Awake Page 7

  “Holy crap, this panel opens out with a TV, Stereo and picnic table!” Ben said as they were waiting for the water tank to fill, messing around with the various compartments on the side of the RV. He’d sprung open one of the panels to reveal it all, and had pulled out the sliding table.

  “That’s pretty nifty. I can’t believe the salesman didn’t go over it, though I guess with a rig like this, there’s a lot to remember,” Lee said as he checked it out.

  “We’re going to have to use this soon. It would be nice to sit outside one night while we drink.”

  Soon the tanks were full and they were back on the road, this time on I-35. It was the first interstate besides 90 that they’d taken on the entire trip.

  The drive to St. Paul was quick; they were entering the city limits before noon. “We’ve got an entire day to dick around the area before my appointment tomorrow, what should we do?” Lee asked when they got to the outskirts of the city, raising his voice so that Stella and Ben could hear him in the back.

  “How am I supposed to know? I haven’t been here,” Ben said.

  “Bust out my laptop, it’s in the pouch behind Ivy’s seat,” Lee replied.

  “You get internet on the road?”

  “Yeah, it’s through the cell towers. Costs a shitload, but it’s convenient.”

  “Ooh, we should go to an amusement park or something. There’s got to be one around here,” Ivy said.

  “That sounds like it would be awesome,” Stella said, perking up instantly.

  “That sounds cool to me, did you hear that Ben?” Lee asked.

  “I heard you guys, I’m looking it up,” Ben answered. A minute later he shouted up “There’s an amusement park called Valleyfair in the area, type it into the GPS.” Lee did, and then started heading towards it.

  “Does this place look good on the site?” Lee asked Ben as they drove to the park.

  “Well it’s nowhere near as big as Silverwood, but it has more roller coasters than they do. It should be pretty fun,” Ben said. Silverwood was a theme park in Idaho that they had gone to together in high school, Lee tagging along on one of Ben’s family vacations.

  “That sounds awesome,” Lee said.

  When they got to Valleyfair, the place was packed with people; spaces in the mammoth parking lot were hard to come by. There was an RV park next to the park for people coming on vacation, so Lee paid the fee and parked the rig there. He figured they’d probably end up staying there for the night and there was plenty of food and drink in the rig, so they wouldn’t need to go anywhere.

  It was a long walk to the gates and a longer wait in line. Lee was first to the ticket window and paid everyone’s admission before they could protest.

  “What do you guys want to do first?” he asked as they walked in the gates, his arm around Ivy’s shoulders.

  “I’m kind of hungry,” Ivy said, “let’s get a bite to eat before we get to playing.” Everyone agreed.

  As with most amusement parks, Valleyfair had a variety of food stalls. After looking at the maps they’d been handed on the way in , they decided on a burger joint not far from where they were.

  The food was good, but nothing spectacular. In the typical theme park manner, everything cost twice as much as it would outside the park. They ate quickly, as excited as children to get on the rides.

  “Let’s go on the drop tower first,” Ben said as they exited the restaurant. “I went on one in Vegas that was on top of a skyscraper and it was the scariest time of my life.”

  “I’m game, you girls down?” Lee asked. They said they were, and the foursome went over the tower. They didn’t need their maps to find the ride, the tower was tall enough that it could be seen from almost anywhere in the park.

  They had to wait in line for another twenty minutes to get onto the ride. Lee needed at least that much time to talk himself into it, even as he was strapped in next to Ivy he was having second thoughts.

  “Oh my god, I’m regretting this already,” Ivy said as the ride attendant strapped her in.

  “I know what you mean. There’s no turning back now though,” Lee said, taking her hand. Within a minute, the worker had everyone strapped in, and he went over and started the ride.

  They started creeping higher and higher in the air, maddeningly slowly. It seemed like an eternity, though from watching the groups in front of him he knew that the platform took about thirty seconds to get to the top.

  They kept going higher and higher. Lee had estimated the drop tower at about two hundred feet in height, but the ride up felt like at least twice that. Finally arriving at the top, the platform stopped. He knew this part of the ride was about five seconds, but he was so terrified he could hardly rationalize it.

  “Holy crap, I think I’m going to freak ou…” he started, but stopped. He could see the water park a few hundred feet away. The demon was there, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. Even at that distance, its blood red skin was unmistakable.

  Just then the platform dropped, and Lee’s stomach felt like it stayed at the top without him as they plummeted towards the ground. After a second of free fall, Ivy screamed. She wasn’t the only one.

  Just when it seemed like they were about to crash into the ground and die, the platform abruptly slowed, and then stopped. “Holy shit, I don’t think I can do this one again,” Ivy said as the platform crept the rest of the few feet to the ground.

  “Hell no, oh hell no! Get me off of this thing now,” a heavyset black woman next to them said, but she was laughing. Lee probably would have laughed too, if he hadn’t seen the creature.

  The ride attendant went around unstrapping everybody. Lee and Ivy met up with Ben and Stella on a patch of grass outside of the exit.

  “Holy crap that was fun, what do you guys want to do now?” Ben said. “Stella and I were talking about going to the water park next, we saw it from the tower and it looked cool.”

  “I don’t want to go there yet, we didn’t even bring swimsuits.” Lee said before Ivy could agree. There was no way he was going to go over there.

  “I saw a shop over by the water park that I’m sure would sell swimwear,” Ben said.

  “I just want to go on some of the coasters first,” Lee said, determined not to go.

  “We could split up and Ben and I can go there while you guys do your thing,” Stella said. “I can just call or text Ivy when we want to meet back up.”

  “Yeah, let’s do that,” Ben said, looking as surprised that Stella wanted alone time with him, especially sober and wearing hardly any clothes; it was as if he’d just won the lottery.

  “That sounds good, want to do that Lee?” Ivy said

  “Sure, we can get back together around dinnertime. Say, six?” he said. They agreed, and the couples split off.

  Lee and Ivy strolled about the park arm-in-arm, looking at the rides and figuring out which one they wanted to go on next. He kept an eye out for the demon, but for some absurd reason he was certain that it would stay in the water park.

  They settled on a big, boat-shaped ride that swung back and forth in wider and wider arcs, eventually doing full loops. It was intense, though not nearly as much as the tower had been. Afterwards, he’d almost forgotten about the demon.

  Both of them wanting to go on another intense ride, they made their way over to one of the park’s roller coasters, the Corkscrew. The train lifted up high in the air, then went on a steep drop through three complete revolutions before coming back to the loading area. It was intensely fun, and Ivy was giggling when they rumbled back into the loading area, saying “That was great!”

  They went on each of the park’s coasters in turn, Ivy insisting “We’ll regret it if we don’t.” With the long lines they had to wait in for each, by the time they finished the circuit they had only a little over an hour before they were due to meet back up with Ben and Stella.

  With their remaining hour, Lee and Ivy went on the bumper cars and a gigantic Ferris wheel. They made out for most of the
ride on the wheel like horny high-schoolers.

  “What a perfect day,” Ivy said, as the ride neared the end.

  “It really has been,” he agreed, the demon a distant memory.

  When they got off the wheel it was ten until six. Ivy texted Stella and told her and Ben to meet them at a promising-looking restaurant they had noticed on their rollercoaster tour of the park.

  Lee figured Ben and Stella were up to some funny business, because it was twenty minutes before they showed up and when they finally appeared, Ben had a goofy grin on his face, the one that he always had after getting lucky. Ben was wearing new swim shorts and the shirt he’d come in with, Stella was in a bikini top and jean shorts. Ben had a bag strung over his shoulder that Lee figured contained the clothes they’d come in.

  “Sorry about that, guys. I was in the bathroom,” Ben said suggestively, and from the way Stella’s face flushed Lee knew he hadn’t been alone in there.

  “Uh huh,” Ivy said in a tone that said she’d guessed that too. “Are you guys ready to eat?”

  “I’m ravenous,” Ben said and they headed inside.

  The place was expensive, amusement park expensive. So expensive that none of the others even feigned protest when Lee said he’d pay. The food was good though, Lee had steak for the second time in as many days. Stella was laughing and flirting with Ben as they dined; whatever he’d done with her over the day had gotten her to drop her usual attitude.

  “Are you guys going to stay for the fireworks show? It happens in a couple of hours, as soon as it gets dark,” Ben said.

  Lee didn’t particularly feel like going, but looked over to Ivy before replying. She gave a slight shake of her head. “I think we’re just going to head over the RV for the night, but you guys should go for it if you want. Just don’t get so drunk you can’t find the RV, that parking lot is huge.”

  They laughed. “We’ll do that then,” Ben said. “We haven’t even tried the coasters out yet, I want to get a couple in.”

  Lee paid the bill, and he and Ivy headed out, Ben and Stella staying to linger over their drinks. They strolled toward the park exit, lingering over the sights. Lee glanced around for the demon now and again, but tried not to, thinking that maybe if he looked for it too often it would appear.

  “Hey, guy! Step up and win a prize for your pretty girlfriend there!” a carnie at one of the booths called. It was one of those games where you throw a ball to knock over a stack of jugs. They’re probably weighted, Lee thought, looking at the jugs.

  Lee almost brushed the guy off, but then said “Why not?”, and forked over five bucks. Smiling through meth-cracked teeth, the carnie handed over three wooden balls.

  Lee’s first throw went embarrassingly wide. “Looks like you didn’t play baseball when you were a kid,” the carnie said in a mocking tone that made Lee want to knock his lights out.

  Taking more time to line up his throw, he threw the second ball and it hit square in center of the jugs, knocking over all of them except for two at the bottom.

  Ivy cheering him on, he wound up his last shot and threw it as hard as he could, assuming that at least one of the bottom bottles were weighted. He hit them square on, and they both fell. The rightmost one was clearly weighted from the way it slowly wobbled and then went down, but he’d hit it with enough force to put it down regardless.

  “Yay! I knew you could do it!” Ivy cheered, grabbing his head and planting a wet kiss on his cheek that made him feel like a genuine hero, instead of a random dick who’d won a meaningless stuffed animal by knocking down some bottles.

  Ivy took a minute to figure out which prize she wanted, and eventually settled on a cute little stuffed dog. She looked absolutely radiant in the bright multicolored lights of the arcade as she took her prize and turned back to Lee.

  They exited the park and headed to the RV. In the rapidly dimming light they nearly got lost, but then stumbled upon the rig just when they were on the verge of panic.

  Safely home, Lee and Ivy extended out the sides of the rig, fired up the TV, and popped open a bottle of wine. Before long they were fooling around on the couch, and then in the bedroom. Just as they were climaxing, the fireworks in the park started, the noise reverberating off the sides of the RV and sending sparkling flashes of light through the blinds.

  7

  They got dressed and refreshed their glasses, sitting down on the couch to watch TV.

  “It’s not fair,” Ivy said a minute later. Lee looked over to find tears running down her face.

  “What’s not fair?” he asked, pulling her closer to him and rubbing her back reassuringly.

  “That you have this disease. Meeting you has been so amazing, I just love being with you. Everything just feels so right.” She sniffed. “I want us to be together forever.”

  “I’m sorry too. For what it’s worth, I think I can promise you that I’ll be with you for the rest of my life, if you’re okay with it,” he said, and then realizing from her look that he’d been perhaps a bit too morbid added, “let’s just make the most with the time we have and not worry about it.”

  “Okay,” she said, and started to kiss him, tears still flowing from her cheeks. He kissed her back, and soon her tears stopped. Things probably would have progressed further again, if not for Ben and Stella suddenly arriving back at the RV, loud and drunk. They staggered in and collapsed down on the couch next to Lee and Ivy.

  “Holy shit, you guys should have stayed for the fireworks, it was really cool!” Stella said, slurring slightly.

  “Yeah, we went on a few of the coasters and then found a little bar in the park with a patio and watched the show, it was awesome. You guys really missed out,” Ben said, also with a bit of a slur.

  “We had fun on our own,” Lee said with a smile.

  He and Ivy watched TV with Stella and Ben for a half an hour, before they excused themselves to the bedroom. Still feeling frisky from their interrupted make out session, they had sex again, Ivy falling asleep afterwards. Lee tried to pass out as well, but after three hours of fruitless trying he gave up and retrieved his laptop from the front of the RV, tiptoeing so as to not wake up a loudly snoring Ben and Stella.

  Back in the room, he booted up the computer and worked on his story. It was a struggle, but he managed to get a couple of pages down. At some point he leaned his head back from the pillow to work out a thought, and fell asleep.

  He dreamt that he was back in the amusement park at night, but this time every single other person had transformed into a demon. Not wanting them to catch on that he could see what they were, in the kind of logic that only makes sense in dreams, he went about his business as if nothing was wrong. The demons kept staring.

  He found the booth where he’d knocked over the jugs. All of the prizes had turned to hideous stuffed miniatures of the demon. He handed a bill over to the carnie demon and received three spiked balls made of blood-red wood in return. When he tried to throw them it was as if he was underwater, and they each floated out uselessly, dropping slowly to the ground without getting anywhere close to the jugs. The demon grabbed one of the hideous stuffed miniatures and handed it to him anyway. It was soaked with blood.

  He sat up in bed gasping, and looked over to the clock to find out that he’d been asleep for about two hours. He got up and showered, knowing that trying to go back to sleep now would be useless.

  The shower must have awoken Ivy, because as he was relaxing in the steaming rush of water he heard the bathroom door open and soon she joined him in the shower, saying “Good morning,” as she stepped in. Though exhausted, he found that he wasn’t too tired for her.

  They changed into fresh clothes after the shower and then started their dirty clothes washing in the washer. By then it was only an hour until Lee’s appointment, so he and Ivy went to the front and started up the RV, with Ben and Stella still sleeping. They must have drunk even more than I assumed, Lee thought when the rumbling of the rig’s engine failed to rouse them.

 
Dr. Strauss’ office was easy to find, and they arrived at the clinic half an hour before his appointment. Ben and Stella woke up when the RV stopped and after they got dressed, Lee turned on the TV and watched it with Ben for fifteen minutes before going in, while the girls started a breakfast that he would eat once he returned.

  Dr. Strauss apparently worked much more efficiently than the doctors Lee was accustomed to. He was ushered into an examination room after signing in with the nurse and giving her his information, even though he was still a bit early. Strauss walked in within five minutes and was examining him before the appointment was even scheduled to start.

  Dr. Strauss was as no-nonsense as his punctuality suggested. He gave Lee a quick physical and drew some blood, only speaking to him to say things like “left arm up please,” or “take a deep breath and hold it,” and of course the dreaded “bend over.” He then wrote Lee a prescription for two new sleep aids and then headed out as quickly as he’d arrived, telling Lee to “Say hi to Dr. Siegel when you’re back in Seattle.”

  Lee filled the prescriptions in the small pharmacy attached to the clinic and went back out to the RV. The whole thing had only taken a little over forty minutes.

  Ivy had saved him a plate of breakfast. He heated it up in the microwave and then ate as they talked about what to do next.

  “How far away from Chicago are we?” Ivy asked.

  “About… eight or nine hours of driving, by the GPS,” Ben answered, looking it up.

  “We should probably just start heading there, right? I mean, the twin cities aren’t bad but I really want to check out Chicago,” Ivy said. Lee and Stella agreed.

  “Well I guess that settles it then, you guys want me to drive?” Ben asked.

  “Sure, if you want. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night so it’s probably the safest option,” Lee answered. Ben climbed up front and started the rig.

  Before leaving, they made a quick stop to top off the fuel and water tanks, and grab some drinks. When they were back on the road, Lee looked up the route on his laptop and saw that in a few hours they’d be merging back on I-90. That was good, he thought. Somehow being on the same interstate that went all the way back home to Seattle felt reassuring, even when he was in places he’d never been. He knew that even if he got lost, he could always follow the road west to get back to Seattle.