Believe It or Not
Chapter Seven
Sylvia's eye lids fluttered open as she inhaled the smell of sizzling bacon. She was in her room, her room from her childhood, the one with glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and model planes strung into a mobile over the head of her bed. She could feel Mona her black Labrador retriever at the foot of her bed waiting patiently for Sylvia to wake up in the morning like she always did. The morning sun flooded her room filling it with a warm orange glow while the horses in the pasture neighed their muffled good mornings. It was just like it should have been how it always had been but her mind was foggy and she couldn't remember why this felt too good to be true. She sat up abruptly and was greeted with Mona's wet tongue against her cheek.
"Yes, Mona!" Sylvia laughed. "I love you too!" She gave Mona a good scratch around the collar and then got to her feet.
She stretched fondly looking around at the books scattered across her room due to her bookshelf overflowing with them. At her simple wood desk covered in a hundred random stickers many from fairs, a couple band aids from getting shots and a couple "Hello my name is" stickers from various events and group therapies. Coloring books and crayons lined the top of the desk and a cork board filled with pictures and drawings hung on the wall above it. Under the desk was a box she kept all her knick knacks and other silly things that only held significant meaning to her in. A couple glass jars sat around it filled with the weird things she collected like acorns and rocks as well as erasers and one filled with chewed gum and used cigarette butts. She carefully lifted the lid off the box and found a red baseball cap that read airborne across it. Sylvia knew for a fact this wasn't hers. In fact she'd never known anyone that wore a hat like this. She quickly threw the lid on the box and stood up and around her the room started to blur. This wasn't real she realized. She was dreaming.
She ran out of her room and down the hallway and as she entered the kitchen she was greeted with another familiar smell, cigar smoke. She looked over and sitting at the table was Hannibal reading a newspaper, his legs propped up on the table and the cigar between his fingers as he exhaled smoke.
"Sylvia," he scowled. "What are you running from now?"
Sylvia jumped awake in her room at the hospital gasping for air. She hadn't had a dream that vivid in a long time. She wasn't usual prone to confusing dreams with reality no matter what medication she was on but that didn't mean it didn't happen on occasion. She brought her knees to her chest and buried her face in her hands focusing on trying to slow her spastic breathing. A couple minutes later she lifted her head. Her head ached and she felt dizzy. Everything appeared to be spinning around her but she knew it was just her head playing tricks on her. She couldn't see the earth spin but she felt heavy like gravity had decided to pull a bit harder on her that day. It hadn't entirely been a dream. Most of it was directly from her memory and it flooded back in a large wave.
Hannibal didn't visit often but when he did it was always something special even if all he did was read the newspaper and smoke a trademark cigar. He'd ask her about school, go through all the basic chit chat and she'd always tell him everything was a bit too boring and that even though she loved the horses and it didn't bother her that she had to get up early and groom them she'd much rather be out at airfield outside town watching the planes take off and land. A couple of the guys at the airfield would even take her out for a ride if she helped out around the hangers. Hannibal would just smile and ruffle her hair. "One day, kid. One day," he'd say.
What troubled her about the dream though wasn't Hannibal's presence. He often visited her in her dreams acting as a guide when she was lost. What bugged her was the fact that Hannibal had never said anything like that to her and never would. If anyone knew something about her depression it was Hannibal and he knew she considered it a weakness. He knew it scared her that when it got too bad it caused her to run. He knew she hated running from things and that this was the only she'd ever let herself run from. It was the truth of it that worried her and the fact that Hannibal was the one who called her out.
The rising sun seeped through her window bouncing off the bars and casting a strange shadow across her room. She quickly threw back the blankets, grabbed her elephant and walked out the door.
"Sylvia!" squeaked an orderly in surprise, "you're up early."
Sylvia turned and looked at the orderly. It was Maria. Sylvia generally liked Maria and her obnoxious yellow scrubs but at that moment all Sylvia wanted was for her head to stop hurting a maybe a cigarette.
"Is Lyle still on duty?" Sylvia asked nibbling on her lips. Maria shook her head. "Sorry Dear," Maria answered placing a hand on her shoulder. "Anything I can do for you?"
Sylvia shuffled a bit crossing and uncrossing her arms. Headaches made her anxious because of her lack of focus. She hated not being able to focus. "I have a headache," she finally stated after enduring several minutes of Maria's concerned observation.
Maria smile and wrapped an arm firmly around Sylvia's shoulders. "I think I can fix that," Maria reassured her with a squeeze and led her down the hall toward the kitchen.
Maria sat her down at a table in the empty cafeteria and went over to one of the men preparing the patients breakfast and whispered something to him. He nodded sharply and disappeared into the back as Maria smiled and took a seat across from her. "I hope you like tea," Maria spoke after watching Sylvia rake her nails over her skull and making a mental note to get them trimmed.
Sylvia looked up straight at her apparently a bit taken back. Maria just smiled again and waited for her to compose herself. "Tea?" Sylvia questioned looking utterly confused.
"Its caffeine content is just enough to soothe a mean headache, at least for me anyway. I figured you'd appreciate a break from having pills shoved down your throat."
The look of gratitude that lit up Sylvia's face was worth any trouble Maria would have to deal with from bending the rules. "Thank you," Sylvia exhaled with a sigh of relief then she bowed her head. "I mean it. Thank you."
The man appeared from the back and set a steaming blue mug in front of each of them and nodded before heading back to the kitchen.
Sylvia wrapped her hands around the mug her hands instantly tingling with the sensation of holding something warm for the first time in God knew how long. "Thank you," she muttered again.
Maria shook her head a couple graying locks falling from the loose bun on the back of her head her brown eyes sparkling with the simple joy of knowing she'd brought at least a bit of comfort back to Sylvia if even for a moment.
Maria took the opportunity to change the subject, "you and your friend caused quite the commotion last night."
Sylvia looked up from her mug and quirked a brow. She'd been so distracted by the dream she'd completely forgotten about her evening of being chased around the ward by Murdock.
