|
|
|
I was visiting my best friend, Amanda, about a week and a half ago. She lives in the middle of the bloody woods in Pennsylvania. It wouldn't be so bad there if it wasn't for the fact that we have to drive five minutes to get to her nearest neighbor. I've been up there plenty of times before. Lots of wild animals. A whole lot of deer, but mostly squirrles and stupid mosquitos. Once, I even saw a bear roaming the back yard. It wasn't scary at all. They generally leave you alone. It was my fault, I guess, when I got bitten. But let me start at the beginning.
Last Friday, Erica came by. She's the lesbian friend I'm always talking about. We decided to visit our other best friend, Amanda, down in Pennsylvania. It's an awful 3 to 4-hour drive. By the time we got there, we were painfully cramped and exhausted. It was terrible. In any case, like I said before, she lives in the middle of nowhere. There's nobody around. Completely deviod human civilization. So, naturally, we became bored. At around five or six o'clock, we decided to go out and walk around in the woods a while. There was nothing else to do, really. So Erica, Amanda and I stepped out in the back yard and wandered around for a bit. Everyone who knows me knows my complete adoration for bats. I actually had one as a pet for a while, until my mom found out and made me get rid of it. Poor little Tseps. I let him fly free. In any case, I saw a bat lying on the ground. I would have missed him altogether if it hadn't been for the snow. He was a beautiful dark chocolate brown. Poor little thing was twitching and screeching like a banshee. Against my better judgement, I decided I wanted to pick him up, take him back to Amanda's house, and keep him there until he got better. Huh. Stupid me. As soon as I went to pick him up, he bit me. I immediately dropped him and held my hand. Amanda and Erica laughed at me. I guess I deserved it, heh. It was kind of funny. We decided to go back to the house, throw some rubbing alcohol on the wound, and call it a day.
Big mistake.
Though most of last week had been going well for me, I'd been plagued by headaches. I didn't think anything of it--as a matter of fact, I get headaches all the time. I developed a slight fever, nothing to worry about. And although I ate a lot this past week, I didn't really feel hungry at all. I basically ate because I had the opportunity to. Call me a hog if you want; it's the truth. By Friday afternoon my throat was so swollen I couldn't even swallow. I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me. I went into an absolute coughing fit, too--just dry coughs with nothing to back it up at all. I figured I was coming down with the flu. Not unusual.
But then, I started hearing from Rowe. Worse yet, I thought I saw him. By the time I usually go to bed, I started seeing things. I felt so dizzy and my room seemed to close around me. I couldn't sleep at ll; I felt anxious and scared. Rowe kept talking to me, too, though I couldn't understand what he was saying. I think he was smiling; I think he was saying something like I told you so or something to that effect over and over. My cramps were getting worse. I also started to twitch. I have a twitch in my left eye, my green one--but that's normal, so I didn't pay attention to that. But my hands started twitching, and I was in unbelievable pain... I saw Rowe smiling at me. You have rabies, he said to me. You have rabies and you're going to have to take 21 shots to the gut. That's when I started screaming.
The paramedics came and got me. My grandparents refused to come with me to the hospital. I don't blame them. They looked like monsters to me. Their faces were contorted and twisted. They looked like demons. Everyone but Rowe. He was always there.
They strapped me into the hospital bed with these thick brown belts. I kept screaming at them that I didn't want to take the shots, I didn't want to take the shots, I would kill them or they'd have to kill me first. I didn't want to take those shots! They told me to calm down. Dr. Yadegar, I believe that's what his name was. He told me to calm down, that this could be difficult or easy, depending on how I acted. They're going to stick 21 needles into your stomach, Rowe told me. That's a great number, isn't it? 21 needles. One after the other. Over and over again, into your gut. And you can't do anything about it. I started screaming at him to just shut up. The doctor said I had hydrophobia. What the hell? I'm not hydrophobic! I love water! I couldn't breathe...
I remember throwing an absolute fit when I saw the first needle. I screamed as best I could, but my throat was so tight! "I don't want 21 shots to the gut!" I screamed. "I don't want 21 shots to the gut!" Dr. Yadegar said to relax, that things were different now, and that only 3 needed to be administered. He said he was surprised how well I was resisting the hydrophobia. A couple of nurses held me down. I saw them bringing the needle close to my skin. I called out for Rowe.
I'm at my dad's for a little while, just to visit. I have to go back to the hospital. They said I'd been in a coma for a little while, just an hour or two. They expected me to be that way for months. Maybe I'll be able to stay home tomorrow.
I haven't heard from Rowe at all, but I'm pretty sure this isn't the last I've heard from him. I've made a big, big mistake, calling out for him. I invited him back... I don't really want him around anymore. Not really. Not really... I think I may have to look through my dressers for Dr. Rosario's number. I hoped to never see her again. She was nice and everything... but seeing her again means that Rowe is coming back. So far, I've seen him twice after a four-year absence. I hope I never, ever see him again. But I have a really sinking feeling that I will.
 Bleeding Apocalypse · Sat Mar 12, 2005 @ 04:50pm · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
