The Despairing Tribulations of a Doomed Boy

Chapter 14

He opened the trap door silently, his nose-button glowing a soft yellow light. He motioned for Otto to come down and mouthed the word "toilet?"

Once back in the attic, Otto looked around at the new presents Ruskin had brought him: another sandwich, a refilled pitcher of water, new batteries for the game system, and diapers. "Diapers?" Otto asked just above a whisper.

"Yeah. I have to go to school tomorrow. I'll be gone all day and it's my mom's day off of work so she'll be around the house, so... you know..."

Otto made a face. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Would you rather poop in the corner? Because I'm not cleaning that up."

Otto let out a heavy sigh and pushed the diapers out of sight, deciding to decide on that option later. He grabbed for the sandwich instead.

"I'll get you some food for tomorrow in a bit. Did you think of a way to find this nurse of yours?"

"No."

"Do you want me to go rogue hunting at school tomorrow?" Ruskin said with a smile.

"No!"

"Fine." Ruskin sounded disappointed. "You're no fun."

"You're an idiot and you're going to get us both in huge trouble."

"You said you'd take the blame."

"Not if you're just being an idiot!"

"Okay, okay. But I don't know how much longer I can keep you up here, so you'd better come up with a plan." Ruskin headed for the ladder. "I'll go get you some food to eat tomorrow and then I have to go to bed. I have a test in math tomorrow."

"Was Lancret helping you study?" Otto asked.

"Eh," Ruskin shrugged. "Something like that. I'll tell you more tomorrow."

"You'd better!" Otto hissed as Ruskin disappeared below.

Monday

Monday was the longest day that Otto had ever suffered through. He did manage to sneak downstairs for a bathroom break when he heard Ruskin's mom pull out of the drive way. But other than that short break, Otto spent the day in pitch darkness. As the day wore on and the family gathered for dinner, Otto listened to them move around, hoping that Ruskin would find time to sneak up and keep him company; maybe explain what was going on between him and Lancret. But Ruskin didn't come. At least, not until his parents were in bed.

After the house went silent, Ruskin opened the trap door to the attic and let Otto down to stretch and use the bathroom.

"I had the craziest day," Ruskin said once they were both secured in the attic with the trap door closed. Otto wasn't too excited to hear all about Ruskin's time outside of the attic. It felt more like rubbing his freedom in Otto's face than anything else, but it was nice to have someone to talk to and see a familiar, glowing face in the dusty attic. "So, I was sitting with Lancret at lunch, right? And that guy—that registered anomaly, you know the one that got his face beat in?"

"Yeah," Otto said, trying to move the conversation along, "Reinhardt."

"Yeah, that's him," Ruskin said, "Anyway, he comes over to talk to me and says, 'You're friends with Otto, right?' And I said, 'yeah.' And he said, 'Well, my sister is in training to be a weaponized button up at this facility outside of town, where they also keep rogue anomalies that are being processed before going to prison or where ever. And she told me that there was a fire on Friday night and two rogues escaped. And one of them was Otto.'" Ruskin paused for effect.

"Huh," Otto said, less shocked than Ruskin had wanted him to be. "So one of those girls was Reinhardt's sister, huh? I wonder which one." He tried to recall the registered anomaly's faces, but remembered more of the back of their heads than the front.

"Well, anyway," Ruskin went on, hoping that he'd find some piece of the story that would shock Otto, "He asked me if I knew anything about it or had heard from you."

"What did you say?"

"I said, 'Of course not. How would I know any of that?' and then Lancret said, 'I don't believe you!'"

"Wait, she doesn't believe you?"

"No, she said that to Reinhardt."

"Oh."

"That's not the end of the story," Ruskin spoke quickly, "So after lunch, I got called to the office and back in one of the conference rooms there's this lady standing there with blond hair and glasses and a red nose-button. And she tells me that her name is Nurse Vickers."

"Wait, blond hair?" Otto puckered his face. "That doesn't sound like Nurse Vickers. She doesn't wear glasses either."

"Well, maybe she has different disguises. Makes sense, right? Anyway, she says she's Nurse Vickers and says that she is looking for you. She says she wants to help you. And I said I don't know anything about that. And she said, 'Oh yeah? Then why did you make that face when I told you my name?' She's smart!"

"Not really, you've always been a terrible liar. I don't know how Reinhardt didn't see through you."

"Whatever, anyway, she handed me this," Ruskin handed Otto a nose casing, "She said you probably need it and said that if I really wanted to help you then I'd have you meet her in my backyard tonight at midnight. She'll be out there waiting for you."

"What time is it now?" Otto asked.

Ruskin looked at his watch. "It's 11:30."

"Okay," Otto said, turning this new information over in his head. He wasn't sure if this person really was Nurse Vickers or not, but it was possible she was wearing a disguise to get into the school. "Do you have any food I can eat?"

"Oh! Right, I forgot. Let me go make you something."

"If you're going to make me another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, can I at least get some milk with it this time?"

Ruskin did one better. As a celebration for their last night hiding in the attic, Ruskin brought Otto heated leftovers from dinner and a cup of hot chocolate. It felt like elementary school again. The two settled on pillows in the attic as the night's cold air pressed in.

"So what's with you and Lancret?" Otto finally got to ask.

Ruskin checked his watch and smiled. "Well, after you went crazy she felt bad for me and came to talk during lunch last Monday. We kind'a hit it off. Did you know she paints her nose-button on the weekend?"

"'Hit it off?'" Otto raised his eye brow. "What crazy lie did you tell her? That you suffered through childhood with me? That you always knew I was insane and you just befriended me because you're such a nice guy?"

"What? Of course not! I told her that I thought you had been acting strange lately—which you had, by the way—and that I just hoped that I'd get to see you as your normal self again."

Otto shook his head. "You're such a drama queen. She bought that?"

"She's very trusting."

"She's a nice girl. You'd better treat her that way."

Ruskin smiled and looked at his watch again. "It's just about midnight. You wanna see who's in the backyard?"