Kade switches the Monitor off while The Surgeon is in mid sentence. He flops onto the couch and puts his head in his hands.
“Can a person live without their tongue?” he asks; his hands covering his head, like he’s trying to keep the horror out.
“I’m sure they can, yes,” is my honest answer.
“You know why I’m asking, right?”
“Yes.”
“DAMN – why didn’t she take her cell – The Panic App would’ve helped her – what can we do?” he asks.
“Ask for help,” I suggest.
He lifts his head. His eyes are red and watery, but he’s fighting the tears, he won’t let them fall, “From who?”
“We could start with your mom,” I say.
Kade rises and wipes his eyes, "It's a long shot, but we don't have a whole bunch of options. Let's go talk to the brain," He says.
En-route to the trolley, Kade asks, "Do you think it's a real brain?"
"I’m still not sure.”
……
Kade crouches down at the trolley and slides open the panel, “Hi mom, you’re looking a little flushed and red today,” he says, with a sarcastic tone. “I hear those folk you’re working for intend to cut out your daughter’s tongue, anything you can do to stop this atrocity?” He asks, tapping the side of the box and looking at me with a weary smile.
He lies on his back, his body adjacent to the trolley, “Jeez, mom, if you’re out there, advise us!” He shouts.
......
A long silence stretches between us. The only sound the whirring of the trolley.
Eventually Kade stands up, “Tan, I can’t stay here, knowing they’re gonna slice out my sister’s tongue. The thought’s tormenting me, not knowing how to help, it’s driving me insane!” He says, hitting his head.
I’m suddenly distracted, “Kade, look at the brain.” It’s pulsing fast, like a beating heart. And just when we think it’s about to burst, Thomas appears.
Kade jumps up, “MOM?”
“Yes. Listen hard. I need your help to abort this procedure. During tomorrow’s presentation, take the first letter from my first six sentences; add them to the OPPOSITE of my final word. Input into your personal mail. Do you understand?”
Kade looks at me, an unsure look on his face. “Yes!” I shout.
As Thomas’s hologram begins to flicker, Kade shouts a question with such haste it sounds like one long word, “Isthisbrainyours?”
Thomas begins to fade whilst the brain pulsates, “It’s a reproduction, mine is safe overseas.” And with that, my male self is gone again.
…….
I rush to a computer and type out the instruction while it’s still fresh in my head.
……
Our sense of tense helplessness has lifted a little now we know Kade’s mom is working toward helping Kelly.
……
“Will you take down the letters and stuff, tomorrow; I wanna focus on what mom says?” asks Kade as we walk in warm spring sunshine.
“Sure.”
“You’re good at these things, my head jumps all over the place, I get real muddled.”
“That’s because you’re creative, it’s why you’re so good at your job.” I stop suddenly, “Hey, shouldn’t you be back at work today?”
“I can’t go to work with all this hanging over us. I phoned in sick – anyways, I don’t need the job.”
“But you enjoy it, right?”
“I did, I don’t now, not with all this junk happening.”
This makes me feel real bad. The Surgeon destroys everything, even people’s job satisfaction.
“Why’ve you gone quiet?” asks Kade.
“I’m thinking of her, she sucks everything away and replaces it with anxiety, horror and…”
Kade puts a gentle hand over my mouth, “Stop!” He removes his hand and smiles, “I mean, don’t stop talking, just stop talking yourself into a negative hole. Let’s try to think and talk positively.”
“Sure, you’re right.”
“There are some good things to come out of this, you know.”
I shake my head and laugh, bemused, “Like what?”
Kade stares at me, a look on his face that I can’t quite grasp, then he turns away – “I met you.”
I feel my face flush as a rush of heat reddens it, I look the other way, “We should get back, check all’s well,” I say, turning swiftly back toward our home.
…..
We are working hard to keep the lid on our tension. It’s ten minutes before the presentation about the wedding.
……
We rose early, had a 45-minute work out and a healthy breakfast. We’re now sharp and focused, ready to take it all in.
……
An alert flashes onto the monitor: THREE MINUTES UNTIL GO TO PRESENTATION.
“You ready?” Asks Kade.
“Yes,” I reply.
……
ONE MINUTE UNTIL GO TO MEETING.
Kade’s whole body is taut. I put my hand on his shoulder and feel his tension, “You OK?”
“I will be,” he smiles.
……
ACCESS ALLOWED.
The Surgeon looms large and gross on the main monitor. She launches right into it.
“Good morning, and thank you for joining us for this short presentation on the creative concept and deliverables for our daughter’s wedding day celebrations. The theme for the day is: ‘Experience the Love Rush.’ It will be a unique wedding celebration, as not only will our guests get to share Brigitte and Charlie’s moment, but also they will get to feel the incredible ‘rush’ of love that they have for one another. Now, as the wedding date draws close, I would like to hand you over to Katherine Kendal, our creative Director and manager of operations. I look forward to seeing you at The Wedding, we are going to have so much fun with you guys.”
Kade gulps and stands up. I get ready to record and speed type her words.
……
Wow! Here she is in holographic form. A beautiful woman with a petite and kind face; her smile is warm and engaging. She doesn’t introduce herself, just talks.
“I should like to outline some of the logistics for the upcoming days.
As you know, I know the space intimately; and as such, I’ve located the area for clearance and construction.
My first attraction will arrive at 2.am today, in a cavalcade of trucks.
Once this call is over, please disable audio security to allow quiet access.
Under no circumstance must access be denied.
The Surgeon and I would like to ask for your complete commitment and personal input to ensure the day is a great success.”
……
She doesn’t say goodbye. The words: PRESENTATION OVER flashes onto the screen and she’s gone.
……
Kade spills questions, “Did you get that? Trucks, construction, experience the love rush – what the fuck?”
Focus – one thing at a time, Kade. I check my transcript, “I’ve got – I A M O U T, ” and what’s the opposite of success?”
“Failure,” says Kade.
“Yes, of course it is.”
I watch as Kade punches in: IAMOUTFAILURE into his personal email. The word SUCCESS appears large on his screen.
……
OK, so that was a lot to take in and I don’t have answers to Kade’s questions. But, we’re feeling optimistic. We don’t actually know what the code means either, we'll just have to wait, see what happens; but there’s definitely a good mom V bad mom thing happening here, and we’re psyched.
……
“I feel a little uneasy about disabling the audio alarms, we’ll have to be more attentive to all the monitors. I wonder what these trucks are carrying?” asks Kade – again.
I don’t answer him, as something catches my eye on one of the smaller monitors, a movement in the distance. It’s been an hour since our call and the first trucks aren’t due for another few hours at least.
I move closer.
“Kade, someone’s coming!” He’s by my side in a flash, staring at the figure in the distance.
Kade zooms in, the image is fuzzy due to the distance, but it looks like a young guy, sprinting toward us.
“It’s one of the neighborhood kids,” says Kade.
I look closer, “He’s an athletic kid,” I say, noting the speed of his sprint. “Wait – is it Kelly?”
Kade looks closer, “Nah, Kelly has hair, this kid’s got a chrome dome.”
A look of sudden realization floods Kade’s face as he peers even closer, “That’s Kel’s run, I recognize!” He looks at me, “Please, please let her be OK,” he says, running toward the elevator.
……
My heart sinks as we jog closer: I can see she has on a sweatshirt, but underneath she’s definitely wearing a surgical gown.
She slows when she sees us.
We speed toward her.
……
Both Kade and I try not to let the shock of her appearance show on our faces. The skin around her mouth and cheeks is alarmingly red raw, in parts it’s torn and bloodied; her hair as been crudely shorn off.
Kelly collapses into her brothers arms, “It’s OK, Kel, you’re home, safe,” he says, cradling her shaven head in his shoulder.
She doesn’t speak; instead, guttural groans blend with her hacking tears, creating an animal like sound.
Kade’s eyes meet mine; they’re filled with worry and sadness.
……
We walk back with bowed heads; the only sound is Kelly’s tears, spoiling the spring sunshine.
……
Once back inside, Kelly approaches the mirror. She stares at her shaven scalp, her hand tracing the smooth contours of her bald head.
“It’s Ok, it’ll grow back real soon,” says Kade, empathy oozing from his every word.
She turns away from the mirror and looks at us both through swollen red ringed eyes – “I quite like it.”
“YOU CAN TALK!” Kade grabs his sister and swings her round as if she were a child – cute.
……
Once she’s changed into a bathrobe and sitting in the chill-out area, Kelly’s hit by delayed shock.
Her body trembles and despite the thick robe she’s wearing, she complains of being cold. I’m all too familiar with these symptoms.
I fix her a hot sweet tea, “Here, drink this.”
“Thanks, Tanya,” she takes the cup in both hands and takes small, trembling sips.
She stares at the floor and talks, “I’m so sorry I doubted and shouted guys.”
Kade rubs her back, “No need for sorry, you’re safe, that’s all that matters now.”
Kelly’s eyes dart between Kade and I as she talks in a slow soft voice, “They cuffed me and introduced me to Brigitte and Charlie, the bride and groom. Jeez, they look bizarro, like plastic doll people. The whole time they’re all acting like this super happy normal family, showing me wedding dresses and a freaking scan of Brigitte’s baby. I lost it and screamed, cussed them all. Then Charlie,” Kelly looks at me, “he used to be your cousin, Charlotte, right?” she asks.
“Right.”
“He’s strong, he smacked my face and duct taped my mouth so tight I could hardly breathe. All the while, Brigitte, dressed in a pink ball-gown’s giggling like a child, she’s so drugged up he/she’s mad whack.” She begins to softly cry, “Then The Surgeon, all smiles, tells me they’re going to do a little surgical modification on me before the wedding.” Kelly stands up and lifts the robe to reveal black pen lines around her thigh, I recognize them as surgical incision guides, “They were gonna perform ‘limb muscle reduction’ all over me, my arms, back, abs, calf’s, strip my muscle tissue from the bone – they said my musculature is offensive on a girl.” Kelly looks at me, “They’re hyper focused on gender.” I nod in agreement.
......
Kelly’s trembling begins to settle during her second cup of tea, “That Professor Merton woman and two others began preparing me for surgery; they ripped the duct tape off my mouth, couldn't get it off my hair so they just shaved my head, man it fucking hurt. All the time, they’re laughing, joking and talking about this freaking wedding while I’m trembling and begging them to let me go, ‘Oh we will, when we slice this gross muscle off, of you,’ the Professor said, like they were just gonna scrape shit off a shoe.” She sips more tea, “The worst thing was, I had to lie all night, locked on an operating table, thinking about what was going to happen to me.” She puts her mug down, comes over to me and hugs me tight, “Tanya, I can’t believe you actually lived through this horror, with no where to run, no one to save you,” she looks into my eyes, “I love and respect you so much.”
......
Kade explains the coded password given to us during the presentation. Kelly breathes a huge sigh, “That explains it, the locks on my constraints suddenly pinged open, as did the door, I went for it – didn’t look back!”
“Here, promise me you’ll keep this fully charged and with you at all times,” says Kade, handing over her cell.
“You bet, I promise,” she says, hugging her brother.
......
“Here they come!” shouts Kelly while Kade and I are fixing coffee in the kitchen.
All three of us stare at the large monitor – open mouthed.
A huge, twelve wheel articulated truck heads up a cavalcade of vehicles slowly snaking toward the concrete funnels.
As the truck turns, we get a full view of the graphics on its side – a huge picture of Brigitte and Charlie is accompanied by the words: ‘Experience the love rush’ in a glittery Disney style font.
Kade looks at Kelly, “Do you have any idea what’s in these trucks?”
She shakes her head, “I have no clue – but I guess we’ll find out real soon.”