The Iso-Stasis Experiment (The Experiments)

by Jacqueline Druga

  Perhaps he really was a bit anal about being neat. But neat wasn’t so bad. Neither was giving everything a place. Jake glanced at his dresser to the brush next to his shaving kit. The kit set next to a picture of his family all on a dresser that held not one speck of dust.

  “No.” Jake turned his head looking back toward the bathroom. “I’m not that bad.” Wanting to prove it to himself, Jake grabbed his brush. He slid it over four inches. “There.” He stepped back, smiled and decided it was time, early or not, to wake Cal. Moving his hand out to the bathroom door, Jake stopped. “I can’t do it.” He flung back his head shaking it, walked to his dresser and put his brush back in its original spot.

  ^^^^

  Actually Rickie didn’t have to wheeze as loud as he did when he ran into the gathering room. Nor did he have to linger leaning in a dramatic slant in the door way. Sweaty, but more wet from the outside faucet he had doused himself under, Rickie staggered in. “Dudes!” he said with sensational exhaustion.

  No one looked. Around one table, Jennifer, John, Carlos and Fr. Dan played cards.

  Thinking that they didn’t hear him, Rickie called again, “Dudes!” He staggered toward them, making sure his loud, heavy breathing was heard by all. “Dudes, the Sarge made me run.” Up went Rickie’s arm, his armpit inches from Jennifer’s face. “Smell me.”

  “Rickie,” Jennifer snapped. “Go away. Bother someone else.”

  There he was in the pits of bodily weariness and no one cared. Rickie was offended. “Oh, yeah?” he said with marked immaturity. “Well, Dudes . . .” he nodded standing behind Jennifer. “She’s got a queen, two kings a seven . . .”

  “Rickie!” Jennifer’s shrill ear piercing scream caused her whole body to shudder.

  John’s eyes fluttered as he plugged his left ear. “OK.” He widened his eyes and looked at his cards again.

  ^^^^

  Maybe Carl and Hawk shouldn’t have stolen that bit of weed from Rickie, but they were bored. And perhaps they should have saved it for the evening hours when not much was done, but they didn’t.

  Laughing in the teenage manner of a leaning and nudging into each other contest, they sat in the underground control area directly under the gathering room. The entire sub level of the compound, secret and hidden was a mirror image of the floor layout above. Scientific and lab equipment was strategically laid out and placed in different rooms. They sat in front of a counter peering up at a small line of video monitors.

  “Go on.” Carl instigated. “Do it.”

  He snorted a laugh “What will Jefferson say?”

  “He’ll love it.” Carl slurred out. “Love . . . it. Come on.”

  After running the back of his hand under his nose, Hawk pulled a microphone to his mouth. He lifted a hand trying to stop laughing and then he deepened his voice. “Jennifer.”

  Jennifer looked quickly around the table.

  “Jennifer, this is God.”

  The cards flew from Jennifer’s hands when she screamed. Her odd behavior brought only a glance her way.

  “You suck.” Carl nudged Hawk. “Do something more original.” Just as he said that he looked up at the monitor. Rickie was trying to help Jennifer gather her cards while she kept smacking his hands away. “Oh, Hawk, this would be perfect. Do it.”

  With a snide grin, Hawk brought the microphone to his mouth again.

  “Jennifer.” Hawk spoke to her. “Rickie is trying to kill you, Jennifer. He’s after you. Get him. Get him first.”

  A bellowing scream that sent everyone over the edge came from Jennifer as she sprang up from her chair sending it flying back. A slight growl emerged from her as he eyes locked on to Rickie.

  “Babe, you look pissed.” Rickie said.

  Jennifer’s said nothing. Her hands slammed hard on the table and she literally lunged at Rickie.

  Being the perceptive type of guy he was, Rickie took off running, but only after he shrieked.

  “See?” Jake handed Cal a cup of coffee as she sat Indian style on her bed. “I can be nice.”

  “Thanks, Jake.” Still half asleep Cal took the cup. Reaching for her cigarettes she turned her head toward her door. “What the hell?”

  Right outside the door, so close and over and over, they heard Rickie’s call for help and the sounds of a struggle. His attempts to call for help were drowned out by tiny panting Jennifer screams.

  “Great.” Cal said annoyed. “Just what I need to hear when I wake up.”

  “I’ll handle it.” Annoyed, Jake flung opened Cal’s door.

  In the hall not far from where Jake stood, Rickie lay on the floor face down with Jennifer on his back. His head bobbed back and forth in a fierce maneuver as he tried to free himself from the wrestling choke hold she had placed on him.

  “Rickie!” Jake blasted in a strong warning voice. “Knock it off!” Thinking no more about what he saw, he grunted and slammed the door closed.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I-S.E. Twelve - Seal River Complex, Manitoba, Canada

  August 23 - 2:45 A.M.

  What was it, Cal wondered, that made it so difficult for her to get to sleep? Maybe it was the way her evening ended up with the argument between her and Jake, the one that started out small and ended with her kicking him out of her room for being so arrogant. Jake had looked ready to go when she pointed at the door. He was tired of arguing with her, too. But why was the fight bothering her so much? Maybe because she knew in her heart that Jake was right after all. All Cal was trying to do was to get him to listen to her on why they should proceed to get Fr. Dan’s book. Skip ahead of the Jake agenda. Whether he took it personally or not, Jake got defensive. Telling Cal she was impatient, they had six months left to go. There wasn’t any loud yelling. Just two stubborn people in a heated debate on what they should do.

  As she sat there, crossed arms rested against her bent up knees, forehead lying on her arms, she heard it.

  “Mommy.”

  ^^^^

  What Jake felt like doing was go into Cal’s room, wake her up, and make her as restless as he felt. Never in his adult life had he ever have trouble sleeping. Yet there it was pushing three in the morning and Jake was waking up every half hour it seemed. “Fuck.” Jake picked up his alarm clock, looked for the thirtieth time at it and set it down in disgust as he ran his fingers through his hair. “She’s probably in there sleeping like a champ.” Flinging off his covers, Jake set his feet to the floor. With a grunt he rubbed his face. All he could hear in his head was Cal bitching at him. He could see himself standing in her room, most likely looking really dopey with his mouth hanging open in surprise as she called him names such as arrogant, egotistical, woman hater, chauvinistic, and not to mention, son of a bitch. Where did it all come from? A tiny argument, not even big enough to constitute being called small, was all it was. It didn’t even warrant how it had ended up.

  Sitting there on his bed he ran the events through his mind. Jake couldn’t believe how defensive she got, not to mention downright mean. Cal was never that mean, but in the past couple days, she had been a bear. Jake had to admit to himself that maybe he shouldn’t have asked her if the reason for her moods was a, woman-time-of-the-month-thing. That seemed to be the final determination in her becoming insulting toward him. Still, something was up with her. She wouldn’t talk to him, tell him what it was, so Jake guessed and he guessed wrong. He sat there on the side of his bed hating the way they left things, feeling like there was something he forgot to do and wanting to go into her room to make it right.

  Jake stood up; adjusting his boxer shorts on his chilled body he walked to the bathroom. The brightness of the light as he turned it on blinded him. As he stood before the commode and lifted the seat he heard its eeriness. A child’s voice began to cry out, seemingly in pain, and it come from Cal’s room. “What the hell?” Without hesitation he flung open Cal’s door.

  He saw it too as he stepped into Cal’s room, the ghostly vision of her daughter standing amidst roaring fl
ames, screaming, crying. “Cal!” He called out to her as she sat on her bed, covering her ears, and hiding her eyes. “Cal.” He rushed over to her unable to keep his eyes from the image of Jessie. “Come on.” Jake’s face felt hot as he scanned the room looking for where they were sending it from.

  “No! It’ll be over soon. I can deal with this.”

  “I won’t let you deal with this.” Jake reached his arms under her rolled body that sat on the bed and carried her quickly out of the room to his own. He set her down on his bed, pointing. “Stay here.” He reached under his bed for a rifle.

  “What are you doing?” She started to get up.

  “Stay here!” His hand shot outward as he ran to the bathroom, closing the door and locking it so she wouldn’t follow.

  Jake ran in Cal’s room. The vision was still there. Hoping it would stay for another moment, he stood dead center of it. Eyes peered and ears tuned he searched as he stalked around the room. He knew the voice came from high and to the right, seemingly from the vent. But where were the images coming from? The thought of Cal’s dresser popped into his mind and he sped to it in a race against the clock to beat the mind game they were playing before it disappeared. Grabbing her hand mirror from the dresser, Jake returned to his spot in the middle of the room, rifle in one hand, mirror center chest in the other. Being careful not to touch the glass of the mirror, Jake shifted his body from left to right until he caught the beam. Almost like it was being absorbed into the mirror, the beam that carried the frightful sight was visible. Jake watched. The wallpaper border, the black and white one that Cal hated, held the answers. Tossing the mirror down to Cal’s bed, Jake grabbed hold of the end of the bed frame and shoved it toward the corner he now knew they were sending the image from. Rifle still in hand, Jake jumped on her bed. His eagle like eyes searched every black square in the corner. “Got you!” Jake’s right eye moved closer to the small projection camera no larger than a dime. Something that wouldn’t be seen normally, but the green light emanating from it made it at the moment very obvious.

  Jake reached his fingers for it. It was set in the wall a quarter of an inch. Outraged, he slammed his rifle butt not once but four times into the wall, finally creating a big enough hole for his fingers to reach the lens and rip it from the wall.

  Breathing heavily in the dark room, he jumped from the bed and turned on the light. Jessie’s cries were still going on. Sliding the desk chair to the other wall, Jake stood on it, pulled off the vent covering and snatched out the two inch speaker wires and all. The room went quiet. Slowly he stepped off the chair and faced the smoke alarm on the opposite wall. He held up his rifle and aimed, intending to shoot at it, and then stopped. Taking another step closer, he glared. “Nice try fuck heads. You lose on this one.” Turning away, he stepped into the bathroom. He could hear Cal trying to open the door so he unlocked it.

  “Jake.” Cal flung it open. “What the hell were you doing?”

  “Ending this.” He moved past her into his room and put his rifle back under the bed.

  “I could have handled it.”

  “What?” Jake brought his hand to his temple looking at her, totally confused. “Excuse me? That was handling it? Sitting there with your head and ears covered while it happened?”

  “What else was I supposed to do? What choice did I have?” Cal’s words were emotional.

  “You could have chosen to come to me with it.”

  “Right, Jake.” Cal smirked and walked to the bathroom. “And hear you laugh at me?”

  “Wait!” Jake called out, running to her, and finally managing to stop her. “How long has this been going on?”

  “A few days.”

  “So that explains the mood. You should have told me. I could have taken care of it for you.”

  “I don’t need a hero, Jake. I certainly didn’t need you to be one now!” Cal’s words were angry as she turned from him.

  “You want to tell me what I did to deserve that?” Jake grabbed hold of her arm.

  Cal stared down at the fingers that gripped her. “I can handle things myself.” She snatched her arm back. “I don’t need to run to you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I hardly know you,” she said.

  “What?” Jake tried his hardest to stay calm. “Christ, Cal, I take that as an insult. I have spent more time with you in these past three weeks then I have ever spent with anyone in my life. What you see is what you get with me. I have never been anything less with you. We’re partners in this, that’s the way it should be. I feel I know you.”

  “Then you’re wrong.” Cal stepped back.

  “Don’t.” Jake shook his head. “Don’t walk away. Come back in my room, let’s talk. I don’t understand why you are so mad at me. I’ve seen you these past couple of days. I’ve asked you what’s wrong. Cal . . .” he tried to put a soothing tone in his voice. “Look how upset you’ve been. You aren’t yourself.” His hand reached for her face.

  Cal quickly pushed it away. “They were showing me visions of my daughter burning, how else am I supposed to be?”

  “Not alone. We could have dealt with this, ended it like I just did.”

  Cal tried in vain to walk away from him. “I have to go through this alone. You don’t know me, Jake. You think because we’re what you call partners in this that I’m totally honest with you? If you knew me then you would know that if it has to do with my daughter then you have no right to even talk to me about.”

  “Even if it’s just a setup, something they did to you just to eat at you?”

  “Yes.” Cal folded her arms.

  “Then fine.” Jake, in his frustration, slammed his hand against the bathroom door. “Don’t come to me then. Deal with it on your own.”

  “Don’t take that tone with me.”

  “Don’t be like this with me.”

  Turning completely away from him, Cal walked into her room.

  “Cal. This is really stupid. It was a sick, cruel thing to do. I’m here. We decided to stick together. Let me help.” He walked toward her as she started to move the bed. He grabbed it also and pulled with her to return it to its proper spot.

  Cal closed mouth and lifted her head to him. “No, I can handle this. It just hit me the wrong way.”

  “I’d say it hit you the right way, the way they wanted it to. You’re stronger than this Cal. Don’t let them get to you.” He leaned down to her to speak softly. “Let me help.”

  “Jake.” Cal stepped back. “Don’t try to help me, please. I don’t want to start depending on you.”

  “Why not? I depend on you.” Jake waited for a response, he didn’t get one. “Cal?” Still he received nothing but her silence. “I’ll leave you alone.” He backed up, looked at her and turned away.

  “She didn’t want to go with him.” Cal spoke softly.

  Stopping in the doorway to the bathroom, Jake spun around. Cal sat slowly on the bed, her head down.

  “She um . . .” Cal picked the bits of plaster from her wall off her bed. “She didn’t want to go.”

  Jake didn’t know what to say. Cal looked and sounded as if she was opening up to him, no one had ever done that. Jake didn’t know how to react. Standing almost frozen, he watched her and listened.

  “She begged me, Jake, begged me to stay home and I refused.” Cal’s raised her eyebrows. “I had plans. The details weren’t put in any of the books. I guess they didn’t need to be.” Cal’s words were low, almost inaudible. “What they showed in the room pretty much said it all, the flames, her asking me why I let him do that. Why I let her go. What you don’t know Jake . . . her father. . .” Cal paused to control her emotions, “he had been going through some sort of depression over his job. Nothing, you know, I thought of as big. He asked if he could have her for a year and I laughed. He got mad. That weekend he snapped. He covered her with gasoline while she slept, and he . . . he.” Cal exhaled.

  Jake flung his head back closing his eyes. They were details he did
n’t know. Details that made the image that appeared in Cal’s room make sense. He took a step toward her.

  Standing up, she tossed the plaster on to the floor and brushed her hands off. “See I live with it every day. It was a painful reminder that I was responsible for my daughter’s death.”

  “You weren’t responsible, Cal. He was.”

  “A part of me knows that. A part of me wants to keep blaming myself. I guess it’s my punishment.” She lifted her eyes to him. “And . . . I wanted to come to you with this, I did. That first night it happened. I felt so scared. I ran to your room. But I couldn’t bring myself to go in.”

  “You should have.” His hand slid down her face. “No one has ever come to me like that. I’m not sure I would have been real good at it, but I would have tried.” He stepped even closer.

  “You’re doing really well now. And you didn’t deserve the way I’ve been with you. I’m sorry. Thank you so much for taking care of what they were doing to me.” Cal stared at his chest which was inches from her. “It means a lot.” She moved her view from his bare chest to his eyes. “You say, Major Graison, that you aren’t sensitive. Well . . . you don’t give yourself enough credit.” She folded her arms close to her body.

  “I’m really not, Cal. Why else do you think no one has ever come to me? I’m not the type of guy who comes off comforting. To be honest with you, I may ask, but I don’t know where to begin to make anyone feel better. I just . . .” He felt her press her body against his, her head resting on his chest.

  “If you don’t mind, could you just hold me for a second? Just for a second?”

  Jake swallowed. He was in a position he had never been asked to be in before. He was needed. He brought one hand up slowly, almost hesitantly, to place it on her head. As he laid it down nervously on the softness of her, he pulled her closer to him. Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist. Jake paused, feeling awkward, and then brought his arm across her back. As her whole body touched to his, the nervous breath he held, released and he slipped his strong arms completely around her, laying his cheek against the top of her head. He closed his eyes. In that moment he realized that holding her, letting her feel safe within him, someone finally needed his strength, needed him. And Jake loved it. He held her longer than she requested. It felt too good to let go.