Changes

The vein in his temple began to protrude from his skin and he looked so scary. For what little time I’ve know Jimmy he has never been this dark before. He was eyeing the doctor as if he wanted to make sure he didn’t hurt me, but his features were still morphing before me. I stared in shock as his crystal blue eyes began to cloud over. It was like a foggy mist cast a layer over them. The dark grey soon took on a swirling motion as Jimmy’s pupils dilated to almost the size of his iris. This wasn’t normal, I was sure of that. But was what I was seeing really happening or was the needle in my arm making me insane?

“Jimmy?” I asked quietly because I thought he was going to attack someone.

The sound of my voice calling him quickly caused him to blink hard as if something had gotten into his eyes. He squeezed his lids very tightly before opening them hesitantly. To my amazement the grey fog had lifted and his eyes were the serene blue pools that I have come to find solace in. It was like his eyes had never been affected. Calmness etched itself on his face as he stared down at me.

“It’s over Colie.” He told me but something in his voice made it seem like he was also telling himself.

“Are you ok Jimmy?” I pushed further.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” he said rather quickly.

I shook my head and looked away from his piercing stare. The millions of thoughts that were zooming in my brain were giving me a headache, but then again it could also be blamed on the blood loss. His thumb lightly grazed the top of my hand making me realize that our hands were still entwined. A red flush spread across my face as I peeled my hand away from his.

“Get some sleep Colie. It’ll help.” Jimmy said softly as he took a seat in the bedside chair.

His words floated over me just as my eyes began to sag. I wanted to stay awake and talk with him more but my body refused and was entering shut down mode whether I wanted it to or not. Peace surrounded me as I slept. My dreams kept on being interrupted by images of Jimmy. Some were past memories others were of times I hadn’t experienced. It was all rather confusing. The tangled web of images began to fade quickly as very loud yelling broke through them.

“What are you doing with my friend? Get away from her now!” a familiar voice shrieked.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I surveyed the scene in front of me. Kourtney stood in the doorway with a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper and a stuffed crocodile in her arms. The rest of the guys must have joined up with Jimmy while I was asleep since they were all scattered around my bed. They all stared in confusion as Kourtney continued to glare at them.

“Kourtney, it’s ok. I’ll explain later, just get over here.” I whispered.

All eyes shot to me as they saw that I was awake. She shoved past Johnny and Matt and stood next to the bed after putting her gifts on the table next to the bed. I wasn’t surprised that Kourtney was here. In the seventh grade I broke my arm and was admitted into the hospital while my parents were in Prague for business. They couldn’t come to me so I was left alone for the few days I was being watched. After that horrible experience I made Kourtney my emergency contact. They nurses probably just got around to calling her.

“Oh sweetheart,” Kourtney cooed, “how are you feeling?”

“Like shit.” I mumbled. “But the sleep I got helped.”

Jimmy’s eyes were on me as I said this. A slight smirk adorned his face like he was saying he was right after all. I rolled my eyes at him at turned my attention back to my friend. Now that we had stopped talking she became stiff as she looked around to all the guys. I guess I should do some introductions.

“Right, Kourtney, these are the guys that I met when you weren’t at school. It’s a weird story so I won’t go into it. At the foot of the bed is Zacky, then Brian, the two you squeezed through are Matt and Johnny, and finally Jimmy.” I said pointing to each one.

“Guys, this is my friend Kourtney. Treat her with the utmost respect.” I warned playfully but still quite serious.

“It’s nice to meet you Kourtney.” Brian smiled.

“Nice to meet you guys as well.” she said still a bit nervous. Her emotions must be due to the fact that Avenged Sevenfold had notorious reputations at school. I have only heard a few of them but I wasn’t sure if they were true or not. Believing them or not, these guys were actually pretty decent and I was slowly growing attached to their odd antics.

“Whoa, how did all of these people get in here?” a shrewd voice asked from the doorway. They guys parted like the Red Sea to reveal an angry looking doctor. “Visiting hours were over three minutes ago and the nurses only recall letting the other girl in. Well, it doesn’t matter how you guys got here but you will have to leave now.”

“Not before you tell us about Colie’s condition.” Jimmy stated coldly to the man in the white lab coat. The strength behind his words put the doctor back in line and the man continued past them to the other side of the bed.

“Colleen, you have a very acute case of hypothermia. We need to keep you overnight so that we can keep track of your progress. More then likely you will be discharged tomorrow afternoon.”

I couldn’t hide the fact that I didn’t like the idea of staying overnight alone. Everyone in the room could tell I was pissed at this man for making me stay when I could just get some medicine and sleep it off at home. Sighing loudly I deflated into the bed and prepared myself for a long night. The doctor coughed loudly and pointed toward the door. Begrudgingly, my visitors trickled out the door. Jimmy cast one last glance at me before the doctor closed the door leaving me all alone. I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 8:10. I wasn’t even remotely tired. To pass the time I switched on the TV and flipped through the channels. Monty Python’s Flying Circus was having a marathon on the BBC so that was what I happily settled with. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was John Cleese walking funny. During the middle of the night I woke to a loud metallic crash from the corner of my room. My heart was pounding like a jackhammer against my chest and someone cursed and scrambled to their feet. I whimpered in fright as they approached my bed and reached for the end table. The soft glow of the lamp suddenly filled the room which illuminated the invader.

“Jesus fucking Christ, James Sullivan what the fuck was that?” I said in angry relief that it wasn’t a psychotic janitor or someone else.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” he murmured.

“How did you get in here anyway.” I exhaled as I continued to get my breathing under control.

“I have people who work in the morgue.” he stated as if it was nothing.

“The morgue? Why- actually, forget about it. I don’t even want to know.” I laughed.

He shrugged at my answer but said nothing after that, thus letting the usual silence fall between us.

Why is he here? Surely he has better things to do then be at a hospital with me.

Of course he has to. Why on earth would he concern himself so much with you. He probably wants to make sure that his only chance of passing Biology doesn’t die on him.

The conversation I was having with my brain actually made sense. I continued agreeing with myself on the fact that all he wanted was to pass Biology when Jimmy looked directly into my eyes. It was hard to put a finger on his current emotion, which wasn’t surprising.

“I came because I wanted to check up on you, to make sure that you were ok.” he whispered. “I also felt that you needed some company.”

“Well, thanks for being here Jimmy.” I said happily.

“Are you feeling any better?”

I smiled at the enormous amount of speech leaving his lips. “Yes, I feel just like I normally would.”

A mischievous smirk spread across his face as he stared down at me. I knew this could not be good.

“You want to ditch this death trap?”

I thought about it. Should I risk getting sick again just to go off with him? Then again, Jimmy was opening himself up to me so I decided to grasp the opportunity. I quickly pushed the sheets away from my body to reveal that I was wearing the thin pale green smock that patients normally wore here.

“First, I’m going to need my clothes.”

“Here, Kourtney brought some clothes with her earlier.” he said tossing me a bag.

“Can you kindly turn around so that I can change Mr. Sullivan?” I asked sweetly as I started to get down from the bed.

I examined the outfit I had as Jimmy read some informational posters on the opposite wall. Of course Kourtney would pick out something that didn’t fit my style. She was always trying to get me to wear different things. Reluctantly I slipped on the jean mini skirt and pulled the deep purple spaghetti strap tank top over my head. I grimaced in the mirror when I saw what I looked like. Too much of my legs were showing and I wasn’t wearing make up. I quickly ran my eyeliner over my lids and ran my fingers through my hair. Jimmy already had anything that I would need cradled in his arms when I stepped in front of him.

“Let’s get out of here Jimmy.” I said with an evil grin.

The two of us slowly walked out of my room and tried desperately to avoid anyone. But seeing that it was past midnight and I was in a room that didn’t require much supervision it was easily achieved. As soon as the automatic doors opened we both bolted out of the hospital like two bats out of Hell. We took shelter near the opening of the parking garage when Jimmy brought up an important question.

“Colie, where are we going now?”

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I’M KATIE AND I’LL BE YOUR TRAVEL AGENT. TO WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?

1. The park
2. Lonesome stretch of beach
3. The high school football field

SO MANY CHOICES? BUT YOU GUYS WILL PICK A GREAT ONE!!