Sunday, 12 June 2022

Jim's Subway Part 7 - The Deal

Jim couldn't remember getting into bed, but somehow he managed to do it will juiced out to the max.
  He awoke the next day after a mad dream:
  He was in the train tunnel, and the tunnel was lit by a row of candles stretching the length of the rusty old rail track.
  But that was not the strangest thing, for inside the tunnel with him we various farm animals, including cows, chickens and even a horse.  There they were, lots of them, wandering around the tunnel fade in and out of the light of the candles.
  He watched them as they vanished in and out of the light, until he finally opened his eyes, and realised he was awake again.
  The dream was over, but the nightmare of the hangover was about to begin.
  He had drunk far too much G-Juice before going to sleep.
  When he opened his eyes everything was a blur.  
  Then he felt the throbbing in his head.
  So much pain!  It hit him like a train, like he was still on the rusty railroad, only the road was still in service and trains were on the move.
  Yes.  He certainly felt like he had been run over by a train!
  It was a couple of hours before he could move a single limb.
  Eventually he was able to get up, and slop his way over to the sink and turn the tap on to make himself a glass of water.
  The whole world was moving in slow motion around him, and every little sound, from car wheels and car hours outside, to his own footsteps, echoed louder than a bell church and resounded forever in the universe.
  It was unbearable.
  He drank his water and spewed it back up.
  He couldn't hold his fluids down.
  He began to shiver.
  He started to panic.
  Did he need a doctor?  Should he phone the ambulance.
  He felt guilty call the emergency number, after all he was sick because of his own stupidity.
  He didn't deserve help.
  He went back to bed and lay there, shivering and sweating, and totally unable to sleep.
  'I would go back to any dream right now,' he said aloud.  'Even if it was that darn train tunnel!'
  He couldn't go to work.
  No way!
  He had a phone call.  Jim knew it was from his boss.  He didn't answer it.
  Then someone knocked on his door.
  Jim couldn't got to see who it was.  He felt like getting out of bed again was going to be a huge task comparable to climbing Mount Everest with minimal climbing equipment and no training.  
  So he just lay there, shivering.
  Anything could have happened.  The flat could have been burgled, a fire could have started - but Jim was NOT getting out of that bed!
  Just then someone entered his room.
  It was Jo.  He came shuffling inside looking pale of face, and dishevelled of dress.  'The door was unlocked,' he explained.
  Jim didn't mind it was Jo.  
  Jo was also hungover so at least Jim had someone to share the pain with.  
  'I've looked everywhere but there is no more G-Juice,' said Jo.  
  The little scruffy man was shaking.  His eyes were red raw, and he had this haunted gaze like a man tormented by fearful entities.  
  Jim told Jo he had to go back to the subway and have another look.
  So Jo did as he was told and had a rummage around the old ruins.  He check everywhere, up and down, left and right, he picked through the rubbish and filth and got bitten by rats as his fingers peeled back the scraps.  
  Then he returned to the cellar and check the box again.
  In his head he begged the forces that be, the ethereal powers that operate the universe, PLEASE LET THERE BE SOMETHING TO DRINK IN THAT BOX!
  NO.
  It was empty.
  Jim didn't take the news well.
  'I am shaking Jo,' he said.  'Can't you see?  Look at me?  I can't...  I can't get out of bed.  And it's getting worse.  I think I am going to die, Jo.
  Jo didn't know what to do.  
  'It's my heart as well,' Jim went on.  'It's shaking like mad!  It feels like it's going to burst out of my chest.  This is horrible.  I have had wicked hangovers in my time but damn!  This is the worst, Jo.  I am seeing things.  I have seen people walk in and out of my bedroom.  I am going mad.  You have got to help me, Jo.  I am going to die without your help.'
  Jim past out after he said that.
  When he opened his eyes again, amazed that he was still actually alive, Jim saw Jo standing in his room and there was a stranger beside him.
  'I found a Doctor who is willing to help,' Jo said.
  Jim was shocked to hear this.  
  'What do you mean you found a Doctor?  How does that happen?  What and he just followed you here?'
  The stranger stepped up, and in the faint light leaking through the hallway behind Jim saw a tall thin pale looking man wearing a smart crisp white lab coat.  
  Very unusual attire for outside of a laboratory, but if he was a truly a Dr and could help Jim didn't care what the man was wearing.  'Can you help me Doctor?' he said.  'I think I am dying.'
  'No one thinks they are dying,' the stranger replied.  'A person is either living or dead.  There is no between.  And if our heart has the strength to beat, and your lungs have the power to let you breath, and your tongue can help you produce words then rest assured my dear friend you are definitely NOT dying.'
  The stranger introduced.  He said his name was Ivan Gustov.
  'What kind of a name is that?' said Jim.  'You sound like one of those creepy scientist characters from one of those old black and white horror flicks, you know the sort that had Boris Karloff in them.  How can I take you seriously with a ludicrous name like that?'
  'You don't have to take me seriously, you just have to believe that I can help you,' he replied, and the he added, 'I think Jim is a pretty silly name but that doesn't mean to say that I won't treat you as my patient.  Now Jim, will you let me help you.'
  Jim begged the Doctor to help the pain to go away.
  That was when Ivan brought out from a box a bottle containing a strange clear liquid.
  'Drink this,' said Ivan.  'It will help you feel much better, I promise...'
  Jim was still shaking very badly, he couldn't hold the bottle and his friend to help him drink the liquid inside.
  The liquid flowed down the throat real nice!
  The shakes immediately left him - and Jim felt a strange but very welcome feeling of calm flow down through him.
  The sweats abated and he started to think clearly again.
  'I am cured,' he said.  'Thank you mr Ivan...sir.  Are you really a Doctor?  You must be, you saved my life.  What was in the bottle by the way?'
  'My special formula,' Ivan replied.
  'Really? Well it's a pretty good formula let me tell you!  Made me feel really good!  And I actually recognize the taste.  You know something Jo?' and he pulled his friend close, 'I wish there was some left for you to try.  You would have loved the taste of the stuff yourself.'
  'Why's that?' said Jo.
  Jim smiled and slapped Jo on the shoulder, he was feeling his life force flowing back into him again.
  Jim leaped out of bed and span around and started laughing like a maniac: he had never felt so brilliant in all his life!
  'You won't believe it, Jo,' he said, 'but it tasted just like G-Juice!'
  

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