I hated when I had to do anything associated with the police. They always looked at me as if I was the devil. I guess I can’t really blame them since my story had changed so many times already. In fact if I was them I would believe that maybe it was me that did all those horrible things to Nick.
I shuddered at the thought, once again seeing the image of me carving the word MINE into Nick’s skin. I had to be wrong about that. There is no way I could have done that to him…
“Mr. Littrell?” I looked up to see a detective staring at me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine”
“So you were telling me about the bathroom” I sighed, “Yes we were locked in the bathroom while he was looking for something in Nick’s room”
“Looking for something?”
“Yeah at least that’s what it sounded like to me”
“What happened next?”
“He already told you he is remembering in bits and pieces”
“Yes I understand that Mr. Richardson but the more he remembers the better chance we have at finding this guy”
“Did you find the bat at least?” Both Kevin and I looked over hopefully at the cop; if they found the bat then surely they would have found fingerprints.
“Not yet, but we have found some fingerprints that we are in the process of trying to match up”
“Good”
“Anything else you can think of?”
“No…sorry but maybe the memories will continue to come back” I left out the image of me cutting up Nick for now anyway. I could barely stand seeing it in my head let alone verbalize it to anyone.
After he left I sat back in my chair, a headache making its way from my temples to the back of my head, “Bri...why don’t I take you back to the hotel?”
“I told Nick I’d be right back” Not that I wanted to go see him again, frankly it was all seeming a bit too much but yet, I couldn’t go back to the hotel. I had to stay next to Nick, and hold his hand.
“Brian?” Once again I looked over at Kevin, “I’m staying but maybe if you could track down some aspirin for me that would be great!”
He pat my back and kissed the top of my head, “I’ll see what I can do” Ever since this happened we have all been overly affectionate with one another. Maybe it was to compensate for the lack of affection from Nick. Out of all of us, Nick was the one who would always be hugging on or kissing on one of us. We all used to complain about it until it stopped. Now I’d give about anything for him to come up behind me and give me a wet sloppy kiss.
I stared at my cup debating on whether or not to get another cup of coffee. I was sitting in the cafeteria, or as the guys liked to call it, the hiding place. I guess when Nick and I were first brought here and they felt overwhelmed they would use needing a good old fashioned cup of coffee as an excuse to take a break, so they would come to the cafeteria, their hiding place.
I guess that’s what I was doing now, hiding.
“Excuse me…can I borrow that salt?” I didn’t even look up, just rubbed at my temples, “Yeah sure”
“Thanks a bunch” It took a few seconds for the voice to register but when it did I slowly turned in his direction. He was sitting at a table with about three other people, wearing a gray smock and scrub pants.
I can’t even tell you how long it must have been that I stared at the guy until he looked over at me and smiled.
“Brian…here’s your aspirin” I turned towards Kevin who suddenly had an alarmed look on his face, “What’s wrong you are as white as a sheet”
“Sit” I instructed him, trying my best to remain calm.
“What is it?”
“Okay well first please tell me you see that group of people over there” Kevin looked over a little to boldly for my liking, “Yeah I see them why?” Thank God I wasn’t hallucinating this time. It was hard for me to tell these days.
“What about them?” He whispered, once again the man who asked for my salt gave us a small smile.
“That’s him”
“Who’s him? What are you talking about Brian?”
I purposely turned my body as far away from him as possible, “That’s the guy…the priest I talked to at the church”
“What? Brian he’s not a…”
“Shh keep your voice down Kevin”
“Priest….” Kevin continued in a whisper, “He works here”
“He is the guy I saw in the church I’m sure of it” And I was sure of it, in fact I was so sure I was ready to walk over and grab him out of his chair and show my cousin the guys deformed hand. I couldn’t see it from this angle but I knew it was there.
“Brian are you sure? I mean sure?”
“Ask him if you can see his hand Kevin”
“What?”
“Ask him”
Kevin looked at me a few more moments as if I was some crazy guy who had just sat down at his table and started babbling absurdities. Then he finally stood up and walked over to the table. About that time I was wishing that instead of an empty cup of coffee in front of me, I had a full shot of Jack Daniels, because if that man had both hands fully intact I was going to walk up to the 6th floor and commit myself.
Kevin glanced over in my direction and so did my priest. He looked a bit confused as did the other people who were sitting with him. I was straining to try to hear their conversation but I was a little too far away to make out what was being said.
Then I saw it, the hand. I also saw Kevin’s face transform from embarrassment to confusion. Once I saw the deformed hand I lost it, I got up and made my way over to the table, “What the hell kind of tricks are you playing with me?” I yelled, Kevin grabbed me and pulled me away from the guy before I could swipe at him. “Calm down Brian we are trying to sort this out now”
The other people at the table were brimming with activity as well, “you want me to call someone Brad? Maybe Security?”
“Yes call security because this son of a bitch has some explaining to do” I insisted trying to break free of Kevin’s grip.
“Brian calm down”
“Don’t tell me to calm down Kevin this guy was at the church!”
“I was nowhere near a church…I swear it” The man said holding up his hands as if he were being held at gunpoint.
“Yes you were! What do you moonlight as a priest?”
The guy ignored me and spoke to my cousin instead, “I promise I have no idea what he is talking about”
Kevin remaining calm under the circumstances made me sit at the table vacated by my priest’s friends. “I understand that but my cousin here just described you to a tee” He looked down at the man’s hand, “Are you sure you were nowhere near a church earlier?”
“I swear it” Than he looked over at me, “Of course you recognize me; I was in your room a lot, you were a patient here right?”
“Yes…I was but that’s beside the point”
“I cleaned your bathroom, I remember you. Head injury right?”
“Yes” Kevin answered for me, now I had decided to shut my mouth once again. Had this guy been in my room? Maybe that’s why he looked so familiar to me.
“I remember hearing about what happened to you and your friend. I think I even told you what happened to me” I looked over at him as he held his hand up.
“Every night my wife and I prayed for you and… Nick was his name right?”
“How did you know his name?”
“You told me”
“I did?”
“Yes, I asked you what your names were so we could pray for you and then I told you that faith…”
“Will pull me through” He smiled at me, “Yes...look I can get someone to verify that I was in and out of his room numerous times. I’m pretty sure there was a security guard outside”
“No, its okay we believe you…right Brian?” I looked over at my cousin and nodded, still confused.
“I will continue to pray for you and your friend Brian” He said as he got up to leave, “Now let me go get my friends before they get security” but it was too late they had already made their way into the cafeteria with security in tow.
I sat quietly sipping on my second cup of coffee while Kevin explained the situation to the police. They also took a statement from my priest who wasn’t a priest in the first place. His story checked out and with it so did my sanity I guess.
When they were done, Kevin walked back towards me; surprisingly the cops didn’t want to interrogate me which I was grateful for. “I thought you could use this” He said sitting down next to me and placing a piece of pie in front of me.
“They think I’m crazy don’t they?”
“No Brian…they don’t”
“They probably think I’m just making stuff up now”
“Of course they don’t think that. Nobody does”
“I really thought…”
“I know you did Bri…its okay. You have been through hell and you had a serious head injury. It happens, the cops even said so”
“They did?”
“Yes, now eat your pie and than I’ll take you back to the hotel” Maybe I wasn’t up to seeing Nick tonight after all, so I didn’t argue with him just picked up my fork and stabbed at the pie.
Stabbed.
Next update on Saturday night into Sunday :)
