Confused, Gail half sat up in the bed and realized two things at once. First, she was completely naked. Second, her body slid way too easily across her cotton sheets.
Exploding off of the bed, Gail flung out her arms in search of her lamp but found nothing but air. Her bare feet hit the floor with a strange squeak. She was so taken aback that she promptly fell, landing square on her ass on a surface that definitely was not the familiar padding of carpet.
Gail crawled in the dark until she found a wall and slid her hand up it as she rose to her feet. Her entire body shook and her breath came in short, panicked gasps as she felt along the wall. Finally her fingertips brushed across a light switch and she pressed it upwards. As light flooded the room, she realized this was not her room.
She looked around to make sure there was no one else with her. She looked under the bed, in the closet, and in the bathroom, her limbs quaking the entire time. Doing so stark naked only made her feel more exposed and vulnerable.
After making sure she was alone, she went looking for her clothes. The fact that everything in the unfamiliar room seemed to fit her perfectly was more than a little jarring, but Gail added that to the growing list of mysteries she couldn't solve yet. Once she had located a pair of yoga pants and a loose, long-sleeved top, she felt a great deal better. Whatever she was going to be facing, she at least wanted to do it with pants on.
While pulling on the shirt, she felt something catch on her shoulder. She reached back to touch it. She tugged at whatever it was, but stopped when it hurt.
Shaking her head, Gail turned her attention to the table. She nearly cried out when she saw the phone. Snatching it up, she flipped it open and began dialing. It took only moments to register that nothing was happening. Squinting at the screen, Gail realized it wasn't even in English. Though she couldn't read the words, she guessed it was asking for a password. She tried a few common presets, but none worked.
Frustrated, she stopped, worried she'd end up locking the phone, making it useless. She didn't return it to the table, however. Just holding it made her feel better.
Next she grabbed the pill bottles, one at a time. Again, she couldn't read them so she returned them to the table.
Gail searched the bedroom and the bathroom for a while longer before she had to face the fact that she was just stalling. She didn't want to leave the bedroom. She sat on the bed and stared at the closed door, frowning.
She had left work last night and walked home. But how had she ended up here? And where was here? "And who brought me here?" she murmured, her soft voice sounding strange in the tiled room. Her stomach growled again and Gail sighed. Whatever the answers were, she couldn't stay in here forever.
Slowly rising from the bed, she rubbed her sweating palms against her legs. When she approached the door, she stopped, staring at the knob as if it were going to come alive and speak to her. Gail lifted her hand and reached for the door.
"What if after all this, it's locked?" she asked herself in a whisper.
But the knob turned beneath her touch and the door slowly swung toward her, without a sound. She peered around it and watched as a tiny sliver of light in the otherwise dark hallway began to grow as the door continued to open.
With a soft gasp she reached out with a hand and smacked the lights off.
"Idiot, why not just shout that you're awake and ready to be murdered?" she breathed, sidling out past the door and pressing herself against the wall.
Gail quietly progressed down the hallway, listening at each door and then testing the knob. None opened for her. At the end of the hallway, she stood for a long moment, wishing she'd had enough sense to pee before she'd left the bedroom. Resting her face against the cool tile wall, Gail rolled her head to glance around the corner into the living room.
She continued the slow, painstaking search through the dining room and into the kitchen before her hunger got the best of her. She began searching through the cupboards with relish. She'd found one package of crackers, a jar of mint jelly, and a package of expired drink mix. If someone lived here, there should definitely be more food. The fridge didn't smell as if it had been used, and there was no ice in the freezer. How could someone have clothes put away in the closet but no food in the pantry?
Gail tore open the crackers and began shoving them into her mouth, thankful there was no one there to witness her gluttony. When she'd gotten through half the package, she put it down on the counter. Since there were no dishes, she bent in front of the sink and drank straight from the tap. While she was sucking at the stream of cool water, the cell phone rang.
The sudden sound startled her and she inhaled some of the water. Coughing, she flipped open the phone and pressed the green button.
"Hello?" she managed, pressing a hand to her chest as she struggled to compose herself. "Hello, I'm here."
"Gail?" came a male voice on the other end. "Is that you?"
"Hello?" she said. "This is Gail. Who's this?"
"It's Steve! I was just checking to see if you and David were all settled in."
Gail didn't know what to say to that. She rather expected that the man was confused. "I think you've got the wrong Gail," she replied, her voice suddenly thick with emotion and unspent tears.
"You're in the new house aren't you? Where's David? Have you gone off your meds again?"
A long silence followed as she shook her head and tried to formulate an appropriate answer to his question.
"Listen Gail, I know you two are having a bit of a rough time but don't let that come between you, no matter what he's done. David loves you very much, just remember that. I'll come over in the afternoon with the rest of the boxes. I think I've got all your kitchen stuff."
Gail felt the blood drain from her face as she glanced around at the empty kitchen.
"David said he was going to the store," the voice on the phone said, "so he should have everything you need for tonight and the morning in the car."
"The car?" she repeated, suddenly feeling dizzy.
"Yeah, if he's gone out for a run, check the garage. And Gail? Go take your meds, alright?"
"Alright," she whispered into the phone.
Then she heard the line disconnect. She brought the phone away from her face and watched the call time and the phone number flash for a moment as she replayed the conversation in her mind.
David? Steve?
"Oh, my god, the phone!" she gasped, realizing that the call had briefly unlocked it.
But when she pressed the menu button again it was the same screen she had seen before. Sighing with frustration, Gail closed the phone and decided to set about searching for the garage—it couldn't hurt to see if Steve was right, could it?
Just off the kitchen were two doors. The first one she tried was locked, though she could feel a cool breeze coming from the space beneath it. The second was unlocked. She turned the knob and let the door swing open.
A small two door coupe sat waiting with its trunk ajar. Swallowing hard, Gail closed her eyes for a moment before she made herself go around the car.
There were no keys but a note was stuck to the trunk.
Babe, gone for a run. Since you got to nap, you get to unload the groceries!'
Gail frowned as she read. She gingerly lifted the trunk lid, unsure what she'd find inside. Her brow furrowed as she leaned against the trunk and gazed down at six bags and a cooler of groceries.
None of this made any sense. This wasn't her life…. Was it? She remembered working long hours in the diner and coming home to a dirty apartment and spending her nights alone with aching feet. This was someone else's life; someone who had a house and a car and a man named David who loved her.
Gail chewed her lip as she poked through the bags in the trunk. Nothing fancy but no store-brand crap either. Heart hammering in her chest, Gail gathered up the bags and hauled them into the kitchen, arguing with herself in her head about the situation.
A few minutes later she was sitting on the cooler in the middle of the kitch
en staring at the bags of groceries lined up on the counter. She clutched the phone in her hand like it was her last lifeline to sanity. And perhaps it was. Perhaps it was the only real thing in this entire situation.
"I wish David would come home," she said aloud before realizing what she'd done and clasping a hand over her mouth, instantly feeling a fool. "What the fuck? You don't even know if he's your David," Gail muttered, standing up suddenly with a need to be doing something.
Putting the groceries away kept her busy for a while.She carefully arranged the pantry and fridge and wiped the counters. The jumpy feeling hadn't vanished when she was done, so Gail wandered into the living room, turning on every light she found. The decor was definitely David's, she decided, she would have never chosen this.
She found a shelf with a few books and the only framed picture in the house. The books were non-fiction, art and history. These, at least, were in English like the note. The man in the picture was somewhat familiar, holding the camera up to take a picture as he wrapped his arm around a blonde who hid her face from the camera.
Gail went to a lamp and sank into the chair beside it, holding the picture close to the light so she could study the few details of the woman. The color of the hair was the same. She'd found the jacket in the closet upstairs. That was all—it could be her, or it could be someone else. Frustrated, she looked at the man but quickly realized that he had one of those faces; one of those