Page 36 of Love Sick

Oh my fucking god…what has Alanna done?

“It’s okay, Bobby. I’m your friend. It’ll be our secret.”

He is afraid and I hate that Alanna has dragged yet another person into her vile games.

“Do you have a mommy?” I ask because Alanna has connections all over, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Bobby is a child who’s been in the system. She would use her status to win over the authorities, promising Bobby a better life, but in reality, he is just another pawn for her to use.

He shakes his head once again, confirming my fears.

I don’t have time to ask him anything further because something happens, which confirms the stage is set for the next scene.

Alanna comes rushing into the room with a man I’ve never seen before. He is wearing blue scrubs, a surgical face mask, and tying the cord of some ridiculous mesh hat thing around the back of his head. They’re muttering to one another, but the sense of urgency is apparent in their actions.

There’s no point crying out for help because it’s obvious this man is aiding Alanna. So all I can do is watch and prepare for what comes next.

“Come, Bobby,” Alanna gently orders.

Bobby looks at me, panic in his blue eyes.

“It’s okay. I’ll see you real soon.”

Bobby hesitates, but eventually takes Alanna’s hand.

The man is looking over the surgical tools and the fact that he’s in scrubs can only mean one thing. I doubt he will be performing any Frankenstein procedures on me today because Jonathan appears to be on sabbatical, but I am curious what he has planned.

I’m not afraid. I know I should be. But my heart is steady as he snaps on gloves and injects a needle with a clear fluid.

“This won’t take long.”

“I hope you don’t start every conversation that way,” I quip because at this point, humor is the only way I can cope with the crazy.

Mr. Personality ignores me and injects the syringe into my IV. It doesn’t take long until the noise drags me into nothingness…and I let go.

It’s the most surreal feeling waking from a drug-induced coma.

It’s like your mind is tricking you into believing you’re still lost in a world where there is no pain. But the moment your conscious kicks in, you’re dragged back into the last thing you remembered…

For me, that was wondering if I would ever wake again. But alas, it seems I survived another day.

Opening my eyes, things are foggy, a white veil clouding my vision. I blink a few times and when my sight clears, I see I’m no longer in the room of horrors.

The room has definitely seen better days, however. The faded floral wallpaper hangs in tatters from the walls, revealing white brick beneath. There’s a massive hole in the ceiling where birds nest their eggs in the rafters.

The floor is littered with rubble from the caved-in roof and all I can smell is mold and cat piss.

The bed I’m lying in is an old Victorian style with a matching dresser. The single window has steel bars over it, so it goes without saying, getting fresh air is out of the question.

The place is a fucking squalor pit and I wonder where the fuck I am.

I try to move and am surprised to see I’m not bound, and that’s when I realize my leg is bandaged—the one Alanna was hammer crazy with when she broke my knee.

Did the dude in scrubs operate on me to mend my broken knee? All signs point to that. It doesn’t feel like I’m missing a kidney, so that means Alanna called on a favor from a friend to help me.

Why?

Turning to the left, I chuckle when I see my ole pal, Jonathan, sitting in a wooden rocking chair. A colorful crocheted blanket is placed over his knees in case he catches a chill.

I am so desensitized to all of this, I shrug off the fact that a corpse sits in my room and focus on finding out where I am.

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