Clawful Reflections

by Harper Lin

  “She’d borrowed some cat food from me, and I didn’t realize I’d given her my last can,” I lied. “I went to borrow a can back from her and found the door open.”

  It wasn’t my greatest fabrication. And I could tell by Jake’s face that he thought there might be a little more to it, but he declined pushing the issue.

  Blake had walked into the house with the EMTs and was out again by the time I finished talking to Jake.

  “Where’s Bea?” he asked.

  “She’s still next door. We went and checked if there were more than two cats. She should have been out of there by now,” I muttered.

  “I’ll go get her,” Jake said before crossing the grass and going into the neighbor’s house. In just a minute, they were coming back out, and Bea looked upset. Jake went into Mrs. Kitt’s house without saying another word.

  “Are you all right?” I whispered. Perhaps she and Jake had a spat. Maybe he scolded her about going into the house. I would smooth it over and take the heat for it. It was my idea after all.

  “I’m fine.” She didn’t look at me when she spoke. Instead, her eyes focused on the open door to Mrs. Kitt’s house. “Have they gotten her out yet?”

  “Not yet.” I folded my arms and shifted from one foot to the other. “I wonder why the mirrors were broken. You know what I bet it is? In a lot of those true-crime stories, serial killers don’t want to see themselves, especially when they are doing the act.” I motioned my hand like I were stabbing someone in a shower. “Mrs. Kitt was probably murdered by one of those psychos who has an issue seeing his own reflection. So he smashed them all.”

  I rocked back and forth on my heels and waited for Bea’s response.

  “You’re probably right,” she muttered.

  “You think so?”

  “Yeah. Cath, I’m not feeling well. I’m going to go home.” She didn’t wait for my reply before heading to her house that was across the street and down a couple houses. All I could think was that maybe this had upset her more than she wanted me to know. Maybe she picked up on something sad or out of line.

  When Blake came out of the house, he looked around, saw me, and headed right over.

  “So? What’s the verdict?” I asked.

  “Looks like a heart attack,” he said and went into some details about how the blood vessels reacted and how the person could collapse without knowing what was happening and blah, blah, blah.

  “Yeah. What about all the smashed mirrors?” I put my hands on my hips before repeating my theory about a serial killer on the loose.

  “We won’t know for sure until after the autopsy.”

  “The mirror thing is weird, though,” I insisted.

  “It isn’t unheard of that a person suffering a medical emergency will cause damage to themselves or their surroundings in an attempt to attract attention. She may have slipped into a sort of trance or epileptic seizure that caused her to do all that damage.” I looked at him like he had just started to speak in clicks and buzzes. “Have you talked to Jake?”

  “Yeah. I gave him the four, one, one when you guys arrived.”

  “Did he tell you about Tom?” Blake asked. I shook my head no.

  “Cath, I’m sorry, but Tom’s condition has worsened.” Blake put his hand on my shoulder.

  “How can that be? You guys said he came out of surgery fine. That he just needed some time to rest, and he’d be on the road to recovery.”

  I stared into Blake’s face. His blue eyes looked pained, and when he looked at me, he wasn’t just talking to me. He was studying my face and my hair and my neck. Why? Why would he look at me with that kind of longing when my boyfriend was sick in the hospital?

  “There was some kind of complication. A million and one chance that things could take a turn for the worse. Yet they did,” he said softly.

  “Well, can I go see him?” I didn’t realize I’d clutched Blake’s arm. He gently covered my hand with his.

  “Cath, he’s in a coma.”

  My knees went weak. This wasn’t supposed to happen. A coma? My breath came out in one long, tired sigh.

  “What am I supposed to do now, Blake?” I asked him quietly.

  “I don’t know. But whatever you decide, I’ll help you if I’m able.” I wanted to hug him. No. That wasn’t entirely true. I wanted him to hug me. I wanted to feel his strong arms around me and hear him tell me in his Mr. Spock monotone that everything would be all right. That this was just a setback, and the doctors were taking good care of Tom. He’d be back on his police motorcycle in no time at all. Once he was out of the woods.

  “Um, I better make sure the door to the babe couple’s house is closed,” I stuttered.

  “Who?” Blake asked.

  I explained to him my nickname for the Lourdeses and why in a nutshell. I didn’t feel like talking. My mouth had gone dry, and my stomach knotted up. I started to walk in the direction of the house and was on the porch before I realized Blake had followed me.

  I turned around before taking hold of the doorknob and looked up at Blake.

  “Can you help me get in to see him? His mother is just…she’s like a pit bull.”

  “I’ll do my best for you, Cath,” he said. For a second, I thought he was going to lean in to me with a kiss. It was like he started but caught himself and pulled back. But he never looked away from my eyes.

  I went up and peeked inside before taking hold of the doorknob. I saw the mirror that Bea had been looking at. I didn’t realize it was so oddly placed in the room. But I didn’t think anything of it. I shut the door and left with Blake.

  9

  No Admittance

  “How are you feeling?” I asked Bea once she arrived at the café the next morning. “You must be under the weather if I’m here before you are.”

  “I’m okay,” she said, shaking her head. “I am out of sorts, but I think a little change of scenery and work will do the trick.”

  “What’s the matter, honey?” Aunt Astrid asked.

  “She’s coming down with a cold,” I offered, gently patting Bea on the back.

  “I just said I’d feel better in a little while,” she snapped. “I’m fine.” When she looked up, her gaze was hard, but it softened quickly. “I’m just not myself. Nothing a few hundred CCs of orange juice and some hot tea can’t fix. I’m sorry.”

  “Hey, if you want a change of scenery, maybe you could come with me,” I said.

  “Where are you going?”

  I suddenly realized I hadn’t said anything to anyone about Tom’s condition. I’d known for hours that his condition had gotten worse, and I hadn’t said anything. I went home last night, had something to eat, and fell asleep. Bea wasn’t the only one out of sorts.

  “Blake told me last night that Tom isn’t doing well.” I looked to my aunt, whose worried face said it all. “He said he slipped into a coma.”

  “Oh my gosh,” Aunt Astrid gasped. She was organizing her receipts at her favorite table and slowly stood up. “Are you all right, Cath?”

  “What can I do?” I shrugged. “I can’t change any of this. But I don’t know how to say this, Aunt Astrid, except to blurt it out. I think his mother has something to do with it.”

  My aunt looked at me skeptically.

  “I’m not a mother,” I said. “I don’t know how it feels to have a child and be worried about them all the time. She’s got such a backward way of doing things. I can’t help but wonder if she’s causing more harm than good.”

  “Cath, you always think the worst of people,” Bea said as she looked at her reflection in the tall coffeepot.

  “Yeah. And sometimes I’m right,” I replied. “So, I’m hoping you guys will come with me to the hospital when Blake calls and says the coast is clear.”

  “Blake is going to call you?” Aunt Astrid asked. “He’s a good man.”

  “He is, Aunt Astrid. He really is,” I said quietly.

  “Of course we’ll go with you,” she said, smoothing my hair. “But f
irst, let me get my daughter some hot tea.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Bea said.

  Business was slow today, and I was glad for it. I kept jumping every time the café phone rang. For some reason, we were getting a lot of wrong numbers. It was just one of those days, I guessed. Finally, Bea picked up, and I heard her say hello to Blake. Without looking at me, she called my name and held out the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Cath, it’s Blake. Can you make it to the hospital?” he asked.

  “Yeah. I’m going to bring my aunt and Bea too. Is that okay?”

  “I don’t think it will hurt,” he replied and told me that he’d be waiting in the lobby for us. I looked to my aunt, who stood up from her table.

  “We’ll close up for a couple hours. It won’t hurt business.” She winked as she pulled her long maroon sweater from the back of the chair and swung it over her shoulders.

  “You ready, Bea?” I asked. She was staring down at a spoon in her hand. “Bea?” I tapped her on the shoulder, making her jump.

  “Don’t sneak up on me!” she griped.

  “Sneak up? It’s like working on a submarine behind this counter. Sneak up. What are you, daft?” I grabbed her purse from under the counter and handed it to her.

  “I don’t know what I’m so jumpy for.” Bea shook her head. “Yeah. I’m ready. I’ll drive.”

  “Why are you driving?” I asked.

  “Because if you get emotional, calmer heads need to steer the vessel,” Bea replied.

  “Okay. But remember that the speed limit is our friend. If we do the speed limit, we get where we want to be faster.” I looked at my aunt, who was laughing.

  Bea didn’t reply to my ribbing. In fact, when we got in her car, she spent an awkward couple of minutes adjusting the mirrors, looking at her reflection, then fixing the mirror again until finally she was happy with where they were situated.

  I thought it was odd, but when I looked at my aunt in the passenger seat, she didn’t seem to be affected by it. So, I just shrugged it off. Who was I to accuse anyone of acting strange?

  When we finally made it to the hospital, after hitting every red light along the way, I was sure I’d see flyers of my face taken from security footage in a red circle with a red slash across it and the words NO ADMITTANCE written in big bold letters. But all I saw as we piled into the slowly self-rotating door was Blake standing at the information desk, his hands in the pockets of his trousers.

  He walked up to us, looking serious. “Jake is waiting on the third floor,” he said as he slipped his fingers around my arm. “Mrs. Warner is not there. She has left the property. I’ve got an officer downstairs keeping an eye out for her. They’ll let me know if she shows up on the premises while you’re still visiting. Remember, we’ll need to move when she returns because what we are doing isn’t exactly on the right side of the law.”

  “Blake, you and Jake won’t get in trouble, will you?” I took hold of his fingers on my arm and squeezed.

  “We’ve been in trouble for worse,” he replied, and I saw the right corner of his mouth curl slightly.

  As much as I wanted to be grateful to Blake and Jake, I was feeling guilty for being more concerned about them than I was for Tom. I didn’t want Tom to suffer. He was so wonderful. He didn’t deserve this to happen to him. But it was like it was happening to the friend of a friend that I didn’t have a connection with. Every day I didn’t see Tom was another day I grew further from him. I heard my own thoughts saying it wasn’t him, it was me. How cliché.

  As we rode the elevator, I barely saw anyone around me. My aunt talked with Blake. She always did. It was obvious that she had a soft spot in her heart for him. I was not sure why she continued to treat him like a long-lost nephew. But at the moment, I was glad she was talking, taking the spotlight off me.

  When the elevator doors opened, we saw Jake. I hurried ahead of Blake toward the door Jake was standing in front of. It was the same room I had seen Patience and the faceless man in front of. The blinds were closed to the hallway.

  “Hey, Cath. Take your time,” Jake said. I nodded and went inside the room.

  Jake didn’t close the door behind me, but I got the feeling I was isolated in there. I looked over my shoulder, and the door was wide open. But every time I looked away, it was like the door was shut. Carefully, I tiptoed toward the bed. A curtain was pulled partially up, preventing me from seeing his face. As I peeked around the hanging sheet, I was shocked to see him just sleeping.

  His eyes were closed. His wavy dark hair was mussed. His hands were at his sides, with IVs attached to one of his arms. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary except for the horrible white snake that was down his throat, helping him to breathe.

  “Tom?” I said, half expecting him to open his eyes. He didn’t. I walked up and gently took his hand in both of mine. “Oh, Tom. I don’t know if you can hear me. You’ve got to get better.”

  I swallowed hard and looked around the room. It was dreary and sad with no flowers or cards. That was hard for me to believe because he was a cop, and they all stuck together, and if one of their own were in the hospital, they’d be visiting around the clock. There should have been balloons and get-well banners.

  “This isn’t normal. You were getting better after your surgery. Jake and Blake both told me you were. Tom…” I suddenly felt very tired. My eyes filled with tears. “Tom, I don’t know what I’m feeling anymore. I’m pulling for you. But you’ve got to get out of this so you can find the right person to take care of you. It isn’t me. This isn’t the right time. I know. But when is it ever the right time?” I wiped my nose with the back of my hand.

  The darkness was overwhelming. I walked over to the window and threw the curtains open. The bright-blue sky smiled in and made the machines and the wires that were hooked up to Tom look more helpful than intimidating.

  I walked back over to the bed and brushed his hair across his forehead. He was so handsome, with his five o’clock shadow and chiseled jawline. What was I thinking, not being attracted to him anymore? What was wrong with me? He accepted me. He didn’t think I was weird or scary. We were like kindred spirits since he said himself that he had some strange experiences in his life. Why was I throwing this gift away? Why was I determined to do it now, when he was completely unaware of me? Was I really that much of a coward?

  “All right, Tom.” I sniffed. “You want to just lie there. I can’t do anything about it. But unless you want to talk to me so we can handle our situation like adults, there is nothing more I can do for you.” I rubbed my arms. It felt as if the air conditioning had kicked on.

  Again, I was getting the feeling that the room was closing in on me. Like I was trapped in a box that was getting smaller and the air was getting thinner.

  “Tom. Can you squeeze my hand?” I slipped my fingers beneath his and folded his hand over mine. “I’m making it as easy as possible. Just a tiny squeeze if you can hear me.”

  I waited.

  “I know you’re in there. Just a little squeeze? I’ll get Bea to help you. You know she’s really good at finding out what’s blocking someone from getting better. Can you just let me know you’re there? One squeeze? Don’t be a jerk, Tom,” I whined with tears in my eyes. “You’re doing this just to make me upset, aren’t you? It’s payback for all the sarcastic remarks I’ve made. Fine. Next time, I’ll be the one in the coma, and you can see what it feels like.”

  Nothing except the creepy sound of him breathing with the help of a machine.

  “You can’t stay like this, Tom. You can’t.” I squeezed his hand.

  It was deathly quiet.

  But then there was a screech from the hallway. The howl of a wild woman shook the entire floor, and that was when I felt it. Tom squeezed my hand so tightly I thought he was going to break my fingers. He let me go only when I saw his mother standing in the doorway.

  10

  Battlefield

  “What are you doing here?” Patience a
ll but screamed.

  “I came to see Tom,” I stuttered. She was still in the same clothes she had been wearing before. “I…he…just squeezed…”

  “Get out! Get out of this room! You’ve killed him. Do you understand me? You’ve killed him!”

  I just stood there, staring. First, I was in shock that she was screaming so loudly at me in a public place. Half a dozen nurses came running and warned us both that security was on its way.

  “I’m his mother,” she hissed at the nurses. “That witch has no right to be here! She’s making my son sick!”

  “No, I’m not.” I started to cry.

  That was when I saw Blake pushing his way past the nurses. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room, where Bea and Aunt Astrid were standing, dumbstruck.

  “Bea, you’ve got to help him,” I begged. “There’s something else in there. You have to help him.”

  She looked at me like she wasn’t sure what I was talking about. Then her eyes snapped open like she’d remembered she had this unique gift that could possibly save Tom’s life. Before she could enter the room, the nurses stopped her.

  “You’re going to have to leave,” one nurse said as if she were giving orders on a battlefield. She looked like someone who had been forced to do this before. There was no anger in her eyes. Just a seriousness that meant she wasn’t going to lose her job over people like us.

  “There’s something else in there,” I whispered to my aunt, who put her arm around me. “Whatever it is, it’s going to kill him. Or worse. Keep him trapped like this forever.”

  “You get out of here!” Patience screamed again as the nurses warned her to stop making such a scene or she would be the one to leave. Daggers came from her eyes as she glared at each one of them. But her hateful look stopped on me.

  “You did this. You stay away from Tom. She’ll kill my boy if she comes anywhere near him. She’ll kill him. I know it.”