Life Flashes

by Beesler, Jeff

  Another tingle of warmth poured into my cheeks.

  “Now, not another word!” she said, pointing and rest until I return?”

  I grunted a laugh. “Sounds like a plan.”

  She bolted from the room at once. I sat down on the edge of my bed, letting my mind soak in everything. At least Faux-Mom had good intentions. I rolled the rest of the way onto the bed and fell fast asleep.

  CHAPTER 4

  RELEASE DAY

  University of Colorado Hospital

  Room 1125

  Friday, March 18, 2016

  9:37 a.m. MDT

  After Faux-Mom left, I slept the rest of Thursday away. No matter what happened to me, at least it seemed the calendar was still the same as ever. I must not have missed a whole lot of time while I was out cold.

  On Friday morning, I got out of bed when the sunlight crept in from the southern windows. A quick shower later, I donned the lone set of clothes that had been sitting in wait for me, some jeans and a charcoal hoodie sporting the University of Colorado logo on its chest.

  A beep from the phone that was supposed to be mine gave me a start. I’d forgotten all about it being there, and now found it all but drained of its battery. If Faux-Mom had sent me any messages, they’d have to go unanswered. I still had to look forward to meeting Keith, whoever he was. How had he not shown up yet with the phone charger? Was he even planning on showing up at all?

  A knock at the door lured me from my thoughts. I glanced up to find Nurse Zimph standing in the threshold. He wore that same goofy grin as before. I let him do his thing without making an issue out of it.

  “How are you doing this morning?” he asked me in a singsong tone.

  “Ready to get out of here,” I said, only now noticing the duffel bag perched next to the table in my hospital room.

  “I can imagine,” he said with a wink.

  Offering the man a friendly smile, I tried to think of something to say. “May I help you?” I asked him.

  “I’m good, thanks.” He waved his hand at me in an almost child-like, playful manner.

  “Then why are you just hovering over there?”

  “Just making sure you’re okay. Sorry if anything I said or did offended you.” Sorrow glinted in his eyes, even if he didn’t have any real reason for the remorse.

  “You’ve done nothing wrong so far,” I said, a rather truthful comment. “The past couple of days have been hard on me, is all.”

  “I guess you coming here is God’s way of saying you need to take it easy for a day or two.”

  “Yeah. Have you seen my mom, by any chance? She ran off yesterday and was supposed to return, but I slept the night away. Did she leave a message for me at the nurse’s station?”

  Zimph shook his head. “Not as far as I know. You’ve been given a clean bill of health. I’m just here to give you the doctor’s good news.”

  “She couldn’t be bothered to tell me herself?”

  “She’s with other patients presently.”

  “Gotcha,” I said with an indifferent air. “Well, I’d better get going. Thanks again for everything.”

  I left Room 1125 without another word. It helped I had nothing to carry with me aside from that dead phone, the duffel bag oddly empty. I toted the bag anyhow, just in case I came across anything that could help me get back to Washington. I didn’t even have proper identification on me. What was I going to do without a wallet? Even more, had anyone of the medical staff even bothered to ask me for my identity?

  Great. Now how am I going to prove I’m not Tyler Jonson?

  I followed all the signs pointing me toward the main lobby of the hospital. The hallways were sparse with little activity. I’d pass either a patient or a member of the hospital staff on occasion, but there wasn’t much else really going on between these walls.

  After plopping down onto a chair in the lobby, I found myself staring at an oil painting that seemed to be of the mountains beyond Denver. What I wouldn’t have given to see the Cascade Mountains, or the Olympics. I missed Seattle. I missed my friends and family back home.

  “Well, what are you doing all the way out here?” Faux-Mom greeted me. She wrapped her arms around me and almost squeezed the life right out of me.

  “The doctor gave me a clean bill of health. I would have called if my battery hadn’t died on me.”

  “You mean Keith didn’t bring you the phone charger after all? Silly him,” she said with a grin, allowing another five seconds until she finally pried herself off me. “We can give him a gentle reprimand over at the gift shop. He’s with Sissy and Regina, getting you flowers and balloons. Won’t that just make your day?”

  I threw on a slightly exaggerated smile. Faux-Mom didn’t appear to notice. She kept rambling on about other things while I just nodded my head, staying wary of my predicament.

  “You really didn’t have to go all out for me,” I said when she stopped to catch her breath.

  Faux-Mom raised an eyebrow at me. “Whatever do you mean by that?”

  “I don’t need to be coddled,” I pointed out. “Seriously.”

  “Ha! You’re a hoot, sweetie! Come on. We should really get over to the gift-shop before too long.”

  “Might as well.”

  Faux-Mom lured me away from my safe little corner in the hospital’s lobby. We followed the signs that pointed to the gift-shop, arriving there five minutes later. Nerves tightened in my throat and I found it difficult to swallow. After all, who were these people I was supposed to know? At least with Faux-Mom, I’d had the opportunity to get to know her one-on-one. With three more people thrown into the mix, I had to step up my A-game, making sure I dotted all my I’s and crossed all my T’s. They’d chew me up and spit me out if they found out I was a Tyler fraud.

  Lost in my thoughts, I nearly crashed into a nurse wheeling an elderly man. The elderly man let out a low growl, the nurse rushing to comfort him.

  “Everything okay?” Faux-Mom asked me right outside the gift-shop entrance.

  “I just have a slight headache. I’ll be fine,” I told her. “Why?”

  “You’re not being your usual talkative self.”

  “Sorry about that, Mom.”

  “If you’re still not feeling well enough, we can always get you back to bed. I’m sure the doctors missed something from the other night.”

  The idea of me spending more time with Nurse Zimph doting over me gave me reason to perk up, or at least fake it until I made it. I was halfway out the door already, no need to have them restrict me to bedrest for several more days.

  “I’m okay,” I told her. “Just a little cabin fever from being cooped up in this hospital for the past couple of days, that’s all.”

  Just as we were about to go into the gift-shop, two women and a guy stepped out onto our side of the threshold. The guy sported a gray T-shirt with the words Colorado Rockies etched on it. He had a ginger mohawk and a matching goatee, a small ring piercing his left earlobe, and the bluest eyes I’d ever seen on anyone. Maybe he wore contact lenses.

  The women also wore T-shirts and jeans, one of them sporting bright blue hair and thick-rimmed glasses, the other a full-figured blonde who wore her hair over one shoulder.

  All three of them carried either flowers or balloons and were laughing and chatting amongst themselves. They appeared so wrapped up in their own conversation that they barely noticed Faux-Mom and me standing in the hall. The woman with the bright-blue hair sounded like she was in the middle of telling a joke, throwing her hand about in a circular motion as if it would further emphasize her story. The three of them exploded in a guffaw that made another passerby shush them.

  “Mission accomplished, I see,” Faux-Mom said to the trio.

  “Yes, indeedy!” the woman with the blue hair said in a high voice

  The guy in the Rockies shirt looked at me and smiled. A second later, he stepped towards me.

  “Tyler! I’m so glad you’re okay!” He suddenly hugged me.

  “Uh
, thanks?” My voice rang with uncertainty. Discomfort filled every fiber of my being as I tried to break free from his embrace.

  A second later, his lips met mine.

  CHAPTER 5

  STRANGER’S KISS

  University of Colorado Hospital,

  Just Outside the Gift-Shop

  Friday, March 18, 2016

  11:22 a.m.

  I froze. The five seconds or so that passed felt more like a damn eternity to me. Every stroke of his lips against mine paralyzed me. The scruff on his chin tickled my face, yet I wasn’t laughing. I didn’t dare open my mouth, as he seemed interested in a little tongue-wrestling. Mint-flavored mouthwash coated his tongue and stung my lips. Had he brushed his teeth in one of the hospital restrooms right before this?

  At the end of those five seconds he pulled away, his eyes gleaming with deep affection. A slight taste of bile filled my throat. Obviously, Keith so wanted to believe I was his Tyler. I hated to disappoint him, but I really wasn’t who he thought I was.

  “You had me so worried, love,” Keith said, playfully punching me in the arm. His words came across in a nasally sort of way as he spoke. “When your mom called and told me you were in the hospital, I booked the next flight from Oklahoma City to come home.”

  I raised an eyebrow at this. Hadn’t he supposedly informed Faux-Mom about my car accident? How could he have possibly gotten wind of that information if he had just gotten back from Oklahoma City?

  “Are you all right, Tyler?” the blue-haired woman asked me, the ceiling light glinting off her glasses.

  “Say again?” I asked, heaving a deep rasp as my heart still raced with panic. “I didn’t quite hear you.”

  “Regina asked if you were okay,” the full-figured blonde said.

  That must make you Sissy, then. I fought to keep that observation to myself or else they’d realized I wasn’t Tyler. As much as I hated going along with the charade, I saw no way out of this. Someone in their group had to know what really happened to me. Until I figured out what that something was and discovered a way back home to Seattle, I had to play it cool.

  Not an easy feat when this guy wants to French-kiss me.

  “I’m fine. I’m just a little tired,” I said, looking at no one in particular. How could I look any of them in the eye when I couldn’t tell them who I was?

  “You have a sick sense of humor, Tyler. I go out of town to visit my grandmother for one week, and you had to go and get yourself injured,” Keith said.

  “Can we just get out of here already?” Faux-Mom asked. “I’m sure Tyler’s seen enough of this place.”

  Sissy leaned in to sniff me and made a face. “Didn’t anyone bother to bathe you while you were in here?”

  I cast a disgusted look her way. “I showered about an hour ago, thank you very much.”

  She looked at me and shrugged as if she didn’t really care to believe me.

  Keith leaned into me and whispered, “Uh, love? I hate to point this out to you, but you really do need to clean yourself up. I mean, your hair isn’t the feathery soft that I absolutely adore. Have they even allowed you to put conditioner in your hair? Oh, well. I’ve got some Herbal Essences at home that I know will get your hair back on track!”

  “Uh, okay. Whatever you say,” I said as the others led me out of the hospital.

  We walked out into the parking lot under a warm sun. I saw a few lenticular clouds lingering in the distance, but thought little much else about them. From what I understood, based on Tony’s two or three trips to Colorado, severe weather didn’t usually strike until next month. Still, I had to wonder.

  Faux-Mom led me over to a luxury sedan and insisted that I get in. I waited to see if Keith would be joining us. He gently rubbed my arm before leading Regina and Sissy to a brown Volkswagen parked two spots over. I watched them climb in before Faux-Mom prompted me to sit down inside the sedan.

  Five minutes later, Keith crawled into the backseat of Faux-Mom’s car. I thought about saying something to him about him riding along with the girls instead, but changed my mind. I was supposedly his lover. Of course he would want to ride in the same car as me.

  “I can’t wait to get back home,” Keith said, sighing dreamily.

  “Why?” I asked, unable to catch myself in time.

  “It’s a surprise, silly!” he said, punching the back of the passenger’s seat.

  I looked at Faux-Mom and saw a concerned look on her face.

  “Oh, okay,” I said with a nervous laugh.

  “That’s it. You’re definitely not going back to work soon,” Faux-Mom told me. “I called them, and they want you back as soon as possible. I told them you needed to make a full recovery before you go back to flipping burgers.”

  “My thoughts exactly, Valerie,” Keith said. “Good thing I’ve set aside some money, so we’ll actually be good for a short while.”

  Faux-Mom cast him a grateful smile.

  “You always take care of my son, ever since you two first met at the junior prom, Keith. I can’t think of anyone more perfect for Tyler than you.”

  Keith blushed a little. “Thank you, but I’m far from perfect. I just want to make him happy.”

  Faux-Mom drove us to a Park and Ride on Evans Avenue. There, we came upon the black Honda Civic that Keith owned. Faux-Mom bade us goodbye and said something about seeing us later. I beamed at her, hoping she bought my fake expression, and went over to the passenger side of Keith’s Civic.

  “Why didn’t you just park at the hospital?” I asked him.

  He pursed his lips and looked away from me, as if he wasn’t at all interested in answering my question.

  “So glad to be going home,” he said a moment later, eyes twinkling at me. “I’ll even let you pick the radio station.”

  “That’s okay. You pick the station. I’m not really sure what I want to hear.” Or rather, I didn’t want to pick the station because I was completely unfamiliar with the radio stations in the Denver market.

  Keith’s grin dimmed. “No, really, I insist you pick it out. Or are we still fighting about that subject?”

  “Excuse me?” I asked, blinking in confusion.

  “You know, after we had such a major brouhaha over it two weeks ago.”

  “Yeah, about that…”

  “No need to apologize,” he quickly blurted out before I could finish my comment. “I was completely in the wrong. I knew you were stressed out from the robbery at your restaurant, and so I should have been much more sensitive to your needs. I mean, you were held at gunpoint for crying out loud.”

  “Okay,” I said matter-of-factly, still struggling over the fact that he didn’t want to talk about why he didn’t just arrive at the hospital in his Honda. It seemed a waste of Faux-Mom’s time to have her drive us out to a Park and Ride for no good reason.

  “You okay?” Keith looked at me with a hopeful puppy dog expression.

  “I’m a little tired,” I told him, which was true. I didn’t even have to fake a yawn for his sake when a real one came of its own accord.

  “Hey, everything will be fine. We’ll get you home, and you can go to bed. I’ll wait on you hand and foot,” he offered eagerly.

  “You don’t have to go out of your way to keep me happy,” I said, my gaze drifting to the right.

  “Nonsense,” he said. “It’ll be my pleasure.”

  We drove away from the Park and Ride. Keith veered east on Evans Avenue. A single block later, we hit I-25. Soon it became apparent why Keith had left his Civic where he had. He hadn’t wanted to get too far away from the interstate. He turned south onto the highway. For a few minutes, I assumed he drove that way because “our” place was in the southern part of the city. After a while the buildings dispersed, and I found myself in a rural part of Colorado. I made no comment, just kept staring. What good would it have done me to protest?

  “You’re still not in the mood to talk?” he said after a while. “Seriously, did you hit your head or something?”
/>   “Not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, okay,” he said with a growl. Something flashed in his eyes and it resembled none of the love I’d seen earlier. “Thought you might want to talk about that awkward kiss I shared with you back at the hospital.”

  Dread iced over my innards. I tried to maintain an open mind, but after the way he caught me off guard with that kiss I didn’t dare ignore the dark intentions of his hormones.

  “Can that just wait until after I’m feeling better? All this stress can’t be good for me.”

  Keith’s lips curled upward in slow motion. “You know you’re cute when you’re trying to deflect.”

  “Do you realize I woke up confused?” I had to point out. It was my last line of defense against him and his desires. If this didn’t work, I had no idea what would.

  His scowl faded into indifference. “Yeah. I know.”

  “You do?” I didn’t trust this for an instance. Any guy that eager to jump me surely wouldn’t give up so easily.

  “I could tell in the kiss. Your enthusiasm just wasn’t all there. That’s why I didn’t want to say anything about it. I thought that maybe if I got you away from the hospital, you might feel more comfortable to explain yourself.”

  “It was just a bit sudden, okay?”

  “Here we go again,” Keith moaned. “Can’t I ever do anything right by you? I get that you’ve been in the hospital the past couple of days, but you’re acting all weird. I feel like I can’t even have an open, candid conversation with you right now.”

  My eyes stole a glimpse of how tight and white his knuckles were as he gripped the steering wheel.

  “All I said was that I was just released, and you jumped the gun by kissing me,” I told him. “To be honest, your move caught me completely off guard.”

  Keith sneered but kept his gaze on the road.

  “Forgive me for showing the man I love a little affection. Is it wrong for me to do that?”

  Only because you’re confusing me with another man.

  “Look, I’m just a little overwhelmed right now. I need some time to sort things out.”