She suddenly shifted her eyes away from mine and looked down at her desk, as if she was looking for something. She shifted some papers around and smiled slightly. That definitely made me nervous. No response whatsoever was never a good thing.
“Sooo…what should I do? Go to the doctor? Or -”
“NO!” She cut me off abruptly. “You should go home and rest as much as you can. And come and see me if you start feeling…different. This isn’t something that an ordinary doctor can help you with.”
“What does that mean? What will happen to me? And if something does happen, why couldn’t a regular doctor help me? Who am I supposed to see if I get sick?” I frowned at her and shifted uncomfortably in the chair.
“You will be okay, since I got you into the shower right away. You should be, at least.” She seemed doubtful, and looked worried.
“What is there to be scared of? You’re not telling me something I should obviously know!”
She stood up suddenly and grabbed me by the arm, hauling me up out of the chair. She was startlingly strong for such a tiny woman. Of course I wasn’t much to push around, but still.
“Hey! What are you doing?” I tried to pull my arm back, but she started marching me out towards the storefront.
“You are going to go home now, young Audrey, and you are going to rest. If you feel any changes occurring in your body that you are not accustomed to, come and see me immediately.” She stopped us in front of the door leading to the street and let go of my arm. She bent over and grabbed my boots, as they had been tucked away behind the door. “Now take these and go straight home.”
“But I- ”
“Go home.” She cut me off coldly this time and I was kind of shocked. She had been so warm and kind to me before all of this.
“Okay, sorry for any trouble…or the mess.” I frowned again and then turned and pushed the door open to exit.
“Wait,” she said to me.
I turned around, holding the door halfway open, and looked back at her. “Yes?”
She handed me a little vial, with a tiny cork in the top. It was filled with a lavender-looking powder. “Use this when you think you need to. When you feel desperate. And you’ll need this.” She handed me a slip of paper.
I took the items and put them into a big front pocket on my newly acquired dress. “Thank you, Agnes. And I really am sorry. Do you want me to pay you?”
“No, no…just leave.” She gave me a quick flash of her warm smile and then shoved me gently but firmly out onto the sidewalk, and closed the door behind me. Then she locked it and began drawing the shades.
I walked slowly down Ventura, mindlessly heading towards home. I was so confused by what had just happened and how I was feeling--or by how I was supposed to feel. What a crazy twist to my day. At one point the thought crossed my mind about how Agnes even knew my name. And then it flew away like most of the other thoughts that had been drifting around in my head. At least it was Friday and I could sleep in tomorrow.
A little after dark fell, I managed to stumble up the front walkway to my house. I’d been doing a lot of stumbling, come to think of it, on my way home. Not normal for me, even in my boots. “Very weird,” I mumbled out loud, as I unlocked the front door.
“Did you say something, Aud?” My dad asked as he yanked the door out of my hands.
“Ahhhh!!” I jumped back off of the front stoop and tripped over my dress, and wound up landing on my butt.
“Oh my gosh, Audrey…I’m so sorry!” My dad ran out to me and plucked me up off of the ground to a standing position, and began inspecting me for any marks or scrapes. He was twirling me around, making me pretty dizzy, when I sort of threw up all over his shoes.
“Whoa!” He jumped back and then hesitated only a second before stepping forward again and pulling my hair away from my face.
“Audrey?” He asked, after I’d stopped vomiting all over the place. “Are you finished, do you think?”
I looked up to see a worried expression on his face. My dad was such an overprotective guy, and I didn’t want to scare him with too much at once. I would definitely tell him what had happened, but at that moment all I wanted was to crash into my pillow.
“Yeah, Dad. I think the tank’s empty.”
He smirked at my weak attempt to make a joke, and then gently picked me up into his arms and began carrying me into the house, like when I was a little kid, and I’d scraped my knee or something. I wanted to protest, but at that moment I was so exhausted I didn’t even bother. He was a really big guy. I’d always wondered how I’d turned out so small. Next to him I felt like a nymph. People around the neighborhood tended to call him Hulk, affectionately of course.
We got to my room and he placed me on my bed, and put the covers over me (after removing my shoes, at my request, not without an odd look when he realized what I was wearing).
“Tell me what happened in the morning, Aud?” He gave me his concerned look and waited until I answered.
“Yes, Dad. Of course I will.”
He left the room then and I sort of drifted, until he came back in with a glass of water and some pain reliever. He set it on my nightstand, shut off my light and then closed my door.
Finally…sleep.
Chapter 2
“Hey, Audrey,” Kirk smiled down at me, warm and friendly as always.
“Umm, hey Kirk,” I said back, a little confused.
I was laying in bed, still in my dress that had recently been loaned to me and I was pretty certain it was the middle of the night.
“What are you doing here?” I was not going to lean up to get out of bed; because I was positive I would vomit all over him. I also had the feeling this was a dream. How else would Kirk be standing in my bedroom in the middle of the night without my dad knowing? I was sure there were many girls who would appreciate this, a good looking guy seeming to appear out of nowhere in their room in the middle of the night. At the moment, I wasn’t one of them.
Kirk flashed that amazingly charming grin and said, “You called me. Don’t you remember?”
Okay…now I knew I was dreaming. Why would I call Kirk? And again, how in the hell did he get in here? I can’t seem to form any of the questions. I just sort of look up at him pathetically and whimper in confusion.
“It’s okay Audrey. I can wait until you’re ready.”
“Whaaat?” Alright I was totally freaked out now. What in the hell did I say to Kirk??
He started to move around to the foot of the bed, and I couldn’t see him anymore because it seemed like he was moving towards the door and I was facing the window. I didn’t hear anything else though so I said quietly; “Kirk?” and I got no reply.
So…I was dreaming. Good.
Sleep.
__
I open my eyes and see my glass of water from the night before. It looks…weird. Like, still full, but weird. Not drippy on the outside, like when you just get it out of a tap or a refrigerator? What’s that word for it? Damn it. This is going to make me crazy. It looked like that last night when my dad brought it to me but it just seemed so far away and I didn’t drink any of it. I just stared at it for a while and wished that I had one of those long things. What are they called? You can suck liquid through them? Wait a minute. I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to call my dad right now and ask for some new water and maybe it will be like last night, drippy on the outside of the glass. Man that sounds so good right now.
OH MY GOSH my bed is moving and I don’t know what it is holy shit what is happening there is something crawling towards me and it’s warm and what’s that word for soft but has fluff?!
“Meow?”
“Ahhhhhh!!” I scream and try to jump out of my bed, but fall instead on the floor, completely wrapped in my blankets. I am still struggling and trying to fight my way out of them, when my dad comes running in, slamming my door against the wall, filling the room with his huge form.
“Audrey, what is it?” He’s looking around all (
what’s the word for when you’re all nuts?) ...well that’s what he was doing.
“I don’t know!” I wail. “Dad. This thing was crawling up my bed and it touched me, and then made this screeching noise!” I look up at him in complete terror and gesture towards the thing that’s hiding behind my pillows now. My damn pillows! I had seen it run over to them when I landed on the floor.
He seemed to deflate a little as I talked and sort of glanced around the room, taking everything in. “Were you dreaming, Aud? You’re all sweaty and you look really pale.” He started walking over and moved his hand towards my forehead.
I slapped it aside and said, “NO Dad! Behind my pillows! Please!”
He looked shocked and I saw a little flash of hurt in his eyes, which I knew I would feel guilty about later, but I was seriously freaking out. I huddled up more in my blanket and crammed up against the wall.
He shook his head and then walked slowly around my bed to the other side, so he could take a look at my pillows. They were stacked on top of each other and anything could be in there. I mean, what in the hell kind of creature made that kind of noise??
I watched his face, to see what kind of reaction he gave off, when suddenly he sort of looked over at me quizzically and then walked all the way over to my bed and lifted something out from underneath my pillows. It was gray and…furry (that was that damn word) and it spoke up immediately while looking right at me, “Meow?”
“Dad! What is that?!” I pushed myself further back into the wall, even though I couldn’t really go any further, and pulled the blanket up to my chin.
“Audrey, are you playing some sort of prank on me?”
“No! That thing was just in here! On my bed!”
“Audrey stop this! It’s Phantom! Your cat? You’ve had him since he was a baby. Despite the fact that I hate cats?” He was looking at me as if I were insane.
Everything suddenly took on a dreamlike quality, like I wasn’t really sitting in my room at this moment. What in the hell was a cat and what was I expected to do with it? But I knew if I asked him at that moment he would feel like he had to do something. Something I wouldn’t like. Like…call people. With nets or something. Isn’t that what you always hear about in those books or movies? But I mean, how could you catch a human being with a tiny little net like that? It seemed so absurd. Totally weird, to be thinking of this stuff now. What am I even doing here? And why is my dad looking at me like that and ohmygosh, what is that thing in his hands?! Oh, right…a cat? What the hell am I supposed to do??
“Oh right!” I laughed nervously, trying hard to act normal. “Phantom. Of course.”
He looked very doubtful at my reaction. He actually put the thing back on my bed.
“No don’t!!” I shouted out.
“What? Don’t what?” He asked, totally confused. “Audrey you’re really scaring me right now. Should I take you to the doctor?”
“What? No! I was specifically told no doctors.” Whoa. Where did that come from?
“Who said that?” He asked me, totally angry now.
Oops, I thought.
“Who told you no doctors and who have you been talking to? That’s it. You’re getting in the car right now and we’re going to the doctor.”
“No Dad I -”
“No Audrey that’s ENOUGH!” He shouted.
I snapped my mouth shut and lowered my head, looking up at him from below my lashes. He could be really scary when he yelled, and right now he was furious…and obviously scared.
“Get up right now. Or do you need help?”
“I can get up I think. Just, please. Don’t let that thing…err…Phantom…come near me. OK? I had a really freaky dream with it in it and I just can’t handle it at the moment. Please?”
He looked exasperated, but he nodded his head and picked the cat up and held it until I walked out of the room with the blanket wrapped around me.
I went into the bathroom first to try and pull myself together. There was obviously something wrong with me. My dad was looking at me as if I had just escaped from an insane asylum. What was wrong with me?
I looked in the mirror and saw that my eyes were completely bloodshot, and my hair was frizzed out everywhere. My face was so pale, I almost looked dead. My light amount of freckles stood out more than usual. I didn’t normally have much color to begin with, but at the moment I think I could have passed for a walking corpse. This made my normally hazel eyes appear to be an odd shade of bright green.
“What is happening to me?” I said to my reflection. And what was with that damn cat thing? Why did my dad know what it was, but not me? Why did I feel so vacant when I woke up?
“I need to see Agnes.”
“Audrey?”
I jumped in reaction to my dad’s voice and felt my heart jerk in my chest. “Holy crap, Dad,” I opened the door and looked out at him. “You scared me.”
“I could say the same for you Audrey. What are you doing in there? Are you okay?” He looked really concerned and I felt awful all over again for slapping his hand earlier.
“I’m going to be okay. I just need to go somewhere before we see any doctors.” I tried to smile reassuringly, but I think it just came across as a grimace, because he looked very doubtful. “Just, trust me Dad. This person can explain my illness…if that’s what this is.”
“Are they a medical professional of some sort?” He looked at me skeptically, and angled his head to the side, waiting for my answer.
“Honestly, I don’t know what she is. I think she’s a Gypsy or something. Or maybe she’s a witch. I have no clue.” I shrugged my shoulders and started trying to smooth my hair down with my hand. It was turning into a huge static-filled mess at this point.
“What were you doing yesterday?” He asked me. “Where were you before you came home? Can we at least talk before we do anything or go anywhere?”
“I would normally say yes, and you know I would, but I think what’s happening with me right now is a time sensitive issue. I didn’t even know how to say ‘condensation’ when I woke up a few minutes ago. And I still don’t know what that damn cat thing is in my room even though it’s obvious that you do. So that means I should, right?
“Maybe it will come back to me in a little bit, I don’t know. I just know that Agnes was who I was with last and something weird happened when I was with her and I want to see her before we do anything else.” I looked up at him, hoping he would understand that I wasn’t trying to push him around, but that I needed to go see Agnes. “Is that okay?”
“Yeah, I guess it has to be. Because I have no clue what else I could do, you’re so damn stubborn.”
I gave him a weary smile and went back to my room, closing the door behind me. I was still wearing the dress from yesterday that Agnes had given me and I wanted to put some normal clothes on. Things had been weird and fuzzy when I had woken up, but they were becoming pretty solid now.
“Meow?” Phantom peeked out of my pillows at me and tilted his head inquisitively.
“How in the hell did you get back in here?” Damn thing must have run in when I opened my door to come in and change. I guess not everything was solid yet. That thing still seemed so weird to me. I dropped my blanket down on the floor, pulled the dress off over my head and threw it across to my bed so that it would land on top of Phantom. It billowed out and surrounded him, and I was rewarded with a muffled, irritated yowl.
I smiled at that and began rummaging on the floor for a somewhat clean pair of jeans. Even if they just appeared to be clean, that’s all I cared about. My dad hated this habit of mine. He was constantly coming into my room, looking around and shaking his head in disapproval, and then telling me to “clean up my damn clothes”. Normally after this I would try to shove my door closed on him and he would stand there looking down at me with a bemused smile on his face, while the door hadn’t moved an inch. Then I would get a pat on the head, which I would either swat away angrily, depending on my mood, or I would laugh and then grudgin
gly pick up my room. I needed my allowance, right?
“Ah ha!” I found a pair of jeans that were pretty clean and hardly wrinkled hiding partially underneath my bed and threw them on. Then I grabbed a shirt from one of my drawers (I always seemed to have one that I forgot about shoved away in my dresser) and then I went to grab my boots. I stuck my hand into one and felt that it was still a little damp. “Well that’s unfortunate.” I grabbed the Chinese shoes that Agnes had given me and threw them on, then walked out to go to the bathroom again to do some damage control on my hair.
I had pretty much tamed it when I felt something brushing up against me. I looked down in surprise and saw Phantom happily tangling himself around my legs, back and forth. I watched him for a few seconds, not really knowing what to do. I heard my dad approaching from the living room and he stopped and looked in at me, about to ask a question, but he saw my look of confusion and looked down at Phantom, winding his way around my legs in total bliss.
“Looks like he’s having a blast,” he said, smiling down at him. He looked back up at me and saw that I still looked confused. “What is it, Audrey?”
I kept looking down at Phantom, and I actually felt something like warmth towards him. I didn’t understand this. It was just a weird thing. How could I feel something resembling what I felt for my dad (or even what I felt for Kirk) for…it? “I don’t know…it’s kind of cute. I guess?” I smiled at him and then slowly unwound myself from Phantom, to his displeasure I could see. I started walking out to the kitchen and Phantom followed, with each of his steps producing a tiny little abrupt “meow”, making the two of us laugh.
“You should feed him before we go anywhere. He missed his meal last night. He stayed with you when you got home and wouldn’t eat.” He bent down and scratched behind Phantom’s ear affectionately, which Phantom accepted with great appreciation.
“I thought you didn’t like him?” I asked innocently. My dad’s face had gone all soft, like he was looking at a baby or something, while he was petting him.
He glanced up at me and grumbled, “Just get him the food.” He looked back down at Phantom and then said, “Maybe some tuna, since he’s been holding out for a while.”
Who is Audrey Wickersham? Page 2