Fools of us All - Chapter 6

I have had better nights. For the greater part of two hours I had paced in the waiting room, waiting for some news. A few times I had sat with Cindy, but I was just feeling too restless to stay in one spot for any length of time. After what felt like an eternity a doctor finally came out and called us over. The report on Gerry was encouraging. He had a nasty knock on his head, but it wasn't extremely serious. He was sleeping comfortably, they said, and would have to stay overnight for observation. It was likely that he had a concussion and there might be some fallout from that, but there was no other damage. Hopefully he was going to make a quick and easy recovery.

Cindy was overjoyed. She actually hugged the doctor before running out of the room, returning a moment later to find out what room Gerry was in, leaving as soon as she knew. The doctor and I shared a chuckle at her enthusiasm. As I turned to go pop my head into my friend's room, the doctor motioned for me to stay."I'd like to talk to you about the woman you brought in."

I couldn't read his expression or his tone, so I answered cautiously. "There isn't much to say. I hit her with my car and drove her here. That's about all I know."

The doctor nodded absently. "You have no idea who she is at all? You didn't see any ID or identifying marks at all?"

In my pocket I could feel the weight of a small orb. It had stopped glowing shortly after we arrived at the hospital. My first guess was that it had stopped glowing because she had died. "How is she?" I asked, avoiding his question, trying to sound casual as I did. With forced nonchalance I placed my hand in my pocket, feeling the slightly warm weight of the mysterious globe.

"Well, that's the funny thing," the doctor said, a slightly frustrated puzzlement in his voice. "She is actually doing quite well, considering the circumstances of her admission. There is some bruising, but nothing is broken. She also has a slight concussion, but your other friend is actually worse off. Are you sure that there is nothing else you can tell us?" He regarded me closely, almost as though he knew I was hiding something but unable to decide what exactly it was.

For the life of me I could not figure out why I didn't tell him. It's not like it was anything that special or odd. There are plenty of toys that glow in the dark, surely that is all that it was. And yet I couldn't. There was something just tugging at the back of my mind, almost like a hard to reach itch. In the end I just shrugged. "I already told the police everything that I knew, that she was on the side of the road, it was raining hard with limited visibility and I ran into her, so I brought her here. You know as much as I do."

Clearly the doctor didn't completely accept my explanation, but he had no real reason to suspect anything else was the truth. With a shrug he turned to return to his rounds. Before he could go I asked him what room the woman was in. "Room 112, down the hall to the left," he said absently, his mind already on the next victim that needed his attention.

I thanked him and stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. I should probably go see Gerry, just to make sure he was okay. But I just had to see her again, to make sure she was actually okay. The orb weighed heavily in my pocket, almost like it was trying to pressure me into making a decision. Why did those eyes haunt me so?

Shaking my head I slowly turned and headed over to the elevator to visit Gerry's room. Doing so would have been one of the greatest mistakes of my life.