"Ronnie"
Chapter 1
"White walls. Why do they have to paint all doctors’ offices with that cornea-blinding white?" Erika Kerrigan was in the doctor’s office for the sixth time this year. Shaking her head and rubbing her temples, Erika hated being in the doctor’s office, let alone when she didn’t have a head splitting migraine. She had been sitting in the waiting room for what seemed like hours, waiting, sitting, waiting some more, and reading as many magazines as she possibly could to pass the time before the migraine made her shut down. My chair must have a permanent imprint of my ass, Erika thought as she shifted in her chair. At a stunning six feet, red-headed Erika stood out from the rest of the people in the waiting room. She scanned from her left to her right, taking in her surroundings and analyzing them to pass the time. Erika was situated on the back wall, with the door where the nurses called patients into exam rooms on her left. Next to the door, on the left facing wall, was a counter with a sliding glass door where patients checked in. Erika smiled as the heavy-set nurse behind the counter looked up through her inch-thick glasses at her, giving her the "Why are you staring at me?" look. Erika chuckled to herself a little bit, and continued to move around the room. Next to the patient check-in window was a slew of medical information signs talking about medication, how to properly wash your hands, and one had a diagram of the human brain and skull. On the wall facing Erika was the big wooden door that led out of the doctor’s office to the parking lot. To the right of the door, in the middle of the wall facing Erika and the wall to the right of her, was an outcrop that housed a bathroom. From the bathroom wall all the way to where Erika was sitting was just a row of about nine chairs that lined the wall. Right as Erika stared out the window to the gloomy post-storm sky, a burst of sunlight came through the window. Erika winced and shut her eyes to protect her already sensitive corneas. "Erika Kerrigan?" said a female voice to the left of Erika. She slightly opened her eyes to see the fuzzy shape of a nurse holding a chart. Erika grunted as she lifted her now-asleep ass off the chair she had called home for the past two hours. She entered through the door, and was met by such extremely bright lights that she felt like she was on the surface of the sun. The nurse showed her into an exam room, and Erika rushed in to sit on the closest flat surface she could. "I see you’re here for a migraine…" the nurse whispered after flipping through Erika’s chart. "Muuuhuh," Erika grunted as she looked at the nurse. The nurse was a tall and slender brunette with green eyes. The nurse walked over and shut off the lights in the exam room to help Erika have some relief. "I’ll send in Dr. Lukai right away", the nurse said as she quickly opened the door to the hallway, trying to let in as little light as possible. Erika grunted in approval and sat back in her chair. "At least it’s quiet in here", Erika said. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Erika was jolted back from her relaxed state and winced. She reached down to her belt and grabbed her pager. She squinted to read the letters on the blue backlight. "Computer problems. We need you here ASAP! –Angie" "Shit, why now?!" Erika swore as a sudden bright light came from the hallway. "Ahhh!" she said as she sheltered her eyes from the hallway light. An older man with a beard and white lab coat appeared in the doorway, quickly shutting the door behind him to let in a small beam of light so he could see. "Hi, Dr. Lukai. I’m sorry, but I have to go, there’s an emergency at the office." Erika said as she got up. "Alright, but let me give you a prescription for Imitrex, it’s like Tylenol on steroids!" The doctor said as he got out his prescription pad from his coat pocket. "Alright." Erika said as she snatched the paper from the doctor’s hands and headed out the door. "Wait!" said Dr. Lukai grabbing for Erika. "Yes?" she said. Dr. Lukai grabbed something from his coat pocket and handed it to Erika. Erika looked at it; it was a pair of large and goofy sunglasses. Erika smiled and slipped them on as she headed out the door. After picking up her prescription at the drug store, Erika popped one of her pills in the car on the way to her work. "Now on to the next crisis in my life." Erika said as she pulled up to the parking garage for her office building, looking at the clock in her car that read 9:54 PM. She was the CEO of a controversial insurance company that had taken over most of the smaller insurance companies in her area. As Erika pulled up to the parking garage gate, she noticed that there was no one in the guard booth to let her in. She scanned from left to right, looking for a phone, but with no luck. She glanced to her left as a woman wearing a black hat and sunglasses appeared next to her car and knocked on the driver’s side window, prompting Erika to roll down her window. "Yes?" Erika said over the whurr of her still descending window. "Hey. I tried to get in already, but with no luck. I’m parked up there so I don’t block traffic," the woman said, pointing up to the outline of a black car parked about one hundred feet up the road. "Ok. No one came to let you in?" Erika said as she put her Mercedes in reverse. "Nope. All of the security guards are probably upstairs watching football and drinking beer," the woman said. "Ha ha ha! Probably!" Erika said as she rolled up her window and began to slowly back out of the driveway for the parking structure. "You can go up and park behind me, we can walk to the front of the building together." The woman said loudly as Erika backed up. Erika nodded and drove up, parking behind the black car. She passed the woman on her way up and waited for her to arrive before Erika got out of her car. About 30 seconds later, Erika saw the woman appear about 10 feet away, so she turned off her car and opened her door. She could hear the woman’s shoes getting closer and closer behind her as she turned around to lock her door. Right when she spun around to lock her door, she felt something wrap around her neck, putting pressure on her throat. Erika struggled to catch her breath as she clawed at the thin piece of wire that was cutting into her throat. Failing to pry the wire from her throat, Erika began to fight off the person who was holding the wire. She began to flail her arms, move her head, and squirm as much as possible to try and fend off her attacker. She noticed that she had succeeded in knocking off the attacker hat and glasses, but that did little good for the situation Erika was in. With each movement, she began to feel even more lightheaded and dizzy. Erika could see black splotches fill her field of vision as she was still gasping to catch even the littlest breath of air. With each movement, she could feel the wire go deeper and deeper into her neck. The adrenaline kicked in and Erika began to kick, grab, or punch anything she could, but to no avail. She felt the muscles in her legs begin to weaken, which caused her to collapse as if her legs were made of straw. She rolled a little bit as she fell, seeing flashes of white light as her body began to feel like it was floating away. Right when Erika felt her body go numb, she felt the pressure on her neck disappear. Now on her back, Erika could see who was trying to kill her. She glanced at the person before she began to lose consciousness, squinting to see and identify the fuzzy shape standing over her. Erika’s eyes became wide when she recognized and remembered the person from the doctor’s office. "I….I…" Erika said as she could feel herself slipping away. "Still have that migraine?" the woman asked. Erika tried to answer but her body went limp and she lost consciousness. "My name is Veronica Ricks, RN. You can call me Ronnie."
Chapter 1
