this. I’m doing the best I can.”
“No, you’re not. You’re blinding yourself.” Samuel shook his head. “You’re in love with her, you idiot.”
“I’m not talking to you about this.”
“Caleb, you can’t see clearly anymore. You’re not yourself.”
“Of course I’m not myself! They lock me up, they treat me like I’m nothing. No—no, that’s just part of the time. The rest of the time, they treat me like—like a disease. They don’t care what else I am. I’m an illness that needs to be cured or a pest that makes their job suck.”
Samuel was firm. “You’re using her to cope with what’s happening to you. You need to take a step back from her.”
“I can’t do that. It’s too late.”
“You have to. Everything’s messed up and you need to fix it.”
“Easy for you to say, sitting up there without a care in the world.”
Samuel ignored him. “You’re going to have to do something to separate yourself from her without jeopardizing some of the progress she’s made. You fix this and then come home.”
Samuel vanished. The brightness disappeared and the walls of the small examining room took its place. The skinless man without eyes came back into view, and it gave him an idea. He would pretend he was still in a stupor so he wouldn’t have to deal with being shoved around and told what to do. In a few minutes an attendant came in, lifted him up, and placed him in a wheelchair. The man pushed Caleb’s arms down and placed them on his lap. They felt uncomfortable like that, but he wouldn’t dare move them and give away his secret. He was wheeled into his room and laid down on his bed. When he heard the attendant leave, he sat up and looked at the clock glowing in the darkness. It was 11:03 p.m. He tried to twist and stretch out his back, but winced when he felt pain in his side. He’d forgotten he’d been hurt.
The pain made it take longer than usual to strip down to his boxers. Eventually he got back into bed, hoping to get some sleep. It was difficult to find a comfortable position, his bruised ribs sending him a shooting pain with even the slightest shift of his body. Even so, he wasn’t tired and lay there with his eyes wide open, staring at the glowing numbers on his clock. He couldn’t stop thinking about Samuel and what he’d said. He was lonely and miserable and hated this place. Anna was the only person who could see past the disease they’d labeled him with and see him for who he was.
Samuel was right.
He’d fallen in love with her.
He couldn’t explain to himself how it had happened so quickly or why; he just knew that he felt it, and he didn’t want that feeling to stop. Samuel told him he was just supposed to walk away from her.
That wasn’t an option.
Chapter Ten
“Oh, God!”
Anna’s eyelids popped open. She blinked a few times. Squinting, she was able to focus on her mother and father standing at the foot of the bed.
“Anna—oh, look at you!”
Her mother’s high heels clicked against the floor as she walked around to the head of the bed.
“Your face!” She went to touch Anna’s bruised cheek.
“No, Mom.” She slapped her mother’s hand away and tried to boost herself up to a sitting position so she’d be ready to defend herself more easily. But she couldn’t manage with only one arm. Her other arm was pressed against her body in a sling. She fumbled for the controls to the hospital bed on the nightstand and the bed hummed until she sat upright.
“Look at you!” her mother repeated, and then turned to her husband. “Walter, look at her!”
“Yes, I see,” he answered flatly, settling into a seat in the corner.
“I can’t believe this would happen, and at a place like this…” The hysteria was flowing freely now.
Anna rolled her eyes.
“What, I’m not supposed to be upset about this? You’re lying there with half of your face black and blue and a broken collarbone!”
“I know, Mom.”
“What I want to
“No, you’re not. You’re blinding yourself.” Samuel shook his head. “You’re in love with her, you idiot.”
“I’m not talking to you about this.”
“Caleb, you can’t see clearly anymore. You’re not yourself.”
“Of course I’m not myself! They lock me up, they treat me like I’m nothing. No—no, that’s just part of the time. The rest of the time, they treat me like—like a disease. They don’t care what else I am. I’m an illness that needs to be cured or a pest that makes their job suck.”
Samuel was firm. “You’re using her to cope with what’s happening to you. You need to take a step back from her.”
“I can’t do that. It’s too late.”
“You have to. Everything’s messed up and you need to fix it.”
“Easy for you to say, sitting up there without a care in the world.”
Samuel ignored him. “You’re going to have to do something to separate yourself from her without jeopardizing some of the progress she’s made. You fix this and then come home.”
Samuel vanished. The brightness disappeared and the walls of the small examining room took its place. The skinless man without eyes came back into view, and it gave him an idea. He would pretend he was still in a stupor so he wouldn’t have to deal with being shoved around and told what to do. In a few minutes an attendant came in, lifted him up, and placed him in a wheelchair. The man pushed Caleb’s arms down and placed them on his lap. They felt uncomfortable like that, but he wouldn’t dare move them and give away his secret. He was wheeled into his room and laid down on his bed. When he heard the attendant leave, he sat up and looked at the clock glowing in the darkness. It was 11:03 p.m. He tried to twist and stretch out his back, but winced when he felt pain in his side. He’d forgotten he’d been hurt.
The pain made it take longer than usual to strip down to his boxers. Eventually he got back into bed, hoping to get some sleep. It was difficult to find a comfortable position, his bruised ribs sending him a shooting pain with even the slightest shift of his body. Even so, he wasn’t tired and lay there with his eyes wide open, staring at the glowing numbers on his clock. He couldn’t stop thinking about Samuel and what he’d said. He was lonely and miserable and hated this place. Anna was the only person who could see past the disease they’d labeled him with and see him for who he was.
Samuel was right.
He’d fallen in love with her.
He couldn’t explain to himself how it had happened so quickly or why; he just knew that he felt it, and he didn’t want that feeling to stop. Samuel told him he was just supposed to walk away from her.
That wasn’t an option.
Chapter Ten
“Oh, God!”
Anna’s eyelids popped open. She blinked a few times. Squinting, she was able to focus on her mother and father standing at the foot of the bed.
“Anna—oh, look at you!”
Her mother’s high heels clicked against the floor as she walked around to the head of the bed.
“Your face!” She went to touch Anna’s bruised cheek.
“No, Mom.” She slapped her mother’s hand away and tried to boost herself up to a sitting position so she’d be ready to defend herself more easily. But she couldn’t manage with only one arm. Her other arm was pressed against her body in a sling. She fumbled for the controls to the hospital bed on the nightstand and the bed hummed until she sat upright.
“Look at you!” her mother repeated, and then turned to her husband. “Walter, look at her!”
“Yes, I see,” he answered flatly, settling into a seat in the corner.
“I can’t believe this would happen, and at a place like this…” The hysteria was flowing freely now.
Anna rolled her eyes.
“What, I’m not supposed to be upset about this? You’re lying there with half of your face black and blue and a broken collarbone!”
“I know, Mom.”
“What I want to
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