Down Memory Lane ✓

11- The Allergic Reaction

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The Allergic Reaction

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THE SOFTNESS beneath was not like the hard surface I expected to fall on. My mind was reeling despite it feeling empty. Then questions started rolling in.

Where was I?

Did I make it?

I grunted and felt someone move around me. I opened my eyes to see the brown roof, making me realize I must be lying down. The squares on the ceiling were spinning and just when they started slowing down when someone touched my arm.

"You're awake," the person said. That voice. I looked to where it came from.

"Jane?" I asked with, shock and confusion both apparent in my tone, yet I couldn't tell which was more.

"Hey Clara, how're you feeling now?" she asked, her voice soft as ever.

Was I back at Grandma's place? Was it all over? But the roof wasn't wood like Grandma's cabin.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You fainted, dear," she said.

Fainted?

I shifted to move up when I felt a light unfamiliar pain in my lower abdomen and I grunted weakly. She looked down at where my hand had settled upon the source of the pain and a small frown set on her lips.

"Does your scar still hurt?" she asked.

"Scar?"

"Oh well, we shouldn't talk about that, dear. You should rest. You must be hungry. Let me get you some freshly made chickenpea soup. Your favorite," she said, and I was too tired to roll my eyes as left me.

Typical Jane, always doing what she thinks would make me feel happy.

I sat upright and pulled up my shirt to check this scar. And there it was. But once my eyes met it, a searing pain shot through my head.

It was hard to describe as it felt like something was stuffing and filling up my brain was being. The sensation was strange and unlike anything I had felt before, as my hands found their way to hold my head.

The pain was subsiding when someone stepped in. I looked up to see Tony. He looked younger, shorter. The question flashed again.

Where was I?

"I'm guessing you still feel terrible," he started.

"Um, what happened before I fainted?" I asked.

"You have Aunt Vera to blame for that. Can you imagine, the cake she baked had nuts in it?"

I guess I wasn't at Grandma's then.

Wait—

"But I'm allergic to nuts," I stated, still not knowing why I passed out, as Jane said.

"Exactly, and she knew that. She claims to have forgotten," he scoffed. "Typical Aunt Vera. I never liked her. Still don't," he said and sat on my bed beside me.

He wasn't acting rude or indifferent like he was back at Grandma's place.

Without warning, the memories of the past few days—if I could say so, as I was yet to be sure if I was just dreaming—rushed into my head.

I was in high school, again, and had figured out how to get out since that was my past. Before then, I had been at Grandma's place, a few months after graduating, fussing over the lack of service when...