Starry Eyes

I woke up with another headache. This time, though, the pain shot through my forehead all the way to the top of my neck, vibrating throughout my entire skull. I didn’t want to open my eyes because it hurt so bad.

“Good morning, baby,” I heard Mike mumble, kissing my cheek. I kept my eyes closed though, scrunching my face. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked. I shook my head and whimpered a little.

“My head hurts,” I croaked. What was worse than the actual pain, though, was the fear that went along with it.

“Oh no,” he cooed. “I can get you ibuprofen or aspirin or something?” I shook my head. I genuinely didn’t think over the counter medicine would do the trick. “Was the concert too much for you?” he asked gently. I felt his hand carefully stroke my side in an attempt to comfort me. I shook my head again. This couldn’t be a loud-noises induced headache. It was too much. I started to cry softly.

“It hurts a lot Mikey,” I whimpered.

“Okay, hold on,” he said, his voice more serious. I felt him climb over me, leaving the bunk. I was in too much pain to open my eyes, afraid that the light would make it worse. I remained where I was, lying tensely on the edge of his bunk.

“Hey,” I heard Mike return. He climbed back over me. “Relax your face a little, okay? I pulled back the curtain and it’s pretty dark in here.” I sniffled and nodded, easing my face out of its scrunched position. I carefully parted my eyes open, immediately making eye contact with a concerned Mike. He was sitting on his knees at my feet, hunched a little because the space was tight.

“Tony gets bad migraines a lot. He said this will help,” he said, holding out two pills in the palm of his hand. I sat up a little, wincing.

“Are you sure it’s okay I take his medicine?” I asked. I didn’t want to use up his prescription or anything.

“Of course, don’t worry about it. It’ll definitely help you. Here,” he said, holding out a cup of water as well. I slowly scooped the pills out of his hand and placed them on my tongue, swallowing them down with a sip of water.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“C’mere,” he said. He scooted back so he was sitting up on the far side of the bunk, opening his arms for me. I crawled over slowly, careful not to move too fast in fear that it would hurt my head even more. I wrapped my arms loosely around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder. He rubbed my back soothingly. “I’m sorry you’re feeling bad, Faye,” he murmured. I sighed a little into his shoulder, closing my eyes. I concentrated on Mike’s heartbeat against my chest instead of the throbbing in my head. “We’re back at my house. Want to come inside to sleep some more?” he asked, his voice quiet and soothing. I nodded. “Okay.”

I carefully peeled myself away from him, brushing back my hair from my face. Mike opened the bunk curtain and slid out of the bed. He turned back to me and scooped me up into his arms. I tilted my head into his chest, keeping my eyes closed.

“Is she okay?” I heard someone—Vic—ask.

“Yeah, yeah. Could you grab my bags from out of here while I take her inside?”

“Yeah of course. I got all this don’t worry,” he replied. The conversation pierced my brain painfully, even though they were trying to be quiet. I whimpered a little again.

“Sorry, baby,” Mike whispered. He gently petted my hair while he carried me inside. I kept my eyes shut tightly and braced myself for the bumps when he walked off the bus.

Mike lightly walked up his stairs and gently placed me on his bed. I sniffled and pressed my head into his pillows. “What can I get you sweetheart?”

I couldn’t answer him. The pain started to feel even worse, like daggers in my brain. I wanted to cry but I held it back, knowing that it would make the pain worse.

Mike didn’t say anything. He started to gently rub my back to calm me down. It was partially soothing, but I still felt violently ill.

“I think we should call her doctor,” someone—who wasn’t Mike—said.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Mike said. He carefully brushed back my hair and leaned down, kissing my cheek. I could hardly feel his lips on my skin. It seemed like the head pain was getting exponentially worse by the second, even though I had taken medicine.

This couldn’t be good.

“Hey baby,” someone whispered to me, their voice wary. I peeled my eyes open. It was Mike.

“Mike,” I muttered.

“How is it?” he asked, biting his lip.

“Bad,” I said.

“The doctor just wants you to come in for a bit, okay?”

I nodded slowly. Mike leaned over and scooped me up into his arms. I didn’t have the energy to wrap my arms around his neck; I kept them down, my hands tangled together against my chest.

“Try and drive careful, please,” Mike said. I looked up and carefully peeled my eyes open, seeing that we were in the backseat of a car. I was still in Mike’s arms. Vic was driving and Phoebe was in the passenger side, staring at me with concern in her eyes. That was all I saw before I closed mine again. The pain was too much. I knew that I probably should have stayed awake at that point, but I couldn’t fight it. There was only one other time I felt pain like this, and I had used up all of my bravery back then. Even though Mike urged me to stay awake, I gave into to temptation to let my eyes fall. The pain went away.

When I opened my eyes again, I felt cloudy. My eyes darted around frantically, trying to decipher where I was. I couldn’t really feel my head, but then again I couldn’t really feel anything. I didn’t know if the pain was gone or if it had become so intense that I was now numb to it.


I looked around, scared. “Faye, right here babe,” I heard Mike’s voice. I turned my head, spotting him.

“Whas’going on?” I slurred.

“Are you in pain at all?” he asked. I took a moment to reflect on how I felt. Everything was just kind of tingly.

“I don’t think so.”

He smiled. It looked somewhat forced. His lips were tight and something was off in his eyes. “They’re going to take an x-ray of your head, okay? You’ll have to go into a MRI. But it won’t be too long, and I’ll be there with you,” he said.

“Okay,” I said in a small voice. I knew what an MRI was; I had one back when I was still blind. I was still too tingly to really think about what was happening.

I closed my eyes as the doctors started to set up around me. Mike was holding my hand. He squeezed my hand but I was carefully not to move, afraid that the headache would come back. I didn’t squeeze back.

They gave me instructions and I just mumbled a small ‘ok’ after everything. I laid back on the table and looked at Mike worriedly as they started the machine, sending me into the tube. I wasn’t claustrophobic or anything, just really confused as to what was really going on.

When it was over with, the doctors told me good job and let me hold Mike’s hand again. Everything felt weird and cloudy. People were whispering around me; Mike’s face looked devastated for some reason. This time I squeezed his hand because it looked like he needed me to. They made me sit in a wheel chair because apparently I wasn’t allowed to walk due to the drugs they had in my system. I was confused because I didn’t know they gave me anything.

Finally I was laying down in a regular bed again. It wasn’t my bed or even Mike’s bed, though. It was a hospital bed. I suddenly became super anxious, widening my eyes. When I did that, though, a sharp pain shot through my head.

“Hey, hey, hey, try and relax, Faye,” Mike said. He sat close next to me and rubbed my shoulder.

“Why am I here?” My voice broke.

“We can talk about it after you get some rest, how does that sound?” he said gently. I nodded slowly.

“Where’s Phoebes?” I asked.

“She’ll be right back, don’t worry,” he said.

I sighed a little and turned my head—that was still on the pillow—to look more directly at Mike. I tried to concentrate on his features but everything was blurry. I lifted my arm and reached out to touch his face. He smiled a sad smile when my palm reached his cheek. “Mikey,” my voice cracked again. I rubbed my thumb up and down against his stubbled skin.

“Yes, Faye?”

“When I close my eyes…” I sniffled. “If I fall asleep right now—” and I really felt like I was about to fall asleep “—is it… will it be dark again forever?” I had that horrible feeling in my gut. Not the feeling that if I fell asleep I wouldn't wake up, but the feeling that if I fell asleep I wouldn’t wake up with the ability to see.

Mike didn’t say anything. He just placed his hand over mine, held it gently around my fingers, and leaned over to kiss my cheek.

He might’ve said something—yes, no, I don’t know—but I was already out by the time his lips touched my skin.

Notes

Hello friends!

I remember when I first joined this site, I would feel super guilty for not updating for ten days. Now, I feel accomplished when I update within two months! Sorry for the delay, and I hope I didn't lose any of you during the wait :P
And, yeah, so that happened, a bit of a cliff hanger yeah? Haven't done one of those in a while. I was going to make this happen later in the story, but I just kind of started to write it and now it's happening now. Buuuuut it was meant to happen.

Thanks for reading guys! Comment your thoughts below ;)

Love yaaaa,
Claire