Page 31 of Love is Strange
I let out a soft sigh and shift my back on the couch in an attempt to become slightly more comfortable and wonder when this “wonder” pill will start working. I make a fist with the hand that’s resting on the couch, then release it. For some reason, it’s starting to feel a bit sweaty, but I assume the chill that follows it only means that my body wants me to fucking go to sleep.
While it’s not entirely true that I’m doing my best to avoid going to sleep, it could be a fair statement to make. I just don’t know if my past will be waiting for me when I fall into the world of dreams which quickly become nothing more than a hellish dominion of nightmares.
My arms suddenly jerk and my heart begins to race.Something’s wrong.I sit up and the world spins around me, causing me to almost vomit, which I think would be the ideal thing right now.
What the fuck did he give me?
I close my eyes tightly as I drop to my knees, my breathing becoming labored and the sweat of my body starting to coat my skin in a glistening shine.
Am I going to die?
I dig my fingers into the floor beneath me and will myself to crawl over to my phone which is sitting in my purse on a kitchen counter somewhere.
I won’t get to it in time because my body is rebelling against me at a much too rapid rate. What could I have possibly said to a virtual stranger that he would react by trying to kill me?
No.
This is my own doing. Silas only provided me with the means and I was stupid enough to swallow a pill that held secrets and now I’m paying the price for my brash behavior.
Miko is suddenly next to me, licking my face, and I give her a gentle shove away from me. She shouldn’t have to see this—she doesn’t understand what’s happening to me, but I hope that if I do die, she’ll have no qualms sustaining herself on whatever she can find around the place, and if it just so happens to be me, then I deserve it.
I can’t die, not like this. Not over something that I never would have willingly taken had I known it would render me this heaving mess.
I begin to crawl toward the kitchen, and even though my vision is starting to blur, I can see my purse sitting on the edge of the sink where I left it. I take a deep breath which burns because of the restriction in my chest and use every last ounce of energy I have to make my way over and pull it down by the strap.
It lands on the floor, spilling out the contents, and my phone slides across the room. I manage a laugh despite myself because that would be my luck.
I lower myself onto my stomach and reach for the phone, but I can’t get to it from where I am and I’m almost out of energy. Reaching for my purse, I grab the strap tightly and swing it at the phone, managing to pull it close enough for me to grab it.
Okay. Almost done.
I tap the screen to life and fumble in the almost darkness to find the call log, swipe it away, and dial 9-1-1. After two rings, an operator picks up, but I can’t quite make out what they’re saying.
“1346 East Elm Street. I’m dying,” I mumble into the speaker.
The operator’s voice becomes frantic with questions, but I’m too tired to answer anything. I can barely understand what’s going on anymore. Instead, I just close my eyes and wonder if they’ll get to me in time or if they’ll think this a joke.
Either way, surviving this won’t mean a difference in the world to me because the world I live in is so mired in shit, that death has to be better.
Chapter Four
“Ugh.”
I groan as my eyes struggle to open. The bright, florescent lights above me give me an almost instant headache.
“What the hell is going on? Where am I?” I ask, lifting my hand to try and block the glare above me.
“It’s okay, sweetie. You’re alright now.”
I don’t recognize the voice that’s speaking to me, and even though it’s meant to be a gentle whisper, it sounds like nails on a chalkboard.
“Gave us a scare, though!”
Her light laughter rings through my head like bombs going off in a minefield and I wince.
“Sorry about that,” she says knowingly as she pulls the thin blanket up underneath my chin. “It’ll go away soon. I promise.”
I nod as I shiver beneath the warmth of the blanket and sigh heavily. Even though it hurts me more than it should, I force myself to open my eyes completely and find a young woman in her mid-twenties looking down at me with a kind smile. Her big blue eyes are startling and the way her strawberry-blonde hair frames her face makes me smile slightly.
