Thursday
"These X-rays are absolutely fascinating!" Dr. Piero said on Thursday morning. He had been examining the inside of Otto's nose-button and brain for nearly two hours on every available machine in the building, from a simple pen light in the nostrils to a MRI.
"What does that mean? It's abnormal?" Otto sat on the exam bed, bored and tired and wishing he had something to do besides reading the same medical posters over and over again while the two doctors stared at pictures of his head.
"On the contrary," Dr. Piero said, "I never expected such an extraordinary nose-button to look so ordinary on the inside. It just deepens the mystery of the magic, don't you think?"
Otto rolled his eyes. Dr. Piero had a way of making no progress sound like the most exciting part of his day. It was annoying. But more than that, it was worrying. The best doctor in the world for nose-buttons and he didn't even know what good his own nose-button truly did. He couldn't help Pieter and from the sound of it, he had written off Mr. Detroy as well. What could he possibly do with Otto?
Dr. Dalle sat next to Dr. Piero in the small office looking over all the pictures and notes they had gathered so far. She squinted and bit her lips together as she thought over the data. She hadn't said much of anything all morning, but nodded at anything that Dr. Piero said.
"None of this is going anywhere, is it?" Otto said to break the silence.
"On the contrary!" Dr. Piero said, "We are narrowing down our field of exploration with every dead end we come to!"
Otto rolled his eyes again and let out a loud sigh in exasperation. "How long did it take before you gave up on Pieter?" He asked.
"Pieter? I have never given up on Pieter," Piero said, "I think about that boy all the time. But taking action is something that must be done with extreme caution. I must first determine the safest action to take. And that takes time and thought."
"So, why can't he go home to be with his family while you think?" Otto said.
Dr. Piero nodded in sad understanding. "Because we don't know how dangerous his button may be, we cannot recommend that he be set free to roam where anyone could push his button. Honestly, it makes me a tad nervous that he does not ware a nose casing, but given his current state of mind, it's the least we can do, I suppose."
Dr. Dalle nodded in agreement.
"So, what does that mean for me?" Otto asked.
The two doctors looked up at him with concern. "What do you mean?" Dr. Dalle said, speaking for the first time in an hour.
"I'm going to get stuck here like him, aren't I."
"There is no way of telling!" Dr. Piero said most joyfully. "Anything can happen. We could discover a breakthrough in modern science because of you!"
Otto ignored him and turned to Dr. Dalle, imploring her with his eyes to give a straight answer.
"I don't know," she said. "If your nose-button truly is as dangerous as we suspect, the courts will have a tough decision to make. This is something that we've never encountered before, Otto—never even suspected that there could be a button like this out there."
Otto's heart broke just in time for lunch. Ellsworth escorted him down the hall and through the lunch line in silence, interpreting the look on Otto's face as one on the brink of despair. They sat together at the table with Amelie, Ms. Cypress, and Pieter and said nothing through the meal. The table sunk into silent depression.
In the recreational room, Otto became desperate. The reality that he'd be here for the rest of his life was a heavy weight to bare—one that he didn't want to bare alone.
Margo waited for him again at the foosball table with a hopeful smile. But soon she would be gone. She wasn't going to stay in HOME forever like Pieter. And losing another friend just sounded like more pain to deal with. So Otto ignored her. And as much as he wanted to know Amelie—as much as her sadness deepened his own—he ignored her too. Chances were, she'd be released eventually. Otto needed the company of someone that wouldn't disappear into a better place.
Otto approached Pieter, who was curled up in his usual ball in an armchair in the corner of the room. He pulled another chair in close and sat down across from Pieter, ignoring the looks from Margo and the calls from Frans to play a game of cards.
"It destroys the world." Otto said to Pieter in a low voice.
"It does what?" Pieter asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"Destroys the world." Otto said. He didn't want anyone else hearing, but the room was quiet without the registered anomalies watching TV, so he mumbled as quietly as he could.
"You can't be serious. How could you even know that?"
"They've done all the tests a million times. That's why I'm useless, see? I'll be stuck here just like you. Too dangerous to let go. Unusable."
Pieter's eyes darted around the room to see who was watching them. No eyes looked in their direction, but everyone had an ear turned their way. His eyes slowly rolled back to Otto, suspiciously looking him over to see through any lie he might be telling. Otto stared back. Between the two of them a desert stretched out, barren of words or even thought.
Pieter laid his chin back down on his knees and stared hard at the floor in front of him. Otto wasn't' sure what this meant. Was Pieter trying to come up with something to say? Had he written Otto off again and decided to ignore him? Otto didn't want to let anything drop between them. He was desperate for a companion that would stick with him through the years lived out in this ever-shrinking hallway.
"Does your family come to visit often?" Otto asked timidly.
Pieter shook his head.
"Amelie, would you like to play foosball with me?" Margo asked on the other side of the room. "It's lots of fun. I'll show you some tricks and you'll be great at it."
Otto looked up at Margo and Amelie. He wanted to play. He'd much rather have their friendship than Pieter's. But what good was a friendship that was bound to end so soon? He looked back at Pieter who had a look on his face that Otto had never seen before. His disdain was gone and in its place was deep contemplation—an epiphany that hadn't yet risen. It made Otto uneasy, like he was the subject of some strange exam, or existential debate. Perhaps the short-lived friendship of Margo and Amelie was worth getting away from that gaze.
He slid out of his chair and walked over to the ladies, glancing back over his shoulder to see Pieter's eyes follow him.
"I'll play," He said to Margo.
She beamed a smile at him. "I was beginning to think you were ignoring me," she said. "You're still welcome to play, Amelie." She put her hand on Amelie's shoulder.
Amelie shook her head no.
Pieter's eyes were on Otto for the rest of the afternoon in the recreational room. They burned through Otto with intensity, making it hard for him to concentrate on the foosball game and ruining his attempts at being carefree.
At dinner time, Otto decided to stay with Margo, Fran, and Nickola. Pieter was still watching him with burning blue eyes—he hardly even blinked.
Margo smiled happily to have him back at her table. So did Fran who looked at them sitting side by side and nodded his head in approval.
"You can go sit with Ms. Cypress," Otto said to Ellsworth who was looking longingly at the other table.
"What?" Ellsworth said, pulling his attention back to where he was. "No, no. I'm fine here. I'm just surprised is all. It looks like you finally got Pieter's attention."
"Yeah..." Otto said, "I can't tell if that was a good idea or not." He shifted his eyes to see Pieter without turning his head. Pieter was still staring at him and moving his lips as if he was mumbling something. Ms. Cypress showed no concern; perhaps he wasn't making a sound.
"You can't blame him for being so odd," Ellsworth said. He was watching Pieter as well. "Considering how hard it's been for him in here..."
"I know," Otto said. "I just don't want to become him."
"What do you mean?" Ellsworth asked, furrowing his brow. Margo and the others looked up in concern also.
"Well, you heard what I said in the recreational room, right?"
"No," Ellsworth said. "You were talking privately with Pieter."
"You didn't hear?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Oh. I thought everybody was listening in. Nevermind then." Otto went back to eating, hoping the entire conversation would be dropped.
No one asked, but sat in silent confusion through dinner.
That night, Otto sat on his bed hoping Nurse Vickers would appear in front of him and take him away. He brushed his teeth staring out the window for any sign of her in the trees, but he did not change into his pajamas. He spent the night reading one of his few books on his bed. He had never been big on reading, but with no television or game system, he had very few options left. The book was one that his foster grandparents, Mr. Monet's mom and dad, had given him for one of his birthdays a couple of years ago. The book had just been turned into a movie and, not knowing what else he'd like, they picked something both academic and popular with kids his age. But the book didn't interest him. It was only mildly more interesting to stare at words than it was to stare at the wall.
Any movement in outside sent him to the window again. The field grew darker as the lights in the building were turned off one by one. Otto looked at his watch. It was nearly 2am. "I guess she's not coming," he said to himself. He sighed and pushed himself off his bed to find his pajamas. It had been a long, disappointing day and he feared tomorrow would be the same: Breakfast at 8am, hours of useless examinations starting at 10am, lunch, sitting around bored, helpless, and uncomfortable in the recreational room until dinner, and then another lonely, silent night in his room. This was it. If Nurse Vickers didn't come, this would be his life from now on.
Otto slumped into bed. He still wasn't tired, but depression was starting to settle into him and pull him down. His mind wandered in lazy circles as he stared at the ceiling. And then he heard the lock turn in the door. He sat bolt upright, wide-eyed and heart racing as the knob turned.
"Jeez! Why is your light still on?" Pieter hissed as he pawed at the wall for the light switch. The room went dark and Pieter closed the door as quietly as possible before tiptoeing over to Otto's bed.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Otto said after he found his voice behind his surprise.
"I... I need to talk to you," Pieter said.
"Right now?"
"Yes. When else? I'm not talking about this in the recreational room with everyone else around to listen in. And that girl," he said with a bitter taste in his mouth, "Amelie is always at my table now."
"How did you even get in here?"
"Keys," he said. He held them up to prove it.
Otto couldn't see them clearly in the dark, but he heard them.
"Do you have your nose casing on?" Pieter said and leaned in towards Otto.
"Of course!"
"Oh." He leaned back. "Okay, good. I guess you've never pressed your button before, huh?"
"Nope," Otto said.
"But they're sure that it destroys the world."
"As sure as they can be, I guess."
There was a pause.
"What did you come in here for?" Otto asked.
"Well," Pieter scooted closer to Otto on the bed. Otto scooted away. "I... I've never met anyone else like me. And if we're bound to stay here together, I thought we better get to know each other."
"Why couldn't we do this in public?" Otto asked.
"Well," Pieter scooted close again. "I just—I'm not comfortable with others, you know?"
"Yeah..."
"I..." Pieter leaned further in towards Otto. "I want to push your nose-button!" He said as he lunged on top of him.