Chapter 11 #2
The relief in seeing Kaden alive hit Joe as fiercely as physical pain.
He listened intently as Kaden’s dad spoke to the nurse and he could still hear when the doctor drew the curtains around the bed.
Knowing how badly he’d damaged Kaden’s throat made him feel terrible.
He might be able to fix it by compelling the fragment of himself still inside Kaden to move to his throat.
But might was the problem. What if he couldn’t return it to support Kaden’s heart?
He decided to wait and see if Kaden’s throat got better without help.
Joe couldn’t tell whether Kaden was pretending he couldn’t remember in order to avoid questions or whether he genuinely couldn’t.
The only way to find out was to talk to him, and desperate as Joe was, he couldn’t.
Not only could he not walk, his brain wasn’t yet enabling the necessary parts of his body to form words that made sense.
Even more worrying, if Joe had not positioned his larynx in exactly the right place, the number of sounds available to him would be limited.
Unsurprisingly, the doctors had no idea what was wrong with him.
And then there was the other issue. Maybe there was suspicion already but if not, there soon would be.
Two new patients in this medical assessment unit.
Both male and of a similar age. Both found on the same floor of the hospital.
Neither able to speak. One with a damaged throat, the other without motor skills and unable to do much of anything except lie there and worry. Not that anyone knew about the worry.
Joe could feel the echo of his exit from Kaden, the burn of it still lingering like a phantom ache. He assumed it was his new body knitting itself together. He had no idea how long it would take and how successful he’d been at making himself human. It was a miracle he’d managed this much.
There was also another problem. Gash and Lanu were still inside Harris.
And probably the reason Harris was holding his stomach.
Joe was pretty sure they couldn’t do what he’d done and emerge as human.
Did they even know what he’d done? Although they didn’t have the capability to shapeshift, they might find some way to control Harris.
Get to his brain… Then what would they do?
Joe wanted to talk to Kaden, wanted to ask him what to do.
Questions were coming. Questions he couldn’t answer, even if he had a voice. And if Kaden didn’t remember, Joe pretending not to remember might only delay the inevitable. He had to talk to him.
There was a dull ache in his stomach and he wondered if it meant he needed to pee.
That was going to be an adventure. Even trying to explain what he needed was tricky but he managed it.
He was given a container and left alone.
It took a while, but the relief in being able to empty his bladder was huge.
Joe waited until the middle of the night.
All patients apart from him were sleeping. The nurses had just done their checks. Joe slid out of bed, dragged himself across the floor, and hauled himself up beside Kaden’s bed. Exhausting, but he managed it. He waited until his heart steadied before tugging gently at Kaden’s arm.
His eyes fluttered open and he looked straight at Joe.
“Do…y-y-you…mem…?” Joe whispered, upset that the words still sounded wrong. But all he needed was for Kaden to recognise him. Except how could he? He’d never seen Joe before. I’m an idiot. Would he remember his name? “J…Joe…Joe,” he repeated, thrilled he’d got the word out.
Kaden blinked in confusion and his eyes closed again.
Joe slid back to the floor and slithered to his bed.
Getting into it further exhausted him. Kaden didn’t remember, so Joe had no choice.
He’d claim asylum and not mention Kaden.
Destroy the papers Kaden had hidden. He tried to tell himself it was safer and better that Kaden didn’t remember.
But it wasn’t what Joe wanted. And it wasn’t what Kaden had wanted either.
He lay awake, watching over him. Please remember. I need you.
The next morning, Joe managed to eat the breakfast of toast, yoghurt and a banana, though his lack of coordination made everything a struggle. Kaden didn’t look his way, so he probably didn’t recall the late-night visit Joe had made. Or maybe he’d thought it was a dream.
Two men in white coats came to Joe’s bed and pulled the curtains around.
“I’m Dr Willis, the hospital safeguarding officer. This is Dr Walker.”
Joe nodded, fearing trouble.
“I’m just going to examine you again,” Walker told him.
Joe lay still while they checked his arms, legs, head, then his chest, blood pressure and throat.
They had him sit, stand, try to walk. When he collapsed, they caught him and eased him back down.
They looked at his reflexes, eyes and ears.
Not one part of him was left unexamined.
Joe was still fascinated by his new body.
He couldn’t help wondering if his cock would work like Kaden’s. It hadn’t been hard this morning.
“Do you know the patient in the bed nearest the door?” Willis asked.
Joe shook his head.
“We have a problem. You were found on the same floor of the hospital, within an hour of each other. One of you has a throat injury too severe to be accidental. You have unexplained neurological issues and muscle wastage. You claim not to be able to speak, but there’s no apparent reason why you can’t. ”
Joe opened his mouth and tried to say asylum. “Ass…lee…men.” What? His forehead creased. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t speak the words he had in his head.
Willis handed him a pad and pencil. “Write down your name.”
Joe was pretty sure writing was beyond him. He’d intended to pretend to struggle to get his hands around the pencil, but he didn’t need to. He was too clumsy to hold it, let alone write legibly. Though he tried to write Jalis. That wasn’t what it looked like.
The tears were genuine and a shock. Leaking. He felt overwhelmed. He’d thought he knew enough to pass as human, and he didn’t.
“Lift your arm, close your eyes, and touch your nose with your finger,” Walker said.
Joe hit his cheek. He tried again and still missed. Was that significant?
The two men went to the other side of the curtain and Joe heard them talking quietly about him.
“Faking?” Willis asked.
“I don’t know. He should have been able to touch his nose.
The tox screen came back negative. He’s severely anaemic.
Extremely low in some essential elements.
Underweight. His heart rate is too fast. He could be suffering from some rare neurological condition.
Maybe he was held somewhere and starved.
According to the nursing staff, he ate the breakfast so I don’t think he has an eating disorder.
We could get a psychiatrist to talk to him but if he can’t or won’t talk back… ”
“He tried.”
“He appeared to try.”
“You think he’s lying about knowing the other patient?”
“I have no idea. He can’t walk. That’s real. So how did he get into the hospital?”
“We can have the CCTV checked. See if they arrived together. If they did, I think we should call the police. We have no idea who he is. He can’t or won’t tell us.
He has no ID on him, just a small amount of cash.
No phone. That alone sets alarm bells ringing.
If he assaulted the other patient, we might be in trouble having them on the same ward, though he doesn’t look strong enough to do anything. ”
“Maybe they both took the same drug but he had less than the other man.”
“But we’ve not found a trace of any drug we recognise.”
“Something new? A dare that went wrong? I’ve ordered further blood tests.”
Their voices faded and then they were gone. Joe wiped away his tears. If they linked him to Kaden, Joe might be charged with assault. He was guilty but not in a way they’d understand.
His body and mind needed time to develop.
He’d read a lot about the human body, but in that mass of data, he struggled to find an explanation for why his muscles and brain weren’t working in tandem.
He kept looking and eventually found it.
Proprioception. Something that told the brain where body parts were in relation to each other.
It should have enabled him to touch his nose.
He should have been able to do it. Proprioceptors were located in tendons, muscles, and joints.
He hoped his body would develop them. Though he could feel he had arms and legs.
It wasn’t as if he’d lost the sensation of having a body.
As for his vocal cords, he probably needed to practise speaking, getting the right balance of breath, sound and meaning. And also practise holding a cup and using cutlery.
He kept telling himself to be patient.
When he realised Kaden was going to be released that day, Joe frantically tried to call to the fragment he’d left inside him.
Could he help Kaden remember? Heal his throat?
He tried to do both. This was unknown territory.
In his previous form, he’d had the ability to do so much, now he just didn’t know what he was capable of.
That afternoon, Joe was wheeled past Kaden’s bed to be taken for an X-ray. He looked across at Kaden as he passed and Kaden glanced at him and smiled. Joe had smiled back, then he was pushed out of the ward.
A smile! But there’d been no recognition on his face, no acknowledgement that he’d seen Joe at his bedside last night.
At least Kaden’s dad had told him that he was no longer going out with Harris.
It made Joe a little less worried about the trouble Harris could cause, particularly with what he had inside him. Even so, Joe still worried.
When Joe returned to the ward, Kaden had gone and his world suddenly felt very small.
Joe had never missed anyone before and it was a strange feeling, an emptiness deep inside.
He hadn’t given up on reuniting with Kaden.
But if it was going to happen, Joe had to walk and he had to talk.
He practised quietly, repeating words until they sounded right.
He touched his thumb to each of his fingers, to his little finger and back, time after time.
He kept trying until he could touch his nose with his eyes closed.
He lifted his legs, bent his knees and when no one was looking, he got out of bed and with one hand on the mattress, he took a few steps around the bed.
And he ate everything he was given whether he liked it or not.
He needed to get out of the hospital as soon as he could.
Definitely before they came with more results from his blood test. He had no idea what they might discover.
He looked human. He had human organs but his blood would take a while to become what it should be.
His clothes were in the bedside cupboard.
Assuming he could walk away without anyone seeing, he’d leave tonight and take that envelope with him.