The Happy Lights in your Window

Chapter 20

Kas

As Kas is down with a raging viral fever, Ash has been taking care of him. Both the young men struggle, one with the fever, the other with the caregiving. Finally, after a week, Kas is up and about on his feet and both reach the hospital to visit his Ma. The floor nurse asks Kas to wait outside as he still has a consistent cough. Ash goes inside the room to check on his Ma. A few minutes later, a dozing Kas is stirred awake by a stricken Ash. "Kas, your Ma is not here. Ryan Bernard has shifted her elsewhere." Kas clutches Ash's T shirt. "How is that even possible"? After a couple of hours of screaming and yelling at the hospital and taking cleverly forged sanctioned forms as evidence in their hands, Kas and Ash are sitting in the local police station. Ryan Bernard walks in with a corporate looking slick lawyer. Kas gets up wanting to have a go at him, Ash holds his wrist tightly and tells him firmly, "If you go behind bars for assault, how are you going to find your Ma?"

Kas watches numbly as Ryan Bernard quietly and politely establishes and presents an iron clad alibi in the small dinghy police station to the bored cop. The cop files a missing person report and the Ryan Bernard walks out. Kas is unable to walk, reliving the nightmare all over again. Kaya and now Ma. He leans heavily on Ash as he stumbles out of the police station. Ryan Bernard is waiting for him. He walks up to the shattered Kas who seems incapable of even a reaction. "Kas, I have your Ma safe and well. She is under the best of care. The day she wakes up, she will return to you. Until then, live your life well. You are so young. Your whole life is ahead of you. I couldn't bear for you to be so burdened with finances. So, I decided to take matters in my own hands. I will keep in touch.".

He gives an unmoving Kas a gentle pat on his cheek and turns to leave. As if an afterthought, he turns and tells with a small smile "I won't allow you to see her yet or tell you where she is because you are too immature to handle this situation well. Don't bother trying to find her. I've taken enough precautions. At least, I didn't leave her unattended in a hospital for days." As Kas blinks at the hurtful remarks, Ash moves like light and gives Ryan Bernard a hard punch. Ryan Bernard staggers back with the force. He rubs his jaw and looks at Ash thoughtfully. "Take care of Kas "and walks to his fancy waiting car. Kas drops to the floor, his whole world falling apart. Ash puts his arm around Kas comfortingly and gently says "I've got you Kas.

Kas

Days have gone by and Kas cannot tell how many. He eats what Ash feeds him and they spend endless futile hours at the police station without any progress. Not a single lead even remotely points out to Ryan Bernard. No CCTV camera feed showing Agnes Maris being transported out of the hospital. It's all been neatly rigged and fixed. At uneven intervals, small printed notes are slid under Kas's door informing him that though his Ma is still comatose, all her vital signs are good and he will be immediately updated should there be any change in the status. Ryan Bernard himself never shows up again. A month passes by and Kas has forgotten how to live. He sleeps, eats, bathes, sits for hours at the police station where even the cops have now started ignoring him. He has quit work and is completely dependent on Ash to just help him exist. All of Kas's free time is spent sleeping as though he cannot bear being awake.

One morning Ash gently wakes him and tells him firmly "Dress up, we are going camping". Kas gets up without a word, freshens up and wears the clothes which Ash has given him. Ash puts Kas in front of the wardrobe mirror and asks him, "What do you see Kas"?" Kas stares as his reflection. He has considerably shrunk in the last one month. His clothes are hanging loose on his body and his face looks haggard and ill. He shrugs off his reflection and picks up the bag which Ash gives him and they set off. They spend the day at a camping site, walking in silence, cooking and just being in nature. After dinner, Ash takes him to high point on a hillock. It gives a good view into a hill road. They settle down and watch the cars passing down on the road. The camping site is close to the city so there are cars passing regularly at intervals. 

In the darkness, Kas watches broodingly, as headlights of a passing vehicle comes into view and then as the vehicle passes, the rear lights. It's difficult to make out the type of vehicle in the darkness and all they can see are passing lights of moving vehicles. Ash's voice, firm and strong, close near his ears, asks "What do you want most in the world, Kas"? Kas struggles for an answer and then replies "to be strong enough to bring my Ma  back safely to me"? Ash probes further "And?" Kas takes a deep sigh, breathes in the fresh air and replies" Find my little Kaya". Ash persists "And?". Kas feels the useless anger building up as he replies "To ruin Ryan and Zander Bernard".

They sit quietly for a few minutes and then Ash replies "I can help you achieve these goals but there is a price to be paid." Kas gives an angry laugh "You want my kidney? There isn't a single healthy organ in my body but feel free to take one". Ash's voice next to him in the darkness is clear and strong as he replies "Am afraid I am going to need more than a kidney. I am going to need you to surrender your body and your identity, Kas".

"What are you talking about? ", mumbles Kas. "Look at the passing lights, Kas" Ash's hand points out to the cars on the road below. Kas notices that Ash's voice has become deeper with every passing sentence almost echoing in the darkness. "I am going to give you the future of the person in one of those passing lights. But in return, you have to give up Kas".

Kas laughs out at the ridiculous comment and turns to Ash. Ash's grey eyes are gleaming like a cat's eyes in the dark, his face unsmiling. Kas gapes at him, wondering if he is hallucinating. Ash continues, his voice now resonating all around Kas. "Kas, if you agree to give up your identity as Kas, I will give you the life and future of one of these passing lights. A different life and future with which you can achieve all that you mentioned."

Kas stares at the gleaming gray eyes of his friend in the dark. "Is this all really actually happening"? Ash almost immediately replies "Even if it's a dream, play along Kas. A dream is the one place where you can be whatever you want right? Do you want to play or not?". Kas is convinced this is all not really happening but then he wonders why he is feeling the mosquito stings in a dream. He slaps a mosquito away and tells Ash," So how do we do this"?" Ash laughs, "That's my Kas". He then points out the passing lights of the vehicles on the road below. "As some lights of my choosing is passing by, I will ask you Accept or Reject?. All you have to do is accept. You can reject as many as you want, but accept only once.". "So, what happens then?". Kas asks caught up in this strange fantastic dream. "Ash replies and Kas can hear the smile in his voice." You become the passing light, meaning you become the person in the vehicle you chose." Kas gasps and clutches Ash's arm. 

"What happens to the person in the vehicle"? Ash pats Kas clutching hand and replies calmly "The passing light that I select will be the ones who have reached the end of their lifespan. It could a man, woman, old, young, anything. You become the person in the vehicle. You will know nothing about the person before you accept. The only way you get to choose is to accept one the passing lights that I point out to. Are you willing to take the gamble?".