Reluctant Awakening

As I sat in my chair watching the television, pills going from my hand to my mouth more often than a child with M&Ms, I heard the door open and close quickly. I sat there, calm, without a care in the world. Another pill entering my mouth.

“Is your ailment of the heart or of the soul?” I asked the stranger.

A feminine voice called out, “I heard you can help me?”

“Yes, but which is it, heart or soul?”

“I was told you have some sort of medicine that can ease certain… um… obsessions.”

“I see, it’s of the heart. Well, I do have some,” Another pill exited my hand and flew at my lips.

By this time I could tell this was a middle aged woman, in the process of going through her mid-life crisis. Well, I think.

I turn to her in my chair and her eyes widen just enough for me to make out her surprise at my appearance. I know I am not a handsome man but it still hurts every time.

I take a moment to look her over: distressed eyes, a mouth half open, her shoulders hunched in pleading desperation as her hands wring each other. Just looking at her state I can tell she’s been through something that shook her to her core. If anyone needs these meds, it's her.

I walk to the bathroom of the small motel room, open the cabinet and pull out an empty bottle, pouring some of the pills into it until it’s half full, which should be about a 30 day supply, give or take.

“It’ll be $400,” I tell her.

“$400? I don’t have that kind of money. I thought you said you could help me.”

“Help is rarely free, everything has a price.”

The woman looked dejected with her eyes at the floor as she turned to the door. As she opened the door I told her to wait. “There may be something you can do for me.”

She looked at me, “Anything, just name it.”

My eyes found the bed and directed her towards it.

“Anything but that. I’m married.”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you then,” I said as I ushered her through the door.

“Wait, wait,” she turned to me, “does that stuff really work?”

“Yes, of course.”

“It’s not snake oil?”

“It’s not snake oil.”
Her eyes leered at the bed, “do I have to kiss you?”

I told her to wait a second as I searched the room’s closet. In less than a minute I had found what I set out to find, a ski mask, “Here, just wear this and kiss me through it.”

She agreed to the terms set out before her and we laid on the bed.

A knock at the window interrupted us. The woman, certain it was her husband, hid in the bathroom. The knock seemed to me to be an accident, and my suspicions were confirmed soon after as the man who the sound had come from barged in the room.

“Excuse me, I was in the middle of something.” I said calmly.

“Sorry, but I heard you were the one to talk to for my… condition.”

“And that would be?”

“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t think! Ever since that damned plane! We were supposed to die. I was ready! And when we didn’t, well… now look at me.” the man was shaking and couldn’t seem to get a hold of himself. I tried to remember when I was like that, but it escaped me.

“Well, let me just get you a bottle.” I started towards the bathroom where the woman was hiding. “But it’ll cost you.”

“I have the money, I don’t care, just fix me.”

In the bathroom the woman said, “Is it my husband?”

“No, just a customer.” I got the bottle meant for her and handed it to her, “When you need more, come back and we can do this again. For now I need to make a deal with this man.” She agreed and put on her clothes and left.

I grabbed another bottle and brought it out, “That’ll be $600.”

“$600? I was told $400!”
“This is a room.”

“What?”

“This is a room, as it is inside as opposed to outside. And when one enters a room they are agreeing to the fact that it is a room.” The man seemed confused by my explanation, so I pushed further, “when at the beach or on the street people agree to certain conditions of being in that space, just as they agree on certain conditions when they enter a room. Well, you broke that agreement when you entered at an inopportune time. Thus, the heftier price.”

The man didn’t seem to like that as he pulled a knife. “I don’t have that kind of money and I need this stuff now.” 

I calmly told him that I couldn’t help him and that he needed to leave if he would not pay the specified price. He attacked me, however, and swung his knife at me. I dodged and grabbed his arm.

“You need to leave, now.” My voice was level and he looked at me as if I were an alien.

He pulled his arm free and said, “If that’s what those drugs turn me into then you can keep them, I just want to stop worrying so much, I don’t want to be a zombie.” He looked at the knife and handed it to me, “You do it.”

“Do what?”

“I’m too scared. That’s why I came here. I thought you had a solution but I can see you don’t. I don’t want to live like you, but I can’t keep going living like this.”

“I’m still not clear on what you want.”

He took my hand, which was still holding the knife, and put it to his neck. “Just make it quick. Please.”

I hesitated, the knife gleamed between my fingers and I couldn’t find a reason not to do it, but I still hesitated. Finally I let the man have what he wanted. The blood ran from him like a river and squirted against the walls like a geyser. His eyes lit up with pain and shock as he fell to the floor. He gasped for air and crawled towards the door, which the woman had left open as she rushed out. In the darkness the man crawled into the parking lot before collapsing into a dust pile which had gathered from wind like every parking lot seemed to have.

I was suddenly aware of the color red around me and the coolness of the metal blade I was holding. I ran to the nightstand and grabbed a flashlight I had kept in there, walking out to inspect the man I had just injured. His eyes were still open but there was nothing behind them anymore. Blood pooled beneath him in the dirt and stained it.

In an instant it was as if a demon went from one host to another and I saw myself as the man on the ground. Lip quivering, my hand shakily went to my pocket and pulled out a handful of pills. I tried to make it to my mouth with them but I merely threw them at my mouth, allowing a few to get in.

I took the man and put him in the motel’s dumpster before going to clean up the blood.

When I finished I went to the cabinet and restocked my pockets before sitting down in front of the television once more.