It's just a lot of pain. I can't bear it, Carol. It's too much." I wrapped my arms around my knees and held myself together tightly.

She pressed a hand firmly on my back. "It's going to be fine. Don't worry. You'll be okay, baby."

I shook my head, "It's not going to be fine." A sudden thought spread through my head and I pulled my shirt up. "It has to do something with the bite. It's gone but ever since it's gone, I have this awful pain like something needs to be released out of me." I spread my fingers around my waist and held it with a tight grip. "Fuck. It's horrible." I arched my back and cried.

"I'll get the doctor here again." Aunt Carol lifted her hand and walked out of the hospital room, leaving me alone.

I slammed my lips shut and glanced at the monitor ringing beside me. My heartbeat was perfectly normal and according to the doctor, my reports were normal as well.

A bowl rested on the side table and it was once filled with blood that spurred out of my throat.

I grabbed it again. Clots of blood left my mouth and fell into the bowl. I caught sight of it, it was dark and seemed as if I was terribly sick.

My attention moved to the door when I heard Aunt Carol talking to someone from a distance. She was nowhere around me yet I could hear her voice.

"She's been here for over four hours and nothing has changed. What is wrong with her? Are we going to get any answers?" She didn't hesitate on yelling at the doctor and the nurses outside.

"We are looking into everything. Her reports are completely normal but we are waiting to speak to one of your senior doctors who'll be able to help Ms. Eos. Until then, we ask you to be patient." The doctor replied.

"And when will you be able to get a hang of this doctor. I'm not going to see my niece in pain for another day, let alone another minute!" Carol snapped, anger in her voice.

"I'm trying to get a hold of him. It shouldn't take that long." The doctor said while dialing something on his phone.

Even from my room, I could hear the beeps from his phone as he dialed the senior doctor's number.

For a minute, my attention was diverted onto the voices outside but as soon as I returned to reality, I felt the pain all over again.

I grabbed my stomach and groaned. "Fuck." It was a struggle to be quiet.

I pulled my hands away from my stomach and glanced at my fingernails only to find them growing. My eyes widened. They grew further into razor-sharp claws that bought terror in me.

My mouth hung open in surprise. I turned my hands around, looking at the back of my fingernails that had changed completely.

My body frosted.

I screamed again and the doctor along with Aunt Carol came rushing inside.

"I saw something—my nails, they are not the same!" I exclaimed while showing my hands to them.

By the time they looked at my nails, they had returned to normal. I had done a French manicure two weeks ago and that was what appeared.

"No, no, they were different. They were changing!" My head ached just a bit more.

"It's okay. The doctor has figured it out. They are going to put you on painkillers for a day. By today night, you'll be perfectly fine." Aunt Carol explained, rubbing my back.

The nurses came in and switched the IVs.

"But I'm already on painkillers." I protested.

"This is different, Ms. Eos. You shouldn't be feeling any pain in a few minutes." The doctor said to me.

I watched the nurse change my IV. She did it quickly and as soon as the new medicine entered my body, the pain was gone.

All of it.

It was a matter of minutes and I was relieved.

I let out a breath of relief and laid back down on the bed while smiling at Aunt Carol who had taken a seat near me. "It's over. It's all gone. I can't feel anything anymore."

"That's good."

More minutes passed by, the nurses left and so did the doctor after he checked on me for one last time. It was still the middle of the night and from the windows, I could see heavy rain pouring onto the hospital and the town.

The pain completely left me but I still couldn't sleep even when I tried closing my eyes. A thousand questions went through my head.

What was happening to me? What painkillers were the doctors giving to me? Why they didn't give it to me earlier?

Aunt Carol slept immediately after she found me resting without any pain. Her little snores filled up the quiet room in the hospital.

The nurse returned after the first IV was finished. "We will start the next one after a couple of hours. You should rest until then." She said, sealing the cannula.

Once she left, I stood up and walked around in circles, giving my legs some exercise while watching the sun slowly rise.

I stood near the window and looked outside. Just as in narrowed my eyes, I found King's car parked at the hospital's parking and there was no one inside it.

What was he doing here?