Code Red Says Hello

Chapter 1

I look to the right, the gun barrel nudges my head. My eyes widen as I slowly put my hands up. He tells me to turn around and pats me down. "Where's the wallet?" a rough voice spits. I tell him "Front pocket." He reaches slowly keeping the gun to my temple. When he got ahold of my wallet, I quickly pinned his hand with mine and threw an elbow in between me and the gun. We wrestled for a couple seconds. I managed to pin his arm to his throat and lifted him against a wall. "Drop the gun." I say staring into his eyes.

My eyes open. It's busy and hot at work and with the machines vibrating constantly, I must have dozed off. Wiping the drool from my lip I check the time. "Well I have an hour left, let's get all the work done." I walk outside and the light blinds me, so I put on my sunglasses. With my hair in a mess and my clothes worn four days in a row, I take the garbage to the dumpster and pick up after these miserable grown children.

Closing time arrives so I pack up and drive home. I'm greeted by her with dinner. I take it graciously not eating for my third ten hour shift. "You really have to eat baby." She tells me in a caring tone. I stare at the food and say "I know hun. It's hard to remember sometimes." She puts two hands on my face and makes me look at her. "I'm proud of how hard you work for us, but you have to take care of yourself too." I touch her hand, look in her eyes, smile and say "I know baby, I'll try harder."

Chapter 2

"Last year, I lost eighty pounds in six months, unexplainably. I was, larger, athletically built and tall. The days would pass and meld into one another and I'd just be in the trance of life. I would fast because I wasn't hungry and ended up looking like skin and bones. After a while I got into the doctors, who told me I was hypoglycemic. This is easily fixed by eating more often... However this costs money."

Five days have passed with one meal at night. The mornings are so blurry I'm on autopilot to work. The afternoons either pass quickly or so slow that I forget to eat. My stomach churns and aches like it's hungry but I am nauseous and haven't had an appetite. "Lately, I've been surviving on cigs and energy drinks." I say to my manager as we're switching shifts. We laugh and I take off, lighting a cig for the road.

My eyes open. Still on the road home, my eyes widen as I gather myself. "Must have dozed off" I say to myself. Then my stomach begins to churn. The ache becomes almost to much. I open the window to get some fresh air, it's not working. I start sweating profusely and the skin under my eyes becomes itchy.

I look in the mirror and a slight rash has broken out, making my cheeks red and bumpy. I pull over as I start feeling my stomach move up to my chest. There was a car coming now, so I had to crawl across the passenger seat to escape. I only made it into the seat and swung the door open before the urge was too much.

Chapter 3

My eyes open. Gravel digging in my cheeks and flies circling the pile of puke I landed on. I groan trying to gather the strength to move. "It's dark. How long have I been here?" I ask myself still laying on the side of the road. After a few minutes of encouraging self talk, I gathered the strength to get up. Brushing my self off, I lean against the car and find my cigarettes and phone. "Eighteen missed messages?!" I yell in dismay. I get in the car and continue home.

I fly in the parking lot and into my spot with screeching tires. I gather my hoodie and rush into the apartment building. I unlock the door with my keys jingling frantically and hurry in. It was dark. "Honey" I say to silence. I look around and putting my things away. No answer. "She isn't here?!" I say confused. I pull out my phone to check the messages, to find out out all the messages and calls are gone.

"Shit, where is she?" I ask myself in a worry. I look through my phone and couldn't find her parents number. "What the hell?" I mutter as I dial my dad's number. "Hey dad, I just got home. Do you know where she is?" I ask, faking calm. He says "Where who is?" I tell him her name and hear silence. "Son, who are you talking about?" my dad asks me after the long silence.