Pasta-Gal

  Lucas didn't know where he was, but he did know he was quite comfortable. His neck was tight and moving it hurt like hell, and a chunky piece of gauze had been taped onto it. The room was dark but he could just about make out his surroundings. Aside from the couch he had evidently fell asleep in, the shadowy room around him was poputed by what seemed to be a table, perhaps another couch or reclining chair, and the blinking of a smoke detector. There was likely much more but without more light Lucas wouldn't be able discern it. As he scanned he became startled at two glowing points that were seemingly floating in the air. A set of blue eyes pierced through the darkness, unwavering they remained locked on Lucas.

  "Who's there, where I am I?" Lucas said towards the eyes.

  "Oh good you're awake I was worried there for a moment," The eyes blinked ad began moving towards what Lucas was fairly certain was a wall. "Might want to cover you're eyes."

  "What, wh- AH!" Lucas was blinded by the lights being switched on.

  "How do you feel? You still look fine, so I think you'll be good," Lucas' eyes began to adjust and took in the form of a familiar woman. He think he met her earlier? They had talked for a while, what was her name?

  "Agatha?"

  "You remember my name, that is also a good sign," Agatha said. She began to make her way over to Lucas' side and pced her hand on his wrist. "Still a pulse, very good."

  "What happened where am I?" Lucas demanded as best he could. "Last thing I remember is we were about to leave the bar I think? And what are you doing?"

  "You're at my apartment, you passed out after bleeding quite a bit. Assumed you couldn't afford the hospital bill so here we are."

  "Why was I bleeding did someone attack us?" Lucas' memory was a complete haze the details of what happened after they left the bar eluded him.

  "Err... Something like that, gave you a real nasty gash on your neck. So how do you feel?" Agatha's little inspection of him had moved towards his face as she began staring quite intently at his eyes. She flicked his forehead a few times to illicit a response.

  "Hey, ow! Well aside from you rudely flicking me and this pain in my neck I feel fine," Lucas massaged the bandage gently. "How did you carry me although way to your apartment by yourself; do you live near the bar?"

  "No I... uh, called a cab, obviously," Agatha said hastily.

  "Right, of course," Lucas sat up pushing Agatha off him in the process. He noticed he could barely speak, his throat was a proper desert. "Can I get some water please?"

  Agatha went around a counter towards where the kitchen was. She pulled a gss from a cupboard and a few moments ter she returned to the couch with the full gss, and handed it to Lucas.

  "Here you go. I'm really sorry about all this," Agatha looked dreadfully remorseful. Lucas didn't know why from what she's said so far he should be thanking her.

  "What for, saved me an arm and leg from the hospital fees. Hope it doesn't cost my neck though," Lucas ughed hoarsely. Taking the sign he took a hearty gulp of the water. It was incredibly refreshing it felt like he hadn't drank anything in days.

  "That shouldn't be an issue I disinfected it as soon as I could, seems to have worked." She pointed at the bandage.

  "So how long were you just watching me. Little creepy if I'm honest," Lucas' brain fog had slowly begun to lift, the water flushing his body to a mostly functional form.

  "Only a few hours," Agatha sat beside Lucas, exchanging gnces every few words.

  "Few hours. Wait how long have I been out? Not long I hope I have work tomorrow," Lucas reached for his pockets searching through them for his phone.

  "Oh not terribly long, just a few days," Agatha said in ft tone and casually waved his concern aside.

  "A few DAYS!" Lucas leaped up and turned to Agatha. "Did you even try to wake me up?"

  "Rex I'm joking it's the same night, sun's still down. Think it's like what 4- maybe, 5 O'clock?" she shrugged.

  Lucas finally fished his phone out from his pocket and thankfully confirmed that it was still the same night, albeit much ter. His phone was nearly dead, only 2% left. Lucas colpsed back into to the recesses of the couch trying to calm his sudden jump in emotions. His mind began to calm but his bdder did not.

  "Can I use your bathroom real quick?" Lucas asked. For some reason this startled Agatha.

  "Oh uh, sure?" Agatha's face began to contort through a series of emotions and thoughts Lucas couldn't quite identify.

  "If you're embarrassed by it being a little dirty it's fine I don't mind, who's bathroom isn't a little messy," Lucas said, reminded of his own bathroom.

  "It's the door on the right," Agatha pointed off towards a hallway to their left. She then stood up and paced back and forth through the kitchen. Odd, but Lucas didn't have the capacity to think about it at the moment.

  Lucas shakily stood up from the couch and traced his way around the coffee table which he had just noticed was completely clear of anything except a faint yer of dust. Through the hallway and the door on the right Lucas found himself standing in Agatha's bathroom.

  It was a peculiar room, essentially barren except for a bottle of nearly empty soap on the counter. Much like the coffee table every surface in here seemed to be coated in a fine yer of dust. She must not have asthma, living with this much dust would probably take a toll on Lucas pretty quickly.

  Lucas popped open the toilet to do the deed but the toilet was empty. He lifted the lid and the tank was empty as well. Lucas faced towards the door.

  "Hey is there something wrong with your toilet? There's no water,"

  "No, the water's just turned off," Lucas could almost taste the embarrassment in Agatha's voice. That's a strange thing to do, Lucas thought. He scanned the floor around the toilet for the water valve and twisted it open, hearing a hiss as water began to flow through the pipes and into the tank.

  Lucas finished reliving himself and washed his hands. Walking back to the couch Lucas caught a better look at the kitchen and it too was devoid of almost anything, no gadgets, or bowls, or dirty dishes. It looked like nobody had been actively living here for a while. The only thing that didn't seem to have collected any dust was the fridge.

  "Did you move here recently?" Lucas asked her. He leaned up against the counter, Agatha who was still pacing the kitchen stopped and gnced over.

  "Not really, although I haven't spent a lot of time here as of te. I'm sure the state of the pce makes me look a wee bit crazy,"

  Lucas shrugged, "We all have our quirks."

  Agatha looked quite different under the white light of her kitchen then she did at the bar; she was quite pale and looked slightly gaunt as she moved around and the light cast deep shadows across the angles of her face. It was beautiful but it made her seem almost anxious and disheveled. Lucas didn't know what job Agatha did, maybe she was a model? She had that tall imposing look that some models had. She had also changed at some point while Lucas had passed out, now sporting sweatpants and a tank top, probably much more comfortable than the stained dress she had at the bar.

  "Do you model?" Lucas asked her. His sleep deprived, slightly hungover brain unable keep the thought to himself.

  "No, but that's very kind of you to think that. I'm a librarian," Agatha smiled, her eyes and face sputtering about made it look like she was blushing but her face didn't redden if she was.

  Lucas' stomach began to rumble. He realized he never actually ate dinner or really anything st night. He didn't want to intrude on Agatha' kindness any more than he already had but maybe she had something, a snack or piece of bread he could take. Agatha had clearly heard the noise because her eyes darted back and forth between Lucas and the fridge.

  "Well would you look at the time," Agatha tapped an imaginary watch and rushed over and pulled Lucas up off the counter and began pushing him towards the door. "I am gd you are doing well after everything, but you really should be getting ready for work,"

  Agatha opened the door to her apartment and gently pushed Lucas outside. "Again pleasure to meet you, please do call I think I'd like to talk to you again..."

  Lucas interjected Agatha's rambling, "How am I supposed to call you I don't have your number?"

  Agatha paused for barely a second "Right, but you do know where I live sooo. See you soon byeeeee," before she closed the door leaving Lucas stranding outside her apartment.

  Lucas rattled down the hallway, having taken a note of the apartment number, 72. He double checked his pockets to make sure he still had everything; wallet, phone, keys, good. Lucas pushed his way out the doors and out onto the the waking streets of Chicago. What a strange woman, Lucas thought.

  It was just before five-thirty as Lucas began his walk towards his apartment. He had decided not to take a bus for fear of falling asleep and theoretically as long as he kept walking he should be fine, blood loss not included. Agatha unfortunately did not live close to his own apartment, her building was just off Fullerton which meant he needed to take about an hour walk south to his own pce. At least normally it would have taken an hour, but due to various factors Lucas would be unable to crash onto his bed until about seven; but by that point Lucas had resigned his fate and began brewing the rgest batch of coffee he had ever seen.

  While the coffee was dripping itself into the pot, Lucas made his way to the bathroom to inspect his neck wound. The bandage was nearly fully saturated with blood. It was crispy to touch and felt worse to peel off. He had prepared a second one of simir size just in case it was still running, but if it'd been a few hours he should be fine.

  His finger nail caught underneath the adhesive after a few scrapes to pull it up. Managing a slight grip he began to rip it off as fast he could. He winced as it pulled up his hair and a thin yer of dead skin.

  There were two rger circur scabs that had formed about an inch and a half apart joined by a thinner scab. It was certainly a gash if he'd ever seen one. However Lucas couldn't help but ugh as he saw his reflection, if he squinted just right it almost looked like he had been bitten, like something out of a vampire movie. As a little joke he fshed his teeth into the mirror, which got another ugh out of him. He didn't think it would scar, Lucas had acquired many a cut in his years and almost none remained as a scar. But if it did it would probably make a certain Halloween costume a bit easier.

  It did raise the question though, what did cause this? Agatha had been pretty vague about it only saying he'd been attacked. Maybe it happened too quickly for her to see like someone jumped out of an alley and stabbed him in the neck? He'd have to ask her when he saw her again.

  That was a neat thought. Lucas genuinely wanted to meet back up with Agatha, and seemingly she agreed if her frantic ramblings while pushing him out of her apartment were anything to actually go off of. And surely thing can't get any stranger than they already had.