The Seventh Day: Day II – Part II

If you haven’t readthe past installments, the links are below.

I – II –III– IV– V–VI–VII–VIII– IX

Less than three hours after Kris got back, she was gone again following a trip to the urgent care that was more frustrating than anything. I’m not sure if the nurse practitioner there even knew what she was doing. She said my hand looked fine when she peeled off the bandage then proceeded to question me thoroughly after I told her I got a bunch of pus out of it a few hours before. I thought she was annoyed to be stuck working Sunday morning and was screwing with me but when I looked down there was only a minor cut. That was impossible and said it. This morning, the cut was nasty and oozing and stunk earlier and I was emphatic about it to the nurse

At that point she kept looking to Kris, essentially asking with her eyes if I was crazy. Then she had the gall to just come out and ask if I had a history of mental problems. I didn’t and told her that. Thank God Kris was there to back me up. She did her best though and played devil’s advocate for me saying maybe I slept on it all night and it was just puffy from that and there was just a small pocket of infection and I got it all out.

The nurse, who clearly didn’t care as long as the hand looked ok, shrugged it off and said anything was possible, but now it looked fine so it didn’t matter that it still hurt like hell. She must have assumed I was just a gigantic baby who couldn’t take any pain because she shot Kris a look that I interpreted as ‘What are you doing with idiot?’ I had even fewer answers as to what was making me feel so awful. Fortunately, it wasn’t sepsis but apart from that she couldn’t say other than there were several viruses going around and I would probably be fine in a few days. Unfortunately, those bugs were nasty and highly contagious so the nurse recommended that Kris and I keep as much distance as possible so she didn’t get sick and then infect her entire dorm.

Back at my house, Kristi offered to go against the nurse’s orders and stay, but I wouldn’t let her. I told her I was a grown man and could take care of myself. She disagreed and said I was usually a grown man unless I was sick or Tyler was around, at which point I apparently devolve into something else entirely. Too sick to argue I just groaned.

Before I got out of the car, we exchanged “I love yous” and she ordered me to get some sleep. I promised I would and watched from the porch as she drove away. It took some fumbling with the lock to get the door open thanks to my unsteady hands. I hung my coat on the hook near the door and kicked my shoes into the corner as I headed for the couch.

I had to do a double take as I walked passed the kitchen. Johnny Two Wings was gone. I flopped onto the couch and before I rolled over to try and get a nap I sent Tyler a text thanking him for getting it out of the house, but didn’t immediately get a response.

Falling asleep quickly, the midafternoon sun that was shining on the floor when I got home was long gone when I awoke. With a big yawn I stretched and sat up. Apparently, the nap was what I needed as I felt significantly better. I heard some movement from the kitchen and asked Tyler when he got back.

“I am not that worthless roommate of yours.”

I turned my head to see Kris peeking around the corner. “I thought the nurse said to stay away?”

Kris stepped around the corner and shrugged. “Figured I chance it and I’m glad I did. You look a million times better.”

“I feel a million times better.”

She came into the living room and took a seat on the couch next to me. “That’s good to hear. I missed you this weekend.” She put her arms around my neck and moved in for a kiss. After a couple of minutes, she moved to my neck and ear, then started to lay back.

I shifted so I could follow her and let her slide in under me. “I really don’t think this was what the nurse had in mind at all.”

“You want me to stop.”

Grinning from ear-to–ear, I shook my head. “Uh uh.” I leaned down to start kissing Kris on the neck, when I saw something flick again out the corner of my eye. Looking back over my shoulder I saw the top of a long thin tail that ended in an arrow head shaped point disappear around the corner towards the bedrooms. When I looked back down towards Kristi I screamed. She was still under me but her skin had pale pallor, her face twisted in a frozen scream, her eyes open but completely lifeless, and she was covered in blood.

I touched her face but she already felt cold. I tried to shake her awake but when I reached for her shoulders, I noticed my left hand was grasping a large, bloodied kitchen knife. With frightened yell I threw the knife across the house. It clattered against the floor and landed in a corner as I turned my attention to Kris.

As I shook her shoulders roughly I yelled her name and searched her face for a response, but there was nothing. I knelt on the floor next to her and started CPR. After several chest compressions I put my ear next to her mouth to listen for some breath. Straining to hear anything, I started again to plead with her to breath but still nothing.

With tears streaming down my face, I sat back to try more compressions and ran the side of my head into something hard. I turned my head only to be hit in the face by a blast of hot reeking breath, before fully taking in the sight in front of me. I fell back on the floor with a scream.

Bearing down on me was a massive hulking brute covered in black scales with a large sword in one hand and massive wings extending out from his back. From deep inside the creature, a guttural growl issued out of the mouth. The coal black eyes bore into me and I knew instantly what it was. The horrendous statue, had come to life.

Frozen in terror, I couldn’t move when he lowered his massive head next to mine and rolled back his lips, exposing a mouth full of long, sharp teeth. The long, forked tongue flicked out and ran along the underside of my jaw, then snapped back inside. I tried to roll away and find the knife, but the massive wings enveloped me, preventing escape. He sneered then opened his mouth again and hissed “Five days!”

I bolted up from the couch with a scream and looked around the living room for signs of anyone else, but found it empty. No Kristi, no Tyler, and no massive creature. Save for the faint beam of a street light coming in through the kitchen window, the house was completely dark and eerily quiet. Still shaking I turned on the corner lamp and began to frantically search for my phone.

 It took three agonizing minutes before I found it, buried in the couch cushions. I immediately called Kris and with every ring my heart beat faster and faster. After four it went to voice mail and I yelled at the phone “Pick up, please!” I hung up before her message was over and instantly called back. On the first ring she answered.

“How ya feeling sweetie?”

“I’ve … I’ve been better,” I panted then threw myself down into the recliner. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Ellen and I were just watching a movie and my phone was on the other side of the room. Why would I not be okay?”

Still fighting to get my heart rate under control, I was slow to respond. “I just had a bad dream that something happened to you. It freaked me out a little, that’s all.”

“You sound way more than a little freaked out. What happened in the dream.”

“You uh, just had an accident. A car accident I think. It’s hard to remember exactly.” My phone started to ring again and I looked at the screen. Kris sent me a video call request which I gladly accepted. Seeing her face actually made me feel a little better. Hearing her say she was fine was one thing, but seeing it was another.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah. Actually, better now that I got to see you.”

“Something tells me you aren’t making it to work tomorrow. You look absolutely awful.”

“I’ll be fine. It just sucks being sick and only getting to see you for a little while this whole weekend.” When the look of concern dissolved from her face in an instant, I knew I messed up again and prepared for the onslaught.

“Josh, you do remember why you didn’t go with me to my parents?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Tyler made me drink too much –“

“Nope! Try that again.”

“Tyler and I drank too much and I was hungover and however bad an influence he is on me, I should have had enough sense to no get wasted. And for that I am eternally sorrowful.” I put on my best pathetic look and prayed it would be enough to get me out of this.

“That’s good to hear that you’re taking responsibility for your screw up. In the end, maybe it’s good that this happened.”  

“Why’s that?”

“Because maybe you’ll start to seriously rethink your roommate situation.”

“You could always move in with me. I’d kick Ty to the curb for that in a heartbeat.” Kris looked at me blankly and sighed heavily then turned the camera towards her left hand.

“Since we’ve been over this fifty times now, I’m going to assume the illness is clouding your mind so I’ll review it once more. While I would love nothing more than to sleep next to you every night, I am missing not just one, but two rings before that will occur.”

“I know. It was a joke.”

Kristi turned the phone back to her face. “You were only half kidding at best. Now I’m hanging up and you’re going to bed.”

“It’s only like 9:30.”

“You’re also sicker than I’ve ever seen you so you need the sleep. Eat something first though. I love you, but I’m hanging up.”

“I love you too.” After I hung up, it took a lot of energy to get out of the chair and walk the few feet to the kitchen. I settled on a bowl of cereal and gave up halfway through. It just wasn’t sitting well and bed sounded far more appealing. A few minutes later I was in bed with a dose of cold medicine to hopefully knock me out enough to prevent any dreams, good or otherwise. Right as I was right on the cusp of sleep I thought I heard some scratching on the floor of Tyler’s room but it was faint and with the medicine taking effect I ignored it, rolled over, and fell into a deep sleep.

© 2018 Robert Crouse  All Rights Reserved