The October Amaryllis

Chapter 65 - May 21st, 2020 - 12:30 P.M.

"I can't wait to get out of this screwed-up place," I muttered to the others at our table. I swear, the longer I stayed in this place, the crazier I became. It was beyond tempting to just time travel out of the hospital to the future, but I knew that I'd have gotten nothing good out of doing it. The mind isn't always known for being rational, though.

"Same, I'm probably going to watch Scott Pilgrim vs. the World for the thousandth time and listen to some Jack Stauber. I can't get Two Time out of my head," Kimberly said, sighing.

I can't get Take Me Home, Country Roads out of my head. It makes me homesick for West Virginia, but I've never been there.

"Ha, I watched that movie not too long ago," Madelynn replied, laughing.

"You remind me a bit of Ramona, Madelynn," Kimberly replied with a tiny smile.

"That's very sweet, but how come?" she asked curiously.

"Just your entire personality is very much like Ramona's, especially your sarcasm."

"I actually base a lot of my personality off of Holden Caulfield. Have you guys ever read The Catcher in the Rye?"

"I have, and it was hella depressing. It was so ahead of its time if you think about it. I mean, before that book, nobody really talked about mental health problems in teens," Morgan spoke.

"I read it during my Freshman year, and honestly, I both adored and despised Holden at the same time. It's like I get he wanted to protect innocence or whatever, but he came off as a sociopath half the time. I mean, he claims to be against phonies, and yet he's the biggest one in the book. He constantly lies throughout the book. He's aware of it, but he never tries to change. He does whatever the hell he wants for 236 pages," I replied.

"To be fair, he was sixteen at the time. It makes sense that he wasn't the most likable person. That ending quote gets me every time, 'Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.' I want to get that as a tattoo on my forearm," Madelynn said.

"I almost forgot how true it was. You totally should get it! I'm going to miss all of you guys so much," I said emotionally.

"Relax, buddy; it's not like you're going off to war; who says you won't be able to talk to us?" Morgan asked with an amused expression. He patted me on the shoulder and calmed me down a bit.

Time paradoxes possibly.

"I know, I know, it's just do you ever get to know someone really closely and then feel pain when you eventually have to part with them? That's how I feel; I mean, you guys are some of my favorite people," I said with a genuine smile. I couldn't imagine leaving everyone behind. I didn't even know what I would do once I got out.

"All the time. So, who's this Ashley the staff keep talking about?" Kimberly virtually whispered. The way she spoke was completely different, no doubt a result of time paradoxes. Her voice had become barely audible, more like what I expected it to sound.

The entire room fell silent for about five seconds; it was so quiet I could practically hear my heartbeat. Eventually, I broke down and explained to Kimberly who she was. I just couldn't take the awkward silence anymore; it was eating me alive like hydrofluoric acid.

"She was this girl who had a seizure and a mental breakdown recently. She was very kind, and her condition was completely unexpected," I explained, trying my best not to shake; it was my fault after all.

"Oh... Is she okay now?" she asked curiously.

"We don't know; last time we heard from her, she wasn't doing too good," Morgan replied with a frown.

"How bad was it?" she asked. The more she asked about Ashley, the worse I felt.

"She was hallucinating and experienced paranoia. Whatever happened to her caused her to break. Before she had a seizure, she was shaking really badly too. Poor girl," Madelynn said with a frown.

While they talked about Ashley, I began to feel a strange nauseating sensation in my stomach that I couldn't explain too well. The best way to describe it is that it felt like my stomach was endlessly expanding and burning. The most severe headache possible followed this. It felt like somebody took a sledgehammer and whacked me in the forehead. A massive rushing sound in my ears, like when a plane took off, overcame me, and I felt my body cry out in agony. I could tell I was slowly dying.

Historical events and people covered the walls like paintings. I saw Joseph McCarthy give a speech about the evils of communism and witnessed the coronation of Queen Victoria.

Suddenly, my surroundings melted away like candle wax, and I found myself in 1957 in Daytona Beach.

Just my luck.