The Iso-Stasis Experiment (The Experiments) (38 page)

“And can I?” Jake
leaned
up. “I’m sorry that is really putting you on the spot.”

“You have pulled me through more than you know. And I’m not talking about just the project.” She extended her arms and sat up. “And speaking of pulling through, pull me through withdrawal. It’s been a few days since we’ve competed.” She stood up, walked across the room and grabbed a box. “
Battleships
?”

“Right now?”

“In your words—humor me.” She handed him his board.

“What are we playing for?”

Cal sat across from him on the bed. “Shotgun for a week. Best out of five.”

“Sounds good.” Jake lifted the lid to the game and began to move about the pieces.

“Jake? I heard this strange noise the other day. It was coming from
Griff’s
room.”

“Do I have to call you Jennifer? What kind of strange noise.” Jake hardly lifted his eyes, seeming barely concerned.

“Wet.”

“Wet?” Jake sort of laughed. “Cal, we’ve had really bad weather. You think that might be it?”

“Possibly.” She shrugged. “I haven’t heard it since. I just wanted to tell you.”

“OK. Well . . . thank you for that.” Jake raised his eyebrows, blowing off what she had said. “Let’s just forget noises in
Griff’s
room. Let’s watch me annihilate you instead.”

Sitting back in his desk chair, Dr. Jefferson watched through his window as the rain fell. He rocked back and forth, a simple dim light on upon his desk. In his hand he held the Dictaphone. His eyes shifted from his notes to the window as he began dictating. “Linda, date this for December 4
^th
please. Have it start, dear investors. Can you . . . no scratch that . . . here we sit four months into the project. We have seven viable participants remaining. However we cannot look at those numbers as a failure in what we would like to accomplish. We have succeeded in mentally breaking three of four participants. As we approach the next phase of the project, our participants are in the break phase as you were informed. We feel confident that within one week’s time, with the awakening
Linda, this is all one sentence
so near, we will see drastic changes, changes that will have an impact for the game.
Period, new paragraph
,
Linda
The next holding meeting is schedule for the fifteenth of this month. I look forward to that event. Enclosed please find for your records our most updated status chart. In closing, I would like to say I look forward to an end to the experiment soon.
Linda I know you’ll change that so use your discretion.
And sincerely
, blah, blah, blah
.” Dr. Jefferson shut off the Dictaphone and placed the microphone down. He rubbed his head listening to the severity of the storm that whipped against his window. It was time for the next phase—time to move on. When that would start was out of his control. They would hold the wolves at bay until then. But the beginning of the next phase was out of his hands. It was now . . . in
Griff’s
hands.

The last thing Jake wanted to do was get out of his warm bed. He’d been up for over an hour, lying there, nodding off, waking up. He wished he could see outside, but the boarded up window made that impossible. He knew it had snowed again; the silence told him that. Whenever it snowed things seemed to get quiet. Jake hated the snow; rarely did he see snow in North Carolina. When he did, it was nothing like what he was witnessing. At least for the time being, they were able to move somewhat around the buildings. The wolves acted as if they were bored with everyone. They seemed to be keeping watch over the building from the hillside, probably communicating in their own way on some skillful way to devour those who dwelled inside.

Even with the thin carpet on the floor, it was cold. Jake would rather have stayed where it was ninety-eight point six degrees, right in that bed with Cal, but it was time to get busy, to keep moving.

“Cal.” Jake called her name from the side of the bed. “Cal.” He didn’t get an answer. Annoyed, he reached back and with his knuckles nudged her backside. “Get up.”

The normal Cal grunt but she followed it with a word. “No.” It was muffled as she buried her head in the pillow, pulling the covers up more.

Jake stood over the bed, keeping his arms across his bare chest. “Cal . . . get up.”

“Jake.” Cal lifted her head, eyes squinting. “No.”

“You can’t stay in bed all day.” He walked around the bed. “You have to work out.
 
If you don’t, you’ll get weak.”

“
You’ll
get weak. I’ll get flabby.”

“All right, but any wolves I pick off go on my score card. You’ve defaulted for today.” Jake adjusted his boxers and headed to the bathroom, slowing down at Cal’s desk to look at the picture of Jessie. He quickly turned back to Cal when he realized what day it was. “I’m going in the bathroom, Cal. When I get out, I want you out of bed. Understand? You aren’t lying in bed all day, period.” He flicked on the coffee pot for her and went into the bathroom.

Cal said nothing to Jake when he emerged from the bathroom. She merely set down the mug of coffee she stole from the pot before it was done brewing and walked into the bathroom.

Jake waited until he heard that final suctioning of the last drop to flow into the grinds. Seven minutes wasn’t too long to wait for him. Jake pulled out the rifle and the shotgun, and their gloves. He sipped his coffee waiting for Cal to finish up. He expected her to move slower so he made himself be patient with her.

“I’m ready,” Cal said in a monotone. “I can’t believe I jumped out of bed at your request.” As her arm extended past him for her mug Jake stopped her.

He slid his hand up her arm to behind her head. “Cal,” he said softly. “You’ll make it through this day, I promise you.
We’ll
get through it together. Just . . . know that I’m here. OK?”

Raising her eyes to meet his, Cal saw it. Jake knew. She hadn’t a clue how. She never mentioned it. But the date must have set in Jake’s mind. Somehow Jake knew that exactly one year ago, Jessie was killed. Cal couldn’t speak. She fought her lips that began to pout. She leaned forward resting her forehead on his chest.

“It’s OK, we’ll stay busy. We’ll talk. Whatever you need, we’ll do it.”

“I don’t want to do anything, Jake.”

“I know.” Jake pulled her closer. “But trust me, staying busy helps. It really does.” He stepped back, sliding his arms down to grab her hands. “Come up to the roof with me. Put those emotions and that energy to work for you not against you.”

Cal lifted her head to him and just nodded.

^^^^

Jennifer let out a loud frustrated grunt and at the same time slammed the book closed. The groan she released made Carlos stop playing his guitar, Rickie stopped tearing tiny sheets of paper and John stopped typing on his lap top. Her head and eyes were raised toward the ceiling. “I can’t take it.”

Carlos laughed and began to play again. “Ignore it.”

“I can’t.” Jennifer opened her book again. “Maggie is so right, those two are demented.” Again she lifted her head to the ceiling to listen to the routine that repeated itself over and over. The banging came from the side of the building followed by the thump-thump-thumps across the room and the squeaking slide down the other side of the building. Then every other time, the thumps would stop on the roof and then there would be gunshots.
 
“How can they do that, every single morning?”

Carlos removed the guitar pick from his mouth as he
tuned
his guitar. “Jake is an exercise freak and Cal, well, Cal is his drone.”

“Dude!” Rickie jumped in very defensively. “That’s like way off base. Do a negative about my friend again and you won’t have strings on that guitar you sleep with.”

“Oh, Rickie, you don’t scare me.” Carlos laughed at him.

“Fine, I’ll just tell the Sarge you’re ripping on his woman.”

“I can’t take it.” Jennifer slammed her book again. “Stop it!” She yelled to the ceiling. “Maggie, you tell them . . . thank you.” Jennifer started walking out and paused. “Between their thumping and running, John’s tapping, Carlos’ awful guitar playing and Rickie’s humming of seventies tunes, we’ve had enough and we’re out of here.” Not realizing she was doing everyone a favor, Jennifer left the room. “I’ll just go to our room. What do you think? . . . I think that’s a good idea. I also think we should cut that rope . . .” Jennifer slowed down at
Griff’s
door, the door before her own. “
Shh
. Do you hear that?” She asked her counter personality who was keeping her company. “I do, too. But don’t say anything; they think we’re nuts as it is.”

^^^^

“You hardly ate any dinner.” Jake told Cal as he lay on her bed, propped up, feet extended and watching her as she just sat at her desk staring at Jessie’s picture.

“I really wasn’t hungry, Jake.” Cal reached up and grabbed Jessie’s photo. “I had a nightmare last night.” She turned to look at Jake. “Is it OK if I talk to you about it?”

“Don’t insult me by not.”

“I dreamed of the night I got the phone call. I can still hear David’s voice as he answered that phone.” Cal swallowed and closed her eyes. “It was the middle of the night. You know how, when the phone rings in the middle of the night, you know something is wrong? All I heard him say was ‘Oh my God’ and he kept saying it over and over.” Cal slowly set down the picture and walked to the bed to stand beside Jake. She grabbed the hand he held out to her and slipped onto the bed facing him. “I can still see that expression on his face. It was as if all the pity in the world was in his eyes when he looked at me. And I knew. I kept thinking, this is a dream, but I knew. Last night it was a dream and I woke up into the reality that it really did happen. I don’t know why I just didn’t die when that happened. I don’t know how I went on. I just wish . . . this is going to sound so stupid . . . but I wish I had met you years ago.”

“Why do you say that? Not that it’s a bad wish.”

“I really needed someone like you to get me through that. You would have been so strong, Jake. You would have been what I needed to make it through. I’ve never talked about Jessie’s death with anyone, until you. Thank you so much for listening to me.”

“Hey.” Jake ran his hand down her face, bracing her chin between his thumb and fingers. “Whenever you need me to, I’m here. I may not be the best talker, but I can listen.”

“You sell yourself short, Major Graison.”

“Why do you do that? Call me Major Graison all the time?”

“I like to. I’m proud of who and what you are. I think it’s great.”

“You know at this moment . . . I’d really like to tell you I love you.”

“Why don’t you?”

“I don’t think I know how, at least without sounding rehearsed or deliriously ill.” Jake smiled. “But . . . know that I do. OK? I really do. I wouldn’t imply it or let myself be with you like this if I didn’t.”

“I know how you feel, Jake.” Cal leaned closer to him. “And know . . .” she brought her lips to his ear and whispered softly how she felt for him. She kissed him before she backed away.

Jake smiled widely, rested his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. He let her words sink into his head, “Cal?” His hands wandered down to her legs. “I didn’t know you lived with David.”

“I didn’t.”

“It’s just that you implied that it was the middle of the night and all.”

“No, David didn’t live with me. He used to spend the night when Jessie was away. That seemed to be the only time we could . . .” Cal bit her bottom lip and closed one eye. “Sorry. And why are we talking about David? I feel like, I don’t know, guilty for having been with him.”

“A part of me wished you weren’t. I guess it’s mostly jealousy. But I think it’s my competitive side, too.”

“What you and I have is very different, Jake.
 
David and I, we were a couple in the real world. You and I are here, no outside stimuli to disrupt us. What attracted us to one another up here may not breed the same feelings when we’re done with the experiment.”

“Don’t do that. You piss me off when you imply that. And you do that a lot.” Jake released the hand she grabbed. “It’s very insulting to me. You make it sound like when this is over, so are we.”

“Jake.” Cal grabbed his hand again. “Let’s just forget I said anything.”

“Is it, Cal?” Jake looked in her eyes. “Is it over when the experiment is?”

“I don’t want it to be.”

“That’s not the answer I’m looking for.”

“It’s the only one I can give you. How can you say for sure you’ll feel the same way for me?”

“Because, Cal, I don’t give my feelings away freely.
I
wasn’t married before.
I
never lived with anyone until you. Hell, I never even went to sleep next to a woman until you . . .”

“Stop.” Cal covered his mouth with her hand. “I’m not going to talk about this with you anymore. It’s insane.” She removed her hand kissing him softly. “Not tonight. Please, I don’t want to fight with you tonight. I need you tonight. Just know . . .”

“Sarge . . . whoa. If you guys are going to be having bedtime practice sessions, you’re going to have to lock the door. That way I won’t walk in when I have a brilliant light bulb burning in my brain.”

Cal lifted her eyes to Jake. “Want me to get rid of him?”

“Nope, Rickie spilling his brilliant idea is just what you need today.” Jake moved his head around Cal to look at Rickie. “We welcome your presence. What is it you want?”

“OK.” Rickie pulled up a chair. “You know how you two are always playing games against each other. I’ve invented a game. It’s called, get this, Rickie Pursuit. It’s the new way for you two to go up against each other.”

Jake ran his hand down his face. “Rickie Pursuit? What exactly is Rickie Pursuit?”

“OK, it’s . . .
 
Trivia.” Like he was pointing to a marquee, Rickie ran his hand across the air. “It’s the world according to Rickie with my questions, my way, and my answers.”

Jake snickered at him loudly and obnoxiously. “Sounds interesting, but we prefer to play something that is at least a little bit of a challenge.”

“My game is challenging. I know things,” Rickie said insulted.

“Right,” Jake said and got off the bed. “You don’t even know what branch of the service I’m in.” He headed to the bathroom tucking in his shirt. “Cal, I’m getting a beer.”

Rickie shook his head at Jake. “I know what branch he’s in. He’s a . . . Air Force guy.”

Cal cringed hunching her shoulders, shaking her head. “No, Rickie, he’s in the Army.”