Organ - Chapter 19
ORGAN
Chapter Nineteen
Katie woke up early the following day, knowing it was essentially now or never if she was going to complete her recently acquired crusade to find Oscar and bring him back into the world of the living. Last night’s escapade through the vicinity of the degrading bus terminal, had led her to a rough in every sense of the word clue from a less than reliable source, now it was her obligation to follow up, do what the police are apparently failing to do in bringing Oscar home. Her car burst into life with a splutter of a low tank, the radio was still off after her need to calm down in silence on last night’s journey home, but today she was more equipped for an adventure into what she realistically understood could become a more dangerous hunting ground.
Before she left for the day Katie stuffed a shoulder bag with essentials for her day-out, some provisions for Oscar in case his health had deteriorated, blankets, some nutrient rich breakfast bars, a change of clothes – granted they belong to her so might be a tad uncomfortable for him should she find him, and a small bottle of mace she bought after some alarming increases in violent crimes last year around the hospital, the drive was going to take the better part of an hour and finding somewhere to safely park outside the reaching desperate hands of any thieves would be a separate but concerning challenge in itself.
Eleven flashed across the digital clock on the dashboard, Katie was madly upset by how long the journey had taken but it was perhaps her own fault for driving around in circles for over thirty minutes to find a parking space that was both, under a streetlamp and in clear view of the passing junction that entertained the occasional “normal” traffic. Katie was insistent on making herself feel that little bit safer, knowing how close she came to danger the night before in similar circumstances. Staying in view of humans, including if needed the patrolling police cars, was worth taking the extra minutes to arrange. Katie was told by her only lead, the disgusting vagrant from the terminals exploration that this would be the area that Oscar could have been spotted.
She was determined to either find the lost Rubens child out here in the single worst looking street she had seen OR find some other down on their luck wantaway who was hopefully not in the defensive mood at her surprise visit. The car locked with a clack loud enough to wake the dead. Katie slung her bag over her shoulder and held the mace she brought in a tight grip inside her jacket pocket, it was not lost on her how unsafe this little jaunt was, but she was obviously out here with the only useful information on Oscar that anyone has found in five days, her hands had been tied by circumstance. Off she trod lightly stepping down the unkept paths, dodging various dangerous potholes that miraculously found themselves on the pavement and not the road, the brave explorer of parts uncivilised in their town that was, if you asked the oldest of residents, slowly getting worse with the years of change. The smashing distant call of a bottle breaking caught her off guard and glancing over her shoulder, it was distant.
“Damn cats” she mumbled to herself hoping the guess was accurate and tricking her own mind into a sense of safety.
Poking her head up against various glass doors and street view windows, Katie kept moving and kept searching for the majority of the morning and well into the early afternoon, her forehead, palms, and fingertips now smudged with the dust and dirty remnants of unwashed windows she had been pressed against with nosey conviction. Sweat had stained her pits and neckline creating unflattering trophies of exertion from her search, today was going to be fruitless if she could find nothing to brag about to the police or to Mrs Rubens, perhaps it could even get the mother on her side for once, even the sign of a non-Oscar sighting would have been enough to satisfy but these buildings seemed to be housing the remnants of a ghost town and the ghosts inside intended on residing unseen.
Another cracking of glass echoed behind her and into, yet another half boarded up old shop front, she imagined that it was once fully boarded up but was ransacked by the hordes of brainless rot that infested the underbelly of the worlds forgotten towns. Cracking and a slipped foot became unmistakable nearby. Katie hesitantly moved towards the source of the noise and found the building it must have originated from, through the hollow space where a piece of window glass once stood she peered in and gained an eyeballs worth of layout for the interior. No signs of deathly occupants but a distinct amount of unsettled dust in the air that would indicate someone, or something recently moved through to kick the dance of fairy dust up into the dying rays of the afternoon sun.
It was her best shot yet and with her mace still resting in a sweaty grip nestled into her palm, the rescuer felt emboldened to go loudly into that dark room. Disturbed dust clouds became her only reassurance of life on these otherwise dead streets. Unlike the last person who ventured into, or out of, this decaying former store that looked like an old chemist if not for the weird array of bookshelves that gathered months’ worth of thick coated dust blankets and moth balls, Katie was pulling at the boards across the door to the entrance, she had noticed the sheer lack of patrols coming this way, it dawned on her as she rummaged through the abandoned property that the police just do not seem all that bothered about finding Oscar after five days had come and crawled away. Splinters aside it was an unchallenging time getting into the door, the boards laid at the side of the shops face without a care for those who might notice.
“Nobody cares, Nobody cares” Katie sang to herself comforting the notion of committing crimes in broad daylight.
Inside the door set of an old sounding bell that would typically inform the shop owners of a new customer, but now it would most likely be an intruder alarm or some audible protection for the vermin population living in the boxes and abandoned materials left to rot, Katie stepped lightly over the patches of glass that’s previous frame was now letting in light and air that smelt of cigarettes and damp despite having seen neither sitting water or smokers in the immediate vicinity of the shop, aural ghosts from a bad part of town. Sending shivers and freezing fear shooting down her legs and burrowing into her socks, the door behind the counter that appeared open on entry slammed closed and a scampering chaotic noise emitted out muffled by the wooden thickness of the now barred entryway, much to her misplaced shock Katie was seemingly not alone in the dead chemist. Katie was shouldering the bag she carried full of supplies for treating or saving a wounded patient in the field, it felt heavier than the morning and turned cumbersome, she lowered the pack to the floor unaware if she intended to abandon it in a moment of flight from whatever left that door unopen to her intrusion or if she could summon up some of her dads fire and fight better with her arm unburdened by the weight of her equipment. Fight or flight she sounded off in her head.
“Fight” she mumbled to herself struggling to shake her limbs back to life.
Flushing them with blood for her discovered and adored levels of bravery. Baby steps turned into toddler steps which turned into childish steps, but eventually Katie found herself reaching for the door handle behind the counter, to her right was the disused cash register and as expected for this area it has clear signs of someone forcing open the till to loot what remained of any coppers and silvers from the previous professional, the scratch marks actually looked fresher the more she observed but behind this door was the likely guilty party in this petty robbery. Katie lost herself in a second of brainlessness and knocked on the closed door.
“What the fuck are you doing Katherine?” she asked herself staring at her closed hand still raised In the knocking motion.
Flaking flecks of greenish dried paint spotting the ball of her palm. By some miracle no voice called back, Katie was almost sick in her mouth at the pause for response before it was safe again, then the scurrying occurred from behind the door for second time. Wanting nothing more than to turn and run, grab her bag and retreat back to her car, Katie swallowed the dryness in her throat and heard her mother’s voice “He needs you” echoing from her nightmare.
“Fuck” she continued spouting the obscenities under her breath wondering how she had allowed herself into this situation.
She was not some grand explorer or stone-hearted warrior battling the dark forces. She was a nurse, a damn fine nurse – not if you ask Mary – but this was not her business facing mysterious noises in the covert shut away corners of the downtrodden holes of the world. It had been far too long since she did anything, Katie stood still staring at the vomit-green door, frozen in fear and lost for action but this situation could turn ugly and dangerous if the person behind that door was to find their own courage first, coming barrelling out guns blazing ready to end her life. The thought drove her even more insane with worry, what if someone in that room has a weapon, mace would only get her so far and a gun would likely beat her choice of battling guard.
“Do something. Do something. Do something you coward!” she mumbled and then shouted to herself bursting into action and swinging the door open inwards.
Waiting for some commotion to come flying her way or send her diving into the afterlife head first and full of regrets. Dust settled dancing through the rays of rare light, the door smashed into the wall behind its hinge and there she found her prize, Oscar Rubens. His face was pale and bony with starvation, likely from five days without eating or drinking clean water but Katie could not help shaking the idea that this was more to do with his new addition on his body. His feet kicked away at the floor and moved various piles of newspaper that he had brought into the room as some sort of insulating nest, warmth was something he did seek out, but food was apparently not. Katie could see from his frame and the way he leaned that he was likely experiencing some initial stages of malnutrition, the boy looked unwell and his eyes frantically assessing the vision before him as though he did not trust his own mind to relay the events.
“Oscar” Katie said leaning down to her knees and trying to bring his face to attention, “Oscar, are you okay?” she asked again letting him hear a friendly voice, begging that he would answer her to confirm he was okay and not suffering another episode of either lump-induced spasm or one of his waking nightmares that he hinted at back at the hospital.
“Nurse? Katie?” Oscar asked pushing himself up against the wall, wrist deep in the piles of mess and scattered papers that covered the floor in a carpet of a hoarders home, his face was waking up and his saviour saw the light returning to his eyes, they grew enlarged like a frightened alley-cat.
“Yes, yes it’s me!” she replied eagerly reaching out for his hand but letting it fall short and swing at her side “What are you doing here? It’s not safe here,” the question felt premature before she could confirm he was even medically sound, but no other questions or line of conversation came forward to jump the queue on the tip of her tongue.
“Not safe at home. Not safe at hospital. Not safe anywhere. Just pain. Pain. Not safe” he rambled in terrifying lifeless rhythm, his voice sounded far worse than she expected, it was hoarse and hissing, as if he had been screaming for hours on end.
“Oscar your mother is looking for you, she is worried sick and would just like to see you safe” the nurse explained switching without awareness into her professional manner of handling situations similar with uncooperative patients at the hospital.
Katie made a mental note in that moment to avoid mentioning the hospital to Oscar, it was clearly going to trigger him, his mental state was still extremely hard to ascertain and cracking that damn might be unwise without some foolproof backup plan to get the lost lamb out of the fire.
“I can’t go home, not safe, Mum betrayed me. It was a trap. Not safe. Going home was a mistake” Oscar answered her tepid step into humanity with his own step backwards away from it, hearing him speak of traps and betrayal worried the nurse even more.
His eyes still a glassy frantic mess and his hands shaking, no longer hiding his desire to cradle the lump in his midsection.
“Is that still hurting Oscar?” Katie asked attempting to regain her sense of active first responder to the young patient.
“Never stopped, Pain” Oscar playfully threw back with a ghoulish grim growing across his exhausted face.
Katie held a finger up to Oscar to indicate a momentary pause, she hurried back outside and grabbed her emergency supplies, digging into the bag she brought out a small flask of water and some of those expensive snack bars. Oscar took them gladly with widened eyes, through rushed gulps and hard dry swallows, he slowly rejoined the world of the living, evidently becoming more aware of Katies presence being a reality and not some cruel testing manifestation of whatever dark force created by the bumpy intruder still plagued his mind.
“Are they still looking for me?” he asked watching Katie sit against the wall in mirroring comfort, she nodded back and pulled the emergency kit between her legs. “Do they know where I am? Did they follow you?” Oscar continued interrogating her between sickening unpleasant bites and slurps that Katie was choosing to ignore for her own sanity “Not safe” he muttered involuntarily under his breath.
“No, I came alone and parked nearby. You will need to come with me though Oscar. You know that I can’t leave you here” she explained to the delirious subject as she watched him open his third treat.
Katie assumed the order would gain her some argument, but Oscar was ignoring her and carrying on with his makeshift feast, sucking down every crumb as though they contained the secret to life itself, her body shuddered watching his invert the wrappers seeking morsels lingering on the foil.
“Oscar did you hear me? You need to come with me when I leave here” she repeated herself to understand his level of awareness.
Much to her surprise he simply nodded and gave her a simple “I know, it’s not safe here anymore” before holding out his hand and offering her the empty flask of water back “not safe” he repeated quietly to himself, Katie chose again to ignore it. Smiling at the apparent success of the rescue she had crafted from absolutely nothing but a trip to a bus station and the ramblings of that dangerous looking addict, her guard began to slip, and the personality of the nurse replaced the profession.
“I thought you would fight me more” she light-heartedly joked sliding her foot to nudge Oscars that still rested across the floor.
“If I don’t come with you I will likely die here” Oscar replied deadpan in expression, her face shrivelled into a gloomy frown, it was obvious just how unwell he was and sadly it was becoming more and more evident that his mind was truly fractured.
Katie was realising with every soulless moment he displayed that the escape from Greenwood had made things worse, much worse than either of them could have anticipated, but Katie saw it in his dry eyes that Oscar Rubens was a changed man.
“So, I was thinking that we get in my car and come back to my place, you can shower and get changed. I will call your mother and let her know you are found and safe” Katie started explaining her plan for what comes next, regretting using the word safe, but Oscar was watching her with such unease that it broke her concentration, “What?” she asked reluctantly as his eyes widened like a startled animal in a set of bright dooming headlights.
“You can’t call her. She will send me back. Not safe” Oscar said with anger but still no inflection in his voice, the words sounded more akin to a clergyman’s unwavering command than an unwell young man.
“Oscar she….” Katie began defending her position but was cut off by Oscar attempting to climb to his feet, fuelled by his rescuers meal, the calories racing through his body eagerly carried him to make his point.
“I am not going home, and I am not contacting her” he stated with conviction.
Katie saw it was not going to be her hand raised at the end of this fight and decided to switch her tactic before his cooperation was beyond reach. Thinking on her feet she found the wiggle room that could allow her time to think and perhaps convince Oscar to see the light.
“Would you like to get a hotel room instead and we can talk about this somewhere…” Katie gestured to everything around her in comical fashion with wide spread arms in the air “not like this” she finished up her bit and saw a glint of water in his eye, a smile cracked his mouth from the ceramic frozen mask, “There you are” she said with glee.
They gathered up their things, Katies bag being the thing, and headed for her car when she was able to convince Oscar that no police car was waiting for him. It took a while, but it was possible and the more they spoke the more she saw his life returning to his shell, inside the car she would have guessed he was a different person from the insect scuttling bug man she met in the abandoned chemist, he played with the radio, spoke about his clothes being filthy and even apologised for the smell he was likely rubbing all over her car from five days on the lamb.
They arrived at the hotel with day sinking behind them into a beautiful glowing sunset, Katie thought to herself how much this reminded her of a trip with her ex, arriving at a hotel in the dying embers of the evening after some adventure in an unknown location, but Oscar was not the kind of condition she would like to have brought anyone home in and watching him walk up the steps to the front desk she saw just the extent of how deep this ache in his side was ingrained. Oscar was crooked leaning over, constantly holding his elbow tucked into his waist, it was clear that the pain was now so intense that his mind was handling it before his nerves finally burned out and fried the pitiful thing. Katie pushed him aside gently and addressed the front desk clerk herself.
“Good evening” the spry faced woman behind the counter greeted.
“Hello, could I book a room for the night please” Katie asked attempting to sound polite and not at all suspicious.
She was in her head about the way she spoke, as if she were faking being human, and these people would catch her out unzip her skin suit and send her back to Mars.
“Of course, can I see some ID please?” the clerk asked, now the alarm bell began to warm up in her head.
“I am also going to need some toiletries, and a set of pyjamas sent up to our room if that’s possible?” Katie asked realising her go bag did not include items for herself, simply supplies to revive Oscar from the dead yet again.
“Of course, I will have some items sent up later this evening” this helpful clerk insisted, throwing her a comically large smile.
Katie pondered for a moment on leaving a paper trail but gave over her card details all the same. Oscar saw the hesitancy as Katie reached into her bag and dug it out for the staff.
“Thank you” the clerk said dragging out her vowels in annoying upbeat play that both arrivals could have done without hearing.
Katie finished up paying and giving the clerk all the information the hotel would definitely not be selling on to some shady monolith and snatched the room key with eagerness. Second floor, facing the street, the room was aged and could have been nice twenty years ago she thought, but it was sanctuary for the night and a refuge to keep her wandering wantaway awash in his own living nightmare relatively safe from further exterior harm. Oscar showered and slept deep that night, not even his obvious nightmares could wake him, his snores and pleading mumbles for help keeping Katie awake from the floor, she refused the take the bed and Oscar made no gallant protests, his mind thinking of sleep without worry and nothing else. In the late hours of the night as Oscar groaned unintelligible words from his latest personal sleepy horror-show, Katie allowed the past few days to finally wash over her, holding back tears from the extreme nature of these events she was somehow deeply entangled within, she allowed herself the pride of one underlying fact that she whispered into the ceiling of the dusky room “I found him, He’s safe.”
