Fiona and the Werewolf & other Short Stories

a girl named jessica*

5: a girl named jessica
"there's my miracle man" his doctor couldn't help but beam at the sight of the young man sitting upright in his bed three years after they had first met. when they thought he had three weeks at best.

never admitted to the Psychiatric Ward mind you, he doesn't need it

"so? i'm sure you know what day it is!" suddenly a nurse with a cake and loads of other doctors swarm into his room. the people that had become his friends and his family. now invaders.

they place it in front of him. he looks at the 22 candles on top of the cake through blurry eyes. not a side effect, just tears

then he looks at the room across the hall. it's cold and empty. he may as well could have seen right through it. and he remembers

yesterday at 9:30 in the morning just after he had finished his blueberry pancakes (a special gift from the cafeteria)

he hadn't seen her since then

"guys let's give him some space" everyone clears out of the room except his doctor who had noticed the water tracks on the poor man's cheeks. "is it jessica?" he asks solemnly. "yes" is the whispered response

"i'll let you be alone" and the doctor leaves the man whose twenty second year had just elapsed to be lonely. sometimes it's better to be lonely, alone. they don't teach that in medical school, he just knew.

"what is it?" the lonely man can overhear someone ask just outside his door.

"it's jessica, the girl who was in the room across from his for the past three years. she left yesterday. he really loved her and would always ask me how she was doing. poor thing, never got the courage to go across and talk to her." the doctor explains

"doctor? uh... i don't..." is the confused response

"what's that now?"

"well, um, there is no room across from his." then the pair turn and look out the big wall of windows where jessica's room would've been.

"funny, huh?"