Earth Angel
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chloe awoke in the middle of the night with a
pounding headache. She glanced over at her alarm clock which read 3:37. Chloe
groaned quietly and tiptoed into the bathroom next door. Her head was throbbing
and sending tiny shooting pains to her eyes. She turned the bathroom light on,
but quickly turned it back off when the light hit her eyes. The brightness only
made the headache worse. She stumbled in the dark towards the sink and filled a
Dixie cup with water. Chloe grabbed a couple of aspirin out of the cabinet and
quickly downed them. Her skin was covered in a light layer of sweat, but she
felt cold and clammy to the touch.
Chloe tried to step away from the sink and leave the bathroom but she was struck
with an enormous wave of dizziness. She used both hands to stabilize herself on
the bathroom counter and took deep breaths in to try and calm herself down.
Finally, she attempted to walk again but the pain in her head shot through her a
hundred times worse than it had before. She fell to the floor and half-leaned
against the wall and her eyes fell closed. She loudly cried out in pain as her
head felt like it was going to explode.
More visions began to blur her mind, rushing past faster and faster, and most of
them involved Brady. She saw them talking on the pier, and in a house that she
didn't recognize, figure skating at the outdoor rink and drinking hot chocolate
together, together at the Brady Pub, at a high school dance, kissing underneath
a skylight with the stars all around them, celebrating at a graduation party,
slow dancing in a cottage, hiking in the mountains. Chloe had never experienced
something like this before, but she felt the love and intimacy between them in
every moment that they shared together. She didn't know if this was a vision of
the future, or memories of something else. It felt more like deja vu than
something that had yet to happen.
The vision stopped and Chloe opened her eyes, drawing in a deep breath. Tears
fell down her face, and she quietly muttered, "Oh my God... what was that?
What was I seeing?"
The door to the bathroom opened and a frightened Nancy ran in and kneeled by her
side. "Chloe, honey... are you okay? I heard a noise, and then I heard you
scream... What happened?"
Chloe put a hand to her forehead and tried to stabilize herself. "I... I
don't know. I got dizzy and I fell. I must have blacked out for a second."
Nancy took the cup on the counter and filled it with more water, handing it to
Chloe. "Here, sip this."
Chloe looked at Nancy for a moment and then hugged her tightly. "Oh,
Nancy... I missed you. I'm so glad to see you."
Nancy leaned out of the hug and gave Chloe a strange look. "Chloe... you
just saw me earlier today. Are you okay?"
"I know, it just feels like... like I haven't seen you in months. I'm not
crazy, just a little disoriented."
"It's alright, just drink the water while I go get Craig."
Chloe nodded weakly and took a sip of the water. "Thank you..."
Nancy left quickly, and Chloe pulled herself up all the way, her back against
the bathroom wall. She sipped the water again and licked her dry lips. Her
headache was beginning to subside, although it was still pounding away, and she
still felt quite shaky. Moments later, Nancy & Craig came in. Craig was
carrying a black medical bag in one hand. He sat on the floor beside her and
started pulling a few instruments out of the bag.
"Tell me what happened, Chloe... from the beginning."
Chloe nodded and spoke hoarsely. "I wasn't feeling well earlier either.
Phillip said I looked pale, and I had a stomachache. I came home, and it went
away. And, then I went to bed and woke up with a really awful headache. So, I
came in here and took some aspiring and it just kept pounding and pounding. When
I tried to walk out, I got dizzy. I stopped and leaned on the counter for a
while, and when I tried again the headache got about a million times worse. I
fell and must have blacked out for a second."
Craig nodded and checked her eyes, her heart, her temperature and her blood
pressure. "How do you feel now?"
Her head had stopped pounding over the course of his quick examination, and she
was actually feeling much better. "Mostly tired. My headache is gone. I
feel fine, actually."
Craig paused and raised an eyebrow. "Weird... All your vitals are just
fine, and now you feel great all of a sudden. I can't really explain that."
"Craig, when your doctor tells you that your case is 'weird' and he 'can't
really explain it'... That's a bad thing, right?"
Craig chuckled and shook his head. "Not necessarily. It just means that
whatever happened seemed pretty momentary. You might be coming down with the flu
or something."
Chloe groaned and wrinkled her nose up in disgust. "Blech... Flu..."
"For now, just go back to bed and get some sleep. I want you to come to the
hospital tomorrow though, for a complete check up. Just in case. Okay?"
Chloe nodded and smiled weakly. "You got it."
Craig smiled back at her. "That's my girl..."
"So, Craig... can I ask you a serious question?"
Craig looked somewhat surprised. "Uhm... okay, go ahead."
"Do all doctors in the 21st century STILL carry these nifty little bags? Or
is it just you?"
Craig laughed out loud. "Hey, I got this as a gift when I made Chief of
Staff, and I figured I might as well put it to good use."
Chloe nodded and grinned at him. "Okay, because I thought only TV doctors
owned those things."
Nancy had been standing in the doorway and chuckled softly. "Well, now I
KNOW that you're feeling better. Come on, I'll help you back to your room."
Chloe nodded and smiled at her mother. "Okay... sorry I woke everyone up
and scared you all half to death."
Nancy and Craig helped her off the floor together and Nancy smiled at her.
"Don't worry about it. That's what we're here for."
Craig headed back to the master bedroom while Chloe leaned on Nancy and headed
back to her bedroom. Chloe slipped back under the covers and smiled sleepily at
Nancy. "Thanks..."
Nancy walked towards the door and turned back briefly to reply, "Sleep
tight, Chloe. I'll see you in the morning."
Chloe wrapped her blankets around her and closed her eyes tightly. She tried to
explain to herself what had happened tonight, but she just couldn't find a
logical or rational explanation for her visions. She wondered if it was perhaps
something her imagination had created after hearing Brady profess his love
earlier in the night. Then again, not even her usually vivid imagination could
create something as real as this. Not only had Chloe seen these moments with
Brady play out in her head, but she ha experienced them. She could still taste
his lips on hers, feel his arms around her, and she knew what it would be like
for him to hold her tightly. More importantly, she could feel his love in her
own heart. Whatever had caused those visions had also caused her to know what it
would be like to truly experience Brady's love.
Chloe rolled on to her other side and groaned in frustration. She tried to put
it out of her mind, but a new realization had been begun creeping through her
veins. Those visions weren't just about being loved by Brady, they were about
what it would be like to love him back. Chloe shuddered slightly, she was afraid
of facing the feelings that she had experienced in her visions. She had always
thought that she would be with Phillip forever, but the experience of being with
Brady, even if only in visions, was unlike anything she had ever known before.
Chloe sighed softly and tried to clear her mind, but instead of falling asleep
with no thoughts at all, she fell asleep with thoughts of Brady in her head. As
she drifted off to sleep, she silently prayed that all of her confusion would
magically disappear with morning's light.