The Cell - Part 3

Chapter 3

He slept and dreamed, nice dreams.... but he could also sense something wasn't quite right in himself...

He woke to the moonlight streaming through his window. The clock showed 4am. Can't sleep again. The cool breeze from the cracked window reminded him of nights when she used to lay there next to him. Her body warm and soft. Now all that was next to him was empty space, cold and devoid.

He looked out the window and saw the interstate in the distance. Before he knew it he'd gotten his jeans, boots, shirt and hat on and jumped in his 65 mustang and he began to drive.

He thought of the times they shared together. Their first meeting at the county fair, how she looked so beautiful as she walked down the fairway. The chance drop of her purse which he picked up and handed back to her. The look in her eyes as they met his was magic.

He asked if he could join them in their walk down the fairway, though her friend protested, she invited him along. As they walked their hands found each other. Electricity flowed between their fingers, although they didn't look at each other. Neither knew, and both knew. This was for real. After searching for so long they had found each other.

She took him on the Zipper, the one ride he'd always been afraid of. As they swung around and around, flipping upside down and rightside up she kissed him for the first time. The combination of the nauseating physical sensations combined with her kiss to give him a feeling he'd never had before. Everything faded but her, her hair flying around in the enclosed car. When the ride stopped they were still kissing. The rank smelling carnie operating the ride even watched hungrily for a few seconds before they realized he was. He then opened the door and let them out.

Over the next few months they saw each other almost every day, and talked on the phone when they couldn't. She introduced him to instant messaging on the computer and then they were virtually inseperable. She was his only one, and he hers. He couldn't understand how things had gone so wrong. He saw her walking away from his cell at the hospital again...

Suddenly, and with a great degree of terror, he realized that he wasn't in his car, and that he wasn't at the fair... he was in a dimly lit room. He couldn't make out much except for a quiet beeping, which he guessed indicated his heart rate, and someone sitting in front of a bank of glowing monitors.

"Hello Paul" a voice said from the darkness.