47 – Back to Square One!?

He opened his eyes and saw the dirty white ceiling. There was a single light bulb above his bed, and he could tell that it was grimy. "Cloud! You're awake! Jeez, man, you scared us shitless!" a loud, familiar voice boomed beside him. Cloud turned his head to face his friend, then frowned.

"Why are you wearing that?" Cloud asked, his voice hoarse from disuse. Zack stood up to fill him a glass of water.

Zack frowned back at him. "Wearing what?"

"That." Cloud pointed out Zack's pizza delivery uniform. "Why are you wearing those old threads, Zack? Are they cool now?"

His tall, raven-haired friend furrowed his brows then shook his head. Zack sat down beside Cloud and handed him the glass of water. He was wearing his old oil-stained, bright orange overalls from the pizzeria. "What are you talking about, Cloudy boy? I just got off work. By the way, when you get discharged, you owe me your week's shifts. Man, was our boss mad when he heard you got hit by a truck!" Cloud chugged down the cool water, feeling more anxious by the second. Why was his buddy talking like this? Why was he wearing the old uniform? Setting the glass down on the bedside table, Cloud said, "You don't have to worry, Zack. I remember you, so can you change out of that already? Won't your wife get mad?"

"What wife are you talking about? Who?" Zack's eyes were wide.

Cloud knitted his brows together, growing frustrated. "Aerith! Come on, Zack, don't play dumb with me."

"Right – um, I'll be right back. I have to tell the doctor that you're awake…" his friend said, easing his way out of the room. Cloud watched Zack slip out of the room, feeling really confused and excited. He glanced around and finally saw that he wasn't in a private room. He was in a ward. Thankfully, the curtains on either side of him were drawn. Strange, he thought. Surely this was still part of his friend's prank? But how did Zack ever get Rufus to go along with this? He sat up straighter, anticipating his new wife to come running in, crying how worried she'd been. Zack was probably out there in the hallway right now, telling her that he was alive and well. His night stand was bare, save for the sweating glass and Zack's beat up and extremely outdated PHS. Sure did a great job, Fair. So detailed… he thought, picking up the PHS. If he remembered right, Zack was promoting the latest model of PHS –

The door opened and in came the doctor, holding a clipboard. Zack trailed behind the portly old man, looking confused. Your acting skills are really good. I never knew you could act, Zack! "Ah, Mister Strife. How are you feeling?" the doctor said, with a smooth, practiced smile.

"Just fine, thanks," he mumbled.

"Okay. I'll just perform some standard tests, okay?" the doctor said, pulling out a tiny flashlight. From somewhere in the ward, somebody coughed violently. Zack cringed.

"Where's Rufus? Lazard?" Cloud asked frantically when the doctor had left. "Zack, I need to call her. Did you tell her I'm awake?"

"Whoa buddy, slow down!" Zack said. "First of all, let me get some things straight. Cloud, I do not have a wife and you most certainly do not have a fiancé. How the heck would all four of us fit in our box of an apartment? And who are these Rufus and Lazard people you're asking me about?"

"Our manager! Tifa's stylist! Zack! Stop kidding me!"

But Zack was looking at him like he was utterly deranged.

"Are you sure that you're okay, Cloud?" he asked tentatively. "The doctor said that you're fine but all you've been talking about are strange things…"

"I'm alright… ah! Jeez, will you just cut it off and go back to normal, Zack?"

Somebody coughed loudly. "Quiet down over there!" shouted an elderly woman's voice. "I want to watch some TV here!"

Zack scratched his head and apologized loudly, "I'm sorry, auntie! My friend just woke up from his er, coma, you see and he's been spouting nonsense ever since. Sorry, sorry!" Then turning back to Cloud, he frowns and sets his mouth in a tight line. "I'll be going now. My lunch break's almost done and I haven't eaten. I'll see you when I get off work, okay?" The gab from the television grew louder as Zack retreated from the ward. Cloud sat there, heart thumping hard, thinking how bizarre everything was.

"In entertainment news, box-office queen Tifa Lockhart and POET frontman Genesis Rhapsodos have announced their engagement last night. Mind telling us more details, Sonia?"

He froze.

Tifa was back together with Genesis! It couldn't be true. It wasn't real. It was not happening. He was Tifa's fiancé, not Genesis. Genesis was a lying asshole! He's a cheat! Cloud leaned out of his bed and pulled the drapes that separated him from the television monitor. And there his beautiful fiancé was, wearing a navy bandage dress and a mega-watt smile, standing beside a smug Genesis, whose unworthy arms were snaked around her tiny waist. They were being interviewed by a woman clad in a purple dress. He remembered. It was the night of his movie premiere.

"How exactly did Genesis propose to you, Tifa? We're all dying to know!"

The camera zooms in on Tifa's face. Her eyes were gleaming and her lips were red. He couldn't really tell if she was actually blushing. Tifa bit her lip and looked up lovingly at Genesis. "It was during our anniversary, last weekend… he took me to Kalm. There… he told me was planning to buy this beautiful house, and we got a tour. When I asked him why he wanted to live so far away from work, he suddenly got down on one knee and asked me!" Genesis was chuckling now, running his free hand over his fiancé's arm.

That was how he had proposed. Cloud bunched up his blankets and tried not to scream. This was going way too far to be a joke!

"No…" he breathed.

"Aw, aren't they just the loveliest couple?" the elderly woman sighed. "I can't wait till they get married and have kids! They're going to be a lovely couple!" The old woman had stacks of magazines on her night stand and a basket of fruits. She turned to look at him. "Don't you think so?"

Cloud turned away from the woman and tried to pull back sleep. Maybe when he woke up, this horrible joke would be nothing but a nightmare.

Author's Note:

Okay. Deeply sorry for not updating. I am the lamest author ever. I should do something about my commitment issues, huh?

VC