Chapter 1: The Things We Never Thought to Ask:
A dark haired man who looked around 30 years old was lying in what appeared to be a hospital bed. He had an IV attached to the back of his right hand and was just starting to stir.
"Would somebody mind telling what I'm doing here?" the man asked rather groggily, when he had regained enough consciousness.
"You're in the Sanctuary infirmary, Nikola. You were having a lucid nightmare last night and I just happened to hear you're screams while walking by," Helen Magnus answered. She was a raven haired, tall, blue eyed woman that carried a very strong willed, intelligent demeanor with her.
"That doesn't explain how I got here or why I need to be here," Nikola tried to say matter-of-factly, but it was clear he was still a little out of it. In fact, he remembered very little, if anything, from last night at the moment. The last thing he remembered was going over his own lab notes in one of the Sanctuary's guest rooms and feeling abnormally tired. This undoubtedly frustrated him, as he never took well to being in situations he didn't want to be in. He had to find a way back to his notes.
Nikola grimaced in pain as he tried to sit up. 'What the hell happened last night?' he wondered. He reluctantly lied back down. As much as he may have wanted to get back to looking over his notes again; he hurt like hell. Nikola recognized it was in his best interest to lie back down, at least for a little while longer.
Helen thought about telling him the content of his nightmare, as she watched him struggle to try and get up. But since Nikola had just started waking up, she thought better of it. Perhaps it would be better if Will had talked to him about that first. Will was after all the Sanctuary psychologist and she knew Nikola well enough to know he wouldn't be easy to reach or get through to; even if what Nikola had experienced last night was based in fact. Helen was pleased to see that Nikola had decided to lie back down for now.
~Will Zimmerman's Office~
Will Zimmerman was busy at the computer, doing more research on Nikola Tesla, trying to find out if anything he had said during his nightmare was true. To be quite honest, Will really didn't know much about the guy, except that he'd invented the radio, was considered a wacko by most people, and seemed to be a bit of an ass.
However, after seeing him like he was last night, Will was starting to develop some compassion for the man. As it turned out, according to his research so far, what Nikola mentioned last night about was true. Dane was Nikola's older brother and had died right in front of him from a horse riding accident when Nikola spooked the horse. That, and Nikola was only 7 when it happened.
'Damn, that's an early age to have experienced death,' Will thought. What made the story more interesting was there were multiple accounts of how Dane died. One of particular interest was that Nikola had pushed Dane down the cellar stairs, after being blamed for his brother's dog's death.
"Could a seven year old really have enough strength to push a fourteen year old down a flight of stairs?" Will asked himself out loud not realizing Henry, the Sanctuary's tech geek who also designed and ran the security systems, had walked in the room.
"Huh?" Henry asked as he walked into Will's office, standing behind him; reading over his shoulder.
"It says here that Nikola's older brother, Dane, died falling off a horse when Nikola was only seven and all of this happened right in front of him," Will told him.
"It also says that some believed he pushed his brother down the stairs," Henry replied.
"Considering Nikola mentioned the horse riding incident last night, that's probably what happened, but I'd have to try and talk to him to be sure," Will concluded.
"The other story is probably something the bullies made up just to tease the guy," Henry replied again.
"I should probably talk with Magnus about what we've found. It might help explain a lot of his behavior."
"Hold on a minute buddy. It also says here that Dane was the family favorite and that no matter what Nikola did to ease his parent's pain, it only seemed to worsen it," Henry added.
"Well, I should still go and find Dr. Magnus and tell her what we've found," Will said as he and Henry walked out of Will's office and towards Helen's.