Timeless

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

            He walked in the front doors, exactly as I remembered him: Tall, menacing, heartless, big. Brown-reddish hair—the color of infected shit—these horrific, shitty eyes as well...there he was, Ethan, all skin and flesh and bone, wearing old jeans, boots and a flannel shirt. He didn’t see Mason and me as he walked up the receptionist, resting his huge hands on the counter, the hands that hurt Starburst. I was desperately grabbing Mason’s arm now, making pathetic whimpering noises and almost crying.

            “What—what is it Hunter? Get off me dude.” He said, but I could only point to Ethan as I pulled Mason to the farthest corner of the room.

            “That’s Ethan!” I cried and whispered, spazzing my hands around stupidly. “That’s the one that beats Starburst, he’s—” But I honestly had no time to finish as Mason’s eyes turned cold and his stance went frigid. Heartless. I took a few steps back from him. He turned in Ethan’s direction, fists clenched and breathing ragged. He was going to kill him. I literally had to dig my fingernails so hard into his arm—I drew blood—to get him to stop. The receptionist made a sorry face and apologized.

            Yes, I thought.

            “Starburst has had enough visitors for today I think. Would you like to check back tomorrow?” The receptionist said politely, completely oblivious to the monster’s intentions. Ethan shook his head angrily, saying something I couldn’t catch. He turned around, running his hands through his hair, acting like that caring boyfriend that was worried sick about their girlfriend. I wanted to shoot him. Mason and I waited in the corner still, waiting to see what would happen. Ethan said one last thing to the lady before walking over and sitting in one of the chairs by the window, head in hands.

            I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then I saw what he was doing. He was analyzing the situation, what the patients and staff were doing. He was waiting. I let go of Mason’s arm finally, but he didn’t move. He was analyzing what to do, too. It seemed like hours passed of us just standing there, slightly crouched, catty-corner from Ethan. He hadn’t done anything yet, therefore disallowing Mason to do anything; Ethan had to be the one to provoke it.

            Finally, he saw an opening.

            The patients were too loony to notice. The receptionist was busy with a woman. There were no passing doctors or nurses.

            Ethan started down the hallway towards Starburst’s room.

            Mason and I followed.

***

            The string of events that unraveled before me happened so fast I thought I imagined it, a motion picture cartoon running in reverse. It’s like how London described a book hangover; “I vaguely remember someone crying.” And sirens. I vaguely remembered sirens, red and blue flashing sirens. That’s what it was.

            Ethan pushed the door to Starburst’s room open, and I only remember hearing a scream. Her scream. Mason, who had been right by my side, was gone, and I heard things clatter and the breaking of bones. Or maybe it was glass. I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention. My heart sped up, and I ran to Starburst’s room. Two side tables were overturned, a vase shattered, Starburst was in the corner by the window looking like she wanted to do something, but afraid she’d get hit again. And in front of me, Mason and Ethan were killing each other.

            Ethan, like I thought, assailed Mason and grabbed him in a headlock, punching him repeatedly in the stomach, emasculating him. During the first few blows, Mason kept a straight face, staring at something on the floor. His hands were wound around Ethan’s arm, pulling and tugging at it, trying to get the man off. Starburst, who was chattering her teeth so loudly you’d think it was a blizzard she was caught in instead of a fight, was looking around frantically for something to hit Ethan with. Fresh tears made their way down her face. Ethan was hauling Mason by the shoulders now and slamming his head into the wall, the crack echoing around the room. Ethan did this four or five times before letting Mason fall limp to the ground.