A Rush of Blood to the Head

Chapter 25

Love, is a burning thing

The town crumbled, the city burned and the fires consumed everything until there was nothing. But contrary to what people might think, nothingness isn't always a pitch black expanse. It can also be a void of blinding light. And such was the case for Chris. Everything before him was bright enough to burn his eyes. Yet he heard singing.

And it makes, a fiery ring

The whole situation seemed wrong. He certainly didn't expect to be greeted at heaven with Johnny Cash lyrics. It made him bewildered that upon exiting the mortal plane of existence, the soul would be greeted with... Ring of Fire.  But he wasn't complaining. Johnny Cash was one of his all time favourite artists.

Bound by wild desire

He found himself humming to the song. But one thing was odd. It wasn't the voice of Johnny Cash singing, it was a woman. Nevertheless, the sex of the singer didn't matter to Chris.

"I fell into a ring of fire", Chris sang softly

"HEY HO", the woman's voice became exponentially louder all of a sudden. Then Chris felt a huge slap on his face.

"I FELL INTO A BURNING RING OF FIRE"

"Jesus fucking Christ", Chris opened his eyes and rubbed his cheek.

"I WENT DOWN DOWN DOWN, AND THE FLAMES THEY WENT HIGHER"

Chris couldn't believe his eyes. More precisely, he had no idea what was actually going on before his eyes. He still hadn't adjusted to the bright lights and his vision was blurry. He could make out the silhouette of a person in front of him. They seemed to be moving about quite a bit.

"SING MY BOY", the woman exclaimed, "AND IT BURNS BURNS BURNS, THE RING OF FIRE..."

"the ring of fire...", Chris hummed instinctively.

He rubbed his eyes and looked again.

The room had taupe walls, with what seemed to be a huge Muppets poster on the wall right beside him. There were some stuffed toys in the very very uncomfortable bed he lay in. He tried to move about but was quickly made aware of the searing pain in his right arm. He looked down and saw an IV drip inserted. A little bit of common sense kicked in and Chris looked up to his side. He saw a heart monitor, and a saline bag.

Hospital???

"Jesus, lad do you even see me, or did you lose your eyesight or something?", it was the voice of the singing woman.

"No I--", Chris looked forward and almost instantaneously his jaw dropped, 

"The fuck..."

The woman in question was no other than Dr. Charlie Hunter, the psychologist he met almost 17 years ago while he was questioning himself in every aspect of life. She was wearing a nurse uniform, with a mask covering her face which would have made her completely unrecognizable if her sharp eyes didn't give it away. She had aged, in the best way possible. The wrinkles around her eyes made her look wise but she hadn't lost any of her sharpness whatsoever. The same Dr. Hunter but much more reserved and collected.

"It's been almost 20 years since you saw me and this is how you greet me, Mr. Martin?", she asked, crossing her legs.

Chris gulped, "No I just--"

"You didn't expect to see me here, I know, I know...", she spoke, "So you wanna tell me about what's going on in your life, because frankly you looked like shit when I found you here..."