Chapter 2

Loosened, her hair flowed below her waist. It might have looked thicker if Anya spent money on hair products or cosmetics. She did not. St. Brigit’s taught its students that frivolity was useless, so Anya bought her cosmetics, lotions, and hair products on sale at a drug chain. Anya’s life was filled with her studies and her patients. She had little money, as few residents did. She brushed her hair for maintenance.

Her luxury was her orange and white tiger cat, Tigger. Tigger was the constant in her life, the only living being that was even close to knowing the real Anya. She had fallen in love with his huge paws and audacious personality when he was a kitten at a local shelter where she had gone to seek some undemanding company. Since she was an orphan, she had no friends from before college, orphans learned not to get too close. After she entered school, she had no time for socialization, she needed to study to keep up her grade point and retain her scholarship.

Anya had never been in love, she had never had sex. There was a voice in her head that said, Hold out for love. Her virginity would be a gift to her lover; the only one she had to give. That day hadn’t come and Anya didn’t want to be alone anymore, so she had gone looking for a safe companion and found a real friend. Tigger knew all of her secrets; they had developed a language of sorts. He didn’t care that she had to study or work long hours. As long as he had her lap when she returned and his kibble and toys while she was gone, Tigger was a happy cat. Every piece of clothing Anya owned, every piece of furniture, was covered in cat hair. Since it was just the two of them in her small apartment, neither cared. She worried about him being all alone. What would happen to him without her?

Anya knew where she was. The sights, smells, and sounds said Manhattan General, and this was her hospital. Her skin texture was yellow and thick. She felt the rash move over her body in concert with the virus. Each patch of scaling skin was a prophecy of the next horror. She had not slipped into unconsciousness, although she longed for that state to shut down the bulldozers that danced on her bones. The pain was intense, despite the morphine drip. Her blood ran through her veins like acid. Her throat and mouth burned as if she had swallowed drain cleaner.

Anya’s senses were hyper-alert. She heard the click of the monitors and muted alarms from the medical equipment throughout the wing. She sensed the vibrations of the stretchers and gurneys as they whizzed by in the corridors and the heightened thump of soft-soled shoes running on vinyl floors. The intercom announced code after code with colors and numbers. She knew the language. The hospital was overwhelmed with too many cases and not enough beds or staff to tend them. Manhattan General’s policy dictated that human contact and interaction was essential to patient recovery, yet she only remembered Mark coming in to see her. He asked about Tigger and sent and an orderly to take her keys to feed him and change his box.

The deadly rash snaked up her left breast. She felt the destruction of each cell as it fell to the intruder. Her body had no reserves left to fight the virus. Pain ruled her mind and heart. Despite her oaths and her supposed strong moral fiber, she longed for the end. Tears ran down her blotchy cheeks, salt stinging her abraded skin. Her body was in constant spasm, not allowing even the slight respite of sleep. Her throat was parched and sore from both the respirator and her silent screams. There was no one for Anya; the tubes in her mouth muffled her sobs. She would die, unloved by anyone, save an orange cat. She dare not close her eyes again; she did not want to go unto the dark alone.

Wait…what was that,voices murmured in her head. The conversation was muted, but intense and masculine. It was a buzz, a fly in her brain. Her path inescapable, she walked toward a blue light,yet the outline of the moon, no, three moons at her back called her name causing her to stop, despite the light’s gentle promise. But the buzz, she couldn’t shake the buzz. She turned toward the moons. She heard the voices, closer now. Anya almost understood the words. The buzzing had ceased. Curiosity, one of her besetting sins, rooted her feet to the path. Forward was the blue light, pulling at her and promising peace; surrounding her on her left and right sides was the constant buzz of conversation, to her back were the strange moons and the pain. She lifted her face toward the sky; the voices came down from the heavens. Tenderness bathed her body…Her imagination escaped the tyranny of her innocence. Lust ran like a fresh breeze through her brain. She felt a masculine presence. Two, she thought. She felt gentle fingers brush against her nipples, and wet, soft kisses flowed across her collarbone to the back of her neck. And then a bite. Both nipples pushed erect against the soft thin cotton of the hospital gown. Need, she needed. She felt the blood moving to her labia, as the lips engorged, becoming heavy. Opening outward, throbbing. Rational thought intruded on her arousal. Anya, you’re dying here, in pain, breathing your last. You’re a physician. You know the score. What the heck is happening?

The thought fled and all was sensation of hands and lips. Her body tensed, climbing, climbing the precipice, a burst of light came. It was white, blinding in her brain, her lower body pulsating in rhythm, leaving the hospital linens damp. It came, a whisper, a tendril of hope, and then a thought drifted into her consciousness. “We’re here, with you,” the voices said. “We are one, BondStirred; you will never be alone again.” The thought gave comfort even as she turned from the light and headed back to the pain.