Anna (Part 2)
Chris looked around the bedroom that he had picked as his and nodded appreciatively. This place was everything Johnny had said and more. The room was bigger than his master bedroom at home and incredibly luxurious considering this was really nothing more than a recording studio.
But it used to be a home. This used to be a home for people with lots of money and power, he thought as he walked to the four poster bed and flopped down on it. He sighed in surprised contentment. A goose down comforter. An actual goose down comforter. Again he was amazed at the niceties to be found here.
He took off his shoes, jeans and sweater and tossed them unceremoniously in a pile by the bed. He could wait no longer to be buried under the fluffy white covers. As soon as the only articles of clothing still left of him were his boxers and his socks, he pulled the comforter over his body and laid his head gently on the pillow. Firm, but not too firm. It was just right. He chuckled slightly as he realized that he sounded like Goldilocks. Just right.
He closed his eyes and listened to the muted sounds of his friends conversing as they moved into their own rooms. Their voices were the last sounds he heard before he slipped into peaceful oblivion.
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The room was still save for the occasional soft snores from the man curled up on the bed. Then slowly, almost imperceptibly, the temperature in the room began to drop. A few degrees at first. Then ten, twenty degrees at a time, until the room was as frosty cold as an arctic landscape. The man on the bed did not wake, but merely wrapped the comforter around himself more tightly for warmth. As his body began to shake slightly, his exhaled breath appeared as white vapor. Suddenly, a light mist materialized in the center of the room. It began to coalesce as it began to drift, without direction at first, then purposefully, towards the bed. From the mist emerged fingers that could no longer feel but that still reached out to stroke the dark-haired man’s cheek. As they met his skin, his only indication that he felt the touch was a low moan. He still did not wake.
After a few seconds of contact the fingers lost their form and became unsubstantial mist once more. The diaphanous mass began to retreat, silently sliding through the air until it reached the far wall, where it disappeared, leaving no trace that it had ever existed. As the temperature in the room again began to rise, the man on the bed turned on his side, an expression of pain on his sleeping face.
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Chris woke up to a pounding on his door that coincided perfectly with the pounding in his head. Ironically, he felt worse now, after sleeping, than he had before.
"Chris, wake up! You’re not gonna sleep the whole day away, are you?"
Chris sat up in bed and looked around the room in dazed confusion. Where was he? Why was Joey yelling at him? "Joey?" he managed to call out, despite the sharp ache in his head.
The door to the room opened slightly and Joey poked his head in. "Come on, old man. Get up so you can check this place out. It’s so cool!"
Chris looked at his friend and then down at the comforter that covered his body and remembered. The recording studio in Windsor Locks. He had come in here for a nap. He looked back up and grumbled, "Joey, leave me alone. I just got to sleep. Cut me some slack."
The door opened completely and Joey walked in, a grin of amusement on his face. "Chris, you’ve been asleep for three hours. It’s time to get up."
Chris looked at him in unconcealed astonishment. "Really?" he asked softy so as not to aggravate his headache.
Joey’s face went from amused to concerned in a matter of two seconds. He sat down on the edge of the bed and asked, "Are you ok? Are you sick?"
Chris shook his head and regretted it instantly when the pain in his skull intensified. "No, not sick, but I’ve got a killer headache."
"Well, take some Advil and let’s get going. If you sleep any more, you’re not going to be able to sleep tonight."
A smile danced across Chris’ face. "Gosh, MOM, you’re so wise. And by the way, when did you grow a beard?"
"Don’t be funny. I’ll be waiting outside, SON," Joey said as he stood.
Chris emerged from the room ten minutes later; the pain in his head thankfully now dulled somewhat. He glanced down the long hallway. "Where are the guys?"
"They’re in the game room," Joey said gleefully as he rocked back on his heels.
"This place has a game room?"
"And a movie theater," Joey affirmed.
Chris’ face lit up. "How cool is that?"
"I know…I know. So, come on, let me show you around."
Chris followed his friend down the stairs and through countless rooms, among them a huge, all stainless steel kitchen, a stately library that dwarfed the kitchen with its size, and a bright, airy sunroom. Every new room they walked through elicited gasps of awe from Chris and knowing smiles from Joey.
"I know. I told you it was cool!" he said as Chris’ eyes continued to widen in amazement.
"So where’s the game room? And the movie theater? And the recording studio?"
Joey laughed. "They’re on the other side of the house. We gotta go through this parlor-living room thingie to get there."
Chris turned towards him. "You mean there’s another half of the house?"
"Yeah, and if you hadn’t been sleeping all morning, you’d know that," Joey scolded lightly. "Come on, it’s right through here."
Chris moved in the direction where Joey was pointing and both men soon found themselves in a grand receiving room. The walls and floor were made of polished teakwood that gave the room an air of elegance and grace. A full bar stood against one wall, while a multitude of chairs and velvet couches occupied the center of it. A huge stone fireplace sat on the far side of the room, so big that it almost appeared to be an antechamber of some kind.
"Jesus, it’s freaking huge!" Chris exclaimed as he began to walk towards it.
Joey laughed. "I know. You could probably fit in there."
Chris stopped and turned around. A mischievous look flashed across his dark eyes. "Let’s go find out!"
Joey’s laughter echoed off the walls of the spacious room when he saw his friend walking determinedly toward the fireplace. He had not been completely joking when he mentioned that the smaller man could fit in it, now they would both know for sure.
Chris turned from his friend and began to walk forward eagerly. He was not more than five feet away from his destination when he stopped abruptly.
The sorrow that he had felt when he first entered this house was with him again, but this time it felt a thousand times stronger. And this time there was more than mere sadness; there was fear, there was dread, there was pain. These feelings raced through his body and invaded his mind, causing it to contract sharply in agony. Chris opened his mouth to scream, but could only manage a pained, "No…" He fell heavily to his knees, his hands clutching desperately at his hair, his breathing uneven as he struggled with this tide of blackness.
He just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, the grief in his mind was so powerful, but the searing pain in his skull kept him immobilized. After a time he became vaguely aware that Joey was at his side and that he was speaking. Through his haze, he felt Joey’s strong hands pull him up from the floor and drag him away from it.
Make it stop Joey, he pleaded silently, his mouth incapable of forming the words.
He felt himself being lowered onto something soft and felt what he thought were Joey’s fingers lightly caressing the back of his head. Just when he thought he could take no more, that the emotions flowing through him would suffocate him with their intensity, they disappeared.
They didn’t trickle away.
They didn’t slowly ebb away.
They were just… gone.
Chris opened his eyes with a gasp and looked around. He realized he was lying on his side on one of the couches with Joey sitting right next to him, looking scared to death.
"Joey?" Chris whispered.
"Oh god, Chris! Are you…are you alright?"
Chris nodded and realized that his hands were still entwined in his hair. He slowly lowered them until they were in front of him and watched as they shook slightly.
"Jesus, what the hell happened to you? You scared the shit out of me! I thought you were having a seizure or something!" Joey said as his own hands began to shake.
"Help me up," Chris rasped as he held his hand out to his friend. Once he was in a seated position he said, "I don’t know what the hell happened. Just…a really bad feeling, and then my headache got really bad. I don’t know…"
Joey stood up. "Ok, here’s what we’re going to do. You are going back to bed while I find a doctor in this town and make an appointment for you. Yup, that’s what we’re doing. Now, let’s get you back to bed."
"I don’t need to go back to bed Joey, I feel fine now," he said. And he did. Whatever had happened to him was over and had left no residual effects. Even the headache was gone.
"You’re kidding me right? You NEED to see a doctor. What if you did have a seizure?" Joey asked in both astonishment and slight frustration.
Chris sighed. "I didn’t have a seizure. I’m fine." He saw the worry in Joey’s face and he knew he wouldn’t be able to leave it at that. "If it happens again, I’ll go to a doctor. I promise. I’d just feel silly going now when I feel perfectly fine."
Joey narrowed his eyes at his friend. He appeared to be considering his words and the pros and cons surrounding them. Finally, he said sternly, "Fine. But if it happens again…DOCTOR. And no weaseling out of it."
Chris nodded solemnly then in a meek voice asked, "Can we go find the guys now?"
"Are you sure you wouldn’t rather lie down?" Joey asked.
"I’m sure. I’m ok now, I swear."
Joey nodded his acquiescence and held out his hand to help his friend stand. As they walked out of the room together, Chris looked back at the fireplace. When he first saw it, it had looked fun and interesting. Now it looked foreboding and…wrong somehow.
Just a bad flash, he told himself. You probably needed some more sleep and then your headache started acting up, that’s all.
Not entirely convinced of his own thoughts, but not wanting to dwell on the episode any longer, he turned away from the fireplace. He did not relax again until the room was far behind him.