Catherine, sitting on a sofa in her spacious living room of the remote farmhouse her and her husband Mark were temporarily living in while their new house was being built, glanced up nervously, checking the time again on the cable box sitting on a cabinet below the widescreen TV. She then glanced at her phone, clutched nervously in her right hand seeing another minute had passed since the last time she checked. Her anger had changed to worry over the last hour of waiting, not quite frantic, but close. She twirled a lock of her shoulder length strawberry blond hair, a nervous habit she'd had since childhood.
Mark was three hours late. He should have been home by 5pm, now, it was just after 8. He had not answered any of the numerous calls she had made to his phone, no text messages returned, nothing. The TV was on, she'd watched the local news for any accidents, but nothing was reported.
Her legs curled up under her, Catherine absently tapped her foot against the cushion of the sofa and drummed the fingers of her left hand on the arm of the sofa. Tears beginning to form, she wondered if Mark had crashed somewhere and had not been found. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought that perhaps he was with someone else. She fought to push that thought out of her mind.
Just has she hit Marks number on her phone, she heard the front door open. Catherine flew off the sofa, racing for the front door. She was torn between hugging Mark close and ripping him a new one for worrying her so badly.
As she turned the corner from the living room to the front door hall, she caught her first sight of Mark, her concern instantly changing to shock . He looked disheveled, his shirt rumpled, his hair soaked, sweat dripping down his face.
With a clearly labored breath, Mark managed to get out a weak, "Hi babe, sorry I'm late."
"What happened, where have you been!" Catherine said. Her voice filled with worry, concern and tinged with a hint of fear. She grabbed him around the waist and began to help him towards the bedroom. "Honey, what's wrong!" she said again.
"I'm not feeling too good," Mark said, again weakly. Catherine helped him sit on the bed and he fell backwards with a groan. Catherine raced to the bathroom to get a cool, wet cloth. She returned to sit on the bed and wiped his face.
Marks eyes closed he said slowly, "I was coming back on Old Mill road because the Interstate was jammed up from all the construction. It was foggy as hell and about half way, around where that nature reserve place is, I suddenly felt really damn sick."
Catherine finished wiping his face down and felt his forehead with the back of her hand, feeling for a fever. "You feel warm hon, I'm going to get you something.". She went into the bathroom and returned with some pills and water. "Here, drink these down, it's something for a fever. Do you have a head ache? Stomach ache?" she asked.
"My head hurts like hell" he said. "I thought I was going to puke, so I pulled over, The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and it was dark. I felt like shit but didn't puke, so, I drove on home."
"Do you want me to take you to the ER?" Catherine asked.
"No, I think I just need to sleep some." Mark said.
A worried Catherine helped Mark undress and slide under the covers. She held his hand and touched her lips to his forehead, then whispered in his ear. If you wake up later and are hungry, dinner will be in the refrigerator. If you aren't feeling better in the morning, I'm taking you to the doctor" she said in a voice that would not accept no for an answer.
Catherine got off the bed, switched out the light and went to get the kitchen cleaned. A short while later, she slid into bed next to Mark who still felt warm and was restless. As Catherine lay there in the dark, she heard Mark mumble something as he tossed and turned but she could not make out what he said. After a while, sleep claimed her.
Catherine woke when she felt Mark get out of bed. She glanced at the bedside clock and saw that it was the normal time Mark would get up for work. She felt exhausted, troubled dreams plagued her sleep. As she watched through bleary, tired eyes, Mark went into the bathroom and she heard the shower start up. She could only recall flashes of the dreams that troubled her. One was vivid, Mark towering over her with a far away, blank look to his eyes. Less definable splashes of a goo on her skin, beeping sounds like hospital monitors, and a pair of huge black eyes staring at her.
She got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom to check on Mark. The hot, humid air trapped in the bathroom turned to mist in the cooler air of the bedroom when she opened the door. She opened the door to the shower and looked in. Mark was standing still, the hot water of the shower pounding on his head and shoulders.
"How are you feeling?" she asked with concern.
Mark slowly raised his head and and with a simple grin said, "I don't know what happened last night, but I feel really fine today. But I think it would be a good idea to take a vacation day and make sure. Besides, it's Friday and I don't really need to go in."
With a strange laugh he said "It might be better for the world if I were here today."
"I'll get coffee started" Catherine said tiredly. Mark smiled at her and leaned in to kiss her lightly on the lips.
As Catherine started the coffee, she looked out the kitchen window, even though the Sun should have broken the horizon by now, heavy, low clouds blocked most of the light.
