At first I wasn't sure there was anyone home when her eyes flew open. It was like the person who used to live there went on permanent vacation and left behind an empty shell. She was totally void, blank, and I caught nothing from her but a whole heap of nada.
Until her eyes fixed on mine. Suddenly her whole existence came into sharp focus. There it was, what I dreaded all along, the stench and touch of the thing, the creature, buried inside her so deep it poisoned her slowly as it rose to the surface, taking bits of her as it went.
She looked insane as she struggled to sit up and it was only then I noticed the thick leather straps pinning her to the bed. Someone, probably her mother, covered them with a blue wool blanket. But as soon as Suzanne started to struggle the camouflage fell away and Alison and I both gaped at her in horror.