Author's notes: The Wolves of Saint August is one of my very favorites of the original Mignola Hellboy comics. Father Edward Kelly, the priest who is killed by the werewolf in this comic and is obviously a close friend to Hellboy, had made an appearance in Part Three of my story A Tale of 'Demon' Rights as the young, newly-ordained priest who baptized Hellboy when he was five years old. A younger version of the character of Kate Corrigan from this comic was also to have made an appearance in this same story, but the structure of Part Three became too complicated and Kate's chapter was dropped. In fact it was never written, just thought about.
However, the idea of Kate first meeting Hellboy in 1959 was always a part of the subtext of A Tale of 'Demon' Rights and I am using this opportunity to work out the details of this meeting. Even though Kate Corrigan will be a very important character in this chapter, the relationship between Hellboy and Trevor Broom will be prominent because of the connection to this earlier story. The basic idea of this will be the same as originally planned, but the structure of this will be quite different; since it will be more of an independent story, it will be much longer than the originally planned chapter.
Mignola never gives you much of an idea of how old Kate is in the original comics. In order for my little idea to work you must picture Kate as being in her early forties in The Wolves of Saint August. Many apologies if this age is too old for her character. Frankly, I always find it interesting to insert my favorite comicverse characters or ideas into a movieverse story. (Warning: Beware of some SPOILERS in this if you haven't seen the movie.)
This story has been a long time in the writing and the first chapters are among my earliest written narratives. As such, they are in need of a lot of grammatical tweaking. As of September 2008 this chapter is different in construction, if essentially the same in details, from what was first written.
Hellboy's Family: Chapter Four
Katie Corrigan, The Little Sister: Learning to Pray
Pittsburgh International Airport, Early November 2004
When Kate Corrigan received the news of Professor Trevor Broom's murder, she had been in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania researching reports of some abandoned coalmines that appeared to be infested with goblins. She had fully intended to attend his funeral. However, the same storm that was inundating Newark, New Jersey with rain that day was hitting Pittsburgh even harder.
Flight after flight was delayed for an unspecified period of time. In the end, many of these flights were cancelled. By the time a flight to Newark was finally announced, Kate had been stranded so long at the airport that she would certainly miss the funeral.
This was devastating to her. Trevor Broom had not only been a wonderful mentor in her early studies in folklore, not only the adoptive father of her closest friend. He had also been someone who had known her father, Richard Corrigan, before he died during surgery for a heart condition in 1959 when she had been only eight years old.
Her father had been a consultant in folklore for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense in the 1950s; in much the same way that Kate had been since 1984. Kate had also been an on-again, off-again team member with the BPRD, working mainly with Hellboy, the demon that Broom had raised as his own son.
Despite missing the funeral, Kate decided to take the flight to Newark anyway. She hadn't seen Hellboy in a while, having been away doing her own research for some time. Yet, her research in Pittsburgh could wait. She wanted to see Hellboy again, to grieve with him; to comfort him in the loss of his father, as he had once comforted her after the death of her own father.
No one knew better than she did how close Hellboy had been to his adoptive father, just how much he had loved him; even though she never recalled him putting this into words. For some reason Kate and Hellboy never needed words between them to know just what the other was thinking and feeling. Their friendship was very special.
Just before her flight was to board, Kate had gone to the restroom and did not like at all what she saw in the mirror. When she first arrived at the airport that morning, dressed in a black suit she had picked up in Pittsburgh the day before, she had looked quite nice. Unfortunately, the frustrating hours of waiting for the weather to clear sufficiently for take-off had taken its toll on her appearance.
Crying had almost completely ruined her makeup and her tendency to run her hands through her hair when upset had made her dark blonde hair stand up on end. Hours of sitting around had rumpled up the suit and a quick snack at a McDonald's that was located near her departure gate had left a smear of catsup on her blazer.
While in the restroom, she had managed to remove the stain from the blazer. Any endeavor, however, to reapply the makeup and run a brush through her hair seemed, at least in her own eyes, to make her look even worse. She wanted to cry in frustration, but felt she had no tears left.
When she returned to the departure gate, the chaos there had become even worse. The US Airways flight that she was supposed to be boarding was now over-booked because of cancelled flights and the airline was encouraging people to voluntarily wait for another flight. Kate, who had been at the airport since very early that morning, did not want to spend one more minute there than she had to. She was not about to give up her seat.
A young woman grabbed Kate's arm, begging her to give up her seat. She was crying about missing an important business meeting. As she yanked her arm away, something snapped inside of Kate.
"A business meeting?" she shouted, "A business meeting! I've only recently heard of the murder of a man who was almost like a father to me. I'm missing his funeral and you're standing here talking about a business meeting!"
More than embarrassed about exploding in public like that, Kate immediately apologized to the young woman she had just shouted at. The woman gave her a weak smile and said, "No, I really should be the one to apologize. I had no right grabbing you like that. I'm really sorry to hear about your friend. It must be terrible to have someone you know be murdered." She unexpectedly leaned forward and hugged Kate, who was surprised, but pleased with the gesture.
"You know, I really should give up my seat," Kate said, as she returned the embrace. "I still want to get to Newark, but have no reason to be there by a particular time since I'll never make the funeral."
Smiling at the young woman, Kate walked over to the desk by the gate to relinquish her boarding pass in exchange for another for the next flight. She also received a complimentary pass for round trip tickets that could be used for a future trip on US Airways. Kate was the last person to do this and was informed that the next flight to Newark was scheduled to take off around noon from that same gate.
She returned to the crowded waiting area just as they announced the imminent boarding of the flight. A lot of people got up from their seats, surging forward toward the gate. Kate threw herself into the first seat that became available. After having relinquished her own seat hours earlier to a young woman with a child, she was grateful to finally be able to sit down again.
Checking her watch, she noticed that she had a little over an hour before the next flight was to board. She wasn't too hopeful; assuming that a flight that was to take off at noon would probably depart at least an hour later. Now that she knew for sure that she would miss the funeral, Kate actually felt a lot calmer and started to think back on her past relationship with Trevor Broom.
She had been eight years old when she first met him, but he had been so ill at the time that it had hardly registered with him. She met him again at age nineteen when she entered New York University to study folklore. This had been the beginning of a significant relationship that ultimately led to her employment as a consultant with Broom's Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
Yet, it had not been Trevor Broom himself who had finally convinced Kate to do more with folklore than write and teach her own classes at NYU. It had been his adopted son, Hellboy; the same one who had taught eight-year-old Katie Corrigan to pray, back when they both had very ill fathers.
How many people do you meet who were taught to pray by a demon? Even in the midst of her grief, this particular memory made Kate smile. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to relax and drift off.
Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense
Boston, Massachusetts, August to December 1959
Trevor Broom had raised Hellboy as Catholic. Baptized at age five, first communion and confirmation by age ten, this 'son' of his was almost fifteen years old and personally found anything of a religious nature about as interesting as eating spinach.
Hellboy was now close to seven feet tall, with bright red skin, tail, shaved off horns, and a right hand big enough to belong to someone twice his stature. Even though he did not look like your average Catholic adolescent, Trevor Broom had continued in his efforts to raise Hellboy in his own faith.
A small chapel had been installed in the main BPRD headquarters, right inside of the Medical Wing. Hellboy, who cared very deeply for his father, would sometimes indulge him by attending Mass, especially around Christmas, which was right after Hellboy's birthday.
Father Mike Elliott was the priest who came to the BPRD headquarters in Boston to celebrate Masses on Sundays and holidays. He was one of the few local priests to know of the existence of this Bureau and its fourteen-year-old monster hunter and paranormal investigator.
One particular Sunday morning in August of 1959, Father Mike was surprised to see Hellboy slip into the chapel right after the Mass had started. However, Trevor Broom had been located in the Medical Wing since the beginning of June for treatment for cancer and the priest was already beginning to suspect how worried Hellboy was about the state of his father's health.
Dressed in his usual black tee shirt and leather pants, Hellboy sat cross-legged on the floor at the back of the chapel. The small chairs in the chapel were not designed for someone his size and weight. Closing his eyes after he sat down, he used the enormous index finger of his stone-like right hand to gently fidget with the rosary that he had wrapped around his more normal-sized left wrist.
Hellboy had given Trevor Broom this beautiful olivewood and ivory rosary as a Father's Day gift three years before and was taking care of it while he was in the hospital. He often wore the rosary around his left wrist just like Trevor Broom usually did around his own right wrist.
After receiving communion when everyone else was done, Hellboy surprised the priest by touching his shoulder and stooping down to whisper in the ear of the much shorter man. "I want to talk to you after this is over, Father Mike. I'll just wait until you're finished."
Returning to the rear of the chapel, Hellboy stood off to the side as the Mass came to its completion. He nodded at the few people who greeted him as they went out. Some still ignored him. Even though these people all worked for the Bureau and were supposedly conversant with unique creatures, Hellboy knew his mere existence still made many of them nervous.
One of the people who greeted him was Frank Dixon, the commander Hellboy had served under in the mid-Fifties fighting against the Nazis in Argentina. "Hey, Hellboy, I've not seen you since you came back from Ireland. How'd that trip go?"
Hellboy reached out with his left hand and shook hands with the older agent, "Not such a bad trip. Pretty easy, really. It was one of those fairy changeling things. I just had to do a favor for these weird little men to get the baby girl back from them. Even kind of enjoyed myself once it was all over. Ireland's a pretty place. I just didn't like being away for so long with Pop being sick."
"How is Professor Broom doing, H.B.?" inquired Dixon, "I've not been around in a while. I hope his condition is improving."
"I'm not really sure, Dix," Hellboy fidgeted again with the rosary wrapped around his wrist. "They tell me everything is working out okay with this experimental chemotherapy crap they've been giving him, but if he's getting better you wouldn't know it by me. He looks just awful, he's lost a lot of his hair, and he can hardly keep any food down."
Dixon knew that, regardless of his size and field experience, Hellboy was still only fourteen years old. He didn't like seeing him this upset. "Look, Big Red, I hear he's got some of the best doctors in the country looking after him. You shouldn't be so worried. I'm sure they know what they're doing."
"That's what everyone keeps telling me," Hellboy sighed, "but I can't help being worried. If he's really getting better, I just wish he would look like he's getting better." He turned to face Father Mike who had just walked up to him.
"I couldn't help overhearing your conversation, Hellboy," said the priest, "A lot of what your father is going through is mainly the unfortunate side effects of the chemotherapy. I'm afraid that it may be a long, hard road until he is healed; but if the treatment ends up being effective these troublesome side effects will have been worth it."
Nodding, Hellboy continued to fidget with the rosary and then turned to Dixon. "Sorry, Dix, I'd like to talk to Father Mike alone, if you don't mind. I'll tell Pop that you asked for him when I visit later. Who knows, maybe I'll have some good news the next time I see you."
"Well, Hellboy," said the priest after Frank Dixon left, "What was it that you wanted to see me about? I'm assuming that it has something to do with your father."
"Yeah, it has something to do with my father, kind of," said Hellboy, as he looked down at the rosary that he had still been fidgeting with.
He looked back up again. "You see, I've been wanting to pray with this rosary, but I don't remember how the prayers go. I used to have this kid's book Pop gave me years back. It had some title like Flowers of the Rosary or Garlands of the Rosary, but I must've lost it. He's got some prayer books in his office, but they're a bit confusing. Do you have anything I could borrow?"
"I think I have something in my satchel you could use," said the priest. He went up to the altar in the front of the chapel, returning a few moments later with a booklet. It had the title Rosary Novenas to Our Lady printed in red on a gray cover.
After he had been handed the booklet, Hellboy thumbed through it. "This is a bit different from what I used to have. It has a lot more prayers. I was hoping for something a little shorter."
The priest smiled, "This booklet really has two different ways to pray the rosary. If you go to the back you'll find an explanation of the rosary that will be more like the child's book you used to have."
Hellboy shoved the booklet into his pants pocket. "Thanks, Father Mike. I'll see how it works out." He turned, left the chapel, and walked slowly down the main corridor of the Medical Wing to the private room where his father was located.
Trevor Broom was asleep, so Hellboy did something that had become a regular activity for the past several months. Sitting in a large chair that he had been given to accommodate his size and weight, he watched his father sleep.
After a while, he looked more closely at the rosary booklet. It had many illustrations along with the different sections, some of which were typical 'Virgin and Child' illustrations. He never had a mother, at least not one that he recalled. Trevor Broom had always been somewhat vague about his origins. Ever since his infancy, his life with the man who adopted him was the only life he had ever known.
Yet, Hellboy understood enough to know that Trevor Broom had always been as good as both father and mother to him. It would be worth suffering through any number of silly-sounding prayers if his father would just get better.
Getting up from his chair, he walked over to the bed. Trevor Broom seemed to his eyes to be hooked to a million tubes and wires. He was also sweating profusely in his sleep; probably some new side effect of the chemotherapy.
Hellboy reached down with his normal-sized left hand and gently brushed his father's damp hair back from his forehead. At least it did seem like he was starting to lose less of it. It was nice to be able to notice any kind of improvement.
Martha Wilson, the head nurse, walked in at that point. "Hello, H.B., I thought I'd find you here. Actually, he's doing a lot better. He was able to eat a little food earlier. And some little bird, in the form of one of the nurses, told him that she saw you at Mass. I think that made him happy."
Hellboy thought for a moment. "Right, I thought one of the women who waved at me looked familiar. So, you really think he's getting better, Marty?"
"Yes," the nurse smiled, "There has been a distinct improvement in the side effects since yesterday, and the tumor has been shrinking at an accelerated rate. Doctor Patterson and the other experts have been very pleased. It's still going to be a long time, but it does look like he's turned a kind of corner in the treatment."
As she was speaking, Trevor Broom woke up. "Son, how long have you been here? I wish you would wake me when you come to visit. I hate it when I find out that you've been here and left without me even knowing about it."
Hellboy smiled and took his father's hand, "But Pop, you know that Marty here would shoot me with a gun even bigger than my Samaritan if I woke you up."
He knelt down to see Trevor Broom more closely. "Marty says you're feeling a little better. I'm glad to hear that. I saw Frank Dixon earlier today and he asked after you. Is there anything you would like that I can bring you?"
"What I would really like is a decent cup of tea," complained Broom, "I haven't been able to keep even that much down for days. And when I could finally drink some tea, what the Medical Wing kitchen sent me today was barely passable."
Hellboy looked up, "Can I bring him some of the tea and scones I brought back from Ireland, Marty? He might enjoy that."
"I don't see why not," said Martha, "As long as you don't put more than a little butter on the scone and don't make the tea too strong or put any milk in it."
"I'll have the kitchen in the main facility make up a tray and bring it back." Hellboy gave his father's hand a little squeeze, got up, and walked out.
About twenty minutes later, when Hellboy was returning with the tray, he almost tripped over a young girl in the main corridor of the Medical Wing. "Hey, sorry, kid. I wasn't looking where I was going."
He looked down at the girl who was dressed in a blue skirt and white blouse. She had dark blonde hair tied with blue ribbons into pigtails. "I've not seen you before. You new around here?"
The girl stared up at him, almost speechless. "You must be Hellboy," she finally managed to gasp. "My father told me something about you." She stopped staring and looked at the floor instead. "Sorry, I guess I'm being rude. I'm Katie Corrigan. My father's Richard Corrigan, who sometimes works for you guys. But right now, he's in the hospital here. Some problem with his heart."
Hellboy nodded. "Nice to meet you, Katie. Guess we have something in common. My father's in the hospital here, too. He's feeling a little better, so I was just bringing him some tea. I hope your father gets to feeling better. Well, I better go before this tea gets cold. Maybe I'll see you around."
Balancing the tray to keep the tea from spilling, he continued walking toward his father's room.
When he arrived, Hellboy managed to hold the tray with his huge stone hand while he turned the door handle with his left. Pushing the door open with his foot, he walked in. Before she left the room, Martha Wilson had wheeled the room table closer to the bed and had assisted Trevor Broom to sit up.
Martha was right; his father did look just a little better. Even with this new phenomenon of sweating, he seemed to have a lot more color and looked less tired than he had recently.
"Son, that tea smells wonderful. You were away in Ireland so briefly that I can't believe you had the time to pick me up anything."
"Actually, this all was a gift from the woman whose girl I got back from those weird little men," Hellboy said, as he poured some tea into the mug he was gently holding in his stone-like right hand.
"She put this all together when I told her how much you liked Irish tea and scones. She also gave me some soda bread. I wanted to bring you some of it when I arrived here on Friday, but you just weren't up to it. Maybe you could have some of the soda bread tomorrow for breakfast."
Hellboy blew on the tea and handed it to his father when he thought it was sufficiently cool to drink. "I hope it's not too strong. I know that you like milk in your tea, but Marty said milk wouldn't be too good for your stomach." He unwrapped a single toasted scone that was still warm and carefully put just a little butter on it.
As Trevor Broom was taking his first sip of tea, Hellboy asked him about the girl he almost tripped over in the hallway. "I didn't know Richard Corrigan was so ill. He wasn't in the Medical Wing when I left for Ireland. He must be pretty bad if the Bureau brought his family here to be with him."
"Things are bad, Son, very bad," said Broom, "That's one of the reasons I had him admitted here. They want to try a brand-new experimental heart procedure. It may be his only chance."
"I hope everything works out, Pop," Hellboy said, as finished buttering the scone, "His little girl, Katie, seemed really nice."
"I have yet to meet Richard's family. I wish I were strong enough to do so," Broom said as he took another sip of his tea, "Son, this tea is very good. Thank you for bringing it."
"Sure, Pop. Anytime you want anything, just let me know. If we don't have it, I'll make sure to get it. You want to try some of this scone? Or would that be too much for you? I've already eaten a couple of them. They're pretty good for scones."
"I would like to try it," Trevor Broom said, as Hellboy broke off a section of the scone he had just buttered and handed it to him, "I love homemade scones."
Broom slowly nibbled at the scone. "This really is very good. However, I knew it had to be good, because you liked it. You usually don't like scones that much. I think I could eat the rest of this one, but I won't have another. I don't want to overdo it. I will have to write to this woman and tell her just how much I'm enjoying what she gave you."
As he ate the rest of the scone and drank what was left of his tea, Trevor Broom looked more closely at Hellboy, "I'm glad the trip to Ireland was a good one for you, Son. I know that you've been doing way too much worrying about me recently. It was a pleasant surprise, though, to find out that you've been attending Mass. You will find that prayer does help." He yawned as he handed the now empty mug to Hellboy. "I think I could go back to sleep now."
Hellboy didn't say anything, as he started to collect up the remains onto the tray. "Would you like any more tea before I take this away?" he asked when he was finished.
"No, I don't think so," Broom yawned again, "But you could send me some tomorrow for breakfast along with that soda bread you mentioned. And I would like tea and scones in the afternoon as well, if it's not too much trouble."
"Of course, it's not too much trouble." Hellboy sat on the floor next to the bed, taking Broom's hand, "I need to get up early tomorrow, anyway, to finish writing my report on what happened in Ireland. I'm too tired to do it tonight. I think I'll come and eat breakfast with you tomorrow, if that's okay."
He looked up into Trevor Broom's face, which looked so much better than it had when he came home on Friday, and then down at the hand he was holding. "I just can't help worrying about you," he said after a long moment of silence. "You looked so bad when I got back from Ireland I was sure Dr. Patterson was going to tell me you had taken a turn for the worse."
Another moment of silence followed; then Hellboy suddenly blurted out, "Father, I've been so scared recently and I've been having such terrible nightmares. I'm not ready to let you go."
Trevor Broom bent down and grabbed Hellboy into a surprisingly strong embrace. "Let me warn you of something, Son; something that I discovered when my grandfather died in my young adulthood. You will never be ready to let me go. Even if I live another fifty years, when the time comes it will still be too soon." Hellboy rose up onto his knees and tightly returned the embrace with only his left arm, just as he had been taught as a young child.
Broom whispered into his ear, "Remember what I promised you on your fifth birthday. I will always love you. Even if you lose me, you will never lose my love." Closing his eyes as he hugged his father, Hellboy thought of so many things. Things he was never able to say.
After a few moments, Trevor Broom let him go, "Son, I'm thirsty and would like some fresh water. Have one of the nurses bring it when you leave. Don't bother getting it yourself. I want you to go find something to eat and get some sleep. You look exhausted."
Hellboy rose from the floor, "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Father."
Gathering up the tray, he turned and walked out. As Hellboy went to the nurses' station to tell them his father would like some water, Martha Wilson walked up.
"How did your father like his tea? Was he able to eat a scone?"
"He enjoyed everything, including the scone," Hellboy said, looking a lot happier than he had earlier. "I'm going to bring him some more tea for breakfast tomorrow along with some of the soda bread I brought back from Ireland." He sat the tray he was holding down on a desk.
"Pop said he was going to send that lady in Ireland a letter. I think I should write, too. She's a nice lady and I really appreciated her sending all this stuff for Father. I'm glad I was able to rescue her little girl. By the way, Marty, can you tell me how Richard Corrigan is doing? Pop tells me his condition is pretty bad. I practically knocked his girl, Katie, over in the corridor today. She seems like a good kid and I would hate to see her get hurt."
Martha shook her head. "I'm afraid it doesn't look at all good, H.B. He was to have entered into surgery today for his heart problem, but then his condition became too unstable. The surgery has been put off until later in the week, if he even lasts that long."
Hellboy sighed, "This all must be hard on Katie."
"Of course it is and she's only eight years old." Martha put a hand on his shoulder. "It hasn't been hard to notice that you've been worried to the point of panic about your father ever since you came back from Ireland on Friday. I hope you realize that you have less reason to be worried than Katie. You're always looking so glum when I see you."
Hellboy smiled slightly, "Sure, Marty, I am a lot less worried than I was before. But I'll never be happy until he gets up out of that bed and walks out of the Medical Wing for good. That's when I'll stop worrying about him."
He gave Martha a quick hug, "Thanks for taking care of him so good."
Picking up the tray again, he walked out of the Medical Wing and made his way to his own quarters. He hoped eating and sleeping would come to him easier than it had the night before.
He decided to get out the rosary novena booklet that Father Mike had given him as soon as he was ready to go to bed. Recalling his attempts to pray the rosary with his father when he was age seven, he thought that lying down on his bed and doing this would probably fulfill two goals; he would pray for his father, as he had wanted to, and this would probably put him to sleep sooner or later.
Entering his room, he set down the tray with what was left of the tea on a large, round metal table. On that same table, he noticed the still warm chili and BLTs that had been left there for his supper. He truly was starved, given that he had eaten nothing all day except two scones before he went to Mass in the morning. His anxiety over Trevor Broom's illness was definitely affecting his appetite.
Just seeing his father in a better state of health than on Friday improved his appetite immensely and he found the food actually looked appetizing. After he had finished eating, he put all the trays, bowls, and utensils onto a cart that was in the room. Wheeling it into the hallway, he left it by his door. Maintenance would arrive shortly to remove it.
Coming back into the room, he got out his old, clunky typewriter. Using only the index finger of his left hand, he carefully typed out the shorter version of the rosary prayers from the back pages of the booklet onto a single sheet of paper. With his less-than-functional, sledgehammer-sized right hand, this was only way he could read the prayers and deal with the rosary beads at the same time.
When he was finished, even though it was still early, he turned out all of the lights except the one near the bed. Lying down, he began to recite the prayers that he had copied out. He had certainly been right about one thing; attempting to recite the rosary was guaranteed to put him to sleep faster than a sleeping pill.
He had been about three-quarters of the way through the section called the 'Joyful Mysteries' when he fell fast asleep, still holding onto his father's rosary in his left hand. He slept all the way through the early evening and into the night; but about three o'clock in the morning, he was awakened by one of those nightmares he had been having recently.
Hellboy could never recall any details of these dreams, but he was seldom able to go back to sleep after having one. As he was awake again, he decided to make another attempt at praying the rosary. However, rather than staying in his room, he chose to return to the chapel and pray in there.
As the chapel was never closed, it was always available for patients in the Medical Wing and any others who wished to pray there. At this hour, it was usually empty. For some reason, the idea of being alone in the chapel with just his hopes and fears appealed to Hellboy.
The decision to go to the chapel at that particular time was made on a whim. Hellboy didn't realize, until years later, that this would end up resulting in one of the most significant friendships of his life.
Leaving his quarters, Hellboy walked to the Medical Wing and entered the now darkened chapel. There was always a low level of light, some coming from candles, including the red-globed candle that dangled from the ceiling near the altar, and some from the small light fixtures that illuminated a number of statues of saints. It was hard not to notice the slight scent of the rather pungent Byzantine incense Father Mike preferred when he celebrated the more important holidays and feast days.
Hellboy was just over seven years old when the chapel was installed. He often liked sneaking into it in the middle of the night. It seemed so spooky and mysterious. Even the slight hiss of the ventilation system in the dimly illuminated chapel seemed to contribute to the mystery. He never wanted to switch on the chapel's main lights.
At that earlier time, he had also been somewhat intrigued by the religious instruction his father had been giving him. Yet, it had not been hard for him to notice that some stared at him when he went to Mass with his father. Even at that young age, he became aware that many were wondering why someone who looked as he did would even want to go to church. So, Hellboy preferred being in the chapel alone and Trevor Broom pretended to ignore his occasional midnight excursions to the chapel.
By the time he was nine, the mystery had basically worn off and he stopped going to the chapel on a regular basis. Yet, he went through first communion and confirmation, mostly to please his father. After this, he only attended for major holidays and other times Trevor Broom especially wished it.
Now, once again he found himself going to the chapel late at night.
As Hellboy entered the apparently empty chapel, he was once again filled with the same sense of mystery and expectancy he used to feel when he was seven. There was a small rack of votive candles in front of the Virgin Mary, to the left of the altar. Walking up to this, he lit a candle for his father.
He then thought of Katie's father and lit another candle for Richard Corrigan. Martha Wilson had made his situation sound so dire that Hellboy suddenly felt more keenly the probable loss that Katie would suffer than his own possibly unwarranted fears about his own father.
Standing in silence, he gazed at the two candles he had lit; then sent up a wordless prayer that, against everyone's expectations, Richard Corrigan would be cured of his heart condition. His thoughts then turned toward Trevor Broom; and Hellboy wished he were five years old again, back before he suddenly became taller than his adoptive father. Back when, in his own eyes, Trevor Broom had seemed almost god-like in his ability to defeat their problems with the sheer force of his will alone.
Fourteen-year-old Hellboy usually dealt with problems in a direct, frontal-attack, no-holds-barred kind of way. Yet, his father's cancer was not some monster that he could smash into oblivion with his huge right hand or shoot, if he could hit anything, with his cannon-sized handgun, the Good Samaritan.
Hellboy felt so helpless, so powerless. And he wasn't used to feeling powerless.
Over the past several months, though, he had watched how Trevor Broom dealt with fear and pain; and knew that his father possessed a strength that was beyond his own, no matter how physically powerful he was. He began to realize, in a way that he never had when he was younger, that much of his father's strength derived from his Catholic faith; the same faith his father was trying to instill in him and he wished he had been paying more attention.
As he considered all these things, his thoughts turned to the rosary that he was once again holding in his left hand. He decided to move around the altar to be able to sit near one of the statues behind it, using the light there to recite the rosary prayers that he had typed out. It was at this point he discovered that he was not alone in the chapel.
It was a little darker directly behind the altar. As Hellboy walked around behind it, he almost stepped on a child lying asleep on the floor. Stopping short in surprise, he stooped down to look more closely at who this was. He then recognized Katie Corrigan, no longer in skirt and blouse, but in a white cotton nightgown with little flowers on it. Her blonde was hair loose on her shoulders.
Kneeling on the floor beside her, he touched her shoulder, "Hey, Katie, what are you doing here this time of night? It must be past four in the morning by now."
Katie sat up with a little cry, looking around her as if she did not know where she was.
She then looked at Hellboy kneeling beside her with his left hand on her shoulder, the rosary fallen forgotten on the floor. Hellboy could now see that her face was streaked with the partially dried tracks of tears that must have been shed before she fell asleep on the floor of the chapel.
"Oh, it's you," she said in a very small voice. "I came in here because I couldn't sleep. My father almost died tonight. I wish there was something I could do." She began to weep again.
Not really certain what to do, Hellboy wrapped his left arm around Katie's shoulders, making shushing noises while he held her. He could feel her small body shaking with her sobs; yet, he could find no words to speak to her. He seldom could find words, especially when he needed them the most.
She stopped crying after a short while and stood up from the floor. Hellboy bent over and picked up the rosary he had dropped, stuck it in his pants pocket for safekeeping, and stood back up as well.
Katie looked up at the red-skinned giant looming over her in the dim light and asked the first question that came to her mind, "Are you a Catholic? I'm sorry, that seems funny to me."
"It seems funny to a lot of people," Hellboy replied, "But my adoptive father's Catholic and he wanted me to be one too. So, yeah, I'm Catholic. I've been baptized, had first communion, the whole bit. And since you're Irish, I'm assuming you're Catholic too."
Katie shook her head and looked at the floor, "Not really. Sure, my father's Irish, but he doesn't go to church and my mother's not Catholic. I was baptized when I was a baby. That's it. I'm not sure why I came in here tonight, except I was looking for somewhere to cry where Mother wouldn't hear me. She's having enough problems right now. We don't always get along that good anyway."
She stopped, looked around the chapel, and then back up at Hellboy, "I'm sorry, I didn't think that anyone would come in here this late at night. I don't really want to bother you with all this stuff."
Hellboy knelt back down to be more on Katie's level. He disliked towering over children who really weren't that much younger than he was.
"Don't worry about it, Katie," he said, "I'm practically the only one who comes here this late at night, and I haven't done this in years. But, you know, the chapel's here for people to come to when things are bothering them so they can pray about it, especially people from the Medical Wing."
Katie looked into Hellboy's face, which was now more on a level with her own. This odd face, with its red skin and sawed-off horns, didn't look half so frightening as it had when she had seen Hellboy in the hallway carrying the tray with tea for his father.
"Hellboy," she said after a short silence, "You said before that your father was sick too. Is that the reason you came here? To pray for him?"
"Yeah," Hellboy pulled the rosary beads out of his pocket, "I'm still worried about my father even though everyone tells me that he's getting better. There's nothing else I can do and since my father puts such stock in this stuff, I thought I'd try it out."
"I wish I knew how to pray," sighed Katie, "If I did, I'd pray for my father to get better. I miss him. Even when I get to see him, he doesn't even know me anymore. He's the one who calls me 'Katie', you know. My mother calls me 'Katherine', which I don't like."
"I don't really know how to pray that good," said Hellboy, "I used to have this book about the rosary, but I lost it. So, I asked Father Mike to give me something."
Hellboy pulled out of his pant's pocket the paper he had typed the prayers on, "He gave me this book and I copied the prayers out to make it easier for me to read them. If you want, I could show you how to do it while I'm doing it myself. Maybe we could pray for our fathers together."
"I'd like that," Katie took the rosary from Hellboy to look at it closer, "I wish I could have something like this to pray with. It's so pretty. What's it made out of?"
"The big beads are olivewood and the small ones ivory," replied Hellboy, "I gave it to Pop about three years ago as a Father's Day gift. He almost always wears it around his wrist, but the nurses were afraid of it getting messed up in the hospital, so I'm taking care of it for him. I usually wear it around my own wrist and that's what got me to thinking about praying with it like he does when he's upset about something. But if you really want to pray with me, I have another rosary I could lend you."
Hellboy stood back up, "Why don't you wait here, Katie, while I go and get it. I'll show you something you can do while I'm gone." He led Katie over to the rack of candles in front of the statue of Mary and showed her how to light one.
"You see," he said, "you light one of these when you're thinking about someone and it's like praying. See, I've already lit two candles. There's one for my father and one for yours."
Katie turned from looking at the two candles to smile up at Hellboy. "You lit a candle for my father? That was nice."
Hellboy returned her smile. "Just do me a favor," he said, as he turned to leave, "Don't set yourself on fire while I'm away."
Katie lit a candle after Hellboy departed to get the rosary. Weeping quietly, she thought of her father. She then smiled slightly, lit another candle, and stood pondering the two glowing candles. She looked up as Hellboy returned, this time also wearing his tan-colored leather trench coat.
"See," she said pointing out the second candle she had lit, "I lit one for your father, too."
"Hey," he touched her shoulder, "I appreciate that."
Hellboy took Katie's right hand in his left, leading her around the altar. "Let's go to that statue of Saint Francis over there. We can use the light to read the prayers."
They sat on the floor next to the base of the statue where there was a pool of light from the fixture that illuminated the statue. Hellboy reached into a pocket of his coat and brought out a rosary that was about the same size as the one he had showed her before, but this one had all wooden beads.
"This rosary is a very special one. My father had it with him when he found me. Take good care of it. I usually keep it in my room hanging off the frame of this picture."
He brought out an old black-and-white photograph, enclosed in a fancy silver frame that was somewhat too large for it. It showed a group of soldiers, some in circus costumes, posing with a younger Professor Broom, who was holding a relatively small Hellboy in his arms.
"They weren't supposed to take pictures of me, so this is the only one I have of Father and me when I was little. The guys put together a circus for my fourth birthday."
Taking the photograph from him, Katie looked at it more closely. As he watched her, Hellboy reflected on things that he had never truly considered before.
"Look at me smiling. That was before I hated having my picture taken, before I understood that I was so different, before I got so big. You know, Katie, by the time I was six years old, I was already an inch taller than my father. When I was little, he looked like such a giant to me. Now, I'm not even fifteen years old and I tower over him by at least a foot. I hate this, especially now that he's so sick."
Katie looked up from the picture at the giant who was seated on the floor next to her. He wasn't anything like she had expected from that first meeting in the corridor. He might look like a monster, but was nothing more than a kid who worried as much about his father as she worried about her own.
Putting the photograph down, she stood up, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed his cheek.
Hellboy smiled at her from his still seated position. "What was that for?" he asked.
"Because I think you're real nice," she whispered. "Just wait here for a second and I'll be right back."
Katie quickly walked out of the chapel and snuck back into the room where she was supposed to be sleeping with her mother. Retrieving something, she returned to the chapel. As she was doing this, she was seen by one of the early-shift nurses, who wondered what she was doing, but did not have the time to check on her.
Sitting back down on the floor next to Hellboy, Katie showed him a picture of herself with her father. "I'm three years old here. I have a lot of pictures, but this one is my favorite. I brought it with me when we came to the hospital. See, now we both have pictures of us with our fathers."
Hellboy looked at the picture without saying anything. He then handed Katie the rosary he brought for her. Shifting to lean against the wall, he decided that the best way for them both to be able to read the prayers he had typed out was for Katie to sit on his lap.
Covering her with his coat in order to keep her warm, he then explained how to recite the rosary. They began with the 'Joyful Mysteries', managing to get through this before becoming too sleepy to go on with the other two 'Mysteries'. After reciting the ending prayers, they sat together for a long time, pondering what they felt for their fathers and how much they wanted them to get better.
Around 5:30 in the morning, the nurse who had seen Katie over a half hour before wondered what she was doing. She decided to enter the chapel, but did not see anything at first.
Walking to the front of the chapel, she then saw Katie sitting in Hellboy's lap. Both were fast asleep, holding rosaries in their left hands. As she walked closer, she saw the two photographs they had on the floor in front of them.
Kneeling down, she looked at the photograph of the young Hellboy in the arms of Professor Broom. She recalled that, the day before, one of the other nurses had told her about seeing Hellboy at Mass and how worried he was about his adoptive father's illness.
She, herself, had laughed at the idea of someone who looked like a demon from Hell going to Mass, receiving communion, or being worried about his 'father'. Kneeling next to him on the floor of chapel, she came to understand why her colleague found that laughter so offensive. Why she had been told that she never understood Hellboy at all if that was all she could see in him. She finally realized that she was seeing nothing less than two children, both with ill fathers, attempting to comfort each other.
Leaning toward Hellboy, she lightly shook his shoulder. As he awakened, she whispered, "I think it's time that I put Katie to bed. It's going to be six in the morning soon." She squeezed Hellboy's shoulder gently, got up, and managed to lift Katie from Hellboy's lap without rousing her.
She then carried her out to the room where she was sleeping with her mother and, thankfully, managed to get her back in bed before her mother ever noticed anything.
Hellboy got up from the floor, picking up the rosary that Katie dropped. He also retrieved both photographs and stowed everything in the pockets of his coat; except for the rosary that he had given his father as a gift. This he again wrapped around his left wrist, as he had promised he would do while taking care of it.
He went over to the nurses' station and found that his father usually ate breakfast around 8:30am. Returning to his quarters, he managed to get a few more hours of sleep before bringing Trevor Broom the tea and soda bread he had promised to bring him for breakfast. He was more than glad to see that his father's condition was even further improved.
Hellboy spoke with Katie's mother later that day, getting her approval for Katie to meet with him in the chapel every evening before they went to bed. She wasn't exactly keen on all this Catholic stuff, or her daughter spending so much time with such an odd creature; but she could see that it was helping Katie and decided not to interfere.
Hellboy and Katie prayed together every evening in the same way as they had on that first evening, reciting a different 'Mystery' of the rosary each night.
By Friday, Richard Corrigan was stable enough to sustain the new surgical procedure. He did fairly well for a time. Katie was able to visit the following Sunday and was happy that he recognized her.
Two days later, he was well enough to sit up, eat some food, and to have a significant conversation with Katie about faith and prayer. Even though her father no longer cared to attend formal services, she came to see that his own personal faith was very intense and deeply felt. She told him that she wanted to receive communion like other Catholic children her age and he agreed to this.
The next day, Father Mike Elliott came to talk with Richard. It was decided that Katie be immediately instructed to receive communion. The following Sunday, she received her first communion at her father's bedside. Hellboy was there as well, but her rather disapproving mother declined to attend.
After the ritual was over and everyone had hugged and kissed Katie, Richard asked Hellboy about his father and was glad to hear about the improvement in his condition. He also thanked Hellboy for befriending Katie when she had needed someone.
Taking Katie's hand, Hellboy smiled down at her. "I think we needed each other, Sir."
Over the next month, despite some setbacks, Trevor Broom's condition continued to improve. Unfortunately, Richard Corrigan's condition never completely stabilized. Near the end of September, he had to be rushed in for emergency surgery and died of cardiac arrest on the operating table.
Katie was devastated by this loss. When Hellboy tried to express his sympathy, she turned on him. "You made me hope that if I prayed hard enough he would get better. I hate you."
Katie, vainly attempting to hold back tears, walked away from him. He was wounded by her rejection, but understood why she was angry. He realized that he might have unintentionally given her pain by inadvertently encouraging this disappointed hope.
A few days later, Hellboy was given other things to worry about when he was informed in the middle of the night that his father was gravely ill.
Trevor Broom had been suffering increasing pain in his right leg due to arthritis from an old wound. His recent enforced bed rest had exacerbated this. Administration of a new medication had caused an allergic reaction that affected his heart and he went into cardiac arrest before they managed to track down the cause of his problem. He had been successfully resuscitated, but was still unconscious.
If Hellboy thought that he had been worried before, it was nothing compared to what he felt as he entered his father's room, seeing him lying on the bed as if dead. The only thing that was the least reassuring was the continuing beep of the heart monitor.
There was a nurse stationed in the room to monitor Trevor Broom's continuing progress. She had been told to let Hellboy stay with his father for as long as he wished as long as he remained quiet.
She smiled reassuringly as Hellboy entered, but he barely noticed her. He knelt by the side of the bed and remained for a long time as immobile as a statue, never touching Broom nor speaking to him.
After this time of complete silence, Hellboy bent his head closer and whispered something very low into his father's ear. He continued whispering for a long time, but whatever it was that he had said to Trevor Broom, he never repeated to anyone.
After Hellboy finished speaking, he continued kneeling in a profound silence for many hours. Eventually, he collapsed to the floor in total exhaustion and rested his head on the side of the bed. Raising it again, after a few minutes, he looked closely into Broom's face and reached up with this normal-size left hand to gently grasp his father's hand in is own
Laying his head back down on the side of the bed, Hellboy fell asleep in this position; still clasping Trevor Broom's hand. When a new nurse arrived to relieve the first nurse, she woke him and tried to convince him to go to bed. He just shook his head. The other nurses coming into attend to Broom didn't have the heart to make him move, even though this was somewhat awkward for them.
Martha Wilson came in the early morning. She encouraged Hellboy to get up from the floor and sit in his usual large chair; letting him move this chair a little closer to the bed than usual.
Katie was still within the confines of the Medical Wing when Trevor Broom fell ill, as her mother was involved in making arrangements for the removal of her husband's body. Martha Wilson informed Katie of what had happened to Trevor Broom. "I hope he dies just like my father did. Then Hellboy can know just how I feel." Martha knew that Katie didn't truly mean this and was glad that Hellboy wasn't around to hear her say it.
Yet, deep inside, Katie was already starting to feel sorry for the way she had been treating Hellboy. She knew he had only been trying to help her. The more she tried to stay angry with him, the more miserable she felt.
Katie had never yet met Trevor Broom, even though Hellboy had tried to bring her to visit several times in the past. She did know, however, where his room was located.
The night after Trevor Broom had fallen ill, Katie was alone and having trouble sleeping. She was desperate to see Hellboy again and knew that he was probably still in his father's room.
Dressing herself in a skirt and blouse, she went to the room. Slowly opening the door, she looked in and saw Hellboy sitting asleep in a chair next to his unconscious father's bed.
Seeing Katie, the nurse stationed there went to the door. "Honey, now really isn't the best time."
Lifting his head at the sound of the nurse's voice, Hellboy saw Katie and held his arms out to her.
Katie pushed past the nurse. Running to Hellboy, she threw her arms around him and began to cry. Never saying one word about Katie's recent behavior toward him, Hellboy drew her up into his lap and held her in his arms until she cried herself to sleep.
As soon as Katie had fallen asleep, the nurse wanted to take her back to her room, but Hellboy said, "Go on and let her stay. Her mother's still away and I don't like the idea of Katie being alone tonight."
Hellboy let Katie sleep in his lap until she awoke the next morning.
A nurse brought them some breakfast, along with a chair for Katie. Hellboy, who had not been eating well since his father's cardiac arrest, tried to eat a little because Katie was there. After they were done eating, Katie curled back up in Hellboy's lap again and they both went back to sleep.
Several hours later, Hellboy was awakened by a very weak voice. "Son? What has happened to me? Have I been unwell?" Trevor Broom struggled to sit up, but he was unable.
Approaching the bed, the attendant nurse briefly examined him. "I will go get Dr. Patterson. He will inform you of what has happened." She departed to get the chief surgeon.
Katie climbed down from Hellboy's lap as he moved from the chair. Throwing himself onto his knees by the bed, he grabbed his father's hand, his heart filled with gratitude.
Everything that Hellboy felt for his father just made him even more aware of how devastating Katie's loss must be for her. He couldn't understand why he was being allowed to keep his father; while this eight-year-old girl he had come to care for so much had to lose hers.
Hellboy struggled to speak, but no words would come. Finally, for the first time since his arrival to the room two nights before, he just buried his face in the bedclothes and wept.
This evidence of his son's affection touched Trevor Broom very deeply. He was also starting to realize that he must have been very sick, even though he had little memory of this. In spite of his weakness and Hellboy still clutching his left hand, he strove to reach over and embrace him.
Katie, who had still been in the room, ran over to Hellboy, "Please don't! Please don't cry anymore. He's going to be fine. Please."
Hellboy took a deep, shuddering breath and raised his head, "Well, Pop, you certainly like doing things to get a guy's attention, don't you? I don't mind, really. Just, next time, give a guy a little warning and don't do it in the middle of the night."
Already starting to feel a little stronger, Trevor Broom embraced Hellboy as Hellboy leaned forward and kissed his father's forehead. Then turning toward Katie, Trevor Broom held out his hand, "You must be Katie. I cannot tell you how devastated I am by your loss. Your father was both a good colleague and a good friend. He will be sorely missed. I just wish we could have met under better circumstances."
As he gave Katie's hand a little squeeze, Dr. Robert Patterson entered the room to examine him and explain what had made him so ill. Deciding it was time to leave, Hellboy stood up. He knew his presence usually made Dr. Patterson uncomfortable.
As Hellboy walked past him, he touched the doctor's shoulder. "Take good care of him for me."
Taking Katie with him, Hellboy left his father's room. Asking permission to take Katie out into the main building, he took her to his quarters where he arranged to have food sent for lunch.
Katie looked around at the comfortable mess that made up a large percentage of Hellboy's room and admired his three different television sets. She noted that the framed photograph of Hellboy and Trevor Broom was back hanging on the wall.
Hellboy went to a paper-strewn desk. Retrieving the photograph of Katie with her father, he handed it back to her. She had left it in the chapel earlier that week.
By this time, the food for lunch had arrived: chili, corn chips, grilled cheese sandwiches, french-fries, and Coca-Cola. Even though Katie found the chili a little too spicy, she enjoyed the rest of the food. Once Katie had become full, Hellboy ate up everything that was left. Now that he wasn't so worried about his father, his appetite had returned.
Katie tried to apologize for the way she had been treating Hellboy recently, but he stopped her. "Look, you were upset after your father died. I can't blame you for that. Let's just forget about the rest of it. I know you didn't mean most of what you said."
After lunch, they sat together on his couch and watched television until George Baldwin, his father's current assistant, arrived to inform Katie that her mother had arrived. Hellboy, as he led Katie back to the Medical Wing, suddenly realized how much he was going to miss her once she was gone.
Mrs. Corrigan was already waiting with all of their belongings packed up. She was impatient to go; but Katie, who was only just then coming to realize what this departure would mean, was unwilling to go without a final visit to the chapel with Hellboy.
Walking in, they went over to the statue of Mary and its rack of votive candles. There were so many things that Hellboy wanted to say to Katie, but he remained silent for a long time.
"You can still light a candle for your father," he finally said, "You know, if you're Catholic you can still pray for people even after they've died."
He could have kicked himself. That was not at all what he wanted to say to her. Yet, Katie smiled up at him as if he had just said the most brilliant thing in the world and proceeded to light every candle that was in the rack.
Hellboy knelt down next to where Katie was standing, putting his left arm around her shoulders, "When I lived in New Mexico there were some other families that lived on the secret base where I stayed with Father. Some of the kids there had brothers and sisters. I remember asking Pop if he couldn't get me a little brother or sister. He got me a puppy."
Pulling Katie closer, Hellboy hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek, "Now, I feel like I really do have a little sister. I'm going to miss you so much."
Giving him a big smile, Katie returned the hug. "I like the idea of having a big brother. You know, those candles I lit weren't all just for my father. Some were for your father, but all of the rest of them were for you. I figured that you were so big I would need to light more than one candle."
Pulling something from a skirt pocket, Katie handed it to Hellboy. It was the photograph of Katie and her father he had returned to her earlier. "I want you to keep this. You knew my father before he died and now you know me. You can hang this picture on the wall next to the picture of you with your father. When you look at our picture, you can think of us."
Hellboy was surprised, if pleased, by the gesture. "But, Katie, this is your favorite picture of you with your father. I don't want you give that up."
Katie shook her head, "I have a lot of other pictures of me with my father. It's because this one is so special that I want you to have it."
Katie reached into her pocket again. "Oh, I almost forgot something." She brought out the wooden rosary that Hellboy had lent her. "I should give this back to you."
Taking the rosary, Hellboy placed it in a pants pocket. Hesitating, he pulled it out again and handed it back to her. "Nah, I want you to keep this. I can't be giving you pictures of me, even if I wanted to. Maybe when you pray with this once in a while, you can think of me and my father."
Hellboy pulled something else out of his pocket. "Here's that book of rosary novenas that Father Mike gave me. I don't really need it now. Once I've memorized something, I almost never forget it. Maybe if we're both praying for my father, he'll get better even faster."
Katie tucked the rosary and booklet into her skirt pocket, looked down at the floor, and started to cry. "We won't ever see each other again, will we?"
Standing up, Hellboy took her hand to lead her out of the chapel, "Probably not, I'm afraid, at least not anytime soon. I'm not supposed to exist, you know. My father does know your address, though. Don't be surprised if you get a letter from a Frank Redford of Brooklyn or his son Frank Redford, Jr."
He smiled down at her, "And it's okay if you answer these letters. Whatever you write to one of them I'll eventually get to hear about. Just make sure you never mention me or the BPRD and we should be able to keep in touch occasionally."
Hellboy returned to the chapel after Katie was gone and prayed all the way through all fifteen decades of the rosary, completely from memory. He continued doing this almost every evening for weeks.
One evening in early December his father's assistant, George Baldwin, came to the chapel and said that his father was asking for him. Hellboy walked out and went toward his father's hospital room.
George stopped him with a smile, "He's not there. You'll find him in his office."
Hellboy turned to him, "Go on and tell him I'll be there in just a minute, George." Walking back into the chapel, he fell to his knees in front of the statue of Mary.
"Thank you," he whispered. These two words were his most heart-felt prayer of all.
Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense
Newark, New Jersey, Early November 2004
It was seven o'clock in the evening by the time Kate Corrigan landed at Newark International Airport, having taken longer than she even expected to finally take off from Pittsburgh. Taking a taxi from the Newark airport, she gave directions to the head office of Squeaky Clean Waste Management Services.
She was practically asleep by the time the taxi approached the entrance drive of what was really the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Yet, the only posted signs referred to the waste management company the organization purported to be.
The driver was a little surprised at the elegance of a refuse facility that had a perpetual flame beyond the gated entrance to the property. "Hey, lady," he shouted from the front seat, "This is a pretty fancy place for garbage collectors, isn't it? And what's with that statue on the roof?"
Kate became more alert. "Statue? What statue?" In spite of the rain, she put her window down and craned her head out, looking toward the main building. Yes, it did appear that there was a statue on the entranceway roof.
For most people, the dark and rain would obscure details. Yet, to Kate's familiar eyes, it was obviously Hellboy who was standing motionless on that roof. His immense pain and sorrow radiated to her even from that distance.
Pulling her now wet head back into the cab, she knocked on the glass between her and the cab driver. "Stop the car here. I'll walk the rest of the way. You wouldn't be able to drive past the gate, anyway. These aren't 'garbage collectors'. This is a waste management facility. There's a big difference."
Kate paid off the driver, leaving him with a hefty tip. Opening her umbrella, she picked up her satchel and walked the rest of the distance to the gate at the main entrance.
She could see why the cab driver had mistaken Hellboy for a statue. The whole time she was walking, the figure on the roof never moved a muscle. She knew he must be absolutely soaked and wondered how long he had been up there.
Arriving at the gate, Kate pushed one of the many buttons. When a voice asked her name, she spoke it into the grillwork microphone. Usually, the voice would make some joke about the retinal scanner that dropped down, but this time it said, "Welcome back, Dr. Corrigan. In spite of the sad occasion, it's good to see you again."
"It's good to be back," she replied as she leaned in toward the scanner. Mere seconds later, information about her status with the BPRD flashed on the scanner's screen and the gate swung open.
As she walked toward the entranceway, she looked up at Hellboy. He appeared to be staring into the far distance, not having noticed her approach.
She finally entered into the huge main lobby. It was a veritable palace of dark wood and marble. There was a single desk with a single guard at the end of this empty, museum-like room.
Dropping her satchel by the huge sword-in-fist logo that was in the middle of the floor, Kate walked up to the desk. "It's good to see you again, Pete," she said as she embraced the guard.
"Same here, Kate," he said, returning the embrace and kissing her cheek. "How long has it been? Four years, five?"
"Something like that," she replied, "Maybe it's been too long. I never imagined we would lose Trevor in this way. I wish I had returned more often. It seems like it was just yesterday that I signed up for a class with a Dr. 'Bruttenholm' at NYU when I was nineteen, only to find out that he was the same Professor 'Broom' my father had worked with and I had met when I was eight. I never knew the name was not spelled as it was pronounced."
Kate was avoiding what was really upper-most in her mind, but after a short pause she finally asked, "Tell me, why is Hellboy stuck up on the roof like that? How long has he been up there?"
Pete shook his head, "All day, Kate. He's been up there all day since early this morning. No one can get him to come down. We're all so furious with Tom Manning and his blessed FBI that it's a wonder we haven't all quit. We knew that the FBI had no intention of letting him go to the Professor's funeral. That would be a very public affair. But the Professor was like a father to him and what went on here this morning was completely private, attended only by people with clearance."
He began to pace, "Those FBI stuffed-shirts refused to let him see anyone or be seen by anyone. They wouldn't even let him see the Professor's body once they finally dragged him away from it on the night of the murder. On top of that, they let some greenhorn agent, who only came to work here the day before the murder, take what should have been his place carrying the coffin out to the hearse."
Pete stopped pacing, turning back toward her once again. "Well, as you can see, he took things into his own hands, making a very dramatic appearance where everyone could see him for miles around. And he just stood up there in the pouring rain, watching while they carried the Professor's coffin out and drove away with it."
Kate turned away, burying her face in her hands, not wanting to hear any more.
Pete came over and hugged her. After a few moments, Kate separated from the embrace and walked back to where her satchel was on the floor.
"Well, I better go and see if there isn't something I can do."
Kate picked up her satchel and stood directly in the middle of the sword-in-fist logo. Pete pushed a button and a hidden platform elevator sunk into the floor conveying Kate down into the underground facilities that made up the main headquarters of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
Kate knew which fire escapes led up to that portion of the building that would have access to the roof over the entranceway. How many times, since she had come to work for the Bureau in the eighties, did she climb up there with Hellboy to talk about things, to reminisce over shared memories, or just look at the stars on a clear night?
Neither of them had grown up to be particularly conventional Catholics, but they still prayed together at times of trouble. That was something she had missed during her recent hiatus from the Bureau.
These newer facilities in Newark had an even larger chapel than the one in Boston that Kate remembered with such fond memories. Even so, when the weather had allowed, the roof had become the location of choice for them to meet, especially after sunset when everything around them was covered in a golden glow.
This November evening, there was no golden glow or bright stars as she climbed out onto the roof. There was just dark, and wind, and a driving rain—and Hellboy standing, unmoving, as water cascaded down and soaked through his leather coat.
During the decades of their relationship, Kate and Hellboy had gone through many different phases: brother and sister, best friends, colleagues, even lovers for a brief time.
Yet, as Kate looked at Hellboy now, all she could see was her 'big brother'. How much pain he was in, as he clutched in his left hand the ivory and olivewood rosary that he once gave as a gift to the man he called Father for almost sixty years.
Even though it was then raining harder than ever, Kate carried no umbrella. She couldn't abide the idea of remaining dry while the one she loved as a brother was being soaked through. Unable to think of anything to say, she stood in silence.
"Katie?" Hellboy's voice cut through the silence. This surprised her. He had his back to her and had never appeared to notice her arrival.
"Katie, go back in and leave me alone. I don't want to see anyone, not even you."
She moved to stand at Hellboy's side. They both stood unmoving in the pouring rain, not even looking at each other.
After a long silence, Hellboy finally spoke again. "They killed my father, Katie. They murdered him. Father tried to warn me, but I wouldn't listen to him. He tried to tell me that things were different, but I ignored him. I was too wrapped up in my own crap to be here to protect him. Now he's dead and it's all my fault."
He heaved a huge sigh, "I used to think that I was the lucky one. My father lived. Now, I think that you were the lucky one. Your father never lived long enough for you to start taking him for granted. Now, go on in and dry yourself off."
These were the last words that Hellboy spoke to anyone for days.
Kate eventually did go back into the building, leaving him still standing on the roof. At some point, many hours later, he must have come back into the building. The next morning they found that he had collected up weeks worth of food for his cats and figured a way to bolt his door from the inside. He refused to see anyone or eat anything.
At some point, Kate, and Hellboy's colleagues, fish-man Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman, had pounded on his solid-metal door without receiving any reply.
After Trevor Broom's murder, Tom Manning, the FBI liaison, had been appointed director of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. He was especially frustrated with Hellboy's behavior. The FBI wanted the BPRD to investigate the murder from their end; and Hellboy, who was considered the Bureau's chief field investigator, refused to come out of his room.
After more than three days of this, an exhausted and starving Hellboy unexpectedly came stumbling out of his room.
"Okay," grumbled Manning, "Maybe we can actually start some investigating here. What in the hell were you doing all that time, anyway?"
"I was praying, what else." Hellboy turned to Kate, Liz, and Abe who he knew had all been very worried about him. "Let's head for the main kitchen. My father told me to go get something to eat."
Several days later, Agent John Myers was looking for Hellboy in order to depart for Moscow to catch those who had murdered Trevor Broom. He finally located him in the chapel.
Hellboy was seated on the floor and Dr. Kate Corrigan, a woman now in her early fifties, was curled up in his lap like a little girl. Both were fast asleep and both held rosaries in their left hands. Kate also had a very tattered, gray-covered book of rosary novenas.
On the floor in front of them were two old photographs in tarnished silver frames—Hellboy in the arms of a very young Professor Broom and little Katie in her father's arms.