The Red Eye [Open Novella Contest 2023]

Chapter 7

Donna blinked her eyes open at the sound of the dog panting. She was splayed like a starfish on her bed. The deployed airbag in her head was reaching a fever pitch now, and she wondered if she had the energy in her to go and get a pain reliever. The thought of puking disgusted her, but that constant voice that said she would probably feel better after vomiting whispered in the back of her mind.

"Shut up," she said to it.

The dog sniffed her foot.

"We're still alive, right?" she said.

The dog wagged his tail.

"Your constant optimism is a little annoying sometimes, you know that?" She sighed and made herself sit up. She waited for the feeling of her brain swimming in open water to die down and scratched the dog's ears. "I guess it's just you and me now," she said. "Should we have ice cream for breakfast? Real people do that every once in a while, right?"

At the words 'ice cream,' the dog's tail wagged even faster.

"Don't try tricking me like that, Caleb left your breakfast in your bowl."

The dog's tail stopped wagging. Donna laughed, breathless. Her stomach was swirling, her head hurt, and yet she was laughing. She pulled herself to her feet and waited for the room to stop moving around her.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" she asked the dog. "I think everyone else does."

The kitchen looked exactly like what she had remembered it looked like that morning, which now seemed like a very faraway dream. She felt like that most mornings. Donna had always had a difficult time figuring out if what she was remembering had been reality or a dream. The Sandman certainly had fun messing with her mind. There were many moments in her memory that she had no idea if they were real or dreams.

Donna picked up the bottle that had fallen and woken Caleb up. It was cool and heavy in her palm. For a moment, she had an overwhelming urge to throw it at the wall. But she set it back down in its usual spot and opened the freezer and pulled out the bucket of ice cream. She grabbed a spoon from the drawer and fell onto the living room couch. The dog followed like an overprotective shadow and curled up at her feet.

"Good boy," she said.

Musical ringing sounded from right next to Donna's head, and she blinked at the tablet on the couch. She held it above her with both hands and saw. Caleb's grinning face lit up the screen. She forced a cough and swiped to answer the video call.

"Did you put the tablet here because you knew I'd come here when I woke up?" she said instead of a greeting.

Caleb was in his bedroom at home, his back pressed against the wall. A Def Leppard poster was hung above his head. "Good morning, sugar."

"No, I'm eating sugar," she said, holding up the bucket of ice cream. She swallowed hard. "Still feeling normal?"

"Still feeling normal. I just consumed four oranges' worth of vitamin C, and Mom's making me take zinc tablets. Are you okay?"

"I feel like I'm dying, but that's normal."

Caleb laughed and coughed. "Your doctors must fucking love you."

"It's a good thing doctors can't write reviews of patients," she said, eating another spoonful of ice cream. She winced. "My throat hurts. I wonder what I'm missing at work."

"Don't think about it," he said.

"Have we met? Hi, my name is Donna and I have the amazing ability to be worried about everything."

Caleb smiled into the phone camera. Donna sighed and sat up, pointing the tablet's camera at the ceiling. "It's already one in the afternoon?"

"Time flies when you're having fun."