5. Myerson Clinic, Appleton City-1
1081 Words
Myerson Clinic, Appleton City
Friday Mid-Morning
Luke Shackleton was seventeen. He was sitting on the edge of his bed with his back to the door, his head bent down. Evan thought he might be praying. But when Evan stepped cautiously around to get a look, he could see Luke’s wrists were resting on his knees, his hands holding a water glass full of amber liquid. Luke was staring into it as if it were a magical elixir.
“Apple juice?” Evan offered with a smile.
Luke shook his head morosely but did not look up.
Then Evan caught a whiff of urine.
Before Evan could think of what to say next, an orderly entered officiously and stepped past the preacher to confront Luke. The guy’s head was shaved and he was built like a wrestler.
Jesse Ventura, but probably without the politician’s electable charm.
“This has got to stop,” the muscular guy commanded. He reached down to grab the glass, but Luke jerked it away, splashing urine all over his black T-shirt and the bed linens.
“There you’ve gone and pissed the bed again, haven’t you?” the big fellow growled. Then, ignoring Evan, he added, “You’ll get a timeout for this one,” and, clutching the empty glass, he urged his way past Evan and made for the door.
In the doorway, the orderly turned back and snapped at Evan, “You’re not to stay long. And the administrator wants to see you.” Then he was gone.
Evan sat in the guest chair and took a long breath. “What’s a timeout?” he asked Luke, who hadn’t moved and looked even more sullen now.
Still gazing at his hands, Luke answered, “They lock you in an empty room. Nothing on the walls. Nothing on the floor. No place to sit. No place to piss.”
“For how long?”
“It can’t be forever. They won’t let them do that. But you lose track of time. So it feels like forever.”
“Doesn’t seem worth it,” Evan suggested softly.
For the first time, Luke looked up at him. His eyes were wet. “I can’t let them have it,” he sniffed.
The boy looked scrawny and pallid, your stereotypical geek. He had a nervous tick and a fleeting, embarrassed smile. Without any evidence at all, Evan sensed right away this kid shouldn’t be a threat to anybody.
Molested a girl? I’ll bet that’s a story within a story.
“I heard you have a girlfriend,” Evan ventured.
Luke answered softly, “Melissa.”
“Melissa,” Evan repeated and waited for more information.
“They took her away. Medics in an ambulance. Back to the convent. April, I think it was,” Luke said. He looked up and added, “To have her baby.”
“I see,” Evan said as if he already knew the story.
Did he get her pregnant? How could that happen in here — with everybody watching them so closely?
Evan decided not to get into that just now and asked, “So you haven’t seen her since?”
“No. No. They won’t let her in here now. I don’t know where she is. But I know she’s in a bad way.”
“You’re in touch with her?”
Luke nodded and informed Evan, “I can feel her heartbeat. Maybe I don’t know what she’s doing, but I always know what she’s feeling.”
Luke couldn’t pick up on where Melissa was exactly, nor could he know that she and Buzz had been separated. He could only tune into feelings, and he knew she was hurting awfully. For him, it had begun this morning with a disturbance throbbing in his head, and it built to a wrenching pain in his gut. He didn’t tell Evan how he knew this, nor did he want to admit that he would always know — for certain — Melissa’s state of mind, in this life or in the next.
Not asking about the girl would turn out to be a mistake, but Evan was more concerned about the welfare of this boy in the here and now. The baby was indeed a complication. Shackleton must know about it but had left that minor detail out of the briefing. Luke might have a motive in a young man’s horniness, but Evan had trouble imagining Luke would have had the boldness — much less, the opportunity in this lockup — to cause the pregnancy.
Why did Shackleton avoid telling me that part of the story? Does he really think this girl Melissa is an unimportant player in all this? Or does he want me to think her involvement with Luke is old news and of no concern to any of us now? I’m going to bet Luke still cares about her. Maybe, a lot.
For the moment, Evan was more concerned about the problem he’d just witnessed. He asked Luke, “And the urine? Why do you need to save it?”
Luke studied Evan’s face as if to determine whether this stranger could understand the answer. Or perhaps the boy was baffled that an older and wiser person wouldn’t know the answer already. Then he said simply, “Because it’s all I have left to give.”
* * * *
As the kindly man left Luke alone, the voice came to the boy immediately:
Your sweetheart is mine now. If you pursue her, it will only bring you pain.
Melissa had been gone from the clinic for more than two months, but Luke still thought about her constantly, especially as he was trying to fall asleep. But what could he do? Why was the voice still pestering him about it? It’s not like he could go try to rescue her. Then the voice came back:
Your friend’s searches are pointless. He worships only himself. If he tries to interfere with me, he will die.
By now, Luke didn’t trust anything the voice said. In fact, he took this last warning to be a testimony to Evan’s powers, which must be formidable to invite the wrath of demons.
Luke wondered when they’d be putting him in timeout.
He wanted to watch TV in the community room. But these days all they’d let him see was baseball. He’d overheard Richards telling Clint he wasn’t allowed to watch the news because “the kid’s so suggestible.” What did that mean? Did they think he was going to blow up some school?
Okay, he’d just have to turn on the TV in his head. He projected himself up above the clinic, ascending straight over the roof, then hovering there, looking down. Greenery everywhere. Bright yellow sun. He hesitated a moment, listened for Melissa’s heartbeat. Although she was miles away, he could feel the throb of her. He knew she was panting. Crying!
And his heart began to beat in time with hers.
He sent his spirit shooting off to hover near her.
- Writer
