Of Lights and Shadows (Book 4)

32) The Wonders of Modern Medicine

An itch began behind Dastardious's brain inside his head, it was unreachable and slowly driving him crazy. It tickled and itched and there was no way he could reach inside to scratch. If it was possible for a straightened coat hanger to go behind his eyes, or through his ears, to reach the spot then he would have done it in a flash, and even though it wasn't possible for that to happen he contemplated it all the same. The thought of bringing out a drill to create a hole was ever present in the front of his mind. Anything to get rid of it.

He jiggled on his bed, clenching his teeth, his eyes staring bloodshot, an expression of intense concentration on his face. His eyes were fixed on the clock on the wall, following every tick the second hand made and every tock as it inched its way slowly towards eleven. Sitting on his hands, he bit his tongue. He had another five minutes to go. He had decided to try spacing his doses out so that he could go longer on smaller doses. The idea was so that he wouldn't run the risk of running out unexpectedly. It wasn't working.

With a cry of anguish Dastardious jumped up from the bed, rushed into the lounge, and ripped the box out from underneath the chair. With shaking hands he poured the dose into the syringe and willing his hands to still he injected the dose.

His mind was so muddled and unable to concentrate anymore that he didn't hear the door open until it was too late. Silence walked in, his face twisted with some inner turmoil as he sat down in the chair opposite Dastardious and didn't write a word.

Dastardious smiled wanly, it was about all his mind could handle to do, as he imagined what Silence was seeing and what the man might be thinking. Dastardious's body was still shaking from the effect of trying to hold off taking another dose and the inside of his head felt like it was crawling with all manner of insects with little legs and caused him to contemplate once more inserting the coat hanger through his ears or eyes to get at the itch.

Breathing deeply, Dastardious removed the needle and wiped it clean quietly pretending as if Silence wasn't there. He looked up at Silence who still hadn't written a word, or shown any sign of disapproval. If Silence was expecting him to say anything then he was out of luck. It was none of the man's business what Dastardious was addicted to. Dastardious released his breath and inhaled another. Neither man broke the silence, too engrossed in their own thoughts.

Silence's face looked miserable and Dastardious knew he was thinking of Susan more than the fact of what he had just walked into. In fact he could hardly tell whether Silence had seen anything at all. They both had their own pain to worry about, though as Dastardious watched Silence he realised that he had in his body at that current moment and in a bottle in his special box, the ability to take the pain away from Silence.

Without asking the man what he thought, Dastardious grabbed the syringe back out of the box and headed into the kitchen to sterilise the needle. When he returned he found Silence still in the same position, he hadn't moved an inch and except for his slowly rising and falling chest you would hardly know he was alive.

Raising the syringe to Silence's line of sight Dastardious asked him if he wanted to try a dose. He could see a faint shadow flicker behind Silence's eyes as he asked the question, but he didn't say anything else. Then, ever so slowly as the man made up his mind, Silence nodded, releasing a sigh as he rolled up his shirtsleeve and held out his arm to Dastardious. In a second the syringe was full and in another second or two, with Silence biting his own tongue, the needle was in. After administrating the dose Dastardious cleaned the needle, returned it to its box and slid it under the chair. He didn't worry about taping it back up; he just left it on the ground and joined Silence who was slowly starting to shake.

He had only been given a small dose, if he had taken one of the doses that Dastardious himself used then the man would have died within several minutes of taking it. The one he had been given was so small that it wasn't likely to really have much effect on Silence, on Dastardious he wouldn't have felt a thing and would have needed another dose.