What is Real

"Wake up Isaac."
    He jumped awake. He didn't recognize his surroundings, and his memory was blank.
    In a moment he recognized a hospital bed, in a sterile blue and white room. He had tubes on his arm and head, and a machine next to him beeped loudly. Several nurses stood around him.
    "Mr. Lucas, don't get up, please," one of them said. The other nurses checked his pulse and numbers on the machine.
    "What's going on?" Isaac asked. His heart pounded. "Why am I here?" He asked the nurse.
    "You collapsed in your apartment," another nurse said.
    The first nurse smiled brightly, and the hospital's bright lights flashed off her blonde hair. "One of your friends was able to call 911 for you and get you here. That was two nights ago. You've been in a coma since then. How many fingers am I holding up?"
    Isaac concentrated. "Three."
    "What's your middle name?"
    " . . . Thomas."
    "Do you know the date?"
    "You said two nights, so . . . the twenty-fourth?" Isaac looked up at her. One of the other nurses shined a light in his eyes, frowning.
    "That's right. Okay. We aren't sure why you collapsed," the nurse said. The other nurses left. He was left alone with her. "We did a scan after you got in. There were some strange results, but they aren't sure how they'll manifest. I have a few tests here to run through if you feel up to it. I can also bring in some food."
    "You said a friend called 911," Isaac said. "Who was it?"
    "If I remember correctly, her name was . . . " The nurse paused, thinking. It seemed a very long few seconds. "Missy."
    Isaac rubbed his eyes. "Okay. Thanks."
    "She asked to be contacted when you woke up." Isaac didn't say anything. "How about those tests?"
    Isaac nodded, and the nurse left. A few minutes later, she returned. "My name's Alena. First off, do you remember anything about yesterday?"
    "Yeah. I got home from work, and . . . I remember making dinner . . . but not really anything after that."
    "We expected you to have some short-term memory loss. It shouldn't be a problem going forward."
    Alena began to run through tests. She asked Isaac how to spell simple words, showed him cards of everyday items and asked him to tell her what they were, and had him solve a few simple puzzles, like math problems or brain teasers. He passed them all. "I'll have the doctor come in and examine you when he's free. In the meantime, do you want me to call your friend?"
    "I can call her," Isaac said. "Is my cell phone around here?" Alena went to a cabinet and fished out the phone from a bag of his belongings. She handed it to him with a smile, and he took it with the same.
    "Isaac!" Missy said as soon as he called. "Are you all right? How long have you been awake?"
    "About a half hour. I feel okay, but the doctors still have to check me over. They've run some tests to make sure my brain's working."
    "I'm coming over!" Missy said, and she hung up. It was foolish for him to try and tell her no; she would come anyway. Twenty minutes later she appeared around the corner of his room.
    "Oh, Isaac!" She said, hugging him. He hugged her back, and got a whiff of the perfume she used. She wiped a long, dark strand of hair away from her eyes and smiled at him. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
    "What the heck happened last night?" Isaac asked. "I only remember a little bit."
    "Oh my goodness! I called you last night to talk like always, but you didn't answer! I thought maybe you were just busy or something, so I waited for a little while. You didn't call me back, and I started to worry -- you know how I am -- and I called again. You still didn't pick up, but I was going to come over anyway, so I drove over."
    "Oh yeah," Isaac said, creasing his brows. "I forgot about that. We were going to watch a movie . . ."
    "Terminator," Missy said. "Well when I got to your apartment, the door was unlocked and I didn't hear anything. I-I went in. You were lying on the floor of your kitchen, just . . . staring up at the ceiling." She sniffed. "I thought you were dead at first, but I felt you breathing and your heart beating."
    "And you called 911."
    "Yes. I was so worried," she said. She patted his hand and smiled at him. "I could hardly get to sleep last night. I told the hospital to tell me as soon as they knew anything."
    "The doctor hasn't come in yet," Isaac said. "Hopefully we'll know more once he checks me out." He took in a breath with his eyes closed.
    "Mr. Lucas," he heard a male voice say. He opened his eyes and found a white-coated man standing in his doorway. "I'm Doctor Worcraft. It's good to see you've woken up. How do you feel?"
    "I'll go now," Missy said. "Let me know anything."
    "Okay," Isaac said.
    "Have you been having any strange visual or auditory effects?" Worcraft asked as Missy left. "Any trouble with normal tasks?"
    "No, nothing like that. One of the nurses went through the puzzles with me already."
    Worcraft checked the chart at the end of Isaac's bed. "She must have forgotten to note it. That's good, anyway. Has anything like this happened to you before?" He asked.
    Isaac shook his head. "No precedent. I have no idea why it happened."
    "That's what confuses us, too. Your heart looks perfectly healthy, and for the most part your brain looks fine, too. We saw some strange results on a scan we did after you came in, but nothing completely out of the ordinary." Isaac nodded. "We'd like to keep you here for a day, to make sure that nothing else happens, alright?"
    "That's fine. Uh, is it okay if I use the bathroom?" Isaac asked. The doctor nodded and left.
    Isaac looked up at the machines he was attached to, and their beeping, blinking faces. He hit the nurse call button that was on the stand next to his bed. Alena came in.
    "What's up, bud?" She asked.
    "I need to go to the bathroom. Can you help me detach from these machines?"
    "I'll do you one better: I'll teach you how to detach yourself." She pointed at the fluid bag that ran down a tube into his arm. "Don't detach this one, it's just to keep you hydrated. You can take it with you into the bathroom. Take the device off your finger and just put it on the table." She pointed at a long white clip that was set on his left index finger. "That's to check your pulse. After that just take the pads from your forehead off. Make sure to reattach those once you get back, though. They're to measure your brain stuff." She waved a hand around her head.
    "And that's all?" Isaac asked. Alena nodded. "Okay, thank you, nurse."
    "Oh please," she said, laughing. "My mother is nurse, I'm Alena."
    Isaac chuckled. "All right. Thank you, Alena." She waved goodbye to him -- his heart jumped -- and left. Isaac took off the nodes attached to his forehead, and removed the clip from his finger. He swung his stiff legs over the side of the bed and groaned as he stood up.
    A different nurse ran in. "Mr. Lucas, everything all right?"
    "I'm fine. I'm just going to the bathroom."
    "Okay. Remember there's a nurse call button inside if you need help with anything."
    "I'm a grown man, for the most part. I'll be fine."
    "Of course. Just in case."
    "Just in case," Isaac repeated, and the nurse left. Isaac took hold of the wheeled fluid bag stand, and made his way across the cold tile to the bathroom. It was a small room, with little more than a sink and a toilet. Metal bars, for the user's stability, ringed the toilet, and, as the nurse had said, there was a button labeled 'nurse' in the wall.
    He closed the door, and hitched up the hospital robe he wore. He experience brief embarrassment that he had been undressed while unconscious, but shrugged and sat down.
    The light inside the small room flicked once.
    He stared at the floor beneath his feet, letting nature run its course. He looked up, and found a man looking at him. He had streaked paint covering his face, bright multi-colored clothes, and held a bunch of balloons in his right hand.
    Isaac leaned back, still sitting on the toilet, as the man held out a solitary balloon for him. Isaac couldn't reach out, and found himself captured by the man's face. The paint ran down, dripping onto the ground, covered by harsh shadows from the solitary light.
    "Take the balloon, Isaac," he heard. He thought, perhaps, the man's mouth hadn't moved. "Take the balloon."
    "No," Isaac whispered. He watched the man's face drip and sag. "I don't want to."
    "Take. The balloon," the man said, and his arm carried the balloon closer. "Take it."
    "I won't," Isaac said as spoonfuls of skin dropped to the ground with a splash. He gripped the metal rails on either side in tight grips. "Go away."
    "I can't go away," the man said, as his body melted. "I'm always here. I'm always watching you. Take the balloon, Isaac."
    "No! No! No no!" Isaac shouted, watching the man become a puddle of mixed paints. The last thing to dissolve was the hand, holding the balloons. It made one last desperate motion toward Isaac, and Isaac screamed, smashing the call nurse button with the heel of his hand. He pounded on it, watching the remains of the man spread out toward his feet. Two nurses ran in and opened the door.
    With nothing but an open mouth and a pointing finger, Isaac directed them toward the puddle of man. Both nurses look at the ground, at each other, and then him. "Mr. Lucas, what's wrong?"
    "Th-the man!" Lucas shouted, shaking. His fingernails scraped on the metal rail, and both nurses winced. "He's melting! He's melting!"
    Even as Isaac could have sworn he saw a face leering at him from out of the puddle, the nurses looked at each other again. "Mr. Lucas, there's nothing there. What man?"
    "What do you mean what man, he's-" The floor was clear. The balloons were gone. One of the nurses was calling for a doctor. Isaac looked around him and found no trace of the thing that had demanded he take a balloon.

"And that's all?" Doctor Worcraft asked. Isaac, in his bed, nodded. "You haven't seen anything else out of the ordinary?"
    Isaac shook his head, and the doctor leaned back in his chair. "Hallucination."
    "I saw him!" Lucas said angrily. "I know he was there!"
    "That's what hallucinations are, Mr. Lucas. All of your senses think that you're seeing, hearing, even smelling or tasting something. Did you touch him?"
    "No," Isaac said, looking down at his lap. "I was too scared."
    "Some part of you brain could tell that he wasn't real. You didn't want to touch him, or, as I think it was put, take his balloon, because that would have been truly acknowledging that it was real, and your brain couldn't do that. The power of the mind. It's an amazing thing."
    "So what do I do?"
    "We'll have to keep you here for a few days. Hallucinations are usually not so . . . potent as yours was. We'll run a few scans, see how a few drugs interact with you, and make sure to keep all clowns out of the hospital. Don't want to worry you."
    "That's actually kind of comforting," Isaac said.
    "We live to serve," Doctor Worcraft said, standing up and pushing the plastic chair against the wall. "I want you to call a nurse if you see something you think is a hallucination," he said, heading for the door.
    "How will I know?" Isaac asked. The doctor stopped with his back to him.
    "I suppose you'll just have to try your best," Worcraft said, before leaving.

"That's so scary!" Missy said. She sat on the same chair the doctor had used. It was later that day, during the evening, and Missy wore a long skirt and white blouse. Her hair was done up in a bun, and a few errant strands had escaped their confines since she'd left work. "Nothing else happened?" She asked.
    Isaac shook his head. Missy had brought him a few books from his apartment, as well as his laptop, and had listened with a rapt look as he told her about the hallucination. When he finished, she'd shivered.
    "So you have no idea they're fake?"
    "I was convinced it was real. Of course it wasn't real. Why would there be a clown, without any warning, inside the bathroom? Even when he started melting, I thought it was real."
    "Were you scared?"
    "Terrified."
    "Oh!" She grabbed his hand. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you." She smiled, and he smiled back.
    Just then Alena walked in, carrying a tray of food. "Oh my!" She said. "I don't mean to intrude. I've just brought Isaac's food."
    "That's okay, come on in," Isaac said. Alena giggled and strutted inside, and Missy frowned in her direction.
    It was with some guilt that Isaac noticed Alena's beauty. She had long shining hair, and wore slim black glasses that made her green eyes sparkle. She set the tray of food in front of him. "M-Missy, this is Alena."
    Missy frowned at Alena out of the corner of her eye. "Uh . . . hi, Alena."
    "Hi!" Missy said, and then looked at Isaac. "I've brought sliced turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, carrots and peas, milk, and a pudding cup."
    "Do you want the pudding?" Isaac asked Missy, who was still frowning.
    "Pudding?"
    "Yeah, you know I don't like pudding."
    "I guess I can . . ." She said. Isaac picked the cup out of the tray and handed held it out for her. She took it and opened it. He handed her the spoon and started eating.
    "Have you told her?" Alena asked. She took her glasses off, closed them, and hung them on her scrubs top. "About . . . you know . . ."
    Isaac took a deep breath. "Yeah. I told her all about it."
    "All about what?" Missy asked.
    "The hallucinations. I'll have to stay here for a while. They're going to run some tests and other things."
    "Okay. We'll, I'd better go. I have to get ready for work. I hope you feel better," Missy said, squeezing Isaac's shoulder. She stood, and Alena moved to let her pass.
    "She's pretty," Alena said, watching Missy walk toward the nurse's station.
    "I guess," Isaac said.
    "Are you dating?"
    Isaac coughed, spraying bits of potato. Some of the pieces landed on Alena's arm, and she laughed. "Oh, nasty!" She grabbed one of his napkins and wiped herself clean. "Looks like you need to have somebody feed you, Mr. Lucas."
    "I can take care of myself," Isaac said, feeling his skin burn.
    "Fine. So? Are you two dating?"
    "No. We've been friends ever since college."
    "Oh yeah? And you've never . . ." Alena leaned closer. "Tried things out? I mean, she clearly likes you."
    Isaac swallowed. "Not one to mince words, are you?"
    She shrugged. "Comes with the job. Sometimes you have to tell someone that they're just too fat, and need to lose weight, or their next heart attack might be their last." She laughed. "I've sort of always been like that." She removed her glasses from her top, and put them on after brushing her hair back. "I think you'd make her very happy."
    "I'll have to think about it."
    "Right. In the meantime, eat up. Don't forget about your vegetables, either. How are you going to grow big and strong if you don't eat your veggies?" She said, going for the door. "Good night!"
    Isaac finished eating, and opened his laptop. He started telling his online friends why he wouldn't be joining that night's gaming session, when a nurse stopped by with a cart of trays. "Dinner!"
    "I've already eaten," Isaac said, without looking up. The nurse moved on without another word. He finished on the computer, and picked up the book on top of the stack on his table.

Another day passed.
    He watched the camera move back and forth. It swiveled one way, stopped, and then returned. It could see everything in his room, and could always see him in his bed. He thought it was sort of strange, to have a camera in a hospital room.
    It was the next morning, and he knew that he was going to be taken in for an MRI soon. He hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and it felt like his stomach was going to crawl out his throat in search of food. The window in his let in a healthy dose of sun, blocked every once in a while by a cloud.
    He watched the camera rotate back and forth until Alena came in with another nurse who pushed a cart.
    "Why is there a camera?" Isaac asked.
    "What?" Both nurses asked.
    Isaac pointed at the corner of the ceiling. "It just seems strange to have a camera like that in a hospital like this."
    They looked over their shoulder at where he pointed. "Where?" Alena asked.
    "There! In the corner!" Isaac said. A sudden rush of heat passed through him, and he looked at Alena for an instant before looking back at the camera. It was gone.
    "Another hallucination," the other nurse said. She took a pad out of her pocket and started writing on it. "Describe everything that you saw."
    "It . . . it was just a normal camera, like they have in government offices. It was moving back and forth. I thought that I had seen it before, but . . . I guess . . ."
    "Hallucinations can sometimes make you think that what you're seeing is normal, like it's always been there. It's a kind of delusion," Alena said. The other nurse ripped the piece of paper off the pad and put it on the cart. "Let's get you ready for your test, shall we?"
    The other nurse proceeded to clean the crook of his elbow and draw some blood out of it. "This is just to make sure that the passage is clear." She attached a short plastic tube to a device, and slipped it into the hole she'd made. "And this is to inject contrast fluid, which helps us see inside your noggin."
    "I know about this. A few years ago my dad had an MRI, and I read up on it. You'll have to inject different fluid during the scan, so it has to stay in until it's done."
    "Hmm. Cute and smart!" Alena said, smiling, as the other nurse nodded. "That's right. Okay, Clarissa will get you out of here. I'll see you when you get back."
    "We're going now?"
    "Right now," Clarissa said. "Doctor Worcraft is very interested in seeing what shows up; hopefully something will."
    "It might not show anything?"
    Clarissa shook her head as she lead Isaac down the hall. Isaac's eyes lingered on the tube that was in his arm. "There are a lot of things that MRIs can't detect. For hallucinations like yours, though, we should at least find something. They're quite powerful."
    "Do you know anything about hallucinations?" Isaac asked as they passed through a door with bright yellow magnet warnings. "Do you know what causes them?"
    "A lot of things," Clarissa said. "Improper balance of fluids, neurons misfiring . . . anything that has to do with senses, memory, or perception." She stopped outside a door. "Any pieces of metal you need to warn me about? Clearly your mind's a steel trap, but we aren't worried about that."
    "No, nothing."
    They went inside, and found a large plastic structure, identical to the MRIs Isaac had seen in movies or TV shows. He was instructed to lie on a raised mat, and Clarissa attached a plunger to the plastic tube on his arm. "It's going to be nice and loud. We're also going to attach a stabilizer to your head to keep you from moving too much. You know all about this, I'm sure."
    "Yeah."
    "Other than that, it's just a noisy nap; nothing should hurt, and if anything does I want you to tell us as soon as possible." She handed him a call button. "You already know how to hammer on these."
    "Yeah," Isaac said, and, after a clamp was applied to his head, he was pushed into the bowels of the plastic tube. More than thirty minutes of noisy buzzing came from all around him. Intermittently, Clarissa would appear by his side to inject something into his arm.
    Finally, he was released. Clarissa removed the plastic tube from his vein, and they walked back to his room. "We should have the results by tomorrow morning. In the meantime, remember to tell us about hallucinations you think you're seeing. It's going to be difficult, but asking us about something like the camera you saw is exactly what you should do. Hallucinations can mess with your memory, and make you think they've always been there."
    "That's what Alena said." They reached his room.
    "She knows about hallucinations?" Clarissa asked, surprised.
    "Well, sure she does. She's a nurse," Isaac said, getting back into his bed. "She probably knows about all sorts of health stuff. At least, I hope so."
    "Right," Clarissa said. Without another word, she turned around and left. Isaac felt like something had been miscommunicated, but he shrugged. He'd only been in his room for ten minutes before Missy called.
    "Hi!" She said. The word was turned into a screech in his ear by the phone. "How was your day?"
    "Fine," Isaac said. "Nothing much has happened. I had an MRI . . . and another hallucination." He explained what he'd seen to her. "Like one of those cameras that you see in spy movies. Gray boxes with a lens and a wire coming out the back. It was watching my whole room, going back and forth."
    "They haven't used cameras like that in years," Missy, who had quietly listened the entire time, said. "I think they phased them out in the eighties. Now they have those black bubbles in the ceiling."
    "That should have just tipped me off even more," Isaac said. He slapped his bedsheet, and watched his handprint sink away with his anger. "Anyway, how was your day?" He asked.
    "Rough. I just got done with work; Mr. Haerd was on my back all day. I've started handling a bunch of big projects for him, and he really got on my case about getting them dealt with." She took a deep breath and groaned. "It's not really anything too huge, I just have to work them carefully. They're pretty important."
    "Well, I hope that it goes okay," Isaac said, who suddenly thought about what Alena had said to him the day before about Missy.
    "Is it all right if I stop by and see you tomorrow?" Missy asked, making Isaac jump.
    "S-sure. If you want to," he said.
    "Want me to bring anything?"
    "I could use some more books," he said. "There isn't much else to do here besides read and play around online, but the connection isn't that good, so I can't really raid or anything."
    "Okay, I'll see what I can do. See you tomorrow!" She said, happily, and hung up.
    Isaac took the phone away from his ear. He looked at it for a few seconds, and then snapped it shut. he looked at the door to his room and found Alena standing there. She smirked at him, and then left.

Isaac had strange dreams that night. There was the odd clown, always watching him, always holding balloons. Sometimes it was just him in a room with a giant camera. He was particularly distressed to find that Missy and Alena were featured prominently. Sometimes together.

Another day passed.
    "Nothing?" Missy asked, after work.
    "No," Isaac said. "They said it isn't that rare. Sometimes things just won't show up on an MRI." He sat on the edge of his bed, stretching his legs. "It could be something else."
    "Well, have you had any more hallucinations?" Missy asked.
    "Yeah," Isaac said, looking down at the floor. "There was one this morning. Pretty early. I was tired of sitting in bed, and was thinking about getting up and taking a walk around, just to have something to do. I looked out the door." He looked up at it. Just out of view, the nurses' station bustled. He steadied himself with a breath.
    "What?" Missy asked, in a low voice. "What did you see?"
    "There was . . . nothing. It was completely dark. I couldn't see anything. No matter how hard I looked. I even started yelling. Nobody came."
    Missy listened quietly.
    "As I looked, I realized there was something. Little dots of light. Stars. I was in space." He looked up at her. He saw fear in her eyes. "Even as I realized it, a bright flash of light tried to cut through the darkness. It passed across the door!" He drew his finger across the opening. "And then was gone. I don't know what it was. A meteor, or something."
    Isaac stopped talking. He waited for Missy to say something.
    "Wow," she, finally, said. "What was it like?"
    "Terrifying," he said. "I thought I would never see you again."
    He sat in shock at what he'd just said. Missy gasped, and her eyebrows shot up to hide in her hair. "Thank you for bringing me some more books," Isaac said hurriedly, trying to fill the silence. Missy nodded, smiling. "You probably want to be getting back home," he said.
    Missy shrugged. "I don't mind spending some time with you," she said quietly. "We haven't really had a good time to talk in a while. I don't really have anything to do, and I bet you don't either."
    Isaac's heart pounded. Missy started talking about her day and playing with her hair. She crossed her long legs and talked about the work she'd been doing, and how her family had been, and told him stories about her childhood, laughing at his comments and playfully touching his arm. He caught her looking at him out of the corner of his eye.
    A few hours passed, and she eventually relented and said she should go home. "Why don't I come over tomorrow?" She said, picking up her bag. "We can talk some more. Do you know how much longer you'll be in here?"
    "It shouldn't be too much longer. They're still running tests."
    "Okay," Missy said. "I'll see you tomorrow."
    "Bye," Isaac said, and then she left.
    Faster than the blink of an eye, Alena was leaning against the edge of his doorway. "Looks like you've pretty much sealed the deal," she said, one corner of her mouth lifted in a mischievous grin. "I need to get you a key so you can lock this door."
    Isaac sputtered. "Oh, don't be such a prude," she said, entering the room. "I heard you say what you said. You want her just as much as she wants you," she said, bending low so their eyes were level. "She knows it but won't say it, you say it but don't know it," she giggled.
    "It's not like that!" Isaac finally said. "We're really good friends! I've known her for a long time, and we've helped each other through a lot of stuff!"
    "I'm sure you have," Alena said, standing and pacing the room slowly. "And soon, you're going to help her scratch an itch that only you can reach." She stood behind the chair that Missy had been sitting in. "I'm sure she'll be able to help you with something, too. I bet you'd be surprised how well she knows how to handle a big man like you."
    "I can't believe you're saying that!" Isaac nearly shouted. He looked out the door, scared, but Alena didn't seem worried. "Don't you ever have days off?"
    "Nope!" Alena said, stretching both arms over her head. "I never leave the hospital. I work twenty-four seven, all day and all night."
    "Bull."
    "Maybe," Alena said, bringing her arms down again. "So? Do you need a key for tomorrow? I can get you protection, too, unless you like to be free and unfettered. She'll probably like that."
    "Don't," Isaac said, shocked. "I don't . . . I need some time to think about it!"
    "Oh, well." Alena leaned over the chair. Her top revealed the smooth curve of her breasts and beyond. Her eyes sparkled, and her smile was wide and joyful. "If you need help dealing with something, just let me know." She stood, and in one fluid motion was around the chair and next to him. "I'll do anything you want. I'm here to serve," she whispered in his ear. She brought her face away and winked, then stood and walked out of the room without a backward glance.
    "What is going on." Isaac asked his empty room. He shook his head and roughed up his hair, trying to get blood back to his brain. "I need to get out of this hospital."
    He sighed and picked up the first book that Missy had brought him. He opened to the first page and tried not to lose his mind.

Another day passed.
    Doctor Worcraft was in his room again, sitting in the chair by Isaac's bed. His legs were crossed, and, like all doctors, his pants were just a bit too short, which revealed his dark socks. "The MRI didn't reveal anything. Neither did the scan from yesterday," Worcraft said. For the life of him, Isaac couldn't remember what kind of scan it had been the day before. "We have a few more options to try; the one we're going to do next is called magnetoencephalography. Basically, we're going to take a picture of your brain to see the electrical impulses."
    "Sounds kind of like an MRI."
    "Yes." Doctor Worcraft leaned back in the chair. "Today we're going to try some stress tests, and then, if we find anything useful from them, we'll do the Magnetoencephalography -- we call it an MEG -- tomorrow. We'll have you run on the treadmill, show you disturbing images, get your heart rate up, see if anything starts to happen. I wouldn't say I'm confident, but we might find something."
    "Disturbing images?"
    "Scary scenes, car crashes. A video of a tiger running at you. Things like that." He stood up to leave. "Any questions?"
    "I've never heard of that as a medical treatment," Isaac said.
    "Science marches on," Worcraft said. He turned to leave.
    "Uh, doctor? Would it be all right if I got my clothes on and just . . . walked around the hospital? This bed is getting kind of uncomfortable."
    "Of course. Nothing wrong with stretching your legs a bit. Just don't leave the hospital."
    Soon Isaac had his normal clothes on, the ones he'd been wearing when he collapsed in his apartment. It felt good to wear real clothes again, and not a hospital gown. For the first time since his MRI, he saw what was outside his room. The nurses' station, across from his open door, had a few people behind it. Every few seconds someone would take a folder or talk to one of the nurses. Janitors pushed carts full of assorted cleaning solutions, coated doctors walked up and down the hall, avoiding him without looking up. He reached a window, and leaned against it. It was a cloudy day, and dark. He could barely see out the window.
    He kept walking, reaching a bustling cafeteria. He wondered if he had his wallet, but a sign let him know that lunches were free for patients. He got a slice of pizza, soda, and a piece of cake. He felt famished, like he hadn’t eaten in days.
    He sat at a quiet table and watched doctors, nurses, and patients eat and talk; it was all indistinct blather to him. He ate his meal and looked out the window at the cloudy sky, happy for somewhere to look besides the bare wall across from him in his room. He felt he recognized the scene outside his window, and decided he must have driven past it once. After ten minutes he dumped his tray and took the long way back to his floor.
    An hour later, Doctor Worcraft came into his room and gave him a set of sweat clothes. Isaac changed into them, and then Worcraft led him to a room with several treadmills, and a space with mats. A nurse hooked Isaac up to a heart monitor, and set a treadmill at a plodding speed. Isaac started walking. The screen in front of him was blank. His heart rate increased properly, and a few minutes later the nurse increased the speed to a jog.
    Isaac quickly ran out of breath. He wasn't surprised; he had spent the last few days trapped in a bed. The monitor beeped at a fast rate, and it was carefully watched by Worcraft and the nurse. Isaac looked around. Nothing seemed out of place. He didn't think he was hallucinating.
    At one point, Worcraft pointed at the monitor connected to the treadmill. The nurse went to a control on the side, and tapped on it. It turned on, and showed a white screen.
    "We're going to show you a few things, Isaac, just some things to startle you. The idea is to stress your brain, and hopefully make it show its hand." Isaac nodded, too out of breath to say anything. "Here we go."
    Freeze-frame images of a car crash in motion appeared on the screen, coming up and then going away in the blink of an eye. Isaac nearly tripped and fell as the cars collided and smashed, sending shards of glass toward the screen. At once the cars were gone, replaced by a video of a small girl, dressed in rags, sitting by herself in the dark. From behind the camera, a door opened, letting in a square of light, and the shadow of a man holding something long in his hand. The girl shrank away from the light.
    The video disappeared, and a blank screen replaced it. Isaac thought it was over. Instead, the white space on the screen lowered itself down to black. Random flashes of color erupted from the corners, leaving splotches in his vision. The flashes grew bright and frantic, fighting through the dark like a slave raging against its master but unable to do anything. Isaac watched it, transfixed, until it reached a crashing zenith of mixed sensations. All at once, it was gone, and Isaac felt the treadmill slowing.
    The nurse detached him from the monitor, and Worcraft helped him step down.
    "Anything?" The doctor asked.
    Isaac braced himself against the treadmill, panting. The strange images he'd been subjected to kept appearing, over and over, layered on each other until they created their own worlds. Isaac looked around, trying to see through to the real world. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. He strained to pick on something, anything, that looked like it didn't belong.
    "No. I think everything's fine."
    For a moment Isaac thought the doctor was going to hit him, but instead he said: "Okay. Why don't you go back to your room and rest. We'll take the MEG tomorrow . . . are you all right?"
    "Just out of breath," Isaac said. He gulped air. The nurse and Doctor Worcraft took him back to his room, where he got back in bed, relieved to be off his feet. He closed his eyes and napped for a few hours.
    When he woke up, it was nearly time for Missy to visit him. The events of the night before, with Alena, rushed back into the front of his mind, and he sighed. "I guess I'm going to be thinking about that the entire time she's here," he muttered.
    Soon Missy knocked on the doorway. "Hi there," she said. She wore a long black skirt and gray sweater with her hair down.
    "Hey," Isaac said. "How was your day?"
    "It was fine. Sort of busy, but I don't mind that very much." She came in and pulled the chair over next to his bed. "I'm getting finished with those big projects. It should only be another day or two."
    Isaac nodded. He was about to open his mouth, but spotted Alena standing outside his room. She was looking over her shoulder at him, with a smirk on her face. Seeing him look, she winked.
    "What are you looking at?" Missy asked, turning her head. Alena had disappeared.
    "Nothing. Just listening."
    "How was your day?" Missy asked. Isaac told her about the simple joy of taking a walk and eating lunch in the cafeteria, and then about the stress test. She seemed aghast at the images.
    "Did it work?"
    Isaac shook his head. "The only thing it did was tire me out. I didn't see anything that was a hallucination, I think. It's hard to tell while it's happening, but it's easy to realize something was a hallucination in retrospect, like the clown or the camera."
    "Or the pudding cup."
    Isaac blinked. He looked over at Missy. "What?"
    "The second time I came over, you saw someone that I didn't see, and then handed me a 'pudding cup.'" She made quotes with her fingers. "You talked to the person a lot too. I told the nurses' desk about it when I left, because it looked like it was still going on."
    Isaac couldn't say anything. His stomach was a tight ball.
    "I didn't know if it was safe," Missy said. "So I just told the nurses."
    Isaac yanked the covers off him and jumped out of bed. He was still dressed in his sweat clothes. He ran out of his room and looked around. He didn't see Alena. She's always hanging around my room!
    He ran to the nurses' station, with Missy calling after him. "A nurse. A pretty, blond nurse. Do you know her?"
    The one he spoke to, an Asian woman, thought for a second. "Do you mean Gail?"
    "No! Her name's Alena; she's always here!"
    "I'm sorry, I don't know her. I'm sort of new, though. Is there something wrong?"
    "Mr. Lucas, are you all right?" Another nurse asked. Isaac felt sick. His vision blurred together. "Get him back to his bed," he heard somebody say. Arms guided him back toward his room. He went meekly; his brain was two steps behind, understanding things several moments too late. He was settled down on his bed. "Is he gonna be okay?" He heard someone ask.
    It took a few moments for him to come to grips with the information. He looked over at one of the nurses that had helped him in. "I'm all right. Just confused. You can go."
    The nurse nodded, patted his arm, and left him with Missy. She leaned close to him. "Are you okay, Isaac?"
    "I've seen her so many times!" He said quietly. "I saw her just a few minutes ago!"
    "Who?"
    "The one I was talking to! Her name's Alena, she's . . . a nurse. Here. I've talked to her a dozen times since I came here. She said hi to you when she came in. She had my dinner. That's why I gave you a pudding cup."
    "You don't like pudding, so you gave it to me. But all you did was hold out an empty hand," Missy said. "Are you saying that . . . she's been a hallucination? Over and over?"
    Isaac did nothing.
    "Do you need me to call a nurse?" Missy asked. She started to stand.
    "No, don't. I just . . . need to think about it. I had no idea. Of course she's a hallucination. After you left, a different nurse came by with carts of dinner . . . the nurse that helped me with my MRI thought you were Alena when I talked about her!"
    "What?"
    "I was the only one that didn't notice!" Isaac said. "I can't believe nobody told me! I must have talked to her six times with other people nearby . . . why didn't they ask me who I was talking to?"
    "I don't know," Missy said. Her eyebrows were arched up, and she had her hand on Isaac's. "I'm sorry. It looks like this has hit you pretty hard."
    "I saw her so many times. All of my other hallucinations were just once." Isaac sighed. He felt tired. "I just need some time to wrap my head around this."
    "I'm right here if you need to talk about it," Missy said. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. "If you need some quiet I can go."
    "No, don't go. Let's just talk."
    Missy grinned. "Okay. Why don't I tell you all about the projects I'm working on! That'll help you get your mind off things."
    It did.

Sort of.
    Missy had been gone for a few hours, after loading his ears with everything she could say about what she'd been working on. When she left, Isaac knew just as much about it as she did.
    He was looking at the pages of one of his books -- not reading; that would require comprehension -- and thinking about everything that had happened.
    Alena . . .
    And she was there, leaning on his doorway with her smirk, shaking her head slowly from side to side. "You just couldn't pull it off, could you? Just too chicken," she said. "All you did was sit and talk. I bet if you hired a prostitute you'd just want a back rub."
    Isaac put his book down. "I'm glad you're here, Alena," he said, heart pounding. "I need you to do something for me."
    Alena's head tilted, and her smile grew. She entered the room with her hands clasped behind her back. "Yes, Isaac. What is it?"
    "Come here," he said.
    "I knew you'd ask eventually," she said, crossing the room to his bed. "All I had to do was be patient." She put a knee on his bed. "Tell me what it is you need."
    Quickly, he shot his hand at her arm, expecting it to pass through and out the other side. Instead, his fingers curled around her smooth skin, and she chuckled, lowly.
    "Careful, cowboy," she breathed, bringing her face closer and pulling herself on top of him. "I bruise easily."
    "You aren't real!" Isaac said. "I know you're a hallucination!"
    "What does it matter?" The nurse said, inches from him. "Your body doesn't care. It'll think I'm real." She put her hand on his pants. "You'll still feel me bring us together, taste my lips, and hear me moan. And," she said, leaning forward and putting her lips on his ear, "eventually, I'll feel you give me a piece of you to keep. Don't resist, dear," she said. "You'll enjoy it so much more." She softly bit on his ear.
    Isaac thrust his hand out to hit the nurse call button, and Alena did nothing to stop him. He pressed it, over and over. "There are so many more buttons you could press, Isaac," she said, taking his hand off the button and placing it on her breast. He could feel the erect nipple under his palm. She sighed.
    A nurse entered the room. "Do you need something, Mr. Lucas?"
    Isaac swallowed, trying to keep his voice straight. "Am I the only one in this room, nurse?" He asked.
    The nurse looked at him strangely. "Of course not, Mr. Lucas. Alena is here, too." She started to leave, then stopped, turned around, grabbed the handle for his door, and shut it.
    "Do you understand now?" Alena said in the secluded room, pushing her hips against his. "It doesn't matter. You should enjoy this. Your mind has given you the ability to see your greatest desires."
    "You aren't real," Isaac said weakly. "I don't want what isn't real."
    She laughed. "You're the only man alive who believes that."
    "You're a hallucination," Isaac said, with his eyes shut. "Just like-"
    "Like me?" He heard a man's voice say. He opened his eyes, but saw only Alena's face next to his. "Like the camera?" She asked. "Like the vision of empty space that made you realize how much you'd miss your dear friend Missy?" She asked. "You'll never be able to get away from us. We will follow you your entire life -- until you decide to end it, just to get the falsehoods out of your head." She grasped his hand again. "You will live, unable to tell what's real and what isn't." She began to tug on his hand. "The doctors will never understand. The pills will never help. Nothing you do will be able to stop me, or the clown, or the camera, or anything your broken mind can imagine. Do you know what horrors it can create?" She asked. He watched her take his hand close to her body. "It can make you fear the very ground you walk on, the air you breathe. The thoughts in your own head. You might as well . . ." She guided his hand into her pants and between her legs. "Enjoy it . . ." She said, delirious. She bit on her lip and pushed her hips down on him.
    "No!" He shouted, whipping his hand away and pushing her off. He pushed too hard, and she tumbled backward, off the end of his bed, shrieking and cracking her head on the wall. The body fell motionless.
    Isaac wiped his hand on the bedspread, shivering. He rubbed his eyes with his other hand.
    When he opened them, the body was getting its feet. Blood dripped from the skull and ran from the nose.
    "I told you I bruise easily." It stepped around his bed, coming closer.
    "I want you out of my head!" Isaac said, getting out of the bed. He took a step forward. "I'm not afraid to fight you!" He got close to it, fists balled.
   A hand caught his throat. "You want to fight?" It pushed him back with massive force, sending him crashing against the far wall. It was taller now. It had longer nails, wilder hair, and its face was a twisted mockery of humanity. "Try then."
    It came at him, wailing.

Isaac jumped awake, shouting. He fell out of the bed. Pushing himself against the wall, he looked for the body. There was nothing. No blood on the floor, no demented figure. The door was open. Someone at the nurse's station looked in his room worriedly.
    He put a shaking hand to his face. It came back with sweat. Before he looked up, he knew what was standing in his doorway.
    Instead of the smirk and whimsical expression, she glared at him, eyebrows fused together in anger.
    "Mr. Lucas, are you all right?" The nurse asked from the station. "Did you have a nightmare?"
    "No," he whispered. "I'm in one." Alena's frown turned to an angry smile, her eyes sparkled, then she was gone.

Another day passed.
    It was difficult to sleep. Alena was gone, maybe forever, but he knew the truth now. The hallucinations ruled him. Every time he blinked, he wondered if he would open his eyes to the same thing, or something new and awful.
    He laid in bed, exhausted. He'd been unable to fall asleep again, afraid of what his mind would show him. As far as he could tell, he hadn't seen any hallucinations, but he felt them, just around the corner or out of sight. Once he thought he heard something walking down the hall, in the middle of the night, slowly. From the sound, he imagined a wet trail behind it -- puddles under its feet as it walked.
    Finally, it was late enough to be awake. Isaac sat on the edge of his bed, hands on his knees, daring himself to not look up and see something. He tried reading, but couldn't concentrate. He didn't even try to use his computer.
    He just stared at the ground.

The hospital moved past his door. He'd spent ten minutes doing nothing but looking at the ground between his bare feet. He didn't know when somebody -- a nurse, or a doctor -- would stop while passing and ask after him. He didn't know what he would say.
    "You'll say the hallucinations have gotten worse," a loving voice said behind him. He shut his eyes. "They'll ask for specifics -- such good nurses -- and you'll say you had nightmares. Long visions of horrible monsters. You won't say you're afraid of the world now, or that you secretly think even the person you're talking to is fake . . . but it will be enough for them. They'll walk away, and leave you with me."
    Isaac spun around. The bed behind him was empty, and he heard a chuckle fade. He took a breath to help slow his heart.
    "Mr. Lucas?"
    He jumped, backing away from the door. It was a nurse. A normal one. Perhaps. "Do you need something?"
    "Uh . . . no. Just stretching my legs. Nurse? Do you know when I'll be having my test today? My MEG?"
    "Not off-hand, but I can check. I'll be back in a minute," she said, smiling and heading to the nurses' desk. She came back quicker than a minute. "You're scheduled for eleven o'clock. Would you like me to bring up some breakfast?"
    That should be real enough. "Yes please."
    Soon he was eating. Buttered toast, hot cereal, orange juice and milk. He relished it as a strange tether to what he knew was real. It slipped down his throat, warm and wonderful. He began to feel better.
    The tray was taken away, and he sat back in bed, still tired, but at least now he had some strength. He tried reading again, and this time was able to concentrate. Better still, he realized even hallucinations couldn't do much to disrupt reading.
    He was pleasantly surprised to find eleven clock came quickly. Two nurses came in to take him to the MEG. He didn't need to change out of the sweat clothes he still had, and he was happy to discover that no injections were needed. They took him to the same section of the building that had the MRI, where he found Doctor Worcraft.
    "Hello Isaac. How have you been?"
    For a moment, Isaac was going to lie. He was going to say he was fine, and he knew the doctor would hear: I'm still in the hospital, and have been seeing hallucinations. That's how I'm doing. He opened his mouth to say the word, and paused.
    "The hallucinations are worse," he said. "Last night, my friend Missy came over. I was telling her about the hallucinations I've had. The clown. The camera. She told me I'd forgotten one. She told me I had been talking to somebody that wasn't there."
    "You didn't realize it was a hallucination?" Worcraft asked.
    "No. It was a nurse. Alena was her name. At that time I'd talked to her a dozen times, sometimes with other nurses in the room. Nobody mentioned anything."
    "You'd just had a coma. Confusion is expected," Worcraft asked. "You're sure she's a hallucination?"
    "She showed up last night. I told her she was a hallucination, and she said it didn't matter. She . . . tried to get into bed with me. I pushed her off."
    "You . . . pushed her?" Worcraft asked, confused. "You were able to touch her?"
    "Yes. She smacked against the wall, and I thought she was gone." Isaac looked at the ground. "She got up. I tried to fight her, but she pushed me back, a-and turned into a monster." He took a shaky breath. "The next thing I know, I was in bed, and she was gone. I don't know if it was a dream or a hallucination, but I've seen, and heard her since." He still looked at the ground. Nobody said anything. Isaac imagined he was alone in the hospital, empty except for him and his hallucinations. He looked up, and found Worcraft thinking, with his chin in his hand.
    "That's very disturbing. It's a good thing we're doing a test today. You say you've seen her several times?"
    "Many times," Isaac said. "Every day."
    "Okay. The next time you see her, call a nurse."
    I tried that, Isaac thought, but he nodded.
    "Let's get you in here," Worcraft said, leading him to an opening that had several layers of doors. "An MEG has to have good shielding from the natural magnetic energy of the earth. Go on in, and sit down in the chair. Make yourself comfortable."
    Isaac went inside. He sat in a chair one would find in a dentist's office; over it was a large tube with a skull-shaped depression on the bottom. "I'll need to attach these to your skull," Worcraft said. He produced wires stuck with tape, and applied them to areas on Isaac's head, as well as one over his heart. He plugged them into the machine. "There. Adjust the chair so you're at a good height with the cap."
    Worcraft and the nurses left, and the doors shut behind them. Isaac sat in the chair and raised it up so the top of his head was close to the cap. Off to the side was a screen with a view of a small room. Isaac saw Worcraft and the nurses enter.
    "We're going to lower the cap onto your skull," Worcraft said into the camera. "Let us know if it gets uncomfortable."
    Isaac nodded, and loud whirring filled the room. He felt the tube press on his head and stop. "We're going to start scanning. This will take some time, up to two hours," Worcraft said. "Try to move your head as little as possible. Let us know if you need a break."
    "Okay," Isaac said. The machine began to hum. He settled in for a long few hours. He closed his hours and tried to focus.
    When he opened them, he was not surprised to find Alena standing in a corner of the room. He watched her with his eyes.
    "What do you think they're going to find?" She asked, stepping into the center of the room. "I'll tell you. Nothing." She started walking around the machine. Isaac followed her until he couldn't move his eyes any farther. "The scans will be clear. They'll let you leave the hospital, unable to do anything. And that will be that." She was directly behind him.
    "Isaac, are you seeing anything?" Worcraft asked. "Your heart rate just spiked."
    "She's here," Isaac said. "Alena's in here."
    "What is she doing?"
    "Nothing. Just talking."
    "Oh?" Alena said, appearing on his right side suddenly. "Do you want me to do anything else?" She hesitated. She was too far for him to see. "You made it clear what you don't want last night. I could have made you feel wonderful, but no."
    Isaac closed his eyes and tried not to listen.
    "Isaac Thomas Lucas. That's a nice name, isn't it?" She said. He heard her footsteps. "So many esses. I sound almost like a snake when I say it. Issssaac Thomasssss Lucassss." She laughed. "Go on and look, Isaac. See how I look as a snake." Isaac breathed in and kept his eyes shut. "Ssssssssss."
    "Isaac, please try to calm down," Worcraft said. "You're starting to shake."
    "Wouldn't want that," Alena said.
    "Why are you here?" Isaac asked. "You've said your piece. Go away."
    "Isaac, what-"
    "I'll tell you why," he heard Alena say. He felt her near him. "You think I'm a hallucination. If that's true, then your broken brain should be showing clearly on the M-E-G. You've been hallucinating this whole time, according to you."
    He heard her shift, and felt her finger run down his bare arm. "But what if I'm the realest thing in the world to you?" She asked. "What then? Then the MEG will show nothing other than normal activity. It will say you're a healthy, normal young man with no problems other than one instance of passing out." He heard her tap on the machine. "Don't you think, when this big hunk shows nothing, they'll start to think you've been making it all up? The clown, the camera, black space out your door, me. They'll think you're just making it all up. For attention, maybe."
    "I'm not."
    "Not what, Isa-"
    "I know you aren't. You know you aren't. Do they? They'll say you have hypochondria, or you want your fifteen minutes of fame -- the boy that saw things! -- or something else. I'm going to be a good little girl and sit right here, the entire time. You don't have to look; you know I'm still here."
    He knew. He kept his eyes closed the entire time, but he knew she was still there, sitting in the corner of the room and watching him. Two long hours passed, and he did nothing but keep his eyes closed and breathe smooth breaths, trying to keep himself from moving. He could only hope she would be wrong.

"We're all done, Isaac," Worcraft said through the monitor. "Is . . . Alena still there?"
    "I'm still here."
    "She's still here."
    "We're coming in."
    The monitor went dead. A minute passed, and then the doors unsealed. After the third one, he heard footsteps. "Isaac, point to her."
    He opened his eyes and looked. She was gone. The white room was too bright for him. Worcraft and the two nurses stood next to him, looking worried. "Can you tell us where she is?"
    "She's gone. She was in here the entire time you were scanning, though." Isaac looked up as the nurses started taking the wires off his head. "Did the scan show anything?"
    "It has to process. We should know by tomorrow morning. I know you're worried, Isaac, but I'm sure we'll find something."
    "What if you don't?" Isaac said. He couldn't stop himself. "What then?"
    "Well . . . there are some longer-term solutions that we could try, like seeing if some basic drugs help. Stress reduction has also-"
    "Stress reduction!" Isaac said, jumping off the chair once the last wire was gone from his head. "Something I thought was a nurse for half a week tries to rape me, and you think it's because of stress?"
    "Isaac, please calm down. I know you're worried," Worcraft said. "It's more effective than you think, but not everything works. You have my word that we'll find something, all right?"
    Isaac sighed, and nodded. One of the nurses took him by the arm and led him out of the room. Before leaving, he risked a glance around. It was empty.

"We'll let you go tomorrow," Worcraft said, "whether or not we find anything. Maybe just getting you out of here will help. I know it can wear down on a person." Isaac nodded. They were back in his room. "Hopefully the MEG will help us find out what's happening. Have a good night."
    "Thank you, doctor," Isaac said, and Worcraft left. Isaac reached for a book, then noticed he'd missed a call from Missy.
    "Isaac! Hi!" She said when he called back. "How did everything go today?"
    "I had an MEG, and they said they'll let me leave the hospital tomorrow one way or the other."
    "Really? That's great! Since you don't have your car with you, do you want me to pick you up? I'm going to be free all day."
    "Sure, that'd be nice."
    "And the hallucinations?" She asked. "Have they changed?"
    Isaac didn't know how much he wanted to say. "The nurse hallucination . . . the one you told me about . . . I saw it again last night and today. I even know it's a hallucination and I can't get it to stop." The other line was quiet. "I really hope the MEG shows something."
    "I sure it will, Isaac," Missy said. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
    "Okay. Bye."

Another day passed.
    He was dressed in his street clothes, sitting on the bed. He felt tired, like he hadn't slept in a long time. Missy was with him. They were waiting for Doctor Worcraft to appear.
    "Everything will be all right," Missy said. "You'll be back home in no time." She looked around. "Have you seen Alena at all since yesterday?"
    "No," Isaac said, looking at the wall. "But she'll never really be gone. She could be right around the corner, or closer."
    "Don't think that!" Missy said. "Don't be so negative!" She got closer to him, and grabbed his shoulders with both hands. "You'll be able to get out of this! You'll be able to escape! Isaac!" He looked at her. "You're going to be okay."
    They were inches apart, and as she hugged him he felt her truth. He knew that somehow, someway, he would defeat Alena, and everything she created. He would find a way. He smiled, and put his arms around Missy, breathing in the sweet perfume of her hair.
    "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," they heard. Their hug broke, and Isaac saw that Doctor Worcraft stood in the doorway. He held a folder in his hand. "I have the results from the MEG."
    "Of course," Isaac said.
    "I'm afraid we didn't see anything," Worcraft said, looking down. "I'm sorry Isaac. All this time, all these tests, and still nothing."
    "It's all right," Isaac said. He stood up. "It's not like you did anything wrong. Thank you for trying anyway." Isaac put his hand out, and Worcraft shook it.
    "Here's my number," the doctor said, handing a card to Isaac. "I expect that you'll continue to see hallucinations. I want you to record them as best you can and let us know if anything changes."
    "Okay, thank you." Isaac put the card in his pocket. "Can I go now?"
    "Once you sign out. You can do it at the front desk."
    In no time at all Isaac stood under the sun for the first time in a week. He looked up at the blue sky with something close to surprise. It felt good.
    "Shall we?" He heard Missy ask. He rested for a second, then nodded.
    They walked through a crowded parking lot to her car, passing nondescript cars and trees and people. Isaac felt himself grinning like a fool.
    "You look so happy!" Missy said as she started the car.
    "Yeah. Let's not go back to my apartment yet. Let's go to a park."
    Missy nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."
    She drove until they reached an empty park, and Isaac quickly left the car, heading for the green grass. He got to his knees and put his hands in it, relishing the soft feeling. He stood and found Missy next to him.
    Grinning, he held out his hand. With the same, she took it.

They walked for an hour, stopping at a park bench on a path. Other than a single person a long distance from them, they were alone.
    "Are you going to be okay?" Missy asked.
    "I think I will," Isaac said, smiling and watching the trees move. "The doctor was right. Getting out of the hospital did make me feel better." He turned his head, marveling at the space around him. "I'm just so glad it's all real. The trees are real, the grass is real." He paused. "You're real."
    "Oh, Isaac." She rubbed his back. "I'm not."
    His vision darkened, like a cloud across the sun. He looked at her, and found her looking back, head tilted slightly, eyes sparkling.
    "Yes," he said. "You're real. I know you are!"
    Missy shook her head, still smiling.
    "Where is she?" Isaac said, standing suddenly. "Tell me where the real Missy is!"
    "There isn't one," came a voice behind him. He looked behind him, sure of what would be there. Alena stood with her arms crossed, her smirk mischievous, and her eyes sparkling like Missy's. "I told you that hallucinations can play with your memory."
    Isaac spun and looked at Missy; she was gone. He looked at Alena again and found Missy standing next to her with hands on her hips.
    "I tried to tell you," Alena said. "I tried to tell you that you can't get away."
    "Doctor Worcraft talked to her! Everybody knew about her! She was real!" Isaac shouted, panicking. "She isn't like you!"
    "She is me!" Alena laughed, and Missy laughed with her. Isaac backed up a step.
    "But they all talked to her! She can't be a-"
    "Hallucination?" Missy said. "I can be. I am.
    "Do you know how?" She asked.
    Isaac turned and ran. His weak muscles screamed and breath tore at his throat. The women and bench disappeared behind him. The world looked gray. He came to a turn in the path and they stood there, waiting. He tripped and fell, rolling on the ground. They came to stand over him.
    "Look around you, Isaac," one of them said. "Accept it."
    Color drained out of the sky.
    "You've been wandering around your apartment for a week, thinking you've been sitting in a white hospital, with food brought to you on trays and special tests to discover what's wrong with you," the other one said. "You haven't had anything to eat or drink that whole time. You're nearly dead. You've looked out the window, sat in your bed, and talked to yourself for seven days, imagining a nurse that lusts after you and a 'friend' that loves you. Neither are real." It got close. "Wake up Isaac."

    It
    Was
    Dark.
    He was thirsty.
    He was hungry.
    He stayed on the ground for a second, then rolled over. They sat at his table, watching him. He knew he was in the real world -- how could he have thought there was a hospital? -- and they started to disappear.
    "I told you," one of them said. "You'll never be able to get away from us."