Valentine's Day short story

[D_Marx]

Rational Compulsive Decision-Making Sufferer. [working title]
by
Daniele Marx
~~~~
The Calculation
listen whilst reading, please.

I'm sorry, but I just don't visit unless I feel I have something I've accomplished.
~~~~

Dana struggled to sit up, being so exhausted. What was wrong with her? The man beside her under the sheets must’ve worn her out more than she remembered. A smile tried to reach her lips but only fell as far as her eyes. A tickle in her throat kept the luxurious feeling of euphoria at bay. She was in love, there was hardly any point in lying to herself any further. Alan rested so peacefully, deeply. She didn’t really know that about him. He hardly even moved. Such a change from last night.

Her arm was a little moist, but it was too dark to tell anything but that Alan must’ve also drooled whilst lying partially atop her. That brought a smile to her lips at last. Then her headache, quietly lurking in the background, came full force and knocked her forward. Her trembling body pulled the covers off and yanked her to the dark bathroom, fumbling in the dark for the aspirin. She knew this place well enough that light wouldn’t have helped much. Dark was good.

After gulping down five or six--honestly, who counts anymore?--200mg, she stumbled back into bed but slid off the silk sheets to the floor. Boy, she loved silk sheets, and there was probably a lot of enjoyment on a regular Saturday afternoon for these babies with whom she secretly called ‘her man.’ Alas, it was Wednesday morning. This had to be atypical for a weekday, even, especially to those who worked customer service. And what a week it was for them. Valentine’s Day. She then decided, as the first one up, to make the complimentary coffee. Maybe the caffeine would help her pounding head. Something just lifted the hairs on her neck this morning, but that’d have to work itself out after a night of hardly any sleep.

She got up after much struggle and lost all control of her motor skills about halfway to the armoire. Her arms didn’t catch, but her legs began to ache as well, and she wondered why she was having any trouble at all. This was really starting to scare her. She jumped when Alan’s alarm went off, the morning news flooding the room like an ugly haze. Someone was blurring in her eardrums, but after a few moments it became more distinct. The voice was talking about people falling ill all over the metropolitan area, and the word ‘epidemic’ was thrown in a few times. This, she decided, was serious and much scarier than her headache. Then ‘airborne,’ ‘death toll,’ and ‘thousands’ struck a note.

Dana’s heart was pounding in her chest, and she scrambled for the light. She needed to know--Alan always said that was her worst flaw, the constant desire to know what was going on. Her hand found the dimmer and she fumbled for a second before the overhead came up in a rush. There, on the bed in a pool of his own blood, was her lover. He was dead, and the blood had come out from everywhere, eyes, fingertips, mouth, nose, ears, everywhere she could see, as far as she could see. Abrasions were all over his skin and then she torn her eyes from him to inspect herself, knowing there was hardly any use in going for help if the word airborne came into play.

First off, she was covered in blood. Alan’s, hers, whatever. Tears fell down her cheeks and she couldn’t stop herself. The pain all over her was just getting worse. Her feet carried her back to the bathroom, to the medicine cabinet. Ten, twenty, nobody counted anymore. She took them all, and went back into the room with her lover, her man. The Valentine’s Day Pandemic, Dana shakingly slid back into bed, and carefully positioned herself for as much comfort as she could muster. The horror, her mind was completely blank. She had no words, no thoughts. Her hand touched his slightly warm one, and pulled it to her lips, kissing his bloody fingers, and held it to her chest. The other hand rested on his soft hair, and she sat there, letting the tears fall.  

[Xahmen]

WHAT THE ******** IS GOING ON AAAHHHHHH.
No seriously I have no idea what just happened.  

[Serenity Reed]

I think I saw this movie once.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPkA_Qb74l4
Why do all of us have such morbid imaginations?

Except there was a zombie apocalypse too. XD  

[D_Marx]

Hate to ask the question, Z, but I think you might have to be a little more specific? Just asking.

SR, I'm fairly certain my character didn't resort to murder, but okay [edit: didn't mean for it to sound defensive, by the way]. . . Did anybody read it all the way through? [No zombies to report, sadly.]  

[charbookwyrm]

...You know, I probably shouldn't read this kinda story just before I go to bed.

I liked it; it's horrible and tender in just the right mixture, and I really didn't see the whole 'mass death' thing coming along. I personally think the discovery of what's happened is a bit sudden, and I don't entirely think that calling it 'The Valentine's Day Pandemic' in a story from the viewpoint of a woman who doesn't care what it's called wholly works. But these are fairly minor points, and there's a lot of good stuff here. I particuarly liked the link with 'nobody counted any more' in the different contexts.  

[D_Marx]

charbookwyrm

...You know, I probably shouldn't read this kinda story just before I go to bed.

I liked it; it's horrible and tender in just the right mixture, and I really didn't see the whole 'mass death' thing coming along. I personally think the discovery of what's happened is a bit sudden, and I don't entirely think that calling it 'The Valentine's Day Pandemic' in a story from the viewpoint of a woman who doesn't care what it's called wholly works. But these are fairly minor points, and there's a lot of good stuff here. I particuarly liked the link with 'nobody counted any more' in the different contexts.

I wasn't sure about the title of the sickness, either. She obviously couldn't have cared less what it really was in her defense.

I admit I kind of laughed really hard when I wrote that "nobody counted anymore" part.  

[Serenity Reed]

I did read it. I just wasn't entirely sure what exactly was happening, and since we'd just watched Zombieland and that video it was kind of on my mind. XD I thought of the little short animation before the sickness part, which switched to zombie apocalypse. I was just saying that I didn't really get it. XD Sorry if it confused you! (So, wait, is she going do die? Is it spread like AIDS? Hmm?)  

[D_Marx]

Serenity Reed

I did read it. I just wasn't entirely sure what exactly was happening, and since we'd just watched Zombieland and that video it was kind of on my mind. XD I thought of the little short animation before the sickness part, which switched to zombie apocalypse. I was just saying that I didn't really get it. XD Sorry if it confused you! (So, wait, is she going do die? Is it spread like AIDS? Hmm?)

That's okay, thanks for telling me about the zombie thing. It confused me as well. I was actually going for plague outbreak, but a lot of people have zombies on the brain. [you know what? PUN INTENDED. biggrin ] I've had things pop in and surprise me at the wrong time just like that. It kind of ruins the story when I read and can't get the second thing out of my head.

She was infected because the sickness was airborne, kind of like Smallpox, so she took tons of painkillers to either get rid of the pain or OD. Considering she was conscious of the decision, we'll go with premeditated suicide.  

[Serenity Reed]

*Caresses your puntastic offerings*

XD Interesting. I'd say the only complaint I had was the confusion on the plague itself. Other than that it was good. I'd think, however, that it would be much better as a short film, since you want the music and, alone, the story has a really different feel.  

[D_Marx]

Serenity Reed

*Caresses your puntastic offerings*

XD Interesting. I'd say the only complaint I had was the confusion on the plague itself. Other than that it was good. I'd think, however, that it would be much better as a short film, since you want the music and, alone, the story has a really different feel.

Oh yeah, that music was a total coincidence as well, but I started giggling like an evil villain and had to include it. I've always wanted to write screenplays.  

[Serenity Reed]

Same; I always imagine my writing as a show, which is probably why most of everything I've got on here consists of dialogue with accompanying physical description. XD Fail....  

[D_Marx]

Serenity Reed

Same; I always imagine my writing as a show, which is probably why most of everything I've got on here consists of dialogue with accompanying physical description. XD Fail....

I grew up with comic books, so I enjoy watching things go by scene-by-scene. Picturing what reactions people would have make the gift that much better.

Plus, it's highly useful in predicting people in general. On the flipside, it's also pretty scary knowing what's coming next.  

[Serenity Reed]

*Caresses her rather large collection of graphic novels*
It's probably the most glaring problem I have, and the one I thought I was beginning to fix. And then I read my newest chapter. There was a whole huge scene of almost nothing but dialogue. Yeah, that's getting rewritten... XD

Oh, that's the reason I dislike horror movies. XD  

[D_Marx]

Serenity Reed

*Caresses her rather large collection of graphic novels*
It's probably the most glaring problem I have, and the one I thought I was beginning to fix. And then I read my newest chapter. There was a whole huge scene of almost nothing but dialogue. Yeah, that's getting rewritten... XD

Oh, that's the reason I dislike horror movies. XD

I'm such a fan of the Hellblazer series.

It's sometimes hard showing people what's going on, instead of telling them, but the more I work at it, the more it stares at me with a look of 'really? You don't see this?'

I can't stand writing just dialogue [my spell-checker just tried to tell me 'dialogue' wasn't a word].