On
Falling In And Out Of Storyside...
Part
13
Naomi
sighed as much as a bassinet could. These people were terribly sickening. She
had never believed it possible to fall in actual love with another race of
being, especially not a gnome for pity's sake (sex was another matter entirely,
she conceded). But here was this
It
was definitely time to leave.
She
changed herself back to normal and cradled Joshua in her arms. The whole
break-in had been almost too easy. Robin was sure to be looking for her here
relatively soon, but setting the magic sensors off in the west wing with a
timed magic burst had taken care of that. Whomever had
opened the door after that had apparently been satisfied with her rendition of
Joshua's bassinet and left...she hoped. Baby bassinets couldn't see, but they
could feel a door shutting without too much difficulty.
Then,
again, she had never smelled that odd scent of tobacco around Mia before...
"Don't
forget to say good-bye," came a voice from the
bed.
Naomi's
eyes opened wide. "Mia?"
"Please."
Jerry rose and walked over to stand a few feet away from Naomi. "Nice
trick, that shapeshifting thing."
"How'd
you know?" she sighed.
"The
guard swears he didn't have a twin and if he did, that twin would've left the
room by now," Jerry explained.
"You
are supposed to be down in the west wing realizing how wrong you all
were," Naomi said, pointing in that direction.
"I
needed a cigarette," he shrugged, putting a cigarette in his mouth.
"It just occured to me who you remind me
of,"
Naomi
frowned irritably. Plans as crafty as hers were not made to be thwarted by mere
humans. She wanted to be angry, but this was past the time for doing that. "Who?" she asked wryly.
"A
friend of mine named Daina." He pulled out his lighter and Naomi gasped.
"What, it's just a lighter..."
"No,
not that!" she whispered. "You know Daina?"
"Hell,
yeah, I know Daina. I was talking to her before I came here," he said.
The
door opened and they both looked around, Jerry putting his cigarette away
before he did. Robin and King Daniel entered in softly behind him, and Magbert and Crystal opened the door from their room.
"What's
going on?"
"I
did not do it!" Naomi said immediately. To her surprise, everyone
in the room burst into merry laughter.
"They
know that already, Naomi," Jerry said laughing.
The
glow orb at the side of Mia's bed turned up and everyone looked over at the
sleepy little girl. "What's going on?" she murmured. "Oh, hi, Naomi."
"Hi,
kid," Naomi grumbled. "What is this, 'they know already' stuff?"
"Robin
and I told King Daniel you were innocent," Jerry said.
"And
I told him that she had attacked you first," Magbert
added.
"So...so
I'm not in trouble?" Naomi asked, warily eyeing the occupants of the room.
"Strangely
enough, Naomi," Robin said, "you've become more of a tragic martyr
figure."
"Unless
you'd rather be trouble," the king added.
"No...no, that's fine," Naomi said, hands up in protest.
"I can deal with the martyr figure deal for right now." She thought
for a moment, then added, hopefully, "I could
also deal with some food, too."
I
woke up to find myself still in the hospital chair I had fallen asleep in at
Jerry's side. Never in my life had I ever felt so guilty about anything. The
minute I saw that roller skate hurtling toward Jerry's head, I should've said
something, but I barely saw it myself.
Then
when he hit the ground, I thought it was pretty funny...until I realized he
wasn't getting up.
The
rest of the evening had been a nightmare. Riding in the ambulance to the
hospital, trying to get a hold of Jerry's mother and then having him be unconscious
this long...
I
had already decided I wasn't leaving his side until he woke up. I had already
been here since before midnight and it had to be practically a quarter to 4 in
the morning now. The sleep I had gotten had been drug induced. The night
nurse had felt sorry for me and had given me some sleep aid.
In
fact, I wasn't completely awake now, I thought, looking around the room
groggily. I looked at him, hooked up to his IV and his heart monitor and closed
my eyes again, not wanting to see anymore. As I drifted back into sleep, my
mind shifted me from my conscious mind to my unconscious mind. I was in bed in
my subconscious room and not any more awake than I had been in reality.
A
tap at my door made me groan. Did I have to have company right now?, I thought irritably. I sighed, then
muttered...
"Come
in!"
Naomi
gave Robin a wounded look. "I thought you said I wasn't in trouble,"
she whined.
"You're
not," Robin replied. "But Jerry needs to get home and this is the
only way." Robin opened the door and entered the room, leaving Jerry and
Naomi in the doorway.
Jerry
had been surprised when, after leaving King Daniel's castle, they had entered a
door through Robin's castle and found themselves in this strange passageway
that had led them to this simple wooden door, but he was even more surprised at
Naomi's uncharacteristic fear.
"You're
scared, aren't you?" he grinned.
"No-oooooo!" said Naomi, not nearly as confident as she
was trying to be. "I'm just making sure I'm still not being blamed for
this."
"Come
on, you two," Robin said from inside the room. Naomi hesitated, but Jerry
took her by the arm and pulled him into the room.
Again,
Jerry was surprised by what he saw. The room didn't look like any of the castle
rooms he'd gotten used to seeing. This room looked like it belonged to a kid,
male probably, about 16 or 17. There were pictures, posters, baseball pennants
and other memorabilia everywhere, as if the owner of the room were running a
sports bar. A cluttered desk was nearest the door nest to a papasan
chair, a bedside table and a bed with one occupant.
"This
had better be damned important," came a
familiar voice from the bed.
"Oh,
it is," Robin smiled. "Roll over for a moment."
The
figure in the bed rolled over to look at them. "Oh, hi,
Jerry...Jerry????"
"Daina???"
said Jerry in response.
"What
the hell are you doing here?" the two said simultaneously.
"Jerry,
I live here, so to speak," Daina explained. "This is my
subconscious mind you're in and you are not supposed to be here. You're
out cold in Lewisville HCA, man!"
"I'm
what?"
"You
got clocked on the head with a skate some kid threw across the snack bar. Don't
you remember? I was telling you about this story I was working on and, boom,
you got knocked on your ass!"
"I
remember hearing somebody say 'heads up!', and then I ended up here,"
Jerry said, still confused.
"Oh,
this is good," Naomi grinned, as she and Robin made themselves
comfortable. "Thanks for making me a part of this one, Rob."
"Jerry,
don't you get it?" Daina explained, getting out of the bed. "You got
knocked out, I was thinking about you, you were thinking about me, we both had
the story thing going on...how long have you been here?"
"Long
enough," Robin said. She nudged Naomi, who grudgingly told the whole
story, including her illicit activities on Daina's
computer. Daina didn't even get angry.
"I
don't believe this!" she said, with a laugh. "All this time I
thought you were dying and you were here all along. That's how this
happened to me, too! I got hit in the head really bad a long time ago and then
I had this bizarre adventure in my mind and from then on, my subconscious and
my conscious mind worked together."
"Are
you telling me this is all some dream we're both having?" Jerry
asked incredulously.
"Exactly!"
said Daina. "And better than that, it's some story I'll have when I wake
us both up. Say your goodbyes, man, and let's get outta
here."
"No
wonder you knew all that stuff," said Jerry, turning to Naomi. "About Girbauds and all that."
Naomi
shrugged. "You pick this stuff up. See ya,"
she said, then got up and left.
Robin
stood up and apologized for her. "Naomi is not a goodbye sort of
person," she explained. "She won't forget you, though. Do take care
of yourself and watch out for those flying objects."
"Skates,"
said Daina and Jerry at the same time.
"Not
necessarily," said Robin, turning with a smile.
Daina
and Jerry exchanged glances, then smiled, too. A trap
door appeared at their feet and Daina stamped on it. "Damn," she
said. "It's the drugs that nurse gave me," she said. "Normally,
these things open automatically. Waking up is gonna
be a real bit....."
The
door swung open and the two went hurtling through the bright light until they
both landed...
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