Chapter 11
Awakened
Rhyne pulled into the driveway. Dropping the kickstand, he left his bike to use the keypad on the side of the garage to open the door.
Once there was enough room, he pushed his bicycle inside, careful not to scratch the side of the vehicle parked there.
Setting the ten-speed next to Nash’s bike, he punched the remote beside the kitchen entrance to shut the garage door.
Since it was Welsh’s day off, the man had gone by to pick up their nightly allotment from Norris. Tomorrow would be his turn again since it was his day off, which would make the third time this week that he’d gone to the hospital.
“Time for the other two to take up their slack,” he muttered.
He intended on bringing the subject up at dinner, and also to remind them that the end of the month was tomorrow.
That was when they’d swap out who would get the use their one and only car.
As luck would have it, he’d be the lucky fellow to claim the keys.
Stepping into the kitchen, he caught the faint scent of chicken noodle soup. The pot with the remainder sat on a back burner on the stove. The sound of the TV coming from the living room told him where the guys were located.
He turned on the burner to warm up the rest of the soup and washed his hands at the sink which contained a used bowl and spoon.
“Hey, guys? I’m not washing your dirty dishes for you!” he called out. “Just because I’m the last one home doesn’t mean I have to do your chores for you! Remember our deal?”
Taking a clean bowl down from the cabinet, he set it on the counter and strolled into the living room to find out why no one had answered him. Nash was watching something on TV. Welsh was nowhere in sight.
“Hey.” He nudged his roommate. “Where’s Welsh?”
“He was in his room, last I saw. I left you some soup on the stove.”
“Yeah, I saw that. You also left me your dirty bowl to clean, asshole.”
“I’ll get to it. Just leave the suds in the sink when you’re done with yours,” Nash promised.
Going back to the kitchen, Rhyne stirred the contents in the pot and took a tentative sip from the wooden spoon. Satisfied, he poured the remaining soup into the bowl, then set the pot back on the burner and turned off the stove.
He debated eating alone in the kitchen or taking his meal into the living room when a scream came from the direction of the back rooms. Racing down the hall, he nearly collided with Nash standing in the doorway to the master bedroom he shared with Welsh.
The man was sitting up, a look of stark fear framing his wide eyes.
“Hey, man! What’s wrong?” Nash demanded.
The room was empty, which begged the question—what had spooked the man?
Rhyne hurried over to the window to peer through the blinds, in case there was something outside that had startled the man. Not seeing anything, he turned around to find Welsh staring at him.
“That’s blue!” Welsh pointed a finger straight at Rhyne. “Your shirt! It’s blue! I-I-I remember that color because it was my favorite color growing up. Before I t-turned. You’re wearing a blue shirt!” He clutched his head. “Oh, sweet heavens! Guys! Guys, I can see color again! I can see colors!”
“No way,” Nash started to argue, but Welsh whirled on him with a snarl.
“Fuck you! Fuck you! I can see colors!” The man rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. When he opened them again, he blinked several times. “Ohhh, man. Oh, man!” The guy was on the verge of crying, and Rhyne couldn’t blame him.
“How is that possible?” Rhyne questioned. He didn’t call the man a liar. Not after what he himself had experienced not too long ago. A bigger question hung in the air over them. How did Welsh regain his color sight?
And where, Rhyne mentally asked. An impossible possibility reared its ugly head, raising more questions he didn’t dare voice. Not now. Not until he got more answers.
Welsh slowly shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t…”
“Could it be from something you ate? Or drank?” Nash pressed.
Or drank?
AB negative.
Rhyne immediately dismissed that thought. There was no way…
His head jerked up. Unless a patient used that one bag Norris said was there, and he stashed it into today’s pickup.
He dashed out of the room and ran into the kitchen. Scooping the backpack off the floor, he emptied its contents onto the table. It held just two rinsed blood bags. Both were O positive.
He went next to the fridge and opened the vegetable bin where they kept their supply. Of the four bags there, none were AB negative.
“Fuck! Then how…”
The two men came tromping into the kitchen. Welsh’s face remained pale as he observed the mess Rhyne had made. “What are you doing?”
Rhyne turned around as he tried to dredge up an excuse for why he was messing with their supply. “I was trying to find out if there was something you ate or drank that did that to you.”
“In the blood bags?”
“I thought maybe Norris might have accidentally dropped a container of something other than a blood bag into our stash that you got hold of.” Slamming shut the refrigerator door, he caught sight of the empty pot in the sink. “You ate the chicken noodle soup, right?”
“No. I just had me a bag before I laid down.”
“And that’s all?” Rhyne clarified.
“I swear.”
“Maybe you encountered someone who was ill or sick with something that affected you,” Nash proposed.
Rhyne snorted. “If that’s the case, I hope I become affected, too. Don’t you?”
Nash made a face in answer.
“Welsh?” Grabbing a dishtowel, Rhyne held it up. “What color is this?”
The man instantly went on the defensive. “Are you calling me a liar?”
“I’m testing you. Now, humor me. What color is this cuptowel?”
“It’s…” Welsh shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
“How about this bowl?”
“I… I don’t remember! Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been able to see anything other than black and white? How many years? Decades?”
Putting his hands on the man’s shoulders, Nash gently guided the man over to the table where they both took a seat.
Rhyne remained standing by the fridge, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter and crossed his legs at the ankles.
“Walk us through what you did today,” Nash asked. “Maybe it’ll give us a clue.”
Giving a soft groan, Welsh bowed his head into his hands.
He sniffed, then lifted his face to look at them.
“I got up. Had breakfast here. Went over to the hospital to see that woman I told you about. Then I went over to Druckers to play a little pool. Then I came home, had a bag to drink, and laid down for a bit. I woke up when I heard you guys talking, and I s-saw…”
“Did you have something to eat or drink over at Druckers?” Nash inquired.
Welsh shook his head. “No. Just here. Just…” He paused to stare at his hands, lifting one to his nose to sniff the tips of his fingers.
Rhyne recognized that gesture. He knew it in every pore of his being.
Welsh had drawn blood and tasted it.
AB negative.
“Went over to the hospital to see that woman I told you about.”
A woman’s face came into focus in his mind’s eye. A woman with dark brown hair and bright green eyes.
A woman who worked at the hospital.
The hospital that had AB negative blood.
The blood that had graced him with the sight of colors.
And now Welsh has that sight. At least for the next three days.
Rhyne studied Nash to see if the man was aware of what Welsh was doing, but he seemed oblivious.
Turning his back on the other two, Rhyne braced his hands on the counter and bowed his head.
Everything appeared to be adding up to an answer he couldn’t accept or believe.
It wasn’t possible, yet it was totally possible.
He heard Nash clap Welsh on the back “Well, whatever caused it, somehow you’ve been blessed, and I’m jealous as hell.”
“Yeah, well, let me tell you, it’s a kick to the gut,” Welsh declared, then chuckled. “Let me correct that. It’s more like a kick to the nuts.”
“We gotta find out what affected you to give you back your color sight,” Nash stated. “Whaddaya say, Rhyne? We have to find out what gave him his color sight back so you and me both can share in his good fortune, don’t you agree?”
Rhyne nodded but didn’t verbally reply. Fortunately, he had tomorrow to test his theory and prove it as being true or false. But if it turned out to be true…
I have to save her however I can. Because once Welsh’s color sight fades, he’s going to hunt her down for more.
And if he’d learned anything from past experience, Rhyne knew the end result wouldn’t be pretty.