Voices of Conflict

Chapter 10

Gail couldn't believe that Jimmy moved aside to let her help Gary. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth she carefully got up from the sofa and slipped past the tormented man without a sideways glance.

Jimmy reached out and grabbed her arm nearly jerking her off her feet. "No funny business."

She nodded her understanding, and as soon as he let his grip on her arm go, she rubbed it knowing she would sport several bruises where his fingers had dug into her skin. She stepped over and knelt in front of Gary. She put one hand on his uninjured knee and the other on his forehead to check for fever. His skin felt warm. " Gary can you hear me?" She lovingly pushed the hair from his face and tilted his head back enough that she could see the new colorful bruises left by Jimmy's hands.

Gary barely moved save the swallowing and licking of his lips. "Sick." He uttered the one word Gail already knew. He felt groggy and confused. With his eyes covered, each movement seemed to make the room rock and sway as if he were on a boat. He didn't like boats. He almost always got seasick on boats. "S..stop th..this b..boat." He gripped the arms of the wheelchair with white knuckles.

"Okay sweetheart. Let me take you to the bathroom and get you cleaned up." She stood and started around the back of the wheel chair.

'Don't let her out of your sight, Jimmy. She's up to something. You need to stop her.' Jimmy shook his head trying to clear the voices and the cobwebs brought on by too much beer. "Wait! No you can do it here." He abruptly stood and stepped toward her ready to stop her.

Gail's hands went to her hips. One thing she knew how to do was care for a patient, take charge of that treatment and give directions to those around her. She wasn't about to let anyone not even this psychotic man stop her from giving Gary the best care she could. He was too important to her for that, and she needed to find out how badly he had been affected by the Haloperidol. "Now you listen to me. I need to clean him up and cool him down. He's going to be sick whether you like it or not. Either you step aside and let me take him to the bathroom to clean him up or you get me a bowl of cool water and some clean rags. Now what's it going to be?"

Once again Jimmy saw his Amber with steel determination in her eyes when he got out of line. She could certainly whip him into shape. He loved it when she stopped him from doing something stupid. "Aw Amber I'm sorry. I'll get you the bowl of water." His shoulders slumped and he headed to the kitchen. 'What are you doing Jimmy? That's not Amber. You should be ordering her around. Don't let her get the upper hand. Go over there and show her who the boss is.' Jimmy kept moving toward the kitchen. "Shush now Amber's mad at us."

Gail leaned close to Gary's ear and whispered. "We need to figure out how to get out of here. I'm going to take the bandages off of your eyes and find out how much you can see. Even if your vision is blurry, at least maybe you can see where you're going. I know you don't feel well. He's given you some medication. Gary, do you understand?"

"Yeah." He whispered so softly Gail barely heard him. She smoothed the hair from his forehead and began pulling the tape that held the gauze in place. He winced as it pulled at his skin.

Jimmy came back with the bowl of water and rags. "Here's the water love."

Gail shivered at the words of endearment he used. The back of her hand went reflexively to her mouth, and she wiped her mouth trying to erase the kiss he had put there earlier. "Thank you." She took the rags, dipped one in the water and began bathing Gary's face and neck. "Better." He nodded. "Okay I'm going to finish removing the bandages now."

Gary held his eyes closed until Gail had removed all of the bandages. She washed his face and neck again. He felt a little less nauseated with the coolness. Slowly he blinked his eyes open. He couldn't open them completely. The light hurt his eyes. He could make out two shapes. They were blurry. He blinked several more times trying to clear his vision. It seemed to help. "Ah Gail, could you turn out the overhead light? Maybe turn on a lamp instead. It's kind of bright."

'Gail, her name is Amber. No…no she's not Amber. Amber's dead.' Jimmy looked from Gary to Gail and stared at her for a long time.

Gail saw him staring at her. The crazed look in his eyes made her afraid to move.

"Do it." Jimmy demanded. "I want him to see us."

The fact that Jimmy had begun to refer to himself as us as though he were more than one person did not go unnoticed.

Gary looked over in Jimmy's direction to make sure he stayed put. He had already hurt Gail. He would not allow him to hurt her again.

Gail turned on the lamp and then switched off the overhead light. Gary continued blinking. "Let me wash your eyes with water again. Maybe that will help."

Gary leaned his head back which made the room spin, but he held it back to let Gail wash his eyes anyway. When she was finished the cool water had helped him regain some clarity.

He looked over in the direction of the blurry man who had taken them hostage.

Thoughts raced through Gary's mind.'I know this man, but how and why did he come here? What does he want with me?' Adrenalin pulsed through his veins. 'I've got to get Gail out of here.'