Inanimate (15 page)

“
So that’s it then sergeant thank
you
.” Crass
spoke quietly as they took a short step away from the
door.

All three
halted where they were while
they chatted, they didn’t want other staff to hear them.

“
I felt bad telling him that to
be honest, it’s a damn lie
.”

Jacobs
said in a hushed tone.

“
What do you plan on doing
about it?”

MacNamee
asked equally hushed.

“
As much as I can. I think Andy
Williams was beaten to death, not hit by some phantom car. And if
that’s true then this Sheriff Oates knows about it.”

“
But what I don’t understand is
why they said it was a hit and run at all; especially if it’s so
easy for people such as yourself to figure out the
truth.

“
They probably didn’t think
anyone would check” interjected Crass. “They couldn’t had known you
were going to ask for a copy of the report.”

“
Yeah”
agreed Jacobs “And it would’ve looked
very suspicious if they hadn’t send it.”

“
Poor kid. Poor guy for that
matter
.” said
MacNamee

“
Sorry gents but I gotta run.
I’ll let you know if I find anything more.” Jacobs said and he
shook the doctors’ hands.

The three headed off down the corridor as
Jacobs branched off towards the exit.

Connor Williams sat in his room,
trying to process some troubling information. His sudden awareness
was not just limited to the
realizations that he had a tiny window, soft walls
and a poor color scheme in his little room. He also realized he had
thin walls. And by sitting near the door he could hear
conversations just outside them, even if people were trying to keep
their voices down. Now he wasn’t only processing the news of his
father’s death, but also that it wasn’t an accident, he was
murdered. The people he was supposed to be able to trust, those
that claimed they wanted to help him had lied to him once again. As
these thoughts started to meld together he began to feel angry,
very angry. His breath began to quicken, his chest rose and fell
sharply. Gritting his teeth he tried to swallow his feelings, there
was nothing he could do about any of it and that was the most
frustrating thing for him. He was locked up, institutionalized and
he wasn’t going anywhere.

Night rested on Hallcombes heavily;
lumbering darkness enveloped the entire building like a shroud.
Outside, the building had sparse artificial light, a clever idea
from the board of directors to cut down costs and to stop the place
from garnering too much attention from passersby. From the security
room Tim the orderly watched a television screen on the opposite
side of the monitors. He had picked up a double shift today so he
could save for his coming vacation but now he wished he hadn’t. He
had forgotten about the UFC fight tonight and now he was forced to
watch it on a terrible little portable he managed to procure from
the staff room. He had gotten completely immersed in the fight,
blissfully unaware of the strange goings on, on the monitors behind
him. A steel box contained a half dozen screens, now flickering
with static intermissions. Tim was unaware.

The west wing of
Hallcombes, which
currently housed Connor Williams, looked even longer in the
darkness. Very few shadows could have existed here as very little
light was present. Out of nowhere, two large hooved feet landed
hard on the spackled floor causing deep indents in the concrete
beneath it. A large beast stood up straight. Opening its glistening
red eyes, it peered down the length of the hallway. With intent it
marched. A thick rope like tail waved from side to side and in the
darkness a metal spike flicked out the end. Razor sharp and thick
to boot, the creature pressed the spike against the concrete wall
as it marched, causing large lines of sparks to fly out into the
hallway. The grinding, screeching noise which accompanied it was
unheard by almost all the patients. Condensation billowed as warm
air from powerful lungs was pushed into the relative cold of the
hallway. Scoring the wall for thirty feet the creature moved
towards his destination quickly, not just through deliberation but
through sheer size as well. It finally stopped. Deep red eyes
flickered menacingly as the intruder bended to look at the plate of
“Room 101” reflecting its own image back at itself for a second.
The beast, which resembled a demonic cross of lion and bull with
eerily humanoid features stood at nearly eight feet tall, easily
able to peer in through Connor’s window and observe the boy.
Condensation steamed up the small viewing window quickly. Connor
was awake. Something he did not understand yet had stirred him from
his rest. The boy lay still under the steady gaze of the beast. The
boy lay still, yet he was unafraid. After the news of his father’s
demise he had now, nothing left to fear. In an instant, the
creature disappeared from sight and reappeared inside the room.
Connor could now hear it breathing from the darkness by his
bed.

CHAPTER 18

He had been lying awake all night, the
Doctors decided not to go ahead with his course of Valium for a
couple of days to give Connor time to mourn. Now, with this
creature beside him, there was no way he was going to get any
sleep. Whether through a sudden surge of confidence or simply a
lack of regard for his own personal wellbeing Connor sat up to meet
eyes with the intruder. The beast, camouflaged in darkness stood no
more than three feet away as the boy’s eyes searched, trying to
catch a glimpse of it. Red eyes glinted and condensation billowed
out. Connor now smelled the warm breath of the beast. If he had
ever smelled sulphur before he would say it smelled like that.
Right now he was thinking it smelled like the eggs that went bad
that one time in his fridge at home. Connor jumped off the bed
unafraid and the beast backed up a little to take the boy fully
into his gaze. Peering straight into the creature’s eyes he felt
more safe, something inside the monster told him it was not here to
harm him. A few moments passed between the two in relative silence.
The only break being the locomotive level breathing reverberating
around them.

“
Usually people
can’t handle the
sight of Dixie.”

A voice
broke the moment; it came from the
other side of the room. Connor turned to see a figure emerge from
the darkness. The dark outline of an arm reached out towards him,
illuminated only by a little light from the window to the hall.
Connor watched as the darkened hand seemed to make a fist, then
quickly it flicked open revealing a brilliant ball of light,
perfectly spherical. The ball looked to be loosely in control of
its owner as it floated from side to side gently. The figure then
flicked his wrist downward to the floor, sending the ball of light
crashing to the soft ground below. In doing so it illuminated the
entire room with what seemed to be natural light. Connor’s eyes
took a few moments to adjust to the initial flash but as they did,
a figure formed in front of him. Standing before him in a dark blue
pinstripe suit, a handsome man with thick dark hair looked softly
at Connor. Calm and laid back he acted like he just performed an
everyday feat.

“
It’s not just the look of Dixie
people find frig
htening, it’s the whole package; the heavy breathing, the
strange noises, all under a cover of darkness. He really is quite
an effective tool for frightening people.”

Talking
gently with his hands the man oozed
charisma, mesmerizing the boy so much he had forgotten about the
large beast standing beside him. A beast even more frightening in
light than in darkness, Dixie was the color of gravel all over with
fur coursing roughly up his back and a smooth toned front side.
Although he stood on two legs he looked like he would be equally as
comfortable on all fours and Connor was sure the beast could reach
great speeds like that. Dixie’s expression didn’t change once in
Connor’s presence, a constant look of rage donned his large face.
Amidst Dixie’s breathing Connor looked at the man and asked
confidently:

“
Who
are you?”

Smirking,
the man was impressed by how
brave this young boy was.

“
I? Well
, I am ‘The Eye’.”

Connor
stood, silently coaxing more detail
out of the man with his expression.

“
The Eye” he
continued “is a name I stayed
with many years ago. Names mean very little where I’m from, it’s
only up here that they are they required. Essentially ‘The Eye’ is
a symbol. It means I watch, I observe, I admire.”

With that he smiled fondly at Connor this
time.

“
Dixie here
is a friend of mine; you see my
employer and I are always on the lookout for persons such as
yourself.”

“
What do you mean?
Who is your
employer?”

“
I’m not going to go into that
for now. Sufficed to say he is very powerful and I am but a mere
underling to his bidding.”

“
So, you’re like a demon or
something?”

The man smiled.

“
We knew you were perceptive. An
we were right! But the ‘who’ is not as important as the ‘why’. The
‘why’ I am here. And why I am here is to help you in a way that
only I can.”

“
The Eye”
took a step towards Connor,
sympathetically looking into his eyes.

“
I
know about your father. I also know that
his death wasn’t an accident but that it was covered up to look
like one.”

“
How would you
know
that?”

The man
rested a finger beside his eye and
tapped it gently against his face three times.

“
I
know a lot of things. I know that you miss
your mother very much, I know that you
had
to kill Beth and I know that you don’t
appreciate being lied to. Who does, am I right?”

Connor
looked at the floor.

“
I don’t like being lied
to
.”

“
I know that. I understand that
and I agree with you. In fact my employer and I both think it is
wrong that the people who are supposed to protect a nice young boy
such as yourself keep treating you like this.”

“
The Eye”
lowered his tone.

“
We also
know you want to avenge your father’s
death. You loved him very much didn’t you?”

For the first time in a long
time Connor
shed a tear, it streamed down his cheek like a tiny
tributary. He nodded while the man continued.

“
And unfortunately Connor,
we
can’t
bring him back but we can help you punish those responsible for
what happened.”

Another tear
escaped Connor’s grasp as he
lowered his head.

“
The Eye” stepped towards him,
placed a hand under his chin and gently raised the boy’s eyes to
meet his. He held Connor’s face gently with his hand and peered
deep into the boy’s soul.

“
Do you want to make those
responsible pay for what they’ve done?”

With his eyes wide open,
glistening with
tears Connor nodded; already implicitly trusting the man in front
of him. Normally a much more inquisitive boy, Connor did not ask
the man too many questions for fear of scaring him away. It was
pretty obvious he had some supernatural powers and if Connor was to
utilize them he must keep the man interested. He did not want to
push him away by peppering him with questions.

“
Now Connor…”

“
The Eye” spoke more
firmly,

“…
This is a big decision. If you
agree to this; you have to be prepared to take responsibility for
what happens to many lives. Are you sure you want to do
this?”

“
The Eye” took his hand away and
allowed Connor to compose himself. With a quick wipe of his eyes
and nose Connor looked up at the transfixing man before
him.

“
Yes” he
said firmly “I want vengeance. I want
them all to die.”

Transfixed on Connor now “The
Eye”
grinned
menacingly

“
Good.”

“
So how does this
work?”

Connor
asked the sharply dressed man before
him.

“
Well, normally Dixie is the
first to approach someone we’re interested in, sort of like a test.
Which by the way, you passed. If the person is afraid of Dixie then
we would know instantly they’re not what we are looking for. The
second part is that you have to actually want revenge, we can’t
just force it on you. You gotta want it, and you do, so that’s that
covered. Then, after that comes the method. I have got to allow you
a way to actually take your revenge, but that’s not always that
easy.”

“
The Eye”
flicked his fingers onto his chin,
stroking at it, over exaggerating his ponder, he mused to himself
quietly while Connor watched.