write Wallace

I felt a warm jolt on the table. Quickly looking around nothing could be seen. There were no cargo trucks passing outside the building and no construction going on. It was actually calm and quiet inside and out. Placing my hand back on the table I felt it again, stronger. I noticed my hand felt warm, it was cupping the cardboard coffee cup. The top layer of foam was stirring, below boiling bubbles were reaching the surface. My coffee was bubbling over, what the hell? I pushed out against the desk rolling my chair back and got to my feet. My head began to pound, as I stood the pressure in the room rose causing my head to spin. I immediately needed to sit down again, but didn’t want to risk getting burnt. And having no idea how hot that cup would be by now, or why, I wasn’t about to. I walked hunched over sideways like in those old movies when the camera is slanted not to reveal what was around the next corner. Except there was nothing scarey here. I was at work, things seems mostly normal. I could not feel my center to walk straight for the life of me. I leaned on the open doorways resting my head in the fold or my elbow to try and make everything feel less disorienting, nothing was helping. There was a couch in the next room if I could make it there, I could relax until whatever was happening passed.

…

When they found me I was on the floor, I must have blacked out, and no, I never made it to the couch. They filled me in, but I had no idea where I was when I woke. I kept hearing that I would be fine, but I had never seen any of these people in my life. “What are you doctors?.. Paramedics?”.

“Just calm down son.” My vision was still blurred and I may have passed out again. I really don’t remember.

…

The room was dark, what started as a bright clear day now felt heavy and ominous. Daylight had passed again, how many days had it been? I could see shadows down the hall walking, a brush of light touched the the bottom of the doorway. And then it went dark again. There must be light at the end of the hall. I could barely make out the white suits the staff was wearing. The room grew darker. Whatever they have me on seems to be speeding up time. The night passed quickly but only in the periods where I was not spooked by creaking noises, odd machinery and distant chatter that ended in echos and a sudden stillness. If silence could crash it just might have done so tonight.  I was breaking a cold sweat and did not have the energy to get up. I feared that if I got the blankets off I would not get them back on and this warmth was only in my head.

I did not see anyone all night, no one confirmed that I was a patient here, no one to speak to. I tried to rest but felt like every time I closed my eyes only a few minutes had passed at a time. I began to run though what might have happened. Nothing was making sense and many areas of this morning’s events all lead to black, darkness, and nothing. I tried to remember if I had spoken with anyone on my way in. If I had, that memory had gone dark now as well. Was I losing my mind?

Staring to the window I could see a part in the curtain where I could peek to the outside. Another shadow passed.. could have been an animal. Then something again… A noise in the room made me jump, and I could feel the presence of someone in the room now. I could faintly make out the static on the hanging television overhead just being switched on. Someone was here messing with me, trying to see how alert I was, but I could not see their face in the darkness.

I tried make sense of it all why I was here. Why I was being tormented or if I even was. I tried to see through the darkness but with my vision still not recollected and the white fuzz from the television, the blurs just popped with momentary blotches of white light. It all made me close my eyes for a couple of seconds or even minutes at a time. I tried to focus on the shadow, even called out to it. My voice dropped as if I was in an empty box with no echo, just straight fall off. I knew someone was there. If they were, they weren’t going to talk back. My eyes were heavy and I felt hands on me as I was half conscious. The blurs were becoming one light, one object…

When I woke I was unsure if it was all wearing off or not. I saw a wall of blinding light though the hall. It appeared to be day light but dusk was falling already. I yelled down the hall for anyone and my voice echoed this time, but with no return. All the sounds that I heard in the darkness were gone. There was no clanging of distant machinery, no signs of anyone being here for some time. Something strange was going on. This place should have people ’round the clock, not just a night crew…