Taken By Surprise

by Jessica Frances

  ***

  Two hours later I pay our bill and we walk out into the warm night air. I feel reluctant to have this date end.

  “Do you want to take a walk along the park?” I point down the block towards Hermann Park. We are at the end where you can see the Museum of Natural Science. I’ve been there a few times throughout school, although never recently.

  “Sounds great. I think I could use some fresh air.” Nora smiles and I slowly take her hand in mine. She doesn’t pull it away, so we walk hand in hand down to the grassy area, trailing along Hermann Drive.

  The street lights illuminate the moonless sky and I get a small chill running down my back as the cool breeze swirls around us. I quickly grab the jacket I have yet to put on and place it over Nora’s shoulders since she’s only wearing a dress. I can’t imagine how cold she must be.

  “Thanks. I wasn’t really expecting to spend time outside. It was stupid of me not to bring something.”

  “I hardly ever feel the cold, so it saves me from having to hold it,” I lie to her convincingly, trying to calm the chills that are running through my body.

  We walk silently then, breathing in the fresh air and looking up at the dark sky. My eyes close briefly as I feel myself relax.

  We walk for another few minutes before Nora pulls at my hand. I glance down to see she has stopped walking and is bent over, breathing heavily.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I just feel a bit out of breath.” She looks up and smiles at me. There is a slight glistening along her forehead from sweat. Her face is pale in the light and I can’t tell if it is just the way the far away street lights make her look or if she is really that pale.

  “Let’s just stop for a moment,” I suggest.

  She nods and shrugs my coat off her shoulders.

  “I feel too warm in that, thanks anyway.” I take the offered coat back from her, worrying that something is wrong. It’s getting colder out here by the second, not warmer.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” My nerves grow and the lights on the street start to flicker.

  “Yeah, I think so. So, tell me, has this date gone well enough to warrant a phone call from you tomorrow?”

  She speaks softly and I have to strain my ears to hear her.

  “It’s definitely been second date worthy.” I try to smile, but I can’t get the bad feeling to leave me. She looks weak on her legs so I move to hold her other arm as I fear she might collapse.

  “It has definitely been the best first date I’ve ever had.” Nora closes her eyes and I begin holding more of her weight.

  “Nora, you’re worrying me. What’s wrong?”

  “You know, I don’t think I am okay.” I have to strain my ears again to hear those words and I just catch her in time as she collapses downward, nearly slipping out of my hands.

  “Nora? Nora, wake up!”

  I feel for a pulse and only find a weak one. I reach into my pocket, but my cell dies the moment I open it up. I’ve blown the circuit on it. I need to calm down.

  I reach down and pick her up, cradling her in my arms. I run up the road, heading back to the street. We’re only a block away from Park Plaza Hospital.

  I run as fast as my legs allow me, trying to not jolt Nora too much. Her eyes stay closed and I pray to whoever might be listening that she is still alive. Grueling minutes go by as I run, ignoring the wild glances received from fellow park walkers. I make it to Park Plaza Hospital in what must have been record time and rush inside. Everyone is alert and I have a nurse rushing to me instantly.

  “What happened?” The nurse is already checking Nora’s vitals as I hold her in my arms.

  “I don’t know. She just collapsed.”

  “Is she on anything?” The nurse holds two fingers to Nora’s neck and I’m happy to hear her groan quietly.

  “No. I don’t know.” The truth is, I have no idea who Nora really is. Does she take drugs? Even medical ones?

  Doctors rush over and soon Nora is placed on a gurney and is rushed away from me while the nurse gives me her handbag, which I didn’t realize was still on her arm.

  “Does she have any allergies? Any conditions we should know of?”

  “I don’t know. I only just met her yesterday.” I try to breathe in deeply. I have to remain calm. I can’t panic.

  “Okay, stay calm. What’s her name?”

  “Nora.”

  “Good, now find out what you can about her.” The nurse points at the handbag and her attention moves instantly as a paramedic brings in another patient behind me. I have to dive out of the way to avoid being knocked over.

  I look down at her bag and take a deep breath. If there is ever a time I need to not cause a blackout, it’s here and now. People can die if the hospital’s power goes out and Nora might die if I kill her cell.

  Since I was born, the power in our house has been suffering. When I was a baby, I was told it went out most nights. We had every electrician in town come and look at it. Nothing worked. Mom and Dad used to think I was afraid of the dark. I was always found screaming in darkness. We moved around a lot, trying to find a house that didn’t have electrical problems. It wasn’t until I was three and we finished moving into our seventh house that the power stopped going off all the time. We still had the odd problem, but nothing as bad as what it was. By that time, they had concluded something, though.

  It was me causing it.

  Dad allowed only one doctor he trusted to run secret tests on me at the Texas Medical Centre, but the tests would either show us nothing or the machines wouldn’t work. He tried for two years to understand better what was happening, but couldn’t. Many times, the doctor had wanted Dad to let other experts take a look at me, but Dad refused. He told me later it was his gut that kept him from agreeing.

  We did figure something out about what happens. Strong emotions bring the blackouts out. So when I was a baby and my emotions were everywhere, we had quite a few problems. The older I got, the easier it was to communicate what I needed, so I didn’t need to throw a tantrum to get fed. I just had to ask. Staying calm was the best way to stop it from happening.

  When Mom killed herself, the whole of Houston went into panic mode as they had uncontrollable issues with power. As the fourth largest city in the United States, it was a big deal. Every top electrician in the country came out to try to fix what the problem was. Since then, I have never been able to do something like that on such a large scale. Lately, I hardly ever do much of it at all. I have learned, for the most part, how to bring about a blackout if I want one; I just have issues turning it back on once I’ve shorted out the power. In times of high stress, though—like right now—I’m unable to control it.

  I take several deep breaths and open up her handbag. Inside is a small purse, something that looks like it might be some form of make-up and then I see her cell. I pull it out and slide the screen up. It’s exactly the same as mine, which means I know how to work it. I’m quickly able to get her address book up and I skip to ‘M’. Mom is the third name down. I press on it.

  It rings. One ring, two rings.

  “Nora?”

  “Mrs—” I don’t even know what to call her. “Are you Nora’s mom?”

  “Who is this?” I hear fear in her voice and I hope Nora didn’t actually send her those messages about me being a forty-year-old biker out on parole.

  “This is Charlie Nichols. I’m on a date with your daughter. She’s had an attack or something. She collapsed and we’re at Park Plaza Hospital on Hermann Drive. Do you know it?”

  “Oh my God, is she okay?” Nora’s Mom’s voice is shrill and I wince as the noise goes straight through my eardrum.

  “I don’t know. They’re asking me for her history and I don’t know anything. Do you know where this hospital is?”

  “Yes, she was born there. I’ll be right down.”

  “Can you stay on the phone, also? I’ll put you on with a nurse. You might know something that’ll help her.
”

  I hear her calling out to her husband and I also hear tears in her voice. She is panicking.

  I rush around the corner to where they’ve taken Nora and see outside a room the same nurse speaking quickly with a doctor.

  “I’ve got her Mom on the phone.” I pass the cell phone to her without asking if she even wants it and watch as she quickly begins talking to her as she rushes through the doors. I watch through the door’s small window as she keeps going before cutting into what I assume is Nora’s room. I glance expectantly at the doctor who she has left outside.

  “Is she going to be okay?”

  He looks at me for a moment and then shrugs, rushing away while looking down at the patient files in his hands. He looks like he’s just a student.

  I collapse on the chairs that are along the hallway still in view of the door the nurse disappeared into. Half an hour later, I can’t sit any longer. I pace the hallway and see many people leaving and entering Nora’s room. No one can give me any update on how she’s doing, just that they are doing their best to help her.

  I watch an older looking couple rushing around the corner and know, without a doubt, that they’re Nora’s parents. Her Mom looks just like her, but an older version. They both appear worried and scared and I don’t know what to say to them.

  “Are you Charlie?” her father asks me, his voice stern as well as worried.

  “Yes.” I instantly straighten my back and look him in the eyes.

  “What happened?” Nora’s mother demands of me as she clings to her husband.

  “I don’t know. Everything was going fine. We ate dinner and then we went for a walk at Hermann Park. She said she felt out of breath and then she collapsed.”

  Her Mom bursts into tears and her husband wraps her in a hug as they both move to sit down on the chairs that I’ve been sitting on. I place Nora’s bag next to them and continue to pace up and down the hall. They don’t say anything more to me and I feel out of place with their grief so I keep my distance, continuing to walk up and down the hallway.

  Maybe another hour later, I see a doctor come out of the room. I’m down the hall and freeze on the spot.

  Do I want to know what she is saying? Should I go up to them? Is this a family thing now? Will they want me to leave?

  In the end, it doesn’t matter. The fact that the doctor isn’t smiling, that as she speaks to Nora’s parents her mother collapses in tears, that her father is yelling out ‘no’, all tells me what has happened. Nora is dead.

  I need to get out. I need to leave before I let my emotions overtake me and the whole hospital goes black.

  I exit out a different way to avoid having to pass her parents and run all the way back to the restaurant where my car is one of the last one’s left out on the street. I quickly get in and sit down, breathing heavily. I feel numb as I think back over my night.

  Nora died. Did she have an allergic reaction to her food? Was there something on the jacket I put around her that reacted badly with her? I look down to see that I’m wearing it again. When did I put it back on? I pull it up to my nose to smell it. I can faintly smell some perfume; the one she had been wearing. Had she taken drugs before our date? Or was it just some freak thing and her heart simply gave out for no reason?

  How can someone my age die like that? One minute she was fine, the next she collapsed and was soon dead. Why is the world so unfair like that? At least Mom chose to die. The world didn’t do anything to her, she did it all herself, but why Nora?

  I look over to the parked car Nora had arrived in. Will her parents know where it is? Should I have told them at the hospital? I feel myself shivering, but it has nothing to do with the cold. I turn the heat up full blast and turn my music up as loud as it can go. I’m sick of thinking.

  I turn onto the street and drive. I’m not even sure where I’m heading. I just know it has to be away from this restaurant and away from that park.