The Dreg

It was late at night,my guess was a few minutes past eleven. In the middle of the house party, I started having this strange feel, a bit nauseated, the air around me was thin,like I was going to throw up. Getting up my chair, I felt lightheaded, a bit dizzy too. In fear of blacking out, because of the fall and the all the other embarrassing thoughts that came to my head, made me muster little consciousness and thought to get some air at least. So I picked up my purse from the couch, checked my phone and I read the time even as the screen was a bit too bright, it read '10:23', I subliminally shook my head at my dull sense of time. So I took my glass of champagne, and walked slowly with my condition in mind, and also my elegance, and headed for the pool, get the air I needed, some peace and less noise. I moved through the people dancing, as I made an effortless but convincing impression of someone dancing and enjoying the party, till I slowly made it away from the dancing crowd, my observing eyes easily scanned around, as I saw Mohammed, swerving between people,coming across from the opposite direction, probably just coming I thought, and within seconds our eyes met. I really didn't want to talk because of my nauseous feeling, delaying getting air was seemingly risky, so I quickly turned my eyes and made move for the pool.

"May!...Hey, May!"

He had already closed in, and reached to tap my shoulder. So I turned to him, forcing a smile.

"Hey Mo...What's up?" I asked

"Oh, I went to look for...uhhmm", and rubbed the back his hand on his sweaty forehead.

"Anyways,ya good? Where ya goin'?", with a big grin on his face. "Ya need help or an-"

"I'm fine, Mo", I cut him short and raised my glass with a sarcastic smile,turned, and left.

I got to the pool, slid the glass door close. As I turned, I could see Anwar the far end of the pool kneeling, with someone with him. My vision wasn't so clear, so I edged closer, and I realized Anwar was sitting in a pool of blood with Lucy in his arms, and her lower body on the floor. I screamed at the top of my lungs, so loud and high-pitched, till my throat gave itchy, burning feels. My hair stood on end, a shiver raced down my spine and a lump came to my throat, it felt like I was choking on air. Not even a sound was coming from my mouth, my body wasn't moving, my body felt weaker by the second. The glass in my hand slipped out, as I let hold of it, and shattered on the floor, and the shattering sound got Anwar's attention. He slowly turned, as my heartbeat shot, it was so fast, I expected it to blow at that very moment. He turned, looking at me, with his eyes shaking. His fair face was pale, with tears down his cheeks, and muttered to me inaudibly.

"Sh-sh-she is d-de...She is dead".

My legs started to shake. My heart raced as my chest tightened. It felt as if the center of my head, right behind my nose, was being pulled. A sound roared through me as my knees buckled, feeling queasy. I was feeling dizzy, and seeing spots, hot, confused, things out of focus, and my vision was getting blurry by the second. Then suddenly, everything was slowly fading away into blackness. My mind was still stale, unable to process the information from my senses. It really can't be. This wasn't meant to happen. This cannot be happening, but it is. Why? Why would he? Why did it result to this? Why now? How is she dea...so many questions, but everything faded and...

Next thing I heard, "Is this...how...you gonna sleep all day, May?"...this voice...this...is Lucy! I slowly opened my eyes, my senses synced as my vision cleared. I was at home, in my room, on my bed! I wasn't thinking much, but I could see a relieving sight. It was Lucy! Dressed as classy as always, fair glowing skin, shoulder-length hair is pulled back to reveal a soft, friendly face. Big, round brown eyes, fairly big lips and natural colored lipstick on them. Not fully going through her appearance, I quickly opened my blanket and threw the part covering me off, and sprang off my bed and pounced on her, to hug her. I'm sure she was surprised, but I didn't care, even as she was talking I couldn't make out anything, I just let the moment marinate.

She cackled softly, almost inaudibly, "May! we gonna be late for work". But I didn't even flinch or respond. I just held on.

"May?...May! May!", she continued. But the voice started to fade.

I opened my eyes, but all I could see was immense brightness. I couldn't see anything, just white bright light, forcing me to squeeze my eyes close. When I opened my eyes again, the light hurt my eyes less and the first time, but of all questions I had, the most dominant one escaped, from my head to my lips.

"Where...am I?". I thought to look around, maybe I'd pick up a hint, but a sharp pain pierced through the side of my head.

"It's okay May...it's okay", a croaky voice said. It came from my left side and it was definitely a man. I didn't turn, but my echolocation denoted. So, I tried to turn to see who it was, but my head, it hurt real bad. I could only direct my eyes to the left. I could see a figure sitting on a chair, at the far corner of the room, the part where light is a bit deem. I couldn't really make out the person's face, he had a black baseball cap on, but face was shaded by his cap. He had is right leg crossed on his left thigh, an arm folded across the chest, and the other pulled his beard, stroking the edges of the beards on his chin, he was basically a silhouette to me.

"You've been here for hours now, I reckon you probably think this a dream, innit? Well, it is not...you're hurt from the other night since you passed out and fell. But then..."

"But then, I'm going to ask you to leave, for now...Sir", interrupted another voice, soft and calm. I rolled my eyes back to check, and it was the doctor. I could tell from the mask and light blue long-sleeved shirt dress and navy blue trouser on her olive brown skin, and the stethoscope hanging from her nape. There was something enigmatic about her, perhaps it's her persistence or perhaps it's simply a feeling of remorse she had. She had cute smile, that made her dimples really visible. Fuzzy, bushy eyebrows that complimented her round dark-brown eyes.

"I'd like to have time with my dear patient...if you don't mind. Thanks a lot". Facing the person at the corner with a smile.

He stood up, in a sluggish manner"Oh blimey, I apologize. I'll be on my bike then. I'll give you a ring when you're full of beans....May", and began walking slowly, with his hands in his pocket. I tried to make his identity out, but, he was in the light, and my eyes hurt.

"Hey...it's okay, no need to fuss about him. Let's worry about you now, shall we?", she said as she made sure the stranger left, closing the door behind him, before she moved closer to me. She pulled the stethoscope, that was hanging from her nape, as she looked me in the eyes, smiling.

"Hi...The name is Rahma Kawu, but everyone calls me Doctor Rahma. Can't let the years of med school go to waste", laying emphasis on the 'doctor', with a smirk on her face. She placed the stethoscope on my chest, right above my dress's very low breast cut. After seconds of pause, she removed it, and held my face from chin softly, and slowly tilted my head a bit to the right. As I wondered what she was doing, and what she scrutinized, she put the stethoscope back on her nape to hang, looked at me, while using her left index finger to poke her glasses to sit properly on her face, with a soothing smile as always.

"Okay, so I'll ask you some quick questions. Shake your head for a 'No', and Nod for a 'Yes'. Okay?". Then I Nodded.

"Oh, nice. Good start".

"Hope you remember everything?", I nodded.

"Does any part of your body hurt?", I nodded.

"Your head?", I nodded.

"Anywhere else?", I shook my head, slowly.

"Okay,that was smooth. I think you'll probably feel a little enervated, which is okay. Apparently, when you passed out, the floor you hit your head on had shattered glass, so your head was injured. But it wasn't hard treating it, because of your braids. I really should meet your stylist, hook me up will you?", I gave her a half smile and nodded.

Just then, the "Hope you remember everything" question hit me. I did remember. I remember what I saw. And at that moment I become cognizant of the fact that Lucy was dead. Different memories flashed, and I felt a squeezing feel in my chest, my head was ticking, it was like my breath was seizing. I felt so terrible, I began to sob. The more I recalled, the more I sobbed. How could it be? Lucy, my Lucy is dead?. And of all the people, Anwar? The Anwar I knew would never. He couldn't even hurt a fly. But well, now he's hurt more than a fly. I suddenly felt a touch, I snapped, and noticed it was Rahma. She held my hand, rubbing the back of my hand with her thumb, still with an encouraging smile.

"You'll be fine", she said. Perhaps knew what I was thinking, or knows of the murder. Even if she did, from my perspective it's terrible; that man I love, murdered my best friend. No, it can't be. She's a doctor not the Oracle. But whatever it is, she's a lady, and a human with conscience. I scoffed while trying to smile back at her. "Okay, so you okay to leave when you can, just let any of the nurses know. Oh, and I'll tell your people you're awake, and the meds you should get. Get well soon. Okay?". She released my hand, turned, and walked out closing the door behind her.

For some reason I couldn't help the flashing memories. Lucy, Anwar, and everything else. Even the day I first met Anwar. It was on my way to work, when I got a call from Lucy.

"Hello...Where are you? Why aren't you at work? Come on, May!. Please come fast, there's something you gotta see!", and she hung up. So I hurried to get to work, to see what I "gotta see". On my way into the office, after coming off the elevator, I tripped on something and almost fell. I always dreamt of being caught my a handsome man, so we'd fall in love and what not. But unfortunately, I was only caught by surprise. Then I turned to check the reason for the unexpected, it was a stapler. As I wondered how it got there, I bent a bit, and slowly went down to pick it up, being cautious of the view I'd give and my really tight jeans. As I stood back up, I saw a guy, picking papers from the floor. I watched him finish picking, guessing the stapler was from him too. When he finished, he got up, and started walking up to me. He was really tall, probably around 6"3 or 6"5, with fair brown skin, a faded haircut, well trimmed. Round hazel eyes, set elegantly within their sockets. Fuzzy eyebrows, straight nose,full dark stubble beards, delightfully complimented his plump pink lips. He had broad shoulders, toned arms, wide hips, and long legs. He wore a white shirt, with his sleeves folded up a bit, black leather watch, a black shambhala bracelet, a red tie, black well pressed trousers and black suede shoes. He was disturbingly attractive.

As he walked closer, I felt like squeezing my legs close. I began fidgeting with my top, as my heart felt it would skip a bit any moment.

"Hello, Miss...?", he said, with an accent. His voice was calm and low pitched, leaving an outstretched hand. I, on the other hand, was lost in details of his physical attributes. "You good, Miss?", I quickly collected myself, realizing how much I fidgeted.

"Alright?", he said.

"Yeah...I'm fine", I replied.

"Miss...?"

"Mayriam. Call me May".

"Okay. I'm Anwar. Anwar Aslan".

He smiled and pointed at my hand. I almost panicked, because I already thought we was proposing. But I figured it was the stapler, which I quickly handed to him. Then turned to leave, before any further damages occur.

"I'm chuffed to bits", he said, as he collected the stapler. Then I turned and walked away. WeAnd as I left for my office, I met Lucy, who pulled me aside, with excitement written all over her.

"So apparently, we got a new guy here! And Oh my days...he's so bloody hot. I'm deffo gonna talk to him. I want to be in his bed...oh. You'll see him soon, and I bet you'll press your thighs together". I followed up her narrative as if I hadn't met Anwar, and we cheered back to our offices.

Funny how Anwar turned out a murderer, I thought to my sleepy self, as I dozed slowly. Off.