The Cure

Chapter 1

     "If I remove the gag," he offered, "Can we speak like civilized adults?"

     She nodded to confirm her agreement, so he bent over and carefully removed the gag from her mouth. She sucked in some extra air and took a few seconds to regain her composure.

     "What the hell do you want with me?" she finally asked.

     "I told you what I wanted," Her captor answered, "I just want to talk."

     "About what?" she inquired.

     "About you," he answered, "About what's going on in your life."

     "There is nothing going on in my life, mister!" She retorted angrily.

     "That would be part of the problem." He countered. "And that's why I'm here. Well, that's part of the reason why I'm here."

     "Look, I don't want to die." She started.

     "Please don't beg," he chided back, "It's quite beneath you."

     "But I don't want to die!" she screamed back, to add emphasis to her desire to remain alive.

     "That's good to hear," he replied, "Because I don't want to kill you."

     "You're a killer, aren't you?" she asked.

     "No, I'm not." He corrected her.

     "You asked me if I knew who you were, and I do." She paused for a moment. "Aren't you Xavier Carter?"

     He paused for a moment. "Yes, I am."

     "You're wanted for murdering a lot of people." She then added.

     "I'm also innocent until proven guilty the last time I checked." Xavier replied, as he stood up and began to pace around the room.

     "What do you mean by that?" she said, rather confused. He could tell by the look on her face. He had a lot to tell her, and it was only going to confuse her more, but it had to be done.

     "It's funny how people see things on television," Xavier started as he strolled around the bedroom. "And they automatically assume it's true because the news never lies. The truth is: the media tells a lot of lies. There were no weapons of mass destructive in Iraq, Lee Harvey Oswald wasn't a lone gunman, and nineteen box cutting minions of Allah are capable of defeating the strongest military in the world. These are all lies, no different than the lies you are being told regarding my status as a murderer. I'm not a killer. Officially, I have only accused of killing someone. I haven't even been given a fair trial, and yet the public has already made up their minds. The media lies all the time, but no one seems to notice nor care. Retractions are printed in newspapers almost every single day, but most people never go past page five to see them."

     "Are you saying you never killed those people?" she asked.

     Xavier smiled as he realized she seemed semi responsive to his story, "Not only did I not kill those people, I'm also not a disgruntled plumber. I happen to be a doctor."

     "A doctor?" she repeated, stunned by this sudden revelation. "What kind of doctor are you?"

     "I graduated with an MD," Xavier replied, "Top of my class, but over the last few years before I started running, I had been working in research."

     Xavier walked to the other side of the bedroom and started to inspect the items on top of her dresser.

     "That's the reason why I'm here." He added.

     "I don't understand." she replied, unsure what he meant.

     "There's no logical reason for me to kill you," Xavier explained, "Even if I was the monster the media claims I am."

     As Xavier said that he playfully fished around with the mess of small medical pill bottles on top of her bedroom dresser. "As a doctor, I know exactly why you're taking all these pills. I don't have to kill you, because what you're being treated for is going to do the trick just fine. You're already dying Samantha, so you don't need my help."

     "You could tell that just from looking at my medication?" she quickly asked, as she began to wonder if anything he said was true.

    "Probably," he confirmed, "But I did a lot of research and background checks on you before I came here. I already knew you were dying. As I told you before, this is why I'm here."

     "Are you here to ease my pain like Dr. Kavorkian?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm. "Let me die with dignity?"

     Xavier responded to her question with a hearty chuckle. "No, I'm not. I happen to also know the tumor that is killing you is inoperable and that you have less than a year to live, if that."

     "Then why are you here?" she asked him again.

     "I'm here to offer you another choice." he answered.

     "What kind of choice?" she inquired.

     Carter paused for a moment, as he knew what he was going to say next was going to make or break their conversation.

     "What would you say if I told you there was a cure?" He asked her.

     "I would call you a big, fat fucking liar." Samantha replied.

     Xavier smiled, walked back to the other side of the room and back to the door where he stopped just shy of the hallway.

     "I'm not lying," he informed her, "There is a cure and I'm willing to share it with you if you're willing to help me."

     "Help you with what?" she asked.

     "My research," he answered. "It's incomplete and I need to do more testing."

     "So, that's your game," the woman said, slightly disgusted, "You want to fuck with my head rather than body with all this false hope. That's a really sick thing to do."

     She couldn't believe he was trying to sell this crap to her. She was dying already and didn't need to be patronized by her captor. It felt degrading. He understood that hearing something this huge was going to take some time.

     "I know this is a lot to take in Samantha," Xavier said to her, "I'm going to give you some time to think about it. I'll be watching something on TV out in the living room. When you're ready to talk, give me a shout."

     Samantha watched in disbelief as Xavier left the room and closed the door behind him. She couldn't believe what was going on, but he appeared to be dead serious about his cure, or he at least believed he was. She felt like screaming every curse word in the book at him but didn't have the energy nor the will. She laid there for what seemed like days but was only a few hours. She laid there and thought long and hard about what he had said and during that time she fell asleep.