The October Amaryllis

Chapter 54 - May 20th, 2020 - 3:00 P.M.

An unbelievable thing happened when the clock struck three; they actually let us go outside. After two days of being trapped inside, I had missed the outside more than anything. In fact, after I ran out, I nearly cried from happiness. You never know the value of something until you lose it. That's precisely what happened with my father's death.

Boy, when they opened that door, I was out of it in half a second. The breeze outside relaxed me; it was like a soft hug from nature itself. I jumped and rolled around in the grass like a child. I was so dang happy I almost like I was on something; I never wanted that happiness to end. I just felt so warm and comfortable at that moment, like when I lay in that bed in Arcadia. This was the definition of euphoria.

"I feel like I haven't been outside in years," I said with a grin to Morgan.

"Same man, it's almost like Blanche Monnier," he replied, doing cartwheels on the grass and rolling all around it, getting verdant green stains on his clothes. It amused me to no end.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"She was this French woman who was locked in a room without sunlight for like twenty-five years by her mother because she didn't like the person Blanche wanted to marry. Crazy case, you should read about it. The Dyatlov Pass incident is another interesting one to read about," he said, laughing from pure happiness. I had no idea how long he'd been away from the sunlight, but he clearly needed it. His skin was beyond pale, and he looked like he hadn't seen the sunlight in twenty-five years himself.

"Crazy," Madelynn replied before asking if they could play Kids by MGMT on the radio. I remember hearing that song all the time on the radio back in 2008; it's one of my favorite songs, actually. My favorite would probably be You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) by Dead or Alive. Pete Burns was amazing. His death was one of the few celebrity deaths that significantly affected me besides Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington. I miss Scott Weiland too. Truth is, most celebrities bore me to death. They constantly whine about nothing. Especially the Kardashians; I can't stand them. Anytime I see their television show, I instantly skip to a channel playing baseball.

"Yeah, hold on," a nurse said before connecting her phone via aux.

Once the song started playing, I started rolling around on the grass, and I did a shoulder roll, rolling around like a ball. It caused me to be dizzy, but I just felt so happy at that moment. I know I said I was feeling happy like three times already, but I just rarely felt joy, so for me, feeling a sense of happiness was just so significant.

While all the nurses were distractedly talking amongst themselves, Madelynn walked over and scared me from behind. I felt an electric jolt shoot across my body and nearly had a heart attack from fear.

"Boo!" she yelled out, nearly giving me a heart attack.

"That's real mature of you," I replied, laughing.

"Hey, I'm the female version of Holden Caulfield; what can I say?" she replied, chuckling. The sun caught her eyes in such a way that it made them almost look like gems. In fact, at that moment, she looked perfect.

"Are you okay?" she asked, noticing me grinning like an idiot at her. I had hardly realized I had even done it. I swear I felt like I was on the world's best drug whenever I was around her.

"Yeah, it's just you look amazing. You always do, but the sun makes it even better. I know this all sounds stupid, but I ho-"

At that moment, she grabbed my face and kissed me, not a crazy passionate one but just a shy peck. I felt this intense warmth spread all over my face; I felt like I had been reborn, honestly. It's like everything that ever bothered me disappeared at that moment.

"You know, I saw all of that," Ashley said, laughing and sitting down by us in the grass.

"Ash, where you been?" I asked.

"I just haven't been feeling too good. I kept getting this feeling like I'm about to have a seizure, it's hard to describe, but I feel a deep rumble in my stomach that spreads to the rest of my body," she said, shivering, even though it wasn't that cold out.

Am I causing all this...?

"Did they put you on anything for it?" Morgan asked; I had completely forgotten about him.

"Not yet, but I swear this has only happened recently. Sometimes when I blank out and look around, the surroundings change to something futuristic for a moment," she said, shivering even more. I gave her my coat, but she said that she was okay.

Madelynn gave me a worried expression in response as if to say, "First you, now her?"

Morgan asked Ashley something in the background, but instead of responding, she kept looking all around her as if she was paranoid about someone or something. It was terrifying; her eyes became all wide and dilated like what happens during the fight-or-flight response. Her skin also started turning this bright red color akin to a beet; it appeared as if her body temperature had risen significantly.

"Get them off me!" she suddenly screamed, trying to brush off what I assume to have been bugs off her. She rolled around on the ground screaming her lungs out, and I watched in horror as I could do nothing. Every couple of seconds, she would try to squish the bugs and throw them off her, but it didn't seem to work since she kept doing it constantly. Boy, I had never felt so awful as at that moment; I almost wished I was dead.

What have I done?

Hearing her blood-curdling screams, the nurses came running over just in time to see her have a seizure.

A seizure I had caused.