Something
in the Walls
By CherylR
September 19, 2013
Blair
winced as his shoulder twinged. He
shifted from side to side accidently moving his face further into the spray
from the shower, which caused some of the shampoo to drip into his eyes. “What
a day,” Blair grumbled. “I just want to get clean and go home. Not have to stay
here overnight. I’m fine.”
He
looked at the shower tiles trying to distract himself from his pain. Hey, that tile looks like it has a wolf face
in it. And that one looks like a fox. He looked at the tiles on the other side and
saw a dog, a cat, and a person. Huh, I guess that show was right. We really do try to see faces in everything. He looked back at the person and saw another
one, and another. The last one was kinda scary looking. Really scary looking.
Then Blair flashed back to a different TV show and his heartbeat started to
increase as he continued to further freak himself out. Seeing more and more faces
in the tile.
The
bathroom door slammed open as Jim bounded in gun first looking for the crook
that managed to sneak past him and attack his roommate. A quick look reassured Jim that the room was
empty except for Blair. He re-holstered
his gun and offered Blair a towel.
“What’s wrong? Did you bump your
arm? I told you that I’d wash your mop if
you wanted help.”
“No,
Jim. I didn’t hurt my arm. Man, I totally gave myself the hebbie jeebies. I need to get dressed and get out of here and
then I’ll tell you about it. Maybe you
could, kinda stick close and leave the door cracked a
bit. And, um, maybe talk to me while I’m
getting dressed, okay?”
“Okay,
Sandburg,” Jim said calmly. “Remember, the doctor said that you may have some
anxiety as a side effect from the drugs. So, do you want to hear about Samuel’s
newest mix-up?” Jim said as he started the latest in the long-winded saga of
the bumbling traffic cop.
“The
drug,” Blair interrupted. “Right, right. I remember
that, now,” Blair said as he walked out the door trying to dry his hair
one-handed.
Jim
removed the towel from Blair’s hand and proceeded to dry Blair’s hair for him.
“Do you
remember watching that show on perception… about how if people see three sort
of roundish shapes in a general triangle area they tend to turn them in to
faces?”
“Vaguely. We watch a lot of nature and
science stuff, Chief,” Jim said as he tossed the towel back towards the
bathroom and generally herded his roommate to the hospital bed in the corner.
“Do you
remember that episode of The Twilight
Zone called ‘Something in the Walls’?” Blair asked.”
“Was
that the creepy one with the lady in the insane asylum who had to have only
solid colors around her?”
“Yup,
that’s the one. You put the two of those
together…” Blair said.
“And add
in some really good drugs,” Jim added.
“… and
you get the right ingredients to freak yourself out in the hospital shower,”
Blair finished.
Jim
helped Blair settle more comfortably in bed and made sure the blankets were
just right. He then turned to sit in the
chair and resume his watch.
Blair
snuggled down and started to drift off when he noticed the ceiling tiles had
textured dots in them. Lots and lots of dots.
“Jim, I really think I’d sleep better at home.”
Jim
looked at the ceiling and then at the wallpapered walls and pushed the call
button. “I think AMA is sounding really
good right about now.”
“Yeah,”
Blair agreed. “Let’s do that.”
+++
“Next time you're alone, look
quickly at the wallpaper, and the ceiling, and the cracks on the sidewalk. Look
for the patterns and lines and faces on the wall. Look, if you can, for Sharon
Miles, visible only out of the corner of your eye or... in the Twilight Zone.”
~~
The end
A/N: You can blame/thank my most recent shower for
this little tidbit. Here’s the link to a
synopsis of that Twilight Zone ep if you don’t
remember it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_in_the_Walls and here’s the youtube
of the ep (may only work in the US) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amb01-gTTrg
Feedback is always appreciated. CherylR