SOLOMON'S BRIDGE {Part I}

SYRINGE *22*

RED and BLUE

Jessica knows Collins spent the entire night by her side. Its one of the great mysteries in life, how two people can be so bonded and yet, so far apart. She understands him, he is always there for her, but he has never asked her out on a date, or given her the impression that he likes her in that way. On his pension forms she is his next of kin, but he has a brother living in the North. Who does that? He is always checking out that mulatto woman, Edima McFoy, and Jessica is insanely jealous. She can't compete with mixed blood, long silky hair, or creamy white skin. She is a black negro woman through and through. Maybe not so black. Ant hill skin. Oh whatever. It's so annoying to have such feelings! To have to deal with such emotions! To have to acknowledge them, then to have to hide them! Life is so much simpler without them! If she suddenly dies, would he be a little sad, or greatly affected, devastated, maybe indifferent?

Should a person's life matter to somebody? She grew up in an orphanage, but she'd had a real family once... The drip drips ever so slowly into her veins. A heart monitor beep beeps, punctuating the cold, restless silence of the hospital room, disrupting her maudlin reflections. Growing up with Edima in the orphanage, till she ran away. One night. Her siblings, her mother, in just one screaming bloody night. Gone! Gone- gone-gone... Sister Nkoyo. Trying to get them out of that fortress but dying in the process. The spooky nights. The rigorous, harsh days. The mysterious girl who came to visit Sister Uduak, wearing a beautiful key set pendant on her very scrawny neck. Seven shiny keys. So large. So heavy. Aydee stayed with them for one month. Ah, Sister Uduak. Beep beep. Beep beep...

A nurse comes into the room and gently shakes Collins awake, "Sir? Sir? Please it's almost noon. The Matron has insisted you go home, take a proper shower, have a good rest! Your wife will be fine!"

Wife? Jessica almost laughs out loud, but she is playing sleeping beauty. Her eyelids drop to a near shut down, in fact, she barely sees him get up groggily, stretch, then move closer to the bed. She observes him through her long eyelashes. He peers at her relaxed face, convinced that she is asleep, then pats his khaki trousers to confirm his car keys has never left that pocket. Collins always forgets where he keeps his car keys, "I'll be back before evening. Thank you." He tells the nurse. So that's why they let him spend the night by her side in that iron, bone pinching chair. They think he is her husband.

He steps out of her room. She can hear his boots knocking the tiled floor of the corridor. They must have set her up in the very last room. It's a long corridor. Sleep mingles with sharp pains in her abdomen, it feels like its on fire. And the drip drips ever so slowly. Strange. Beep beep. Collins is leaving right? Not coming. No no, those clacks are heels. Click clack, click clack, click clack, closer. The door opens. Jessica wonders if they put a sedative in the drip. It's just now beginning to pull her consciousness away to a drowsy dream world. But is she dreaming? Jessica fights to stay awake. Her eyes slit open the tiniest fraction. It's not a nurse, but a hooded figure in powder blue jeans who has entered her room. Approaching the bed, the person picks up her hand in a strong grip. Jessica's eyes fly open, "W-who are you?" She croaks, her voice is so hoarse, she feels parched but the hooded person ignores her, lifting up a syringe, tap tapping on it, puffing out the air bubbles in short squirts. Jessica pulls her hand back, expecting to escape the silent stranger's captive hold. Her effort produces sweat on her forehead, and a subtle shift. She tries again, wild panic spreading through her veins, but she is too weak! She yells "Help!" Her voice is whispery thin, "Help me!" Its no use, she is too weak to pry out of the vice grip of the hooded stranger, whose face is half covered by a black silk nose mask, all she can see in it are big brown eyes, a harsh glare regarding her with hatred. Twice, the jab misses it's spot by a wide margin because of Jessica's reflex jerks, she isn't going to let it happen!