by Carl Damen
He was just about to close the Sky Crest file when he decided to look at the information page. It was… extensive. Build site, build date, contractor list, owners and investors. Interesting fact: One General Loblen Mistaren was the primary investor and current owner of the complex. Amanda had been right.
After the general information was where Sky Crest's page ballooned. The building may have been beautiful, but the construction process wasn't. Delays, contractor disputes, inclement weather, injuries, even a death.
Jack clicked on the death report and a new page opened.
At the top was a picture of a man in his mid-thirties with widely-spaced eyes, short reddish hair and thin sideburns. Below was his name and basic information: Allen Fendleton, age thirty-three, died August 16th, twenty-one years ago. Despite being an experienced electrician, he had apparently stuck a screw-driver into an active electrical socket and had died rather violently. Location, location… location. Jack swallowed. Allen had apparently met his end in apartment number five of floor twenty seven—Jack's current home.
He quickly scrolled through the rest of the incident report, and noticed another linked at the bottom. Clicking it brought him to an incident Allen was involved with three years before his death. Allen, a senior electrician, had been working with his crew in the bottom of the Central Maintenance Core, back when the slender tower had been all that existed of Sky Crest. The report was vague, but it seemed that Allen was cut off from his crew by a freak electrical discharge from the metal pylons making up the core. By the time his crew had found him, he was severely burned, near death. They got him to a hospital, but doctors had only given him a twenty percent chance of survival. Despite their predictions, he pulled through a long and fever-ridden recovery and was able to return to work within three months.
It was a rather straightforward account, nearly indistinguishable from the other disasters that beset the construction. As Jack read, he began to discover just how big that "nearly" was. For one thing, despite being no more than ten yards from Allen when the discharge occurred, it took the work crew over four hours to rescue Fendleton and report the incident. For another, despite being admitted to the hospital with severe electrical burns, Allen began to show symptoms of extreme radiation exposure, and even suffered through several cancerous growths during his brief hospitalization.
Strangest of all though, was the second body. When construction supervisors had gone into the CMC to investigate Fendleton's injury, they had discovered a lump of bones and tissue that they believed to be a human body, although it was too mangled and burned for them to be entirely sure. It was quickly ascertained that all of the contractor's workers were accounted for, so the police were called.
Crime scene investigators were able to make a definitive identification of the body as human, but nothing beyond that. They took the body away to analyze it, where it quickly disappeared behind a smoke screen of paperwork and was never seen again. Police still listed it as an ongoing case.
Jack closed the file and stared out at the city. A horrible accident, a body misplaced. The overlaps with his own life made him shudder. He wanted to forget about what he had just read. But, like his knowledge of Lauren, once he knew about this thing it just kept scratching at the back of his mind.
A week later, and the scratching of Lauren was too much to take.
Jack was alone at home, transfixed on the sofa by Lauren's phone number glowing on the screen. He took a few deep breaths, a drink of water. If he didn't get this over with, she'd always haunt him.
He gestured at the screen and a low intermittent buzzing started up. There was just enough time for him to realize that technically, he was haunting her, when the buzzing stopped and a high voice said, "Hello?"
Jack swallowed. "Uh, yes, uh... Could I speak to Lucille Dawkins, please?"
"Speaking."
"Ahhh..." He wasn't ready for this. "This is Jack."
"Jack who?" She sounded distracted.
"Okay, please don't hang up, I know this is going to sound weird-"
"Saying that practically guarantees I'm going to hang up."
Time to jump. "This is Jack Dolad."
There was a long moment of silence. "Yeah, I'm going to hang up now."
She's giving me a way out, Jack thought. Take it, take it. "I'm not dead."
There was another long silence. "You might think this is funny, but I don't. If you don't hang up right now, I'm going to go in the other room and let you speak to my boyfriend; he's a cop." Her voice was strong, but there were enough little hitches in it that Jack knew she still had feeling's for him.
He should have stayed dead for her.
"I'm really not dead. I just—I just needed to tell you that, to try to move on-"
"You have video?"
The abrupt change caught Jack off-guard for a moment. She wanted to see him—she believed him.
"Yeah, let me just-"
"If you're doing something weird, I swear I'm-"
Jack activated video, and a small mirror image of himself appeared in the lower corner of the screen.
A low gasp echoed through the room. "Shit!"
Jack swallowed again.
"How did you—You can't—they said that you were-"
"I was mislabeled in the ER."
Lauren didn't respond for a moment. Then the screen changed, a face blinking into existence: curly black hair framing a pointed face with a thick nose and wide eyes, just like in the photos. "Oh, my God, Jack, I..." Her voice remained calm but her eyelids began to twitch with emotion. "How long? Why didn't you call? I would've come see you..." She was beginning to sound hurt.
Jack chewed his lip and stared at Lauren, at this woman who was supposedly such a big part of his life. And... he felt nothing. She was a stranger. "I didn't remember you." As soon as the words were out, he felt a huge rush of relief. He had done his duty to her, told her he was alive and that there was nothing now between them.
She shook her head, not understanding.
"I was brain-dead for ten years. I guess things... things didn't stay right in there."
"Why'd you call then?" Definitely hurt.
"Grant mentioned you. I just... I needed to give you a goodbye."
She closed her eyes and nodded. "Thank you, I... thanks." She looked away, then back at whatever screen she was talking to. "I'm, uh, I'm getting married. In about a year. I hope you don't mind."
Jack opened his mouth, tried to find words, shrugged. "Yeah, I'm... I'm good."
Lauren sniffed and smiled. "I still don't believe you, you know, but... but this felt right. So... Thanks, I guess."
"Yeah."
They held eye contact for ten more seconds, then both hung up.
Jack relaxed into the couch and sighed. The scratching was gone...
The phone buzzed loudly, jerking Jack out of the sofa, blinking wildly. Lauren's number was on the screen. Jack connected the call, still as video.
"Lauren?"
"Shut the fuck up and listen." It wasn't Lauren. A young man stared out of the screen, tan, with close cropped brown hair poking up from a painfully thin face, the skull bulging against the confines of the skin. "I don't know who the hell you are, and I don't care, but if you call again I will find you and I will fucking kill you."
The call ended.
Jack blinked and stared at the blank screen, unsure of what had just happened. He assumed this man was Lauren's boyfriend. A mysterious call, an emotional fiance, surely some giving some kind of protective threat made sense. Jack didn't begrudge him that.
What didn't make sense, though, was that while Jack had absolutely no memory of Lauren, he felt sure he knew this man, some way, some how.
Lauren was gone, but now another face scratched away at Jack's mind, joining Allen and the missing body...
6
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Light footfalls echoed in the hallway, followed by a high-pitched voice. "Dad! Dad, Gigawatt broke! Dad!"
The footfalls came closer, bringing with them more shouts of "Dad! Dad!"
The footfalls abruptly stopped as Than, clutching a toy in one hand and a severed leg in the other, burst into Edarus's bedroom. "Dad, the leg broke!"
Edarus closed his eyes again and focused on the tie. He didn't want to bring Amanda in to do this.
"Can you fix him, please? I think it just needs glue or something. Please? You've got time before you have to go."
He glanced at the clock next to he mirror—forty-five minutes. He dropped the bow and took the toy from Than. "Alright, let's see..." the led was ripped off at a joint just below the hip; the bottom half of the joint's peg was still trapped in the thigh. "I can' t do this tonight; I'll need to drill out the leg and find another piece to splice in-"
"Can we just glue it, just for tonight?"
Edarus put the toy on the dresser and gestured at himself. "See what I'm wearing? This is a tuxedo. I can't go messing around with glue."
"But I really need Gigawatt!"
"Not tonight, little dude." He picked up the bow-tie and tried again.
"C'mon, Dad! It's my favorite toy!"
The tie slipped and came undone.
Frustration spiked through Edarus, and it took several deep breaths to keep it from showing. "Than," he said, staring resolutely into the mirror, "Tonight is really important at work, and I don't have time to deal with your toy tonight. Okay?"
"Can I go with you? Please? Uncle Isaac'll be there, right?"
Remain calm… "Tonight's a big political event, okay? Stay here and try to get your homework done, and Esperanza'll take care of you. Hey, why don't you go and see if she can fix your toy, okay?"
Than sighed through his nose and dropped his head. "Yeah, I guess…"
Edarus forced a smile. "Good."
Than turned and the footfalls clunked out of the room.
Edarus had managed to get a few twists in his tie when the hurried footfalls began again.
"Dad, Essie says that she can't—"
Edarus slammed his hand onto the dresser. "Goddamn it, I don't have time to worry about your stupid toy!"
Than stared up at him, his eyes wide and showing confusion. Then they blanked out, went distant. Than nodded, turned and left the room.
Five minutes later Edarus had finally gotten the bow tied, and was putting in his cuff-links when the bedroom door opened.
Amanda stood there, a smooth red gown draped over her body, her hair cascading in loose ringlets over her left shoulder. She padded over to the bed, dropped the pair of heels she was holding, then flopped down next to her shoes.
"What did you say to Than?"
"Nothing. He was bothering me, and it wasn't a good time. I—I yelled at him." Edarus looked back at Amanda in the mirror. His emotions were caught up between pride that this beautiful woman was his wife and amazement that she had managed to get ready before he had. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's all sullen and angry now. You could have just talked to him; did you think about that? Just tell him it wasn't a good time?"
Edarus snapped the final cuff-link in place and headed towards the bathroom. "I tried that; didn't seem to get through."
"You didn't need to yell at him! What were you doing that was so important you couldn't talk with him? You were just getting dressed."
"He was interrupting!"
"He wasn't interrupting! He was just trying to talk to you while you got dressed!" Amanda buried her face in her hands and grunted. "What is with you? You have time to spend on everything else in life, and you just treat Than like he's an inconvenience!"
Edarus turned to face Amanda. "Now is not the time."
"Then we need to make—"
Edarus raised a hand. "Now. Is not. The time."
"When is the time?"
Edarus threw his hands up. "Fuck, I don't know. Look, I've got a big job trying to keep this shit-hole of a country together, and it takes a hell of a lot of time. Someday Than'll understand that, and he'll be able to forgive me."
"I suddenly understand why your father never visits."
Edarus shrugged. "He may not have done more than provide for us, but it was what he needed to do. I don't like him, but I've forgiven him."
"Don't you think you should do better for your son?"
"I'm making sure he has a future to grow up in; isn't that enough?"
Amanda tilted her head to one side and thought for a moment. "No, it isn't. Even if you spend every waking moment fighting for the future, it may not come. All we have is the present, and you need to be spending that present with your son."
Edarus slipped into the bathroom and returned a moment later with a lint roller. "Well, the present is the 9/11 Memorial. I don't want to go any more than you do, but that's my job, and I have to do it. Right now, Than has to come second."
Amanda glared at him, then grabbed a shoe and forced it on. "If he's such a damn inconvenience, why did you agree to have him?"
As with so many of Amanda's questions, this one had no safe answer. Edarus hurriedly rolled the lint off of his tuxedo jacket and settled on modified honesty. "Because I knew a kid would make you happy."
"You've never been that romantic, Ed. Try again."
She wanted brutal honesty? He was frustrated enough now to make sure she got it. "Because I'd have a nice, perfect little family, with a son involved in soccer and violin and a trophy wife who looked good in campaign commercials. That romantic enough for you?"
Amanda didn't respond for such a long time that Edarus looked up to see if she was still there.
"Well… I guess that was five years of marriage counseling right there." She turned and left the room.
Edarus looked after her, grinding his teeth and wondering what he could do to calm her down. He glanced at the clock again. Thirty-five minutes. He'd have to finish this conversation later tonight.
Despite Edarus's best hopes, traffic proved a tough beast to beat, with every usual Metro passenger flooding the streets with taxis and personal vehicles. In the end, he and Amanda arrived at the White House's September Eleventh Memorial banquet nearly an hour late.
"If we're lucky," he said as a valet drove away with their car, "the dullest speeches will be over."
"Mmmm."
"I'm sorry, okay? Can we just—just ignore this until afterwards?"
Amanda turned and walked into the White House.
Edarus sighed and followed her.
Once they made it past security, they were greeted by politicians and dignitaries, power brokers and lobbyists, men and women rich enough to enjoy— or demand— the president's notice. They were all very understanding of the couple's late arrival, and helpfully informed them that no, the speeches hadn't started yet. Again. And again. And again.
By the time Edarus had shaken hands and exchanged pleasantries through the crowd and to the buffet table, he was ready to leave. He looked around, made sure that he had lost Amanda, and tried to relax. He checked his watch; he'd be stuck here for at least three more hours.
A hand slapped down onto his shoulder. "Edarus! So glad you finally made it! I've been wanting to talk to you."
Edarus turned, a false smile already materializing on his tired lips, and saw who had addressed him. The smile quickly dematerialized. "Oh. It's you."
Mistaren's skeletal face peered out from behind an over-burdened buffet plate. "Yes it's me. Good to see you, too. Let's talk."
"I'd rather not." Remembering his agreement to help with Mistaren's plan, to stand by while he arranged the death of the president, brought a rush of unease into his gut.
"Having second thoughts about helping me?"
Not for the first time, Edarus felt that the general had somehow read his mind. "I'm not comfortable with your... policy."
Mistaren swallowed what he had been chewing while Edarus spoke, and cleared h
is throat. "I told you, things are happening with or without you. You're my first choice for liaison with the Q-bomb, but I could go on without you."
"And what if I renege on my part? What if I go to Isaac right now and tell him what happened to Shara?"