Organ - Chapter 23
ORGAN
Chapter Twenty Three
Pounding noises sang into her ears, it never seemed to stop. Thump-thump-thump it continued booming out hurting the silence that comforted much more readily. Katies eyes opened fluttering as the light confused her sensitive retinas, the gross disorientation smothered her senses with the room spinning and teetering around the downed nurse. Iron flavourings danced across her tongue; Katie established the inside of her mouth was almost certainly injured as she assessed her condition. Thump-thump-thump, the noise sounded out again and Katie pressed herself up with both hands sore with cramps from her long spell on the ground, she crawled to the bed and climbed up onto the sheets falling onto her side, for a moment valuing the softness in contrast to the floor that had been so unwelcoming.
Years of nursing school and practical learning amongst the damaged, bruised and weary of the town had taught her that she was sensing the signs of a concussion ruminating in her skull, her hands and feet felt numb to the touch, but she attributed that to the time spent prone on the ground with her full weight against her, but it was the dried bloody split at the top of her forehead that she was most concerned about. Feeling at her new wound that tore her hair line showing deep red matter beneath her skin, Katie hissed at the feel of stinging pain.
“Ouch” she muttered to herself seeing the stain on the door frame and cracking of the wood from her impact.
Then it hit her like a missile from the brush, she had no idea if Oscar was still in the room. Katie spun round on the bed, it sent her head aching and her limbs pining for a sense of weight through pinching pins and needles, the bathroom door was ajar, but no shadows could be seen moving, Oscar was thankfully no longer in her presence and Katie assumed he had once again run away from his problems. The only difference is that this time, she did not care if he came back. Water splashed on her face from the bathroom sink, she did her best to ignore her reflection and waited until she was mentally ready before revealing her injuries in their appearance to herself.
“Oh god” she whimpered out seeing the unsettling fierce, jagged gash that cut across her forehead leaving a trail of dried gelatine blood down her face, it was clear as she lay on the bed assessing herself that her head was almost entirely covered in a bloody mask of her own making.
Oscar had well and truly left her to die without a care to call for any medical help before fleeing like the murderous animal he had morphed into before her eyes. Katie checked herself over entirely from head to toe for any signs of further harm, it was bruises and bashes, scrapes an grazes that she expected but mercifully nothing felt broken, so she gathered herself both in belongings and strength before leaving the hotel room and taking one last look back at the devastation the make-believe couple had caused in their epic battle that consisted of biting and her being hurled into a door jam. Gentle steps, she repeated to herself in her mind, keeping the likely damage to her brain at the forefront of every action she took including a slow careful walk down the flight of stairs to the hotel lobby that could hopefully be occupied by someone who could get her some prompt help. The lobby in question was full when she eventually arrived, her bag clinging against the stairs railing as she leant heavily into it for support, perhaps unsurprising given the noise they made upstairs the desk at the forefront of the lobby was hosting three police officers who seemed to be getting details from a younger woman behind the counter, she seemed upset from the distant stare across the room but Katie could not determine if she was crying or simply gasping for air from her vantage point.
Carefully treading up to the desk with her still wobbly legs Katie interrupted the conversation the officers still studied aggressively with the now visible upset woman who was supposed to be the face of the hotel.
“Excuse me” she squeaked out with awkward whistle; her throat had barely been used since she awoke from the damage.
Two of the officers still present turned immediately at the head and widened their eyes in shock.
“God Miss are you okay!?” the officer closest asked reaching out a hand to steady her shoulder, unwarranted but she would be lying if she said it was not comforting to have some common kindness after her stint with the demon wearing a young man’s skin.
“I think I need an ambulance” she said gently with the reality of her horrific nightmare finally hitting her, tears fell down her cheeks streaking the dried blood in lines of terrifying makeup for the other onlookers in the lobby.
Katie could see behind them a frightened woman hurrying a small child out of the hotel in sight of her, she felt like a monster.
“Come over here, sit down” the officer instructed gesturing her towards some soft armchairs in the lobby behind her “Kaminski call in for medical assistance” he ordered the officer behind him who squeezed onto a small radio near his shoulder and relayed the message.
It was all so surreal being at the forefront of this attack knowing that she had treated countless young women who had experienced something similar or worse at her hospital.
“An ambulance has been called but could you tell me what happened?” he asked leaning forward in the chair opposite to give her no reason to raise her voice,
“I was attacked” she whispered back suddenly feeling the need to protect her story.
The truth was going to bring more questions and possibly a sentence for aiding Oscars crimes, but a lie could remove her entirely from the firing line and place her attacker in the cross-hairs, it was a simple choice having witnessed his malice first hand and now seeing the blood dripping down from those same hands.
“Do you know the attacker?” the officer asked still prying her damaged faulty mind open for information.
“Yes” she answered perhaps too snappy but with the events of the day playing out as they did she no longer felt any obligation to protect her ward.
“Do you know the kid they are searching for, Oscar Rubens?” the officer nodded his head “well it was him” she continued firmly closing the door behind her on the relationship between the two of them.
Oscar was now entirely tasked with surviving alone and fend for himself without his last ally out searching for him, his last devoted saviour coming to his aid when he collapses into the dark spaces of the world again.
“How did you come into contact with the missing Mr Rubens?” he asked pencilling down details into a small notepad, thinking on her feet she needed to remove herself from blame but make the story believable that nobody could come and accuse her of any wrongdoing both now and in the future when this comes to a head, likely with Oscar in handcuffs or behind a padded door in a white cell.
“I was worried about him you know; he has been missing for days and I worked at the hospital he ran away from. He called me and told me to meet him here at the hotel, I think he said he was going to turn himself back over to the hospital for help” it was good, but the fable needed more funk to grab the nodding audience staring intently into her eyes with pencil in hand that moved in scribbling speed, “he told me he had some psychotic breakdown and was seeing people, he told me he hurt someone” the truth in her story started to become heavy on chest, she cried into her sleeves and watched the officer become increasingly uncomfortable. “I tried to leave the room after he told me what he had done and then he attacked me, I fell and hit my head. I don’t know where he went” her cry became a sob as the weight was lifted off her chest with merciful relief, but the officers face turned a shade more pale as she caught his expression between wipes of her eyes into her ruined top that was streaked with snot and wet grey patches of soaked sadness.
The officer left her for a while and reported back into his colleagues, two of them now uniformed and stoic in their faces besides the occasionally grimace at grizzly information being gifted over, the lobby was being cleared and guests being sent up to their rooms, something serious was happening and she could not shake the feeling it was more than her revelations. Activity erupted from the meeting of officials and her ‘agony’ officer came marching back over with a stern look across his face,
“Your encounter with Mr Rubens, he mentioned that he hurt someone” he posed the statement like a question, but she sensed he was not done “was this someone from the hotel?” he continued, and her face turned that ghostly shade that the officers all shared.
“Yes” she answered quietly.
The officer ran back to his colleagues and seconds later one of the three left the building, his hand never leaving his radio the entire time he was jogging away. Before she could reason with the events unfolding around her, head still throbbing with occasional ache that felt as though someone was pulling apart the split in her skull, the paramedics the officers called came bursting through the doors to the outside world. They buzzed around her checking all her vitals and eyes with a small torch before agreeing that she needed further medical assistance at a hospital, and then the shoe dropped, she was going back to her place of work for treatment and directly into the oncoming headlights of her favourite Chief of medicine, Doctor Boothe. As she was being helped to the ambulance that sat parked on the pavement blocking the footpath, Katie saw finally what the commotion was about and what had originally drawn in these officers, a trail of blood thick and lengthy dragged away from the adjoining side street that backed up neatly to the hotel.
“What happened?” she asked dispassionately to the officer still stood on the street doing his very best to move along any nosey interfering strangers, Katie likely knew what the drama was about in front of the building, but the officer informed her plainly.
“The concierge has gone missing, and it looks like he’s been attacked” he said with an annoyed rugged voice,
Katie knew it was Oscar and now the officers likely suspected the Rubens boy too. She could not have been in the hospital twenty minutes before her first visitor appeared, she was being treated for a concision and the wound above her eyebrows that spoilt her forehead, Oscar was responsible for both. Beverly was on shift, and she was adamant that it was her task to see Katie was properly taken care of on admission, the experienced nurse was giving her extra pillows, the “comfier” sheets and as much fruit juice from the canteen that she could carry without tipping over and thus ending up in the bed adjacent to her returned friend.
“How you feeling little drama queen?” Bev asked fluffing Katies pillow in a way that reminded her of those caring frock wearing mothers in black and white movies, the same movies her Dad would make her watch on sick days from school or college.
“As well as someone who took a sturdy door frame to the head could be feeling I guess” she joked back expecting and receiving a belly laugh from her good friend.
She was a sweet woman and after everything her and Oscar had been through it was such a welcome warmth to be in her presence again, like an aunt that she could always count on lifting her up when times had gotten hard. These had developed into particularly tough times she thought looking over the injuries listed on her chart, Bev had shown her the document laughing at the lack of information on hers as opposed to the poor souls who would typically need to write ‘War and Peace’ before even seeing the underside of the hospital bed sheets.
“Well, I have great news and awful news, what one would you like to hear first my love?” Bev asked with a disposition that gave away no clues on her meaning.
“Good news, I have had enough bad news” she replied putting her chart back down on the bedside table.
“Good news, you are looking like you can go home tomorrow afternoon if you are okay to keep an eye out for the signs of trouble, you know how fragile that egg atop your shoulders can be” Bev joked poking at Katies fragile dome with the rubber end of her pencil.
“And the bad news, Boothe wants to meet with you before you leave to see how you are doing. He also wants the gory details of what happened to you, don’t give him anything the ghoul will enjoy” Bev said with that protective sweetness that Katie adored.
“Thanks Bev, I will tell him what I told the police” she remarked not entirely happy to have given second hand false information to her close colleague.
Night crept through the halls of the hospital easily, Katie slept peacefully knowing that she was being cared for by her friend, the ever-vigilant Nurse Beverly, and also the irrefutable fact that Oscar would not dare set foot in the hospital for risk of being caught in what he imagined would be some giant net wielded by Boothe lurking behind some doorway. No dreams, no nightmares, just a solid eight hours of restful sleep to allow that fragile body to mend itself in the comfort of dark safe institutional twilight. But the morning had arrived and Boothe was imminent with the threat of Katie being discharged later that afternoon, Bev did attempt to play guard and give her a heads up but unfortunately for everyone involved, Boothe was a sly creature who scuttled and slinked on his own accord.
“Well, hello again young lady” his heavy sounding voice called out as the chief walked through the door to her shared room, his face was gleeful with red cheeks as though he was holding back some exciting news he simply could not wait to share.
“Hello Doctor Boothe” she replied slinking back into the comfort of her pillows, fully dressed in her long length hospital issued pyjamas she still felt naked in front of the man.
“How are we feeling? I heard you have been through the wars but seeing you like this is really upsetting for me” he asked sitting down on the foot of her bed and putting his leg over the standing one in effeminate fashion.
“I feel much better, the nurses have been taking care of me” she answered again with a sentence unable to attach a follow up, Katie was begging for Boothe to have satisfied his need for involvement so she could leave already.
“Did they catch him?” Boothe asked directly addressing the elephant in the room.
“No, I don’t think so, he was gone when I came to, but I don’t really remember” Katie replied with a softness in defeat lingering on her tongue.
“Well hopefully they find that little animal soon and we can put a full stop on the end of this story” Boothe said with a meanness that felt as though his mask was slipping and the ugly true face behind peaked through.
Before the meeting could come to its natural end, although for Katie nothing felt natural when dealing with her untrustworthy deviant boss, his excitement began to rise in his voice,
“Katie I do have some incredible news; I think I am close to figuring out this ailment that plagued Oscar in the first place” his face changed to a smug half smile as she was waiting for her to praise him no doubt.
“Wow, that’s really good news right, it means we can possibly treat him if they do find him” Katie considered adding the word alive to the end of her sentence but caught herself in the middle of a dark thought.
“It is amazing, I did tell Oscar that I just needed time, but the boy felt he was better than our help obviously. Thankfully, he is now the problem of the police, but I digress. I believe his affliction has been caused by a parasite and not a tumour as we first believed” he stopped momentarily to breath in a laboured gush of air “I need to run more tests but from our samples, and the data we gathered from his examinations. Katie we know what we are looking at, and its new.”
This was the moment that Katie was actually relieved Boothe had entered the room, hearing that Oscar was potentially at the mercy of a living parasite that was unknown to science was explaining much about his behaviour, especially the notions he drew out about phantoms and nightmares in the living world that he was experiencing.
“This is really good news Doctor” she answered in reply to his self-gratification, it was actually good news as much as she hated praising the man, “What are the next steps?” she asked now engaged in the subject matter and not actively avoiding it.
“Well,” he started taking off his round lensed glasses and wiping them off on the trailing tail of his white coat “if we get Mrs Rubens in for some testing we can establish if this is solely caused by some vector or infection for the individual, or we can establish if this is hereditary in their family,”
The idea of Mary agreeing to willingly come back to the hospital after she told the mother of Boothes abuse was laughable, but it was something Boothe could likely arrange, the man had an annoying way of making things work out for himself.
“Do you believe Mary will still come now that Oscar has attacked someone from the hospital?” Katie asked nervously.
“Mary?” he asked in surprise at her informality regarding a woman that had shown clear disdain for the nurse herself.
“Well, I spoke with Mrs Rubens, and she asked that I call her Mary” Katie answered with a splash more seriousness than Boothe intended but he carried on regardless.
“Mary was due in today until this incident, so we shall see if that still materialises; she was working so we had to move some things around. I am hoping to have some more information to analyse by the end of the day if she does arrive.” he was simply giddy with anticipation.
Katie was simply sickened at the notion of Mary seeing her after the news had surely reached her ears of Oscars attack at the hotel. Defying all expectations Mary arrived through the front doors of the hospital. Everyone was suddenly aware as the word spread through the hospital halls and winding stairwells, the mother of Katies attacker was in the building. Bev greeted the mother of the hour, the elderly nurse not likely to blame her for her sons sins. Bev lead her swiftly through the hospital and into the office of the only man happy to see her that day.
Mary spoke briefly with a policeman attending in the car park before she entered the building, Boothe had arranged the officer to spring on her to ensure the mother was not there for revenge against Katie for dragging Oscars name through the mud.
“Yes officer, I am only here to help find Oscar and Boothe mentioned something about his condition. I have no interest in seeing the nurse” Mary coldly stated to the officer outside before her arrival.
Now all she could do that afternoon was enjoy the conversations with her sons doctor, he believes he has determined his ailment and with Oscar now heavily sought after by all manner of local and out of town departments, she was expecting his return anytime soon.
“Hello, Mrs Rubens, please have a seat” Boothe asked watching her storm into the room with her acquired heavy burdened movements.
“I understand that you have some news on Oscars condition?” Mary asked without preamble, the coldness of her voice still.
“Well yes, in fact I believe I am close to completing the diagnoses and it could indeed be something unknown to science before your sons case” he continued blowing the trumpets of expected gratitude, but he was severely misinformed if he believed it would be coming from the mother of the missing murdering man of the hour.
“Is that everything?” she asked impatiently.
“Well, I believe this will make some real headway to helping anyone else who might show the same symptoms in the future, this is a real breakthrough” Boothe replied regretting this meeting entirely as she burned a hole through his retinas.
“What we need Mrs Rubens, is to run some tests on you in order to establish if the condition was hereditary or otherwise. This could involve some physical samples such as a tissue sample from the stomach lining and perhaps even some brain fluid” he explained his plans.
Mary seemed vacant of reaction and the doctor found it frustrating to read.
“I need to go home Doctor; they think Oscar was involved with some attacks. I can’t deal with this right now” she replied.
“Ah, so you are indeed aware of the situation with Nurse Katie?” Mary nodded and Boothe breathed a sigh of relief.
“They believe that Katie was attacked by my son, I don’t believe them, but I am more concerned with how she ended up anywhere near my son to begin with without calling the police or myself for help bringing him home” Mary was just a notch below shouting the words but carried herself with the usual stoic bubbling anger beneath her skin.
“Mrs Rubens, Katie is upstairs mending up, she came in with a severe concussion, lacerations, and several signs she was beaten by someone stronger than herself. From what I have gathered from the authorities regarding the incident, well Katie was called and attended in hopes of bringing your boy back to us safely. It is best if we were on the side of caution when laying out statements such as that” Boothe said in some attempt to play peacekeeper.
Marys face fell to volcanic grey hollowness across the desk, “I didn’t come here to be turned against my son. That will be enough for me Doctor” she was firm.
Boothe knew it was time to back away from the topic of the injured abused nurse on the top floor likely wondering if it was safe to leave without encountering the fiery Rubens matriarch.
“Mrs Rubens, Mary, I am sorry to bring all this up. I am as worried about your son as anyone. We are here to discuss his condition. Not any outside factors that may or may not be true.”
Boothe covered his tracks beautifully the way a slimy politician avoids the guillotine for his crimes.
“What else do you need from me?” she snapped back with a temper awaiting another explosion.
Boothe adjusted his carcass in the chair that strained under his heavy figure.
“I was hoping we could speak about Oscars father; I am aware that he has passed on, but it would be helpful for the establishing of the hereditary theory if we could learn more about any ailments your husband may have suffered from” Boothe explained his next request with carefulness knowing the subject of her family was likely to ignite another bonfire of emotions from the human tinderbox sitting across from him.
“Thomas was healthy” she answered so quickly it put him out of sorts for a follow up question “he was fit, did manual labour for his work and was always watching what he ate” she added now losing herself gently into torturous memories of her deceased husband.
“Did he have any stomach issues of which you are aware? Crohn's disease, IBS, or something similar?” he continued putting pencil to paper to help avoid her eyeline and completely disregarding this woman’s feeling of grief in search of his own acclaim.
“None of that, he was in good health” she repeated “I mean he spoke to himself for a while after we married, seemed to be out of sorts when he did. But a sometime after we fell pregnant with Oscar it all seemed to stop. But he would say that was just some stress thing. When Oscar was born he got a little depressed, Doctor at the time told us that was normal for a new father to experience” she was rattling off family secrets that Boothe had no business knowing.
But here he was using this families and Katies suffering for his own personal gain. Boothe thanked Mary for agreeing to still speak with him in light of the situation at the hotel and seemed genuinely grateful with his double hand clasped shake of hers. Wishing her well and hoping verbally that Oscar was returned home soon enough. Memories swirling with images of her husband’s idiocies and fighting every fibre of her being to avoid climbing another set of stair cases to confront Katie who was supposedly tending to her wounds in the same space her son suffered the most unusual of sufferings. The temptation won, Katie was there, and Mary was unsure if the chance would present itself again in the near future. Marching up the stairs she bypassed some nurses and orderlies who shot her a glance but upon seeing her visitor tag simply ignored her presence unaware of her identity and more importantly her destination. Katie saw her first, buttoning up her cardigan that Beverly had been kind enough to run home and pick up for her alongside some toiletries and a change of clothes, she glimpsed up seeing the mother making her way down the corridor looking about with curious searching eyes.
They scanned the area like some lighthouse seeking a sinking ship.
“Oh no, no, no” Katie mumbled to herself panicking at the sight of the bearing down Rubens that was in the process of stopping a nurse and asking for information.
The nurse pointed towards Katies room and Mary locked eyes with her immediately, the door swung open, and Mary stepped in shutting it behind her, Katies only thought was of the person lying in the bed opposite and how they could become witness when this member of the Rubens rosters would turn to finishing what her son had started in attempt on her life.
“Katie is it true what they are saying?” she started off.
Katie squirmed in place sat upon the edge of her bed with a packed bag beside her, minutes later and she would have been home free without this awkward terrifying encounter.
“I want to find out what happened, from you directly” she asked with sadness in her voice and eyes that threatened to tear up looking at the nurses bandage across her forehead and bruises around her face and neck.
Katie noted the darkness around her eyes and knew it had been an unproductive conversation with Doctor Boothe.
“Please sit down” Katie asked her pointing towards one of the stowed chairs that are kept around for visitors such as this.
Mary sagged down and seemed to be deflating in unison with the cushion beneath her.
“Oscar called me and asked me to meet him at a hotel, I asked him why, he told me he needed medical attention and didn’t want to be brought back to the hospital” Katie began explaining her retelling of events with the added lies that could cover her trail, lies that became more truthful in her reality with every verbalisation.
“When I arrived” she paused and felt the tears welling up once again but breathed deep and swore to herself that he had drained enough energy from her body.
“When I arrived I examined Oscar, his swelling was bigger, I asked him to go to the hospital with me and tried to call for help on my phone. Mary, I tried to help him, you have to believe me.”
Mary just nodded still holding back her own waterworks,
“He wanted to stop me calling the ambulance and I tried to leave; he attacked me, strangled me. Before I knew it I was on the floor, and I woke up with him gone with my head split open” Katie finished up her version of the classic, but the words left her hands shaking again.
“They are calling him a murderer; do you know that? My little boy, they are calling him a monster” Mary unleashed her arrested sadness with her face now streaked with singular tears that broke the dam.
Katie was now assured Oscar remained in the wild, and the mother.
“He told me he hurt someone” Katie answered hands still vibrating through either fear or anxiety, she could not discern which.
“He asked for help, and you couldn’t help him, you should have called someone. Anyone. You let him go” Mary said getting up to her feet and leaving.
No words said and no further words needed from either, the relationship was severed. Katie could go home.
