Death Cursed (Death Touched, Book One)

Chapter 3

Nena groaned. Her chest felt like someone had stabbed her with a sharp knife. The rest of her body was cold and numb. Her eyes fluttered open. She blinked against a harsh bright light that hovered over her. Her arm felt heavy as she raised her limb to block the light.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." The voice was shaky with age, but the words came out in a firm, soothing clip.

Nena turned her head to her right where the voice had come from. A man of seventy stood beside where she lay on a hard table. He wore thick spectacles and the light reflected off his nearly-bald scalp. A white lab coat discolored with a rainbow variety of splotches covered most of his short form. His feet were covered with black shiny shoes, and a pair of black pants and white blouse finished off his attire. The corners of his eyes wrinkled as he smiled down at her.

Nena shifted. A thin cloth lay beneath her and moved atop the metal table. A chill swept up her legs to her stomach. She glanced down at herself and saw she wore only a white hospital gown.

Nena started back and tried to cover herself, but her arms flopped over her body. The man pinned her hands to her chest. "Don't try to move too quickly. You may do more harm than good," he warned her.

"My clothes," she croaked. Her throat was parched. "Where are they? Where am I?"

"You're safe at the Agency," he revealed.

Her eyes widened. "Where?"

His smile widened. "You are new, aren't you? We're in the morgue of the Agency of Celestial Episodes. ACE for short so we can swallow it. And speaking of swallowing-" he rummaged around in his pocket before he pulled out a small vial filled with orange pills, "-you might want to take one of these."

Nena watched him pop open the cap and tap one of the pills onto his palm. Her eyes widened and she struggled to sit up.

The mad doctor dropped the bottle to press her arms down on the table on either side of her. "Miss! Miss, please calm down!"

The bottle rolled across the floor to the door where a foot pinned it to the ground. "Easy there, Doc. She's not a slab of meat."

The foot belonged to the man with the cigarettes. One was between his lips as he stooped and picked up the container. He turned it over in his hand to read the label and smiled. "You could've just told her it was ibuprofen."

The doctor frowned as the stranger approached the table. "I would think an innocent would know what one looks like, Mr. O'Kent."

The man swept his eyes over the white, sterilized room. "Yeah, of course someone's going to recognize a pill of ibuprofen when they wake up in this steel trap."

Doc snatched the pill from the man and rolled two pills into his palm. "It's a clean area, and if she doesn't want to cramp up then she needs to take these."

The man sighed and turned to Nena who had managed to sit up. "You heard Doc, and for once he's not just acting like a quack."

Doc wagged the bottle at the chain-smoking man. "I am not a quack, and her body is in dire need of these pills. Dying and coming back causes unforeseen consequences, and one of them is cramping of some of the major arm and leg muscles."

Nena's eyes widened. "Dying?" She looked down at herself and pressed her hands against her body. "I died?"

Doc lowered the pill and looked to Jack. "She doesn't know?"

O'Kent pursed his lips. "Apparently not."

Nena whipped her head up and glanced from one to the other. "Know what? What's going on? What happened to me?"