CHAPTER 15: IDLE REPAIR
10:10pm – Sunday, October 9th/2016
"Do you need a bandage, sir?" "I'll be okay. I just need some food. Thank you, though." Wade replies. The store clerk then walks over to his stash of bananas beside the counter and hands Wade some fresh bananas. "Here, eat this for now. We sell drinks in the back." The man says to Wade, pointing to the coolers. Wade looks at the clerk and says, "I don't, have any money. It's okay. I'll be fine." The clerk walks over to the cooler, grabs a bottle of water, and brings it back, handing it to Wade. "Here you go. It's on the house. Just, sit over there until the ambulance comes. Do you need anything else?" The man asks with concern. Wade replies, "No, thank you." and sits down in the chair next to the lottery terminal.
Sitting patiently with his water bottle and empty banana peel, Wade looks at the corkboard beside the store's front door. There is a piece of paper hanging on it that reads,
'Missing Child: Benjamin Catherwood, 7 years old'
Wade stands up and walks over to read the paper's smaller print.
'Description: Short blond hair, black glasses, wearing a grey and light blue striped shirt, navy pants, black sneakers and a knapsack bearing the words "Never Give Up." Last Known Location: 25 Cedarland Drive in Kanata, ON on March 23, 2015. Call 1-419-655-5035 for any info leading to finding Benjamin.'
"Oh my god.." Wade whispers to himself. In a louder tone, he exclaims, ".. that's Ben! That's him! Excuse me, Sir? I know where this boy is!" Wade rips the paper down from the board and walks over to the counter. He slams the paper down in front of the man and says, "I know where he is!" The man looks down to study the picture and calmly says to Wade, "That boy, I know him. He used to come in here and buy toilet paper. A long time ago." Wade stares at the picture, looks up at the man and says, "So you've seen him too? He lives just around the corner, in my-" Wade stops himself from finishing his sentence and changes it into, "-in my friend's home." He looks at the man with guilt and tries to see if the man can detect him lying. The man smirks and says, "He lives there? Well, call the number! Here, use our phone." Wade grabs the phone and starts to doubt if he should call or not. He dodges the man's demand and says, "Okay, but first, can I use your bathroom?" The man shakes his head yes, and points to the door beside the cooler. Wade says thank you and walks to the bathroom with the missing advert in his hand.
What are you going to do, Wade?
Tell them you burned the child alive?
Tell them that it is your fault for his death?
Sounds like a death sentence to me.
Do it.
Wade opens the door to the bathroom and cautiously looks back at the cashier to ensure he feels no suspicion. Locking the door behind him, he closes the lid on the toilet and sits down. Staring blankly at the page, feeling guilty, he wonders if this boy was even alive when he got there. He whispers, "I'm not even sure if he was real, or if I was seeing a ghost, just like Julia.." His thoughts leave an imprint on his decision to call, and he stands up. Looking into the mirror of the bathroom, he gets disgusted by the filth he has become over the last couple of days. His beard is scruffy. His face is beaten and tired. There is blood all along the side of his face and running down his chin. There are bruises on his neck, and he can feel that his head is swollen. Looking closer into his eyes, he can at least recognize them again. Still feeling unsure about his path, he knows he must get to the hospital.
Wade is startled by a knocking on the bathroom door. The man says, "Hello? Are you okay in there?" Wade tucks the piece of paper in his pocket and flushes the toilet with his foot. He replies, "Yes, I'm fine. I'll be right out." The man says, "The ambulance is here. There is a policeman also waiting outside." Wade's heart drops to the bottom of his stomach. He backs up against the sink and doesn't know what to do. He swallows his fear and says, "A policeman? Why.. why are they here?" The man doesn't respond. He creeps towards the door and puts his ear against it. He can hear the sound of someone in thick boots walking around, with their keys rattling at every step. He hears a voice say, "He'll be out soon, Sir. He doesn't look good. The ambulance is waiting for him." Wade backs up from the door and whispers, "What do I do? Oh my god, what do I do?"
This is my favourite part.
You really proved to be worth your weight in this moment,
Wade.
Wade unlocks the door and takes a deep breath. He shoves two fingers down his throat and kicks open the door. He instantly vomits all over the floor and falls down onto the ground. He starts wiggling his body up and down, back and forth, to emulate a seizure. The policeman backs up from the nearby counter and opens the door to call out to the ambulance, "Hurry! Get in here!" The medics that were patiently waiting outside, run in to tend to Wade's dramatic scene. When they approach him, he makes sure to tuck the missing paper in his pocket securely. They gently grab his arms and lay him on his side. Still shaking, Wade rolls his eyes in the back of his head, spewing out drool. A medic asks him, "Sir, can you hear us? Just stay calm, we're going to take care of you." The cashier asks, "Is he going to be okay?" Another medic replies, "Yes, just stay calm. You might want to lock your door." The man proceeds to lock his door and stands aside while they try to help Wade.
Bravo! Bravo!
Great performance! Absolutely stunning.
You even had ME convinced.
You are so very good at bullshitting your way through life, Wade.
Absolutely brilliant.
I hope you burn.
The medics bring in a gurney and prop Wade's now limp body on top of it. He faked passing out slowly after they tried to bring him back to consciousness. Wheeling him into the ambulance, the officer asks the man if he mentioned anything of a burning house, and the cashier says no, but knows the whereabouts of the missing boy. As they both look for the poster in the bathroom, they run out to see if Wade has it on him, but the ambulance is driving away. "Call me if you have any more info about this man or the missing boy. Here's my card." The officer hands the man his business card and gets into his vehicle. He follows the ambulance to the hospital and waits outside the building as they bring Wade inside. He informs the medical personnel to call him when he regains consciousness. The officer gives him his card, and on the way into the hospital, the ambulance driver accidentally drops it onto the gurney, and it falls between Wade's lap. With his eyes closed, Wade heard all of what was happening, and he waits, terrified and silent, while being wheeled into the hospital. With ceiling lights passing by above him, light travels over Wade's closed eyelids, and he grows increasingly terrified with each passing minute. He eases his troubled mind with thoughts that soon, he will be able to pretend to awake from his false slumber and find Tao within the hospital.
He hears a nurse say, "Put him in this room here, it's empty. Oh wow, this man smells foul." A medic replies, "Yes, he had a seizure in a convenience store and vomited all over himself. Pretty nasty." The woman replies, "Yeah, it really is. I'll get him cleaned up once he's regained consciousness." Wade can't help but smirk mildly and then softens his expression back to a resting face. The medics move his limp body into a bed and wheel the gurney out of the room. As they do, Wade peeks open his eyes to see the room is empty. After the door is shut, he quickly checks his pocket for the piece of paper he stole from the store and finds it still resting in his pocket. He then lays back down and tilts his head to the side, keeping one eye slightly open at the door. After a long minute of silence, the doors swing open, and Wade closes his squinted eye. He hears the female doctor come in humming a song, and she stops humming as she gets close to Wade. She says, "Oh boy. What, happened to you? Ugh, you stink." Wade's cheeks go red, and he flinches his hand in response. The nurse does not notice and continues to read her clipboard that the ambulance driver left her. She hums and haws at the list and says, "Okay mister Doe, let's see what we can do with you. If you can hear me, I'll be back in twenty minutes. Stay put!" She giggles to herself and walks out the door.
Wade instantly opens his eyes wide and sits up in his bed. He looks around the room and looks out the window. He stands up and calculates that he's approximately thirty feet up. He quickly walks to the bathroom across from his bed and turns on a light. As the light fades into illumination, he becomes aware that he looks rather disgusting. Wade turns on the sink and splashes water on his face. He does this continually, rubbing off the blood and vomit off his face and beard. Looking back up into the mirror, other than a few cuts that have dried up, he still has bruises on his neck. He says out loud, "Good enough." Looking at his dirty clothes now, he goes back into the room and looks for a hospital gown. He finds one sitting on top of a shelf, next to a plastic case filled with bandages. "Ah, this will work." He grabs the gown and opens the container to grab a pile of bandages for his neck. After changing himself in the bathroom and applying bandages around his neck, he looks up into the mirror and approves of his appearance. Staring at himself, he says, "Okay, let's get the fuck out of here."
A well-played disposition, my friend.
Turmoil awaits you at the next door,
and may you frolic in madness one last time
before you enter back into the great void.
We will see you soon.
Wade opens the door to the hallway and peeks around the corner. There is a closed door to his right, and to his left are a few nurses at a desk typing away on the computers. He stands back and quickly draws a plan in his head. He decides to sneak down on the floor, where they won't be able to see him, and hope that no one is standing around the corner in the big reception room. Wade crawls out into the hallway and very gently closes the door behind him. Creeping into the reception room, he sees a group of elevators at the end of the other hallway and decides to sneak over to them. Crawling on his hands and knees, Wade makes it to the elevators and looks back at the reception desk. They haven't noticed his presence, and he presses the button. When the elevator arrives, he stands up inside of it and presses the 'G'. The elevator doors close, and he says, "Phew. Okay, now I just gotta find out where Tao is. Oh god, I hope he is okay." The elevator comes to a stop, and the doors open on the second floor. Two security guards enter, and Wade steps back to let them in. The one guard says, "How ya doin'?" Wade breaks a sweat, holds in his panic, and quickly responds, "I'm okay. How are you?" His words rush out of him so quickly that the other guard looks straight at Wade with a confused face, and he says, "Are you lost? Do you need help?" Wade says, "No. I'm just going out for some fresh air." The first guard says, "Oh, good. We're grabbing lunch." They press the 'G' and continue to awkwardly stand together, with Wade between them. The guards simultaneously rub their noses in response to Wade's foul stench. Wade's cheeks go red, and he stands back away from them, responding to their reactions. Wade says, "I'm sorry, I haven't had a good shower in a while." The guards laugh and say, "It's okay, buddy! Don't worry about it." Wade pretends to laugh back, but it sounds nervous. The first guard pats him on the back as the door swings open, and Wade lets the guards walk ahead of them. When Wade steps outside of the elevator, he notices a map on the wall. He doesn't want to be seen, so he steps back into the elevator, reading the map. 'ICU' reads on the 6th floor, so he presses the '6' on the elevator. As the doors close, he hopes no one enters the elevator on his way up. Staring anxiously at the numbers as he goes up, he reaches the 6th floor without bother. When the doors open, he steps out into the hallway and looks both ways down the hall. There are doors closed with 'Emergency Patients Only' signs, and he opens the one on the left. It won't budge. There is a 'CALL' button beside the door. Hesitating to press it, a voice enters his head. "Do it. Find our son." Wade's body shivers, and he presses the button without question.
You're almost there, Wade.
Just talk to him.
Let him know you are there.
He may not even recognize you,
but it's okay.
He will understand.
I advise you, do not speak to Rayne.
She will never forgive you..
but Tao can, if you do the right thing.
A woman answers, "Yes, can I help you?" Wade doesn't know what to say, so he responds with, "Uh, hi. I'm here to see Tao. Tao Russel. Is he on this floor?" The woman remains silent for a moment and replies, "Are you a friend or family member?" Wade hesitates to reveal who he is. His emotions are building, and with a broken heart, he answers, "I'm his, Dad." The door buzzes, and Wade hurries to grab the handle. As it opens, he notices the lights in the other room are off. As he walks in, there is a light flickering at the end of the hallway. The emergency door closes shut behind him, and it sounds like a loud thunderclap.
Here we are, Wade.
In your darkest hour.
Prepare your mind for the final stage of who you will become..
for who your son will become.
Giving yourself up, to surrender.
Can you do it?
The light stops flickering at the end of the hallway, and a mild terror looms its way through the darkness. Wade silently says, "Hello?" and looks around to see that no one is in the hallway. The desk by the door is vacant, and he hears no sounds of hospital machines or computers. Wade shouts down the darkened hallway. "HELLO? IS ANYONE HERE?" He hears a faint hum enter his ears, and he grabs his earlobes and gives them a shake to try to rid himself of the sound. It grows more intensely, standing still near the reception desk. Wade starts to walk towards the long dark hallway ahead of him, with multiple closed doors. He shouts, "TAO? RAYNE? ANYONE?" but nothing but his own reverberated voice off the empty walls answer his call. With the hum growing louder, he slowly starts to open the closed doors in the dark hallway and peers inside each empty room. When he reaches the end of the hallway, he tries the doors on the right. All rooms are seemingly empty. With every room checked and the hum growing louder, Wade becomes furious. Immediately his right thigh starts to feel hot, and he responsively pulls out the paper that was in his pocket. Unfolding it, the paper is smouldering on the edges. It now bears the image of himself on it, and as he lets it go, it sets itself on fire. The paper drops to the floor, and a ring of fire is created in a circle, illuminating the room around the reception desk. Wade walks up down the hallway behind him, and the humming in his ears turns to a piercing screech. Staring at the scorching flames, he turns around and runs towards the windowsill at the end of the hallway. Looking down, there is nothing beneath him. No city. No end to the building. It's as if he is thousands of feet in the air, trapped in this room. The sky is pitch black, and no horizon can be seen. Turning back around, Wade says in terror, "Oh my dear God." A body is standing in the centre of the reception area, between the flames. Trying to focus his eyes, Wade cannot make out who it is. The body starts to walk towards Wade, revealing itself. Wade shouts, "WILLIAM?" but cannot hear his voice over the screeching and the fire. William passes through the flames and starts to run toward Wade. Wade screams, "NO! STOP!" William lunges at him. He slams Wade through the window, and they both free-fall down the side of the building into the void.
It is time to understand why you are here.
3:33am – Monday, October 10th/2016