Dearest Penguin People.
Welcome to Chapter 6. When we left off last week, Max was asking Sebastian if she could stay behind as a ghost instead of moving on to The Gray. Then they were interrupted...
If you missed the beginning… please start here…
As always, a quick thank you to P.Q. Rubin for the tipsy penguin above :)
CHAPTER SIX
Sebastian peered into the hall. An orderly approached, pushing a gurney with uneven steps, one foot dragging behind the other. The gurney wheels squeaked and moaned; their cries punctuated by the beep of an IV pump. And somewhere in a mound of blankets a child lay buried, evidenced by a tiny pale hand. Motionless, it hung limply over the railing like a discarded doll part.
“What do you see?” Max asked.
“Close the door.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
But it was too late.
The orderly lurched past the room, then stopped, the rattle in his chest audible through the wall. Another beep of the IV pump. He took a slow step backwards and appeared in the doorway, his nose twitching and snuffling like an old blood hound. Muddy eyes squinted from a bloated face, reminding Max of roadkill. He shuffled closer; his wrinkled lips caught between a smile and a frown, the scent of cigarettes and cough drops clinging to his sweat-stained scrubs.
There was a stirring in Max’s head. Something festered, tried to push its way through. “Do I know you?” she asked.
The old man raised a trembling finger toward her heart.
She felt a twinge in her chest. “Go away.”
He made a fist.
She collapsed, the air rushing past as she hit the floor. Fog filled her eyes, settling on her skin in a cool blanket. She could hear the old man breathe, his sour smell permeating the air between them. Sebastian called, but she couldn’t answer, couldn’t move, could only watch as the world turned gray, funneling down into slush. Then a tug. She drifted out of her body, through the fog toward the sound of rushing water.
Max blinked. She was standing beneath a bruised sky in the body of a girl of maybe twelve. She watched as a boy caught up with her, sweat dripping down his cheeks. The air was humid, rich with the pungent scent of rain-soaked earth and rotting leaves. Spanish moss fluttered above them, tattered lace among the knotted branches of live-oaks, their roots tangled and burrowing into the mud like giant toes. Behind them a river rushed past in mounting swirls and eddies, licking the banks with a hungry tongue.
The stirring in her head grew louder. It told her to get away, to leave this place.
But her new body didn’t listen. Instead, it pushed long, coarse hair from its face to better look at the boy. He was a brutish teen in ragged jeans and t-shirt that had long since forgotten what color it was beneath the stains and grime. He was doubled over, catching his breath. A faint shadow traced his upper lip, a promise that he would soon be a man. But the body she was in, it didn’t want this boy of all boys, to see another day.
Powerless, the hidden part of her screamed. It could only watch as the girl reached for him while stamping her foot like a spoiled child. The ground crumbled and gave way beneath her feet. She slid backwards into the river. The hand, once reaching out to harm, now flailed for help.
In the hospital room, the old man had Max by the wrists. He shook her, cursing and barking, spit flying from his lips.
Sebastian shed his body, becoming a seething black cloud. He pounced, pushing through the darkness with his own until the old man snapped. Abruptly, the man’s mouth went slack and he swayed, eyes darting back and forth in his head like windshield wipers.
Years away, Max struggled against the current. The boy had her by the arm. Briefly their eyes met. For a moment she thought she saw a flash of regret in that stony face but it quickly disappeared and she almost felt…bad. One last tug and the river swallowed her. Water filled her lungs, pulling her down. The boy became a shadow, one ghostly hand still floundering in the water above.
Then…nothingness. She drifted. A palette of dream-colored slumber in every shade of gray enveloped her. It rippled in thought, pondering this new morsel. Then The Gray sighed and spat her out like a bad peanut into the Darkness. But Max wasn’t alone. She stood with her other self, its eyes now gleaming black stones, spinning endlessly in its head. Where she began and it ended, she didn’t know. It led her into the swirling mists beyond The Gray.
And then, in the distance she heard the rumble of heavy feet.
“Don’t look,” whispered her other self.
But, she did and found herself gazing into the biggest eyes she had ever seen.
Then light. Voices.
“Leonard, where are you? You know you can’t leave a patient unattended in the hallway.”
Max slid to the hospital floor in a wheezing heap. She gazed up into the old man’s face. He had managed to grow a mustache after all.
“Nice try,” she whispered.
He backed into a wall, holding his chest.
“Leonard?” The voice was impatient now, a nurse, somewhere down the hall, far enough away to not care.
He fled the room. They heard the wail of the gurney as he rushed down the hall.
Max pulled herself onto the bed.
Sebastian was in the doorway, his form rippling in and out. He watched Leonard disappear into the sterile maw of the ICU.
“Sebastian?”
He turned to look at her. Her face had changed, just the slightest shift. He floated back to her. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know.”
He sat next to her, drumming his fingers on the bed, the silence between them growing louder by the moment. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, “And that my little potato head, is what happens when you go backwards.”
Her face broke into a grin.
There was a quick knock at the door and her nurse entered the room. “Hello, there.”
Max groaned. She was determined to not like this woman. Number Five stood to the side. She looked through a folder and gave Max a peremptory nod while Sebastian stood in the middle like a heart sick puppy.
The nurse gave her an appraising look. “My name is Anne. I will be with you until seven.” She closed the gap between them, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You look a bit pale. Are you feeling, okay?”
Max faked a smile, the dank taste of river water still in her mouth. “I’m fine.” She wanted to puke.
Anne handed Max a dingy cotton hospital gown. “Let’s get you into one of our designer nightgowns. Don’t forget to keep your undies on. These things don’t have a back door. Sound alright to you?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course not, Pumpkin.”
“Fine.” Max glared at the gown. Designer it was not. She dropped it on the bed.
Anne patted her knee and then straightened up. “I’ll leave for a moment and let you change.” She left as quickly as she had come in with a silent Number Five in her wake.
Max turned to Sebastian and sighed. “I guess she’s okay.”
“She always was.” His mind was somewhere else. “I’ll be right back.” He started toward the door and then paused, choosing his words carefully. “What you saw wasn’t you.”
She stared up at him with cool eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He searched her face but it gave nothing away. “Alright, then.”
“And Sebastian.”
“Yes?”
“I’m not going to forget that you called me a potato head.”
He disappeared, his smile remaining long after the rest of him faded away.
Max picked up the gown and stared at it with distaste. It was a faded blue monstrosity with cartoon elephants and hippos. She grimaced. Nothing screamed get well more than sad pachyderms.
A cloud went over the sun, casting shadows across the room. As she watched, a light mist gathered beyond the window. Two pinpoints of light bobbed in the center. They blinked. Max limped over to the window and shut the blinds.
If you have the inclination…
‘He shuffled closer; his wrinkled lips caught between a smile and a frown, the scent of cigarettes and cough drops clinging to his sweat-stained scrubs’ — ooof, that conjured up images!
"Beyond The Gray.." 😊