Fear and Love

“Research? Now why would you be researching a book about a girl that falls in love with a zombie?” I giggled a bit.

He groaned. “Not you, too! Damn, everyone has read this book,” he said shaking his head. “It has got me nervous.”

“What do you mean? Why would you be nervous about reading a book? And I haven’t read it. My best friend Aimee is just obsessed with it; she doesn’t shut up about it! Edwin this, Edwin that. Ugh, I don’t see what is appealing about a zombie that wants to eat you alive.” I cringed, causing Pat to burst out in laughter.

“You mean to tell me you aren’t one of those girls that are madly in love with this Edwin character?”

“Ew, not at all! I find the thought quite repulsive, actually.”

“Well that is good to hear.”

We chatted for a bit longer, and eventually I went to work on my reviews and he continued his ‘research’. Before I knew it, the plane was circling London, preparing to land at Heathrow.

“Think you can make it through the landing without me having to knock you out?” Pat turned down the corner of a page in his book, then carefully closed it and set it on his lap and looked up at me, grinning devilishly.

“Thanks for the massive concern, but I think I’ll be able to spare you the trouble.” I smirked back while shutting down my laptop and stowing it in its case. “However, I may need to take advantage of your fabulous conversation skills once we start-”

The plane suddenly dipped forward, and I instantly got nauseous. My stomach was rolling around and over on top of itself, turning inside out. My head started spinning, and I couldn’t remember how to breathe. I was leaning forward with the plane, gripping my arm rests, deciding whether or not putting my head between my legs would help, or just make everyone think I thought the plane was going to crash. Somewhere deep down, I knew it wouldn’t, but superficially I was freaking out, positive that we would crash before I even got to breathe the sweet English air. My last memory would be of the boring blue-grey carpet of the airplane floor, and the smell of leftover “beef and potatoes” that permeated the recycled air.

Ugh, ugly blue-grey carpet. Go away. Swirls of blue-grey were all I saw… blurry. There were patches of black, moving. I felt myself slipping, my eyelids very heavy. I wanted to give in to the darkness, but I heard someone calling my name. Just give it up. I’m leaving, stop calling me. It’s useless. I’m going down the rabbit hole, it’s dark and peaceful here.I stayed in my dark place for what seemed like seconds, but remembering last time, I’m sure it was several minutes. The voices got louder, and I felt myself struggling to swim up out of the swirly, inky black abyss. Things gradually started to come into focus once more. The carpet was less rough looking. It turned smooth; almost glassy. I stared, searching for something that would make a little more sense. All it once, the feelings in my body and all my emotions hit me like a Mack truck. My head was still slowly swirling, and I wasn’t staring at the ugly blue-grey carpet. It was blue-grey eyes…

“Molly? Are you okay?”

I blinked several times, trying to make sense of what was going on around me. Pat was kneeling in front of me, searching my face for any sign of new emotion. Anything other than sickly panic, I’m sure. I imagined how I must look to him right now. Pale as a ghost, vacant eyes, arms gripping armrests, legs strewn underneath me, and my whole body was shaking.

“Hey, it’s okay. Calm down. We already landed, we’re safe. You’re safe.” He grabbed one of my hands and held it, and reached his other arm rubbing my back softly, in small circles, still waiting for a response.

I struggled to say something but all that came out of my mouth was a strangled noise, that didn’t remotely resemble what I was trying to say. Thank You.

“It’s okay,” he smiled reassuringly; “You don’t have to talk. Just focus on calming down and regaining yourself.”

Flight Attendant Jenn was standing over me as well, with someone I didn’t know. He was dressed in a drab brown suit that looked very itchy. He looked at me, also concerned.

“Mind if I take a lookatcha, love?” he spoke what can only be described as a twangy British accent.

I felt my eyebrows furrow as I looked at him. Why on earth would some strange man want to look at me? Creeper, much?

Pat picked up on what I was trying to portray and quickly explained.

“He is a doctor. He was sitting behind us, and after we landed you were still quite out of it, so he wants to help.”

Aha. I knew it… several minutes. I went out when we were just starting to descend. Who knows how long we’ve been on the ground for!

I shrugged my shoulders in response, and Itchy Suit started coming towards me. Pat moved over, which meant he had to stop rubbing my back, but he still held my hand tightly. His free hand was now running through his sex hair every few seconds. The guy looked ridiculously distraught. Itchy suit kneeled down and pulled a stethoscope out of his bag. (I didn’t know Mary Poppins-like house doctors still existed, with their bag full goodies and whatnot…)

“Okay, love. Now just relax, I’m gonna have a listen to your heart, then take your pulse.”
I nodded quickly, then looked over at Pat who was staring out the window.

“You can-“ I started, but my voice was hoarse, and it was hard to make the words sensible.

He looked over at me, and I cleared my throat, took a deep breath and began again.

“You can leave. You don’t have to stay. I’ll just have Jenn walk me to the gate so I can meet the guy from the university.”

I looked up at her to verify this would be okay, and she just smiled. I took it as a yes. For a split second he looked offended, and then his features softened.

“Molly, it’s fine, really. Besides, I’m quite worried and I am definitely not going anywhere until Dr. Camberwell says you are in tip-top shape. “

I sighed and turned to watch Itchy Camberwell count seconds on his wristwatch. “If you insist.”

Then, thinking better of my initial reaction, I quickly turned my head back towards Pat who was staring at me with curiosity.

“Thank you so much, for everything.” I gave his hand a feeble squeeze.

Itchy stood up and straightening the drab suit, announced I was fine, just a little faint of heart, and that some fresh air and good hearty food would do me a world of good, along with a strong tea of various herbs that I couldn’t keep track of. He also suggested that I soak in a buttermilk bath with salt in it.

I grinned at his diagnosis, thinking of an Olde English house doctor with herbal remedies and whatnot, and decided to get out of there before he pulled some nettle and toadstools out of his bag and told me to brew them and bathe in that too, or worse, drink it. I caught Pat grinning too and I had to look away before I started laughing. I gripped my purse as Pat got my laptop case, (he insisted on carrying it, since my weak heart just couldn’t handle it), and he and I followed Flight Attendant Jenn and Itchy out of the plane to one of those airport taxi’s that take you from the plane to the terminal. After a short ride, we arrived, said our goodbye’s and thanks to Jenn and Itchy Camberwell, (who told my “brother” to make sure I took that buttermilk bath, and gave a list of stores that sold the stuff in 10-liter buckets), and went to the waiting area for our gate. I spied an irritated looking man holding a sign that sure enough, read ‘Molly Mitchell’ in large block letters.

“Well, here’s my stop.” I looked up at Pat and held my hand out to take my laptop case from him.

He sighed as we slowed to a stop several feet away from the upset university man. He handed over the laptop case.

“Pat, thank you again, for everything. You have no idea how much you have helped. I was freaking out before I came over here… not just because of the flight. You were fabulous, so… yeah. Thanks.” I looked down sheepishly, quite embarrassed by the events of the day.

He chuckled, smiling an intoxicating smile and ran his hand through his hair as he looked down at me.

“It’s really not a problem at all. I’m sure you would have done the same thing if you were in my shoes, you really don’t need to keep thanking me,” he grinned, looking embarrassed.

I wasn’t really sure what to do next. Do I just say, Peace out, see you around!, or do I give him my number? Oh wait, nix that. I don’t have a number yet. Do I ask for his number? He is technically my first British friend, so that would be appropriate, right? Maybe I should just wait until he says something. Or maybe I am reading way too much into everything and really he just wants to leave and get rid of the crazy faint-hearted American girl. Rather than just stand here looking dumb, I started to say something, even thought I didn’t know what I was going to say.

“So, Pat-” I was interrupted by a faint beeping noise.

“Oh, sod it all.” Pat quietly hissed as he dug around in his messenger bag for the source of the noise. “I’m so sorry, I will be right back. Hold that thought!”

He looked down and pressed the send button, bringing the phone to his ear and answering as he stalked away from me a couple yards, or shall I say meters, since I was in London now. Not wanting to look dumb just standing around, I meandered over to the university guy, and timidly announced myself.

“Damn, what the hell happened? I have been waiting for 15 minutes! Did you get lost or something?”

His harsh tone, combined with the flecks of saliva that were flying out of his mouth and all over my face gave me the distinct impression that Mr. University was a complete DICK, and I did not like him in the least. In fact, if it weren’t for my weakened state, I probably would have hauled off and smacked him right then and there. Instead, I took the mature, calm and collected approach.

“I apologize for making you wait. I had a bit of an incident as we were landing, and I was only just now able to leave the plane. I hope it didn’t infringe on any other arrangements you had.” I smiled sweetly, thinking of one of the most valuable lessons my mother ever taught me; Kill them with kindness.

He seemed unmoved by my attempt and glared as he responded.

“Actually, yes. My time is very valuable. You were the last to arrive, so this was already an inconvenience of sorts. Orientation begins in an hour, so we need to get your bags and leave her as quickly as possible.”

Ugh, what complete asshole! I certainly hoped he was just some lackey. If I had to deal with him a lot, I would end up leaving this thing much sooner than I anticipated, and sadly, Nick would win the bet. All of my friends were betting on how long it would be before I freaked out and came home. Well, all except for Aimee, but I had my doubts. I mean, she tried really hard to get me here in the first place. Which I think means that she bet I would last longer than most thought.

“Sure thing, mister… oh, I’m sorry. You didn’t introduce yourself. What is your name?” I smiled again.

“Richards. Rick Richards. Now can we go get your bag? I’m in a bit of a hurry!”
I laughed on the inside as I realized that his name could be Rick Dick, if I used the popular nickname for Richard. Rick Dick... it suited him well. My laughter died down and gave way to a sinking feeling when he started pushing me toward the baggage claim. I turned to see Pat still on the phone, slowly getting further away.

“Mr. Di- uhm, Mr. Richards? Please wait, I have to-”

“Not a chance, I’ve been waiting long enough. Let’s go.”

I sighed as I decided that this was probably better anyway. It’s not like we were going to become the best of friends or anything. Like he said, he was just a normal guy helping out someone in need. It didn’t mean anything. I still felt guilty for just taking off though.
After a short walk, we got to the baggage claim, and spying my suitcase, I grabbed it and proceeded to follow Mr. Rick Dick as he led me to the car. I had a feeling this was going to be a miserable car ride.