I wake up to the enchanting and mouth-watering smell of pancakes. Always the best way to start the day. And the smell of pancakes can only mean one thing: Claire is home.
I glance at my watch and realize the clock already strikes 6. I force my tired body up and in a swift move I make my bed up. Almost 20 hours of 'sleep' doesn't do justice to my body. My eyelids are still drooping unanimously, my head is still pounding, and my legs are still killing me.
It's Friday, Friday, gotta get up on Friday ...
The catchy song keeps ringing in my head as I drag myself to the bathroom to get a quick shower. Ever since I first heard it, I couldn't get it off my mind every Friday. It's one of those songs, you know? You don't really like it, but you can't get it off of your head!
One more day 'til Saturday, one more day to freedom. I keep telling myself that. One of the benefits of being an anesthesiology resident is having your weekends totally to yourself. No waking up early, no as-quick-as-Flash shower, no morning rounds, and no surgery. Well, unless there is an emergency. In that case, we physicians never sleep. Of course, I still have to check on John tomorrow since he's my responsibility. But, there is no fixed schedule for it and I can come anytime I want!
The sane part of me tells me to quickly head to the bathroom, but the smell of the freshly cooked pancake entices me more. I sluggishly change my direction towards the kitchen.
"Mornin'," Claire's high-pitched voice greets me.
Claire, still dressed in her lime-colored nurse uniform, stands next to the pantry with her huge long blonde hair let loose, cooking a deliciously looking pancake.
"Morning," I yawn.
I open the refrigerator and take a carton of low-fat milk out. I pour it into my mug as I stare at the photo printed on it.
Ridgeview High, Class of 2009.
There I was, among the students, wearing an all-black toga with the biggest smile I've ever made. Never in my mind had I thought I would end up in a small town like Casa Nova. I'm not going to lie; I miss San Francisco, my family, and somehow even my so-called friends. But, going back there is not an option right now.
"Okay. What's going on? I thought I was the one who was stuck all night dealing with a batshit crazy lady. Didn't you have your day off yesterday?" Claire's voice shatters my daydream.
Of course, I look terrible, considering I barely got any sleep last night. Why? Because that stupid evil consciousness of mine kept waking me up every five minutes or so, tempting me to go back to the life I chose to leave!
Curious as to how bad I currently look, I put my mug in the pantry and decide to make a quick detour to the bathroom. Once I glance at the mirror, my own reflection almost shocked me to death.
It's bad. It is really, really, bad.
Normally, my eyes are already big and look a bit like goldfish. But today, I look like Gollum, for God's sake!
There are dark circles and heavy eye bags around my big dreadful eyes, my usually glowing fair skin looks very pale, and—holy cow! Is that a freaking line around the corner of my eye?
It's amazing how much a lack of a good-night sleep can do to your face.
Damn you, evil me! Damn you!
I wash my face thoroughly with clean water before quickly drying it with a towel. When I drag myself back to the kitchen, Claire is now sitting on the black stool, enjoying her pancake. She already saves me some on my plate.
At times like these, I can really use someone to talk to. But I can't. If I tell Claire what's really going on, I bet she'll faint. Worse, she'll kick me out of the house, tell everyone in this town that I'm crazy, and I'll be forced to move to another town—again.
"Alexis, are you okay?" she asks, her voice full of concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I take my seat across Claire on the other black stool.
I grab a fork from the spoon-basket, stuck it on the pancake and quickly munch a bite of it. Hmm. Definitely one of the perks of having a roommate who can cook marvelously.
"So, do you really think that missing girl is dead?" Claire's eyes gleamed with curiosity.
I narrow my eyes. "What missing girl?" I say, in between munching my breakfast.
She rolls her eyes and sighs. With a miffed look on her face, she grabs today's newspaper next to her plate and unfolded it before holding it for me to see.
Have You Seen Her? Local Girl Has Been Missing for Two Days.
I put my fork on my plate and stretch my hand forward to take the newspaper from Claire. The news about the missing girl fills almost three-quarters of the page, but the part which grabs my attention is the one at the bottom of the newspaper.
Car Accident Leaves a Man in Coma.
Apparently, the story about the missing girl has forced John Doe's accident report to take only a tiny part of the newspaper. Now, who is going to read it, if it's only written in a two-times-two-inches column?
"So, any news about that John Doe?" I ask, putting the newspaper next to my plate.
Instead of giving me an answer, Claire stares at me with a mischievous look on her face. I furrow my brows, not understanding what she's leading me into. "What?"
"You're just looking for another reason to see Lucas, aren't ya?"
"What?" I squeak. "No!"
Claire giggles. "Anyways, you're coming tonight, right?"
"What's tonight?"
I'm about to take another bite of my delicious pancake when the loud noise of Claire's fork hitting her plate stops me. I raise my head only to see Claire threatening me with her baby-blue eyes. I draw my head back slightly with a mixture of fear, confusion, and a tiny bit of a frown.
I ponder my thoughts for our plans tonight. What exactly do I forget? Let's see. It's not Claire's birthday. It's definitely not my birthday. It's not Dean's or Nana's either. And I highly doubt she'll invite me to her and Dean's anniversary. Well, unless they were about to announce their engagement, to which I truly think is not the case here. So... what exactly am I missing?
"Lexi..." she growls. Claire looks at me as if she's about to kill me this very second. I grin awkwardly in return, not sure to apologize or not.
"It's Katie's birthday party tonight!"
"Ah... "
Katie is Claire's family cat, who's sixteen going on seventeen tonight. I'm not kidding. She may be old, but she still has the spirit of a three months old kitten. I still think it's weird that someone is throwing a birthday party for a cat, but then again, why the hell not? Pets are family too.
"Just be there at seven, okay turtle?" Claire stands up with her plate on her grasp, walking towards the sink as she shoves the last of her pancake to her mouth.
"Yes, ma'am." I mock as I bring my hands closer to my temple, imitating a two-finger salute towards her. As I munch my pancake, I ask, "Wait, I thought we're going there together?"
"I can't," she says as the loud sound of the water faucet fills the room. "I have to be there at noon to cook." She turns off the water. Waving her plate to dry, she turns around and shoots a mischievous look at me. "Or do you wanna come and help me with that too?"
"Oh, uhm, no. I can't. I have to deal with, uhm, stuffs. At the hospital. You know, busy, busy, busy," I stutter. I've always been a bad liar, and lately, it seems to be getting worse. I shove the last of my pancakes to my mouth and quickly put the dishes in the sink and ran away.
"You better clean those plates, missy!" I can hear Claire's vague cries. Even though Claire's younger than me, I swear she sounds like my mom at times.
"Later!" I cry as I head straight to the bathroom.
I take a quick shower and slip on my blue shirt and black pants. After finish drying my hair and losing the fight against the frizz, I put on some basic makeup before putting on my white sneakers. I take my wallet and cellphone and put them inside my brown sling bag.
"Bye, Claire!"
I run down the stairs and find myself out of the apartment building in no time. Unlike yesterday, the weather today is quite nice. No thunder, no wind, just the sun shining down brightly like that baby sun on Teletubbies. But, you can never be sure of Casa Nova's weather. It can be cold and raining once, then the next minute it turns into Sahara at noon.
The same goes for my life.
I'm not a clairvoyant. I can't predict what's coming next. But as I step inside the hospital, my heart keeps beating faster while sweat begins to fill my palm. There's something odd lingering in the atmosphere. I don't know what it is yet, but I'm going to find out soon enough.
Author's Note:
So, what do you think will happen?
Also, Smeagol and Gollum are characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings (which is one of my favorite books). In the book, the character has two personalities, in which Smeagol is the good one and Gollum is the evil one. Call me weird, but Gollum is actually one of my favorite characters from the book xD
Anyway, thanks for reading and looking forward to your comments!