What The Fork?

Chapter 8

Roz woke up slowly, feeling groggy and almost paralyzed. After a few moments, she manages to crack open an eyelid. Both eyes spring open once she notices where she is. She is back in her bedroom, and according to the solar clock on the wall, it is 10 am on July 10 2020. It is 8 days after her birthday and less than 24 hours after she had left 2020.

Roz tries to sit up, only to realize that she can’t move anything other than her eyes. After a few minutes she starts to panic and tries to scream and call out. *MOM!!! … HOPE!!!!!!!!! … Help! Something’s wrong! I can’t move!* Roz started to sob once she realized that she wasn’t actually talking. After about half an hour, her sobs died down. She laid there motionless as she stared at the clock.

Around 11:30 am, she started to hear voices on the other side of her door. “Mama Annie, when is Rozzy comin’ home?” Hope asked. Roz’s mother Annie said something that Roz couldn’t quite make out. She heard Hope again, “I thought she wasn’t going to stay at her friend Kayt’s house overnight. Are you sure she’ll be fine Mama?” Annie said something back that sounded reassuring.

Roz tried to get up again and tried to call out again to no avail. She started to thrash around and scream. She felt as if she were actually thrashing around but her body wasn’t actually moving. After about an hour she gave up on movement. *Gods, this is worse than being stuck in the past. At least in the past I had the guys. How am I going to get out of this? I don’t even know how I got like this.* She sobbed as she listened to her mom and Hope go about their days.

***Meanwhile in 1981***

Nikki woke to blood curdling screams. He rubbed at his face and turned to his bedside to look at the alarm clock. Nikki’s brow furrowed when he saw that it was only 10 am. It took him another moment to realize that the screams were coming from the other end of the apartment. After another moment he realized that it was Roz that was screaming. He jumped out of bed and ran to the other bedroom and nearly crashed into Tommy in the doorway. Vince was nowhere to be seen. Tommy and Nikki stared at Roz for a moment before tripping over each other to get to her.

Roz’s eyes were shut tight as she screamed. Tommy tried to shake her shoulders to get her to wake up. “Roz! Wake u-… Ow!” Tommy clutched his left cheek. He looked up at Nikki and whined, “Nik she hit me.”

Nikki rolled his eyes, “Seriously T, she’s having a nightmare or something and you start shaking her. What the fuck did you think would happen dumbass?”

Tommy looked sheepish, “Sorry Nikki.”

Nikki scoffed, “Don’t fuckin’ apologize to me. Roz is the one who’s hurting.” He looked down to see that she had stopped thrashing. Instead, she had tears streaming down her cheeks. He wiped the tears from her eyes and started to run his fingers through her hair. Nikki leaned closer to Roz, “Shhhh Roz it’s just a dream. You’re safe here with Tommy and me. You just need to wake up”

The boys sat with Roz for a while with no sign of her waking up. They both ended up falling asleep on either side of her with Nikki’s fingers tangled in her hair and one of her hands held tightly in Tommy’s.

***Meanwhile back in 2020***

Around 1pm Roz started to feel as if someone unseen was touching her and talking to her. She felt as if someone was holding her hand and running their fingers through her hair. She squeezed the hand in hers and leaned further into the hand in her hair. She tried to listen to the voice but couldn’t quite make out what the person was saying.

After a while, Roz heard Hope’s voice outside of the door again. “Mama Annie? Has Rozzy called yet? … If she hasn’t, shouldn’t we call Kayt? … Oh ok.” Hope sounded sadder and more worried than any 10-year-old had a right to be.

Roz tried yelling out to Hope again. *Hope! I’m right here! Please, hear me!* Roz started to sob again taking comfort in the unseen hand in hers and in her hair. Not long after, she heard 2 voices that seemed to melt together. “Rozzy it’s just a dream. Please wake up sweetie.” “Babe we’re right here with you.”

Roz’s breath caught in her throat before she called out. *Tommy! Nikki!*

“That’s right … we’re here … please w-,“ she heard bits and pieces in response. She seemed to be fading out again.

***Back in 1981***

Nikki woke with a start to hear more sobs and then lightly shook Tommy awake.

“Rozzy it’s just a dream. Please wake up sweetie,” said Tommy.

“Babe we’re right here with you.” Nikki said reassuringly.

“Tommy! Nikki!”

Nikki looked at Tommy and whispered, “T she just said our names.” He looked down at Roz and started running his fingers through her hair again. “That’s right babe, it’s Nikki and Tommy.”

Tommy laced his fingers in Roz’s again and squeezed. “We’re here Rozzy. Mick and Vince should be back soon too.”

Nikki saw her eyelid’s start to flutter. “Please wake up. I know you can do it.”

Roz groaned and her eyes slowly opened. She could still feel a hand in her left hand, and another in her hair. She looked around and she saw that she wasn’t in her bedroom anymore. She looked to her left and then to her right and saw Tommy’s hand in hers and Nikki’s hand in her hair. She squeezed Tommy’s hand and looked into Nikki’s eyes, “Nikki? What’s going on? How long have I been out?”

Nikki bit his lip and answered, “Well, we got back really early this morning. You were already asleep and Tommy crashed on the couch. We woke up to your screams at like 10 am. Tweedle-Dum over there tried to shake you awake but that obviously didn’t work. We tried to wake you up every time that you were screaming but nothing worked. We’ve been layin’ here with you ever since.”

Roz took a deep shaky breath and blinked some tears from her eyes. She tried to look towards the alarm clock but couldn’t see it from in-between Nikki and Tommy. “What time is it?”

Tommy looked at the clock on his other side, “Well, it’s still April 10th. It’s 2:30 pm. Did you want to tell us about your dream?”

Roz’s eyes welled up and tears threatened to spill over. She shakily said, “Six and a half hours.”

Nikki’s brow furrowed and he looked at Tommy who shrugged. Nikki looked back at Roz and asked, “What was six and a half hours?”

She stared at the ceiling before responding, “I wasn’t asleep and I wasn’t dreaming. For six and a half hours, I was back in my bedroom in 2020. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t even scream. I kept hearing my mom and Hope walking around in the hallway. I swear I could feel you guys and sort of hear you guys. Fuck, this sucks. I thought I was back home.”

Tommy sat up and looked down into Roz’s face. “I’m sorry Rozzy. That really sucks that you were stuck. I wish we …”

Tommy was cut off when Vince came into the bedroom and laughed. “Awww you guys started a threesome? You should have waited for me. We could have had an orgy.”

“Vince! Dude, not cool!” Tommy squawked.

Nikki picked up the nearest hard object, which happened to be one of Roz’s boots, and he hurled it at Vince’s head. The boot hit him in the forehead with a solid thunk noise.

Vince yelped and rubbed at his forehead. “Nikki what the fuck was that for? It was just a joke!”

Nikki sat up with his hand still in Roz’s hair making soothing motions against her skull. Nikki gestured to Roz and asked, “Vin can’t you tell that Roz is upset?”

Vince finally got a good look at Roz. His mind noted the bloodshot eyes and the tear tracks on her cheeks. “I’m sorry Roz. Guys, Mick is here for practice. You gonna be okay Roz?”

Roz sat up and leaned into Nikki’s shoulder. She took a deep breath and said, “I don’t know Vinny. I think I was stuck in 2 different places at once. I don’t feel like talking about it right now. Maybe later I’ll tell you and Mick more.”

Tommy looked to Roz and asked, “Do you want to be alone? Or do you want to come in the living room while we practice?”

Roz shrugged and quietly said, “Living room I guess.”

Tommy kissed the back of her hand and let go before he got off the bed an headed to the living room. Nikki kissed Roz on the forehead before he too got out of bed. Roz went to get off the bed too but she stumbled and nearly fell. Luckily Nikki was still standing next to the bed and caught her before she could fall.

Roz looked up at Nikki from within his arms. She buried her face in his chest and hugged him tightly. After a couple of minutes embracing her, Nikki helped Roz out to the couch in the living room. Roz stayed silent while the boys practiced, and never left the couch.

She was lost in thought and never noticed that hours had passed and the guys were done playing. Mick was sitting in the armchair drinking. Vince was sitting on the floor with Tommy. Nikki came and sat next to Roz. The guys all looked at her and no one spoke at first.

Mick was the first to break the silence, “So, little witch, I hear some weird shit has happened since we left last night. What did you do when we left last night?”

Roz drew her knees up to her chest and stared at her feet. “Well I did straighten up the kitchen a bit, but nothing else. Afterwards I was trying to use that time turner necklace that I had been playing with when I first time traveled. I just wanted to see Hope again. The fucking necklace did nothing. I chucked it at the wall and cried myself to sleep. When I woke up I swear I was in my bedroom in 2020. But I couldn’t move or talk. I could hear my mom and Hope. Eventually, I started to hear Tommy and Nikki and passed out again. When I woke up, I was back here again.”

Vince cringed and asked, “How long were you there?”

Roz looked at Vince for a moment and said, “According to the clock on the wall, I was there for at least six and a half hours. To be honest, I don’t really want to talk about it anymore. I don’t even want to think about it.”

Nikki got a wicked gleam in his eyes and said, “I’ve got a great idea for that, copious amounts of drugs and alcohol. So, Roz, what’s your poison?”

Roz finally smiled and shook her head at Nikki. “No drugs for me Nikki. But alcohol? I could do that. Please tell me you have rum. Any rum will do, but I like spiced rum the best.”

Mick chuckled, “What’s wrong with vodka and whiskey?”

Nikki quickly went to the kitchen and Roz made a gaging noise and laughed, “Mick, they are absolutely disgusting. That’s what’s wrong with them. Sadly, my favorite liqueur doesn’t exist yet. But give me some Captain and I’ll be good to go.”

Mick just shook his head and took a big swig of his vodka. Tommy and Vince just kept laughing on the floor. Nikki came back into the living room with a big bottle and a beer. He handed the big bottle to Roz and said, “Bottoms up!”

Roz looked at the bottle in her hands and smiled. It was a half full, off brand bottle of spiced rum. “Thanks Nikki,” Roz said before she uncapped the bottle and chugged it for a bit. Mick looked unfazed by this. Tommy and Vince looked a little bit in awe. Nikki, however, looked proud.