FIGMENT
Luckily, the next day was an off day, so I was free to spend some time lounging in the hospital bed doing nothing but getting hydrated. Brian popped by at one point to check on me, and informed me that, despite how freaked out he'd been, AJ and Rochelle had spent the night in a private waiting room down the hall, where Rochelle was available to translate for me, if needed. "AJ said he felt bad for not coming in with you last night," Brian explained, "I think he felt like staying here would make up for that, even if you didn't actually see him."
I laughed, "AJ's a loser, I can't believe he got that freaked out over sweat."
"Well, for a little bit there was vomit, too, according to Leighanne," Brian said, "Apparently you puked up about three gallons of water..."
"Damn, I was in crappy shape," I said, shaking my head.
After Brian left, I sketched some drawings in a notebook that Brian had brought me. I didn't realize what I was drawing until the picture was complete, but it was definitely Victoria by the time I'd finished. I stared at the picture.
"Once you get me into your head, it's almost impossible to get me out."
I shook my head, pushing the echo of her words out of my mind as I did so, and taking a swallow of air. I'd come to the conclusion, looking back over the hazy memory of the night before that I still possessed, that Victoria had been a figment of my imagination and nothing more. It wasn't possible any other way.
"Why isn't it?"
Her voice, rather it's proximity, nearly gave me a heart attack. I jumped and the notebook slid off my lap onto the floor with a loud crack. She was standing at the foot of my bed, dressed in a pair of jeans and a form-fitting, white t-shirt with a giant rose on the chest. Around her neck hung the silver chain with the rubies that she'd been wearing the night before. Her auburn hair was pulled into a pony tail.
I blinked up at her, "How did you--" I stammered, looking at the drawn curtain around the foot of my bed that didn't look at all disturbed, "How did you--"
Instead of answering, Victoria came over and lowered herself on the edge of the bed beside me, her eyes staring down into mine. "Did you sleep nicely, Nicky?" she asked, bending down and kissing my nose.
"Uh.. yeah," I mumbled. I gnawed my lip, "It was fine." She smiled and took a hold of my hand. "Listen, Victoria, I--"
"Hmmm?" She smiled sweetly.
I licked my lips. I felt crazy even saying this outloud, and I prayed that I was either dreaming again or nobody would over hear what I was about to say. "I think that you might be like in my head," I said.
"Yes, that's the point, silly," she said, giggling.
"No," I said, "Not like that I'm thinking about you, but like that I think you're - you know, a figment. An illusion. Make believe..." she was staring at me blankly. "...imaginary."
A smile spread across her lips. "I'm very real, Nick," she whispered.
"Then how do you keep popping up everywhere, like you're coming out of thin air, like you're smoke..." I sighed, "How come every time somebody else shows up, you're gone just like that?" I clicked my fingers together.
Victoria smiled, "Oh Nicky. I do love you." She leaned forward and started kissing my face.
"Stop," I said, pushing her off me. Her face folded into a scowl as she sat back, pulling away from me. "I'm sorry, Victoria, I shouldn't have gone to the hotel room with you the other night," I apologized, "It was a mistake, and --" I shook my head in a way that I hoped came off as regret, "I thought it was going to be - you know..."
"What?" she asked, her face now looked like a combination of crest fallen and smoldering with anger.
"...you know," I said, not wanting to say the words. Finally, I whispered them, "A one night stand..."
Victoria's face turned - well, the only word I can think of for it is puce. Like that not green, not peach, not anything except sick. "A ONE NIGHT STAND?" she bellowed. "You thought I was a one night stand?!"
I flinched and covered my mouth with my fingers, "Shhh, please, this is a hospital, you're gonna wake everyone else up or whatever."
Victoria tossed her head back and laughed hysterically in a loud, unearthly manner, and when she looked back down at me, her eyes were burning red - not at all the blue they normally were. I blanched, "What the hell is wrong with your eyes?" I demanded.
"This is me, angry, Nick," she said, her voice cold, "This is me being very, very, very angry."
"Well it's freaking weird, your eyes are scarlet," I said, kicking at the bed to get further away from her.
Victoria leaned in toward me, her red eyes focused directly into mine, "Nick, you will learn very quickly that you do not ever want to make me angry," she said. Her voice was low and commanding. I swallowed and nodded. She was legitimately scary.
Leaning back, her eyes seemed to soften into their normal blue hue, and the look of smoldering anger melted from her face and was replaced by a smile that looked as though it had always been there. In fact, within seconds, the only evidence that anything had happened at all was the rapid beating of my heart, and the blipping of it on the glowing green screen of the monitor.
Victoria laid her hand on my chest over my heart and whispered, "Calm down, Nick." I felt my heart slowing down, the beats returning to normal and I stared at her hand. "There we go," she whispered, smiling. "All better."
I licked my lips and opened my mouth to speak but she laid a finger across my mouth and listened closely. She smiled. And just like that, she was gone.
"Victoria?" I questioned, looking around. She'd disappeared without a spark, without even stars or dust or anything left in her wake.
The curtain was pulled aside and a doctor, followed by Rochelle, came in. The doctor smiled and Rochelle yanked AJ around the corner, who waved with just the tips of his fingers, sunglasses pulled over his eyes, his head tilting completely the wrong direction - which told me his eyes were closed underneath those glasses.
"Are you ready to leave Nick?" asked the young female doctor in way better English than Dr. Li had displayed the night before.
I nodded, "Definitely."
Bad Romance by Pengi
