The Remedy Files: Illusion

by Lauren Eckhardt

  Reflexively as fear floods me, I squirm to get out of the ropes, yelping from the pain and the panic. As soon as the noise comes out of my mouth, as he warned, the water pours down like a powerful waterfall over my face. I’m trying to gulp the water in an effort to beat the drowning but all of it is too much. I can’t breathe when it comes down that hard.

  The men sit by the box, watching me, playing a game with each other of who can get me to make a noise. The only good aspect about the chamber being enclosed is they can’t touch me so instead they are left with feeble, juvenile efforts like sneezing and yawning in hopes that it would trigger the same effects in me.

  “Or we can just do this,” one of them suggests. The shrill of the faucet signals the release of water coming out in a flood. I’m coughing and sputtering since I wasn’t expecting it and unprepared. I can hear them laughing in the background amidst my suffering. The faucet squeaks again as the water stops. “But what fun is that?” He says and they both laugh in wicked unison.

  “Let’s go get some food. I’m hungry.” The younger one suddenly interjects, already sounding bored.

  The older man seems hesitant at first but then says, “Yeah, ok. She’s definitely not getting anywhere with those straps now. Just remember,” He leans his face to the box. “You choose whether to have the water fill the box or if you want to sit there. Our preference is that you would extend the torture. But if you drown, we’ll enjoy that too.” Snickers erupt from both of them.

  A part of me wants to scream and tell them to stay. Even with their malevolence, the idea of being completely alone in this situation is somehow still worse than having them around. Like there’s a hope that somehow they would still set me free versus being alone in this box where there’s nothing at all I can do. As their footsteps get further in the distance, the terror inside of me rises.

  Suddenly I hear a commotion. Several voices shouting. Loud banging noises as though the room is falling apart around me. I try to turn my head but the straps are too tight and I moan out in pain. The water comes flushing over my face once again, choking me. Through the water I can see an outline of a face appear. At first, I think it’s one of them, coming back to laugh at my struggles.

  The water stops long enough for me to see it’s Gavin. “Gavin!” I try to muffle out which again creates the flow of water.”

  He’s banging on the faucet, trying to get the water to stop, not realizing that it’s the noise I made that set it off. When his efforts fail, he frantically works on the box, trying to find the right latch that’ll open it up. He instead grabs a pipe, slamming it against the latches, hoping one of them will set it free. Finally, one of them breaks, allowing him to shove the top off.

  I’m coughing up water as he undoes the head straps, using his hand to support my neck as I struggle to pull it back up. Then he undoes the ropes, freeing my hands first, then my feet. He pulls me out of the box and straight into his arms.

  Gavin puts his hands on my face. “Are you okay?” I’m still coughing, feeling as though I could pass out at any point but still manage to mutter out a, “Yes.”

  He gives me one more quick hug and says, “We gotta get out of here.”

  Grabbing my hand, he pulls me across the room. I bite my tongue to prevent from screaming out over the pain my calf is still in.

  The younger man is on the floor, his arm bent in such an awkward position with what looks like a bone poking out. Despite my relief that he’s in that state, it makes me want to gag. His nose looks broken and blood is streaking his face. The older man is lifelessly stretched out over a desk. There’s a huge slash in his side with blood steadily dripping into a pool on the floor.

  Gavin pushes through the tin door as we enter the cool air again. I’m sucking it down, letting my body realize something else other than water is being breathed in.

  “This way”, he says, but we walk in the opposite direction of the normal route I would have ran if I was on my own. He must know a different way.

  Gavin bends down at the waist as he runs, looking through the bushes, as I can only assume in hunt for an easy opening we can get through. Further in the distance, I see what looks like a blinking light coming through the thickets about a hundred feet ahead. Instantly, I realize that’s what he’s looking for. “Gavin.” I whisper, pointing to the light.

  As soon as Gavin sees it, we hear thunder cracking across the sky. I look up but it’s a perfectly clear night. Then I realize, it’s coming from behind us; it’s not thunder, but gun shots.

  Gavin has already made this connection and immediately swings the arm that’s holding my hand forward which propels me ahead of him. “Get to the light, NOW! Don’t stop!” He screams out.

  I keep running but look behind me to see Gavin stopped in the middle of the path. He has a black gun held out in front of him as he’s walking backwards, rapidly shooting at a dark figure that’s headed his way. The figure is moving fast despite an obvious limp and the night is lighting up in front of him as he fires his weapon too. I fall to the ground as an automatic reaction to the spray of bullets all around me.

  Out of the blue new figure appears from the edge of the maintenance building, only several feet in front of me but inches from Gavin.

  “Gavin! Behind you!” I shout, standing back up, ready to run to him and protect him, and feeling as though this is the same nightmare that has reoccurred over and over again. Except this time there is not a train behind him, but Mr. Frank.

  Once I realize it’s Mr. Frank, my first reaction is that of relief. This man who I admired over the years, who was always smiling and so kind. The one who has always kept my secrets safe and protected me from the Officials when he could have handed me over. Mr. Frank is going to save us. He knows Impetus. He will help us get out of here and into a safe place.

  Mr. Frank stands three inches above Gavin, even with his arched back. In left his hand is the black curve steel frame of a machete. As Gavin turns around, I watch horrified as Mr. Frank brings the machete down violently, a sickening thud reflecting off of Gavin. Before the expression on Gavin’s face can change in reaction, his body slowly crumples to the ground, his head bouncing off the dirt. It comes to a rest with the back of it barely touching the top edge of Mr. Frank’s shoes.

  I drop to my knees, a loud sob escaping my lips. Mr. Frank hears me and as he turns around with his machete lifted high once again, shots fire over my head and into his body. Several bullet holes puncture his skin as bright sprays of crimson fill the air. Mr. Frank falls backward over on Gavin’s body, pools of blood joining together.

  “Gavin.” I whimper out. “Gavin, move.” I plead.

  But there’s no response from Gavin’s lifeless body.

  CHAPTER 30

  “Evangeline, get up! We have to go!” I hear a familiar voice but it sounds so distant and insignificant. I can’t keep my eyes off the scene in front of me. The blood is pouring out from the two bodies. Gavin’s hair is now caked in it, and the breeze is causing strands of it blow in the wind as though there was still life in his follicles. I fall to my hands and slowly move one in front of another, crawling towards my Gavin.

  “Evangeline, get up now!” A strong arm yanks me up and pulls me closely to a warm body. Liam. His left arm encompasses my waist as he drags me with force, warning shots firing out of the barrel of the gun in his right hand. I am vaguely aware in the distance behind Gavin that there are black shadows crouched down, shooting in return. But I don’t care.

  “We can’t leave him! Gavin!” I sob again, reaching out as though the space would shrink between where I stand and Gavin’s inert body. I hear more gunshots all around me, but I can’t find the will to run. I am pulling against Liam, fighting to get out of his arms but he is dragging me further away.

  “He’s gone, Evangeline. We need to move! They’re- ooomph!” Liam gasps as a bullet hits him in the shoulder of the arm that’s around my waist. He cries out in pain but somehow manages to keep his arm tight around me.

/>   I look over my shoulder at his, and watch a red river seep out through the hole of his shirt. It’s enough to dry up the tears blurring my vision as my brain clicks back into action, and I hear the screaming it’s been trying to do all this time, warning me that we are in great danger. It’s enough to surge sense back into my muscles, getting them to run from the scene without the help of Liam. I can’t lose him, I need to move if I’m going to save him.

  Our feet pounding in unison on the ground is the only sound I focus on. We find a spot in the thickets highlighted by a flashlight that Liam had left behind. He grabs the flashlight as we push through, making sure to turn off the light so we can blend in with the dark night for the rest of our journey.

  The moon is mostly covered by clouds tonight. At some spots we can see the outline of the objects in the forest better than others. But somehow still, we manage to avoid running into anything. Although I’ve never been this way before, it feels as though I have. I don’t have to think about where I’m going; I simply seem to instinctively know even as we weave in and out of the trees.

  After a few miles, Liam points to a large tree, surrounded with thick branches and leaves, making the top part virtually invisible, a dark canvas to anyone standing at the bottom. “Can you climb?” He whispers.

  I nod, feeling a bit of déjà vu as bits of my nightmares are colliding with reality. Liam crouches down, putting out two hands for me to use as a step stool to get a start. I put one foot on his hands and he boosts me up so I’m able to grab the first branch and pull myself up. I’m amazed by how thick and wide the branch is. It could easily hold three people sitting side by side. All of them look to be this way.

  Leaning over the side of the branch, I put my hand out for Liam. He takes hold of my arm, and uses his feet to climb up the side of the trunk. He’s not using his right arm so I know he’s in pain. I pull with all of my might to help him up, grabbing on to his pants when he’s closer and helping him swing over to the side.

  Liam leans against the trunk, panting. His eyes are shut tightly together and his left hand is gripping his right arm.

  I crawl over his legs, to where I’m straddling them and looking straight at his face. I can feel the muscles in his lower thighs twitch in reaction to my bodyweight. His eyes widen through the obvious exhaustion and pain that he’s in.

  Silently, I slide my hoodie off my shoulders, tugging the fabric down my arms and keeping my eyes focused on his. Taking the knot tied at the end of one of the chunky hoodie strings with my teeth, I bite at it until it unravels. I yank on the other side of the string, pulling it through the hoodie until it comes completely out. Then I rip off the large pockets, one by one.

  I move up closer on Liam until I can reach his shoulder. Taking the two pocket pieces, I press them against his bullet wound, and wrap the string around the fabric, circling under his underarm and back around. When I tie it, Liam exhales loudly, biting back a scream. I close my eyes tightly. I can’t stand to know that something I’m doing is hurting him. Once I finish the double knot, I examine it closely to make sure the blood loss has stopped. For now, it looks like this will work.

  I point up to the next levels of branches. “We should move higher.” I whisper, and without waiting for a response, I stand up, crawling over him and lift myself to the next branch.

  It doesn’t take him long to follow since the branches are more closely together than the first branch was from the ground. We climb a few levels higher before feeling as though we are completely blended in with the thick foliage. Once we arrive, we both fall heavily against the trunk, sitting side by side, our arms touching.

  We don’t talk. We just listen for any sounds of people that may have followed us. The wind howls at times and seems to be speaking to us, faint words that we can’t make out swirling by our ears.

  I focus on listening. That’s all I can do. Right now my goal is to keep Liam protected. I can’t lose him too. I won’t and I refuse to let my mind think about anything else. We have to make sure no one is following us and then we can get to Rebirth.

  After hours pass of no unusual noises, I look over to Liam. His eyes are shut. “Liam.” I whisper.

  Liam doesn’t respond. I can barely make out the movement of his chest rising and falling. “Liam.” I hiss again, except a bit more loudly this time. “Liam!”

  His eyes open slowly as though it pains him to lift the lids.

  “Are you okay?” I ask, worry thick in my voice.

  Liam reaches up to his shoulder and smoothes out the crude bandage. “Yeah. Just fell asleep.”

  “No.” I grab his arms. My voice quivers, but I fight it by asking more intensely, “No, I need to know. Are you okay?”

  “Yes, Evangeline. I promise, I’m fine, I’m good.” Liam’s eyes are filled with concern. But I know it’s not for him, but rather for me. I don’t have to look in a mirror to know how I must look, how contorted my face is in ache and bewilderment.

  Hearing that he’s okay is all my body needed- a simple confirmation of the other man I love being all right before it shut down. When he was hurt, it was enough incentive for my body to pull through what it needed to do to keep him safe. But now, the reality of what just happened sinks in. And there is no stopping it. Gavin is dead.

  Tears flow down my face as though I am back in the punishment chamber with the faucet on full force. No noises escape my lips. My mind simply shuts down.

  I don’t remember all the details that followed. I don’t remember how we got down from the tree. I don’t remember the pain in my calf as Liam dragged me with him on the walk back to Rebirth. I remember circles of lights replacing my vision. Blurred streaks of trees as we walked. Hearing the echo of gunshots and the blending of loud shouts as images of Gavin’s final moments replayed in my head. I don’t remember how we made it back to Rebirth.

  I do remember Marlena’s eyes, though. It had to have been pretty soon after we returned to Rebirth. I am barely standing, leaning on Liam for any support I can get. I watch as Marlena is running towards us and then stops in her tracks.

  As though in slow motion, Marlena’s mouth forms what looks like “oh” and tears immediately inundate her face. I watch as she gradually drops to her knees. It seems like the most reasonable thing to do so I gladly follow suit. My mind is empty; I can’t even feel for Marlena as my heart is playing one numb beat after another against my chest. But I remember her eyes and the amount of pain that shot through them. I didn’t think it was possible to see agony that great in someone that wasn’t being physically tortured.

  Everything around me continues to move in slow motion. It is as though I am looking from above and not as someone else who is in the scene. At some point, my eyes close. I must have fallen asleep.

  ***

  For the next several days, a form of death disguised as some sort of painful life takes over my body. For three nights in a row, I wake up screaming not long after I fall asleep. I would see Gavin dying over and over again or faceless prisoners locked in glass boxes. Or sometimes I was drowning and I couldn’t kick the ropes off of me to swim back up. Each time I had a nightmare, I would wake to Liam next to me, holding me and wiping the tears from my eyes.

  Liam wraps up my calf every day, putting a variety of ailments on it to help it heal. He brings me water to drink and when I can’t stand the thought of pouring water down my throat, he creates a straw out of a plant stem. He encourages me to eat and holds my hair back for me if I can’t keep the food down. When I need to take a bath but the panic arises from the idea of getting into the water, he helps me with a cloth bath. Carefully and respectfully he assists me where he can and leaves me to do the rest.

  I want to be grateful and to tell him that I am but I can’t feel anything. This was the bad side of feeling, I’ve come to realize. This is the part I could do without. This hurts more than anything physical could ever be. I caused Gavin’s death. The grief, the guilt, the shame, the longing for him to still be alive… everything is merely
too devastating.

  After the fifth night, I somehow manage to sleep all the way until the following afternoon. When I awake, it’s like a new person has replaced me. I’m feeling slightly better, a little more normal. I turn over to tell Liam but feel disappointed to see that he’s not there. It’s a bit of a struggle to pull myself up. But when I do, I survey my hut which seems new- like it’s the first time I’m seeing it again. There are now several cups with a variety of flowers on the table. I haven’t noticed those over the past couple of days.

  “I’ve been trying to pick different flowers I see in hopes that one would be the trigger to making you better.” Liam says as he steps through the door and sees me observing them, obviously relieved that I finally took note of them.

  Seeing his face again brings a wave of comfort throughout my body and I inhale deeply, trying to breathe in how it is to feel something good again. “Come here.” I say, holding out my arms.

  Liam walks over and sits next to me on the cot. I put my arms around him, squeezing him as tightly as I can. He wraps his hands around my arms, holding me in place. “Thank you,” I breathe into his ear. “You have been so good to me and I can’t say thank you enough.” He squeezes my arm in response. “How’s your arm? How’s Marlena?” I ask.

  “My arm is fine. Nate helped me get the bullet out and it’s on its way to healing. Marlena…” He sighs. “She’s been about equal to you, I’m afraid. I can’t even imagine if she saw what you did. I don’t think she’d be alive at all right now.”

  “Can you take me to see her?”

  “We’ve started moving some people to a different camp just in case Impetus tries to find us. It’s a little further away and at least if they find this one first, they’ll hopefully think we left. I sent Nate to take her along with a couple of the other people. The rest of us will follow them in a few more days. Gavin was smart that night, you know. He had us come through and leave in the opposite direction to throw them off where our base camp is if they do choose to pursue us.”