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The Curse of Friday the 13th, Day 1, Part 4

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Length (rounded up): 2000 words, 8 min.
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The Curse of Friday the 13th, Day 1, Part 4
Friday the 13th, 12:50 p.m.

Julie woke up in a hospital bed for the second time that day. Her dizzy head was filled with blurry images of a strange accident. Then she remembered the team of agitated surgeons buzzing nervously around her in the Cast Room. The memories slowly faded away. She emerged from the haze, but couldn’t get up. Strong restraints refused to allow her body to follow the command of her awakening mind.

Julie opened her eyes and found herself surrounded only by whiteness. The ceiling above her bed was white. The white walls perfectly complemented the blanket enveloping most of her body.

Suddenly, she spotted something that threw her off balance. Her right leg was restricted in something large, heavy, and uncomfortable. Her lower limb, completely coated in plaster, dangled in the air in front of her. Suspended in a sophisticated sling, it was elevated up to forty-five degrees, and connected with wires to a pile of weights, which floated on the other side of the bed frame. The top end of the leg cast discreetly disappeared under the white blanket.

The position of the other leg was different. Far away from the hovering long leg cast, it rested on the top of a pillow hill, rendered from her knee to the base of her toes with the familiar plaster of Paris. The traditionally fashioned shell fittingly wrapped around her shin and covered her foot in a dignified manner. Her toes timidly poked out of the opening and rested on a plate that bulged out of the cast sole.

Julie attempted to sit up again but remained lying on the bed. All over her torso, she sensed the snug embrace of a piece of medical amour. To check it out, she routinely moved her right arm to fold the blanket... however, to her utter dismay, this part of her body was also trapped in a massive chunk of cast.

The huge fibreglass shell consumed her limb in its entirety and ended in an extension that seemed to be a white boxing glove. The massive cast secured her complete shoulder, elbow, and wrist, and even engulfed the thumb and each finger, which were bent towards the palm. A thick bar connected the bent joint to a point, which remained invisible beneath the blanket.

Using her unharmed and uncasted left arm, Julie tossed the covering cloth away. And she let out a cry of shock.

She wore a tight-fitting, stiff medical garment resembling a sweater. Woven from blue fibreglass, it was the big base of the cast, locking her torso between her loins and neck. In addition, she spotted the exact point where the bar began, running up from the body cast to attach it to the cast on her right arm.

The crudely constructed torso cast wasn’t streamlined and contoured enough to conform to every curve and bend of her figure. Dissolving Julie's lovely shape, it was mostly a flat, perfectly forged piece of shield, except where it formed a pair of rounded hill-like structures above her breasts.

Sadly, the body cast extended beyond her pelvis, and bizarrely merged with another huge-sized shell. Disabling the lower parts, Julie sported a large cast, which extended from her hips all the way to her navel, and also encompassed her right leg.

Why did she need so many casts? Julie vividly recalled the car accident and the two short leg casts she had worn in the morning. Overwhelmed by the questions, she almost forgot to mourn the lost holiday that Mr Nilrem had promised to her.

And her future? With half of her body wrapped like a mummy, returning to work wasn't an option for a while. She gave the impression of a helpless and feeble cast sculpture, rather than an agile and competent corporate lawyer.

After checking her casts, Julie explored her surroundings. She found a few things on the cabinet beside the bed. A pair of glasses (astonishingly intact), a glass of water (half full) and the alarm button (red). Unfortunately, each of these items was beyond her reach, too far away from her left arm. She felt restricted, desperately in urgent need of help.

The confining shells pinned Julie down to the bed. In secret, she yearned for a wheelchair to move around. If someone had told her yesterday that a wheelchair would be her greatest desire the following afternoon... She would have thought it was a joke.

At the perfect moment, when Julie was close to her wit's end, a male nurse entered the room. He walked over to her bed, and neatly folded the blanket to conceal the immense-sized integument, which overlaid her body.

‘Good morning, Mrs Warden,' the orderly said. ‘My name’s Eric LaPorte.’

Puzzled, Julie mumbled about her ‘unnecessary’ casts. ‘What happened to me? I've had a car accident... but only my ankles were broken and... These big casts must be a mistake...’

'I’m so sorry, but it's not a mistake. Have you forgotten about your second accident?'

‘What accident?' she cried out.

'A mad driver has crashed into your ambulance. It’s a miracle that you survived the collision. Now, you're having a shoulder spica cast and a one-and-half hip spica cast.'

'Oh...'

‘I was sent here to take you to the SACU.'

'SACU?' Julie frowned.

‘Please forgive me for using the local slang. Here, SACU stands for Special Accident Care Unit. This is our recently established department for patients with multiple injuries or complex fractures.'

‘Where am I now?' she asked.

‘This is the Accident Surgery Unit. In the SACU, you'll meet Dr York and other senior doctors who'll thoroughly explain the details about your accidents, injuries, treatment, and recovery process.’

‘That’s great. I’ve got a lot of questions.’

Eric stepped closer to the bed. ‘All right, Ma’am. Let’s get over there, then.’

Standing behind the headboard, Eric gently nudged Julie’s moveable bed, which was equipped with small wheels. As they crossed the room, Julie didn't see any patients in the other beds.

‘You were alone here, Mrs Warden,' Eric answered the unspoken question. 'Today was quieter than usual.'

'If I'm so famous, why haven't the doctors come here to see me in person?'

‘All the surgeons are currently occupied with treating a man who suffered third-degree burn injuries. He was the driver of the car that collided with your ambulance. His car caught fire.’

'Oh, that's awful!' she whispered. Even her big plaster and fibreglass shells were better than all-encompassing bandages used for severe burns.

'Don't feel any sorry for him, Ma’am. He was... is a serial killer, who took the lives of twelve people. You could have been his 13th victim.'

Julie's sympathy turned to anger as she secretly cursed the person who had given her so many additional casts. 'Are you joking?'

'No, Ma’am, I am not!’

Burdened by the grave subject, they stopped talking and the bed quietly moved along the corridor.

Julie, constrained by her casts, was forced to be semi-sitting position in the bed, so she saw the lift doors coming near. 'I hope the SACU isn't on the 13th floor.’

Eric grinned. ‘Indeed, it would be a bit bizarre to stay on the 13th floor on Friday the 13th, but I guarantee you that our destination is on the third floor.'

The nurse and patient arrived at the lifts, concluding the first part of their journey. Eric abruptly stopped pushing the bed, and pointed to a notice affixed to the lift door, reading 'out of order'.

'What next? I hope you're not planning on rolling my bed down the stairs.’ Julie wasn’t sure that she would survive the adventure.

‘Absolutely not.’ Eric scratched his head, trying to think of other solutions. ‘There are other lifts in the second wing of the building. But we have to pass through the central hall to get there.’

‘And this hall... would you happen to know if it's typically crowded?'

‘Why do you ask it?’

'I don't want anyone to stare at me.’

‘Hm, unluckily, that place is quite busy, because that's where the main reception is. Sorry, Ma’am, but we don't have a shortcut.'

Eric moved the bed around, and pushed it in the opposite direction. Five minutes later, the little expedition was ready to enter the foyer.

'Do I look good?' With vanity, Julie was preoccupied with her appearance.

'Fantastic! I'm sure everyone will be envious of your wonderful casts.’

Julie rewarded Eric with a smile for his compliment, although she was more similar to a half-finished statue rather than a fashion model.

The venue appeared to be a lobby of a hotel and not that of a medical facility. A cacophony of ambient noise assaulted her ears, and the brightness of the lights dazzled her vision. Julie struggled to make out the ceiling of the vast room towering above her.

All around, each of the five storeys boasted an impressive corridor. On the ground floor, a U-shaped reception desk marked the heart of the hall. The place wasn't particularly busy, but Julie could feel people's attention on her. No doubt, her extensive collection of casts made the young female patient the most remarkable exhibit of the free daily freak show.

'Please hurry,' Julie mumbled.

However, Julie's attempt to cross the room quickly proved fruitless. Eric and Julie (along with her bed and casts) were in the middle of the room, when the receptionist spotted them.

He motioned his arm vehemently to get the orderly's attention. ‘Hello, Eric, could you come here, please? I've been looking for you since yesterday morning!’

Eric paused to check out the document, which the receptionist was waving in the air. Seeing his hesitation, Julie spoke up. 'Oh, no. You can’t leave me exposed here.’

'This is very, very important, Ma’am. It must be the parking fine that I always forget to pay... I’ll be back in a moment.'

He apologised and hurried over to the reception desk. Left alone, she rested on the bed, which was parked just below the galleries.

Meanwhile, Eric met the receptionist. After a pleasant chat, he took over the paper. However, their short-lived joy quickly turned to horror, when they saw Julie. Despite his muscles locked by terror, Eric started to run towards the bed to rescue her. But he was too late.

A renovation project was in progress in Room 313 on the third floor. The debris, shattered bricks, and fragments of concrete from the room were systematically arranged and stacked in rows of wooden containers, prepared for disposal.

A cleaning vehicle crashed into the largest crate, and pushed it steadily against the balustrade. Damning, the bumbling driver got out, but he couldn't tame his unruly vehicle. As if an invisible person had been pressing down the accelerator pedal, the small car continued to toss the container. Finally, the fence broke apart, and the contents of the container spilt out onto the floor. Precisely where Julie's bed was.

As soon as the first stone hit her, Julie screamed, and raised her healthy, left arm to protect her face. For several agonising seconds, bricks and chunks of concrete hailed down from the gallery, making a horrible concerto of thumps, bangs, and cracks, as the hard rain shredded her massive casts and battered her vulnerable body parts.

She tried to turn away from the hailstorm of stones, but the plaster and fibreglass casts on her limbs and body were too restrictive. But her fidgeting movement and the weight of the debris cascading from above turned the bed upside down.

On the floor, Julie got buried underneath a mountain of building materials.

Eric yelled. 'Help! We must save her, bring her back to the surgery!’

However, there were no willing volunteers to offer assistance. Men and women stood frozen, stunned by the sight of the harrowing incident. Looking around once again, Eric happened to glance at a large display on the opposite wall. He could hardly what he saw. The time was thirteen minutes past one in the afternoon.
13:13

to be continued

Previous (Part 3) -- Next (Part 5) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder

Story Guide -- Story List
Previously entitled: A Curse of Friday the 13th, The Very First Day

Story summary: having made a multi-millon-dollar mistake, the young lawyer Julie Warden is cursed. Her Friday the 13th is full of an accident series, and after every mishap, her casts get bigger and bigger. And there's so much time to Midnight. Gallery folder of this story

Table of contents: Part 1: LLC (female), Part 2: story, Part 3: DSLC (female), Part 4: SSC, SHSC, SLC (female), Part 5: DSSC, DHSC, MC (female), Part 6: DSSC, DHSC, MC (female), Part 7: FBC (female), Part 8: FBC (female), Part 9: DSSC, DHSC, MC (female)

Features: female: DHSC (double hip spica cast), DSLC (dual short leg cast), DSSC (double shoulder spica cast), FBC (full body cast), LLC (long leg cast), MC (Minerva cast), SHSC (single hip spica cast), SLC (short leg cast), SSC (shoulder spica cast) / male: -.
Genre: (black) comedy, magic realism.

Personal note: this was my very first story. It's a kind of black comedy inspired by the fascinating stories of the good old stories.cast-site.com (Unfortunately, this site was shut down a couple of years ago.)

Stories of this series: Day 1 -- Day 2 -- Day 3 -- Day 4

Acknowledgement: I'd like to thank Sharkycast for his kind help as he spent his precious time to correct my mistakes (of the original, 2014 version)

Know more about all my stories: A Guide To My Stories
P.S.1.: I'm not a native English writer, so if you find any mistakes in the text of the stories, please feel free to mention here or to send me a private Note. Thanks.
P.S.2.: I would be very grateful, if you would find inspirations in my stories to create a picture or to draw illustrations for me.
P.S.3.: Please let me know what you think about the story. Write a comment or leave your review here. I need your feedback. This is my fuel.

Stats: length: 1996 words, estimated reading time: 7 min 59 sec.
Last modified: 12 November 2023
Preview image: All Limbs shattered with the kind permission of derS4tyr. Disclaimer: my story and the image are not related to each other, therefore the cast(s) depicted in the image can be different from the cast(s) mentioned in the text (colour, size, left or right limb, etc.). It just gives you a general foretaste of the chapter.
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