A Midnight Mind

Chapter 21: Quid Pro Quo

 When Ethan arrived at the hospital--not as big as some city hospitals he'd seen, but a good size for a small town--he found Neil sitting in the waiting room just inside.

Neil's eyes were glazed and he sat with his hands folded over his lap, perfectly still.

He must be projecting, Ethan guessed.

Ethan was unsure if it was wise to "wake" Neil in his current state (is it like waking up a sleepwalker? Isn't that dangerous?), but he figured Neil was capable of re-projecting himself wherever he needed to be if it was necessary. So he gave Neil's foot a kick and waved a hand in front of his eyes.

"Rise and shine, young man," said Ethan, hoping the combination of visual, aural, and physical sensations would bring Neil back to reality.

Sure enough, Neil blinked rapidly and seemed to come out of a trance. "Oh, hey," he said. "I was just having a look around."

"Find anything?"

Neil shook his head. "I didn't check everywhere, but I went into all the major wards that he might have been checked into and found no other projections." He wrinkled his nose and said, "I hate this place in the Worldmind. Hospitals look all clean and sterile in the real world, but the memories people have of hospitals are never good. It can look pretty gruesome in the Worldmind. So many fading images of blood, puke, injured people, sick people, people in the middle of surgery... I'm just glad I didn't have to go to the maternity ward."

Ethan shuddered. He wondered if babies left memory imprints on the Worldmind.

"Guess we're doing this the gumshoe way," Ethan said after shaking the thought from his head. "Come on."

Together, they went to various counters and wards and asked nurses, orderlies, and the occasional doctor on a break if they'd treated anyone who looked like Ethan's sketch of the dream man, or anyone who matched his injuries. When asked who this man was, Ethan and Neil made up an increasingly elaborate story. They claimed that, a while ago (they couldn't remember specifically when), they saw a pack of dogs chasing a mailman down the road, but they were on the bus and couldn't do anything about it. Since they hadn't seen the mailman since, they were wondering if he was hurt.

Not the best story, perhaps, but it was all they could come up with given that they didn't know the dream man's name or how he got his injuries.

No one had any useful information. They had treated the occasional dog bite in the past couple months, but the injuries were never serious, and none of the victims matched the dream man's description. Ethan and Neil were told to ask for the man at the post office if they wanted to find him.

Disheartened, they left the hospital and wondered what to do next.

"We should contact Violet," said Ethan. "I don't know if she's talking to me right now, but you could try calling her. She still might want to ask you about the dream man."

Neil groaned.

"I know you don't like her," said Ethan, "but now's not the time to complain that she's mean to you. Call her."

Neil sighed through his nose, but nodded and pulled out his phone. After dialing her number, he pressed the phone to his ear and waited. "Hey, it's Neil," he said after a moment. He paused. Then, "Um, yeah, that was... that was me. Look, do you still want to do that interview? I can explain what... Yeah, well, things have changed, haven't they? It's too much to explain over the phone. Fine. I can do it today. That sounds fine. Okay. See you there." He ended the call and said, "God, I hate her."

"What did she say?" asked Ethan.

"She'll meet me at the mall in an hour. We can go together."

With that, they each walked back to the bus stop outside the hospital. "Is she mad at you or something?" asked Neil as they walked.