Coming down with something more Chapter 5/?
Coming down with something more Chapter 5/?
Jude was floating in and out of consciousness. A row of hazy pictures swirled around his feverish mind and an odd, high-pitched melody completed the eerie feeling.
He didn´t know how much time had passed since the last time he lost the fight against sleep but the dreams were nice enough at first to not care so much. Except for that stupid background noise, which reminded him of old Hitchcock movies.
But like it always is with nice dreams, in particular the feverish ones, they don´t stay that way. Never.
*It was night. He saw delicate, white crystals, swirling around each other in an innocent, soundless mating dance.
Everything seemed so peaceful. Then, colorful little lights gleamed through the silent darkness.
Slowly, he moved towards the friendly and inviting blinking.
Shady silhouettes became visible and he quickened his pace. Something good was waiting behind the dimly illuminated walls that came into sight.
There was a door...and a softly lit window just for him to peer into.
A feeling of indescribable joy made his body shudder...or was it something else?...as soon as he set eyes on the familiar figure.*
A blissful smile flashed over Jude´s flushed face and the well-known name formed on his lips.
He was finally home.
But the mind is a devious thing.
Just now bliss on earth and in the next moment you´re falling into the deepest and darkest abyss.
*In his dream, Robert turned slowly around, seductive smile on his lips. How he missed that smile.
He could feel himself smiling back as the bubble shattered into billion little, hurtful shards as Susan appeared, smiling at him too.
Her mouth formed words he could all too easily read.
"He is mine, mine, mineminemine." Robert's face was suddenly just millimeters away, just separated by the thin windowpane but it could easily be the thickest armoured glass or a big, wide ocean between them.
The beloved face changed into a sneer and his words echoed in his mind.
"What are you doing here? Get out of my life. Get out, get out, getoutgetoutgetout."*
Jude awoke with a harsh gasp. Panting heavily, he sat up. Clutching his aching head with his hands, he struggled unsuccessfully with reality. For a moment he couldn´t breathe and his sick body was just part of the problem. Panic set in, along with an overwhelming sensation of claustrophobia.
He had to get out, getout outoutout.
Weakly but determined, the younger man scrambled out of his ruffled and sweat soaked bed.
Blindly he snatched his sweater, laying rumpled on the fawn carpet. He tried to wriggle his way into the damn cotton thing but the sleeves were twisted and he just needed to get ...OUT.
No...IN. Jesus.
“When I´m out I call my mom, I call my mom...nonono, not my mom,” he mumbled into the seam of his shirt as it finally gave in and his head popped out of the right hole.
It wasn´t an easy task to complete and it left him more then ever out of breath and dizzy but in the end he succeeded, every limb in the right, designated place.
The world was turning around him and Jude had to blink more then once to find his focus again.
His feet hurt and he couldn´t remember to save his life why.
Jude made his way out of the bedroom into the hall, slipped into one of his sneakers, snapped his cell phone, which was slumbering mysteriously on the hall stand, and minutes later he was out.
Without a coat or a hat or anything appropriated for the cold February weather in Canada, he left.
Out out out.
The bloody trail he left behind in his hasty escape was a tell-tale for everyone who came into the room, leaving much to the imagination for innocent intruders.
o~o
Arriving in Toronto seemed like a blessing. It was cold, much colder then in L.A. The city was in the fist of an all too famous Canadian winter.
Robert had just left the warmth of the airport hall, breathing in the little white crystals that swirled through the clear, biting winter air.
His breath formed little clouds, settling on his cashmere scarf and leaving it damp.
Robert´s freezing hands fumbled around in his coat pockets, determined to find the little note which contained the address of the hotel Jude was living in.
Ahh....there it was. One King West. 1 King Street west. Okay, he needed a cab.
“CAB!”
o~o
Thirty minutes later, Robert was standing in front of an very impressive, historical re-built entrance.
He felt kind of breathless, excited even.
Jude was in there. Somewhere between this massive walls, the heart he so much desired was beating in an rhythmical beat equal to his own. Closing his eyes, he stood still for a moment.
Then someone jostled him and the moment was over.
o-o
With his natural charm and his well known face, Robert got the floor and the room number of Jude´s residence easily enough.
Floor 8. Of course.
Stepping inside the lift, Robert asked himself silently what he should say to the man he shoved away so easily months ago.
"I am so sorry, but I loved you all the time?" Too cheesy.
"Sorry, I was an ass but I love you and Susan loves you too?" Too much too soon.
He took a deep breath, calming himself to a reasonable level. Just minutes and he would meet him.
But Jude sounded sick on the phone. He was here because of that. He was his friend and he would act just like that, as a friend.
*Bling!*
Getting out of the elevator, Robert surveyed the corridor.
He hated hotel floors with a passion. In his old days, before Susan, it was always a game to find the correct one.
But he was clean now and his friend needed help.
The concierge had told him to go left and the second door would be his goal.
He saw the door, the open door. Just a narrow slit but open. Then he saw the blood on the hallway floor and his heart stopped.
“Jude...JUUUUUDE.....?”
TBC.