by Joe Derkacht
Episode Five
“Mr. Raventhorst, do you hear me?”
It was an urgent whisper, repeated several times, before it registered in my consciousness. I swam up out of darkness into lesser darkness. A hulking, shadowy form leaned over me. A penlight came on momentarily, illuminating a jack-o’-lantern face. No. Not so much a jack-o’-lantern. Vaguely familiar. Ralph? Assistant to Dr. Laberly in the electroshock room, sometime counterfoil to Nurse Wretched.
“Don’t wanna turn the lights on, wake up your roommate,” Ralph’s hovering face whispered.
“Fine,” I murmured, drifting off. Didn’t know I had a roommate. Someone shook me, had a hand on my shoulder. I gradually floated back to the surface. My arm ached terribly, one ache among masses of them. More ached as I was taken by the ankles and my legs were swiveled over the edge of the bed.
“I’m gettin’ you out of here. I’ll wheel you to the elevator. If anybody asks, I’m transporting you to the psych ward. Somewhere along the way I’ll dress you up in orderly’s clothes, and we’ll walk out.”
“Halloween,” I said. Without stuttering, I think. Ralph, or whoever he was, was silent. He pulled socks over my feet.
“You won’t have to say a word. I’ll do all the talkin’.”
Fine by me, I thought. Who in their right mind ever wanted to hear me talk? The lights in the hallway made me squint. The elevator jarred all my sore places. More lights to make me squint, then we were in a dark place. Someone was dressing me in white pants.
From somewhere in the distance, I heard music playing softly. I opened my eyes, saw lights glowing across a dashboard. Hot air blew across my feet and in my face. A reassuring, black hulking form sat in the bucket seat next to mine. Headlights flashed across my retinas, blinding me.
Eyes squeezed shut, my head fell to one shoulder, and I drifted off.
“Is this the place, Mr. Raventhorst?”
There was that Mister business again.