After Image

She couldn’t sleep that night. Every time she closed her eyes flashes of the past week burned into her eyelids. Eli’s appearance, her sudden reliance on his calm presence, the ability to Image and to erase those Images and Will. Will and his perfect voice. Will who she didn’t know at all but wanted to be closer to. She tossed again inside her covers. Makoto had long ago abandoned trying to sleep with her human, annoyed by the relentless tossing of the insomniac. She was facing her night stand on this particular toss and reached for her phone. The light temporarily blinded her as she checked for the time. 2:45 AM blared on the screen. Only ten minutes since the last time she had checked. She sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. She had promised to take Eli to meet her family tomorrow. With no sleep he was going to have to drive. Or I can get the car to do that for me. She thought with a smirk. She tossed the covers aside and unsteadily got to her feet. In the dark of night when she was as blind with her glasses on as without, she always just padded her way to the bathroom by feel. The only problem was that without her glasses it always made her gait wobbly and unsteady like she was on the deck of a ship heaving up and down with the waves. Maybe that is the insomnia though. She made her way slowly to her door, her eyes half closed as she traversed the room in her mind and by feel. She heard a sudden creak on the floor board outside her bedroom and stopped, her heart jumping to her throat. She calmed herself and breathed out. It’s just Eli. Maybe he can’t sleep either.

She turned the handle on the door, pulling the door inwards and started to talk through a yawn. “Can’t sleep either, Eli?” she asked. When she looked at the figure silhouetted in her doorway though, it didn’t look like Eli. In fact, even with blurry vision and barely any light, she was sure he was much more muscular and holding a gun in his hand. She inhaled sharply and slammed the door into the figure as he tried to barge in. She slammed it three more times for good measure, hearing him grunt under the mask he wore. She should scream. She should let Eli know there was someone in the house. She should phone the police. She should do something anything other than slamming the door on the intruder. She felt the weight as the man pushed the door open, recovering from her unexpected blows. Think. He has a gun. By the time you grab your phone and dial nine, one, one he will have shot you. The balcony. Get to the balcony. She had had her foot braced against the bottom of the door, something she had learned a long while ago would hold back even a stronger person at least for a little while. She pulled it away abruptly and watched the intruder stumble and fall into the room. Without a second glance in his direction she fled for the balcony door, opening it and locking it at the same time. Sure it would take him only seconds to unlock the door, but it was a few more seconds. Shutting the door behind her, she looked into the night. It was freezing outside. She was wearing nothing but a t-shirt and sweats, barefoot and on a balcony with no way down and she couldn’t see. Why didn’t I put my glasses on? Through the blurry world she could make out a large black vehicle below. She ignored it when she heard footsteps getting closer to the balcony door. She flipped over the balcony onto the wood shingled roof, her feet almost not feeling the freezing cold snow. Just as she got both feet planted on the edge of the roof she heard the door explode outward. The sudden shock made her slip and she gave a little cry as she lost her footing and fell into the snow pile below. She gasped at the shock of the cold, scrambling desperately to get her footing to run. She looked up and saw the blurred man above her and heard the faint whiz as something slid through the night air. A little prick in her neck got her to her feet.

She pulled out the dart that had been shot into her neck and tossed it aside. Okay, not bullets. Drugs. I have adrenaline in my system. Keep that going and maybe I can get out of here. Going in the opposite direction of where the vehicle was parked, she weaved her way disoriented through the campground. She was running so fast she could barely breathe. Just keep moving. If you don’t keep moving you’re dead. Keep moving Viola. She repeated this over and over in her head as she ignored the increasing weight of her muscles, the freezing cold of her feet, and the fact that she was wandering through the campground unable to really see. Every stump shaped like a person sent her skittering in a different direction. Image glasses. Image them, she suddenly thought, and scrambling to pay attention to where she was running, she Imaged a pair of glasses into her hand. When she pulled them into her reality though, a stab of pain shot through her head and she cried out, stumbling to the ground.

Trying to ignore the pain, she slipped the glasses on and looked at her surroundings. She was near the back of the campground now. If she hopped the fence she could make her way to the highway on the other side, maybe there she could flag down some help. She glanced behind her quickly and saw nothing moving. Are they not following me? Then she saw the lights from flashlights. They were moving slowly, following her tracks. They know I won’t get far. They drugged me. She turned away from the lights and made her way to the wooden fence surrounding the campground. Climbing it like a ladder she reached the top. Her surroundings danced around her and she leaned too far forward, falling into the snow on the other side. Willing her almost unresponsive body on, she climbed unsteadily to her feet and worked her way closer to the highway.

Viola burst through the foliage in a panic. She was disoriented from the drug that they had injected into her and her eyes saw sparkles dazzling the dark night air. A sharp pain struck her numb bare foot as she came into contact with gravel; it made her cry out in pain again. She tried to slow her speed as she realized that she had made it finally to the highway, but momentum carried her out onto the pavement. She finally came to a halt in the middle of the left lane, only realizing too late that some of the sparkles in her vision were not being produced by the drug but were instead oncoming headlights from a car. Her mind sluggish, her body did not respond fast enough and she felt the front bumper of the car hit her shins lightly; the sound of screeching tires still ringing in her ears. Suddenly flashing blue and red lights came on and this finally prompted her brain into action. A pale faced Mountie stepped out of the vehicle to assess the situation.

“Ma’am, are you all right?” he asked looking over the disheveled Viola. She certainly did not look by any means all right. She was barefoot, in her muddy, wet, snow covered pajamas, with long brown hair in a rats nest covered in leaves and twigs, topped off with a glassy glazed look in her eyes.

“No! I mean, well you didn’t hit me with your car, at least not hard, it was just a tap against my shins,” Viola finally stuttered.

“Okay Ma’am, but you seem to be wandering out in the countryside quite late in your night clothes. Might you be in some trouble?”

Viola nodded which made her head swim and the sparkles dance across her vision. She hoped that whatever they had injected into her wasn’t about to make her pass out. Though really she figured she should be more concerned about them catching up with her.

“I am in trouble. There are people chasing me. They gave me something that is making my head all woozy and sparkly,” Viola said and suddenly felt like her legs were not likely to hold her up anymore. She tipped sideways and the Mountie caught her before she fell to the pavement.

“Maybe you could tell me on the way to the hospital, ma’am,” he replied.

“That sounds like a good plan,” Viola mumbled as the Mountie ushered her into the backseat of his police car.

Viola felt the car tip slightly as the Mountie got into the front and heard him saying something into the radio about her and the hospital and people searching the area for any signs of her pursuers. By this time, she didn’t care much about his words, or even where she was. The sparkles in her vision were much more interesting to watch.

The first awareness of consciousness that came to her was the increasing pain in her feet and her body shivering. She didn’t know why she was shivering when her entire body felt like it was on fire. When she opened her eyes, it took her a moment to realize that she was in a hospital bed. She saw a nurse notice her alert status and temporarily flee the area. She came back with a doctor and an RCMP officer. In fact it looked like the one she had nearly got run over by. Right, I was being chased. Her thoughts seemed increasingly chaotic and disjointed.

“Hey there Ma’am, you feeling better. Can you give us your name?” The doctor asked.

“Viola Clemence Lavallee. What happened?”

“I found you on the highway near Fort Steele. Do you remember? You said you were being chased,” the RCMP officer spoke. He had a pad of paper and a pen and was jotting down notes.

“I was being chased,” Viola said. Her voice sounded sluggish and slurred, like she was drunk. Drugged. “I think they drugged me.”

“Could you tell me more about the assailant? Where did it happen? How did you end up on the highway in your night clothes?”

“I was in my house. I don’t know what he looked like. I didn’t have my glasses on. Really hard to run away from people when you can’t see them or where you are going,” Viola stammered. This doesn’t sound like its coming out right.

“You have your glasses on,” The doctor replied.

Viola touched her face, felt the rim of her glasses and blinked trying to focus. “Right. I didn’t have them at first. I made them when I was running in the campground.” Don’t tell them that!

“Made them?” Both the doctor and the RCMP officer spoke this at the same time.

“Do you know about the multiverse theory?” Viola asked. Viola Lavallee I order you to stop talking right now. They are going to think you are a crazy person. Are you listening to me? Hello? Earth to Vye. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

“I think we might need a Psych consult,” the doctor said. He came back a few minutes later with another physician in tow.

“Hello Viola, my name is Dr. Olm-Hauer. Could we talk about what happened to bring you to the hospital this morning?” Dr. Olm-Hauer pulled up a chair and sat close to Viola’s bedside.

“Sure,” Viola replied, smiling. Not sure. What is wrong with me?

“So let’s start from the beginning.”

“Well it kind of started last week when I thought I got struck by lightning. Turns out I can use quantum energy to pull things from alternate realities into existence. I think that’s why they were trying to get me tonight.” I did not just say that. I did just say that. Let me out of this moronic body. Stop. Stop. Stop.

“So people were chasing you because you can pull things from alternate worlds?”

“You’re a smart one.” Viola shook her finger in Dr. Olm-Hauer’s direction and collapsed on the bed. “I think they drugged me.”

“I think you might be right, Viola. How about we make you more comfortable in the Psychiatry Ward, okay. Would you like that?”

No I would not like that. I don’t like that at all. Locked up ready for whoever was chasing me to catch me. I don’t think so. Leave. Leave now. “No thanks,” Viola said. Finally! Sense! She pushed back the covers. Her feet still hurt an awful lot, but that wasn’t her main concern at the moment. She didn’t want to stay in the hospital anymore. She felt a tug on her left arm and realized she was hooked up to an IV. As she reached to take it out she felt an arm restrain her and she looked up at the first doctor that she had met when she woke up.

“How about we leave that in, okay?” the doctor said. Viola nodded and sat back in the bed and closed her eyes. What are you doing? Don’t fall asleep. Wake up. Oh my word, why can’t I wake up? She screamed inside her head and for a moment felt a tingle of rage and fear shiver through her body. It was enough to break the drug induced stupor. She opened her eyes and inhaled sharply, relieved to feel completely back in control of herself.

She must have been out for a few minutes because when she finally felt in control she was being wheeled down a hallway. She sat up in the bed and turned to one side. The bed came to a sudden halt.

“It’s all right sweetie,” the nurse said as she came up to help Viola back into the bed.

“Thanks. I feel fine now. I just had a bit too much to drink last night. Forget what I said back there, it was just a story I was working on. I’m a writer. Got a little carried away.”

“All right, well we are just going to take care of you here while you recover. Nothing to worry about.” The nurse tried to force Viola back down onto the bed which made Viola shove back as an automatic response. The nurse looked at her with concern, trying to decide how much of a threat Viola had just become.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. It’s just that I really need to leave.” A passing worker watching the situation disappeared around the corner and suddenly Viola heard ‘code white’ being paged over the intercom.

“What’s code white?” Viola asked, trying to calm herself down. She was vibrating a bit from whatever was in her system.

“Nothing to worry about, Sweetie. How about I take you to your room and I’ll get the doctor and he can get everything ready for your release, all right?” The nurse tried again to force Viola onto the bed.

“I can just leave from here. It’s fine,” Viola replied. “No need to bother anyone else.” This time she pulled the IV line out of the IV attached to her arm and pushed completely passed the nurse. The adrenaline she had been feeling earlier that morning started kicking in again and she bolted towards the nearest exit sign. There was not a soul impeding her path and she finally weaved her way to the nearest exit and pushed on the door. Nothing happened. She tried again, pushing, pulling, nothing happened. She looked to her left and saw a small black box with a red light on it. It’s locked. Staff only. She turned around ready to find another exit and instead saw Dr. Olm-Hauer and a couple of orderlies; big, strong orderlies.

Viola backed up against the locked door, gesturing for the group of them to stop. “I know this looks bad. Actually I probably look insane, but I promise you I’m fine. I just want to leave. Or phone my friends. Could I make a phone call. This can be cleared up. Please don’t lock me up. I’m sane. I can guarantee that I am sound of mind.” Only crazy people say that, Vye.

“Just calm down, Ms. Lavallee. No one is going to hurt you. We are just going to take you to a nice comfortable room and have a chat,” Dr. Olm-Hauer said as he walked slowly closer to Viola.

“But you can’t keep me here against my will, right. I don’t give consent. I want to leave against medical advice.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to commit you under the BC Mental Health Act. It’s just an assessment for forty eight hours and then you can go home, okay.”

Viola felt like a deer facing off against her hunters. They will find me here. Whoever they were. Panic suddenly set in and she ran, pushing passed Dr. Olm-Hauer, nearly knocking him off his feet and trying to dodge the two orderlies behind him. She was great at dodging, usually. Drugged up and panicked, not so much. Instead she bowled right into the arms of the second orderly and felt herself being gently, but firmly dragged off.

“No, no, no, no,” she whispered rapidly to herself over and over. I’m not in control. I’m not in control. Her breathing was becoming rapid and shallow. She was hyperventilating. Panic attack. I’m having a panic attack. This is going to make me look even worse than crazy. It was too late, her body was locked in a panicked response. Cold sweat, rapid heartbeat, uncontrollable shaking, irrational fear and screaming. Extremely loud screaming.