MyNameWuzTaken's Survival Journal
Day 13. Definitely Day 13.
I awoke with a sharp pain between my temples. Pressure seemed to build behind my eyes and focus itself on that point where the bridge of your nose meets your forehead. I felt nausea rear its ugly head, and I aimed away from my laptop just in case. The wave of bile settled and I breathed in. The room felt too hot. I needed a shower. My pants are gone.
I looked at my computer screen and knew instantly that I had done far too much theorycrafting the night before. It's been a problem for me in the past. I'm just the kind of person who can't write just one forum post. The first one leaves my finger tips, and the next thing I know I'm pounding out another. The next morning, I can't remember anything I wrote. Come to think of it, I can't remember much of the past two days... That's almost a record bender for me. It's a good thing my wife took Rebecca to visit her grandparents this weekend.
Somehow though, aside from the pounding headache, the sweating, and the sickness, I feel calm. Something has happened in the past few days that I can't put my finger on, but its quieted the storm in my mind. For the first time in a week and a half, I feel like I can breathe. I ponder this as I shower, and fragments of memory come back to me.
Be back soon
I hear it faintly, as if carried on the wind, and I almost drop the blender I just mixed a Theorycrafting recovery shake in. It was spoken in a voice that is forever seared into my mind after 22 dev updates that I've watched a thousand times. Peace fills me. I smile, and drink some of my shake. I'm no longer afraid that my faith is just a comfortable delusion. I drink some more of my shake.
Needs more ibuprofein I think, pain spiking in my head as I toss another tab into the blender.
A few hours later, there's a knock on my front door, loud and insistent. I wince, but make my way to the front door. I swing the door wide.
"Oh thank god, you're dressed." A man is standing at my door. I recognize him from the camp. He's the same man who moved his family a few days ago to play Eve Online.
"My name's Steve. I know of you, but we've never officially met." He offers me a hand and I shake it, awkwardly. The light from outside hurts my eyes. Steve holds out a pair of jeans to me.
"I found these in the tree out front. I assumed they were yours. You gave my wife quite the scare the other day." I'm confused. I take the pair of pants from him, which are indeed mine. I feel sluggish. 'What do you mean?"
He looks at me, amused. "You don't remember running naked through the Kroger parking lot, screaming about the good news?" I wince. "Again? I haven't done that since college." Too much information for a person I just met. I am slow this morning though. Things remain awkwardly quiet for a while.
"Okay, well, thanks for my pants," I offer weakly, waving the pair of jeans at him. I start to close the door. His hand stops it.
"Wait! Is it true? Is Josh really returning?" I stop trying to close the door. I glance over my shoulder, into my house, and then look at Steve. His face looks desperate. Eve online must be slowly killing him. I feel pity. a war wages inside of me, and for a while it seems the headache is winning. Then my merciful, patient side wins out over self interest. I open the door.
"Come on. I'll show you." I gesture back into my house, towards my office.
A line from field of dreams runs through my head. If you run, naked and screaming, through a Kroger parking lot, they will come. Or something like that. I don't know. It's a long movie and I never really paid much attention to it. I think it had to do with farming and baseball. Whatever.
To be continued...