Disclaimer: I still can't even figure out which pairs of socks are mine in the morning.
Author's Lecture: Well, this will be my very first real fan fiction. With actual chapters, instead of little bits of scribbles and some random poetry. So, to start this off, I've made a prologue, just to tease you, since the real chapters won't be out for about a week. However, feel free to follow along, since I'll be updating a lot once it gets going.
Oh, and if it isn't too much trouble, please R/R. Or at least read.
Close-up voices bounce off of the white walls, consuming my mind and senses. They are clear, yet muffled, as if they are talking through giant wads of cotton. Some of them are angry, and even frightened, but others are more comforting, like old friends coming back from a long time away. It is hard to make out what the voices are saying, even after hearing them for such a long, long time. If I don't focus on one voice in particular, I can almost make out some words, but if I try and focus in on it and figure out what it's really saying, the words jumble up and disappear like smoke, only to return again later.
There are sources to most of these voices, just like there are sources to the voices of people. Only the origin of the voices I hear are far more exotic.
Snapping my eyelids open, I get a full view of my visitors. There are many - at least twenty - little creatures dappling the shiny, white floors and the cushiony walls. They glow brightly and stand out on the dull glow of the room, their many appendages waving in an unknown breeze. Some of them shimmer and quiver, and some of them bubble and sizzle and pop. However, some are completely still. Those are the ones that the friendly voices come from. They are, essentially, my friends. Well, them, and the nurse that comes to see me several times a day. Her name is Ms. Danton. Oh, and Donnie, my "indoor friend" as we call him.
Speaking of whom has just slid inside of my room, smiling brightly as usual. She manages to step on one of the bubbly and sizzly creatures, and I get irritated. However, Donnie reminds me that she can't see them, so I forgive Ms. Danton. I wave to her from my crouched position on the floor in the middle of the room, and I am rewarded with a wave back.
"So, how are you doing today, Stephanie?" The kind woman asks sincerely as she sets her clipboard down on my small, white, plastic desk.
My mind freezes for a moment before a familiar voice pops into my consciousness. You say "I'm doing well" remember? The truth is, I don't remember, but I do what Donnie tells me to. "I'm doing well." Then, I remember to try and spice it up a little. "A-and how are y-you?"
"I'm doing very well, also." Ms. Danton smiles at me again, returning her sight to me instead of my charts. Then, looking around the room, she appears pleased. "We're very proud of you! No circles, today!"
"Y-yes! I've b-been trying to keep them to m-myself, a-a-actually." I stutter, shielding my real disappointment. Why haven't I been able to copy them down lately? I can't remember.
"That's fantastic! And I see that your speech is improving a lot lately as well!" Ms. Danton beamed, as usual. However, this was a serious overstatement. My speech has been barely crawling up the steps of improvement for the past few weeks, and just trying to think of what to say today is exhausting. Thankfully, Donnie is always there for me, remembering the right things to say as long as I keep taking my medicine. Oh, right! My medicine. Time to take my medicine.
I reach for the right words to ask her, frustratingly out of my reach. Ms. Danton has pulled her attention down to the clipboard. Donnie speaks up: You've lost her attention. Say, "Can I have my medi-"
"Can I have my medicine?" I ask, looking intently at Ms. Danton, who then looks up from her clipboard, her eyes weary.
"Steph, you've already had your doses for today. It's already getting late, so I can't administer the extra dose." Ms. Danton said exhasperatedly, sitting down on my bed. Why can't she give me the extra dose? I think, and wait for Donnie to answer. To my dismay, he doesn't show. A side effect of not having enough of the medicine in my system. Ms. Danton must have seen the look on my face, because her face changed. "I'm sorry. Do you think you can hold out 'till the morning?"
My face is blank, I think. Bubbles of panic rose up into my stomach, and the little figures dotting the walls and floors multiplied and pulsated, laughing at me. No medicine means no Donnie, and no Donnie means I'll be all alone with no help. The thought echoes over and over in my mind. With no help. No help. Noh elp. Nohelp nohelp nohelp! Nohelp alwaysal one alwaysalonewithnohelp! Alonenoalwayshelpwithout-
"Stephanie! Calm down! It's okay! It's okay! I-i'll get the extra dose, okay?" Ms. Danton called to me, and I started to calm down a litle bit before more nurses entered my little room, about three of them, and one of them carried a syringe. That sent me off the edge.
Images of countless circular symbols bombarded my vision as I scrambled to get away from the needle. There is a chalkboard in my room, on the back wall, so I hop up and grasp at the white chalk that sits on the little iron ledge under the smooth, green surface. Frantically swiping away the little quivering creatures that have gathered around my hands, I make a circle about 2 feet in diameter, placing a triangle inside of it as the image flashes in my vision. Then I put three circles with strange symbols on the triangle, one on each tip. I keep going and going, tracing the image of my vision until I feel a tiny sting on the arm that isn't drawing. All light is gone in seconds.
Author's Conclusion: Yep. That's it for a few days.
So, I'll be back. To the chopper, that is.
-AO