Catch Me (Synacky)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Zacky

I dreaded returning. We both knew we would be punished horribly as we slowly made our way back to the institution, dragging our feet as we went. Brian said that maybe it wouldn’t be so severe if we came back on our own.

“They’ll split us up.” I whispered, and at this, Brian didn’t have a reply. He knew I was right.

We had made a very rash decision.

But I supposed, in the end, it would be worth it. Who knows if I would have ever had another chance to kiss Brian like that, to taste his tongue again and again?

I did not want to be split from Brian. The thought of sleeping alone at night was unappealing, the idea that I’d soon have to share a room with someone other than him made my stomach churn.

I clutched his hand with my left hand, my pet in my right. His hand was warm around my own, and he rubbed his thumb along the back of my hand. “We’ll be okay.” He whispered. And I believed him. Besides, he had promised he would always be there for me. Brian would work something out. Everything would turn out alright.

There were two policemen outside the institution. One was in a car, the other was standing outside, talking to him through the window. Brian took a deep, breath, and reached into his back pocket, pulling out the black bracelet.

Johnny was here.

He didn’t stop holding my hand, he just asked me where we were, and held my hand tighter.

“We’re outside the institution.” I replied.

The policemen noticed us, and the man outside the car started running, the one in the car opened his door.

“Get on the ground! Put your hands on you head!”

They teach you in school that policemen are nice. When I ran away back in December, the policeman with the dog was nice. These men were the epitome of cruel.

They shoved us down to the ground, and Johnny began to cry. “I want my mommy!” he screamed, “I want my mommy!”

“Shut up!” one of them shouted.

I had a knee to my back and I couldn’t get up. I began to groan, closing my eyes tight and beginning to recite prime numbers.

I must have been flailing. I was hit in the head with something that set my mind reeling, and stars dotted the blank canvas behind my eyelids. I lost my place and had to start over.

They twisted our arms painfully behind our backs and handcuffed us, before dragging us to our feet. We were patted down, for weapons, probably, but they emptied our pockets anyway.

There were four one dollar bills, two quarters, three dimes, and two pennies in my pocket. Change from the hot chocolate from earlier. Also in my pocket was a piece of string and a paper clip I had bent into a spiral. They took it all. Johnny had Jimmy’s bracelet, and a broken green crayon.

It was only when they pushed us forward that I remembered my pet. I whipped my head around frantically, spotting it lying, trampled in the snow.

“No!” I screamed, “My pet! My pet!”

“Shut your mouth.” The policeman that was leading me growled, and when I began to struggle, he punched me in the jaw.

“No, no, no!” I wailed, feeling the metallic taste of blood fill my mouth, “My pet! My pet, my baby…”

“Hush, boy, what the hell are you yammering about?”

“Don’t encourage him, Mark.”

I began to scream, thrashing about as best I could. The metal from the handcuffs dug angrily into my wrists, but I didn’t care. I had to get my pet, I couldn’t let it stay there! I’d never see it again!

I managed to kick one of the officers, and he growled. “Bloody hell, I think we’ll need backup.”

They took Johnny away, and I screamed louder, tears creating freezing tracks down my cheeks. Without Johnny, I didn’t have Brian. But as they took him away, Johnny shouted, “His dog! Zacky’s stuffed dog!”

They didn’t listen to him, and I know this because they didn’t pick up my pet, which was only a few feet away from them. This caused me to struggle harder, desperate to reach it somehow.

Then a woman came out of the institution with a syringe, and I blacked out.

~*~

I awoke in the tiny white room. I was wearing hospital clothes, there were bandages on my wrists and forehead, I did not have even my watch, and my pet was nowhere to be seen.

I began taking rapid, shallow breaths as I looked around frantically. I couldn’t be here, there was no way. They wouldn’t force me back in this box of a room, would they?

I didn’t know what time it was, I wasn’t sure for how long I had been unconscious. I picked at the bandages on my wrists, eventually tearing them off. There was dried blood on them, all around my wrists from where the handcuffs had chafed my skin.

I felt very sick. I wanted to throw up, but my stomach was empty. I just curled up in a tight ball, closed my eyes, and replayed warm memories.

I remembered when I received my first guitar, the acoustic one. I recalled countless days of tabs and arpeggios, learning la pompe and discovering Social Distortion. I remembered flying kites in the summer with Mum and Dad, visiting the zoo or the science center, visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and eating dried ice cream.

I remembered kissing Brian. My mind replayed every single one of those kisses over and over.

We had kissed 19 times. I went through them again and again, imagined his lips on mine, his soft words in my ear.

Eventually, my memories turned to dreams, and they were nightmares.

Brian waking me in the night, hands gripping my throat, strangling me. “Asphyxiation.” He whispered, “You’ll die like your father.” He had a bad smile. The kind that confused me, the kind that the antisocial kids had. “This is going to be fun.”

Dr. Brooks in the rec room, crawling up the wall like a spider. When he noticed I was there, he opened his mouth, and hundreds of snakes spewed from his mouth and ears and nose. They filled up the room, and I drowned in them.

I was running down the halls of the institution, but everything was white. I tried door after door, but all of them were locked. No matter which way I turned, it led to another hallway full of locked doors. The hands of the clocks on the walls spun madly, as if days, weeks, months were passing in a blink of an eye.

I was falling. I was falling so hard that I had reached terminal velocity. Brian was calling out to me, and I could see him when I looked down. “I’m right here.” He called to me, “And even if you fall, I’ll be right by your side to catch you every time. I promise.  I will always be there for you, Zacky. Always. I promised. And you know what a promise means, don’t you?” Right before I fell into his awaiting arms, he stepped aside, and I hit the ground with a sickening crunch. Brian laughed, and looked over my body. “A promise is just one more thing to be broken.”