In the midst of the sleeping night, the soft, ever fragile silence had been broken. Within the dark and motionless walls of the hospital room, Jarrod lay in a blissful state of unawareness, until the minuscule sound ripped him away from it all.
The door opened slowly, was closed with a small hardly audible click, but it was enough for Jarrod’s well trained ears to catch.
His eyes opened, and peered around the room in the faintly painted light of the moon, with the tiny view his positioning gave him. He didn’t move an inch or unclenched his tightened muscles.
One by one, he could hear the distinct noise of a set of feet quietly walk around the room. And closer to his bed. Each soft click echoed in his heart, and echoed into a circuiting sound of heaviness.
With one eye open, he could see the black dress shoes gradually clicking across the floor in measured strides, just frequent enough to confirm his dread.
His heart didn’t pound in anxiety or fear, however. Instead, he only experienced the blanket of dread drop over him in a new, fresher scent.
He remained silent, and likened his breathing unto a willowing body of boggy water. The man cleared his throat, granting a low scratchy rumble into the silence of the room.
“You can stop pretending you’re asleep, Jarrod,” Charlie sneered matter-of-factly. He stood over the bed with his pompous glare.
Jarrod opened and rolled his eyes, then blew out an angry sigh. He sat up to face the old man in the frail darkness, and could make out his features just by the dim light of moonbeams drizzling into the room.
Charlie appeared even more wrinkly and bald, but still just as hefty and potent. He beamed at him with his ice cold blue eyes that shone like a cat’s sly glance. “Did you have a nice nap?” he asked innocently.
Jarrod scoffed. “Before you showed up? Yeah, it was great.”
His remark made Charlie chuckle. He closed his eyes and let the slow laugh sway through him, and then looked back at Jarrod, pausing just simply to watch him.
“What do you want?” Jarrod demanded, frustrated with Charlie’s endless riddles. He immediately swung into full mode, as if he had been doing nothing but building his anger the entire night instead of sleeping.
“Listen,” Jarrod harshly ordered. “You told me to get out of where I was. I had a job, I had an apartment, and I had acquaintances. But you told me to get out of everything, and I did. So how do I get paid? Huh?”
Charlie stood there, and calmly smiled as Jarrod glowered.
“Tell me,” he continued, raising his voice slightly, but rather dangerously. “Why the heck do I get hunted down, and nearly blown to bits in that hotel?!”
Charlie cocked his head, and wearily eyed him. “Jarrod, I believe that you left out a part. You knew the deal, and you were quite familiar with all the consequences behind your every move. You ignored those instructions, and had to be stopped. Sorry for any inconvenience. Oh, and don’t exaggerate. It was a simple time bomb. You probably have access to one too, I’m not quite sure. But you were quite easy to track down.” Charlie shrugged.
Jarrod looked away from the old man, who stood so tall in front of him, and fixated his eyes upon the wall. His climbing temperature only numbed him in a burning resentment.
Jarrod looked back towards the man, and then trying to appear as vulnerable and mouldable as Charlie treated him to be. “Why couldn’t we both just erase the past? Huh? Have you ever thought that things could be different?”
“That would have been impossible Jarrod. You know the reasons why,” he answered solemnly, as if he was actually sympathizing. “And Jarrod, you were a detective. You can’t possibly go back to that, could you?”
It wasn’t simply his job, and Charlie knew that. The heavy knowledge pulled down in the man’s eyes.
“Alright then Jarrod. Since you really don’t seem up for chatting, as I predicted, I’ll give you this instead.” Charlie relented, and reached into his pocket to produce and offer a large orange folder to Jarrod, whom hesitantly and angrily took it into his own hands.
“This here is the instructions on the jobs you must complete, the car rental papers, and some cash.” He chuckled as if he were some kind of genius. “What can I say? I'm a real considerate kinda guy. Oh, and your trip is scheduled the day after you get out of this place. Best be getting right on it.”
Jarrod numbly dropped the envelope in his lap and looked at the man with his eyes ablaze with abhorrence. “And what if I miss this trip?” he asked with a snarl.
Charlie shrugged casually, and informed simply, “Well Jarrod, I can’t take the precious little world you built up for yourself all those years ago, because I already have that. It fits quite nicely on my shelf, by the way. However, I suppose I can still take the pieces of it that I left behind…”
Jarrod was not pleased with the hint he gave, and became infuriated with the situation. “I swear on my life, if I could, I’d kill you. If you ever even breathe on what I have left, you won’t even have time to regret it.”
Charlie appeared rather amused by his loathing for the circumstances. “Jarrod, let’s be real now. Anyways, care to skip the small talk? It bores me. I want to know how you are.”
Jarrod frowned, wishing with every ounce of energy he had that things could be different. “How are you, Jarrod?” Charlie asked again when he refused to answer.
He sat, breathing heavily with his eyes slit and engrossed into Charlie. Charlie stood and gently smiled, taking pleasure in his power, as their breathing began to match.
“Get out,” he finally answered.
“We’re having fun though, aren’t we Jarrod?” he replied, unmoving.
In the silence, Jarrod quickly lunged for the button beside his bed, which would request aid from the hospital staff. His finger jabbed at the button in his furious, aggravated state. His impatience grew, so he began to shout his loud strong voice into the world, praying for any listeners.
“Nurse! Nurse! Somebody! I need help!!” he cried. His voice grew louder, and progressed into a hysterical scream in the night.
“NURSE! I NEED HELP!”
It was in that moment where Jarrod had actually saw a flicker of fear in the old man’s face, but Jarrod didn’t seize his crazed screaming. He stepped back with shock, before backtracking quickly out of the room, slipping away as lightly as he came. Jarrod watched him dash out of the room, and disappear down the hallway.
Jarrod smiled when he left, finally letting his voice rest, and the peace begin to flood back into the room. This only lasted for a few seconds, for the thought of the messages Charlie brought resonated, and he looked down at the envelope in his lap. He dropped it underneath his bed, and waited.
The nurses raced into his room a few moments later, looking flushed and worried. They demanded answers and explanations, with their voices shaky and panicked. Their eyes were all alert for any danger.
Jarrod shook his head slowly and solemnly. “Sorry ladies. False alarm.”
He rolled over, and shut his eyes once he got back into his comfortable positioning, despite knowing that sleep was another gracious blessing Charlie snatched from his grasp.
***
“Sea! Over here!” Willa called out to me with a cheerful smile, waving in the light rusty sunlight.
“Oh hey!” I called back, surprised that she actually smiled when our gazes met. I was always used to people shifting to the grey ground after meeting eyes with mine.
I awkwardly moved over to the group of girls gathered around Willa, who all backed up to move their eyes over me and offer small smiles. I smiled back, admiring their quaint scarves and jingly bracelets and jewellery once a few gently waved to me. I unexpectedly felt a little out of place in my simple jeans and black t-shirt.
Willa eyed me, suddenly with a short concern filling her. “Sea, are you alright? We’ve been waiting for you; do you live far from here?”
I looked at her in surprise. “Uh, yeah sorry. I don’t live too far, I just woke up a little late, I guess,” I answered lamely. I stifled a yawn, as if proving my point, and again cursed my awful restless sleep.
“Tired?” asked one of the girls with an amused, but sympathetic smile.
I nodded. “A little bit, yeah.”
The group of us eventually found our way wandering into the school, and split up down the hallway, whereas Willa and I coincidently shared the majority of our classes.
As the two of us were just about to turn the corner to get to the classroom door, Willa stopped in her tracks, ignoring the stream of moving kids around her to face me. A taller, muscular kid pushed past me, knocking my balance off kilter for a moment. I looked to Willa with confusion.
“So what’s really happened this morning?” she demanded over the buzz of the ongoing conversations around us.
Stunned, I just stared at her. “W-what do you mean?”
She looked at me, as if still unsure if I was going to answer the question before finally clarifying.
“Sea,” she said, “Your makeup is really heavy, it’s like caked on, and it’s not even your colour. Did you get enough sleep last night?”
I was shocked with her bizarre question, and with how open she was, but answered to the best of my ability anyways. “Um…I-I don’t know. Yeah. I don’t usually go for this stuff actually,” I admitted. “My grandmother forced me to put it on…I had a nasty bruise…I fell out of a tree.”
Willa chuckled, her easy laugh rolling out like a gang of tiny bells. “Oh, okay then!”
The classroom felt darker than it should have, as if the lights suddenly dimmed into a forced captivity. I briefly wondered if that was because of my fatigue kicking in again, but I tried to ignore the constant tiring wave pouring over me. I tried to ignore the massive wave of brackish water swirling over my head, consuming me into its belly.
The lesson went by, and I had to work extra hard to capture the meanings behind the foreign words the teacher spoke. I pushed through it as if I were ploughing a rough field on incomprehension.
Willa seemed to understand my grogginess, and helped me along until the demanding day snapped me into my normal self. I could feel myself actually thinking straighter, and more productively as the day wore on. It was just before lunch when I was in class, and actually had the ability to raise my hand and answer a question.
I was summoned to the office shortly after lunch. I rose from my seat, lowering my face from the abrupt stares. I could feel the questions bounce against my face, and I could only relate. Sheepishly, I slipped out, and fell into the hapless halls that expanded over time into a deeper eternity of silence, and lethargic air.
I hoped that I wouldn’t loose myself in the cemetery of tiles, covering every dead thought. I would certainly become one, lost in my own thoughts, except mine were more zombie like-desperate for revival at every breath.
Eventually, I made my way to the office, where I noticed a few students lingering around the door with expressionless faces, and glassy eyes. I curiously eyed them, but then broke my glance to be polite. Ignoring their own stares, I pulled open the office door, and stepped inside.
I was recognized in the harsh brightness, and I squinted in the sudden white light. For a moment, I wondered if that was what heaven would be like, until I heard a call of recognition.
“Sea!” the lady exclaimed, and I forgot that because it was a low populated school, my name would be known. I looked up in surprise.
“Hey there sweet, there’s someone here to see you for a second.
“Someone’s waiting for you just down the hall there,” she said kindly, pointing outside.
I nodded and numbly thanked the old lady, and slithered back out into the dark. Back where more silence unfolded, like a brand new page being turned in the most solemn of books, only to have discovered that the remaining chapters were blank sheets of paper, grouped in a cluster of un-whispering pages.
Around the corner, one lonely familiar face popped out of the pages, announcing news. I couldn’t shake out what I heard from the trees, but I knew it could be poured out. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Sam? What are you doing here?” I asked the grinning, relaxed face.
“Nice to see you too, sunshine,” he stated loudly, and then anxiously glanced around the halls, worried for his louder voice.
“You know anywhere we can talk? It won’t take too long, I don’t think. But it’s absolutely necessary, I promise.”
Still looking at the ground, I nodded without any emotion flickering across my face. “Sure,” I said. “Let’s take a walk.”
Sam nodded, and placed his hand on my shoulder, guiding me away from all the remaining students in the halls, and any loiterers.
As we wandered away from the silent hot-spot, I began to construct the intricate question that waited to have a body, and a voice.
“This is about Charlie and Lincoln, isn’t it?”
The surrounding artificial lighting flickered, and turned on with each step. It illuminated the halls with a darker light.
“Yeah. Sorry for pulling you out of class, but I have to get going soon. You aren’t going to like
this, but unfortunately, there’s no control over some of these things.”