Three chapters in one day! Yay. The chapter title is due to my recently revived love for Santana, whom I watched LIVE this week :'D
Disclaimer: I do not own the Beatles or anything else you might recognize.
Nowhere Girl
Chapter Six: She's Not There
'Wake up, wake up,' sings an angelic voice, and I bolt upright in my bed, only to find myself staring into darkness.
It's been three days since I saw Auri. This wouldn't have been something that bothers me persistently if I knew how to find her, or contact her. But nothing. I don't have a phone number, an address, even a place where she might hang out frequently. For all I may know, she may be dead. She probably isn't, but that doesn't stop it from bothering me. Why hasn't she come to visit me? I've woken up six times in the past four nights, somehow thinking that she's here, waking me up, when really she's not, it's just my brain tricking me.
Ringo grunts in his sleep. I strain my eyes to search the dimly lit room - yes, Ringo and I don't like sleeping in the dark - just to make sure she's really not there.
She's not there.
I throw myself back onto the mattress, shoving a pillow over my ears to block out Ringo's insistent snoring, and noting that my head is throbbing.
I hope it'll be gone by the morning.
When I wake up, the headache is gone, but my bones feel leaden and my skin feels warm and my tongue feels to big in my mouth. Maybe it'll be better when I take a shower. I run the water over myself, but first it's so hot that it scalds my skin and then it's so cold that my skin erupts in goosebumps. Didn't help very much ... I dry myself and pull on some clothes, and then comb my hair, watching my reflection in the mirror. I brush my teeth, which makes me feel a bit better, but my throat's still burning and I wonder, at each step, if I'll crash to the floor.
'Morning, Johnny!' sings Paul over his cup of coffee.
'You're feeling better, I see,' I grunt, throwing myself into a chair and resting my head on the table. It feels like a bowling ball.
'Much,' says Paul happily. 'I can breathe properly again! How about you, Georgie?'
'Better,' says George. 'Ringo?'
'Ringo wasn't sick yesterday,' says Paul.
'I was just being nice!' says George, and Paul nods. 'How are you, Ringo?'
'Good, thank you very much!' beams Ringo. 'I found me red shirt!'
'You have a billion red shirts, Ringo,' Paul says.
'That's because red is me favourite colour. I almost like it better than Lindsy.'
'Lindsy?' intones George. 'Who's that, yer new girlfriend?'
'No! Me teddy bear. From when I was six. A nurse from the hospital gave it to me when I had appendicitis,' explains Ringo.
I lift my aching head. 'I feel like a pile of shite,' I offer, since no one bothered to ask me. 'Not that any of you care.'
'What 'appened to that nice girl who got us cupcakes?' asks Ringo. 'Isn't she gonna come?'
'I don't know,' I snap.
'Her name's Auri, Ringo,' reports George. 'Pretty name, huh? Awww-reee.'
That's not how you say it, I open my mouth to inform George, and find that I can't speak. I work past the obstruction in my throat, only to find that my voice sounds like I've been eating nails.
'Pretty face, too,' comments Paul, biting into an apple. A surge of jealousy passes over me. 'Piss off, Macca,' I growl. With my rusty voice, I sound feral.
'Someone's in a good mood,' says Paul sarcastically. I scowl at him. Right now, I just want Auri's loving arms around me and her soothing voice in my ear. I can't have that, so I take the next best thing: crashing out full length on the sofa for a long nap.
Something cool presses itself against my forehead. Aghhh, that feels so unbelievably good. My body feels too hot, like there's a radiator right inside my shirt, and my head still hurts, but that coolness on my forehead is so calming and comforting.
What is that, anyway? It takes a minute for me to ponder that question: my brain is kind of scrambled. I open my eyes, immediately disoriented, firstly because I'm lying in my bed - that's not where I fell asleep - and someone's ever so gently caressing my face, pressing a cool damp cloth to my forehead. I recognize a lock of that long brown hair. She's sitting up, next to me. I try to inhale her sweet scent, but my nose is blocked. 'Auri?' I croak. My voice is so raspy.
'I'm here,' she whispers.
She's here.
Her fingertips absently brush through my hair, stroke my face. 'How are you feeling?' she asks, her brown worried eyes anxiously gazing into mine.
'I feel fine, now that you're here,' I mumble. And I do - not physically - physically, I feel like hell - but something inside me is put at peace. She smiles, a smile that makes me try to smile, and softly touches her lips to my cheek. 'Sleep,' she tells me. 'You need rest. You've got a high, high fever.'
'Okay,' I whisper, pushing my face into her side as she leans against the headboard of the bed. She kisses my forehead, sweet as an angel.
She's my angel.
She's my moon fey and she's my summer sun.
'Don't go,' I croak. 'Promise you won't go till I wake up.'
'I promise.'
Poor baby ... Thanks for reading! :) -Jen.
