For Becky, because she asked for more. Thank you for the encouragement!

Long Ago and Far Away

Chapter 4 – Dark Side of the Street

In the morning, Rick awoke feeling hyper-alert. "I just needed a good night's sleep." He told himself as he got dressed to go down to breakfast. His stomach growled and he laughed, "Fresh air and sunshine does wonders for your appetite."

Rick smiled at Julie as he piled his plate with fresh fruit, bypassing the scrambled eggs and not even looking at the sausage.

"You look much better this morning." Julie commented as Rick joined her and Mia.

"I feel much better." He admitted.

Julie passed his cup of morning medications to him after he'd finished his second helping of fruit.

Rick didn't comment on the taste of the vitamins or on the addition of three more tablets.

The nurse watched him carefully, making certain he'd swallowed all the tablets. "Your session with Dr. Harrison is at three o'clock again today." Julie reminded Rick as she wheeled Mia out onto the deck.

"I'll remember." Rick promised.

Dr. Harrison stopped at the nurse's station to drop off the patient charts.

"He's spending far too much time with Miss Metcalf." Harrison noted.

"He's not hurting anyone, Doctor," Julie replied. "He told me that she reminds him of his sister."

"He didn't mention his sister to Dr. Collins."

"Apparently, she died recently; I suppose it's still painful for him."

"Well." He tapped his pen against his teeth. "Perhaps I should bring that up in his next session."

As the morning wore on, Rick grew more and more agitated. He was short-tempered, responding angrily whenever someone spoke to him.

When TC came to visit, Rick glared suspiciously at him, "What do you want?" he demanded.

"Hey man." TC held up his hands, "Take it easy. I just wanted to see how you're doing."

The visit was short and did nothing to reassure TC that Rick was doing okay. As soon as he left Manoa Palms, TC called Magnum. "Rick is acting really weird, Thomas."

"It's just an act, TC; he's supposed to be nuts."

"No man, I don't think this is an act. When was the last time you talked to him?"

"I'm going to call him today."

"When was the last time you talked to him face to face? He's wild, jumping at every little noise and shit like he was … in 'Nam. I don't like it, something's wrong."

"You worry too much, he's fine TC, like I said he's just acting."

"You better hope so, because if anything happens to him because he's helping you out, it's coming out of your skin."

"Take it easy TC."

"I've known Orville longer than you have, I know shit that happened to him over there, he don't need to be reliving that crap."

Rick was still moody when Julie came to get them for lunch, he insisted on dining outside on the deck and after arguing with him for five minutes, Julie finally agreed.

Rick refused to eat until Julie threatened to have Marcus feed him.

"I can feed myself." Rick growled.

"Then do it." Julie pushed the plate back to him.

Rick looked suspiciously at the food, then to Julie.

The nurse rolled her eyes, "I haven't poisoned it if that's what you're thinking." She picked up a spoon and took a bite of the mashed potatoes. "I prefer a little pepper on mine."

Rick ate, hardly taking his eyes off her while Julie fed Mia.

Rick was defiant when Julie reminded him at three o'clock that it was time for his therapy session.

"I'm not going. I'm staying here with Mia."

"No, you aren't." Julie said. "You are going, like it or not."

"You can't make me."

"Maybe I can't," she admitted, "But he can."

Marcus grabbed Rick by the shoulders, picking him up effortlessly. "Let's go, little man." He laughed.

Rick was red-faced and furious by the time the aide had deposited him in the chair in Dr. Harrison's office.

"I can't help you if you won't cooperate." Harrison said solicitously.

"I don't need help!" Rick continued to glare at Marcus.

"Come now, Mr. Wright," Harrison got up and came around to the front of his desk, leaning against the edge and smiling at Rick, "Let's at least try to carry on a conversation, shall we?"

Rick didn't answer.

"You don't want me to have to give you a sedative, do you?"

The threat got Rick's attention.

"No." He turned to face the doctor. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Your parents. They died when you were young?"

"I was fourteen. They were killed in a car wreck."

"What happened to you after that?"

"My mother's sister took us in."

"Us?"

"My sister Wendy and I. Wendy was eight."

"So you were raised by your aunt." Harrison went back to his chair.

"Wendy was, I uh… ran away a year later."

"Was your aunt unkind to you?"

"No, I just didn't think she really wanted to have to raise a boy. She was really good with my sister and times were tough… I wanted to get a job, help pay the expenses."

Dr. Harrison wrote for a moment in the chart, then looked back to Rick, "And did you?"

"Yeah, I got a job and I sent money to my aunt to help pay for my sister's schooling."

"How long did you do that?"

"Until my sister graduated high school."

"That must have been hard on you. You were fifteen and taking on the responsibilities of an adult."

"It was worth it, Wendy turned out to be a good girl."

"How old was she when she died?"

Rick didn't answer, he was suddenly interested in the carpet.

"She was murdered while she was visiting you, correct?"

"Yes." Rick replied softly.

"One more person in your life you failed to protect, isn't that right?" Harrison asked coldly.

"You son of a …" Rick was restrained from attacking the doctor only by Marcus' grip on his shoulder.

"I think we're making important strides in your treatment, Mr. Wright. We'll start working on your anger management issues at your next session." He nodded to Marcus, who escorted Rick to his room with a bruising grip on his arms.

Susan had a difficult time convincing Rick to eat dinner, she too, had to resort to threats to get him to eat. Rick refused to swallow the pills no matter how much Susan asked. Reluctantly, she had Marcus hold him while she injected him with a sedative. "He's certainly not behaving like he was." She observed.

Marcus transferred him to a wheelchair and took him back to his room. As before, when he awoke the next morning he felt better and was ravenously hungry.