Crystal

Chapter 14: The loss of a good deed

I opened my eyes slowly. My vision was blurry at first, but slowly I started to adjust to the room. It was a little dark but through the curtains I saw it was daylight.

I sat up slowly only to lay back down feeling dizzy. It's like a really bad hangover kind of feeling. I was a little nauseated, my head was pounding and I just needed a gallon of water right then.

My eyes had become fully adjusted and all I saw was the familiar room. I was in Leza's room. I was in her bed. The curtains were closed and so was the bedroom door. I sat up quickly again, ignoring the massive headache I felt. I looked over at the nightstand next to the table and there was a cup of half-filled tea. I leaned over the bed and saw a tray on the floor; it had some soup in it but not much.

What happened? I can't remember anything past... I don't know. I went to work and then, wait... What? I looked around for my phone. It was under my pillow and it was off. I turned it on and looked through my messages.

There were a few texts from my boss saying to feel better and let her know when I can come in. What? When did I get sick?

Rob's last text was “Where are you?” 4 days ago. There was a ton of apologetic texts from my mom. I had apparently ignored all her calls and messages. Something I normally wouldn't do no matter how angry I felt. I just was never able to. But I did within the past few days. Why can't I recall the last few days?

The date on my phone said it was Tuesday, 7:35 am. I decided to send Rob a text to tell him to come over when he has a chance. He was probably asleep. Normally I'd be outside going for a run. But I wasn't much for running outside these days.

I stepped over the tray on the floor and hobbled over to the door. This was such a struggle. Am I sick? Did I take strong medicine or something? Maybe I just am really sick, a bad flu or fever or something of that sort. I don't know.

Walking downstairs was even more of a struggle. It took me ages to reach the bottom. I was gripping the railing the entire time slowly taking one step at a time. With each step it felt like my insides were getting heavier somehow. Something definitely was wrong. When I was downstairs I noticed a lump moving on the couch. It was still dark and I couldn't see straight.

There was a broom right next to the stairs so I grabbed it and held it tight as I slowly stepped towards the couch. I don't know what I was expecting or what damage I can do with a broom. But it's better than nothing. I took one more step closer and relaxed for a moment. It was Rob. He was asleep under a quilt on the couch. He stirred for a bit then opened his eyes.

"Jesus, Cris what you doing?" He jumped up and took the broom from my hands. I lost balance when he did and he quickly grabbed my waist to hold me up.

"How long have I been sick?" I asked him as he guided me to the couch to sit.

"About 4 days." He put his hand to my forehead. "You're starting to warm up at least. You were freezing. How are you feeling?"

"Honestly, confused. I can’t believe I was really sick this whole time."

"Among other things. I offered for you to stay at my place but you really wanted to stay here."

"When did this all happen? I can't fucking remember any of it."

"I came by to see you and you were on the couch shivering. But your body was very hot. At first, I thought you had a fever. But then your body temperature just dropped so much. I took you to the ER and you spent the night. They kept you for observation and said you seemed to be doing a little better and prescribed you some meds. Said you were okay to go home but needed to rest."

"My job..."

"You called your boss to let her know. I dropped by to give her the hospital note too so she wouldn't fire you."

None of this was ringing a bell. "Why are you sleeping on the couch?"

"You wanted to be alone in the room and I wanted to make sure you were ok so it was my way of checking in."

Wow. That's really sweet. I was just sick. Have I ever been this sick before? Where a chunk of my memory wiped out? I don't know!

I decided to rest my brain of trying to figure out my week. I mean it was aggravating. Was it all in my head? Leza's ghost, the demon, everything? Wait, I left work and I think I went home. What happened after I went home? Ugh just forget it.

Rob let me lay with him on the couch. He drifted back to sleep and I watched tv. I stayed focus on the sitcoms to avoid the news. I needed to put my mind on a lighter note.

But even just sitting there and watching TV, I felt funny. I was starting to feel exhausted, but not tired. I didn’t wanna go to sleep but I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to get up and move around. Moving my head was even a weird feeling. I don’t know I just can’t explain it.

I spent the day in the house after Rob went to work. I had decided to try and make an effort in cleaning up, and managed to do some dishes and sweep up the livingroom. The entire time it felt a little forced. But then that odd feeling came back and I couldn’t stop cleaning up. I wanted to go for a jog, but I couldn’t put my energy into it.  After I was done I snapped open a beer and turned on the TV. It was the news and before I could change the channel a photo taking up the screen stopped me immediately.

The photo showed the two little girls I found a few weeks ago. They were together by the Christmas tree opening presents. They were looking at the camera smiling as wide as they could. God, why was their photo on the news?

My head was spinning as the reporter announces that their remains were found in the park. It was as she said "gruesome." Their father reported the girls missing two towns away three days ago. No suspects, no finger prints. Just dead shredded bodies.

The reporter said the girls were last seen alive by their father when he put them to bed. He woke up the next morning only to find them missing in their beds. There were no signs of struggles.

They mentioned the girls’ mother being institutionalize in a hospital. That she hasn't yet been informed of the death of her girls. They're not sure if it's a good idea at the moment since she was said to be unstable. I couldn't quite get a grip on my thoughts although; it was the girls’ photo that kept going on screen that held my attention, even when the news was over.