Touched and Bound Part 6
Our destination lay on the outskirts of town, a good couple of miles from Branch 2. We took a taxi there and passed through old business districts full of old warehouses and beat up cars, with a few falling down apartment houses in between. People walked and slept on the street sides, but their dress stood out incomplete contrast to those of the business men and women only two or three streets back. The farther we drove the more out of place everything seemed, the scape outside melding into a dark and dreary atmosphere despite the clear weather. And even more interesting, was the fact that as we drove I recognized small alleyways and streets, even an old warehouse with the boarded up windows and water-faded sign on the front. The back of my mind acknowledged this area as the strange and unfamiliar surroundings I'd traveled through on my way away from the hospital.
I shifted in my seat and waited for the taxi to pull up to our destination, not interested in looking out the window anymore. The entire area was familiar to me and something about it made me uncomfortable. It wasn't the stereotypical distrust one has of a downtown area, the feeling was more then that. I felt like I was being watched. Eyes seemed to be peering through all the dark windows that resisted the day light, cloaking their innards with shadows and dust. I felt as if the buildings themselves were watching me with narrowed eyes of distrust. It was almost like the area knew me, and was untrusting every time I returned.
Duo's grin, as the taxi stopped, helped to ease some of my discomfort, but I doubt he noticed. I kept my facial expression in check, not willing to show how uncomfortable the area made me feel. Instead I just silently climbed out of the taxi and scanned the immediate buildings as Duo paid the driver. Once that was done, the two of us turned toward the hospital.
Exactly like the photo, the front of the building stood out in a sharp and nearly blinding contrast to its rundown neighbors. Clean white walls with gleaming windows and perfectly trimmed bushes made the building look like it had been dropped out of no where and just sat there, in complete defiance of its surroundings.
"Look familiar?" Duo asked me, watching my expression with a curious look.
I nodded to him and turned completely around so that my back was to the hospital. Directly across the street was the small alleyway, crammed with overturned garbage cans and a single stray cat digging among the refuse for food. I pointed it out for him to see.
"That's where Trowa's body was."
Duo nods. "And that's exactly where the police found him, without any forms of identification. Chang was part of the team that spoke with the hospital workers."
"And they found nothing suspicious at the hospital." I stated, turning back to look at the pristinely white building.
"Basically yeah. But since this is tied to you we should go take a look anyway. It's not uncommon for the police to miss things."
I nodded and lead the way into the building, keeping my eyes open for anything and everything.
We entered the building and I stopped still in my tracks. The lobby came into view and this strange wave of images flowed over me. For a moment my eyes unfocused, the world around me becoming fuzzy and unclear as my memories took over. Overlaid on the image of the real lobby, I could see ghostly figures dressed in pressed white uniforms, clutching clipboards to their chests as they moved from room to room, hallway to hallway, and patient to patient. Nothing had changed from my memory a year ago, even though I'd barely paid attention as I'd stumbled out of the place. Everything was in the same place, from the lightly decorated carpet to the waiting room chairs, even down to the pencil cup and stapler on the receptionist's desk.
My eyes refocused and I took a step forward to steady myself. I didn't look to see if Duo was behind me or if he'd noticed my strange behavior. Instead I simply walked forward, heading down one of the four branching off hallways. The smell of cleaning chemicals filled my nose, making my head feel a little light with their overpowering scent. I ignored them, along with the people I passed as I moved down the hall. I followed my memories, my mind playing them backward like a surveillance tape. Down the hallway... around the corner... four doors...
Room 195.
I stopped at the door for a moment, reaching up and placing my hand against the wood. In my mind I could remember pushing the door back from the other side as I stumbled out of the room. I'd tripped over one of the chairs in the hallway, my legs not quite obeying me, before I'd made my way out of the hospital. This was most definitely the same room I'd woken up in. And if I was in a room, that meant the hospital had my name. They had to have my name and at least a little information about me on file.
My hopes rose and I gently pressed the door open, stepping inside.
I wasn't able to see the inside of the room, for at that moment a firm hand grasped my shoulder and pulled me back a few steps. My body tensed and I spun around, but he managed to catch my arm in a firm grip, his large dark hand not allowing me any chance at movement.
The man who stood before me was dressed in white, like all the other workers, but his uniform held a badge and a belt with a large heavy flashlight and a few small tools. A large yet grim face frowned back at me from behind a neatly trimmed beard. His body was bulky and I made a guess that he was actually part of the hospital's security that doubled as a repairman for minor jobs. In spite of his size I knew I could have easily pulled my hand away and moved past him, but I made no move to, not wishing to draw attention to myself.
"Guests are required to check in at the desk and have an escort to the rooms. You aren't allowed back here."
I frowned at him, listening to his deep voice rumble in his throat.
"Trowa!" Duo raced up behind me and flashed a friendly smile at the large man. "I told you to be patient," he directed back at me, almost like a scolding brother. "I was checking us in, but you never listen to me, do you?"
I pulled my hand away from the man and frowned at Duo, not at all amused at his cover-up story. Meanwhile Duo took my arm and pulled me back toward the desk.
"Come on, they have to get your signature. It'll only take a second."
I let Duo pull me back down the hallway, watching out of the corner of my eye. The large man made no sign of movement until after I couldn't see him anymore and we turned the corner. As soon as we were out of his sight I pulled my arm away from Duo. He slowed his pace and walked slowly beside me, his grin fading and his eyes scanning the halls.
"This has got to be the most unfriendly hospital I've ever seen. Have you noticed all the guards in this place?"
"Guards?" I blinked and looked around us. Surprisingly I found that Duo was right. Nearly all the hospital staff was taller and larger then average. The entire cleaning staff that was in sight, all had the build of bar bouncers, while even the female nurses and secretaries looked a little more muscled then usual, with slim but strong looking bodies.
"And even more interesting. I asked, but there's no such thing as visiting hours. At least not without doctor's permission and previous arrangements. This place reeks of secrets."
I nodded my agreement. "Much like your place of employment," I muttered back.
Duo gave a soft chuckle and winked at me as he led the way to the front desk.
"Excuse me miss, but I need to ask you a few questions."
I watched Duo lean against the edge of the desk and a good natured and almost charming smile crossed his face as he focused his attention on the secretary. She responded to him with complete disinterest, her brown eyes looking at him dully with more then a hint of annoyance.
"I already told you, visiting hours are arranged with the doctors."
"We need some information." I said, stepping forward. Her eyes turned to me with a frown, still not looking impressed. "We need to see the information for who stayed in room 195 for the last few years."
"I'm sorry, but that information is classified. You'll need a permit." She turned back to her computer, as if dismissing us with one movement. I noticed her hand brushing under the desk as she did so and frowned slightly, though I couldn't see if she'd hit some sort of button.
"What kind of permit do you need? A search warrant is hardly warranted for this situation." Duo continued.
The lady turned her disinterested eyes toward him. "All information on our patients is classified. Warrant or not, we do not give it out."
"Even if it could involve a murder?" Duo raised an eyebrow at her, but more because of his own disbelief.
"Bring me the corner's note and I might call my superiors. Otherwise, you need to leave."
Duo blinked at her, looking completely lost. He glanced at me, flashing a helpless look. I returned my own small shrug and motioned for the door. He ignored me and turned back to speak with the woman again. Frowning at Duo, I grabbed his arm and pulled him for the door.
"We'll come back later." I said lowly to him as I moved us both toward the door, keeping a firm grip on his arm. I could already see the cleaning staff in the room watching us with suspicious eyes. In the time that Duo had been talking to her, five more large men had entered the lobby in seemingly normal ways from different directions. She had to have pressed some sort of button because no hospital, no matter how much money it had, needed nearly ten sanitation workers in one room, especially not one that was already spotless.
Duo made few protests as I moved him toward the door, apparently having already noticed the odd increase in occupancy of the lobby area. Both of us exited the hospital in silence and suspicion.
~*~
We arrived back at Duo's apartment without many words after that. The entire ride home in the taxi was mostly silent, leaving both of us to our own thoughts. As I sat there I went over the hospital in my mind, inch by inch. Mentally I retraced my steps into the main lobby and down the hall. It was a distinct memory that led me in that direction and I was positive beyond a doubt that room 195 had been mine for however long my stay had been. But my memory stopped there.
I couldn't remember the doctors, and especially not the one who took care of me. I didn't remember any other members of the staff either. Oddly, it was like in my memory there had been no one at the hospital, but I knew that couldn't have been the case. A hospital with that much money and prestige didn't run on a skeleton staff at night. There was no reason for them to. So the only other possibility is that my memory still only reached back to the point where I'd woken up and stumbled out of the hospital, nothing more.
And that left me at another dead end.
I leaned back in the taxi seat and opened my eyes, watching out the window as we headed back to Duo's apartment. My life seemed to be full of dead ends lately, no matter what direction I turned in. It almost made one skeptical to the extreme and I couldn't help but wonder how long this pseudo job at Branch 2 would last. Part of me was very tempted to go back to a life where my past didn't matter and the large blank spot was only a minor annoyance to be dealt with when making things like fake Ids. But at the same time, as much as part of me wanted to go back, I knew I couldn't. That was the problem. Now that I'd allowed myself to get my hopes up I was stuck here, grasping at straws until I found something. So this was just a situation I would have to deal with.
"Earth to Trowa, we're here."
I frowned and nodded to Duo, climbing out of the stopped taxi onto the street. I watched him pay the driver and then we headed up to his floor, in silence. I left my own thoughts behind and concentrated on Duo's silence. He was never silent.
In the short time that I'd known him, I knew he wasn't one to be silent, even when there was nothing to talk about. And the fact that there was plenty to talk about right now only confirmed my suspicions that something was wrong. He walked ahead of me without any sign of saying a single word. I wondered if he'd seen something at the hospital that had disturbed him, but that didn't seem right because I hadn't seen any other sign of him noticing something out of the ordinary. And he wasn't the type to hold in information until we reached his apartment.
Added to that was the fact that he did look a little pale.
I frowned and waited for him to open the door, following him into the apartment. I would have said something, but someone else beat me to the punch.
"Hey dad!" Mari waved from her seat on the kitchen counter, where she was eating a egg muffin sandwich while using a device that looked like a cell phone. But it certainly wasn't a cell phone, because she kept her eyes on the screen and was using her thumb to quickly type in keys, leading me to believe it was some sort of hand held computer of her own creation. "How'd the hospital trip go?"
"Incredibly effective," Duo muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We got kicked out by a toilet cleaner that could have squished Chang with his pinky." Duo walked over and dropped down onto the couch, leaning back and putting his arm over his face. "And the place reeked."
Mari chuckled and her eyes turned to me as I shut the front door. "You find anything?"
I shook my head. "Only that I stayed in room 195. But I didn't recognize anything else."
She frowned and entered a few things into her hand-held computer, before closing it with a quick snap and jumping down off the counter. "I'll take another look and see what I can find, but I suspect that this hospital keeps everything on hardcopy, which just sucks." She slipped the computer in her pocket. "Chang and I didn't find anything else out for you, unfortunately. Be careful or I may start referring to you as the human rubix cube."
"Yeah, but at least with a rubix cube you have an idea of what the solution is." Duo commented from over on the couch.
"Should I start guessing as to who Trowa really is?"
I couldn't help but smirk a little as I listened to them bicker back and forth. In spite of the fact that Mari called Duo father, the two of them almost seemed like siblings living on their own. He wasn't too much older then her so that scenario probably worked better then one of parenting. I wondered if they really realized it through their own actions.
"Get off the couch you lazy bum! Just because you're at home doesn't mean you're off work." Mariemeia stomped over to the couch with her hands on her waist, frowning down at Duo. Duo only spared her a small glance before he stuck his tongue out at her, childishly.
"Dad, you ok?"
I blinked and looked over at them, surprised by Mari's sudden change of tone. In a single moment her voice had dropped to being a bit quieter and she sounded concerned. Her hands weren't on her waist anymore and she was leaning forward, closer to Duo as if trying to get a better look at him, despite the fact that he was covering his face.
Duo sat up and batted her away with one arm, heading toward the kitchen and walking right past me. "Yeah, yeah, just fine. It's been a long day." He flashed her a smile, one that I could tell was almost obviously fake. But he seemed to fool Mari, because she watched him hesitantly.
"If you're sure.... I guess." She frowned, but didn't say much else as she grabbed her jacket and headed for the door. "I'm gonna head back, I just came to get some food. I'll see you two later."
Duo spared her a wave from the kitchen as he went about the cleaning the dishes from her meal, not looking up at all as she stepped out. I was left standing there in the kitchen area confused. I wasn't sure exactly how to react, so I found myself just standing there as Duo moved around and cleaned the dishes. He seemed overly distracted by something, his movements slow and jerky. His eyes were even glazed a bit as he cleaned the dishes.
I didn't ask him anything though, figuring it wasn't my place. For the life of me I couldn't think of what could have caused such a dramatic change in him, but I made no move to comment on it. I just stood there, watching him wash the dishes with a pair of yellow rubber gloves which slid on over the ones he'd already been wearing. To say this struck me as strange would be an understatement, but once again it wasn't my place to say anything; instead I just gave a small shrug and headed over to the large chair by the couch. Closing my eyes I slid into the soft cushion and let my mind rest, once again mentally walking through the hospital.
I traced my memory back, trying to remember as best I could what had happened at the hospital after I'd woken up. I went through everything in painstaking detail, so much to the point that I was forcing myself into gaining a headache, which began to slowly grow in my head. Still I went over everything, not stopping to miss a single detail if it was within my power to grasp. I made a note of all the hospital orderlies I'd passed and even found that the hazy image of the secretary that I remembered was, without a doubt, the same one who had been there earlier today. And now that I thought about it, I did remember the janitors being overly built. How strange...
A crash sounded behind me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I jumped out of the chair and whirled around, but found no one behind me at all. Where had Duo gone?
Forgetting my mental retracing I stepped back over to the kitchen, not surprised to find a dish shattered on the floor in small wet shards. What did surprise me was Duo's condition.
He lay on the floor, his body shaking uncontrollably. His hands were balled up in tight fists, the gloves straining at the seams, while his body curled into a fetal position, his skin scrapping across a few pieces of broken plates and cutting his skin. His entire body shook, his lips quivering as he shuttered with quick breaths, almost like he was hyperventilating.
For the moment all I could do was stare. I didn't know what to do, and my mind just froze on me as I stood there and watched him shake on the floor. I'd never seen anyone get hit with such an attack before. His skin seemed paler by the second and the shaking increased. I knew I should move him away from the pieces of broken plates on the floor, but for the moment I honestly couldn't make myself move. I just stood there for what seemed like an eternity, my mind buzzing and my body not responding as he lay on the floor, shaking and gasping for air.
After a few moments his body began to spasm more, jerking about so much that he started to hit the cupboards. The sound of one of the cupboard doors hitting its frame harshly broke me out of my strange trance and I moved quickly to the phone. One step toward the phone and I realized I had no idea who to call, and calling the normal hospital seemed wrong in so many ways. I turned my steps back to Duo and did the only thing I could think of. I picked him up.
It was quite a struggle to pull him into my arms, especially since at a single touch he seemed to jerk about more, actually crying out in pain now. His entire body shook and trembled as I moved quickly to the bed, where I dropped him down on it. Pulling out his sheets from the chest, I threw them over him and tucked them into the sides of the mattress, securely locking him under the covers. I placed a pillow under his head and grabbed a few others from the couch to tuck on either side of his body under the blankets to try and limit his movement. Once I was sure he wouldn't jerk himself out of the bed and onto the floor I moved quickly to the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth, wetting it down with cool water.
I sat next to him on the bed and placed the washcloth on his forehead, hoping the coolness would help calm him down. Beyond that, though, there was nothing else I could think of doing for him. Leaving wasn't an option at all, so there was no way I could go and get help from Mari or anyone else at Branch 2. So I just sat on the edge of the bed, replacing the cool cloth whenever his movements caused it to slide off his forehead. I constantly re-tucked in the blankets around him, keeping them tight to restrict his movements and make sure he couldn't hurt himself.
What had happened to him? I hadn't seen him interact with anyone at the hospital aside from the secretary, but then I'd been worried about my own memories at the time. Still, I knew Duo wasn't stupid, and he didn't seem like the type of person to let someone give him some kind of drug or injection that could cause such a reaction. I doubted that he'd been allergic to something in the hospital because of how severe his reaction was. So what did that leave then? It left me with a large question mark and no answers until he broke out of whatever attack was holding him at the moment.
Still, I did feel responsible, because I knew the hospital had to have something to do with it, and I was the reason that we'd been at the hospital.
So I made a promise to myself to stay with him all night, until the attack passed.
And that's exactly what I did.
TBC...
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