X-Ray and Vav Madness

A Trip to the Library

Ray stared up at the ceiling of his room, enveloped in darkness, willing himself to lose consciousness. He didn’t know why, but tonight sleep eluded him. It was probably due to the run-in that he and Gavin had on their way to the apartment. The local drunk had tried to talk to them, in what Ray assumed was an attempt to get them to buy him more alcohol. His name was Geoff Ramsey but during these drinking binges he referred to himself as Father Goeff.

What bothered Ray most about their conversation was not that he was soliciting for alcohol; Ray understood that alcoholism is an illness, one that can only be cured through the willpower of the victim. No, what bothered Ray was what Geoff’s message to them had been. “Don’t take it lightly. There’s more to this case than can originally be seen.” And then “Father Goeff” had started rambling to himself as he turned and started heading to the shelter that he called home.

“Why the hell was he coming up to us talking about a ‘case’? It’s not possible that he knows about Gavin and me, is it?” Ray wondered, watching as a passing car’s headlights caused a streak of light to travel along the wall momentarily before all was dark again. Gavin had shaken it off as “another drunken binge, poor old Geoff”, but Ray wasn’t so easily convinced. He and Gavin liked their privacy, and if their secret identities were to fall into the hands of the wrong person, it would put their personal lives at risk.

And of course the message also brought to Ray’s mind doubts about the case itself. Yeah, it’s possible that the guy they arrested was lying about blacking out to get himself out of jail, and maybe even out of positively identifying the Mad King. But perhaps Geoff was right, maybe there really was more to this case than is seen on the surface. Perhaps the suspect is mentally disturbed, for example, or if he was working for the Mad King, perhaps his mind had been tampered with. “Hell, even Gavin and I can’t ID him, and we’ve seen him ourselves.” Ray thought, momentarily straining his mind to force any tiny details that he could remember about the Mad King. It was hopeless, however; any personal details that he’d noticed when face to face with the biggest crime boss in the area were now gone from his memory, almost as if they had been completely erased from his mind by science or magic or some higher power.

Ray turned onto his side, facing away from the window in his room. “I have to get some sleep. No point worrying, it is what it is,” he reasoned as he willed himself to sleep. After half an hour of refusing to open his eyes, he finally drifted off, with nothing but the sound of the wind whispering against the window filling the room.

The next morning both men were awakened by screeching tires followed by a crash. Ray started awake and sat up too fast, causing a head rush. He sat up in bed, holding his hand to his eyes. “Ugh, what a great start to my morning…” he thought to himself. Seconds later, Gavin charged through the door, pointing to the window.

“Did you see? Did you— Hey, what’s wrong with your head?” Gavin’s tone changed from hyperactive to concern.

Ignoring the last comment, Ray groaned “No, I didn’t see. Was there an accident?” Finally shaking off the rush, Ray stood, put on his glasses, and joined Gavin by the window. Sure enough, there had been a car crash. The both gazed down at the scene below, silence hanging between them for a minute before Ray commented “That sucks.” No one seemed to be injured.

“Shouldn’t we call the police or something?” Gavin asked, his phone out and ready to dial.

Ray shook his head as he pointed to one of the drivers standing on the curve. “That guy has his phone out, I think he’s calling already.”

“Oh,” was all Gavin said as he pocketed his phone. The scene no longer interested either of them so they filed out of Ray’s room and headed for the kitchen. Gavin opened the fridge and studied its contents for a minute before closing it again, deciding that he didn’t want anything from it after all. Instead he reached for the loaf of bread sitting on the counter and popped two slices into the toaster. “What, I’m not that hungry!” he explained when he caught Ray giving him a strange look.