II Hiding #2
“Yes,” Westfield said. “And the universe is going to win.”
“We’ve got it on the ropes,” Madelyne said. “Another few rounds and we’re gunning for that TKO. Not that I know what that is.”
“I don’t know,” Westfield said. “I’m walking with a limp.”
“Grim,” Madelyne said. “What are they giving you? Surgery?”
“A knee brace,” Westfield said.
“So low-tech,” Madelyne said.
“Yes,” Westfield said. “We’ll see how it does.”
“Did anyone else get injured?” Madelyne asked.
“Just a tree,” Westfield said. “I hurt its feelings more than anything.”
“Good, good. I have to see Caitlyn,” Madelyne said.
“Cool,” Westfield said. “Good to see you, fearless leader.”
“You too, Westfield,” Madelyne said.
Madelyne and Ai walked up to the desk and asked to see Caitlyn.
The nurse looked up a file on her computer. She looked up at them. “You can go to room 104,” she said. “She’s on the ground floor, getting treated. To the right and then take a left at the second hallway. Then you will be right there.”
“Thanks,” Ai said.
They turned right and walked through the hospital, passing by nurses and orderlies and a doctor or two and a number of normal-looking people - and a few weird-looking people too, people with weird heads or weird amputations of limbs or people in wheelchairs or very old people who could hardly function.
At the second intersection of corridors, they turned left and then heard the sound of Mitchell talking to Caitlyn. They walked into the room and smiled a thin, sad smile.
She and Ai looked to see Mitchell lead them into Caitlyn’s room.
She lay there in bed. She looked dead. She smiled a tiny bit and wasn’t completely dead - not yet.
Still, nothing about her looked okay. Tubes went into and out of her.
She was attached to several machines that were helping her to survive. She moved very, very slowly.
Mitchell smiled. “She’s doing fine,” Mitchell said. “We’re facing a killer. Bear mask is this one. I don’t know who he is.”
“I don’t know either,” Madelyne said. “Can we guess about his height and eliminate candidates? And weight?”
“I can,” Mitchell said. “This one is skinny.”
“Noted,” Madelyne said.
“Average height, six feet or so, maybe a little less,” Mitchell said.
“What did he wear?” Madelyne asked.
“Black leather pants, black sweater, hood, bear mask, had a wakizashi,” Mitchell said. “He was fearsome.”
Westfield limped into the room and smiled. He carried flowers that he put on a table. The room had a television, tables, many medical supplies, an IV attached to Caitlyn, and some other medical monitoring equipment.
She looked half-dead. She looked pale and lifeless compared to the flowers on the table or Mitchell sitting in a chair next to Caitlyn’s bed.
Caitlyn drifted in and out of consciousness. She woke up a little to see Madelyne, Westfield, and Mitchell in the room with her and Ai. She frowned.
“What happened?” she asked.
“You were stabbed,” Mitchell said. “By a slasher killer. He killed Shotgun.”
“I remember that I knew who he was, but I don’t remember who he was,” Caitlyn said. “I don’t remember. I can’t remember.”
“I remember, and I didn’t know who he was,” Mitchell said.
“He stabbed me?” Caitlyn asked. “I bled?”
Mitchell nodded. “He made you bleed,” he said.
Caitlyn looked broken. She looked small and skinny and pale in bed with tubes attached to her.
“I’m sorry,” Caitlyn said. She turned to Ai. “I love you. I love you so much.”
Ai sat in bed, on top of Caitlyn, hugging her.
“I love you,” Ai said.
“I cheated on you,” Caitlyn said. “I know, it’s an open relationship, but I don’t need anyone except you. I’m sorry.”
“No. It’s fine,” Ai said. “It’s fine. I’m not mad. I’m just concerned. I’m concerned because we are being targeted for being happy and successful teenagers when I hardly think of us as either.”
“Believe me, compared to this guy, you are both,” Caitlyn said. “This guy, what I remember, he has nothing, absolutely nothing.”
“Is anyone ever happy?” Mitchell asked.
“I don’t know,” Caitlyn said. “I don’t know if anyone is ever happy. I don’t know if anyone qualifies as an innocent person having a good life without crushing problems.”
“Agreed,” Madelyne said.
Caitlyn smiled. “I have peritonitis,” she said. “I have a problem with, I don’t know, my intestines are damaged. I need another surgery to fix it. I need to be here, and he’s liable to show up and kill me, and I’m helpless to stop him.”
“He can’t just walk into a hospital and kill you and walk out,” Mitchell said. “We’ll have a cop outside your room.”
“Good,” Caitlyn said. “I’m glad. It’s a nice gesture. It won’t stop him, but it’s a nice gesture.”
Caitlyn looked at her phone. She had a text.
Waylon: I’m concerned how are you?
Caitlyn: I almost died. Do you know why I almost died?
Waylon: did you tell them? our secret?
Caitlyn: no
Waylon: good
Caitlyn: I’m going to be very disappointed if you did this.
Waylon: I wouldn’t hurt you ever no matter what - you know I love you.
Caitlyn: noted
Waylon: you know you look awfully hot in that hospital room
Caitlyn: fuck yourself perv
Waylon: sorry i value our friendship - sorry
Caitlyn: ha no big deal - i am hot
Waylon: you have to understand. no one else talks to me.
Caitlyn: no fucking chance. i’ll find more people to talk to you.
Waylon: I would have to approve that they are innocent.
Caitlyn: you are a wonderful and treasured friend, Waylon. we will find you more people to talk to.
Madelyne walked out of the hospital and said goodbye to Ai, who caught a ride from a family employee of hers in a Tesla.
Madelyne didn’t know where Ai was going or what she was doing.
Madelyne walked into a packed parking lot.
She didn’t remember where she parked. She had to ask her phone where her car was because she couldn’t find it.
She got into her vehicle, started it up, and started to answer a phone call by telling Siri to answer the phone.
“Hello,” Lilian said.
Lilian Belle was one of the nice girls, a group of drama girls. She sounded kind, concerned, and assertive all at once.
“Hey,” Madelyne said.
“Hey, Mads,” Lilian said. “Everyone’s excited about the spring play. It’s going to be awesome.”
“I know,” Madelyne said. “We’re gonna kill it. Even if we are writing it and don’t have an idea how to do it. I’m excited to make original plays.”
“Ai is really smart and will write something great; I have faith in her,” Lilian said. “Everything will turn out perfectly. Everything happens as it is fated to happen.”
“I certainly hope not, but that’s a nice sentiment,” Madelyne said. “Thank you, Lilian. You are correct. Everything is going to happen according to how it should.” Madelyne sat in her car, lying to herself that she was okay. It was a nice lie.
Lilian said something.
“What was that?” Madelyne asked.
“What do you mean? You couldn’t hear me?”
“I was distracted,” Madelyne said.
“What’s your secret, Madelyne?” Lilian asked.
“I can’t say,” Madelyne said. “It’s a secret.” “We tell you our secrets,” Lilian said.
“Right,” Madelyne said. “I don’t know if I believe you. And I think that you told me those secrets in order to get my secret.”
“I don’t know that we’re that underhanded,” Lilian said. “We wouldn’t do that sort of thing. We had a sleepover last night and binged some MCU movies. We enjoyed them. It was a great time. We ate ice cream.”
“Great,” Madelyne said. “That sounds so much better than what I did.”
“Good,” Lilian said. “We’ll invite you next time.”
“Good,” Madelyne said. “I’m excited to hang out sometime.”
“Why can’t we know your secret?” Lilian asked.
Long pause.
Be brave, she told herself.
“Because I’m a crazy person,” Madelyne said.
“What?” Lilian said. “Half the school has psych issues. That’s not that big a deal.”
“Not like me,” Madelyne said. “Not like me. They have a little bit of depression, or they have mood swings or something. I see people who aren’t there. I have schizophrenia.”
“Jesus,” Lilian said. “I’m so sorry, Mads. They have incredible meds to help with that sort of thing.”
“I hear voices,” Madelyne said.
“Jesus,” Lilian said.
“I am crazy,” Madelyne said.
“I understand,” Lilian said. “What do you see?” “Melody,” Madelyne said.
“Melody?” Lilian asked.
“Melody,” Madelyne said. “She’s a teenage girl. She’s a terror.”
“You understand that she is a hallucination and not real?” Lilian said.
“I understand that,” Madelyne said. “She’s awful.”
“You manage a terrible problem wonderfully,” Lilian said.
“It’s bad,” Madelyne said. “I can hardly function. Voices talk to me, interrupt real conversations.”
“I know what you should do,” Lilian said. “See a doctor.” “I did,” Madelyne said. “I’m on meds. Thank you. Without the meds, I can’t finish sentences or hear when people are talking to me. We got lucky. That happened during the summer. Most people didn’t notice.”
“I’m glad,” Lilian said.
“What was that?” one of the other girls asked.
“Be careful,” Madelyne said.
“It’s nothing,” Lilian said. “It’s nothing. The girls are in the other room. They’re just arriving with coffee and danishes.”
“Fine, I’ll let you go talk to your friends,” Madelyne said. “Take care, darling.”
“You too, babe.”
Madelyne drove through the suburb of New Liberty and made it to the coffee shop. She ordered a coffee - black - and started to drink it. The quarterback of the football team, Terance Whitaker, walked up to her. He was best friends with Madelyne’s boyfriend De’Andre.
“You are very successful,” Terance said. “Good work on the plays.”
“Thank you,” Madelyne said. “Let’s talk about me. One of my favorite topics.”
Westfield and Mitchell walked into the room to see the guys - the drama kid guys. Turner and Clayton stood in Mitchell’s bedroom. They were starting to figure out their one-act play for the spring play - it was going to be a late spring play, probably in June at the tail end of the school year.