Page 2 of Phoenix Chosen 2
Doubt I can reach him on a cell phone, though.
“No,” I say.
Dr. Luna smiles reassuringly at me. “Well, if you need anything, you just hit that button right there next to your bed, and there’s a remote if you’d like to watch TV. Any questions for me?”
I just want to be left alone so I can put this jumble of puzzle pieces that are my memories back into place. This pain in my chest, this crushing feeling of loss, should be evidence enough that Circeana, Kalistratos, and the baby quickly growing in my impossible womb weren’t just a delusion that happened in the moments before waking up from bonking my head. My mind is desperately looking for some keystone to keep it from pulling itself apart.Pop, pop.The threads are snapping.
“No,” I say, but as she’s just about to leave the room, I blurt out, “Uh, when I was brought in, was I…bigger?”
She gives me a puzzled look. “Bigger?”
I place my hand on top of my stomach. Surely, she would’ve said something if… “By the way, Tyler, you’re also a medical mystery. You were the first pregnant man on earth. Unfortunately, we couldn’t save the baby…”
“There’s some swelling if that’s what you mean,” she says. “It may get worse, but we’ll keep an eye on it. Nothing to be worried about.”
“Thank you,” I mumble quietly.
She leaves the room, and I hear two nurses outside chatting about their kids’ new obsession with Taylor Swift. The doorshuts, and it’s quiet again except for the beep of the heart monitor and the vague sound of traffic from outside of my window. All of this is real, but so is the place inside of my mind.
Emergency contact. Who can I call?
Jeff?
The name intrudes into my thoughts like an unwanted phone call.
Hell, no.
There was a time not too long ago when Jeff would’ve been an immediate call. Not anymore.
Anyway, the thought of having someone take me back to my apartment feels like surrender. I’m not willing to let myself accept that this is where I’m supposed to be right now.
Pop, pop. My head fucking hurts.
How can I return to Circeana when I have no idea how I got there in the first place? It wasn’t something I made happen. It was like I was plucked randomly from here, like a prize in a damn crane game.
I close my eyes. I’ve probably prayed twice before in my life, but it’s all I can think to do now.
Please, I think.Great Phoenix, if you’re real, and if you were the one who brought me to Circeana, then please bring me back. Take me back to him.
Part of me really believes that I’ll get an answer, but I only hear silence.
I was brought there for a reason, right?I’m practically shouting my thoughts into the ether.This can’t be it. I’m not supposed to be back on Earth, am I? Come on, just open your little portal and transport me back through. Drop me back into that swamp.
I squirm anxiously in the bed. Nothing. Not so much as a peep or a squawk. Goddamn chicken.
“Yeah, that’s right,” I say aloud. “You damn flaming chicken!”
I feel crazy and terrified, and all alone. I feel gray, like a lifeless shadow. Tears brim my eyes as I turn into the pillow. God, have I really lost him?
Just let me sleep, then, I think.Let me go back in my dreams.
There’s a knock on the door and I wince as I jerk upright. The door handle turns, and I fully prepare myself to see another world shimmering on the other side of the doorway—but it’s a nurse holding a plastic storage box.
“Hey, Tyler!” he says in a voice a little too peppy for me to handle right now. “My name’s Marc, I’m your nurse for today. Glad to see you’re awake.”
I deflate into the bed with a quiet groan.
“I have your things here,” he says. “Everything that was on you in the accident. Bad news, bud.” He holds up my cell phone and gives me an apologetic shrug. The front is completely shattered.