Going Home 2: A Saint's Tale

Chapter 8

Perth sighed. "It was getting late in the day. I needed a place to spend the night anyway so I decided the solar house would be great. Hell, the power might still work." He paused.

"It didn't. And me, having 'tinkeritis', had to figure out why. There were no bodies, the house was comfortable and scrounging for food was pretty easy there so a night turned into a week. Looking at schematics and actually figuring out what's wrong with an existing system is a pretty big leap. I found a couple of things including the line a squirrel, I think, ate through. But it happened finally. I thought I'd found everything and the batteries were full so I waited until dark and tested the lights. It worked! I was so excited and proud. " His gaze dropped. "I was yelling and turning on every light I could find. In all of that darkness, there was suddenly a clear light. A sign that things were horrible but we could come back from the ashes. That's what I thought. That's not what everybody thought though." He blew his nose again.

"I was foolish. It never occurred to me that there would be bad people left after so many had died. I'm stupid that way, I guess. Every night I was turning on the lights, listening to music. Being stupid." His voice had dropped in volume but his eyes were what worried Saint. They were closed off. He wasn't seeing now anymore. He was seeing the past.

"They found me during my second week. There was no one and then there were about twenty men. Just standing there. Another man stepped out and that's when I knew I was in trouble. His eyes were wrong. Cold. Mean. He said he was Boss. Wanted to know if I got the lights on at the house and I said y-yes. I should have lied maybe. What was I going to do against that many? When I told him yes, I could see he was planning? Scheming? His eyes again. They gave him away."

"They wanted to know what I'd done before the DV. I told them I'd worked for the energy company and then things got weird. Boss started laughing. Telling the other men they were gonna have lights and heat just like before. I tried to interrupt and tell them I was just an apprentice. That the house was already set up and I had just fixed it. It wasn't what they wanted to hear. I even tried telling them I could set up individual houses but Boss was already weaving a story of how the power would be on and they'd fence the area so if people wanted electricity, they'd have to come to him. Pay with food and guns and women. T-the others were cheering and lapping up the fantasy like cats with cream... While they were celebrating an impossibility, I managed to sneak into the house and grab my tools in my backpack." Perth looked at Saint. "I almost got away. Almost. Boss realized his golden goose wasn't there anymore and had the rest looking for me. It was like being hunted by hounds. They caught me two houses away and dragged me back after they pounded on me for a bit."

"I was dumped with a black eye and a bloody nose in front of Boss. He told them not to hit me. That I was 'his' and he didn't want me damaged. I tried telling him again I couldn't do what he wanted. There were no industrial solar farms near by and even if there were, I didn't know how to get everything re-connected. I'd never done anything with high lines and that's what it would take to get the energy from a solar farm like he wanted. I said I could set up each house if we could find the equipment. That's not what Boss wanted to hear. He wanted it the way he wanted it. He had already told his men and that was it. It made no sense to me. He could have had electricity but instead, as I got more and more desperate, he decided I was denying him. That I could do it if I wanted to. I just didn't want to. That's when he threw me in the closet. They put a lock on it and left me in there. It was dark. So small. No air. I had a pail for waste. Somebody came up with the idea of not feeding me. They would rattle my tools at me through the door. Scream at me for not giving them lights. Throw things against the door randomly to scare me." He was silent for a moment and Saint squeezed his hand. He had never expected the dam to burst like this. Perth had started and now he couldn't stop.

"They would open the door sometimes. It was so bright I had to shield my eyes. They would hurl water bottles at me and laugh because I would gather them as fast as I could even if it hurt so bad when they hit me." His voice was lost. It was beyond his comprehension that people could act that way. Saint wiped Perth's tears and then his own.

"I knew I had to find a way out. If I didn't soon, I would starve. It hit me that I was in a hall closet. There was a section of wall next to the door. No one wanted in the closet. It stank. So maybe no one would see if I clawed through the sheet rock. It took me weeks. I put the crumbled bits around the edges and in the waste bucket. They didn't change it often so everything looked the same by the time they emptied it. Used some of my water to rinse the dust off my fingers... I finally got the hole on the inside big enough to crawl through and then all I could do was wait. I needed the house to be empty so I listened to everything they said. Almost went deaf. They threw something at the door when my ear was against it. I-I cried. Couldn't help it, it hurt so bad... and they laughed. Laughed." Perth had a death grip on Saint's hand. "I had a headache that lasted 3 days and my ear was bleeding. It wasn't about electricity anymore. It was about having someone to torture. To hurt. To have power over. It was about 2 weeks later maybe that they all left. They'd found food somewhere and they were all going to get it. I waited as long as I could to make sure they were really gone, then I began kicking the drywall on the outside of the closet." Perth was breathing faster. "I was weak but I got through it and tore a space big enough to get out. Once outside I couldn't see anything. It was too bright. I grabbed the few water bottles I had left and then started looking for food and my tools. Most of them were in front of the closet. That's what they had been throwing at my door. My own tools. The house was a disaster. Trash everywhere. I found a backpack, put all my tools in but the hammer. I might need a weapon, ya know?" Perth breathing was still fast, harsh.

"I couldn't find any food and didn't dare wait. I ran. As fast and as far as I could. I tore up my back under a chain link fence. I was too weak to climb it. Sometimes I found food. Sometimes, I didn't. It was more important to run and keep running. To escape. I think I was in the closet maybe three months. It was winter when they put me in. It was warm, summer maybe, when I came out." Tears stained both their faces. Perth sobbed suddenly. "I knew my back was a mess but I couldn't reach it. I poured hand sanitizer on it once." He shuddered convulsively. "It didn't help. When I got sick, I decided it was okay to die on the highway. At least I wasn't in that closet. In the dark. Suffocating." Saint pulled Perth into his arms and held him close. Grabbing on to Saint's shirt like it was a life line, Perth let out a wail. His grief, his fear, and the terror that it could happen again.
Saint cried with him. What he had been through was beyond Saint's imagination.

He rocked the man in his arms. Running his fingers gently through his hair. Whispering comforting words in his ear. But he never tried to still his tears. Perth needed this. It wasn't going to resolve the situation but it was a beginning.

~~~~~

Saint was in his rocker watching Perth sleep again. It had taken over an hour for Perth to stop crying. Saint had talked him into some bread and tea before he had tucked him into the bed. He had curled up with him, holding him until Perth had slept out of sheer exhaustion.

Even then he had laid holding him, watching Perth as he slept. For once, it seemed as if his sleep would be undisturbed. His forehead was relaxed. His breathing was smooth and even.

Saint, however, was in turmoil. How could anyone do that to him? To anyone? He stood and softly kissed Perth's forehead.

Quietly, he made more tea. No wonder he had nightmares. Not surprising he pushed so hard to get his strength back. Saint knew this would be something Perth would be dealing with for a long time but it was in the light now. And Perth had a fighting chance.

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