Curiosity Killed Shaney(2)
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Fuuuuuuuck! Shaney clamped his hands against the sides of his head, hoping to quiet the pounding explosions of the war waging inside. At any moment, the top of his skull was going to flip open, and his brain was going to pop out like some macabre jack-in-the-box. He shifted on the small gurney, wrestling with the flimsy gown. From the chill on his backside, he was confident he was mooning the world. He couldn’t care past the pulsing pain. He hadn’t blacked out, unfortunately. A brain scan proved nothing was permanently damaged, so why in the hell did this shit hurt so badly? Could you die from a concussion?
“Whoa, man!” a familiar voice exclaimed. “You do know you’re showing the world your crack problem, right?” Todd chuckled.
“Charming,” Shaney mumbled with his face buried in his pillow. If only he could block out light, sound, and touch, he just might survive the next few minutes. And maybe he would be over six feet tall when he grew up, too.
“While I adore you Shaney, keep your hairy privates, private. And why aren’t you wearing any underwear?”
Shaney shrugged. “They said to take everything off. I took it literally.”
Todd snorted and covered Shaney with the scratchy blanket, which snagged at a few hairs on Shaney’s backside. This created a dilemma as to which was more important, the pounding ache in his skull radiating down his spine, or the sharp pinch as the blanket snagged more hair. Compromising, one hand stayed on his head as the other reached down to scratch at his ass.
“You’re a real prince,” Todd admonished.
“Suck me, Trenchard,” Shaney retorted a little too loudly. He clenched his teeth, breathing through the pain. He was so not in the mood.
“If I don’t want to see your ass, what makes you think I’d want to suck your cock?” Todd paused. “Never mind. Rhetorical question.”
Something metal rattled and scraped as it was dragged across the floor, filling the air with an ear-piercing screech that vibrated through every bone in Shaney’s body. Suddenly, the noise stopped by the bed and then silence. Ah, sweet, sweet silence. Concentrating as hard as the pain allowed, Shaney willed himself from the never-ending throb, struggling to find a dark corner in his mind to hide, but the pain was inescapable. Even during the entire escapade of people shouting at the store, someone flipping him over and attempting to give him mouth-to-mouth until Shaney had managed to scream, and the roller coaster ride in an ambulance (Shaney swore the driver deliberately rocked the ambulance just to see if he’d puke)—even during all of that—Shaney had remained in a numb, foggy, floating haze. Whether he’d been stunned or in shock, he couldn’t say, but as his senses had come back online, they’d unearthed the monster headache currently gnawing on his brain.
“So, care to share?” Todd asked, shattering the precious silence.
Shaney gave a slight shake of his head, praying the subtle movement wouldn’t incite the monster.
“Okay. Care to tell me exactly what caused that second head pushing out of your skull?”
Second head? Shaney ran his fingertips lightly up the side of his head until he reached what should have been the apex. Panic rose as his fingers ran over the hair-covered bulge growing out of this scalp. An actual brain-eating monster had hatched in his head (he must have been hit with space debris) and was making an appetizer out of his brain! Soon a large hairy head with a gaping mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth would emerge and make a five-course meal of the unsuspecting populace. Great. Not only did he fly the title of ‘freak’ like a neon-colored flag, he could now include the shiny new title of ‘freak of nature’ to his list of less than stellar accolades as well.
Abso-fucking-lutely awesome. Go me!
Shaney shook his head, refusing to share his humiliation. He was perfectly content to hoard all of the embarrassment. Call him selfish.
Todd sighed deeply. Shaney wondered if Todd realized just how much annoyance dripped from that one sigh, which forced Shaney into answering the next question.
“How do you feel?” Todd asked.
“Like I was dropped from the space shuttle and landed on my head,” he mumbled.
“That good, huh?” Todd actually chuckled. The bastard.
Shaney gave a thumbs-up with his hand covering his second head. He wondered. When his monster emerged, would it actually eat his fingers if they stayed within striking distance? Definitely time to stop watching the Syfy channel.
The click of the door and the scuff of hard shoes on the institutional floor was the only indication Shaney had that they were no longer alone. Something charged the atmosphere in the room. Had the air suddenly gotten colder?