Unresolved Medical Issue
by elisa ballou
There is almost nothing as stressful as waiting to be called into the doctor’s office, especially when you don’t know what’s wrong. Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of bruises that I can’t explain so my doctor is checking me for a whole bunch of stuff. It was so embarrassing when I almost passed out during the blood test last week, but it’ll be worth it if I can wear shorts again without people asking if I’m ok.
“Chloe.” Oh no, she said it. It’s my turn, and I’m freaking out. What if it’s something bad? What if I have a month to live? What if I’m just a paranoid psycho? I’ve been taking a ton of supplements, what if I made it worse? Why does this 20’ walk to room 3 feel like it’s miles long? Probably because I’m dying.
My anxiety is at an all time high and of course the doctor makes me wait another 5 minutes before he comes in. I don’t usually bite my nails, but I’ve really gone to town on them today. All of this just to find out my tests were normal. I’m actually healthier than normal. He tells me that if all his patients were half as healthy as I am, he’d be out of business. But something must be wrong, it isn’t normal to suddenly start waking up everyday with bruises. The only thing he can think of is sleepwalking and refers me to a sleep specialist. Ugh, I don’t want to go to another doctor.
I call the sleep specialist as soon as I leave, and they don’t have an appointment until next month. A month is a long time and a lot can happen. A lot of bad can happen. I’m scared that I’m going to accidentally hurt someone while sleeping. But I’m getting ahead of myself, I still don’t know if I’m actually sleepwalking. My roommate has never mentioned seeing me being weird at night and she loves to make fun of me. Maybe I do it and I just don’t leave my room.
I can’t wait a whole month to find out so I’m going to film myself sleeping for a few nights and see if anything happens. Today was exhausting so as soon as I set this camera up I should get right to sleep. Even though I’m still stressed out I’m kind of excited to do my own little investigation. I should become a doctor. Or a detective. Or a painter. I don’t know, I’m tired.
It’s a beautiful Saturday morning, I’ve got my tea, my toast and my cat, and I’m ready to watch myself sleep! I look a lot cuter sleeping than I thought I would, and Coco looks precious cuddled up by my feet. I’m not seeing anything strange though. This is actually so boring that it might put me back to sleep.
Wait, what was that? Something made Coco run away. Let me go back and check if I kicked her or something. There’s a shadow slowly moving across the room. As soon as it touches Coco she hisses and runs away. I’ve never seen her move so fast. The shadow lingers over me for a full minute and then disappears into my left rib. I shut the video off and lift up my shirt. There’s a dark purple bruise in the exact spot.
Suddenly, Coco hisses and leaps off my lap, knocking over my tea. Something touches my back and I quickly turn around.
It’s still here.