abecedarian

Adrienne saw it first. The twitching hand of a dead man. An ambulance and several squad cars were on their way. Most of the grocery customers were outside, but she'd needed to vomit first. They told her to join up afterward and make it fast because she looked like hell. Looking into the mirror after flushing, Adrienne went to the mirror and her eyes bulged out.

Her face had blood splattered over her cheek and nose, and she reached for the automatic sink and a handful of soap. Slathering the liquids over her face, she washed her skin as hard as she could without scratching her skin. Five minutes later she was starting to fight the shock and come back to herself. Her breathing was first to come back. She hadn't realized she'd stopped.

She was okay, at least on a physical level. Emotionally, she was a little shaken because the customer was now dead. There was something to be said about her calm, how she seemed okay after having seen someone die in front of her. She took herself out of the bathroom and started towards the exit. The man was in a different light in the quiet store with no audience.

He'd come in ill, sweating and breathing heavily while he grabbed a few cold waters and several boxes of painkillers. Money didn't seem to be an object, but she wasn't sure he cared about the debt at that point since he seemed so close to the grave. But now there was doubt of his sanity as well, and her blood ran cold at the thought of being so close to someone so sick.

The man was dead now, but there was something different about him. . . other than his lack of life. His chest was moving. Her eyes widened but she shook her head clear of the paranoia. No one came back from his kind of dead. Was he just sleeping? When her feet led her to the body again, she forced herself to stare. About to leave and declaring her disgust in herself, she noticed his fingers twitching. A muffled cry later she bit her tongue as hard as she could.

The dead man moaned. Adrienne found herself standing outside of herself while staring down at the twitching hand. This was bad, Very bad. She had to run. She was suddenly that girl in the cheesy horror movie where the idiot went to open the door to find the murderer on the other side. This made her step back.

That, and the dead man's hand started reaching for her. Adrienne screamed when he suddenly grabbed her ankle and she pulled away only to tear open her skin. She ran to the door, losing more blood than she cared. The air tasted so stale that the only option she had was to get outside. She started seeing spots and her bosses came to see her. They asked her if she was okay and if she needed a doctor and she agreed to be taken to the hospital. Paramedics laid her down on a gurney and put her in one of the ambulances, and doped her up to stop the pain.

The doctors couldn't understand why she wasn't stabilizing, why her fever just wouldn't break. Hours later, she was in the general ward, sleeping with a shallow breath.

Her hand twitched.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Rational Compulsive Decision-Making Sufferer.
by
Daniele Marx
~~~~
The Calculation
listen whilst reading, please.
~~~~

Dana struggled to sit up, being so exhausted. What was wrong with her? The man beside her under the sheets must’ve worn her out more than she remembered. A smile tried to reach her lips but only fell as far as her eyes. A tickle in her throat kept the luxurious feeling of euphoria at bay. She was in love, there was hardly any point in lying to herself any further. Alan rested so peacefully, deeply. She didn’t really know that about him. He hardly even moved. Such a change from last night.

Her arm was a little moist, but it was too dark to tell anything but that Alan must’ve also drooled whilst lying partially atop her. That brought a smile to her lips at last. Then her headache, quietly lurking in the background, came full force and knocked her forward. Her trembling body pulled the covers off and yanked her to the dark bathroom, fumbling in the dark for the aspirin. She knew this place well enough that light wouldn’t have helped much. Dark was good.

After gulping down five or six--honestly, who counts anymore?--200mg, she stumbled back into bed but slid off the silk sheets to the floor. Boy, she loved silk sheets, and there was probably a lot of enjoyment on a regular Saturday afternoon for these babies with whom she secretly called ‘her man.’ Alas, it was Wednesday morning. This had to be atypical for a weekday, even, especially to those who worked customer service. And what a week it was for them. Valentine’s Day. She then decided, as the first one up, to make the complimentary coffee. Maybe the caffeine would help her pounding head. Something just lifted the hairs on her neck this morning, but that’d have to work itself out after a night of hardly any sleep.

She got up after much struggle and lost all control of her motor skills about halfway to the armoire. Her arms didn’t catch, but her legs began to ache as well, and she wondered why she was having any trouble at all. This was really starting to scare her. She jumped when Alan’s alarm went off, the morning news flooding the room like an ugly haze. Someone was blurring in her eardrums, but after a few moments it became more distinct. The voice was talking about people falling ill all over the metropolitan area, and the word ‘epidemic’ was thrown in a few times. This, she decided, was serious and much scarier than her headache. Then ‘airborne,’ ‘death toll,’ and ‘thousands’ struck a note.

Dana’s heart was pounding in her chest, and she scrambled for the light. She needed to know--Alan always said that was her worst flaw, the constant desire to know what was going on. Her hand found the dimmer and she fumbled for a second before the overhead came up in a rush. There, on the bed in a pool of his own blood, was her lover. He was dead, and the blood had come out from everywhere, eyes, fingertips, mouth, nose, ears, everywhere she could see, as far as she could see. Abrasions were all over his skin and then she torn her eyes from him to inspect herself, knowing there was hardly any use in going for help if the word airborne came into play.

First off, she was covered in blood. Alan’s, hers, whatever. Tears fell down her cheeks and she couldn’t stop herself. The pain all over her was just getting worse. Her feet carried her back to the bathroom, to the medicine cabinet. Ten, twenty, nobody counted anymore. She took them all, and went back into the room with her lover, her man. The Valentine’s Day Pandemic, Dana shakingly slid back into bed, and carefully positioned herself for as much comfort as she could muster. The horror, her mind was completely blank. She had no words, no thoughts. Her hand touched his slightly warm one, and pulled it to her lips, kissing his bloody fingers, and held it to her chest. The other hand rested on his soft hair, and she sat there, letting the tears fall.