U.S.S.A Alice

Chapter 3 A dark phantasm

I recoiled from the pain; flinging the knife behind me. I clutched my hand as it bled profusely. What was that dream? It felt so real...too real, was I losing my mind? I went over to the sink to wash the cut, it stung like hell as I watched a stream of red go down the drain. I went to the first aid kit we had on the wall and got some gauze and a bandage, I could only move my thumb slightly, I must have cut the tendon. I made my way to the car and got inside. "Car take me to the closest hospital please."  My heart was beating rapidly from the pain, I should've taken a pain pill or something. "Car, turn on the radio please."  The car beeped.- "Get ready for an hour of classic hits from the 20th century, starting with Haddaway's what is love"  The voice on the radio announced.- "Oh goddammit Damien, really? This was the last station you left off on?"  I called out in disbelief, I hadn't touched the radio since he had left. Even though I probably shouldn't, I decided to connect my wrist cell to the car's radio and play some music. I searched through the stuff I hadn't listened to a million times these last couple of years. "Oh, what the?."  It played an old death metal song I used to listen to when I was a metalhead, back when I was a teenager. I kinda wanted to bang my head to the song but I'd probably bang my hand on something, I just did it lightly, so as to not hurt myself again. 

I arrived at the hospital pretty quickly thankfully due to the low traffic. I rushed inside to find the wait to be a little longer than I would've liked. I clutched my hand in pain as I walked up to the unassuming medical receptionist.- "Hello can I help you?"  He asked. I sheepishly showed him my cut tendon, he looked at it with curiosity. "What happened to your hand?"  I winced a bit.- "Kitchen accident, I was making dinner and I must've zoned out then cut into the tendon."  I smiled awkwardly.- "Oh, I'll see if there's a doctor who can see you...ah, Dr. Moore is taking patients now, just follow the hospital bot"  A little blue and white robot rode up to me from down the hallway, it looked up at me with small blue digital eyes.- "Hey little guy, where to?"  It gestured its little hand at me to follow it; it led me to the doctor's office. "Thanks, little guy, too bad I can't take you home with me," I said patting it on its warm plastic head, it gave a low trill and rode off to find another patient. 

The Dr. looked up at me as I entered the room, it was a typical doctor's office with cute funny pictures on the wall, but there was one strange-looking one as well. The face in the painting looked like a person but something was off about it.- "So what's the problem?"  She asked sounding lethargic and not very interested.- "I cut myself while making dinner and this happened."  I removed the bandage and gauze revealing the bleeding wound on my hand, her expression changed quite a bit after seeing it. Dr. Moore took my hand and inspected the gash, she looked back at me like she was concerned.- "You did this?"  She asked and I nodded. "Either you've got a really sharp kitchen knife or you tried to cut your thumb off, most people with a cut like this would be in agony or would've fainted from the pain."-"Well I kind of was modified at birth to feel less pain, it still hurts a lot though."  She hummed after I told her that, she got up from her chair and told me to follow her. I looked back at that strange painting on the wall and saw it morph into the face of that creature from my dream. I quickly looked away from it and followed the doctor. 

Dr. Moore led me to a machine and told me to put my hand on the small surgery table; as my hand lay on the glass panel, the mechanical arms on the table whirred as they went to work on my hand. It was like my hand was healing in fast forward as the muscle and flesh were mended together like magic.- "Alright there we go, how's it feel?"  I opened and closed my hand to see how my hand was.-"It feels a bit numb but good as new." I said smiling.- "That's good to hear, um are you alright? You look a bit pale, maybe you've lost more blood than you thought."  I thought that maybe I should ask her about that painting.- "Actually I was kind of spooked by that painting in your office, it might just be from being in shock but...I thought I saw it move."  I said in a way knowing that I sounded crazy.- "Well you're not the first person it's had that effect on, it's based on a real Umaran painting and made like the real thing, for some reason their art has strange effects on people's perception of reality. Well, it's a good thing I'm not a psychologist."  She said half-jokingly. 

After I filled out some paperwork I called Lisa about tonight .- "Hey Alice, so did you make up your mind?"  I was planning on saying I was going to pass due to being in the hospital but I was thirsty and still filled with adrenalin, I needed something to take my mind off of today.- "Yeah I'm up for it, I just got to get home and get ready."- "I thought you were home?" I paused for a second to think about if I should tell her.- "Yeah I'll tell you about it when we meet, where are we going anyway?"  I could hear Lisa tapping on her holo-board.- "And sent, It's a pretty cool place. Drinks aren't too expensive either."  The violet club sounded interesting I suppose.- "Alright I'm guessing you had a reservation right?"  Lisa giggled a bit.- "Of course, it's for 8:30, should I pick you up, or are you driving yourself?"  We didn't exactly live next to each other, but the place was located between us both.-"I'll drive myself, it's not like I'm going to manually drive home while I'm more plastered than my car after hitting a pedestrian...oh wow that was pretty dark."  I'm surprised she laughed at that.- "Nice one, I wasn't expecting an innocent cutie like you to make a joke like that, your boyfriend's sense of humor rubbing off on you?"  Damien wasn't exactly the joking type.- "Uh no it just kind of came out of nowhere; well anyway I should get going, see you soon."  I ended the call and had an uneventful drive home. "Oh shit! I left the pork in the oven."  When I got back home I rushed inside to make sure it wasn't burning inside the oven. The pork was just a little overcooked, the oven shut off not too long after the timer went off. Phew, that was good. As I was getting the pork out, I thought I saw a reflection of something large on the stovetop. I looked behind me and...well I still felt there was a dark phantasm watching me from somewhere I couldn't see.