Sleepy

*bzzt*bzzzzzt*

*bzzt*bzzzzzt*

*bzz- *tap*

"Mnnn, my head... I knew I should have stayed away from that liquor..." Rolling over, I find a more comfortable spot curled into a ball as my breathing slows down, relaxed.

As I sink back into the covers and my consciousness starts to fade, a spark of thought crosses my mind and my eyes start to crack open.

"How'd I get home..."

*bzzt*bzzzzzt*

My phone on the night stand starts going off again as I slowly sit up amid the buzzing. Every inch I move my head pounds to the rhythmic alarm. My heart rate starts to speed up as my breath quickens and anxiety grips my chest. A high pitched ringing in my ears drowns out the vibrations until the pounding of my own heart is all I can hear...

"Ja-"

"Jack-"

"Jack! Wake up!"

A loud voice slowly pulls me out of my trance...

"Jack honey, wake up! Your going to be late for school!"

"Shoot, I'm late!"

Now fully awake I spring out of bed and start throwing on any piece of clothing that didn't smell like onions and old pizza crusts.

I came flying out of my room in my boxer briefs having only managed to find a black t-shirt and a single sock.

"Mom, where are my pants!?" I shout out as I made my way into the laundry room.

"They're in the dryer, and try not to space out too much at school today, ok?" She shouts back as I hear the front door close.

"Dang it, you could have woken me up earlier!!" I shouted back as I was hopping around on one foot trying to get the other foot in the pant leg.

No one responded since she had already left. Silence permeating throughout the house. It was an eerie silence, but a familiar one.

I managed to get dressed and make my way through the kitchen to the front door. My apartment is pretty small with just enough room to get around the boxes from when we moved in. I can't believe it's been almost a year now...

Just as I am reaching for the handle on the front door, I blink and come to a complete stop. The lights have gone out. The silence remains. I stand there motionless with my hand stretched out not willing to make a sound or move a muscle.

My chest starts to squeeze like it did when I woke up, my heart pounding in my ears.

I feel this low rumble come from behind me. It's like a growl, but also like the puttering of a motorcycle engine, deep and resonating. The engine revs a little bit and turns into more of a snarl. I can smell rotting flesh and blood from a breeze that engulfs me as I stand there petrified.

I can't move. The moment I twitch, I die. Seconds, minutes, hours, days... time seems infinite when your face to face with certain death.

My nerves wearing thin, my body starts to shake as my breathing gets shallow and quick.

I can feel it. It's going to pounce...

*knock*knock*

The lights are back on, and the silence is back. I managed to reach the door handle and open the door.

"Oh, your awake. Didn't expect you to be up and about already." I hear as I see this person start to put a key back into his pocket.

The person in front of me seemed kinda familiar. Lanky teen, brown hair, stupid smile plastered across his face. Very familiar, but not quite right...

"Hey Jack, you sure your good to be moving around right now? You don't look so good, man..." the smile slowly wilting into something resembling concern.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I feel fine man." I say as I force a smile across my face and step outside to close the door.

"Uh-huh, shake on it then." He says as he reaches out his hand.

I grab the outstretched hand in a firm grip and shake it like a whip. Quick and snappy at the apex with as much force behind it as I could muster, smiling slightly from my proud 'manly' handshake.

The person's hand easily slips out the moment he slightly test my grip.

"Sweaty palms, dilated eyes.." he reached over and touches the back of my neck. "Cold sweat... you had one of your episodes didn't you?"

I stare at him blankly, trying to piece together just what this person was talking about.

"Hey Jack, stay with me here, I know your still going through a lot right now, but the last time you had one of these episodes you forgot who I was and yelled at the teacher and that was just last week. Mrs. Kline is still out for emotional trama, but I will say you calling her out as this demonic domineering dominatrix was the funniest thing I've seen in a while. Right up there with your hallucination of people flying in the sky."

I managed to calm down a bit and contemplate what all he is saying, apparently I know this guy, he knows about my condition, we must be close acquaintances since he knows so much about me, and yet I still don't know his name...

I looked over to him slightly raising an eyebrow.

"My name is Cale, dude."

"Well of course your Cale, I knew you were Cale. Why would I forget you, Cale?" I say as I lock my front door and start heading to the corner.

"Hurry up Cale, we are going to be late!"

Left at my front door 'Cale' sighed ans shook his head while mumbling under his breath, "You never change do you..."