When he finally gets to see the
doctor that evening, he learns that he was found passed out from carbon
monoxide poisoning. A young woman alerted emergency personal and delivered CPR until
they arrived. She saved me? But why?
“We’re going to have to keep an eye
on you for a while longer,” the doctor explains. “Make sure there was no further
damage from the lack of oxygen and ensure you’re breathing okay on your own,
but I think you should make a full recovery. Hopefully we will have you out of
here in the morning.”
That night his eyes never leave the
doorway. Looking for the girl. He knows she’s here somewhere. He hits the call
button for the nurse a couple times when someone flies passed the door. A brief
panic followed by the realization it is just a staff member with somewhere to
be. Maybe he is paranoid. He battles sleep all night. Eventually, sleep wins,
and he drifts off for an hour or so, only to jolt back awake. The fear of being
unable to stay awake compounds his fear of the girl, and come morning, he is
delusional from fear and exhaustion. He calls his nurse and tells her he needs
to leave.
“You haven’t been cleared by the
doctor yet,” she tells him. “He’ll be around in about an hour to see if you’re
fit to go.”
“You can’t hold me here.”
“We’re just trying to keep you safe
dear.”
“I understand the risk. I wish to
leave.”
“Frankly, sir, the doctor has some
questions about how you ended up in that car in the first place.”
Damn it. If they think it was a
suicide attempt they’ll put me in a psych hospital until they’re convinced I’m
not a threat to myself. “It was an accident. I was heading out to pick up a pizza,
but when I tried to open the garage, the door was stuck. I was so preoccupied trying
to get it to work, I didn’t even think to turn the engine off. Next thing I
know, I’m waking up here.”
“The doctor will be around in about
an hour. You can explain the situation to him then, okay? Until then just try
to relax. I’ll go get something to help calm you down.”
A sedative. That’s no good. I need
to get out of here. Play it cool. “Alright,” I say, “I’ll just wait for the
doctor then.”
“There you go. I’ll be right back,
okay?”
He nods, and the nurse walks out to
get the sedative the doctor ordered if he became agitated or anxious. He takes
a deep breath, counts to ten, then changes into is clothes and slips out of the
room. He makes his way to the stairwell and quickly descends the stairs, ever
vigilant for the girl, and now also hospital staff that might be looking for
him. He makes it to the ground floor and calmly walks toward the door. As he
does, an overhead speaker calls security to the third floor. He does not break
stride and continues out the door.
Out in the morning sun, he spies a
bus pulling up to a nearby stop. He runs over waving at the driver not to drive
off. He hops on, pays the fare, and takes a seat. He doesn’t know where this bus
line goes, but at the moment he just needs distance between him and the
hospital, and hopefully the girl as well, although he knows deep down, that is
too much to ask for.
He rides for a while and gets off
downtown. As the bus pulls away from the stop, he catches sight of something. A
tan Chevrolet that had been one car back from the bus. He looks on down the
road where the car turns into a nearby parking garage. How!? How did she possibly
find me? He never did see her at the hospital. She must have been waiting
outside. Watching the doors, waiting for him to leave. Then when he got on the
bus she just followed it here.
Seriously, does this girl having nothing
else in her life but to stalk me? Why me? What did I do? What does she want? I
think its about time I found out. A deep breath. Then another. And then he
walks toward the parking garage.
To be continued…
-AMS
