Realm Wraith (26 page)

It was still dark outside, he noticed. For a while he lay there in bed, waiting for the sun to come up, but not daring to fall back asleep again. Instead, he just stared at the ceiling. Hours passed, and the sun rose. After a while, the door opened and David walked in to wake him, startled to find his friend already alert.

“Well, you seem to be in a good mood today,” he commented, throwing open the bedroom curtains.

“Do I?”

“Well, you’re smiling. Did you have a nice dream or something?”

“God no.”

“Then I guess you’re excited about something else. You do remember what today is, right?”

Rayne had almost forgotten. Today he got the casts taken off of his arm. He would finally be free of that cumbersome weight.

“That’s right, I nearly forgot,” he remarked.

“Come on then, don’t want to be late for your appointment.”

David helped Rayne to get ready, but let him wheel himself out into the kitchen. Though he insisted that Rayne have a decent breakfast, once again the latter had no appetite, and had a piece of fruit shoved into his hand to tide him over, and appease his friend’s concerns. Levi was there at the breakfast table, David having made arrangements for his friend to take him to school while he brought Rayne to the hospital. He seemed despondent that he couldn’t accompany his father, but Rayne assured him that they could spend time together later that afternoon.

They traveled to the hospital in silence. Rayne peered out the window as they drove. They were on the cusp of spring now, and though the skies were still cold and overcast, budding leaves now grew from once-barren trees, and flowers were starting to peek their heads out over the chilled earth. Outside the hospital, small shrubs showed shades of green, a more pleasant contrast to the white and grey concrete of the building.

“All right, here we are,” David said, helping Rayne out of the car and into his chair. He’d taken more care to park somewhere better this time, so not to abandon his friend in the waiting room like before. They passed through the sliding glass doors, and David greeted the same receptionist from their last visit.

“Oh yes, the seven-thirty appointment. The doctor will be with you shortly if you’ll just take a seat.” The receptionist beamed at Rayne. “Of course you don’t really need a seat now do you? You’ve gone and brought your own!”

Rayne forced a smile, wondering how often she told patients that little gem. David leaned over the desk, to have a casual conversation with the woman, so he wheeled himself over to one side of the room. He leafed through a pile of magazines on an end table nearby, but nothing really seemed that interesting. He sensed someone walking by, a short distance down the hall, and looked up, recognizing a familiar figure.

“Miranda?” he called out, not sure. The person turned. “Oh, it is you!”

“Oh.” Miranda smiled a wide, but stiff smile. “Rayne, fancy seeing you here.” The cheerfulness behind her normally soft voice seemed on edge today.

Rayne cocked his head, concerned with her attitude. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, oh no, nothing. I’ve got some work to do, very busy!” she laughed through clenched teeth. “I’ll be off then!”

Rayne felt David sitting down next to him. “Does she seem a bit off to you?” he asked.

His friend appeared a little confused. “Miranda? She seems the same as always.”

“Are you sure? She’s acting a bit rattled. Maybe something happened recently.”

“Recently?” David glanced upwards, trying to think. “Nope, nothing recent.”

“Mr. Mercer, the doctor will see you now,” the receptionist called out. Rayne once more denied David’s help, preferring to wheel himself.

“Right, try not to get lost,” David called out as he rolled away.

He traveled a short ways down the hall into a small room. There was nobody else there at the moment, so Rayne moved further into the room to wait.

“Mr. Mercer, thank you so kindly for waiting.” The doctor entered the room, a scrawny thin man with a bushy mustache and receding hairline. He glanced at the charts in his hand. “I see we’re going to be removing the cast from your arm today? Splendid. If you’d be so kind as to sit on the bed there. The nurse will assist you.”

The door opened a second time and Miranda walked in. She paused when she saw Rayne in the room, but smiled while she shut the door behind her.

“Well, Mr. Mercer. Let’s get you up on the bed, shall we?”

Her actions still seemed forced. She took a hold of him and helped him out of the chair. The sensation of her hand on his body made him gasp, startled by something he couldn’t quite understand. He sat, perched on the edge of the small patient’s bed, as the doctor took out a small saw.

“All right, hold still, Mr. Mercer. You won’t feel a thing.”

He started the saw with a whir. Rayne watched him, but his attention turned back to Miranda, who stood beside him, helping support him. Her eyes were reddened, and wet, as if she’d been crying recently. His curiosity began to overwhelm him, a mixture of concern, and a need to know hidden secrets, a seeking of information. He stared at her more carefully, and unbidden his eyes began to see past her flesh, a sensation that caught him off guard, but he did not stop himself. At first it was a bizarre perception, but gradually his mind began to understand what it was he saw within her, and before him stood two Mirandas. One, the lovely young nurse, with tied back hair and a cheerful demeanor. Yet beneath he saw another, a twisted white creature, eyeless, with a mouth sewn shut, hunched over in pain with limbs far too long wrapped around itself. He jerked back with a start as recognition dawned upon him.

“Mr. Mercer!” the doctor cried out, drawing the saw back just in time as Rayne twitched. “If you’d like to keep that arm, you will not do that again!”

The doctor’s stern voice jerked Rayne back to reality, and he held still as the professional continued his work. But he couldn’t hide his clear expression of shock, and Miranda’s face told him she knew what he had seen. She turned her gaze, staring at the wall, too shamed to make eye contact with him.

The saw continued its business, oblivious to the unspoken exchange, and soon, both of the cumbersome restraint binding Rayne’s arm together cracked open, and the doctor pulled it off. The sickly appendage underneath was withered from weeks of disuse. The doctor pulled away the discarded halves and dumped them in a nearby trash bin.

“Thank you, Miranda, that should be all for now,” he told the nurse. She didn’t wait for him to finish, running out the door without even taking the care to close it gently, a slam resounding through the otherwise silent room.

“Miranda, wait!” Rayne tried to call out, far too late as she was already gone.

“Now then, Mr. Mercer.” The doctor seemed unaware of anything between them, not even glancing at the door where Rayne’s eyes were fixed. He seemed much more interested in reading over Rayne’s charts. “You won’t be using that arm right away. You need to exercise the muscles, but you also must take it easy. Don’t rush into it.”

“Yes, doctor,” replied Rayne, not really absorbing the doctor’s words. “Are we done here?”

“I’ll leave a list of specialists with the receptionist, so you can work out your rehabilitation. And buck up, this is a happy day.”

Rayne forced a half hearted smile to meet the doctor’s more naïve sentiments. He shifted himself back into his chair, fully aware of how weak his arm had grown as he couldn’t support his body with it. But at least the heavy sensation of the cast was gone. The doctor opened the door for him, and Rayne looked up and down the hallway. He saw nobody, just long empty corridors. To the left he could see the waiting room, but he turned right instead, sensing a presence close by. He rolled by several empty rooms, but stopped beside the closed door of a janitorial closet. With quick precision he reached out to the door handle and threw it open.

He already knew, even before he saw her. Miranda stood, huddled against the cleaning supplies, tears streaming down her pretty face. She looked to the door with a gasp as it flew open.

“Rayne?” her voice wavered, a hand reaching up to cover her face, her tear streaked eyes. “How did you—?”

He looked away from her, not wanting to stare at her when she seemed so vulnerable. “I don’t understand it myself, but ever since the accident, I’ve experienced all sorts of things I don’t really understand.” He turned his eyes back to her. “I think we need to talk.”

Her cheerful demeanor had completely vanished, and she glared at him with a cold expression, wrought with sorrow.

“I’ve got nothing to say to you. I don’t know who you think you are, or what delusions you—”

He cut her off. “We both know that place is real. I know that was you there, that night. And you know it was me. Please, I think we can help each other.”

She stared with a blank expression on her face. Finally her eyes closed, and she nodded in defeat.

“I get off at five,” she murmured. “There’s a café a short walk from here. It’s not very crowded so early in the evening. Meet you there at half past?”

Rayne tried to smile as he nodded, but neither of them were in the mood for such niceties. “Five-thirty. I shall be there.”

David waited for him outside, looking a little bewildered as Rayne rolled down the hall to him.

“Rayne, the doctor said he finished with you five minutes ago, what took you so long?”

He glanced back down the hall, unseeing as it was devoid of people, but he could still sense her walking nearby.

“I was just having a little talk with Miranda. She and I—that is, this evening we made plans to—”

“A date? Well I’ll be, look at you, barely out of the cast and already you’re making a move! Good for you!” A boisterous pat on the back almost knocked Rayne from his chair. “I take it you’ll be needing a ride.”

“If you could drop me off, that’d be lovely. I must say, it’ll be nice to get out again. And I can put on a proper shirt. I’ve missed wearing those.”

After being brought home, Rayne took the opportunity his new freedom brought him to take a nice long bath, now that he was able to. Using a sponge to keep clean really had no appeal. He had to be assisted into the tub, but the water felt nice; he noticed a strong realness to it as he lay there. Quite different from all the strange otherworldly lakes and oceans he’d come to known in the night, though he wasn’t sure if it was an improvement. At least here nothing threatened to eat him.

After his bath, David helped him get dressed. It made him feel more normal, dressing up a little, instead of wearing whatever would fit around his cast. Movement was still difficult, though. He’d made at least one effort to use his weak arm to steer his chair, but it was so frail he could barely turn the wheel. He’d have to keep using the modification until his arm recovered. Being helpless frustrated him to no end, and he was tired of bothering David for help.

Later that afternoon, he heard the door open, and his young son ran in, hugging him in greeting.

“Daddy, look at what we made today!” he said, holding up a scribbled piece of artwork. There were crude figures there, mere mockeries of human beings with painted, smiling faces.

“Oh, is that one me?” he asked, pointing to the person sitting down with scribbled golden hair.

“Yes, Daddy, and that one’s me, and there’s David over there. And look, I drew you a fancy new chair, with rockets and everything!”

“That’s brilliant. Wish I had one of those.”

Levi looked at Rayne’s arms. “So now that your arm is better, you’re gonna go back to work then?”

“No, not quite yet.”

“Rayne still has some healing to do.” David stepped in. “His arm needs to exercise before he can use it again. And I don’t think he’s mentally ready to go back to work just yet.”

“Ohhh, I see. So does that mean if Daddy exercises he can use his legs again?”

The child’s innocent question tensed the once-friendly atmosphere. Rayne felt David’s eyes on him, but he didn’t take Levi’s curiosity as an insult. Just a sad reminder of what he’d lost.

“It doesn’t work that way,” he said. “I just can’t use my legs. It’s not because they need exercise. It’s because my brain can’t tell them to move anymore.”

“Oh.” Levi stared at the ground. Rayne bent down and hugged his son the best he could with his limited mobility.

“It’s all right, Levi. Nothing’s changed. I might be in a chair, but I’m still me. I will always be your daddy, all right?”

Levi sniffed, but he forced out a small smile and hugged his father.

“Just take it easy for now,” David said. “Are you all ready for your date?”

“Daddy’s going on a date?” Concern crossed Levi’s face.

“Well, it’s not
really
a date, I’m just meeting someone for coffee, so we can talk a little. You remember Miranda, right?”

“Oh, that really nice nurse?” Levi beamed. “I like her. But she always seems so sad.”

David started. “Sad? Miranda’s one of the happiest people I know. What is it with you two?”

“What?” His statement only confused Levi. Rayne was perplexed as well, not by David, but by his son. He wondered if Miranda had dropped her cheerful demeanor around Levi, when they had been alone together. And he mused over what other secrets this woman had been hiding, alone for so long.