Her second attempt was more successful, and she stayed on her feet this time. Slowly, looking through slitted eyes, she went to their small kitchenette and started a cup of coffee. There was a really bad taste in her mouth, and she thought she must have gotten sick at some point last night.
She made her way to their shared bathroom and closed the door. She found her toothbrush and spent several minutes brushing her teeth until the acrid taste was gone. If it was still early, she could go back to bed and then log in to meet Jace. After all, they were arriving in the capital today, which should be exciting.
Charlena heard her phone ring but ignored it. The phone stopped ringing prematurely and she heard Juliette's rough morning voice. “Who? Luna Burton? You’ve got the wrong number…”
It took a moment to register but Charlena threw open the door. “It’s for me! Juliette, it’s for me.”
Rushing over, she took her phone from her roommate and put it up to her ear. “Yes, this is Luna Burton. Sorry, we had a rough night and my roommate was trying to let me sleep in.”
“Miss Burton,” the voice said. “This Grace White from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. We spoke earlier about your brother Jace Burton.”
Charlena tried to make her voice as normal sounding as possible, even though her head was pounding and her stomach was making very non-feminine noises. “Yes, you said you didn’t have my brother there, right?”
“That’s true. There is no Jace Burton here.” the woman’s voice said. “But I checked, and we had a John Doe come in on the same day. The chart matches your description: automobile accident coma victim.”
Could that be Jace? Is that why she couldn’t find him? He was a John Doe? But that didn’t make any sense. There was that report about him being pronounced dead at the scene. They must have revived him! That had to be it!
“Hello? Miss Burton?” the voice on the phone said.
“Yes,” Charlena replied. “Sorry, your news was unexpected.”
“I understand. We’d like you to come to us to identify him and let us know if it is your brother,” Grace said.
“Yes,” Charlena agreed. “Of course!”
“Good,” the woman said. “I can put you in for next Friday at p.m.. Just come to the front desk and ask for me, Grace White.”
“Do you have anything sooner?” Charlena asked. She didn’t want to wait a week to find out whether this was Jace, though in her heart she knew it had to be. As it was, she’d have to take off work early to go check it out, but it would be totally worth it.
“I’m afraid not,” Grace replied. “There’s some authorizations that need to be done and one of the attending physicians must be able to attend. I’m sure you understand.”
Charlena didn’t really understand but she didn’t want to press the issue, especially since she wasn’t actually Jace’s sister. “I’ll see you on Friday. Thank you.”
Charlena hung up. She couldn’t believe it! She’d found him! It had to be him. What were the chances of another car accident victim in a coma coming on the same day? She couldn’t wait to tell him! She’d been right the whole time! He was alive!
Then she looked down at the phone. It told her the time was 6:03 p.m.. She had slept the entire day away! She was supposed to have spent the day with Jace in game! Charlena needed to login right now and at least tell him the good news.
The FEVRE pods for the dorm were down the hall. She looked down at herself. It was fine. She could go into the pod in this - even if it might be a little ripe. Charlena really wanted to tell Jace and she wanted to tell him right now!
She started towards the door, ignoring the pounding in her head. Charlena needed to tell Jace right away. That John Doe had to be in. Jace was alive and she needed to tell him right now.
Join the Adventure
To learn more about the adventures of Jace, Charlena and Luna, or to learn of his other books and projects, visit the author’s website at:
https://www.johnecressman.com
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About the Author
John E. Cressman is an author, magician, mentalist, hypnotist, programmer, and longtime lover of roleplaying games and fantasy/sci-fi books.
As a teen, he wasted long hours creating D&D fantasy campaigns for his friends to play. He has tried several pen and paper roleplaying games from the original Dungeons and Dragons, Traveler and Star Frontiers to the new Pathfinder games.
He still enjoys computer RPGs and MMORPGs, with his current favorite being Elder Scrolls Online. He used to play Skyrim, but then he took an arrow to the knee.
John has published two books on hypnosis and is now trying his hand at the fantasy LitRPG genre with his new LitRPG trilogy, VEIL Online.
Find out more about John and his works by visiting www.johnecressman.com.
Veil Online - Book 1 (a LitRPG MMORPG Adventure Series) Page 38