Obscurity

Chapter 39: Early Bird

Alma

I wake up to someone tapping my forehead. It takes me a moment to realize it's not Sierra. I groggily rub my eyes and see that it's Spencer crouched next to my bed waking me up.

"What—"

"Shh!" he puts his hand over my mouth and motions with his head toward Sierra's sleeping form in her bed.

My eyes reflect that I'm not getting what he's silently saying, so he points with his free hand, never removing the one over my mouth.

"Follow me." He whispers as he takes his hand away from my mouth. I get up quietly and pad behind him as he heads for the doorway to the hall. He stops short and takes a left turn into the bathroom. After we enter, he slowly shuts the door and stand there listening for a moment.

"Okay. I don't think we woke her up." He says with a sigh of relief.

"What are you doing in my room?" I ask, astonished he had the nerve to wake me up. "What time is it?"

He looks at his wrist watch, "It's two in the morning. Why?"

"Why?" my eyes are probably bulging out of my head. "It's two a.m. and you're here, waking me up. What could possibly be so important?"

"I want to explain." He says as he puts his ear to the door, listening for anyone approaching.

"I couldn't sneak you off to my room to talk because I have a room mate, so this bathroom will have to do."

I cross my arms and stand there tapping my foot. This better be good.

"Alex called me, two, no three days ago. His message was basically that he had you admitted to this place and when you got out in three days, I was to pick you up and take you to the place he told you about before. He said you'd know the place."

"I know the place but what the fuck, Spencer? He did this? He had me dragged out of my apartment and put here? Why?" My questions rapid fire at him.

"You know how he is." He says making the universal hand gesture for 'crazy' next to his head.

I shake my head. I cannot believe this.

"His message wasn't long. I figured it was some sort of joke. In a nutshell, he thinks the world is ending, and he thought you'd be safer here." He explains in a hushed tone.

"Too much YouTube." I surmise.

"Well, anyway. Like I said, I thought it was a joke so I didn't think much of it until the next day when I was at work and a coworker of mine was asked to run your name."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's been a few years. I changed jobs." He says sheepishly.

I cover my face with my hands. I rub my face hard and look at him. Are you telling me you're a cop?

He doesn't answer. Well, that would explain how he magically changed his last name upon checking into this place.

"When my coworker saw your last name, he came to me. That's when I realized Alex wasn't lying. I found it extremely unusual for a psych unit manager to want to do a background search on a patient. So, I started looking into this place," He glances up at the walls, "It's not a good place, Alma."

"At the time, he was trying to help me prove I'm not crazy."

"Is that why you didn't tell anyone about Alex?" he asks.

I nod. "If any of the staff or doctors know about my parents' and Alex's issues, they'll lock me up and throw away the key. I can't risk that." I explain, but I know he knows exactly why I didn't disclose any family to anyone here.

"Why are you really here, Spence?" I'm exhausted, and I want to get this conversation over with.

"I can't say, officially." The word officially hangs in the air for a couple of seconds.

"You need to stay away from me, Spencer. Do you understand?" I hiss at him.

"Listen, I think I can get you out of here."

"No. I'm working on getting myself out of here. I don't need anyone else interfering. You have no idea what I've been through since I came here." I try to press the point that he's not going to help. His interference will most likely only hinder my efforts at getting out of here.

He shifts the conversation without warning.

"I said I was sorry about what happened all those years ago." He attempts to apologize again.

"Spencer, we've been divorced for over three years. You need to let shit go. Do you hear me?" I say as I stare him in the eyes.

"I love you still. I want to help."

"You love the idea of what we were back then. You do not love me." I spit.

"I do. I realized it again. I do love you." His eyes plead his case to me.

"After everything that happened, you think I'm just going to be all forgiving and accept your apology at face value? Get the hell out of here." I point to the door.

He stands in front of the door and crosses his arms over his chest and juts his chin out in defiance. "No."

"Damn it, Spence. I swear I will skin you alive if you fuck things up any worse than they already are here for me." I warn him.

"I'm not here to mess your chances up."

"You keep your mouth shut about us," I say as I point between me and him, "And you keep my family out everything. Got it?"

"I won't mention anything. As far as anyone's concerned, I met you only yesterday." He assures me.

"I figure if I keep doing the stupid meetings and play the games, the doctors have to eventually let me out. I'm working toward that. It's the best I've at this point." I whisper to him.

"I get it."

"Okay. Now, you need to go before someone finds you in here and we get in trouble."

"Okay. But I still love you."

"Oh shut up." I push him more toward the door.

Just as he goes to pull the handle down, someone else does from the opposite side.

Spencer instantly holds the door shut so they can't push it open.

Someone knocks on it.

"Alma, I've got to pee." Sierra says in a tired voice. "Come on, open up." She persists.

Spencer shoots me a wild look. We're cornered.

"Just a second." I say as I directed him to the shower. I hold the door shut when he moves away from it.

More frantic knocking, "Damn it Alma, let me in!" Sierra's voice a bit louder this time.

Once Spencer is behind the shower curtain and out of view I pull the door open.

"Hey, sorry." I say to Sierra as she pushes past me and pulls her pants down to sit on the toilet. She's never been modest.

I turn towards the mirror and pretend to examine the bags under my eyes. She doesn't care. She finishes and leaves the bathroom without another word.

After a couple of minutes, Spencer comes out from behind the curtain and covers his mouth to stifle his laugh.

"It's not funny. I'm going back to bed. See yourself out." I march out of the bathroom and climb back in bed.

A few moments pass and I see his shadow dart out from the bathroom, into the hallway, and he's gone.