Blood Is Thicker

Chapter Four: Emily

            “Jack, are you going to be OK if I leave to go find my wallet?”  KJ asked me when I finally staggered out of the bathroom.

            “Yeah, fine.  Just gonna sleep…”  I stumbled over to my bed and fell onto the covers, debating whether kicking my shoes off was worth the effort. 

            “I’ll be back soon.”  KJ said as he left.

            I wonder where his wallet is… I saw him grab it this morning.  I lifted my head a few inches to glance at KJ’s nightstand.  He always put his wallet there when he emptied his pockets for the night – the nightstand was empty, except for the alarm clock.  The clock read 9:30… Has it really only been two hours since I woke up?  Two hours of nerve-wrecking weirdness.  My first class, Calculus 2, was in an hour… I knew instinctively that I was going to skip today.  I needed to figure out just what the heck was wrong with me.

            Think, Jack.  So you had a nightmare.  Big deal.  Happens all the time.  And Rose met her Professor this morning, as if they had planned it.  But they didn’t.  Because I was the one who suggested coffee.  A coincidence.  And it followed that it was also a coincidence that such a coincidence happened immediately after a weird dream had me all shaken up.  So, in other words, I have absolutely no reason to feel like this…

            But then, there was the ballerina.  And the hungry glint in Audrey’s eyes.  Not to mention the weird nostalgia feeling… You could have been imagining things.  It’s not like you had a particularly good night’s sleep.  Well, the ballerina wasn’t imaginary.  I know I saw her.  But then, I didn’t know that there was anything special about her.  Maybe she was looking at something else.  Maybe she was just lost in thought.  Maybe she thought she knew you from somewhere.  There are a thousand logical explanations for this. 

            And it was yet another coincidence that she had brought on the nostalgia.  For the second time that day.  Yeah, that many coincidences totally happen, I thought sarcastically.  And they always bring waves of knee-buckling nausea. 

            Regardless of what logic I filtered this situation through, everything that had happened this morning simply felt wrong.  There was no point trying to reason through it.  Maybe I’ll just sleep, and when I wake up, things will make sense again…  My eyelids, suddenly unbearably heavy, slid slowly shut…

            “Jack?  You OK, doll?”  My eyes snapped open and I jumped, startled for the second time in as many minutes.

            “Will you people stop sneaking up on me?!”  I shouted, before I realized that it was Rose who was kneeling in front of me.  She was holding a glass of water in her hand, smiling at me gently.

            “I’m sorry, Jack, I didn’t mean to scare you.  Sharon called and told me you had gotten worse, so I came to check up on you.”  I rubbed my eyes.  So much for sleep…

            “I’m fine, Rose.  I just need some sleep…”  I lied.  Maybe if I say it enough times, it will come true. 

            “Here, drink this.”  She offered me the cup of water.

            “No thanks…”

            “Fluids are important, especially after you barf.  You’ll get dehydrated.”

            “I’m not thirsty, Rose.  I’m gonna sleep now, so –”

            “Just drink it, Jack.”