Strigoi (Part 2)
Chris could hear someone calling his name as if from some far off distance. He tried desperately to ignore it but soon found he could not. The voice was too insistent, the tone too urgent. As he began to rise slowly from his black pit of sleep, he realized that the voice was actually right next to him and that it was practically shouting. He also realized that hands were gripping him tightly and that he was being shaken.
"Chris, wake up dammit! Come on wake up! Chris!"
Justin. It was Justin's voice. But why was Justin yelling at him to wake up?
More to get Justin to be quiet than anything else, Chris forced himself to whisper, "Just?"
"You're awake! Oh my God! Finally!" Justin exclaimed.
"Wha...?" Chris asked dumbly. The fog that had invaded his brain yesterday morning was back in full force and even thicker than before. In fact he now felt as if he had to fight his way through molasses just to think.
"Come on Chris, open your eyes now," Justin ordered.
Chris struggled to comply. He opened his eyes slightly only to have them droop closed again. A hard shake from Justin persuaded him to try again, this time with more success. His eyes opened and he saw Justin sitting in bed next to him, his hands firmly on his shoulders. Justin relaxed his grip in relief at the sight of his friend's brown eyes.
"Justin, why are you in my bedroom?" Chris asked in utter confusion.
"Because dammit, you missed the start of the recording session again! I called and called for 45 minutes until I finally just decided to come over here and see what was up. I let myself in with the extra key you gave me and came up here to find you sleeping. I've been trying to wake you for the past 5 minutes Chris! Another few minutes and I was going to call 911."
"I missed it again? But I set my alarm and everything."
"Well, you must have shut it off and gone back to sleep, cause it was off when I got here," Justin said.
Chris shook his head in complete bewilderment. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'll get ready as fast as I can Just."
"Sure man," Justin replied as he nodded.
Chris sat up in bed slowly and groaned as a wave of dizziness hit him. He would have fallen back onto the bed had Justin not managed to catch him and hold him upright.
"Whoa, you ok buddy?" Justin asked in concern.
"Yeah, I'm ok. Just give me a second," Chris said as he leaned his head on Justin's shoulder. He stayed that way until he felt the world stop spinning, then he brought his head up and met Justin's eyes. "See, I'm fine now," he said as he smiled weakly.
"I don't know man, you're really starting to worry me. You don't look good. Maybe you're coming down with something. Maybe we should cancel the session so you can see a doctor," Justin said.
Chris shook his head. "No, I don't want to cancel the recording session. I'll be fine. It's probably just a 24 bug or something."
Justin looked at him skeptically. "Well...all right. I'll call the guys and let them know we're coming."
"Give me 15 minutes and we'll be out the door," said Chris. He pulled the covers away from his body and was about to climb off the bed when Justin's hand stopped him.
"Is that your bug bite?" Justin asked as he stared intently at Chris' neck.
Chris brought his hand up to where he knew the marks were but stopped short of touching them. When had he taken the bandaid off? Had it fallen off sometime during the night? Justin reached out to touch them and Chris pulled away quickly.
"Let me see 'em Chris."
"No, because you're going to touch them and they hurt," Chris said as he tried to scoot away from Justin.
Justin took his hand back but continued to stare at the red marks in fascination. "You know what they look like?"
"What?" Chris asked.
"Not bug bites, that's for sure. They look like a vampire bites," Justin said as he tore his eyes away from them and looked at Chris' haggard face.
"Yeah, well, they're not," Chris said, suddenly defensive.
"I didn't say they were, I just said they looked like them that's all," Justin replied somewhat indignantly.
Chris looked at him and smiled. "Just let me go get ready before the guys kill me ok?"
Justin nodded and stood. "Ok."