Powering Through: A Sequel to Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 32: Amor Vincit Omnia

Kelsey was having a nightmare. Her head hurt. Sometimes her eyes were open, sometimes they weren't. She could hear strange voices, sometimes really deep and slow, like a recording played at the wrong speed, sometimes really high-pitched and squeaky, like everyone had sucked up helium. Her nose was burning like hell, too, for some strange reason. Something was pressing on her chest, making it hard to breathe. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move at all.

Sometimes she thought she heard her mother and father. Her mother was crying. Not like terrified screams, but more like sobbing, quiet and without hope. Sometimes she heard Kiki, whose voice always ran up and down like musical notes, at least two or three octaves, along with Mike's toenails, clicking on the floor. For some reason the sound of his toenails was always very clear to her.

And sometimes, Kelsey was sure she heard her Jack, speaking to her in the voice that she loved, slow and soothing, with just a hint of humor, always gentle, always full of love for her. Even though she knew that was wrong. She, Kelsey had sent Jack away. She'd sent him to be with Marian, to try to have a relationship with her. Because she, Kelsey, was an idiot, a stupid, stupid girl. She also thought she could feel his hand holding hers, though she couldn't squeeze his hand back. She could feel the warmth of his flesh, of his fingers pressing on hers, rubbing her knuckles. Sometimes she even thought she could feel him pressing a kiss on them, that she could feel his soft lips on her skin. And she even thought she could smell Jack sometimes, through her burning nostrils, the fragrance of his hair, his fabric softener, and always, always, the smell of pool, of chlorine.

Then she'd drift off again, into gray fog, of pain, of paralysis, of the not known, of oblivion...

***************

The first time Jack had seen Phoenix at the hospital, only the presence of Doctor Okafor had kept him from hauling off and hitting him. It was the morning after Jack had first arrived; he'd spent the night, after sending his three friends home the night before. He rose from his chair in the hallway as the tall blond man walked toward him, clenching his hands into fists.

Phoenix saw him stand up and slowed down, arriving cautiously outside Kelsey's door. Kiki had come out of the room then, just in time to see them face off.

Dr. Okafor rose. She had been giving Jack an update of Kelsey's condition. She knew about the animosity between him and Kelsey's parents, and was kind enough to speak to him separately.

"Mr. LaGuardia?" she asked, seeing the expression on his face. "Is there a problem?"

"No," he replied, his jaw tense. "No problem." He remained standing, however, in a posture of aggression as he faced Phoenix.

Phoenix looked between Jack and Kiki, his expression unreadable. "What?" he finally said. "Is something wrong with Kelsey?"

"Are you kidding me?" Jack asked. "You have the balls to come slouching in here like this and ask what's wrong, after the load of garbage you shoveled to Kelsey's parents about me?" He had two bright spots of color in his cheeks, and Kiki grasped his hand, worried that he might actually just punch Phoenix right there in the hallway. She knew, of course, as did everyone there, about what Jack had done to Don Simonsen last summer.

"Oh, come on," Phoenix said, honestly surprised. "This place is private, dude, nothing's getting out, you know that, right? No one's going to know what happened. The story's never getting out, it's like it never happened. No police, no papers, no tabs, no publicity, ever." He looked at Jack, perplexed. "What's the problem?"