Awake Page 10

They found a regular window, one Ben was more comfortable with, and gazed out at the breathtaking view of Chicago. It was amazing that even from the tallest building in the city, save for the parts where it met Lake Michigan, the city went as far as the eye could see.

  “Jesus Christ, does it ever end? It’s like Metropolis or something,” Lee said.

  “Metropo- what?” Stella asked.

  “Never mind.”

  They’d seen pretty much all floor 103 had to offer, so Lee asked one of workers, an elderly man in a grey suit, what good places there were to eat and drink in the area. “Well, we have several restaurants quite nearby. If you’d like to try Chicago Pizza there is a great place right across the street called Giordano’s. It’s quite renowned in the area,” the man replied, smiling.

  “Ick, no pizza right now,” Stella said.

  The man glanced over and raised an eyebrow at Stella, then said “If you’re looking for more elegant fare, there is The Willis Club, on the 67th floor. It can be pricey, though. You’d normally need reservations, but since it’s a Sunday you should be fine. They just started keeping it open on Sundays and most people in the area still haven’t caught on yet.”

  “That sounds great. Thanks a lot for your help,” Lee said, and the man walked away.

  “That sounds really awesome,” Ivy replied, “It would be so cool to eat on the 67th floor, back in Portland I don’t even think we have a building that tall.”

  “As long as I’m not paying I’m fine with it,” Stella said with her usual class.

  As the elevators from the top floor only went between there and the ground, they had to ride all the way to the bottom of the tower again, and then take a different elevator up to the club. It was only a minor inconvenience; none of them grumbled too much about it.

  The club took up the entire floor and another above it. The silverware and plates were gleaming, the tablecloths luxurious, and staff were elegantly dressed; the place was just as nice as the man had said, and Lee wondered how much it would set him back. There was a dress code, but it was business casual, and since none of them were wearing jeans they were fine.

  The club was just ramping up for dinner and was quite busy, but a few tables were still available, and they were quickly ushered to one by the host. It wasn’t as close to any of the windows as any of them would have liked, but they could still see a bit of the view through the restaurant’s massive windows from the table. A waiter came by within a minute with glasses and poured water in each, then handed them menus. Lee was surprised to see that, while not exactly cheap, the prices weren’t completely unreasonable.

  “Do you care if we get the rosemary scallops as an appetizer?” Ivy whispered to him as she looked at her menu.

  “Sure, get whatever you want,” Lee said to her, and then to the group: “Everyone get whatever you want, I’ve got it.”

  They had a great meal, one of the best ones Lee had ever had, and the others seemed to think so too. “The scallops were just to die for,” Ivy said. They’d also polished off two bottles of wine with the meal, and were all feeling much less hung over by the time they were finished.

  “If you would like to continue your evening here, we have a bar upstairs,” their waiter said as Lee signed the receipt. “It’s normally closed to non-members, but the maître d' recognized your name, Mr. Fenton, and would like to tell me he loves your books and would like to give you an invitation to the bar whenever you’re in town, and would also love to have a drink with you.” Lee looked over to the others, who seemed impressed and nodded their heads eagerly in agreement.

  The second floor consisted of the bar and another dining section that Lee assumed was reserved exclusively for the club’s members. A few of the people looked up at them quizzically as they walked through to the bar, as if wondering what such young and relatively under-dressed people were doing there, but quickly went back to their meals. That was good, if they’d been more bothered than that Lee would have flipped them off and probably gotten the group kicked out, depending on how much of a fan the maître d' was.

  They went into the bar, where a man wearing a white suit who identified himself as the maître d' greeted them enthusiastically, asking “Which of you is Lee Fenton?” while looking back and forth between Lee and Ben. Lee identified himself as the guilty party, and the maître d' proceeded to hit him with the usual fan questions and comments, while the others went over to the bar to get drinks.

  He talked with the man for a good twenty minutes, grateful that he’d given them access to such an exclusive bar. Lee found the man just as interesting as the man found him, what with managing the most exclusive restaurant in the tallest building in America, and he seemed to really appreciate Lee’s interest.

  When the conversation started to dwindle, the maître d' shook his hand for what was probably the third or fourth time and said “I have to get back to work, but your bar tab is on the house tonight. I would have gotten your meal too, but I didn’t think of it before you’d already paid.”

  “Thank you so much, it was great talking to you,” Lee said, and then went over to the table that the others had secured.

  “You two looked like you’d make a really cute couple over there, I hope you got his number,” Ben said as Lee sat down.

  “Ha ha, he’s actually a really cool guy. We’re drinking on him tonight.”

  “Wow, that’s cool!” Ivy said, putting her arm around his waist and giving him a squeeze.

  “Cool? That’s fucking awesome,” Stella said, and promptly ushered the waiter over to order two more Manhattans.

  They proceeded to get completely plowed. It was a much more relaxed atmosphere than the night before, and without incident. The maître d' came over to talk with the group several times when the restaurant closed and he had more time. He had great stories about the history of Chicago, and claimed to be acquaintances with Oprah.

  When they had all had their fill of free drinks, Ivy called a cab up and then they descended back down to ground level to catch it, in a somewhat wobbly way.

  Drunk and tired, everyone but Lee fell asleep in the back of the cab almost as soon as they got in. Lee was barely sober enough to tell the cabbie where the RV was, finally getting it out after a few minutes of trying to remember, while the cabbie looked at him in exasperation.

  The driver found the RV, and Lee paid him before waking up the others. The three groggily got up and went into the RV behind Lee, going to bed immediately. Lee took one each of the new pills and then tried to get some sleep too.

  After a few hours of tossing and turning, he fell into a light sleep that lasted for about five hours. He started to fall into a deeper sleep, but as he did, he began seeing himself back in the twisted version of the Art Institute he’d seen earlier, and immediately startled himself awake.

  Ivy woke up with him this time. They showered together and went out to make breakfast. They found that Stella and Ben were already up and watching TV, the bed converted back into a couch.

  “Dude, that was freaking awesome last night!” Ben said as they walked out. “I still can’t believe that guy knew who you were, we were so lucky.”

  “Yeah,” Stella agreed, “I don’t even want to think about what our bar tab at that place would have been otherwise.”

  “It happens all the time when you’re a rock star like me,” Lee said, and laughed. “No, really though, it’s the first time anything like that has happened to me. Biggest thing before that was maybe an autograph request from a waiter or something after they saw my name on my card.”

  “Still, it was really cool,” Ivy said, starting breakfast.

  “So, what should we do today?” Lee asked, going over to help Ivy. “I kind of want to hit the road. Chicago is really cool, but it’s making me even more excited to see New York.”

  “I’m cool with that, I really want to see New York City as well,” Ivy said. Ben and Stella agreed, the general consensus being that they’d seen most of the touristy spots in Chicago
that they’d wanted to visit.

  When the food was done they bolted it down and hit the road. Lee drove, with Ivy copiloting.

  “That was so much fun in Chicago, thank you again so much for paying for all that, I don’t want you to think I’m some gold digger or something,” Ivy said when they were on the road out of the city.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t think that. I love seeing everybody have a great time. I do alright, I’m not really worried about the money,” he replied.

  “Well still, thanks,” Ivy said. “If you guys hadn’t come around, Stella and I would still be hitchhiking and would probably have been raped or something. Now that I’ve been thinking back on it, it wasn’t such a great plan we had.”

  “Aw, I’m sure you girls could have fended for yourselves.” He lowered his voice, “Especially Stella: after seeing her normal I definitely wouldn’t want to see her angry.”

  Ivy laughed. “And she bites too.”

  10

  Lee drove for four and a half hours, until the late afternoon, when everybody started to get hungry. Not wanting to cook anything, Lee pulled the rig over in a small town called Beaotsu, just outside of Toledo, having driven completely through Indiana without stopping.

  Beaotsu was a small, strange, town in Ohio, that gave Lee an uneasy vibe almost as soon as he drove in. He couldn’t quite figure out what was so strange about it, but the feeling was there, and quite strong too. He thought about turning around right away and leaving, but he didn’t know how he’d explain that to the others, so he stopped at a restaurant they found called The Paper House.

  The waitress seemed cold, but promptly took them back to a booth and got their drinks, scowling the entire time. Though they glanced away whenever he looked at them, he could have sworn that the other patrons were staring at them.

  “This place is weird, why does everyone keep looking at us? I’m about to slap someone,” Stella said. Lee was relieved that he wasn’t the only one noticing it.

  “They probably don’t get outsiders here that often, just hush up,” Ivy said.

  The waitress came by not long after that and asked them if they were ready, hurrying them. Stella looked like she wanted to say something, but Lee said they were ready before she could. Everyone picked something on a whim, not having had time to think it out, and the waitress took their menus.

  The food came promptly, and they ate just as quickly, the tempo of the service demanding it. As he was inhaling his burger, Lee looked over to a man, alone in a booth, who kept glancing at them and suddenly Lee knew with complete certainty that the man had killed his wife. He had a vision, as clear as day, of the man smothering her and burying her body in the woods, then telling his friends that she had run off with another man. It had come out of nowhere, but however irrational the idea was, he was convinced of it, as sure as he was of his mother’s name. He wondered if he was going insane.

  He paid the bill, keeping a nervous eye on the man. He only tipped the waitress the standard fifteen percent, instead of the more generous amount he normally gave.

  “I’ll drive, if you want,” Ben said as they walked to the RV. “I want to get out of this place as soon as possible. There’s something not right about it.”

  “Sure, I was thinking the same thing myself. And I was getting a bit bored of driving,” Lee said.

  “I want to stay in the back and watch TV, and have some girl time with Ivy, do you mind sitting up front with Ben?” Stella asked Lee.

  “Sure,” Lee said. “Ben and I can have some guy time.”

  They got into the rig and Ben started it up. “I’m going to set this thing so that we work our way down to Pittsburg,” Lee said, fiddling with the GPS from the passenger’s seat. “That way we can go from there down to DC and then work our way up to New York, going through Baltimore and Philadelphia on the way.”

  “Sounds good to me, buddy,” Ben said.

  Lee called back the plan to the girls. “Sounds cool,” Ivy answered for the both of them, Stella caught up in the movie they’d put on.

  “So I think that Stella is finally coming around to me, our having been banging since we met aside,” Ben said when they’d gotten on the interstate, the girls too caught up in their own conversation to hear anything up front. “The trick was that she seems to like it if I’m not nice, some of the time.”

  “I noticed that,” Lee said, “normally I wouldn’t approve, but on this occasion it seems to be the way to go. She certainly doesn’t like being nice all the time herself, so maybe that’s it.”

  They laughed at that, but then Ben got serious. “So how have things been going with… your condition? Have you been getting much sleep?”

  “I’ve been getting some. The prescriptions I picked up in St. Paul help sometimes. I’m not doing too bad, really,” Lee said.

  “Well that’s good. Maybe you’ll beat the disease, they don’t know everything,” Ben said. “Doctors, I mean.”

  “Yeah maybe,” Lee said, not thinking for a moment that he’d beat the disease. He could tell it was getting worse, especially with the hallucinations.

  It was evening when they reached Pittsburgh. They’d made a quick stop to grab some fuel and snacks, but had made pretty good time, arriving faster than the GPS had projected when they’d set out from Beaotsu.

  They found a truck stop on the outskirts of the city and parked the rig there, planning to stay for the night. No one knew much about Pittsburgh, so they’d resolved to head through to Washington the next day.

  Everyone was feeling too hung over to even think about drinking again, so they watched a movie together and chatted. They also took advantage of the lull by doing the laundry, which had started to build up. Ben and Stella took showers separately in the master bedroom before everyone went to sleep, both complaining that the shower in the main bathroom was cramped.

  Lee and Ivy made love twice before turning out the lights. “I think I’m falling in love with you,” Ivy said afterwards, as they lay beside each other in the dark, moonlight flooding in the window. “I know it may be too soon, but that’s how I feel.”

  “It’s not too soon. I’m feeling the same way about you. I love you,” he said, meaning it.

  “I love you too,” she said, and kissed him again.

  Things progressed, and they went for yet another round. Afterwards, Lee took his prescriptions and tried to fall asleep at the same time as Ivy for once. To his surprise, he did.

  He had another dream. He was back at the restaurant in Beaotsu, but this time the restaurant was completely empty, save Lee and the man from the back booth. He was wearing the same clothes he had been when Lee had been watching him kill his wife in the vision, but he had transformed into the demon. The creature locked eyes with Lee, then stood up and walked over to him. Lee tried to get up and run, but to his horror found that he was completely frozen, unable to move a single muscle.

  The creature reached his table and leaned towards him, its face a foot away from his. “It’s only a matter of time,” it said.

  Lee woke up, and looked at the clock. He had only been out for three hours. He knew, once again, that would be all the sleep he would get for the night.

  He pulled out the novel he’d been reading and opened it up at his bookmark. He was able to finish the entire book before Ivy woke up. It had a great ending, and he made a note to himself to check out the author’s other books, if he ever got the chance.

  He had just flipped on the TV to catch the morning news when Ivy woke up, smiled at him and said “Hey sweetie.”

  “Hey honey,” he said, smiling back.

  “Say you love me again,” she said.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  They showered and got dressed for the day, and then went out to find Stella and Ben already up. They’d made breakfast. They ate quickly and then got back on the road, Ivy driving.

  “If we keep up the pace we’ve been going, we’ll be in Washington D.C. by the afternoon,�
�� Lee said to Ivy from the copilot’s seat.

  “You can just call it Washington,” Ivy said, chuckling. “Everyone else does.”

  “Not people from Washington State, dammit. In fact, I hate that I even have to add the state part,” Lee said, smiling to show that he was only being semi-serious.

  “Jeez, don’t bite my head off,” Ivy said with mock indignation. “Whatever you call it, this is going to be awesome. I’ve always wanted to see the capital.”

  “Me too, it’s going to be great to see the place where everything doesn’t get done.”

  “Are we going to get into DC today?” Ben called up, oblivious to Lee and Ivy’s conversation.

  “Yes, we’ll be there around three if we don’t make too many stops,” Lee yelled back.

  “Good, I’m really excited to see where things don’t get done.”

  “I already made that joke.”

  They drove a few hours further, when suddenly the front passenger’s side tire blew with a huge bang that made the RV start to list towards the side of the road.

  “Shit!” Ivy said, a note of panic in her voice as she struggled to pull the RV over to the side of the road. “What was that?”

  “The tire just blew, I’m pretty sure. Don’t worry, it’s not a big deal, there’s a spare,” Lee said, hoping it would be as easy as he made it sound as the rig came to a stop.

  “What’s going on, are we getting pulled over?” Ben asked, coming up to the front.

  “Flat tire, you and I have to change it,” Lee replied, pulling off his seatbelt.

  “Well I know absolutely nothing about cars, but I’ll do what I can,” Ben said.

  It looked like a standard flat, as though they’d run over a nail. “This isn’t so bad, the tire might even be patchable if we take it into a tire shop someday,” he said to Ben.

  “Christ, I don’t even want to know how much one of these costs new,” Ben said, eyeing the enormous tire.

  They got the spare tire and changing kit out of the storage area and got to work. Luckily, Lee had replaced quite a few tires over the years, so he just needed Ben to assist him with the physical stuff.