Leah woke up with a pounding headache. She pushed herself up in her bed and clutched her head, groaning. What happened last night? She thought to yourself. She looked around the room, the sun streaming through her curtains, her messy room visible in the sunlight. When she felt a piece of paper under her left hand, she looked down. A post-it lay on the pillow next to her that read.
Leah,
I had a great time!
See you at the next.
- Jackson
Then the memories started came flooding back. She was dancing with Jackson at the bar, Jackson was a cousin of one of her friends that she met a couple days prior. They talked, danced, drank, kissed, drank some more. Feeling young and free, she took him to her place and had a great night together, and like they discussed he left before she woke up, not to make things awkward.
She stretched her legs and climbed out of bed, walking towards the small bathroom. She glanced at the clock, grumbling as she noticed she had to hurry for work. The shower was quick, but it did its job, waking her up. She got dressed and grabbed a couple of rice crackers from the kitchen, already popping one in her mouth and hurried out the flat.
"Shit!" She sighed and turned back, grabbing her purse from the chair near her front door and a light jacket before running down the steps. She had about 30 minutes to get to work. She grabbed her bike from the apartment buildings wall and jumped up and started paddling to the park. The park was starting to get crowded as she cycled through it, people getting to work, or families taking their kids to school in the spring breeze. She was cycling on the side of the pathway, when a red head suddenly popped up out of nowhere.
"Oi! Watch it!" She called out. The red head turned and looked at her wide eyed, before quickly stepping aside, almost losing his footing. She drove past him; his piercing blue eyes were locked on her. When she passed him, she took a glance over her shoulder as she drove out the park, but he was gone, nowhere to be seen. Weird. She thought to herself before she turned her head back to the road before her and continued her journey to work.
She just made it in time for work but couldn't keep her mind with it. Her boss handed out assignments for them to do, she took her stuff and flopped down at her computer, her head crashing on the keyboard.
"Hey, Leah." A voice called from behind her screen. "Long night?"
"Yes, now let me sleep." She grumbled on the keyboard.
"Leah-"
"Jesus, Kevin, what is it?" She looked up, glaring.
Kevin just nodded his head in the direction behind her, she turned and saw her boss walk up. She quickly sat up straight and typed the codes in her computer.
"Kevin. How are the weapons coming along?"
"Great, Dean. I'll have them done by noon." Kevin said as he typed away on his computer.
"And Leah, the vehicles?"
"Most of them are done." She said, looking up at her boss. "But when I put the tank in the system, it keeps buffering."
"Hmm." He said as he leaned down, looking at her screen. "Why don't you come into my office, Leah."
"Oh, alright." She said hesitantly and rolled her chair back. Kevin looked at her worried, mouthing What did you do?
Nothing! She replied as she followed Dean across the floor to his office. Dean took his seat behind his large desk and folded his hands in front of him.
"Sit down, Leah." He said calmly. Leah bit the inside of her cheek as she took one of the seats in front of him.
"I'm sorry the tanks aren't done yet." She started stammering but quickly shut her mouth as Dean held up his hand.
"I hear you are developing your own game."
"Oh." Relieve flooded through her. "Yes, but it's still in the early stages, nothing concrete."
"If you have something by the end of the month, I would like to see it."
"You would like to see my game?"
"Yes, I heard about the things you programmed when you were still at school, so I'm very interested to see what you can do."
"I - I think I can have something ready for you by the end of the month, basic programming and such."
"Brilliant." He said writing it down on the calendar. "Now, I want you to go home."
"Home?"
"Yes, it looks like you haven't slept, at all. And I want your full attention when you're here at work."
"I'm sorry, Dean."
"No, it's alright. You haven't had a day off since you started here. So, go home, rest up. And when you feel better you can work on your game." He said already standing up, Leah followed his lead and walked out of his office when he held the door open.
Kevin was standing closely, and when Dean closed the door, he immediately pounded on her. She quickly filled him in on what happened, before grabbing her stuff and took the elevator down. She had been at work for just over an hour and was already heading home. She took her bike from the bike storage and drove by the bakery for a sandwich and headed to the park.
When she entered the park, it was now almost empty as everyone had started work or school. So, she stepped off and walked besides her bike, enjoying the first real spring weather. She chose a bench not far from the lake and sat down, unwrapping her sandwich. After she finished eating, she closed her eyes for a moment, taking in the silence and fresh air.
When she opened them again, she saw the same red headed guy standing on the other side of the lake, his piercing blue eyes, again fixed on her. Leah looked around to see if he was looking at someone behind or next to her, but there was no one. When she looked back, the guy was gone.
"I think I'm still drunk." Leah muttered to herself, shaking her head. She stood back up and looked around her before climbing on her bike.
When she was halfway down the park, she swirled her bike and braked, bracing herself for the fall as she tried to avoid the same guy that appeared out of nowhere, in front of her. She winced as she tried to sit up, leaning on her hand. Her wrist was sprained or even broken; a large abrasion already forming on her underarm. She glared up at the man, who looked at her in shock.
"You could at least help me up, instead of just gawk! I crashed because of you." The red head frowned as he stepped closer, not saying anything, he just watched her. "Never mind." Leah grumbled. "What a gentleman you are."
She picked up her bike with tears in her eyes from the pain in her wrist. One hand on the bike, the other close to her chest, she started to walk away from the man.
"Wait!" He called out. She stopped and looked over her shoulder to him. He stood there, hand stretched out, looking a bit panicked. "You can see me?"
"Of course, I can see you! You're standing right in front of me!" She looked confused at him. "Do you need to see a doctor? I sure do." She whispered the last part to herself.
"No. Can you tell me where I am." He asked, looking around.
"London, Regent's Park to be exact. Are you sure you didn't bump your head?" She asked, kicking her bike stand with her foot and walked closer. The man stepped back slowly, looking nervous.
"I'm just trying to see if you have any bruises." She frowned at bit as she looked at him properly, taking in his features. Besides the piercing blue eyes, he had freckles that crossed the bridge of his nose. A thin scar ran from his ear to his jaw and another one from his neck until under his shirt. "Did you fall? You have scars." She asked attentively, looking back up in those blue eyes.
She reached her hand over to touch his arm before the man saw what she was doing, she reached him. But she didn't touch him; she went through him. Her eyes went wide and stepped back, gasping. She looked back up at the man and saw him looking at her with sad eyes.
"This isn't real." She said as she started to back away. "I drank too much last night, maybe smoked a bit too much." She shook her head, trying to clear it. "This isn't real." She whispered again as she reached her bike. The man still stood in the same place, watching her. She bumped her bike with her sore hand when she was backing away from him. "Fuck!" She cursed as she held her hand back to her chest.
The man took one step towards her, but she held out her hand. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
"I finally lost it." She said to herself and quickly climbed on her bike and drove off, her hand still tight to her chest. She cycled as fast as she could, not looking back. She didn't stop until she reached her flat. When she entered her kitchen, she grabbed her cell phone out of her bag and called the doctor as she sat on the small kitchen island. She could see the doctor immediately and hurried back down and walked one block further.
Her wrist was sprained, and the doctor gave her something for the pain and wrapped her wrist in.
"Are these safe? They don't cause hallucinations, or something do they?"
"No, Leah. I know your family history; these are safe to take. And we took a scan only a month ago, you're perfectly healthy."
"Thank you."
"You rest and come see me in a week. I'll write you a sicknote for work."
When she came back home in her one-bedroom flat, she crashed on her couch, eyes falling shut the moment her head touched the pillow. But she didn't sleep soundly, she slept restless, very restless. The man from the park with flashy red hair and piercing blue eyes kept appearing in her dreams. He didn't say much, just stood there watching her or looking over at the park. Sometimes he whispered I'm sorry, was it directed to her? She didn't know.
When she woke up, she groaned and pulled herself up in a sitting position, looking out the window. It was dark now, frowning she looked over at the clock on the wall, 9.30. She sighed and popped in a movie, as it rewinded, she grabbed a bag of popcorn and tossed it in the microwave. She pulled open her refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of wine before she changed her mind and switched it for a bottle of still water. When the microwave beeped, she tore open the package and poured it in a bowl, walking over to the couch. She pushed the play button on the remote and the movie started, one that could make her laugh, one that made her forgot about certain things, at least for 97 minutes. Who doesn't love Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. Because of her connections in the gaming world, she got an early, somewhat illegal copy of 10 Things I Hate About You. She already seen it three times since she got the tape only a few weeks ago.
But even the movie couldn't completely halt her thoughts as the red head kept popping up. She groaned in frustration, throwing a pillow at the TV. She grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned off the TV, before she changed into her pyjamas and crawled into bed. She sat with her back against the headboard and pulled out a notebook and a pen from her nightstand. She started to scribble down everything that had happened that day: What she did, ate, drank. What she felt that day: her emotions, her tiredness... everything. She ended the entry with the date on the bottom of the page and closed the book. She placed it back on her nightstand and laid down. Doing her exercises to calm down and fall to sleep easier. After two minutes of breathing exercises, she drifted off, now a more restful sleep.