House Call

         The call came on a cold and windy night. It was the sort of cold that chilled to the bone and could paralyse the weakest.
         He could barely hear the phone for the sound of the wind howling around the old house, beating against the archaic stonework. On the sixth ring he picked up then handset, “Hello, Dr Jones.” He answered, still in his most professional voice despite the late hour and the weight of his eyelids.
         “You need to come, quick.” A voice instructed down the phone, frantic
         “Who is this?” Dr Jones frowned.
         “Please doctor, you have to come.”
         He heard the woman on the other side of the phone panting; breathless and panicked.
         “Okay, just slow down for a second,” He held up his hand, gesturing though she couldn’t see. “What’s the problem?”
         “It’s my Katie.”
         “Diane is that you?” He asked.
         “Please hurry.” The lady spoke without answering his question.
         “Just-“ Dr Jones began to protest but a shrill scream exploded through the ear piece. Startled the doctor jumped, phone falling from his hand, the plastic shattering on the dark oak desk he so regularly polished. It didn’t bother him.
         He stared for a moment at the jagged edges of the phone as it hung, lifeless and limp, by its chord.
         He felt a swell of panic rise in his chest and swallowed it back. Panic would not do. He considered the best course of action.
         The woman on the phone had certainly sounded like Diane. Her house was about seven miles away. Glancing outside he saw how the wind buffeted the rain, sending it flying to earth on a sharp angle, falling hard and fast. Going out would be treacherous. He remembered the newspaper story he had read just weeks before. All weather warning ignored a young dad had climbed into his car on a night just like this. The rain was too much, too heavy. It flooded most of the village. He understood that young David had only been going to visit his mother whom he saw almost daily. The lad wasn’t seen again for three days.
         His car was found at the bottom of the embankment on Rose Bank. It was crushed beyond belief and when they finally managed to lift the vehicle back up, Dave could only be identified by his DNA.
         Vernon shuddered. He knew this trip would take him that way, that road. He would drive past the very spot David had met his end.
         I’d better double check,he thought. Moving to pick up the handset his finger met a sharp prick. With a soft cusp he drew his injured finger to his mouth and sucked the small pool of blood forming on its tip.
         It’ll have to be Margaret’s phone.
         Margaret was his secretary. She was an elderly lady, long past retirement age. She’d worked for Vernon for over thirty years, and his partner, Dr Jake. Tonight she would be in bed, just where he should be if it hadn’t been his turn to be on call. Again.
         Striding swiftly he felt his coat flapping against his legs. He soon reached Margaret’s office, a modest square painted a deep red; Margaret’s choice of colour. It housed a small desk and an old computer. The phone sat on the left side of the desk. It was identical to his.
         He picked it up and dialled Diane’s number. He knew it off by heart. It rang, two, three, four…somebody picked up.
         “Hello?” She spoke. Her voice had lost all of it’s earlier panic.
         “Diane, it’s Vernon.”
         “Oh, I’m so sorry about hanging up before.” She told him.
         “That’s okay. What happened, do you need me to come over?” He perched on the side of the desk, felt his black suit pants slide across the polished wood.
         “Oh well…I’m not sure that’s necessary.”
         He heard doubt in her voice. She didn’t want him to come out in the rain.
         “It’s my job Diane.”
         He heard her sigh.
         “Okay, but be careful.” She relented but her voice was stern.
         He told her goodbye and hung up the phone. He looked outside again.
         Better take the Range Rover.
         He pulled a set of keys from a small cabinet hung on the wall at the door and stepped outside to face the wintry night air.

         The road was treacherous, even in the monster four by four. Vernon gripped the wheel tightly with both hands. The last time he’d driven so properly was when he took his driving test all those years ago. It had been a summer test, the sun bright and hot, hearing the car like an oven as early as nine in the morning.
         Tonight was a very different night. The rain lashed against the windshield even as the wipers washed it away. He upped the speed and watched as the wipers slashed across the screen, working double time.
         Vernon did a double check: kit bag slung into the passenger seat beside him, an umbrella though he knew he wouldn’t touch it and a radio, in case of emergency.
         He started up the engine, heard it fire up easily and purr beneath the hood. He pulled off down the road moving slowly, eyes alert and concentrating on the road. It struck him that he didn’t concentrate while he drove anymore, it was automatic but that night required full attention. His headlights lit up the road giving some direction. He could barely see the long-faded marks in the middle of the road. The black tarmac road shimmered under the beams, a sheet of water on its surface.
         Vernon felt his skin prickle even under his thick coat. He slowed his speed even more, moving at a crawl. He felt stupid, he wanted to get to Diane as soon as possible but the image of David hung over his mind. He couldn’t remember quite how for far along the road the accident had taken place. He could be passing it now.
         He battled on with the weather along the road, travelling slowly, the rain battering the car from all sides. Slowly but surely he made his way forward and found himself pulling up at Diane's house. As he switched off the engine he found himself letting out a long sigh.
         He grabbed his kit and jumped from the car making a dash for the front door and the shelter of the porch. He lifted the brass knocker set into the centre of the painted wooden door and let it fall with a deep thud. For several moments he stood at the door feeling the rain soak into the bottom of his pants. Then finally, the door swung inwards, light filtering into the dark night. It illuminated the porch where Vernon stood. Diane stood in the doorway a large fluffy dressing gown giving way to pyjama pants.
         "Hi," She smiled nervously at Vernon. "Sorry to bother you."
         "Not at all Diane." He offered a warm smile back. She seemed to look a little more sure of herself. "Is it Katie?" He asked.
         "Yeah, come on in." She stepped backwards from the doorway allowing room for Vernon to cross the threshold. Nodding his head he moved inside into the warmth and immediately felt his coat begin to suffocate him. He quickly shrugged it off and hung it on the bannister and then followed Diane up the winding
stairs up to Katie's bedroom. All of the lights in the house were on, a yellow hue on Diane's visible flesh. She pointed to an open door.
         Nodding Vernon stepped over to it, noting the wooden blocked letters that had been stuck onto the girl's bedroom door, each decorated in a different way. As he moved into the room he was aware of Diane following cautiously, her feet whispers on the hardwood floor. Katie lay in her bed on top of her pristine white sheets. Her normally blond hair was sodden and stuck to the pillow, her nightie clung to her small body, drenched in sweat. Her eyes stared at the ceiling ahead, unblinking.
         Setting down his kit bag Vernon knelt at the side of the bed patting her forehead gently. "Diane, would you bring a cold compress?" He called behind him. He heard Diane shuffle off without a sound and after a few moments a cold cloth was pressed into his hand. He pressed it against the girl's forehead, left it there for a moment.
         From his kit bag he pulled out his stethoscope and held it to the girls chest, listening to the beat of her heart; it was hammering hard against her ribcage, at twice the normal speed Vernon guessed. He stood over her and peered into her eyes. Her pupils were dilated, huge pools of fear, still staring.
         "Did it happen like last time?" Vernon asked Diane who he knew still hovered behind.
          "Yes, I put her to bed read her a story and left. Then ten minutes later I heard her moving," Diane looked pale as she recounted the events. "I rushed upstairs and found her thrashing about in the bed, I couldn't calm her, couldn't stop her."
         Vernon nodded in sympathy.
         "That's when I phoned you," She nodded slightly her brown hair bobbing gently.
         "I heard her screaming," Vernon told Diane who only nodded. "Has she done that before?" He asked.
         "No, never." She shook her head. Her eyes filled up in the dim light.
         "Okay," Vernon nodded gently. He stood and moved to the woman, took her by the elbow and led her from the room. She was reluctant to leave, her gaze returning to her daugher's still form. "It's okay. I'm going to give you something that will calm her down if she takes another fit."
         Diane nodded and sniffed. He led her back down the steps and into the living room, motioning for her to sit on the sofa. An uplit lamp in the corner of the room emitted a soft glow across the beige carpet, casting shadows here and there.
         Vernon took a seat beside her. He rummaged through his bag and found what he was looking for. He pressed the pills into Diane's hand. "Don't give these to her unless you have to," Vernon instructed her. Diane nodded at the instruction. "If she takes another fit give her half a capsule with water but call me right away, okay?"
         "Okay, thank you." Diane nodded curling her fingers around the white pills in her palm.
         "Diane, I think we need to take her for tests." Vernon told her as softly as he could, hands in his lap.
         "But she's so young, she's been through so much already." Diane's eyes spilled over. She wiped her dressing gown sleeve across her eyes.
         "I know," Vernon nodded. "I think David being killed has been a big trauma for her. I just think we need to find out the cause of this."
         "Okay," Diane gave in. "But I want to be there."
         "Of course," Vernon nodded. "I'll put in a referral tomorrow. In the meantime, do you need anything?"
         "What do you mean?"
         "Are you sleeping okay? He asked.
         "Sometimes." Diane lied. She wasn't sleeping at all. All she could see was the image of her younger brother before her eyes when she closed them. She wasn't ready to face this.
         "Okay, if you feel like you need some help with sleeping just let me know."
         Diane nodded.
         "Good night Diane, I'll call you tomorrow." He told her. He stood and moved to the door and let himself out back into the cold night air, carrying his coat over the crook of his arm. The rain belted him as soon as he got onto the porch. He made a dash for the car but even as he got there he realised his clothes were soaked through.
         Vernon drove back to the office as slowly as he had left and eventually arrived in one piece, if not in the best of moods. He let himself into the practice and immediately went to his office where he usually kept a change of clothes. He changed into a pair of jogging bottoms and a soft t-shirt, immediately feeling relief as they warmed his body.
         For a while he sat in his chair, the high back supporting his head, leather soft on the pads of his fingers. He thought about Diane, about Katie. Since David's death, less than a month ago, Katie had had at least seven of those fits. He'd never seen one for himself, he's always got the call afterwards or found out about it from his colleague. But it seemed that the girl blacked out during her fits. She couldn't recall what had happened afterwards. He knew that Katie was also suffering from terrible nightmares. She often couldn't remember those either, perhaps blocking them from her memory as a way of coping.
         She did manage to tell him about one as he sat and stroked her blonde hair early one morning. Diane had left the room to make a coffee and Katie told him about her nightmare.
         "What did you see, Katie?" He asked, prompting her gently.
         "A dark shape." She answered, eyes wide with fear.
         "Could you tell what it was?"
         "No. It was big, crawling on all fours."
         "Like a dog?"
         "No," She shook her head. "It was bigger, lots bigger. And I don't think it had fur. It's skin was sort of shiny."
         "Like a fish."
         "No, more like a frog. Like slimey."
         "Where was this thing, in your dream?" He asked.
         "A dark place, somewhere open on a long path." She told him. Vernon had been about to elaborate when Diane walked back in with a tray in hand, two mugs and a glass of milk. He forgot his question.
         Now, sat in his office, he thought about the dream. He wondered if the dreams had any significance, whether they were something to do with the blackouts.
         He began to write a referral to the hospital. He would go with her and Diane, he wanted to be there for the girl.
         The rest of the night passed without mishap and soon the sun began to slink through the windows, warming the office. The sound of the door indicated Vernon's shift was over.
         It was a few days before he heard back from the hospital. They’d sent Katie an appointment in a week’s time for a few tests, a CAT scan. At least we’re getting somewhere.
         He picked up the phone and dialled Diane’s number.
         She answered on the third ring, “Hello?”
         “Diane hi, it’s Vernon.”
         “Oh hi. I got a letter from the hospital this morning.”
         “Yeah I got a copy too. I was going to suggest coming with you, if you’re okay about that.” He broached the subject.
         “Yeah that’d be great thanks.”
         “Great. I’ll come pick you up around ten if that’s okay, I can take the company jeep.”
         “Thanks Vernon, you’ve been great.” He thought she might be smiling.
         “Just doing my job. If there’s anything before then, just give me a call.”
         “Okay thanks, see you Tuesday.”
         He heard the phone click as she hung up. He was glad to be going with her.
         With a sigh he stood up and pulled his coat around his shoulders. He left the office after calling goodbye to Margaret. He was finishing early today and she would be there with his colleague for a while yet.
         “Have a good afternoon Vernon.” She called back, her voice a familiar high pitch.

         Tuesday soon came around and he turned up at Diane's fifteen minutes early. She opened the door in her dressing gown.
         "Sorry, we're still not quite ready." She stood aside and motioned Vernon inside. He wiped his feet a couple of times on a harsh brown matt before crossing the threshold, getting off the excess rain drops.
         "That's okay," He told her. "I'm a little bit early."
         "Would you like a coffee?" She offered, tightening the belt on her gown. Vernon nodded his appreciation and took a mug she handed him. He made his way into the living room, feeling comfortable enough, and taking a seat on a large leather sofa. He sunk into the clinging fabric, the chill replaced soon enough by a warmth emitted from his own body hear. He heard Diane trot up the steps in her slippers, calling to her daughter. He wondered how Katie was.
         They both soon came downstairs, Katie first. She came to join Vernon in the front room. She was dressed in a pair of pastel blue pants that didn't look denim and a long sleeved tie dye top. Her blonde hair hung down to her shoulders, looking fresh in the morning light and clean unlike the last time he had seen it, drenched and soaked against his brow.
         "Morning doctor." She spoke to him politely, her voice quiet.
         Vernon set his cup down on the table, "Morning Katie, how are you feeling?"
         "Okay I guess." She shrugged. Her attention turned to her mother as she came back downstairs.
         "All set." Diane told him.
         "Let's be on our way then." He stood and placed his cup on the coffee table in front of him, following the two ladies out the door.