Prescription Love

Chapter 2

I was awake that I knew. I was awake but I couldn’t open my eyes, you know that feeling you get on a Sunday morning and you wake up but you just can’t bring yourself to move? Where you’re body feels like a dead weight? That’s kind of how I feel now except I want very much to get up, but I can’t.

I tried moving but nothing happened, I didn’t even feel my clothes scrunch under me. I need to get up, I’ve got an article to finish for work and I’ve got to feed and walk Tank... it’s strange I haven’t heard him bark once at the birds that normally populate my garden on fall mornings, plus he’s my alarm clock he comes to wake me up every morning and today, nothing. I need to see if he’s ok or if my internal clock has gone awry and it’s some ridiculous time like three thirty.

So I tried to move again, and no success. I was getting frustrated with myself I felt trapped and I am not the damsel in distress type. 

I tried something different. I opened up my senses other than sight of course – my eye lids feel like they’ve got sand bags attached to them. I made my ears listen like they’ve never listened before and for the first time I got something, except it was dull like I was hearing it all through a barrier, like I was under water trying to listen to the rest of the world.

The first thing I heard was a kind of beeping, a steady beat... it’s definitely a familiar rhythm, is that my alarm clock? I don’t set it on Sundays unless it’s Summer and I want to go on a jog to the beach and watch the sunrise come in, but since it’s not summer and I have had no desire what so ever to go running in weeks I’m pretty sure that’s not it.

I heard voices – now that freaked me out, why the hell are there people in my apartment! I have never given a key to anyone at any time in my life not even my own Mother. When you work in journalism you hear a lot about how crafty people can be and I have become super security conscious bordering on OCD but we’ll get to that later.

You know what? Maybe it’s not people... maybe I’ve finally lost it, Reece has always said it would happen one day, hell I even agreed but I guess I never really believed it until now. Ha, well would you look at that I’m a kook me, Penny Marina Leoni, well Penn to my friends, Marina to my family, Leoni to my uptight boss and Mari Penn to my readers. So basically I’m different things to different people. And yes I am Italian, no I do not have an accent or a love of cooking – my job doesn’t really cater for amazing meals and time to glance over recipe books nor does my patience, but again I’ll get to that later.

My Grandparents are completely Italian and have deep scowls etched on their faces when they have to speak English, how my Dad convinced them to move here is a mystery to us all but they are big on family and since most of us moved to America I guess they weren’t up for being left behind but they are also adorable especially my Nonno – my Grandfather, he’s all little and grumpy but I can make him smile and it is so cute I just never say it because he’ll get annoyed.

I got out of my thoughts for a minute, at least long enough to remember my situation and so desperately tried to move again and surprisingly this time I had some results.

It was bad. I grunted in agony and then wanted to hit myself for forgetting my voice which could have yelled at my trespassers to get the hell out of my apartment.

Still in pain I tried breathing slow and deep but it hurt more to try and do that and not being able to see was really starting to get to me. That beeping noise from near me suddenly got more rapid like it was linked to my brain and sensed my panic. I started getting restless and tried to roll myself but as soon as the muscles pulled in my torso to do that a cry came from my lips as new pain bubbled to the surface.

I whimpered and tried moving my hands to hold myself up but I couldn’t they’d just collapse under me, and who am I kidding? If I can’t see where the hell do I think I’m going to go?