Mistaken Migraine (Part I)

I had just pulled up about 5 minutes ago and was sitting in my car, shoving the remains of a burger into my mouth. I looked at the clock on my dashboard and quickly pushed my right hand into the purse that was sitting on my passenger seat. After feeling around, I located my travel size perfume bottle and started spraying generously, trying my best to cover the soaked in smell of grease and fries that had by taken hold of my hair and my clothes.

Wasting no time, I tossed the bottle back in my purse, gave a quick glance into my visor mirror and headed out of the car. As I was walking to the community center, the wind picked up the mixture of grease and eu de par fume reminding me that trying to cover fast food up never worked.

I flung open the entrance door to the community center and whisked myself hurriedly toward their auditorium. As my heels click-clacked across their laminate floor, my pulse quickened. Entering the room as silently as I could, I noticed I was right on time. There she was, her tall and slender frame standing impressively center stage. Her blonde hair cascading over her shoulders and chest and a smile that pierced through her eyes but did not show on her lips. She was getting into charter.

I watched her completely crush her monologue and as she was finishing up, I held every urge to stand and clap.

“Thank you Ms. Banks.” A booming voice from the front of the auditorium rang out.

She nodded ever so slightly and exited the stage. I sat a few more moments, watching another hopeful take her place and begin performing. Just then, a soft tap on my left shoulder let me know Ellise had made her way to where I was.

Looking up, I smiled at her and she motioned for us to exit the auditorium.

“You…were… great!” I barely held in long enough for us to reach the other side of the doors.

“You think so? You really think so?” Ellise began questioning with a genuine curiosity.

“I do! You really nailed it. I wanted to clap right then, but obviously held it back. You did an amazing job and I think they’d be ridiculous if they don’t recognize that.” I assured her.

“Thank you! I’m so glad you made it. Coffee?” She asked as she headed for the main doors without waiting for a response.

“Honestly, I’d love to! I really want to catch you up on a few things, and clearly talk more about this part you’ll likely be getting! But, I have this killer migraine starting and despite me getting food and taking something for it, it’s not backing down.”

Ellise’s face went from a buzz of solid excitement to complete disappointment.

“Drinks, later then?” She was not going to back down.

“Maybe. I’m not making any promises. Let me just get back to my place and lie down for a bit. I’ll hit you up later tonight.” I replied.

“You better, or I will be at your door and it will not be pretty!” She threatened.

“Sounds great. Talk later. And Ellise… you really did a bang up job!” I said once more to reassure her further. She smiled coyly and pulled me in for a hug, undoubtedly inhaling all of the cheeseburger fumes that had likely settled into my hair.

“Talk soon.” She said, releasing me from her embrace and with that, she was off to the front desk to chat up the one of the community center advisors. I turned and headed back to my car, racing the clock as I felt the vision in my left eye start to become blurry and the pain behind it pounding fiercely.

***

Before I knew it I had made it to my apartment and was running for the elevator. My migraine had gone from 10 to 60 in a matter of twenty minutes and I desperately needed to find my bed. I hastily turned my key in the lock, got inside the door and as I set my keys down on my entryway table, this wretched screeching noise hit my ears. It sounded as though someone was trying to dial a fax machine inside my head. I thought some alarm I didn’t have had been tripped and being ear blind and irrational due to the insane decibels going off, I was looking around my apartment for some clue as to where this sound was coming from.

Grasping at my ears as if that would make the sound stop, I dropped to my knees. I was feeling as though my whole body would explode if that dreadful screeching didn’t cease.

***

When I woke, my head felt swollen. My mind ached as though it been inside of some child’s snow globe that had been repeatedly shaken to watch the bits of brain swirl around. My hands were still cupping my ears and I was on the floor of my bathroom. I sat up slowly, confused as to what was going on. Looking around, nothing made sense. I crawled my way into the hall and my heart leapt into my throat when I saw that my front door was wide open. My jacket was in the middle of the floor along with my purse and keys. I stood up gently and made my way to the door. Every ounce of my body felt like foreign object, nothing moving properly with the commands of my brain. I hesitantly looked out of my door; there was no one to be seen in the main hallway. But the oddness of this whole setup was perplexing and disturbing. I quickly shut it and locked it, standing there still for a few moments to try and pull myself together. There was no more screeching, though the memory of the terrible sound still echoed in my head. The pain was still present though and still heavily unbearable. As I started to pick up my items to return them to their proper place, and immense ache came across me. I ignored it and hung up my keys, when I felt something run down my neck.

Like a knee-jerk reaction, my hand went up and swiped my neck and when I pulled it away I was shocked. Smeared blood sullied my fingertips. Blood? What in the world? My hand traced from my neck up to my ear where the blood seemed to be sourced from. At first, it wasn’t enough to notice but as I cleaned off my fingers in the kitchen sink, I could feel it swirling within my right ear. This was definitely not normal. I locked my door and looked out of the peephole one last time then headed back to my bathroom.

I grabbed a wash rag and ran it under warm water, then gently dabbed my neck, cleaning slowly all the way up to my ear, trying to figure out where the cut was. My ear still pained me as well as my head and as I cleaned up the blood, I could not find any cuts, but what I did feel as I softly push my pinky finger into the entrance of my ear was something hard, something that did not belong there. . .