Organ - Chapter 20

ORGAN

Chapter Twenty

Oscar sneaked a peak through the blinds facing the hotels balcony walkway, Katie woke up at the sound of them moving against glass, looking up at him from the floor, her makeshift bed, he seemed vacant like a shirt dangling without body on a hanger. 

“Oscar, are you okay? What are you doing?” Katie asked shuffling herself onto her side against the hard carpet.

“Showing them it’s safe, they needed to see” he muttered into the glass.

Katie saw a look in the corner of his eye that worried her intensely, it was neglected of everything that made this man himself. 

“Who needed to see?” she asked wiping her forearm over her eyes to ensure she was conscious, and this was not some uncanny venture into dreamland brought on by these particularly unusual days, his lack of response only worried her more. “Please go back to bed Oscar, it’s still early. We can talk about it in the morning” she pleaded with her roommate hoping he would snap back into frame. 

“Be quiet, they don’t like the noise” Oscar mumbled still facing the glass, his topless frame slim and uncomfortably leaning to his side, a starving Halloween feature to hang. 

Even in her recently stirred state Katie saw the warning, she put her back against the floor and ensured an ear was facing his direction, for the first time since they met, she was feeling honestly scared of Oscar Rubens. Night activities aside from the early morning window watching, Oscar seemed himself in the morning, she had no idea how long he stood at the window last night but as a precaution Katie watched for any signs of distress. 

“What would you like to do for breakfast?” Katie asked after they went separately to brush their teeth and use the shower. 

Oscar was sweating buckets throughout the night and the bed seemed soaked through in shapes of moist splattered human, Katie suspected he may be running a fever, but it was not exactly the most pressing of her concerns to distract them both while she had him locked away in the room and within ear shot to convince. Playing their parts as the lavish loving couple, they ventured down to breakfast together and found the depressingly outdated canteen. It was somehow even more of a throwback than their room with dangling orange glass lampshades, dirty carpets that stopped and started against tiles before rubber stripes could prevent it from touching the food counters, in the light of day this all made her reconsider the price she paid up front for the night’s stay. Oscar seemed uncaring at his surroundings and found himself, and Katie, a table away from the bulk of the other four or five guests that sat scattered in distance from the others, it was a beautiful display of unsocial habit. 

“Oscar do you want me to fix you a plate?” Katie asked looking around the room and mapping out her breakfast choices, in reality she simply did not desire to see him ambling in bent contortion across the court in plain view of every other guest. 

Oscar nodded and stayed planted in his seat at the back of the room away from any prying eyes. Throughout their breakfast she watched in disgust and shock at Oscars appetite that had seemingly died in the hospital, not just the volume of food he consumed but the speed in which it went from plate to drooling mouth, the boy was ravenous with a hunger unlike any patient she had treated before. 

“You want to stop and breath?” Katie asked playfully, Oscar ignored her jab and continued shovelling greasy hash browns and fried eggs into his mouth before taking breaks for mammoth gulps of juice, her disbelief was only elevated when he reached across and took her plate to satiating some unending pit of famine. 

“I was still eating Oscar” Katie stated staring across at this thing that wore his skin to seemingly steal all of planet earths breakfast food. 

“Get more” Oscar demanded. Katie rolled her eyes and got her king another tray of sausage, eggs, and anything else dripping in cheap cooking oil the hotel could fire fast enough.

Well, the day dragged on, and Katie occupied herself with attempts to bring Oscar back to her home, the jump to his own family home seemed too far for her to bridge with his flighty mindset. The TV played some old movie involving a man having dinner with death, felt appropriate considering her pleasure of watching Oscar eat his and her body weight at breakfast, it must have been enthralling because Oscar sat in silence from start to finish watching it play out, only stopping his stare to urinate and then return to the same spot. 

“Do you think we can talk about coming back?” Katie asked watching Oscar from across the room, she sat at the single table in the room playing around with the room key between her fingers.

Oscar ignored her and continued mindlessly fixating on the terrible film. 

“Oscar?” she asked again hoping to distract him.

“I can’t go home, you know that. Not safe” he mumbled back without giving her the benefit of eye contact.

Katie let out a heavy sigh and went over to switch off the television. It was a bold move, but Oscar continued staring at the now black screen, static popping across the glass being the only noise that entertained the room for a moment. 

“We are talking about this Oscar; I don’t have much time left before I need to get back to work. They will be getting suspicious if I don’t turn up. You will be right in the firing line if they come digging around about my last few days” she explained to the vacant man, it was beginning to dig beneath her calmness one shovel of arrogance at a time. 

Oscar was rattled for the first time since she brought him back from the abandoned store he had turned into some awful attempt at a living space, his eyes widened as he rushed past her and stood staring out the window as he had been the night before. 

“You can’t go back to work Katie, not safe for us now” he began, Katie seemed stunned at his phrasing but was cut off before she could interrupt with a defence.

“You can’t leave me now. I am going to need you” Oscar said with a coldness to his voice that only the phantoms of dreams should possess. 

Katie sat back down into the only chair in the room and watched as her could-be-friend watched the oblivion through his empty eyes.

“I need to go back to work. Boothe will come looking” she explained trying to awaken the sense in Oscar, but in repeat of his previous bouts of melancholy he simply stood in silence trapped somewhere in his own head battling something Katie could only guess was winning.

“Katie” Oscar called out watching her return from the bathroom, the sound of the toilet flushing loudly behind her and disrupting his voice. 

“Yes?” she said with a snap back still frosty from his demand moments earlier. 

“I think you should go book another night, maybe two” Oscar said watching her carefully clicking open her phone and placing it back down again face down on the bedside stand beside the charger cable that rested unused. 

“I think that’s a terrible Idea, if you don’t want to return home then please just come back with me to my place. You can stay there until you feel ready to talk to your mother or find a better place to get help and I can go to work until this is resolved” Katie regretted using some of her words but with Oscar being so unreceptive since his discovery. 

She was unsure if he was even listening to her. 

“Is your home safe?” Oscar asked looking over at her finally from the window he seemed obsessed with, paranoia had the man firmly in a headlock.

“Yes, I won’t be bringing in Boothe or your mother until you are ready” repositioning herself to face him entirely “Oscar you need to come home, this is no longer a discussion” she said giving him absolute no further room for interpretation.

Katie was defiantly drawing a line in the sand and making her demands of this foolhardy young man who seemed younger with every childish refusal of help. 

“We aren’t debating. I am not going home, and neither are you. I need you now and I need time to work out what we are going to do first” Oscar stated with gravity that pinned her down and removed her ability to think for a few moments. 

“I am done with this Oscar” she replied giving him the attitude back that was being bottled up to avoid setting him on a path for the road once more. 

His uncooperative and bad-mannered behaviour since arriving at the hotel led her to believe this was a futile effort that could only serve to incriminate her in the eyes of the real rescuers. Katie stood up and threw her bag over her shoulder, as she made her way to the door Oscar stepped in front of her blocking her way, his eyes seemed black as opposed to their usual diluted colours. 

“Get out of my way” she quietly ordered putting space between herself and her warden.

“Katie…” he muttered before clutching violently at his side and lifting his shirt above his chest with one hand “look at this” he stated allowing the room to view his lump afflicted abdomen. 

Katie stepped back another pace and gasped in horror, his bulge that was once a simple cyst like mass was now large enough to mirror a closed fist, purplish flesh surrounding the area and stretch marks leaking out across the boys stomach and rib cage. Katie saw with her own eyes the mass vibrating beneath his first layer of skin, her face turning away to indicate she was done with the freakshow she had been forced to attend. 

“I need you” Oscar whispered again, tears now falling from one unrecognisable eye.

Katie paused sensing her weight of guilt and empathetic duty overtaking her sense of self preservation.

“Okay, fine, I will stay for another night. But then we are going to figure this out Oscar, you need help and very soon” she said falling head over heels for his attempt to blackmail the helpful hands of his saviour in the field. 

Katie felt the weight of Oscars demonic world falling off her shoulders as the hotel room door shut behind her. Oscar was not well, mentally, obviously physically, she was now aware of the severity of both and with the time approaching for the decision or action that could spiral into anarchy, she did everything in her power to restrain the gnawing anxiety attack that was festering in her chest. 

“Could I book two more nights please?” Katie asked the clerk at the front desk; it was a different person than the night they first arrived.

An older gentleman with balding hair and a thick moustache stood before her smiling and slowly thumbing away at the keyboard in pensioner speed. 

“Of course, same room?” he asked with a gruff voice.

“Please” she replied looking around the lobby and ensuring it was not being occupied by any law enforcement or persons she could recognise or be recognised by. 

“That’s all done, thank you” the clerk said handing her back the payment card attached to the room, as she went to walk away the desk clerk called out to her “Excuse me miss?,” 

Katie spun on the spot caught off guard and went back to close the gap. 

“I know it might not be my place, so please forgive me if I sound intrusive….but that gentleman you are with……” Katie watched with panic flickering behind her eyes as he danced around finding some words that likely would be less offensive “are you in any trouble?” he asked arriving at his point in delicate tact. 

“Why do you ask?” she hesitated to answer but dove in for more questions to bide herself time to produce some plausible answer. 

“Well, I saw him at breakfast, and he looks unwell, I didn’t want to say anything, but I also saw him in the lobby last night arguing with himself rather angrily, I have a daughter, and I would want someone to ask if my daughter was in a spot of bother” Katie had heard enough and cut the gentleman off.

“He is just tired from our trip, thank you though” she answered moving away from the desk and giving him a friendly fast wave to physically end this interaction. 

The clerk sensed his overstep and did nothing to slow her exit. 

“Goodbye miss, I didn’t mean any offence, have a nice day” he called out unsure if he was going to be paid a visit from the strange guests male friend later that day once Oscar was made aware of his concerns.

Katie paused before re-entering the room, the clerks words echoing through her mind with the realisation that she could be in danger but had become clouded to her cause, to his cause, her hand already fixed on the handle, key card in the door that likely let Oscar know she was standing outside, but her hesitance had her reeling with ideas of what to do next. Katie knew she needed to get Oscar back into a hospital but convincing him of this was going to be impossible the longer they sat in the hotels sanctuary. Before her moment of reflection came to its natural end, Oscar swung the door open and greeted Katie with a large smile, his teeth seemed dull and his eyes still unemotional, but the corners appeared red as though he was rubbing at them in her absence. 

“Everything okay?” he asked with a gentleness that was missing before her trip downstairs, she nodded and put her bag with her purse back down beside the bed, as she placed it down Katie noticed her phone was now on-charge and not in the space she left it. 

“Oscar have you been on my phone?” she asked without raising her voice, the nurse had been around aggressive patients in her line of work that required finesse when addressing their actions and this was quickly becoming another one of those times she feared. 

“I did. I needed to see if you had been calling Boothe or Mary…..Mum” he answered very matter of fact, his cadence seemed like this was some acceptable invasion of privacy. 

“and?” she asked with anger in her voice but still a contained volume keeping the lid on. 

“I didn’t find anything” he replied with deadness. “Can we go out for a walk?” Oscar asked interrupting anytime Katie had to mentally handle this betrayal he had committed while she was off purchasing another two nights safe haven. 

Her head spun on her body, Oscar was bouncing between moods so fast she could have developed whiplash just watching the wantaway decide on his current feelings, but she was invested in his excursion and with her own career on the line it was something she inevitably needed to see out to the end. 

“Okay Oscar lets go for a walk. Anywhere you have in mind?” she asked letting out heavy breaths and throwing on her jacket. 

“We can just find somewhere to talk that isn’t here” he replied leaving before her and snatching away the key card from the door.

They found a park not ten minutes’ walk from the hotel, it was nicer than the part of town she found Oscar, but still on the shadier side of living spaces. Groups of hooded unaccompanied kids on bikes buzzed past and occasionally got close enough to make her jump, Oscar never seemed to register their presence, but they carried on their march in silence around the green space, it was a break she appreciated breathing in some fresh air that was not being regurgitated through the hotel rooms air-conditioning in sickening clouds of warm tepid exhales. 

“I know things are difficult right now. I just need time to plan, but you need to help me and stop trying to get me back into hospital where it’s not safe” Oscar said with his newly acquired grumbling tone, it was annoyingly solemn and failed to match up neatly with his appearance that withered into a skeleton as the days expired. 

“I will help however I can Oscar, but you know how bad that lump looks right? How bad you look? I think it might burst and we need to at least go out of town for a different hospital or clinic” Katie replied being understanding of his weird new orders but also keeping the nurse duties at the forefront of her objectives with every passing argument they seemed to be having. 

She saw him shaking his head, the hair that had now grown below his ears wagging with every slow shake. 

“Give me time” Oscar said barking the words out, his fuse was non-existent, buried and rotting. 

Katie thought it was on slightly worse than his mothers. 

“I have given you two more days, after that I am leaving and you will need to either come with or…” she pondered on finishing her sentence seeing him staring out the corner of her eye, his hand was still cradling his side as it had been for hours, frankly it never seemed to leave the lumps side. 

“Finish the thought Katie” he asked still facing forwards but slowing his pace.

Katie knew she needed to produce something and was running out of time to plan for herself. 

“Here we are” she started “two lost idiots without a plan” Katie fake laughed after blurting out her thought in uncomfortable twitching nervousness.

Oscar did not seem to find the funny side of things, Katie felt that pit in her stomach widening.

“Can I tell you something?” Oscar said sitting back upon the hotel bed with his head resting against the headboard in lazy fashion.

“Of course,” Katie replied while flicking through her phone and pointlessly looking through the list of clinics within a forty- or fifty-mile drive, she knew Oscar was not going to agree anytime soon but it was still the only idea she could think of that might be perceived as aiding the situation and not directly making it worse in the eyes of Mary, her employer, and the police. 

“I see things; I see things all the time. Shapes and people that aren’t there. Sometimes I know them, sometimes its Dad or Mum. Somethings aren’t normal. But they have kept me company, helped me find food and shelter when I was escaping Boothe and the police. Do you think they are real? Living inside me. Not safe” Oscar said as he faced Katie with a human look upon his face for the first time since she found him. 

“Oscar, do you want me to be honest?” she asked back endeavouring to calm his anger before it had a chance to develop, he nodded and sucked in his cheek to chew the inside. 

“Well, you are unwell, like very unwell and If I was guessing you are probably experiencing frequent episodes of psychosis from either the shock of all this or that mass hanging off your side. So no, I do not think they are real, but I do believe you are likely seeing these things” she answered loosely pointing at the lump in question. 

“They have actually kept me company” Oscar repeated with an odd playfully in his voice looking down at his side. 

Katie noticed he was gently stroking this invasive tumour, and it made her momentarily queasy. 

“They being?” she asked not honestly wanting an answer.

Oscar did not verbalise his answer but gentle raised his shirt to show off his unnatural appendage that was sticking out like some bump on the green of a golf course. 

“It isn’t they Oscar, it is a growth that likely needs to be removed for you to get better” Katie explained without raising her voice and keeping the tone light, he nodded again but she knew he almost certainly had ignored her statement.

“That was a nice walk wasn’t it?” Oscar said getting up off the bed.

Katie agreed and for a second shot him a smile, normal moments felt rare, they both seemed to unconsciously crave them with rapidly appearing and disappearing smirks. He vanished into the bathroom, and soon after she heard the shower turning before the curtain swiping across joined the chorus of noises that filled their room. Throughout his time in the shower Katie could occasionally hear him talking to himself, nothing discernible but clear words being shared into the ceramic tiles and whichever vision was joining him in there. 

“Not safe” was sung out multiple times in his acquired twitch.

Katie was worried but while he was still breathing it was something she could put at the back of the priorities list. Night parked up and nestled in for the evening as the bright day they had almost enjoyed drove itself home beyond the horizon, Katie did not bring up what she heard as Oscar showered, nor did she press him for anymore requests to return home that evening, if she was being honest with herself glancing a reflection in the mirror, she was exhausted and mentally famished from her reconnection with the sought after runaway. Oscar seemed more like himself for a few hours at least, he laughed watching nonsense on the telly, he had some light jokes with Katie about his multiple near misses with almost certain death and even offered to negotiate in the morning, although Katie ignored the ploy and left him to have a pleasant evening far away from topics of hospitals, his mother, or the lump. She was just enjoying seeing him be a person again, hell she could have been forgiven for finding him pleasant to be around that evening besides his randomly placed spouts of “Pain” or “Feed” or “Not safe,” in swirling contrast to his behaviour and antics since she located him in that chemist that shrank in her memory.

“Can we get to bed?” Oscar asked, Katie looked over and saw his face drooping into his chest, eyes closed with heavy lids and his chin digging a hole in his clavicle. 

“Yeah, let me just pop to the bathroom and we can get set up” she replied. 

Jumping off the bed and moving off to void her bladder, Katie washed her face before getting another night of rough sleep on the alarmingly hard carpet of the hotel they had booked up for another two nights. The cool heavy water was upsetting against her cheeks and eyes, dropping off globs of the days dust, grime, and anguish that Katie hid beneath the mask of calm for Oscars offhand attitude towards their rather pressing matter of his desertion and the man-hunt that is following behind them. Leaving the bathroom and nestling into her blankets that made up her makeshift sleeping bag, Katie adjusted the pillow beneath her head by squeezing the air out of it and laid her body down to finally rest, but Oscar was awake and looking down at her from atop the bed like some wide-awake child at a sleepover. 

“You think I can get better? Go back to normal?” he asked earnestly, the vulnerability like caffeine in the air ensured Katie was not going to get drowsy anytime soon. 

She moved onto her side to face him and placed the pillow on its edge for added height “I think if you want to get better we can find you help, even if it’s away from here, I need you to want to get better and stop fighting me on it” she replied. 

“I think leaving town is a good idea, but I want you to come with me, not safe” he posed the question and let the suggestion linger in the air with baited hook, the worm wriggling in her face as Katie pondered the implications accompanying him could have on her personal life. 

“If it means you will get help, if we can get you into a hospital soon….” 

She lingered just a bit further knowing that this was not something she could resist given the possibility of getting this boy a cure,

“I will come with you. BUT you have to be serious about going to a new doctor. I don’t want to waste any more time if you aren’t serious about getting help. Frankly, Oscar” she paused and breathed a laboured exhale “I don’t want to be here when you end up hurting yourself beyond saving.” Katie watched his face, it was heart-breaking but seemed human, which was all she could ask for in the present events.

“While I feel like myself, think like myself, we need to find me help. Before They are awake, when it’s not safe to talk” he replied giving her everything she was hoping for when originally bringing the patient into the security of this shabby hotel room. 

Albeit without the menacing threat of this phantom “They” that appears to be lurking in the dark spots of their adventure waiting to rear its unseen hideous face. 

“Thank you” she said holding out a hand to comfort the young man. 

Katie felt the pride welling up in her chest as though her effort was finally paying off and Oscar was turning a corner now that someone was treating him like a human and not some pin-cushion experiment awaiting torture and abuse, he held out his hand and gave her a quick squeeze of the fingers before letting his arm dangle to the floor lazily. 

“Get some sleep, we can look for a hospital in the morning” Katie instructed turning back onto her side and flattening out the pillow deformed in shape.

Oscar gave her a quiet “Night” back and fell silent after fidgeting himself into a contented position on the supple mattress that sprung and pinged with every twitch of a muscle. Hours past, it was difficult for Katie to sleep, the floor was bad enough with its scratchy carpet that occasionally poked through her sheets when she moved in search of the comfortable spot, but the new neighbours appeared to be moving in an entire shopfront with constant banging and motion activated lights coming on and off in the hallway. Oscar must have heard her fidgeting and exhaling in tired frustration.

“You awake?” he whispered into the darkness of the room. 

“Yeah” she replied with similar whispery breath.

“Do you want to come onto the bed? We can top and tail” he said offering up a place on the large double bed. 

Katie again rolled onto her side “I don’t think that’s a good idea” she hesitantly answered.

“Katie I don’t think we have anything to worry about, but we can put some pillows between us. Come on” he instructed with irritation at her reluctance. 

It was a moment before she finally conceded the point and climbed up onto the bed with her pillow in hand, placing some of the loose blankets from the floor between the two of them. 

“Better?” he asked poking fun at her slow ascent to join him.

“Yes its better than the floor” she replied with another large exhale indicating her fatigue “Goodnight” she added dipping her head down onto the pillow and instantly feeling the luxury, he had implied, her eyes felt heavy suddenly and her mind began to drift into wistful haze.