Chapter 2

“Kate, wait up!” I heard from behind me.

The voice belonged to Jason Amachi, one of the .NET programmers. Jay was as geeky as I was, but even more introverted. We met one day at a group luncheon that turned out to be a sales presentation, and since we were the only two technical people there, we became friends. He was a brilliant coder, and I often bounced ideas and problem scripts off him.

“Did you see the anime girl?” I asked him, once he caught up with me.

“What?” Jay adjusted his tinted glasses, which he had only recently started wearing. What began as a hipster trend in the twenties fizzled out fast—except for a few brave souls who were either into the retro scene or didn’t care about fashion trends. Jay was in the latter group, and I was certain they were prescription glasses. Bad vision and IT just go together.

I glanced around. She was gone. “Never mind.”

He noticed the sandwich I carried. “You’re not eating at your desk again, are you?”

I smiled. “You know how it is with Chad.” It was in fact, a topic I had mentioned on several occasions. He tried to commiserate, but his boss was a sixty-year-old COBOL programmer who only showed his face once a quarter. Totally could not relate, but he suffered through my rants anyway.

“All the more reason not to eat there.” He avoided my eyes, but instead ran his fingers through his hair, one of his nervous tics.

Mr. Douchenozzle was due back any minute from his two-hour lunch, and I had made it a habit to be at my desk when he returned. But the more I thought about it, the less sense it made. Why shouldn’t I maximize my Chad-free time?

“You have a point. Cafeteria?” I asked.

He shook his head. “My desk. I have something to show you,” he said, in his giddy I-just-finished-a-cool-project voice.

Lunch was nice. Though the sub could’ve used a bit more flavor, it was hard not to feel excited for Jay as he walked me through his latest program. It wasn’t very interesting—something about XML and the cloud—so my mind began to drift as I looked at his desk pictures. His family, all so happy. His wife had the most flawless skin and gorgeous hair, and the blue kimono she wore was lovely. His boy had the cutest little smile and the same kind eyes as Jay. I felt a pang of jealousy. We seemed to be about the same age, but he’d already found his mate and started a family. What the fuck is wrong with me?

“Kate are you there?” Jay waved his hand in front of my face.

“Yeah, sorry.” I rubbed the spot again, and was surprised to feel it was larger, and now tender to the touch. “Something kinda crazy happened last night.”

I was about to launch into the story when the worst pain I’d ever experienced shot through my head, starting at the weird bump and making its way slowly upward. At first, I felt an intense pressure, which became a burning sensation. I winced and massaged my temples, but it didn’t help. Jay appeared to be saying something, but I couldn’t hear the words. My lips fell open and I tried to speak, but nothing came out. Droplets of blood appeared on my beige skirt, and it took me a few seconds to realize they were from my nose.

Jay panicked. He tried to dial a number on his desk phone twice, his shaking fingers misdialing. I stood and shook my head, but a strange heaviness set in, followed by dizziness. Then, for the second time in two days, I passed out.

“Kate, can you hear me?”

My eyes slowly opened. White sheets. Uncomfortable gown. Random pinging noises and my arm immobile.

“What the fuck,” I mumbled.

“You’re in a hospital,” a man in a lab coat said. Glasses, pointy nose, face that was way too serious. Upon closer inspection, I realized he was a doctor. I groaned.

“What happened?” I rubbed my head. It wasn’t on fire anymore, but a dull, throbbing pain remained.

“You blacked out.” I was surprised to hear Jay’s voice again.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” the doctor asked.

“I was at his desk,” I said, motioning to Jay. “My head hurt. Next thing I’m here.”

“Did you fall?”

“No, I caught her before she collapsed,” Jay said.

I felt my cheeks turn a dark shade of red. Passing out on my coworker wasn’t a normal thing for me. Although it was irrational, I felt utterly humiliated.

“Jay, I’m sorry about all this…”

“No problem, you just scared me, is all. I had no idea talking about my code would have this effect on you.” He smiled sheepishly, and I couldn’t help but reciprocate.

“Go home to your family,” I said. “And thanks.”

“No, I’m—” he began, but the doctor cut him off.

“Yes, that’s a good idea. She can use some rest.”

“Feel better, Kate.” Jay squeezed my hand. His touch was unexpected, but very warm, almost hot.

I watched him wave awkwardly as he left the room. The only friend I had at that shitty place, and I had to go and pass out on him.

The doctor told me it was most likely a concussion and said I would have to stay overnight for observation. “Try to rest,” he said before leaving.

It kinda pissed me off, but after that episode, I didn’t know what the fuck was going on with me. I figured it couldn’t hurt for them to run the tests. But deep down I knew it had to be connected to whatever happened last night. The only clue… I reached around the back of my head, feeling for the bump. It had shrunk down to almost nothing, a stark contrast to the boil it was before I blacked out. My head still hurt. I closed my eyes to actually take the doctor’s advice.

A few hours later, I awoke to the sound of someone entering my room. Anime girl sauntered up to my bed, dressed in a slutty nurse’s uniform, the kind of thing you’d see a college girl wearing on Halloween.

“What the hell?”

“Nice to see you too,” she said.

“Un-fucking-believable. You’re supposed to be a nurse?”

She smiled. “No, I just play one on TV.” She fiddled with my IV bag and ping machine, pretending to look all concerned, before she turned to me and playfully asked, “What do you think?”

I think you’re a psycho. But as I was unsure how she fit into the bizarre puzzle that was my life, I didn’t say that. Instead, I asked her the more obvious question. “What are you doing here?”

“Just checking up on you,” she said, in her singing voice. She rocked back and forth on her heels, and I got the feeling she was one of those people who couldn’t stand still.

Then all of a sudden she did stop, and her eyes got large. “You don’t know yet, do you?”

“Know what?”

She rolled her eyes. “About the flies.”

“The flies?” And then I remembered that strange phrase she uttered when I first saw her. You’ve got flies in your eyes.

“Shit, someone’s coming!” she whispered, but it was too late for her to make an exit. In walked, or rather swaggered, Dickpiggly Douchenozzle. Halfway to my bed he saw anime girl and stopped, surprised.

“Oh, nothing but the best care for you, Kate.” Chad licked his lips and began to eye fuck her.

She laughed. “As if,” was all she said to him, and then turned to me. It was hard to contain my smile, watching his ego deflate a little. “It’s in your best interests to get out of here as soon as possible,” she said with a seriousness to her voice I didn’t think was possible for her.

“That’s the plan!” Chad chimed in. “We need her back at the office.”

Anime girl started to leave, and I watched in horror as Chad pulled his arm back in what looked like an attempt to slap her ass. She grabbed his wrist, right before he made contact.

“If you ever try to touch me again, I will hurt you,” she said, as she squeezed his wrist.

Chad was clearly caught off guard—first a look of shock, but then he winced as he quickly wriggled free of her grasp. “Calm down. I was just having fun.”

“Not with me you’re not,” she said in a tone so low it sounded more like a growl. “Catch you later, Kate,” she said to me as she left.

“Geez, some girls,” Chad muttered, approaching me. I felt my stomach turn, a standard reaction to his proximity, but this time was worse. We were alone.

The fake smile surfaced. “Thanks, but you didn’t have to visit.”

“My best girl? Of course I had to come,” he replied, smiling knowingly. I knew it had to do with his particular choice of words. My heart beat hard in my chest. I wondered, or rather dreaded, what his next move would be.

“I’m feeling better,” I lied, my voice wavering only a little. “Probably get discharged tomorrow.” I thought if I kept talking, no matter how inane the conversation is, it might buy me some time.

“So I won’t see my favorite DBA tomorrow at work?” He frowned pathetically and then reached for my hair, taking a lock in his fingers.

At some point in the whole day’s fiasco, my bun had given up the ghost, and my wavy hair had spilled everywhere. I grew more uneasy, watching him study me.

“I’ve never seen your hair down like this,” he whispered. He leaned closer, rubbing the hair in his hand against his face. “So soft…”

I adjusted myself upright, in a way that freed my hair from his hand. Instead of taking the hint, he relaxed as he stared at me, and a small, menacing smile appeared on his face.