Chapter 3
Sarah grabbed her jacket from the closet and hurried out to the coffee shop around the corner. As she waited in line she bit her lip nervously. She wondered what was wrong with David. He definitely wasn't himself and it looked like he had been in a lot of pain earlier.
She sighed as she thought back to their failed date. She knew is reputation and that he was a huge playboy, but she still agreed to go out with him. She wasn't sure what it was about him that made her unable to say no for long. He reminded her of someone, but she still couldn't put a finger on who. She was positive that hadn't met before, and she didn't know very many British men.
"What can I get you Miss?" The barista asked when Sarah approached the counter.
"I'll take caramel macchiato with extra caramel and a banana nut muffin." She ordered as she reached in her purse.
"Sure thing. Anything else for you today?"
Sarah hesitated and checked her money. Sighing, she couldn't believe she was doing this. "Actually yeah, add a dark roast coffee with two pumps of irish cream and a handful of sugar packs."
"You got it."
Sarah paid and hurried back to the office. "He better appreciate this." She grumbled as she hurried inside the building.
Inside the studio, David was finally beginning to get the hang of the job. Luckily there were notes telling him what songs were being played, when to do a commercial or mention a local event.
Everything still felt wrong though. He couldn't explain it, but he felt he belonged somewhere else. Like he should be doing something far grander than talking on the radio. So far only one thing about his day felt right. And that was Sarah. He was certain she was the key to this mess. He was determined to talk to her when she returned.
As if conjured by his thoughts, Sarah walked through the door carrying two coffee cups on a cardboard tray with a muffin in her other hand. Setting the tray of coffee down, Sarah placed one cup in front of David and pulled a small white bottle from her pocket. After removing the cap she shook 2 pills into her hand. "Here. It's obvious your head is bothering you."
David took the pills from her and took them with the water he had been sipping on. "Thank you Sarah."
"I got you a coffee too. I hope it's sweet enough. I remembered you like Irish cream and lots of sugar. I put 4 in, but I have more if it wasn't enough." She told him as she pulled a handful of packets from her pocket.
David grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You're being far too kind to me, dearest. I don't deserve it." He lifted her hand to his lips and softly kissed her knuckles. "Thank you."
He seemed out of it enough that she tried to hang around the main booth and keep an eye on him in between her 2 spots an hour. He did manage to get things mostly right, but she would see him panic and would walk calmly over to press a button or hand him copy now and then. Fortunately she had previous experience as a music DJ.
He was clumsy and imprecise, quite unlike his usual confident self.
She was standing by the door when there was a light knock. She opened it and a secretary poked her head in. "Um, David, Vivian is here."
Sarah groaned. It was David's ex. He had been talking about her on their date, that she was too snooty and uptight for him. Had wanted him to cut his hair and get a job that was "more dignified" and to get married, but he broke it off, and she was still pursuing him.
He looked at Sarah oddly. "Oh. Who...?"
"Thanks Liz. " Sarah hastily covered. "David will be done in a half hour, she'll have to wait."
The secretary looked at each of them then nodded and left.
"David you should see a doctor. Did you hit your head or something? You don't remember the woman you dated on and off for over a year? " She was starting to get concerned. He did say he had a headache. She had had a concussion once, lapses of memory were a common symptom.
"I don't have any soreness. It's hard to explain. I just find huge gaps of my life are just...not where they are supposed to be. Like a puzzle with pieces missing. I can't even remember having a childhood, but I must have a family somewhere. " He admitted.
"Well that's that then, we are definitely going to a doctor when you're done. I'll take the rest of day off and go with you." Why she was so worried about him, whom she didn't even know him that well, she didn't know. But she felt connected to him, like she was responsible for his well-being, sort of.
David didn't know why, but he felt a huge amount of fear at the idea of seeing a doctor, but he knew he should go. "Alright. Thank you, Sarah, for looking after me. I owe you a great deal, after today."
"No problem, just helping a friend. The song is ending, so let's just get through this show and we can go."
******************
2 hours later they sat next to each other in an examining room at a walk in clinic a few blocks away. David couldn't remember if he had a regular doctor, but found an insurance card in his wallet from the company carrier.
When he was called in, he dragged her with him into the room.
Sarah felt rather awkward, sitting side by side on the table with him.
"I don't know if I should be here, David. We aren't even a couple."
"Please, Sarah, I'm not sure why, but I'm not comfortable at all with this. I just..."
He was clinging to her hand tightly.
"Hey it's okay. No one likes doctors." she tried to soothe his anxiety. Her mother had a deep fear of doctors too, so she had seen it before.
Linda was so afraid she had waited too long and it had been too late when the pain became to great to ignore. She died of cervical cancer when Sarah was in college.
What if...? No, don't think about that. He'll be fine.
The doctor came in and asked him a few questions, did a cursory exam, and did the typical check of his eyes, ears and throat. He asked if David had chronic headaches and David shook his head. He checked for any obvious head, neck, or back injuries and found nothing. The blown pupil gave the doctor pause but as David didn't remember why he had it, he had little to go on. Despite that, his eyes reacted normally. "Well Mr. Jones, barring an X-ray and or an MRI, the only thing I can suggest is a mild brain injury where you may have been shaken enough to cause some brain bruising, or selective amnesia and a tension migraine due to severe anxiety or PTSD about something that has happened to you."
He wrote on David's chart as he talked. "You don't seem to have had a stroke or show any symptoms of a neurological disease. On the extreme end is a possible brain tumor but that's not the likely cause, so don't panic. I can't diagnose that, I'm a GP and it's not my wheelhouse. I'll order a neurological specialist referral for those tests, if you wish. You should get that done as quickly as possible in my opinion, because on the off chance it's that serious you don't want to mess around. After those tests, if it's clear, a therapist to talk things through and get to the root of what you may have anxiety over would be the next step. The important thing is to rest, manage your pain, and let yourself heal."
David looked to Sarah. "Yes, do that. " She said.
"What she says." He turned to the doctor.
"Can anxiety really cause all of this?" Sarah asked.
"You would be surprised what anxiety can do. I've seen and endless array of symptoms that turn out to be caused by stress." The doctor told her. "Alright, here. " He began scribbling more notes on his clipboard. When he was done he handed it to Sarah. "Your wife can give this to my receptionist to get that started, and the specialist will be in touch with you."
"I'm just a friend." Sarah answered, "But I'll give it to her if he wants."
The doctor looked between them both, he eyebrows raised. "Oh? Well then, here is a script for a painkiller for your headache. My receptionist will tell you what pharmacy to pick it up at. If it gets worse before the specialist sees you, come back I can give you something a *little* more powerful, but I'd like to stay away from narcotics for the time being."
They did all of that at the reception desk,, and Sarah walked him back to his car. She was worried about him driving, surprised to learn he had driven to work at all. So she offered to drive his car to his place, then take a car back to the garage to get hers, which he gratefully accepted.
When they reached his house, Sarah parked the car in the drive and glanced over to the passenger seat. He was staring out the window and seemed to be a million miles away.
"We're here." She said quietly.
He jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. Looking around he recognized the house as the one he woke up in that morning. It looked and felt all wrong. "This isn't my home." He whispered.
"Did I get the wrong address?" Sarah started looking through papers for the address.
"No, you are correct. I was here this morning, but it's not right. I can't explain it, but I don't belong here." He told her sadly.
"Missing London?"
"London..." He thought about it and had another flash. He saw a towering castle surrounded by a small city. He saw a luxurious bedroom with a canopy bed and silk sheets. Holding his head, he groaned.
"David what's wrong?" Sarah reached over and felt his head. "You're burning up! How did the doctor miss a fever?" She undid the seat belts and got out of the car. Hurrying to his side, she opened the door and helped him out. "Let's get you inside."
"It's a recent development." David mumbled. He had been begun to feel hot on the drive there. He fumbled with the keys when they reached the door, so much so she took them from him and let them inside. She guided him to the plush sofa and sat him down, then went to the kitchen and got a glass of water for him to take one of the pills they had picked up along the way to his house.
She got him to take one them as she helped him lay down.
There was something very wrong, she knew that. There was really bad flu going around and she wondered if he had caught it.
"Maybe we should get you to a hospital instead of a clinic. "
"No! No more human doctors. Please I just need rest. I'll be better tomorrow. "
"Um, okay, but I think all doctors are human. I have met a couple I wondered about, admittedly." She gave him a wry smile.
"Oh of course, yes. I'm delirious." Despite his obvious illness, he smiled back. "What else is there? "
"I'll stay as long as I can, but like I said, my brother is coming tomorrow so I have to leave really early. "
His eyes opened. "You should just go. I'll be fine. Quite used to caring for myself, precious. You never really wanted to stay with me anyway. Go." He promptly fell asleep.
She covered him with a blanket she found in his bedroom, made herself some tea, and flicked on the TV.
Meanwhile, in the underground, The Labyrinth was slowly waking up after years of being frozen in time, and covered in darkness. It was reaching out, searching, seeking it's king.
