Voices of Conflict

Chapter 2

It had been several days since he had called in the false alarm at the hardware store. Now he was desperately hoping to see the men that the chatter inside his head kept droning on and on about punishing. Besieged in his waking hours and in his sleep, he was growing tired of the constant noise. Jimmy knew he would have to act soon to stifle the taunts. Sitting obscurely in the far corner of the hospital waiting area Jimmy kept a magazine in his lap, open as though he was reading an article, but instead his eyes scanned the many people coming and going through the automatic doors. So far the firemen had not appeared.

Suddenly they were there. A red truck backed into the bay beside an ambulance. Jimmy squinted to see it through the tinted glass. The number on the back of the truck was the same. The sandy haired man jumped from the back of the ambulance helping to pull a gurney out. Jimmy knew it was the right man. He had the same face, kind and serious. His partner would be in the red truck. Jimmy leaned forward in his seat, his foot tapping to the beat of his racing heart, the magazine slipping from his lap and falling to the floor as the anticipation mounted. He watched as the other man come around the back of the shiny red truck. Wait, the hair was dark, but no, the man was not right. He was too short, too stocky, his hair too curly. He was not the same man.

Then Jimmy noticed the gurney as it burst through the doors with the sandy haired man walking beside, his hand resting on the shoulder of the person lying on the rolling bed. He leaned over while he walked speaking softly to the prone man. Jimmy could barely make out the soothing assurances he whispered to the hurt man that everything would be all right.

Could it be? It was hard to tell with the bandages over his eyes, but the hair was dark. His feet hung from the end of the gurney, but his head was near the top. He wore the same blue uniform shirt. It was the man, the one who had taken care of his wife, the one who had let her die. The voices screamed with joy in his ears. He had to force himself to stay where he was, the exhilaration overwhelmed him.

"Mister?" The spell was broken when he heard someone speaking to him. He looked wildly over at a small boy standing beside him holding out the magazine that he had dropped. It took Jimmy a second to realize this was not inside his head. "Mister you dropped your book."

"Thank…..thank you," Jimmy said to the boy. A smile slowly spread across his face as he looked down upon the young boy. "How polite you are to pick it up for me." He quivered in trepidation about his plans and from the sheer pleasure of finally finding the men he sought. The boy was frightened by the look in the strange man's eyes and he ran back to his mother. The mother out of an innate protective instinct did not like the strange way the man's eyes glared at her boy. She took her son by the hand and they quickly left the waiting area. The woman kept glancing over her shoulder at Jimmy as she took her son to safety.

Jimmy had not seen which room the firemen had disappeared into. He gradually eased back down in his seat with the magazine back in place to wait and watch.

In the treatment room Dr. Bushard rinsed Gary Saunder's eyes again with saline. Gary blinked furiously from the stinging in his eyes, his hands gripping the sides of the gurney to keep from pushing the doctor away. "From what you've told me besides the obvious pain your vision is significantly blurred." Breathing heavily in through his nose and out his mouth trying to slow his breathing, Gary nodded affirmatively. He could barely keep his eyes open. "I would like to get an ophthalmology consult. The burns to your face are superficial, like a bad sunburn. You've had similar burns before."

Dr. Bushard moved to check Gary's splinted leg. "Your left tibia is definitely broken, maybe the fibula too. Gail we'll need x-rays here and a full skull series." Now that Gary's breathing had almost returned to normal Dr. Bushard pulled his pen light from his lab coat pocket and shined it quickly in each eye. "And that bump on your hard head means you most likely have at least a mild concussion. You, my friend, will be here for a few days. We'll bandage your eyes and let them rest for a couple of days after the consult. I'm guessing by the way you're squinting the light is painful."

"Yeah," Gary said through gritted teeth.

"Just take it easy until we get some x-rays." Bushard patted Gary on the shoulder immediately noticing the tension in his body, "then we'll see about something for pain."

"Doc…I uh we…the guys at the station and I…we have a surprise birthday party planned for Cap tomorrow. It's at my place. I…uh…I kinda need to be there. Do ya think…maybe you could let me….um let me go home if um…if Charlie stayed with me?"

"Listen Gary I can't make any commitment until we get that consult, but maybe and I do mean maybe we could arrange for Charlie to take you for the day if you promise to come back after the party. Your eyes will need to be bandaged for at least a couple of days and even then…" Dr. Bushard patted Gary on the shoulder letting him know he had no real answers for him right now.

"O…okay." Gary's face clearly revealed the worry he felt over the burns to his eyes. He fumbled with the blanket that Gail had spread over him when she had finished helping him out of his uniform. Knowing the exam room lights would hurt his eyes if he opened them he kept them closed. His head turned away from Dr. Bushard. His shoulders sagged. His forehead wrinkled. "Doc?"

"Yes Gary?"

"Will…uh…do you think…?" He tried unsuccessfully to keep his voice from cracking.

"I don't know yet Gary. Don't stress over what we don't have an answer to."

Gary nodded his understanding. Even Dr. Bushard didn't know the extent of the damage to his eyes. Although he was told not to stress the lines around his mouth and eyes indicated that he already was. The x-ray technician came pushing into the crowded exam room.

"Come on Charlie, Jeff, Gail let's get out of here and let them work. Gary I'll be back in a bit." Dr. Bushard led the way out of the room.

Jimmy watched from his vantage point in the corner. He had seen a flurry of activity coming in and out of the room where they had taken his target. The continuous chatter inside his head questioned the severity of the man's injuries. They sounded cheerful that he may already be paying for his actions with Amber. Jimmy smiled. Maybe he wouldn't have to hurt the man after all. Maybe like he thought before he could help the young man. Formulating a plan in his own mind he decided that he needed to go home and get his medications. The ones that would calm the man who fidgeted nervously like he himself did and his gun…he would need his gun for protection in case someone tried to stop him.

Suddenly there was a strong antiseptic odor wafting through the air. Something about the smell brought back memories of his own stay here at Mercy. Only he was on another floor. He was not sure of the number, but it was the floor where they had put the electrodes on his head and made him bite down on something. He had a faint memory of a flashing light and sudden pain through his head, in front of his eyes and then blackness. He knew nothing of his hospital stay after the treatment until Amber was allowed to visit, but he did remember that there was a waiting area in the hall outside the locked door. It was a nice room with a table and some comfortable chairs, and a TV. That would be a good place to take the dark haired man until his medications calmed him.

Jimmy rose from his seat dropping the now insignificant magazine to the floor again. He walked towards the exit stopping only when he overheard the man in the white coat talking to the sandy haired man.

"I don't know Charlie. Gary's eyes look pretty red. It's not my area of expertise. We'll know something soon. If all goes well tonight then maybe he can have a day pass tomorrow. If you two weren't paramedics it would be out of the question. Let me call you at the station."

"Okay Doc. Tell Gary I'll check on him on my next run, and I'll bring over something to wear in case he gets to go tomorrow. Cap said my replacement is at the station. Jeff and I have to go." Charlie shook hands with the doctor and left.

'Day pass' Jimmy thought. He could come here tomorrow and follow Gary to his home. That would be a better place to take care of him. Smiling as the voices agreed with him he made a decision to come back to the hospital in the morning and follow his project home. He turned and slipped unnoticed from the busy emergency room into the night.