Into the Dark (The Conjurors) (2 page)

    “Yes, it’s sad. She’s been in the system for 12 years, since she was three. She’s been bounced from one set of parents to the next, since not many people can handle a violent, schizophrenic teenager, even without all her other complications. Apparently before she fainted she cracked the rib of one of the boys at school. The nurse sent him to the hospital.”

    So that was how Mrs. Sims had found out about the fight, Valerie realized. Just her luck.

“Schizophrenia doesn’t cause a dramatic drop in blood pressure. Is there another diagnosis as well? I don’t see anything on her chart.”

    “That’s the great mystery. Clearly, the drop in blood pressure is somehow tied to the schizophrenia. You’ve seen what happens when she’s unconscious – she has some kind of vivid delusion that feels very real to her. After each episode, she remains in critical condition for days. We have no idea what’s causing this. We’ve given her MRIs, scans, blood tests, but all the results are normal.”

    “That must be terrifying for her.”

    “What’s worrying me most is that it seems these fainting spells of hers are taking a heavier toll on her physically the older she gets, and it’s taking her longer to recover each time. If we don’t diagnose her illness soon, I’m afraid she might have a stroke and die.”

    The shock of what she heard reverberated through Valerie’s entire frame, making her tremble. It couldn’t be true. Her life couldn’t be over before she had a chance to do any of the things she promised herself she’d do one day – see the world, go to college, fall in love. She gasped for air. Might die, she told herself, not will die. Dr. Freeman would never let that happen. In the hall, Valerie heard the insistent sound of the doctor’s beeper going off.

    “I had better leave you to give Valerie her IV. I’ll come back to check on her as soon as I can,” Dr. Freeman said to the nurse.

    She heard the doctor’s footsteps fade down the hall. Her door creaked open, and a stout nurse with round black glasses entered. Valerie just stared at her, unable to put words to everything that was racing through her mind.

    “Are you okay, sweetie? You’re shaking like a leaf,” the nurse said, putting a hand against Valerie’s forehead.

    “I’m – fine,” she replied, forcing her muscles to relax.

The nurse had been through enough today, watching over her while she had been raving, shaking, and sweating from her vision. She wouldn’t be able to answer any of Valerie’s questions anyway, hospital policy. There was no point in upsetting her by letting her know what she’d heard.

    “I’m Beth,” the nurse said hesitantly.

    “It’s nice to meet you,” Valerie said as calmly as she could manage.

    “I know you’re not going to like this, but I have to put a needle in your arm. It will only hurt for a second, and then you’ll feel much better.”

    “It’s okay. I’m used to it.”

    It was true. She didn’t even flinch when the needle slid into her vein.

    “Nice job with that needle. I barely felt it. Thanks, Beth,” Valerie said, suddenly wanting her to leave so that she could be alone to think.

    “Just rest now. Everything is going to be okay,” Beth said with a tentative smile. She squeezed Valerie’s arm before she left and turned off the lights on her way out.

    Valerie looked around her room, and all the colors blurred together. Whatever Beth had put in her IV was working quickly, making her mind feel sluggish. It was an effort just to blink, and she let herself be carried away by a gentle tide of drowsiness.

    It was in her peaceful dreams that Valerie always found the inspiration for the stories that she liked to write in her journal and sometimes read to the little kids at the hospital. Tonight, as Valerie effortlessly used her superior kung fu skills to defeat a crazed convict trying to burn down a village, an old friend battled with her.

Valerie hadn’t fought by Cyrus’ side in a long time, since he had been her best friend – her imaginary best friend, that is – when she was little. Even in her dream Valerie knew that Cyrus wasn’t real. But his presence didn’t frighten her, like yellow-eyes and Sanguina. He had always been a delusion who had her back, the only hallucination she wished she could keep. It felt right to be fighting another imaginary battle with him.

    In the middle of combat, Valerie and Cyrus’ eyes connected, and their enemies disappeared mid-kick. Cyrus walked over to her, holding out his hands. Valerie reached for him, but she couldn’t touch him, even in her own dream. As solid as he looked, he was a figment of her imagination, and her arms went right through him.

    “I miss you,” she said. “I wish we could be best friends for real.”

    “Val, it’s time to wake up,” Cyrus said.

    Valerie awoke suddenly, and all of the sticky cobwebs that the medicine had woven in her mind were gone. Her hospital room looked like it always did. Right now she was the only one in her room, and the other two beds were neatly made, gleaming whitely in the moonlight.

    “Um, Valerie? You awake?”

    Slowly, she looked toward the door. Sure enough, there was Cyrus, almost glowing in the dark room. His gold hair had a slight curl, and his blue eyes, which Valerie had always loved, stood out against his slightly tanned skin. It felt so good to see him. But did his reappearance mean that her schizophrenia – and whatever else was wrong with her – was getting worse?

    “It’s okay. I can explain.” Cyrus moved toward her slowly, as if he was afraid that if he moved too quickly he might frighten her, and stopped at the edge of her bed.

But fear was the last thing that Valerie felt – she wanted him to be real so badly. Without thinking, she reached for his hand, almost pulling the IV out of her arm. She couldn’t help sighing with disappointment when her fingers connected with nothing but air. She felt lightheaded. She shouldn’t have sat up so quickly after fainting a few hours ago.

 “Take it slow, Val,” Cyrus said gently, and she sank down onto her pillows.

    “Maybe this is a sign that I’m going to die,” she said, mostly to herself. At least she would be able to pass away staring into a face she loved, even if he was a delusion.
    “No, I’m not gonna let that happen.”

    “I see,” Valerie said, smiling a little at this person her brain had created. “And what can a hallucination do to stop it?”

    “Not that you’re gonna believe me, but I’m no hallucination. And it’s almost time for me to prove it. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you realize I’m telling the truth. Plan to be laughed at for the rest of your life about that, by the way.”

    Valerie shook her head, trying to clear it. She wanted Cyrus to distract her with tales of his adventures, not offer her more proof of her own insanity.

    “Why are you here?” she asked, feeling a little silly for speaking out loud when she knew that in reality, she was all alone in her room.

    “I know the past few years haven’t been easy for you. But things are about to get a lot better. I’m busting you outta here,” he said, grinning with barely suppressed pride.

    She let out a short, surprised laugh. “What makes you think I’d go with you?”

    Cyrus’ smile disappeared. “I can’t fathom what you’ve been though and everything you must be feeling. I’m asking you to trust me on this. I can save your life. What have you got to lose if you listen to me? Nothing. But if you stay in this hospital and wait to die, you will.”

    Valerie stared at him.

“What are you thinking?” Cyrus asked, stepping closer to her.

    “I’m thinking that I’ve reached a new level of crazy. One there’s no returning from,” she replied.

    “Then don’t return. Come with me.”

Over the next few days, Valerie felt herself relaxing as she fell back into the familiar rhythms of hospital life. She had been here so many times that the staff and other kids felt more like family than anyone else had since her grandmother died. She remembered her first visit here when she was five. The whole time she pretended that the other children were her brothers and sisters, and it was a feeling that returned to her every time she came back.

As she had during her last few visits, Valerie spent part of each day visiting the younger kids to deliver comfort and tell them stories to distract them from their pain – always under the careful supervision of a nurse or parent, of course. It was a much colder world outside of these walls, and Valerie was glad to be back. If only she didn’t have to worry about what was going wrong inside her, she could almost be content.

    Because the hospital was currently at full capacity, two other children were sharing her room now, but that didn’t stop Cyrus from visiting her regularly. She did her best to ignore him, deciding that it wasn’t a good idea to indulge her delusions, but he made it very difficult. He seemed to take a childlike glee in forcing her to acknowledge his presence. One time, he entered the room on Dr. Freeman’s broad, dignified shoulders, pretending he was a cowboy and the doctor was his horse. He whirled an imaginary lasso above his head and pretended to pull back on reins to slow the doctor as he approached her bed.

She had burst out laughing, and the doctor had given her a sharp look and made a note on his chart, which immediately extinguished her mirth. The last thing she wanted was for Dr. Freeman to decide she was dangerous and put her in isolation. So she did her best to stay calm as she recovered.

The next day when Cyrus entered, she refused to look at him, even when he did cartwheels and back flips around the room. After more than an hour of unsuccessfully trying to attract her attention, he finally came to a stop beside her bed.

“Not even a smile for me today?” he asked, sounding a little petulant.

“Go away,” she hissed, not wanting the other two children, Ming and Jeremiah, or their parents, to overhear her.

While Valerie read a tattered old
Seventeen
magazine that Nurse Beth had brought for her, Cyrus tapped his foot impatiently beside her until the other children were called away for a Halloween craft hour.

On her way out, Ming stopped by Valerie’s bed. “Can I bring Mr. Hopsalot?” she begged, cradling Valerie’s tattered old stuffed bunny in her arms.

“Of course,” Valerie replied, smiling at the happy light in Ming’s eyes as she skipped out of the room.

“Now will you talk to me?” Cyrus asked as the door closed behind Ming.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re not real,” she replied, realizing how weird she must look, talking to an empty patch of air. She sealed her mouth closed and decided not to say another word.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh? What if I could prove that I’m real? Would you listen to me then?”
    She looked over at him curiously, but didn’t say anything. He gave an exaggerated sigh. At that moment Dr. Freeman walked in, still calling instructions over his shoulder to a nurse in the hall. When he turned around, he stopped short.

“Oh, excuse me, Ms. Diaz. I didn’t realize you had company,” Dr. Freeman said, surprised.

“Wh-what?” she stuttered, looking around her room. No one was there – except Cyrus. Her eyes grew wide, and her heart speeded up. “You can – see him?”

“Of course he can,” Cyrus jumped in, giving her a quick wink. “Stop acting like such a weirdo, Val. Nice to meet you, sir. I’m Cyrus.”

“Nice to meet you, young man,” the doctor replied, recovering his usually unflappable demeanor. “Are you a friend of Valerie’s from school?”

“No, we’re old friends from way back, aren’t we, Val?”

She could only nod her head. She realized that her mouth was hanging open and she made herself shut it. Dr. Freeman looked at her closely and held her wrist to feel her pulse.