Animal Attack
Nothing ever happened in the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. At least nothing known to the citizens of the town. Arya Foster was one of those citizens. She lived and worked and socialized in this small town. She grew up in Mystic Falls, attended college just outside the city limits, and worked at the Mystic Falls Hospital. Her life was normal. She had friends she liked, a sister she loved, and a career she genuinely enjoyed.
It was the first day of spring in the state of Virginia and Arya was welcoming the warm breeze into her home through open windows. It was early in the morning on a sunday and Arya had already been up for a few hours doing her spring cleaning. Her house was a five bedroom, four bathroom home built in the year 1921. The inside of the house was basically all open concept. The kitchen large and the living area spread out to allow a multitude of people for gatherings. Arya loved her home, it had belonged to a distant relative decades ago. But her favorite part of the home was the front porch. It had a swing that she would sit on and read for hours.
Arya huffed as she dusted the top of the high shelves in her parent's old bedroom. The room hadn't been touched since last spring. She had avoided going in there since their passing the year prior. She knew how they died, deep down, but she never fully accepted it. So she accepted what the police told her, the surface truth. An animal attack. Typical cover story for the actual story underneath.
The dust settled and Arya walked over to her parent's closet and peered inside. All their clothes were as they always were. Neatly folded and hung on wooden hangers. She closed the door and sighed. She missed them. Elizabeth and Trevor Foster were wonderful parents to all their children. Arya's twin sister, Erin looked a lot like her mother. The fact that they were twins didn't matter, they didn't look very much alike. Arya took after their father and Erin after their mother. Erin having dark hair and Arya having red hair, but their eyes were the same shade of green. Erin and Arya were very close despite their differences. Arya was a trauma nurse and Erin was a high school history teacher. They did have one very important thing in common, their want to help people.
Arya finished dusting her parents bedroom then made her way to the kitchen. Her phone rang and she tapped the answer button on it.
"Speak!" Arya said as she tapped the speaker phone button.
"How is the most wonderful nurse in all of Virginia?" A cheerful man's voice sung through the phone. Arya tensed as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
"No." She said and the man chuckled.
"You don't even know what I was going to say." He said and Arya rolled her eyes.
"Yes I do. Wanda called out again, didn't she Stephen?"
"Maybe..." Stephen said and Arya groaned loud before taking a heavy sip of her coffee.
"You promise I wouldn't get called in. I have covered for her twice last week!" Arya complained sitting up on her counter. She leaned her head against the cabinet behind her and held her coffee cup in her hands.
"Please. I promise, next week if she calls out I'll have Bruce cover. It's the weekend. I need someone I can trust."
"Fine, but you need to get me coffee the entire shift. It's for survival." Arya said agreeing. She didn't mind covering shifts, but today was suppose to be the only day she did things for herself. She rarely had days off, she always took shifts at the hospital. And on her days off she was either helping Erin out at the school or had her nose in a book.
"Of course! Thank you, thank you, thank you! See you at 6!" Stephen said then hung up the phone. He then sent her a slew of thank you texts which Arya smiled at. Stephen was a good boss, even though he did ask her to cover shifts for an incompetent worker who he refused to fire because he didn't have the guts too.
When six rolled around Arya walked in to the nurses station at the emergency at Mystic Falls Hospital. Clad in her bright blue scrubs. She began to flip through the charts of patients who had been admitted but not attended too yet when she saw a coffee cup being set on the counter before her. She looked up and raised an eyebrow at Stephen. Her red hair fell into her face and she pushed it behind her ear. Stephen was smiling from ear to ear. He was tall with long brown hair with grey on either side of his temples pulled into a pony tale. He was in his forties and had grey and brown stubble on his face and neck. His bright blue eyes sparkled with delight that she had shown up.
"Your bribe." Stephen said pushing the coffee cup to her. Arya popped off the top to the coffee cup and took a whiff.
"You splurged." She said smiling then took a sip and hummed at the sweet taste of honey and oat milk.
"Only the good stuff for my best employee." Stephen said. Arya hummed in slight annoyance. She liked Stephen but he was a bit too flirtatious for the work place. They had known each other for nearly five years and they got along fine. Before Arya could finish her first of many cups of coffee the trauma doors opened and a gurney was rushed in with paramedics on either side.
"I got this." Arya said pulling on her nitrate gloves and rushing over to the patient. "What do we got?" She asked the paramedic.
"Thirty-two year old male, bleeding from the neck. Low blood pressure." The paramedic to the right of her said.
As they rushed the patient to an available room Arya felt her blood run cold. The paramedic had replaced the blood soaked bandage on the patient's neck.
"How exactly did he get the wound?" Arya asked hooking up an IV to the patient's left arm while the other nurse fixed the oxygen mask on his face.
"Animal attack. Dude was at a bonfire. Stepped away to take a leak, when he stumbled back to the fire his friend called us. Haven't seen anything like this in a long time." The paramedic said obviously perplexed.
The man on the bed coughed sputtering blood. Arya removed the oxygen mask and wiped the man's face. The man had terror in his eyes. He tried to speak but only blood came out from his lips. The other nurse pressed on the man's neck attempting to get the flow of the blood to slow but it was no use. The patient's skin grew pale and his eyes started to look more distant. Arya leaned down to his ear when the other nurse looked away.
"Was it an animal?" She whispered and the man shook his head. But before Arya could ask any more questions his eyes rolled back into his head and the heart monitor flat lined. Arya began performing CPR while the other nurse pumped oxygen into his lungs. "Come on! Come on!" She yelled as she worked on his heart. But it was no use, he was gone. "Damn!" She shouted then stood back and tore off her gloves. She threw them into the bin next to the bed. "Time of death 6:23 PM." Arya said then left the room.
Stephen stood at the nurses station signing some documents when she walked up to him. She reached over the counter and grabbed her coffee. She chugged it down then threw the empty cup in the trash next to the desk.
"I'm going to need another." She said then turned and made her way to the restroom. She washed her hands and starred into the mirror above the sink. Arya knew what killed the patient and it wasn't an animal attack.