Parker

Parker
By: Cassie Little

Chapter One: Pain

         I felt weird. Like I was going to throw up all over the place. But I couldn't. I hadn't eaten anything all day in the fear that I would throw up everywhere during school.
         I was standing in the Middleton High girls bathroom in a stall that everyone called the "Gossip Stall" because it was so riddled with Magic Marker that it was almost impossible to see the blue stall behind it.
         "Parker?" said a voice where there had just been no one.
         It was my best friend, Katie, coming to check on me.
         I leaned over the toilet and wretched. It looked like my "I'm-not-going-to-eat-anything" plan wasn't going to work. I had been sick for al-most a month now. My Mom had taken me to the hospital on the first night I had gotten sick. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with me and still didn't.
         Katie slowly opened the stall door and pulled back my hair.
         When I was through, I stood up and turned to face Katie. Katie hugged me, desperately.
         "Parker, what's going on?" she asked and I could hear the desperation in her voice.
         "I don't know." I said, a tear sliding down my cheek. "But I just wish it would stop."
         "Let's go get you cleaned up." Katie said.
         She guided me out of the stall and to a sink. Katie grabbed a few paper towels and handed them to me. I dabbed at my face and neck The cold water felt good and cooled my burning skin. I knew her breath probably smelled worse than anything else on the planet right now.
         Katie must have sensed what I was thinking, because she pulled a pack of gum out of her back pocket and handed it to me.
         "And they still don't know what it is?" Katie asked for the hundredth time.
         I put the gum in my mouth and sighed. "No."
         "Are you sure you're not pregnant?"
         "Yes Katie. My Mom made me take those test thingies until half the Mountain Dew and all of my brother's Sunny D were gone. Not like it was likely, since the last boyfriend I had was a kid I met on a playground when I was six."
         Katie hugged me again. "I wish this thing would go away. I feel really bad for you."
         "I know."
         "Oh!" gasped Katie, pulling away and reaching into her bag. "Mr. Beechum asked me to give this to you. It's tonight's homework."
         She handed me two biology worksheets. It was the third time that week that I had run out of his class with a green face.
         "Is he mad?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.
         "No. He understands."
         "God, Katie! What is wrong with me?"
         "I don't know sweetie, but, apparently, if I was a doctor, I wouldn't know either."
         I laughed, despite the pain in my head and stomach.
         I suddenly felt a tickle in my head. I backed up against the wall and slid down to the floor. The dizziness made the room spin out of control. I wanted it to stop. All of it. Just make it go away, I thought. Please, just make it stop. The pain in my head creeped forward and engulfed everything. The throbbing pain clouded my vision, and black was all I could see.
         "Parker? What's wrong now?"
         I heard Katie's voice, but at the same time I didn't. It was miles, and years away.
         I put my hands against the wall, searching for something to grab, to squeeze. My hands found two sinks. My fingers curled around the edges of the sink and squeezed as hard as they could.
         I was hardly aware of Katie yelling for help and the last thing I remembered was my head slamming against the tile floor.

         I could hear someone talking wherever I was.
         "She'll be fine. She just needs some rest and maybe an ice pack for her head."
         "Okay." came Katie's voice. "I'll be sure to tell her Mom when she gets here."
         I heard a door open and close. I slowly put a hand to my head, but there was something pulling my hand back to the bed. I slowly opened my eyes, only to find there was a bright fluorescent light blurring my vision. I closed my eyes quickly and a bright array of colors flashed against my eye lids.
         "Parker? Parker, are you awake?"
         "No." I replied.
         Katie laughed. "You sound awake."
         I pushed myself up against the bed, and as I did, I realized that I had been laying in a bed that wasn't my own and a fresh wave of dizziness struck me. A sharp pain in my head made my wince and jerk my left hand up. I felt a bandage there. I slowly opened my eyes again and saw why my right hand had been restricted. An IV had been stuck there. It almost made me sick just looking at it.
         "Where am I?" I asked, looking up.
         "At the hospital.” said Katie, sitting down on the bed.
         "What happened?"
         "Honey, you passed out and bonked your head extremely hard on the floor. But, something weird happened."
         "What?"
         "Do you remember grabbing the sinks?"
         "Yeah, I. . . I think so."
         "Well, you kinda left your mark."
         "Meaning what?"
         "You squeezed so hard that you shattered part of the sink. No one knows exactly how you did it."
         "I broke the sinks with just my hands?"
         "Yeah. What, do you have like super human strength and never told me?"
         "No. I don't think so. . . "
         That's really weird, I thought. Was I in that much pain?
         "I guess I'm not getting out of here anytime soon." I said, sighing.
         "Yeah. They said they wanted to keep you overnight for observation. So you can't go home until tomorrow."
         "Great. I'm expecting an e-mail tonight."
         "Oh. Mystery guy?"
         "Yeah."
         I had accidently sent a guy an e-mail instead of Katie one night. There was only a one number difference in their e-mail addresses. Katie's was [e-mail] and "mystery guy's" was [e-mail]. It was an easy mistake to make. "Mystery guy" (who's real name was Adam) only lived two towns away from me. It was only about an hour drive.
         "Ow!" I gasped suddenly, feeling a sharp pain in my side. I reached down and pulled my cell phone out of the sheets. I flipped it open to find about a hundred new text messages.          
         "The whole school sends their love." explained Katie.
         "Even Marissa's group?"
         "Yeah."
         "They're just trying to make themselves sound like big people."
         "Um, yeah!"
         "Wait," I said, suddenly aware of what time it was. "Shouldn't you be at school?"
         "Yeah. But you know I'm already smarter than half the people at the community college, and, besides, the doctors wanted someone to stay with you until your Mom got here. Like I'm a good babysitter."
         I laughed. I started looking through the messages, and most of them just said, "Get well soon!", but some of my friends had actually taken the time to send me something meaningful, and it looked like my Mom had sent me an entire essay. I finally reached the last message and saw that it was from Adam. It said, "Hey. Where are you? I e-mailed you but you never responded."
         I sighed He always had great timing. It was like he knew we were just talking about him..
         "What?" said Katie? "Is it from Adam?"
         "Yeah."
         "What did he say?"
         "He asked where I was."
         "And. . ."
         "I'm at the hospital. Where are you Katie?" I asked, sarcastically.
         "Sorry. . ."
         I sent Adam another message telling him where I was.
         "I'll bet he's getting tired of hearing that."
         "Hearing what?"
         "That you're at the hospital."
         "This is only the third time I've been here since I started talking to him, and besides, he knows I'm really clumsy."
         Just then, the door burst open and my Mom stepped in the room. She leaned over the bed and kissed me on the forehead.
         "Parker, are you okay?" she asked.
         "Yeah, I'm fine Mom, I just have this huge bleeding bump on my head is all."
         My Mom sighed. "Honey, you've got to be more careful when you get these spells. You know the doctor told you to sit down as soon as it ha-ppens."
         "She was sitting down Mrs. Dodge!" said Katie. "She was sitting on the bathroom floor and then she just fell over."
         "Oh, honey!" Mom said again. She kissed me on the forehead again and started crying into my chest.
         "Mom?" I said. "You're not the one that's hurt. Shouldn't I be crying?"
         Mom sniffled and sat up straight. "I'm sorry honey. I have to leave now. I had to leave work to be here now, and I have to cater the High School Reunion Party tonight, so I won't be here until tomorrow afternoon when they discharge you."
         "That's okay Mom. I understand."
         "Are you sure? Because I have to go right now. I'll see you tomorrow honey."
         "Bye Mom."
         Mom bent down and kissed me on the cheek before she turned and walked out the door. My cell phone started to vibrate and I flipped it open. Another message from Adam. "Why are you in the hospital this time?" it said.
         She wrote back, "Because I fell and hit my head pretty hard."
         "Why does your Mom always have to rush off like that?" asked Katie.
         "She's just trying to keep this job. She really likes it, and she's already been through two this month because she's had to rush off to the hospital to find me."
         "Oh. So. . . the catering business is really that interesting?"
         "It must be to keep my Mom occupied."
         Katie laughed.
         Katie stayed for a little while longer, but finally had to leave when her Mom called her to ask why she didn't get off the bus when it drove by her house. After she told her Mom what happened, her Mom freaked and told her to get home "this instant".
         A few of my other friends came by to say "hi" later that day. They all brought get well soon cards and Gary even brought me some flowers.
         My last visitor finally left at nine o'clock and I laid back on the stiff pillows and sighed. My head throbbed and the stitches just made it worse, adding a horrible stinging feeling. A few minutes later, another nurse came back in and smiled at me.
         "Hey honey," she said. "How are you feeling?"
         "My head's a little sore."
         "Well, do you think you can eat anything?"
         "Maybe."
         "Okay, well, I'm going to give you some pain medication and then you'll get your dinner."
         "Okay."
         The nurse took a needle and a little container of some liquid out of her front pocket. She took some of the liquid out of the container with the needle and tapped the needle. She grabbed the wire from the IV and injected the liquid into it. She smiled at me.
         "Easy as pie! I'll be back in just a few minutes with your dinner."
         "Okay. Thanks."
         The nurse turned and walked out, leaving the door cracked open just a bit. A few lights were still on in the hallway and I could see the door across the hallway was wide open. There was an old man sitting up on the bed sipping soup through a straw and doodling on a clipboard beside him. He glanced up and met my eyes through the tiny space in the door. I quickly looked away and started piddling with a lock of my black hair.
         A few minutes later, the nurse came back with a blue tray in her hand.
         "I got your dinner." she said. She pulled a rolling tray over to the bed and put the tray of food on top of it. I looked down at the soupy mush and grimaced.
         "Not quite what you were expecting?" asked the nurse, also grimacing.
         "Not really," I said. "This is the only thing I can have?"
         "Well. . . I'm not really supposed to do this, but the cafeteria just closed, and they have leftovers from lunch. . ."
         "Oh, anything but this."
         The nurse laughed and picked up the tray.
         "I'll be back in a minute with something that tastes a little bit better." she said, turning around and walking back through the door, leaving it wide open. I could see that the old man across the hall was still awake, he was up walking around in a hospital robe, and holding something in his hand. He walked around the bed, to the window, and then back to the bed, repeating the cycle. After he had done this three times, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and stared straight at me. I looked down, my cheeks flushed and started to pull at a string on the blanket.
         I felt my eyelids getting heavy and I felt pretty groggy after the long day. To me, it seemed like forever ago when I was standing in the bath-room stall with my hands on my head. I didn't want to go to sleep. That always just made it worse. The dreams I had on the days like this; they were always horrible and just made me feel worse. Dreams about monsters. . . huge, furry, murderous monsters. . . but I always felt a strange connection to these monsters. . . like I knew them. . . but they're all just dreams, I kept telling myself. Every time I had the dream, it seemed like it just kept getting scarier and scarier. But somehow, I wasn't frightened at all.
         Just then, the nurse came back through the open door with a different tray in her hands. She put it on the rolling tray. I suddenly brightened. It was my favorite; macaroni and cheese with little hot dog pieces in it.
         "Thanks!" I said, grabbing the fork on the tray.
         "I thought you might like it." she giggled. "I'll be back in a little while to get the tray."
         The nurse walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
         I immediately started to devour the macaroni, smiling to myself. When I was done, I pushed the tray aside and slouched down in the bed. The itchy sheets bothered me, but I didn't mind. At least the pain killers the nurse had given me would help me sleep. My head still ached and the bandages were becoming itchy. I suddenly remembered watching a show on TV with Mom about a man who hit his head and they had to shave part of his hair off before they could put stitches in it. I was really going to enjoy school when they all saw that. I heard the door open and close. The nurse walked to the bed and smiled down at me.
         "I think we need to change your bandages now. Could you sit up for me, hon?"
         "Okay." I whispered groggily, sitting up.
         The nurse gently pulled the tape off the bandages and put them in the trash can beside the bed.
         "Um. . ." I started. "Do I have a bald spot now?"
         The nurse laughed. "No honey. It wasn't that bad, so they didn't have to do that."
         She pulled off the gauze and threw it away too.
         "Thank goodness." I sighed.
         The nurse laughed again. She reached into her front pocket and pulled out another piece of gauze and a roll of medical tape. She adjusted the gauze on the back of my head and taped up each side to keep it in place.
         "There you go! I bet that feels a little bit better, doesn’t it?" said the nurse as I laid back down.
         "Not quite as itchy." I said through a yawn.
         The nurse chuckled again. She picked up the tray off the table. "Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning, hon," she said. "Good night."
         "Good night." I yawned, closing my eyes. I sighed, and rubbed my eyes. I was almost asleep when my cell phone started vibrating on the bedside table. I reached over with my eyes still closed and picked it up. It was another text message from Adam.
         "How are you feeling?"
         Parker chuckled.
         "I'm fine," she wrote back. "Just tired."
         "How long are you going to be in the hospital?"
         "I'm not sure. Probably just tomorrow."
         "Oh. Well, can I see you?"
         My jaw dropped. He had never asked to see me. I was always the one that asked, and he was somehow always busy. This sudden question stunned me and I quickly wrote back, "What do you mean?"
         "Can I come see you tomorrow?"
         "When?"
         "Sometime tomorrow night."
         "I. . . I guess you could."
         "Great! I have to tell you something anyway, and I wanted to tell you in person."          
         "Okay. I guess I'll see you then."
         "Goodnight Parker."
         "Goodnight."
         I closed the phone and laid it back on the table. I smiled to myself, but the nerves set in soon after that. I was finally going to meet Adam. .  but, of course, I wasn't going to tell my Mom. . . she definitely wouldn't approve.
         What would I say to him? Of course, I had thought about it. Dreamed about meeting him. . . the mystery guy who was so sweet and. . . mysterious. We had talked forever the night we met. I remembered the conversation like it was yesterday, not six months ago. I vividly remembered looking at the clock and it was 2:30 in the morning before we got off the phone. In my visions of our first meeting, we immediately fell in love and ran off into the sunset together, where no one stopped us, and I didn't have headaches or weird dreams anymore.
         Now I laughed at the thought. It seemed like, to me, the headaches would never stop.
         I had also dreamt about what Adam would look like. I had imagined him as my Prince Charming. . . come to rescue me from the horrible "sameness" of everyday life. But I knew that he was just an ordinary guy, and there was nothing special about him. Of course, he was special to me, but if I just passed him randomly on the street, I probably wouldn't even spare him a second glance.
         I felt my eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the minute, but I didn't want to sleep. I didn't want the dreams to come back. But I couldn't help but close my eyes and fall into a deep sleep. . .
         I was weaving in and out of a maze of trees, no sunlight streaming down through the forest canopy. Sweat beaded on my forehead and my palms were icy and shaking. My vision blurred and I quickly rubbed away the tears, running faster. I knew I was being chased, but that wasn't the reason I was scared. I wasn't scared of the thing that was chasing me. . . I was scared for the thing that was chasing me. I knew it was in danger. Danger from some unseen force, and that was why it was chasing me. Because I was one. . . one of them. I turned my head to see if it was still following me, but as I did, I lost my balance and tripped, landing face down in the dirt. I coughed, sending dirt flying into the air around me. Suddenly, I was aware of a pain in my nose. I put my hand to it and felt warm, sticky blood dripping down it; it was broken. I quickly jumped to my feet, turning around. There it was, just a huge black silhouette against the moonlight. I still wasn't scared. Why wasn't I scared? Suddenly, with a horrible realization, I could see the moon through a break in the dull gray clouds. . . and I realized what the monster was. . .
         I gasped as I jerked up from the pillow. I realized I was covered in sweat and could hardly breathe. I jerked the sheets off of myself and tried to get up, but my legs felt heavy, like I had been running forever. My heart monitor beeped loudly and quickly. I tried to calm down, but the dream had felt so real. Vivid pictures swam in my head of the large monster and trees. . . and. . . blood on her nose. . . I slowly and silently reached a hand to my nose. It was bleeding and I cringed as I touched the tender skin. . . I couldn't believe it. My nose was actually broken! I felt tears stinging my eyes as I reached for the nurse button beside the bed. I pressed it three times before the nurse finally reached my room.
         "What's the matter, hon?"
         It was the same nurse as before, only she didn't seem as happy to see me; I guessed it was kind of late.
         "My nose!"
         The nurse rushed to the bedside and held my face between her hands.
         "What did you do?!" asked the nurse.
         "I don't know! I was just sleeping and then I woke up and it was bleeding!"
         "I'll be right back. I have to go get the doctor so he can take a look at it. Just hold this to your nose until I get back." She pulled a small towel out of her pocket and placed it on my nose.
         "Okay." I said, grabbing it.
         The nurse walked back through the open door and I quickly looked at the clock.
         1:32.
         I sighed, but it only made my nose worse. The dream. . . was it even remotely possible that the dream could have been even a little bit real? No, I told herself. I must have just hit it on the wall or something while I was dreaming. It was nothing big. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that wasn't it. I knew there was something more. . . 
         The doctor ran into my room, the nurse on his heels. He rushed to my bedside while the nurse flipped the light switch and closed the door. He motioned to the nurse and she ran into the adjoining bathroom. The towel she handed me earlier was already streaked with blood, like red ribbons permentaly etched into the white, rough surface. I saw the light flicker on and heard the pipes creaking and the trickle of water as she turned on the sink. The nurse came back a minute later with a wet cloth and handed it to the doctor.
         "This is going to sting a little." he said, pulling the towel away from my face. He pressed the wet cloth to my nose and I winced. He wiped away the dry blood and put the cloth on the bedside table. He reached into a pocket of his doctor's robe and pulled out two pieces of gauze.
         "You're going to think this looks really dorky, but it'll help your nose heal faster."
         He rolled up the two pieces of gauze and stuck one up each of my nostrils.
         I almost laughed. It felt like he was sticking tampons up my nose. Then I stopped. It hurt to laugh.
         The doctor laughed too. He took what looked like a short metal rod from his pocket and put it across my nose and taped it down with a roll of medical tape. It felt uncomfortable and I didn't want to wear it. I couldn't breathe through my nose and the gauze just made it itch.
         "Yeah, it'll be uncomfortable, but you can take the gauze out tomorrow afternoon. . ." He glanced at the clock. "Well, actually, this afternoon!" he said, chuckling. "But, you'll have to leave the splint on for at least a week."
         Great, I thought. That's just one more thing for everyone to stare at.
         "Now, get some rest. But first, Nurse! Could you got get her some pain killers for her nose?"
         "Alright."
         The nurse left the room.
         "Now, you wanna tell me what really happened to your nose?" asked the doctor, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
         "I just woke up and it was bleeding." There was no way I was going to tell him about the dream. He would think I was crazy.
         "Did you bump it on anything when you sat up?"
         "No! I told you, it was bleeding as soon as I woke up!"
         "Okay, okay, I believe you. So when do you think these headaches started?"
         At least he had changed the subject.
         "About a month ago."
         "And that was on your fifteenth birthday, correct?"
         "Yeah."
         The doctor took out a piece of paper and a pen and started writing something down very quickly. The door to the room opened again and the nurse stepped in. She handed me a little paper cup. There were two gray pills sitting in the bottom of it. The nurse passed me another cup full of water.
         "Take that. It'll make you feel a lot better, and it'll make you sleep." said the doctor.
         I threw the pills into my mouth and drank the water behind them.
         "There's a girl. Now, get some sleep." said the doctor, standing up. He stalked out of the room, the nurse on his heels.
         "Night, hon." she said over her shoulder.
         "Good night."
         I closed my eyes and rubbed my throbbing temples. I tried to think happy thoughts before I drifted into sleep. But I was scared now. Nothing like this had ever happened before. I'm going crazy, I thought. Tears stung my already searing eyes, and the happy thoughts I was trying to fill my thoughts with didn't help at all, as the dream took over and I fell asleep.

         The next morning, I woke up to find that Katie was sitting in a chair beside the bed. I rubbed my eyes groggily and sat up.
         "Good afternoon sleepy head! Do you know what time it is?" said Katie, putting a magazine back on the table beside her.
         "No."
         "It's almost 2:30!"
         "Wow. I guess those pain killers really helped."
         Katie laughed.
         "You're supposed to be at school." I sighed, rubbing my eyes again.
         "Hey, what my Mom doesn’t know won't hurt her. But, I should probably get going so she doesn’t find out."
         "What? but you just got here! And I have something to tell you!"
         "No. . . Actually, I got here at 11:00. But the doctors told me not to wake you. So, hurry up and tell me, so I can go and not get caught."
         "Adam want's to see me tonight!"
         "Oh my God!" she shouted, forgetting about the time. "What did you say?!"
         "I said, 'yes', of course!"
         "Oh, my gosh! Well, listen, I really should go, so tell me all about it when we get back to school!"
         "Oh. . . Well, I guess I'll see you then."
         "See ya."
         Katie stood up. She stopped and turned in the doorway to wave. I waved back and smiled as Katie left. I chanced a look at the clock.
         2:25.
         I had always hated clocks. They always brought bad news.
         There was a knock on the door. I turned to see the nurse standing in the doorway with a tray in her hands.
         "Come in." I said.
         "I saved you some lunch." she said, pulling the rolling table over to the bed.
         "Thanks."
         This time it was a cheeseburger and fries. I smiled. One other thing that I had realized since the headaches had started--I was a lot hungrier--almost all the time.
         "Enjoy!" said the nurse, turning on her heels and leaving the room.
         I chewed slowly. If I chewed any faster, my nose started to throb and the bandages just made it itchier. When I was done I pushed the table back and crossed my legs in front of me. I reached over to the bedside table and opened the drawer. There was a deck of cards, a phonebook, and a stack of post-it notes. I ended up grabbing the deck of cards and playing solitaire. A few minutes later, the nurse came back and grabbed the tray.
         "Is there any possible way that I could take a shower?" I asked, and bit my lip.
         The nurse chuckled. "Yeah. Just a sec."
         She turned with the tray and put it on a trolley outside the door. She came back inside and pulled a roll of medical tape out of her pocket. She carefully took the tube out of the IV, leaving the needle in my raw skin on the back of my hand. She wrapped medical tape around it.
         "So the IV won't get wet." she explained. "I'll be back in just a minute with some new robes for you to change into."
         "Okay."
         The nurse left and returned a few minutes later with a folded hospital robe under her arm.
         "There's no one in the room beside you, so you don't have to worry about someone popping in on you. And the doctor said you can take the gauze out of your nose."
         "Okay. Thanks."
         "You're welcome."
         I got up from the bed, glad I finally had a reason to, and walked to the bathroom. There was a tiny mirror opposite a shower. I looked in the mirror and cringed. A black bruise blossomed from the center of my nose and extended to the tip of my nose, along the bridge, and all the way to right in-between my eyes. I carefully reached a hand up and pulled the gauze out of my nose and tossed it into the trashcan. My nose was covered with dried blood. I showered quickly, feeling a little bit uncomfortable. I got out and dressed quickly as well, wanting to sit down. I quickly pulled my wet hair back into a ponytail and walked back into my room.
         Mom was sitting on the edge of the bed, fiddling with a corner of the sheets and a teddy bear was perched on my pillow that hadn't been there before.
         "Hey Mom." I said.
         Mom jumped. "Oh! You scared me! You're always so quiet."
         "Who's the teddy bear from?" I asked, sitting at the top of the bed.
         "Oh, that? I don't know. I was going to ask you. It was there when I got here."
         I picked up the teddy bear and laid it in my lap.  It was black with pink little ears and pink buttons all the way down the front of it.
         "You have no idea who it's from?" I asked, turning it over in my hands.
         "No. None at all. The nurse said she didn't know either. Said she came in to change the sheets and it was sitting on the pillow."
         "Oh."
         I touched the bear's face and then set it on the bedside table.
         "How are you feeling, hon?"
         "Better now that I've taken a shower."
         "Parker, what happened to your nose?" asked Mom, looking up.
         "Oh. That. I have no idea. I just woke up and it was broken."
         "What?"
         "I just--"
         "No, I heard what you said, but is that possible?"
         "They think I probably bumped it on something when I sat up, but there was nothing there for me to bump it on. . ."
         "What am I going to do with you?" asked Mom, laughing. She suddenly jumped as the pager on her waistband started to beep. She jerked it up and sighed.
         "The business?" I guessed.
         "Yeah. I'm sorry honey. If this dinner plan goes through, then I might get a promotion. You know how slow the catering business is right now."
         "It's okay Mom. I understand."
         "Bless you." and she kissed me on the forehead before she stood up.
         "Goodbye honey."
         "Bye Mom."
         Mom turned around and left the room.
         I reached over and grabbed the teddy bear. I tried to think of who it was from, but I couldn't think of anyone who would give it to me. Katie never bought me anything, because I always told her not to. Jess and Kimmi were the same way and Bryan and Rich always acted like the tough guys and didn't "express their feelings". Oh well, I thought. I'll figure it out. I leaned back on the pillows, but something hard poked me in the back. I turned around, but there was nothing there. I reached into the pillowcase until I felt something against my hand. I pulled out the envelope and opened it to find a card. On the front there was a picture of the moon set high above a lake where a single person stood, staring at the moon. I opened the card. There were three words scrawled in it.

Get Well Soon

         I rubbed my fingers over the indents the words made, taking it in. I flipped the card over, looking for anything else that would point me to who the card was from. There was nothing else. I glanced at the clock again.
         4:21.
         I suddenly remembered the conversation I had with Adam the night before and my heart skipped a beat. I would have been glad to finally see him, but now, with a broken nose and no idea how it got that way, I was feeling a little edgy. My head was starting to hurt again. I rubbed my throbbing temples again, dulling the pain a little bit.
         I was glad to be rid of the IV tube for the time being, because now I could get up and walk around if I wanted to. I walked to the window and pulled back the curtains. It was raining, as always. It almost never stopped raining here in Murphy, North Carolina. Trees were always heavy with water, everyone always had a raincoat handy, and it was just a normal day to see someone running to get to class before they got too soaked. A man bolted across the parking lot, his parka pulled close to his face to keep the cold out. I sat back down on the edge of the bed.
         I heard a sudden knock on the door.
         "Come in." I sighed.
         The nurse walked through the now open door with an IV bag in her hand.
         "We got to put the IV back in you hand." she said.
         I sighed. "Alright, fine."
         "Here, honey, I'll set you up."
         The nurse slowly unwrapped the medical tape and threw it in the trashcan beside the bed. She put the tube back into the needle and clapped her hands.
         "There! All done!" she said.
         "Thanks." I said.
         "Not a problem." she said, turning and leaving.
         I chanced a quick glance at the clock.
         5:48.
         Adam will be here soon, I thought. I was nervous. A million questions ran trough my mind. What would I say? What would I do? How would he react to my nose and head? Why was I so nervous? I had ran over this a thousand times in my head. I knew what I was going to say and how I was going to say. . . well, everything I was going to say.
         I sat down on the edge of the bed and fiddled with a lock of my hair--a stupid nervous habit of mine. I looked back at the bedside table. The teddy bear was still perched there, looking straight ahead, like it was staring at me. I grabbed the stuffed animal and laid it on the pillow in front of me. It was adorable. It reminded me of the little doll that I had seen in a store in Florida about a year ago on vacation with Katie, her Mom, and a few of our other friends. In fact, it looked exactly like the teddy bear I had seen in the window. I remembered walking down the sidewalk with Katie and seeing it. I had wanted it so bad because it reminded me of the one Dad had bought me for my second birthday. The name of the store had been something tropical. . . something like. . .
         I flipped the teddy bear over to look at the tag, a sudden pit in the bottom of my stomach. My stomach did flips when I looked at the tag:

The Pineapple Hut Gift Store

         My fears were confirmed. I felt my heart start to pound against my chest as my breathing became more shallow. My mind wandered, but then I realized what I was thinking. Why would anybody follow me to Florida? The thought was almost laughable. It was probably just one of her friends that went with them to Florida. I still felt a little weird about it when I put it back on the bedside table and laid back on my pillows.
         I stared up at the ceiling. It was made out of those stupid tile things like in schools. I tried to count them, but I gave up after I got to twenty and my head started to throb again. A lot. I felt dizzy and there was an odd pressure on my temples. I didn't want this to keep happening. I wished it would just stop. That all of it would go away. Like the pain knew that it should give up on it's relentless torrent of what it was causing me, I suddenly felt a weird tickle in my head and I passed out on the pillows.

         When I woke up, the lights above me were blinding and there was a strange sound coming from somewhere beside me. I had no idea what time it was or if I was even sure where I was. The noise was getting louder and more annoying. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I didn't want to look at the clock, but I did anyway.
         8:19.
         "Ugh." I sighed. That stupid noise was still in my ear, so I turned to see what it was. My cell phone was sitting on the table and was vibrating across it. I reached out and picked it up. It was a new message from Adam. I felt a sudden jolt as I realized that it was getting kind of late and he hadn't showed up yet. I flipped the phone open.
         "Hey." it said. "I'm going to be kind of late, so don't worry. I'll be there before you fall asleep!"
         I closed the phone and put it back on the table. I looked back at the pillow and wished that I could fall back on it and dream something other than what I had been lately. It seemed like I never would. A sudden rumble in my stomach told me I was hungry again. I reached for the nurse button and she came in my room a few minutes later.
         "Hey honey." said Nurse Penny. "Did you have a nice nap?"
         I wasn't about to tell her what really happened. "Yeah."
         "I'll bet you're hungry now, huh?"
         "Yeah."
         "Okay, hang on."
         Nurse Penny came back a few minutes later with another tray in her hands. She set it on the table and I was excited to see that it was three pieces of cheese pizza.
         "Thanks!" I said, grabbing a piece and shoving it in my face.
         "No problem. Need anything else?"
         "Um, yeah. Did anyone come by while I was asleep?"
         "Yeah. The girl who was here earlier. Kaite, I think it was?"
         "Thanks."
         "You're welcome."
         The nurse turned on her heels and left the room. I could hear the soft click of her high heels as she walked down the hall. I ate as quickly as I could, but when I was finished, I felt almost more hungry than I was to begin with.
         I stood up slowly, not wanting to get dizzy again, and walked to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and almost groaned. I looked horrible. My nose was swelled even more than it had been that morning, making it look like I had broken it again and it was swelling all over again. There were dark circles under my eyes and my eyes were a darker shade than they usually were--changing from a baby blue to a navy color. The blue was circled by a deep scarlet red color. That was weird. That had never happened before. I would worry about it later. I splashed water on my face and neck, breathing deep. I tried to wake up enough to get my eyes to go back to normal, but they stayed the same. The dark circles disappeared a little bit, but the shadow was still etched there in my skin. I sighed at my horrible reflection and walked back into the small hospital room. Nurse Penny had taken my empty tray out of the room and there was a cup of jell-o on the table instead. I smiled and scarfed it down as quickly as I had the pizza. I pushed the table away and laid back on my pillows again.
         It was after 9:00 now and I had all but given up on Adam coming. It was just one more disappointment to add to my huge pile of them. I had so looked forward to meeting him, but it looked like he had given up, just like everyone else in my life. That's why I had never told him about the dreams. He would have thought I was crazy and never spoken to me again. Maybe it was for the best, you know? Maybe it would have turned like this if he had actually shown up at the hospital. I decided he wasn't coming, so I was going to go to sleep. I laid down on the pillows and closed my eyes. I vaguely heard Nurse Penny come in to get the jell-o cup. The light switched flipped off and I drifted off to sleep. . .
         The dream took over again, but it was different this time. I was still running through the woods. But this time, I wasn't running from anything. I was running with something. It was right beside me and I was smiling. Happy that this thing was with me. I looked sideways at it and smiled, but when I looked back, I realized it was suddenly dark and I didn't know where I was going. I tripped again. . .
         I jolted up in my bed before I hit the ground, realizing that I was just dreaming. I jerked my hand to my nose just to check, and it was broken, but no fresh blood was on my hand when I brought it back down. I glanced backwards at the clock.
         1:32.
         That was weird. Didn't I wake up at the same time the night before? But I didn't have time to think, because out of my peripheral vision I saw a dark black shape in the corner and heard the sudden whoosh of wind. I had left the window open before I fell asleep. At first, I thought it was just the wind blowing the curtains or something, but then the black shadow began to move. Shadows can't move! I moved back against the headboard and drew my legs up in front of me. The shadow moved along the wall to crouch down under the window. Then, the shadow did the impossible, and spoke:
         "Parker?"
         I was frozen with terror. I tried to move my lips, but they were frozen. I tried to open my eyes, but they seemed sealed shut, like I would never be able to open them again.
         "It's Adam."
         My eyes snapped open and my mouth gaped open in shock. Before me stood a guy that I had day-dreamed about for almost six solid months. He was as beautiful as I had ever pictured him. His dark hair was slicked back, his pale skin was glinting in the moonlight, and his eyes. . . were his eyes red? It must have been a trick of the light. But then I remembered my eyes in the bathroom. They had the same red glint. He was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen--and it scared the hell out of me.
         "Oh my God!" I said, jumping almost a foot in the air.
         "I'm sorry!" he said, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I didn't mean to scare you! I thought you heard me come in!"
         "Well, obviously not!'
         "Shh, don't get the nurse in here." he mumbled quietly.
         "Yeah, you just scared the crap out of me. That's kinda the least of my worries right now." I said, but I said it quietly anyway.
         "I really am sorry."
         "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
         He chuckled, a low, dark chuckle.
         "So. . . how are you feeling?" 
         "How am I feeling?! Are you serious?!" I spat at him. "You mean other than the heart attack you just gave me?"
         He chuckled again. "I said I was sorry about that. Can we move on now?"
         "Fine." I said, venomously. I turned back to his earlier question. "I'm still feeling a little dizzy, but other than that, I'm pretty much fine, thanks."
         "Your nose looks horrible." he said, laughing.
         "Shut up! You know, I'm kind of self conscious about that!" I said, jerking my hand up to cover my nose.
         "Okay, okay! I was just kidding!"
         "Wait a second. . . how did you get in here?"
         "Um. . . well. . . the window was open, and they wouldn't let me in to see you, because of what time it is. . ."
         "Oh my God!" I gasped, suddenly remembering what time it was when I glanced at the clock before I saw him. "When you said you were going to be late I didn't know you meant two in the morning!"
         He chuckled again. "I know. I had to sneak away."
         "From who?" I asked, suddenly suspicious. He said he always did what he wanted to do, no matter what anyone told him.
         "Oh, just the usual parental figure." he smiled, some kind of personal joke.
         "Okay." I decided to leave it at that.
         I watched as Adam turned and sat down on the end of the bed and picked up the small teddy bear. I could've sworn I left it on the bedside table.
         "So do you like my gift?" he asked, a lopsided grin stretching across his face.
         "That was from you?" I asked, fear suddenly gripping me. "What? How? When? Where?"
         "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down! Um. . . the "what" question. I'm pretty sure it's a teddy bear--"
         "Ha ha. Very funny. You know what I meant."
         "Okay, okay. I sent it by mail yesterday. You know, it's not really as hard as you think it is. You just--"
         "I know how to send a package, thank you."
         He laughed. I couldn't help but smile a little bit, too.
         "Have they figured out why you're having these headaches yet?" he asked, his voice taking a serious air to it.
         "Um, no. But they're getting worse."
         "Ah. Yeah, that happens." he muttered to himself.
         "What?" I asked, curious.
         "Huh?" he said like he was suddenly aware that she was in the room. "Oh, nothing."
         "So, what was this big important thing that you wanted to tell me?" I asked, straightening up in the bed and reaching for my ponytail holder on the bedside table.
         "Oh, that. I was hoping that wouldn't come up until later. . ."
         I stared at him until he sighed and looked back at me while I was pulling up my hair.
         "Fine. I guess it's now or never." He sighed and took a deep breath.
         He blurted, "I'm-a-werewolf-and-you-are-too-and-that's-why-you've-been-feeling-weird." all in that breath.
         I felt my breath catch in my throat. The horrible lump in my throat got bigger and I felt the weird feeling in my mouth like right before you throw up. I tried to swallow, but that just made it worse. The pit in the bottom of my stomach came back and my heart skipped a beat.
         "I can hear your heart right now. It was fast before, but now it sounds like you've just ran for two hours straight."
         His words barely registered in my brain as my thoughts ran like wildfire. Of course he was joking. How could he not be? Ha! And to think I believed him.
         I chuckled.
         "What's so funny?" he asked, his face reflecting his confusion.
         "Nice one. And I bet we have to live in the magical Sugarplum Fairy Forest too, huh?" I asked, laughing.
         "I'm being serious here." he said through gritted teeth.
         "Right."
         "No, really."
         "Okay. And where's your proof?" I challenged, crossing my arms.
         "You want proof?" he asked, disbelievingly.
         "Yeah, that's what I said."
         "Well, I can't really give you any proof until the full moon."
         I laughed again. "Okay, Adam. You can give it up now. I'm not going to believe it and we both know it's not true."
         "But it is!" he said, standing up and holding up his hands in a manner that suggested he was offended. "Wait! I know how I can prove it to you!"
         "Okay, then. You do that." I said.
         "I'll be right back." he said, but he was trough the now open door before I could reply. I stood up and pulled my little IV cart along with me to the bathroom. I didn't want to look at myself in the mirror, but I figured that I might as well. I looked just as bad as when I passed out earlier. I quickly washed my face and neck, trying to be quick. I took my small make-up kit out of the bag Mom had dropped off earlier. I tried to put some stuff on quickly, but I only got as far as mascara when I heard the door to my room open and close. I shoved the little bag back into the duffel bag and jerked the uncomfortable hospital robe off and put on a pair of blue sleep pants and a long comfy shirt that reached all the way to thighs.
         When I went back into my room, Adam was sitting on the edge of the bed with a plastic wal-mart bag clutched in his hand. When I sat down on the bed beside him he held it a little bit tighter to his chest.
         "What's in the bag?" I teased, poking him in the side.
         "You'll find out, but first I need to explain."
         "Okay, fine." I sighed, crossing my legs on the bed.
         He sighed. "Werewolves need blood to survive."
         "I thought that was vampires?"
         "Ha! Vampires! As if."
         "You're trying to convince me that we're both werewolves. Vampires don't seem so far off."
         "Yeah, I guess you're right." he replied with a chuckle.
         "So, you gonna tell me what's in the bag or what?" I asked, curious.
         "Don't freak."
         "Okay, fine."
         He reached into the bag and pulled out, to my horror, an IV bag filled with. . .
         "Oh my God!" I screamed without thinking.
         "Shh!" he hissed, clapping a hand over my mouth.
         "What do you think you're doing?" I mumbled against his hand.
         "I just told you. Werewolves have to have blood, or they can die. . ."
         Stupid pit in my stomach. "You're serious, aren't you?" Fear rippled across my back and I shivered.
         "One hundred percent."
         Then he did something that would live in my memory forever. He ripped a small hole in the bag near the top and put it to his lips. I watched as he drained the whole bag in two gulps.