BLUE BIRD ( PART SIX )

I couldn't move, I was paralysed, I couldn't even
shout, my mouth wouldn't open, I wanted to scream,
but the only part of my body that vaguely worked,
were my eyes, I scanned the room it was cold and
dirty. Blue Bird was nowhere to be seen, soon even
my eyes gave in and it went dark. I lay there as if
in some kind of coma.
"Why had she done this to me?" I thought, then I
drifted back to sleep.

When I awoke again, I had no idea how long I had
been asleep, but the room smelt putrid and I realised I'd shitted all over the bed and urinated,
I felt disgust for myself. I found I was able to sit up, there was a tray on the bed, with a syringe
and a used needle, my arms were bruised, there were
tracks up and down my arms, "Why had she done this
to me?" I didn't understand.
I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn't move, so
I staggered on my hands and knees to a door, hoping
it was the bathroom, I was in luck. I opened the
door, although the toilet was filthy, I still
continued to put my fingers down my throat, to make
myself sick, it worked.

I crawled back to the bed again, ripping the sheets
and coverlet off the bed onto the floor, I was
exhausted just doing that. I searched around
looking for my clothes, but they were all gone,
Blue Bird had left me naked, she had taken my
wallet, 'What the hell was I going to do?' I
thought to myself.

I lay back on the bed again, staring at the ceiling
and soon fell asleep once more. When I awoke for the third time, I was freezing and starving, I
drank water from the tap in the bathroom, at this
point I didn't care whether it was bad water or not. I came back into the bedroom to discover a
small parcel on the bedside table, it read:-
"From the Blue Bird, something for you to remember
me."
I opened up the parcel.
"What was it Lawrence?" Raymond wanted to know.
Lawrence hesitated....
"Inside was a small wooden box in the shape of a
coffin and inside the coffin was a note, it read:-
"This is a gift from me to you, guess what! I've
got aids and now you have it too. Hope you endure
the rest of your stinking life, like I've had to
endure mine, The Blue Bird."

Kate stared at Raymond, she was devastated.
"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"Because Lawrence didn't want you to worry Kate,
he told me not to tell you, but now he is dying,
although he didn't want you to know, I felt it only
right to tell you the whole story. I'm so sorry
Kate, he's a good guy really, you know that don't
you?"

Kate started to cry, sobbing. "Those nightmares
were a warning, I'm sure of that now.
Where is lawrence?"
"He's at the local hospital, the aids is really
eating him alive," said Ray.
"I must go and see him Raymond, will you take me?"
"Ofcourse I will, but I cannot promise that he will
be very happy, I told you he's still very independent, he doesn't want to be a burden to you,
he knows he's done wrong and now he's paying for it."

That evening Kate went with Raymond to see Lawrence, she couldn't believe how thin and frail
her brother was. She told him she knew everything,
she still loved him very much, it didn't make any
difference, the fact was he was the best brother
in the world.

Two weeks after Kate saw her brother, he died, It
was such a sad waste of a life. Kate wanted to
support Raymond. He said he would donate money to
the aids charity, when he ran the London Marathon,
in memory of his best friend.

The nightmares never returned for either Kate, or
Ray, which made them more convinced that the dark
figure chasing them, was a warning of her brothers
aids, but now they had not heed the warning, it
was to late.

Kate went on to write a book about her brother,
which she simply called 'Lawrence,' she managed to
get it published and all the proceeds went to the
charity for aids.

A note from the writer........

I wrote this story in memory of a friend I knew
from the early 1990s. He went to Spain and met
a girl, who he hung out with.

When my friend said goodbye to her at the airport,
the girl gave him, what she said was a gift, not
to be opened until he was on the plane, when he
opened it, the coffin was inside, telling him that
she had contracted aids, now she wanted to get her
own back on men, he just happened to be the one.
He died 15 years ago this very week, which was why
I decided to put this story together.

Thankyou for reading.