Blood Is Thicker

Chapter 6: Who Are You?

Chapter 6: Who Are You?

            “What building is this?  Are we still on campus?”  I managed to pull that question out of the foggy, half-emptiness behind my eyelids.  Another emotion started to bubble, but the warm wool blanket in my brain smothered it almost before I knew it was there, and once again my mind went completely blank.  Where am I, again?  I blinked, my eyelids taking longer than normal to lift.  Or was time just stretching like a piece of taffy, pulling sideways from my ears?  That thought made me feel dizzy, and oddly sticky, so I let it float away on the sea of quiet nausea gently throbbing in my stomach.  There were pipes on the walls and ceiling… I was sitting on a table…

            I hopped to my feet, the desire to get off the table giving me enough strength to stand, though the pipes and mirrors blurred a little.  Someone grabbed my shoulder, and I blinked in slow motion again.  “Careful; I think they drugged you.”  The rescuer who’s name I still didn’t know steadied me as my feet decided, without first asking my opinion, to shuffle their way forward, towards the mirror, even though my head was turned away. 

            As if just now getting the memo from my feet, my head slipped it’s way sideways, and my vision was lost in a green blur of motion sickness.  My eyeballs rolled left, but my brain felt as if it were 2 ½ seconds behind.  In its haste to catch up, I could have sworn my brain went too far to the left side of my skull, sliding past my eyes before doubling back.  I groaned in protest, but before I could really get sick, the wool blanket dampened everything once again.

            My eyes flicked open, and the first thing I saw was my own reflection.  When it finally sank through the mud surrounding my mind, the realization of how horrific I looked terrified me.  How long has it been since I slept?  Panic pushed that thought through the miry pudding my brain had somehow become, though the answer was slow enough in coming for me to really study my appearance for a moment.

            Were the circles under my eyes really that dark, or was the rest of my skin so pale and ashen that they stood out more clearly than they should have?  My mouth was hanging open stupidly, so I closed it, stunned that I couldn’t feel the back of my teeth with my tongue.  My jaw ached, like I had been clenching my teeth for days.

            You just woke up a few hours ago…  The events of the morning flew by my mind’s eye, too quickly to comprehend.  But… last night, I slept, it was normal, and now today…

            “We’re in the basement of Aubrun.”  EJ said.  I tore my eyes wawy from the mirror, from the zombie-like image of myself, moving my head much more carefully, trying to keep my brain from roller-skating across my skull again.  I managed to look at EJ without puking, so I decided to mark it as the only success of the day.

            “Yeah, they drugged him,”  EJ’s partner, or whoever, said.

            “Let’s get out of here, OK, Jack?”  EJ stepped towards me, and for half a fuzzy second, I thought she might take my hand to lead me out of this basement, into the light of day and normality.  Instead, she reached over to the table and picked up a small black object.

            “This yours?”  She held up a cell phone – my phone.

            “Yeah…”  I grasped it more tightly than necessary, almost tearing it from EJ’s delicate grip, but I seemed to have lost a clear perception of exactly what my limbs were doing.

            “It must have fallen out of your pocket.”

            “Yeah…”  I repeated, unable to think of anything more witty to say.  I pushed a button and the screen lit up.  I blinked once again and struggled to focus on the LED screen.

2 MISSED CALLS FROM KJ

1 NEW VOICEMAIL

            KJ’s looking for me?  How long was I gone? My brain took far too long to find the clock on the screen, but at least the suppressive blanket seemed to be gone.

2:35 PM

            I considered this fact for a moment, before realizing that it did no good; I couldn’t remember what time it had been last time I looked at a clock. 

            “Jack?  Let’s leave, ok?”

            “Yeah.”  I stuffed my phone in my pocket, blearily wondering if there was something else I wanted to ask EJ and… that other guy.  “Who are you?”  I muttered, as I followed EJ wherever she might lead.

            “It is interesting that you, of all people, should ask such a question.”  The stranger behind me answered.  While I tried to puzzle out what the hell that meant, EJ sighed and said,

            “His name is Thom.”

            “Thom…” I muttered.

            “Yes?”

            “Who are you?”  I repeated.

            “When you can tell me who you are, Jack, then I will tell you who I am.”

            “I’m Jack…”  I said, dimly registering the feel of fresh air up ahead – we were almost out.  “Just Jack…”

            Jack didn’t hear it, but Thom laughed emotionlessly to himself.  “Is that so…?”  He whispered.