Vacation of the Mind

This is a short story that I've been working on off and on, (mostly off) for a couple years.

A Vacation of the Mind

I wake up lying in the sun on a lounge chair on a bright, sunny deck. I’m disoriented a bit as I look around, but I see a beautiful, sunny beach, and a scattering of buildings. I now have some vague memory of checking in to this posh resort for a vacation. It’s strange, I don’t remember driving here or really planning this trip. Sighing, I put it off to really needing a vacation and sit back into my chair. Around me, I see other resort patrons basking in the sun, with waiters and attendants weaving their way through the crowd of sun-worshippers, stopping here and there with a drink or a towel. With a sigh, I pull my sunglasses back down over my eyes and lie back soaking in some much-wanted sun into my skin.

Before my nap, I now remember taking a quick dip in the ocean, but the water was so cool, I quickly headed back to my chair to warm up in the hot summer sun. I laze about in my chair as I stare out at the waves, ever rolling, and seemingly perfect. It seems odd that the surfers aren’t out. Seems that these waves would be ideal, coming in perfect with tall cresting, rolling waves. I then notice something strange. This is a very warm day, but I don’t see anyone in the water. That’s kind of odd, but I again shrug off the coincidence, because the water was really cool when I took my dip. I stare back out into the waves, and I do a double take, as wave after wave rises, but just short of cresting the waves seem to just change their mind and retreat back down. Again and again, the waves start refusing to break. What’s going on? I shake my head in confusion, rubbing my eyes. I have to be having some sort of delusion. I didn’t think I’d been out here that long. I look around me, and no one else seems to notice the surf’s strange behavior. The waves now are becoming more violent, rising higher and higher, but at the last moment, seemingly changing their mind and declining back and sweeping out onto the beach in a rush of foam. Just as I decide to ask someone about the bizarre phenomenon, I glance up the beach to see if the same behavior is there as well. Dark clouds and fog has gathered up the coast. A storm must be approaching, but as I look out to sea, I see a red glowing sign apparently just hanging in midair. I run to the edge of the deck to get a better view, and I finally can make out the word “EXIT” in the glowing red letters. About this time, a door opens out of midair over the ocean, and a man in scrubs wheels an elderly man in a wheelchair through the door. I see below him there is a blue tile floor, with some cheap fake palm trees on the wall past the door. “What the HELL is going on?” I turn to get someone’s attention and I now see that I am no longer surrounded by resort patrons, lounging in swimsuits and plush robes, but by patients in gowns, pajamas and bathrobes. What I had previously perceived as attendants and waiters are now doctors and nurses wandering through isles of people just sitting in chairs, staring stupefied at a poorly painted picture of the ocean on an old gymnasium wall. That exit sign is the entrance door to the gym and the warming sun is a giant heat lamp hanging overhead. My world spins as the confusion overwhelms me.

I open my eyes, and slowly, my blurry vision reveals to me that I’m now in my suite. I slowly sit up in my bed and then twist my legs so that I’m sitting on the side of the bed. I see my luxurious bed with the softest cotton sheets I’ve ever felt. Plush pillows at the top of the bed are still dented with the impression of my head. I see a note on my nightstand that read:

“Ms.
You passed out from too much sun. The resort physician has seen you and told us that you will be fine, but you need to rest for the day and for you to drink plenty of water. He will be by your room again this afternoon to check on you again. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to call the front desk.

Management”
So that’s what happened? Oh my, did I have a heatstroke? I’ll ask the doctor when he comes to check again. It’s so nice to be somewhere where they take such good care of me. I look around my room. I see my bed, which faces the door to this smallish room. Beside the door, I see a small potted palm tree, and then there is a dresser littered with keys, money, and other typical items from my pockets. Past that, is a door leading to my bathroom. On the wall opposite my dresser, there is a large open window where the salty sea breeze is blowing through gauzy curtains. I stretch lazily and walk to the closet, wondering what I shall wear today. I pick out some clothes and turn to put them on the bed while I showered. The bed looks strange now. I don’t remember a hospital bed in my room. A flash of light crosses my eyes, and my world spins again. Now I see that I am in a hospital room. My window is a frosted pane of glass with wire mess imbedded into it. I look into the mirror above my dresser, and my once long dark blonde hair is now haphazardly cut and extremely short, like someone was in a rush to get rid of my hair. Instead of a sleek suntanned complexion I was expecting, I see a pale, scarred face with heavy, dark circles under my eyes. I also notice that I have a large bandage on the back of my head. I turn and now my door is a heavy steel door with several locks on it. I throw my clothes on the bed and grab my stomach from nausea that suddenly overwhelms me. The room spins uncontrollably as the world goes black.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Who the hell is beating so at my door? Don’t they know I was sick and I need my rest? Showers of stars cross my eyes as my head jerks back into the wall. I wince as my legs jerk and feel my feet kick the frame of the bed forward. I realize that I am convulsing, but I can’t stop the jerking movement of my entire body. My eyes go to the door where I can fuzzily see the arms of nurses and doctors trying to push their way into the room. I had evidently fallen and pushed the bed against the door with my convulsions. I fall backwards into a roar of blackness.

A curiously strange, but familiar voice echoes through my inner void, but it feels as though they are speaking some other language that I had forgotten long ago. What are they saying? The words seem so familiar, but I just cannot fathom what they might mean. The blackness around me starts to turn to gray, and I see myself lying on the floor. Voices keep calling me and I feel like I’m falling again, but this time into the spotlighted form of myself lying on the floor.

That uncomprendable voice keeps calling, and I must find it. Who is this? Why are they calling me? I keep searching for the voice and it sounds so close… I gasp as I open my eyes and I feel my body shuddering still in the last throes of the seizures. Now I can finally begin to understand some of the words of the mysterious voice. “Wake up! We have you now.” “It’s OK, It’s OK…” as a hand gently strokes my hair. I can now focus my eyes enough to see a face, just inches from mine. I feel a cold wet wipe swipe my arm and the sting of a needle as it pierces my arm. I see a slight smile of relief as the doctor sees that I am now aware of my surroundings, but is still holding me tightly to keep my still shuddering form from hurting myself. I feel a sting of what feels like a cut above my eye, and several large bruises all over. I sigh as I realize that I can finally control my movements. I lie there for a moment, catching my breath, and the doctor takes the opportunity to let go of me and give some instructions to the nearby nurses. I look around the room briefly and I see that the room is a bizarre mish-mash of resort and hospital. My potted palm is standing next to a steel door with sturdy locks, a hospital bed in front of me with the flowing gauzy curtain drifting in a sea breeze beside me. The nausea and dizziness return in a rush as my eyes roll back in my head. As my mind slides into the dark abyss again, I feel my body jerking again, and I hear “We got to remove the device from her brain. She’s rejecting it and it’s killing her….”

THE END FOR NOW……….