บท 9: Crazy Coincidences
'Hey, Dr. Williams' I turned to see who it was. It was Vera, the hospital receptionist. She was the "need me and I'll be there" type of person, Vera knew everyone that came in and out of the hospital and I slowly grew fond of her because of her cheerful attitude anytime she was approached, but it seemed a bit strange that she called me, we only spoke when I checked in and when I checked out, apart from that we didn't really have anything to talk about.
'Hey Vera, how are you?' I asked.
'I'm fine. Someone came looking for you, he said he's a detective, so I told him to wait for you at the hallway, I think he's there.' I stopped to think for a while. 'O.....' I just realized that I had reported a case to the police. You wouldn't blame me though, the week had been so hectic that I forgot all about it. 'Okay... thanks though' 'You're welcome' she said with her usual grin.
I walked into the hospital waiting area, looking around for any detective, when I realized that I didn't ask Vera to describe him. 'He must look like a detective, I think I'll know' I muttered under my breath, looking around for him.
'Uhhhhh....' I said quietly, looking around, as I peered closely to get a clearer picture of who I saw. I couldn't believe it, it was my college friend "Savy". I got closer, as I approached him. On a closer view, he looked somewhat taller and maybe a little more handsome than when we were in college. He still had that perfect hair and smile, but he looked kind of uneasy there. He had a holster attached to his Sam Browne belt, supported by two straps extending diagonally on both of his shoulders, with a shotgun hanging out. He wore a clean white shirt and a pair of fitted black trouser that gave him a well body built look.
'This can't be' I muttered to myself. After the number of years that had gone by, Savy was the last person I wanted to see.
'Wow wow wow, look what we've got here, Willy Williams, seems like fate brought us together again' he gave a brief grin and continued. 'Never thought I'd see you again in this life. Hmm... not looking bad though' he said, staring down at me. 'Hey, it's been so long Savy, how are you doing?' I asked, trying as much as possible to force out a smile. 'Okay, first it's not Savy, it's detective Savy and I'm doing better than you' he said with a wide grin. Savy had a way of getting on my nerves, well some people never change. Even after so many years he still had his same attitude. Back in college, Savy was the only one who stood between the relationship between Girra and I. He had always hated me for being with her. I would say he was obsessed with her. We were never the best of friends and I was happy that after college, we were going our separate ways.
'So... what are you doing with your life now?' he paused for a moment with a smirk. 'Wait, wait..are you the Doctor Williams?' he asked, wide eyed. 'Yea, I am. Are you the detect_' he interrupted with a louder tone. 'Yes Willy... I think fate is bringing us back together or something. I heard that you got married to Girra huh... that's a lucky one there, you finally got her right?' he raised one brow higher than the other, giving me a nudge on my shoulder. 'No.. no, this is not about Girra, it's about the case, it's about my lab and try to forget about the past, it helps..' I said, feeling uncomfortable that he was handling the case. 'Woooah woooah, sorry to walk on your charade' he said, raising both hands up for a few seconds and continued. 'I'll back off, nice to see you though. Okay, so let's focus on the case.' 'shoot' I said, this time keeping a straight face.
'Okay, so there is a new evidence and it's right here'
'Right here how?' I looked at him, not really understanding what he meant. 'Take it easy soldier, just hear me out. Luckily, from the footage, I could get the plate number and we traced it to this hospital.'
'So you mean the person that has been spying on me is in this hospital?' I asked, feeling a little lightened up. 'Yea, but I have to get a warrant to check. For now, just cooperate with us and give us any new information' 'Okay, I will.' I never thought hearing from Savy would ever be a relief to me, even though seeing him brought back some memories I never wanted to bring back.
The day went smoothly for me, except of course for the incident in the morning. To top it all off, Doc Mac seemed unusually friendly when he spoke with me, I wondered if he woke up on the wrong side of the bed, he was never as cheerful with me, as he was today. It was dusk and the sun had started setting, making the clouds cover a bit, I needed to check on the lab even if it was a little late. At least, I won't get to lie to Girra, if I headed straight to the lab at Freeda from the hospital. I walked on the hospital hallway, thinking of how the whole day had been, when I saw Balley heading towards me, from the other end.
'Hey bro' he said when he had gotten closer. 'Where are you headed?' He asked. 'I think you know already.'
'Yea, just wanted to be sure...but can't you just take a break? you know how today has been bro' I understood that Balley was looking out for me, but I needed to fix things up at the lab, maybe this night was my only shot at making things right. 'You're right, but I have to fix up some things at the lab you know... See where this night takes me to.' 'More surprises I guess!!' Balley said with a grin and then continued. 'If there are more, just call me. You know I've got you bro' He released a long sigh, then grabbed my shoulders for a bit. 'Alright then thanks. I'll see you tomorrow.' I said, as we went our separate ways. Deep down, I wanted Balley to go with me, the lab seemed more and more like a horror movie than a safe haven each time I stepped into it. Who would have thought that it'll turn out this way, the memory of the rat kept getting into my head and I couldn't just shake it off.
I had reached the lab at Freeda, when I realized that the landscape lights of Harley's house were turned off. It seemed strange, because their light was always turned on when it got dark.
'What could this be?' I thought aloud, going into the lab.
The rest of the night seemed like a whole journey to me, trying to work another cure from scratch would definitely do that to a person. My head ached and I had body pains everywhere. But at least, I had started up something, it didn't really seem like a total waste of time when I looked at the progress I made with my new experiment. I peeped through the window blind to check if the unknown black car was outside, but it wasn't there. After the scare Harley and I gave him, he won't dare to come back. Not much of a scare though, but at least it was something to keep the mysterious man out of sight for some time.
The landscape lights from Harley's house had a way of adding some illumination to not just the environment, but the street, so some part of the neighborhood seemed a little too dim for comfort. I had to checkout what was going on over at Harley's, even though I wasn't done with my lab work. Harley would have at least come around to give me one of momma's good brownies, I thought to myself as I approached the door. Everywhere seemed more quiet than usual, the only sound that I heard were the trolls of frogs from the river bank, some few meters away from Harley's backyard and the sound of what I guessed was the television. I knocked continuously, after the automatic doorbell rang, but there was no response. I was not so comfortable just leaving, I wanted to be sure that everything was alright. Just then, the fan blew the curtain away, giving me a glimpse of what was inside, through the window. The television was turned on and I saw Harley sitting on the recliner. Not relenting, I tried Harley's number a couple of times, but it always went to voicemail on every trial. This didn't seem right in any way, so I pulled out my phone and dialed "911". I couldn't just place it, but I had a bad feeling.
The New town police station was about a 3 hours drive to Freeda, so I hung around the house for a bit, still trying to figure out the cause of the silence despite my persistent knocking, but I ran out of steam, waiting. It seemed as if the police were taking their time, so I had to do it on my own. I moved closer to the door again and turned the door handle, only to realize that the door was'nt locked. The television was the only thing that lit up the house as usual, but every other thing seemed to be strange. I wondered why Harley would ignore me, even when I yelled from the window. I moved closer, when I heard a noise that overshadowed every other sound in the room.
'Welcome home!!' It was Harley's parrot. I had forgotten about it, so it startled me a bit, but I regained my composure when I remembered. 'Haaaaah, com'on you...' I said, placing my hands on my chest, as I turned, looking ahead to where Harley sat. He was no more on the chair, but walked strangely towards me. This shook me up a bit, as I took two steps backwards, getting a better view of how Harley looked from the television's reflection on his face. His eyes were green, just like that of the rat and he looked like another person entirely. The only thing that made me sure it was Harley was the necklace, extended by a pendent that he never removed from his neck. It all appeared to be more strange by the second. I took few steps forward to understand the whole situation, when I heard something that sounded like a growl or more like a murmur. Whatever it was, I couldn't make words out of it. Still facing Harley, I took continuous steps backwards, then I hit something behind me, it felt warm and I wondered what it was, as I turned around.
'Mi Willy...' was the weird and croaky noise I heard, as I turned to see Harley's mom. She had the same green eyes, with a white washed skin, her hands and breath seemed warm. She struggled to get a hold of me, with a firm grip on my neck, as Harley, with the same terrifying look, tried to grab me from the front. I quivered in fear, but managed to get out of their grip, yanking my body off them, as I took to my heels. I literally jumped out of the house from the open door, hitting myself continuously to probably wake up from the night mare, but it was of no use. The reality kept staring me in the face. I ran without looking back, with nothing on my mind than how to get to safety, as I rushed into the lab to get my keys. In few minutes, I lashed out of the lab with the keys, with a big bang from the now closed door, heading to the car with speed. I put the car in drive, stepping on the gas pedal to the last of it, as I fumbled for my phone to call Balley.
'O shit' I said, still quivering. I had left my phone in the lab, but there was no way I was turning the car around. The monsters of Harley and his mom were after me or maybe their ghost, who knows!! but at this point, I wasn't going to risk getting roasted for anything. I could barely hold the steering, as I tried my possible best to focus on the road, I wondered why their eyes were green like that of the rat at the lab. It seemed as if my mind couldn't contain my thoughts anymore, as I hit the steering to snap out of my panic. While still in my panic, Rooder Williams words at the conference came to my mind.
"Darkness filled the clouds and we survived by their mercy, we all scrambled for life, finding a way to survive, in the pain of life, there was anarchy everywhere and every human looked for where to hide." The words were still fresh in my mind.
"Could this be it?" I thought to myself, as I drove straight home. This nightmare was becoming more of a reality. I wasn't patient enough to park the car in the automatic doored garage at home, so I parked it in the lawn, just by Girra's car, as I rushed in to check on my family. With speed but stealth, I went into the house, looking carefully and walking cautiously. Of course with everything that happened today, I had to stay on guard, I wasn't in for any more surprises, even though I didn't want any coming from my house. I moved slowly to Molly and Solly's room and heaved a sigh of relief when I took a closer look and saw that they looked normal and were sound asleep. Now it was left with Girra, I had to be sure that everyone was safe. I went into the room, only to see her reading on the bed. 'haaahhh...' I said, feeling a great deal of relief. 'I love you honey' I said, walking towards her with open arms, but Girra seemed confused. 'Are you okay?' she lowered the inner corners of her brow, but hugged me anyways. 'Yea, I'm just happy to see you, today was so hectic. You wouldn't even know.' 'Okay....so tell me about it' Girra looked at me perturbed. 'I....I....I've been through a rough day at work. You know, it can be rough sometimes and you... seeing you sometimes is the solution' 'Hmmmmm...' she gave me a doubtful gaze, but still consoled me. Though I knew keeping the GECA project from Girra was for her own safety, everyday that passed gave me more reasons to want to tell her about it. It was like a curse or something that she didn't know about it. Maybe if she did, all the bad things would not be happening, I thought to myself, as I laid in the comfort of her embrace. It was hard on me, but I didn't want it to be also hard on her, so I had to keep it from her.
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