DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH ER, YADA YADA YADA. I WILL OWN SOME FUTURE CHARACTERS, BUT I WON'T CLAIM THOSE UNTIL THEY SHOW UP IN THE STORY.

He lay in his bed, his head sunk back into the pillows. His hazel eyes

were fixed upon the ceiling fan, watching it rotate one turn after another.

He had given up on sleep, knowing any attempt would be a waste. The

clock on his bedside table read 3:26 a.m. Four hours had passed. For

four hours, he had laid in bed. Thinking. Remembering.

The moment had been almost surreal. He had walked into the

apartment, tired from work. After sifting through the mail, he glanced at

the answering machine. A red light was flashing. He pressed a button.

"Message One. Left at 6:46 p.m."

'This is Time Warner Cable reminding you that your payment is due on April 16th.

Thank you." He pressed delete.

" Message Two. Left at 8:14 p.m."

'Hi. My name is Dan. I'm calling to see if you would be interested in

purchasing…." Delete.

" Last message. Left at 10:57 p.m."

'Ray, are you there? It's me. I'm in Chicago. I just wanted to see…I wanted to hear your voice. Ray, I'm so sorry."

The message ended there. By that point, Ray was frozen. His heart

was racing. His hands became damp with sweat. His throat felt as if it

were swelled shut. He struggled to catch a breath, too shocked to

move. And then he was running. To the bathroom. Ray fell on his

knees, in front of the toilet, his breathing now fast and hard. He began

heaving uncontrollably. The vomit just kept coming until Ray was

certain his stomach was empty. He stood on shaky legs, flushing as he

did so.

After a quick swig of water then mouthwash, Ray glanced at himself

in the mirror. His ghost white complexion looked back. This wasn't

happening. Ray stumbled into his bedroom, stopping just long enough

to strip down to a t-shirt and bowers before he collapsed into bed.

That's how he wound up. That's why he couldn't sleep. That one

message had been haunting him for four hours. The words played over

and over, making Ray shiver as the voice rang loudly in his ears. The

voice. HER voice. The voice that he had never wanted to hear again.

The voice that he had been running from for over ten years.