More from the Story.

"Gypsy! I'm sick of this!" Dai called across the hall. She started piling all of Gypsy's dish wear on the counter next to the sink. It dripped all of her soups and dressings, and there was even some putrid muck cascading out of a cup. That she didn't want to know about. But after a moment or two where Gypsy didn't respond, Dai said her name again, so sure she was at home. Still, though, nothing.

Dai peeked down the hall to Gypsy's room, where the door was closed. She started down there, a slight frustration underlying her curiosity. But as she went forward, she became more and more uncomfortable. She couldn't decide why--she'd walked down this hall more times than she could count and never felt like this, not even when she walked in on Gypsy... having a little fun, with one of her man-friends. But that wasn't on her mind as she continued down the hall, beginning to be just a little afraid, now.

A sound rolled through the house. It was such a low, loud pitch that she hardly heard it, so much as she felt it. She lost her balance slightly as a throbbing headache struck her, sending her toppling to the floor. Dai's shoulders fell forcefully into the wall, setting her neck is a sharp, uncomfortable position, and she let out a slight wail. This finally drew Gypsy out of her room, and she scrambled for her friend down the hall a ways. She looked a little panicked out of the corner of Dai's tunneling vision, and Dai though she caught a bit of guilt as well, but swore to herself she'd imagined it. Gypsy had never done a thing she was even a little ashamed or guilty about. She was shameless. But there wasn't really time to fully consider because the pain dragged Dai under, and she didn't resurface for a while.

•     •     •

When she finally came back up, Dai was in her bed, a cold wet rag over her forehead. She moaned a little as she tried to sit back up, and found Gypsy looking blank next to her. Suddenly recalling what had happened, and the slightest look of guilt on her face, Dai shot Gypsy a harsh questioning look. Gypsy looked totally innocent. But just as Dai had known before--shameless. Most people would have questions upon waking from this sort of event, but when something was not her own, Dai had long since learned silence would earn her more on the matter, whatever it may have been. No questions now, she would learn in time. 

"Wow. Ouch. I... hurt." Dai also hated stating the obvious, but it may not have been for Gypsy, next to her bed. The rag fell late after she sat up, and she moved it before it got her pants uncomfortably wet. Rubbing her  temples, Dai tossed her legs over the side of the bed and leaned over, to prop herself up with her elbows. Her body needed time to adjust to the pull on her blood before standing fully, to let the full effects of gravity take hold. But even sitting for a while first, her head still throbbed madly, and her neck had the worst kink in it she had ever felt. It was as though something were pulling her neck apart, at the same time as smashing it all together, and twisting it in all the wrong directions every time she even tried to move it. It was murder. 

After quite a while of sitting still, her head felt well enough to stand slowly, but once fully on her feet, it all went backwards, and Dai felt her stomach heave violently, the putrid taste of stomach fluids burned her throat and tongue. Glad to have something soft behind her, she reached back quickly to catch herself on the bed, but it wasn't there. Her palm struck the wood floor with a thud, and Gypsy sat there doing nothing! She didn't even move! Dai screeched when her radius bone basically shattered, and thrashed, sobbing, on the floor where her bed should have been. All the while, Gypsy never moved. 

Now, Dai had questions. She and Gypsy had known each other since the beginning of junior high, and never once had left the other suffering this way. When Gypsy had sliced her knee open in Dai's mom's old van, Dai had dashed for a rag, then clung to her hand while the stitched were sewn in. Dai was ill once, and Gypsy had been there, ice, soup, and footrest in store the whole time. Never once had one suffered, and the other sat so still as Gypsy did now. The question in Dai's throat now, was a shriek "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" Still sobbing, and ever sore now, Dai laid there on the floor for hours, until she fell asleep in the most uncomfortable position. 

Dai's head popped up off the pillow. She sat up much faster this time, and her head only throbbed once or twice, and was much less sore than she remembered. She heard her best friend suck in a loud gasp near her, and looked over to see Gypsy, relieved, leaning over the bed a little. She placed her hands on either of Dai's cheeks gently, and looked her in the face. Dai grunted a little, noticing how empty her stomach was. But her hero, Gypsy, already had a warm bowl of noodles and broth on the bedside table. Dai crossed her legs, and sat on the bed while Gypsy got the breakfast-in-bed table for her to use. 

They sat in silence for a while, then Gypsy asked Dai what she remembered. Upon attempt at recollection, Dai realized that she only remembered the loud low noise, and her dream. Or... she was sure it was just a dream. Everything went too wrong to be real, and Gypsy acted completely out of herself. That's what she kept telling herself, over and over again, at least...