Freefall

Eleventh Chapter

I finally forced my groggy eyes to open. The sun was streaming in through the blinds like I had wanted all night, but now it felt too brilliant. I was laying on my back, staring up at the ceiling. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I knew that I wasn't actually tired. I just didn't want to have to think.

I had a lot to think about. Everything Malcolm had said created new questions in my mind. The nonsense about there being another Meg Ross in an alternate reality who was actually asleep in my own mind. I laughed outright, and then I let out a loud sigh.

"Rough morning?"

I flew into a sitting position while simultaneously scrambling to be sure the sheets were covering me and my hair wasn't a rat's nest. Elliott was leaning in the doorway, and he pretended not to notice the mayhem he had caused.

"I know we don't have a session today, but you seemed a little closed off during our last discussion so I figured I would come check up on you."

"Right." I was still busy trying to discreetly make sure I looked alright. It was unfair that he could choose to stroll through the door in jeans and a T-shirt to visit while I had to wear a hospital gown day in and day out.

"Is everything alright?" he pressed.

"Right. Of course." I let my folded hands drop into my lap and smiled at him.

Elliott balanced on the arm of the chair nearest me. "Okay. I just wanted to make sure."

He wouldn't have taken a seat if all he wanted to do was "make sure," but I didn't tell him that. I just kept nodding and smiling like an idiot. What was I supposed to say?

"Hey, I'm pretty sure that an alternate reality exists, and there's a girl trapped in my mind who I need to wake up before we all crash and burn. And by the way, that means you want to kill me because you want us all to crash and burn."

Great ice-breaker there, Meg.

"Well, I'm not here in an official capacity, but if you have anything you want to say or ask me, feel free."

I began to say that I didn't have any questions before it occurred to me that I did, but I paused. It was a question that I wasn't sure I really wanted the answer to.

"Right. Um, you work with the school don't you?" I asked slowly.

Elliott blinked. Apparently, he hadn't been expecting that kind of question. "Yes, I do. Why do you bring that up?"

There was an edge to his voice now, and I tried to appear bright and unaffected. He admitted to working for the school, but Malcolm had shown me that there was no school policy. There had to be an explanation for this somewhere. I eyed Elliott, wondering if I should question him further. Could it really hurt?

According to Malcolm, it could, but I had to try.

"Right. Well. I happen to have read somewhere that the school doesn't have a policy regarding therapy following situations like my own. Actually, they don't have a policy regarding mandatory therapy in any capacity."

I held my breath and waited for a response, feeling as if I had taken it too far.

Elliott tilted his head at me, his forehead furrowing in studied confusion. "Where did you read that?"

His voice still had the edge to it, but he was trying to disguise it with an unnatural softness. I had unnerved him, I could tell, and it was unnerving me.

"Um, oh, I don't know." Now he had me doing it, except my "unnatural calmness" came out as a squeak.

I cleared my throat and tried again. "I want to be a doctor after all, I remember reading about it."