Congratulations. You’ve reached level 1.
Then everything goes black.
Chapter 6
When I open my eyes again, I’m looking up at some ceiling panels and florescent lights. There’s something cold and wet on my forehead and I’m unsure where I am. Then memories of the slime come back to me. I sit up, dropping the wet cloth onto my lap, and frantically search around for the monster.
A soft feminine voice speaks somewhere off to my right, “Woah, there. Calm down.”
When my tired eyes finally focus on the source of the sound, I see a woman with shoulder-length blond hair whose ends are dyed pink. She’s wearing a nurse's uniform patterned with colorful Disney characters and white sneakers. There’s a pen in her right hand and she looks like she was just filling out some forms when I woke up.
Looking around, I recognize that I’m in some kind of hospital room and that I’m sitting on one of those beds with a disposable paper sheets. The smell of disinfectant reaches my nose, and I’m sure that I must be in a medical facility. I worry for a moment that my battle with the slime was just some psychotic delusion and that I’ve been institutionalized. My private fears are blotted out as a sharp pain courses through my head. The pain in my head spreads radiates throughout my body.
The nurse must see me wince because I feel her touch my bed as she comes closer and asks with concern in her voice, “How are you feeling? You came in unconscious and mumbled about slime or something.”
After a minute, the sharp pain in my skull dulls to a throbbing headache, and I answer, “Yeah, I think I’m ok. My head hurts a little, and I ache all over.” I looked at the blond nurse and grin sheepishly, “Uh, this may sound like a stupid question, but, where am I?”
The nurse smiles patiently. “You’re at the college hospital. A young woman brought you in saying she found you unconscious from heat stroke near one of the unused buildings on campus.”
I don’t remember anything like that. Is that what happened? Did I pass out from heat stroke? Does that mean that the entire fight with the slime was a dream then?
My head throbs again, reminding me that I have more pressing concerns to deal with than a possible weird dream. I ask the nurse, “So, am I ok then?”
She nods and consults the chart on the counter, “We examined you and ran some tests. However, we couldn’t find anything wrong with you. So, we put you in here to rest. You really should drink more water. We’re sending you home to rest now that you’re awake.”
Remembering my afternoon Math class, I look at the clock on the wall and see that it’s already 12 pm. My shoulders sag as I realize how long I must have been here. I’ve missed not only the Anthro class but also my Math class. I’m going to get kicked out of college on my first day.
The nurse leans forward conspiratorially, places one hand gently on my shoulder and whispers, “I already looked up your records and notified your instructors that you had an emergency. That should at least stop them from dropping you from your classes today. Though you may have some apologizing to do.”
I can’t help but smile at the news and hug the nurse. When I release her, I see a bright smile on her face and a little pink in her cheeks. “Thank you for helping me so much, uh…nurse…?”
“Oh, I’m Nurse Joyce.”
“Thank you, Nurse Joyce. You’re a lifesaver.”
“No problem. Now I’ll call a cab to take you home. Ok?”
“Uh, I can’t afford a cab. I was just going to take the bus.”
“Don’t worry about the cost. We have a voucher program that gives students rides to and from the hospital. Your student insurance covers the cost.”
Well, there’s a plus to college life.
I thank Nurse Joyce and wait for the cab to arrive outside the college hospital. It’s only a ten-minute wait. Once the driverless vehicle arrives, I hop in the back seat, give it my address, and it takes me home.
Chapter 7
I’m so tired I fall asleep in the cab and only wake up when it stops at my house. My head throbs in pain as I step out of the cab and every step up the driveway makes my body ache like it’s going through growing pains again. I quickly unlock the front door, and stumble through the house to my room and into bed. Before my head hits the pillow, I’m asleep again.
The sound of the front door slamming closed wakes me up. As I glance over at the clock on the nightstand next to my bed, I see that it’s already 6:30 pm. I roll out of bed and stretch a little. My body still feels sore but not nearly as bad as it did before. I guess Nurse Joyce was right. I just needed some sleep. I glance down at my body and notice that I fell asleep in my coffee-stained clothes. God, I must smell horrible by now. Unfortunately, I’ll have to put off taking a shower for a little while.
During the week, our mom works two jobs almost back to back. While she makes it a point to make us breakfast every morning, she’s gone the rest of the day and night. So, I’m responsible for taking care of Marie. Since she’s at school most of the day and is involved in after-school activities like cheerleading, these days that mostly means making sure she does her homework and cooking her dinner.
When we were younger, though, it meant walking her to and from our elementary school and hearing her talk the whole way about some girl or boy she was fighting with at school. I’d occasionally have to beat up some jerk who was bullying her. We were a lot closer back then. At night, after the sitter fell asleep on the couch, she’d crawl into my bed to talk and ask questions, LOTS of questions. I had to explain how the moon stayed up in the sky, why the sky is blue, what would happen if everyone jumped up at the same time, and where poop comes from. I had to answer some tough questions too. I was the one that had to explain to her why she didn’t have a daddy like the other kids. I had to tell her that she did have a dad, but that he went away. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that he’d just abandoned our family, so I made up some story about him being a secret spy off on a mission. When she asked if he’d come back if she were extra good, I nearly cried but told her that she was already a good girl and that one day he’d come back and take us all away to visit Hawaii. She was a big fan of the third Moana movie at the time. Boy, I got an earful from our mom when the school called to complain about Marie telling the other kids the story. Still, it was the best I could do at the time.
Now, Marie spends most of her time on her phone, something Mom bought her for her last birthday. She seems to prefer talking to her friends from school or hanging out with them. I can’t blame her. I’m sure they’re a lot more fun than her boring older brother who studies, works, and occasionally plays video games on the old computer he put together. Regardless, I’m still the one that has to take care of her.
So, I change into some reasonably fresh smelling clothes from a pile on the floor and head to the kitchen to make us some dinner. I find Marie sitting at the kitchen table, a textbook out, working on her homework, and ask, “Hey, munchkin. How was school today?”
She rolls her eyes at the use of the nickname ‘munchkin,' then sighs but answers, “Fine, I guess.”
Hmmm, I’m not sure if that means school was fine or if it’s the kind of ‘fine’ that means everything isn’t really fine. As I walk by Marie to the kitchen, I see that she’s working on some Algebra homework. Maybe she’s just having a difficult time with homework?
As I fill a large pot with water from the sink, I ask her, “How’s the homework coming along?”