HAVEN BLACK - complete

JOLTED REALITY

Chapter 17 – JOLTED REALITY

I hurriedly collected the plastic bag that had the science equipment in it (MP3 player and headphones) and jogged out of the house and in no time arrived at Jill's.

She must have seen me coming across the street because she had opened the entrance door just as I arrived on her doorstep.

"Hey Jake!" she greeted me cheerfully.

"Oh hey, Jill...I brought some gear," I replied casually waving the plastic bag in front of me.

"Cool...come on in!"

We headed straight for the stairs, passing the opening archway to the lounge where Jill's parents snuggled coyly on the couch watching what looked like a documentary on the TV.

Stepping up the single flight of stairs, I followed behind Jill closely, and this time she led me not to her bedroom (like I had hoped) but instead to another room upstairs.

The room we now stood in was mostly bare with only a large desk and two office chairs in one corner under a wide window. Books and binders were neatly stacked on a shelving unit above the desk to one side and most of them were labelled with medical terms on their spines.

"What's this?" I asked intrigued pointing to an eyelet that was recessed on the wall opposite the desk.

"Oh, that...well you see it's kind of a bed," Jill said as she brushed past me and pulled the eyelet down revealing a lengthy padded table. "Well actually it's a built in desk that my Dad converted into an examination bed."

"Oh I see...an examination table? Sounds a little creepy to me... What's its purpose?" I asked stroking my palm against the cold blue padded vinyl.

Jill chuckled out loudly, "sorry... I guess I forgot to mention to you – my parents are doctors." She pulled herself up on the table and lay on her back; she fixed her gaze upon me. "They use this table to examine family and friends who mention anything wrong with themselves...but I don't think they've actually used it yet, but you get the idea."

"Cool," I asked as I causally leaned on the edge of the table, "what's it like having doctors for parents?"

"Um, it's pretty cool actually. I definitely feel safe under them. They can be pretty busy though, that's probably the worst part about it; but then again, when they are not at home, they are caring for other people so it's only a tiny sacrifice really." Jill barely finished her sentence when a groaning, quickly followed by a snapping sound erupted from the bed's wall supports.

"Jake!" Jill shrieked. "The bed's going to collapse! Quick! Jump off!"

Jill's hand pressed firmly on my back as she attempted to push me off the bed before the bed's supports gave way, but as I turned around, taking my weight off the bed, Jill's hand slipped off the side of my back and her momentum toppled her over the edge. She tumbled over clumsily and landed on the floor with a squeal of laughter.

"Are you alright?" I asked overly concerned while I extended my hands out towards her.

Jill's laughter quietened to a chuckle.

"I'm all good Jake, thank you," she said grasping my hands and pulling herself up still tittering away.

"Hey! Is everything okay up there?" Jill's father called out from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes Dad!" Jill yelled out a little too close to my face as she looked at me with cheekily raised eyebrows. "We are just setting up the experiment...!"