*Chapter 6*
McGee limps into the bathroom of his apartment due to the leg injury. He steps in front of the mirror and stares at himself. The person he sees in the mirror isn't who he remembers. It's as if he doesn't recognize his own reflection.
"I want to play a game." A whisperer of the creepy carnival puppet said.
Within seconds of hearing the voice that's been haunting him, his shoulder starts hurting. McGee closes his eyes and wishes for the torment of what happened to stop. But the pain immediately becomes unbearable.
"Ahh…" McGee cried in pain. He grabs the bottle of pain medication and stuffs one in his mouth. With a handful of water from the sink, he swallows the medication.
After taking a deep breath, McGee carefully takes his clothes off. He takes the sling from his left arm and replaces it with a disposable sling which he uses in order to bathe. He limps to the shower.
The water turns on and McGee steps inside.
The warm water running over his body is soothing. It's exactly what he needs at this point. For fifty minutes, McGee takes a nice long shower.
After taking a shower, he steps out and grabs the towel. He carefully dries himself as best he can without disrupting his hurt shoulder. But due to other injuries, he just wraps the towel around himself instead. He decides to let himself air dry.
McGee limps out of the bathroom. He limps into the other room where his computer and typewriter are. Sitting on the chair in the room is Jamie.
"What are you doing here?" McGee wondered.
"I came to see how you're doing." Jamie replied. "I apologize for letting myself in, but you weren't answering the door. And I couldn't hear the shower from outside. So I got worried." The sight of McGee's injuries breaks her heart as she feels it's her fault. It takes all her strength to hold the tears from showing.
"I'm doing fine." McGee said as he limps into the kitchen.
"You're not doing fine, Tim." Jamie said as she stands up and walks toward the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, McGee limps his way around in trying to prepare something to eat. As he reaches for a plate in the upper cabinet, his towel comes loose and drops.
"Dammit!" McGee slams his hand on the counter due to the embarrassment of his bare ass showing. He glances downward at the towel on the floor. There's no way he can reach the towel due to his bending ability being hindered by injuries. He stands there facing the counter so Jamie cannot see any more than she already does.
"I got it." Jamie said as she approaches. She picks up the towel and hands it to him. Afterwards, she gently places her hand on his right shoulder as a way to comfort him. "It's alright, Tim. Don't worry about it." There's a brief pause. "What do you want for breakfast?"
"I was going to make pancakes."
"Pancakes it is."
As Jamie gathers all the necessary stuff for making pancakes, McGee re-wraps the towel around himself. He limps to the table and sits down.
"If you're here to get me to reconsider my resignation…" McGee begins to say.
"I'm here as your friend, Tim. Nothing more." Jamie stated. "Your decision to resign from NCIS was your choice. And you know I understand why. I'm not going to sit here and try to convince you otherwise. I respect your decision, you know that."
McGee sits at the table in silence and thinks about what the last three weeks have been like. The actual incident was bad enough, but the past three weeks have been just as bad for him.
"I keep hearing the voice of that carnival puppet." McGee opened up to her. "I haven't told my sister. I really haven't told her anything about what happened."
"Opening up about what happened will help, Tim." Jamie said.
"I don't know how." McGee said. "I used to be in control of my life. But now, fear is controlling me. I'm having nightmares. I hardly get any sleep these days. And I'm in constant pain." He sighs. "I'm not like you, Jamie. You were brave, quick-thinking under pressure…"
"I was scared out of my mind, Tim." Jamie said as she turns around to look at him. "I may have appeared to be handling it, but inside, I was a mess. You were my responsibility. Your life relied on me. And I blew it. I blew it big time. It breaks my heart to know what happened to you. All of your injuries are my fault because I failed to get you through that mess safely."
"You didn't fail, Jamie." McGee assured her. "It's because of you I'm alive. And it's because of you that I still have my arm. I would've never thought to climb the netting."
Jamie puts two pancakes each on separate plates. She walks to the table and sets one plate in front of McGee. She carefully sits down on the other side of the table with her plate.
"How's your side?" McGee asked after noticing Jamie's facial expression upon sitting down.
"It's uncomfortable when I sit or lie down." Jamie responded. "And I keep getting this sharp pain in my arm every time I bend my fingers in making a fist." She referred to the other major wound of her right arm. She decides to skip the information of her head wound with the concussion and hairline skull fracture she suffered.
"I might need another surgery." McGee said. "My shoulder doesn't seem to be healing properly. Did you tell Tony what happened?"
"I was so depressed when I miscarried a while back. I really wanted the baby. So did Tony. But the incident at the bank caused me to loose the child. For three weeks I shut everyone out; my husband, my father, everyone. I regret not talking to Tony during that time. Tony is my husband. I should've never shut him out because we were both hurting over the loss. I vowed to myself to never make the same mistake twice." Jamie said. "So yes, I talked to him about what happened. I didn't tell him everything though. But I told him enough." She continued. "My dad doesn't try because he knows if I want to talk about it then I will. Which I have. Both have helped a lot. And that's why you need to talk to someone too. If you keep what you're feeling bottled up inside then that fear which is controlling your life will keep doing so. It helps to get it all out. I'm here for you if you want to talk about what happened and how you're feeling. But if not, then you should seek professional help. I say that as a concerned friend, Tim. You know I love you. I just want to see you well."
"Thanks, Jamie." McGee thanked her. "I think I really needed to hear that from a friend."
Jamie smiles as she's glad her words meant something to him. The two of them finish breakfast. Jamie finally leaves and McGee limps into the bedroom to lie down.
Meanwhile, at a local school, a mother picks up her child since schools are closing until further notice. She returns to work downtown after picking up her child. Once at the beauty parlor, the eight-year-old boy becomes hungry.
"Can I get some M&M's?" The boy asked his mother.
"Take five dollars from my purse." The mother said while she works on a customer's hair. "Go to the deli, get the M&M's and come directly back here."
"I know, Mom." The boy sighed.
The boy gets a five dollar bill from his mother's purse. He leaves the beauty parlor and walks down the block to the deli. After buying a package of M&M's, he exits from the deli. Instead of walking back to the beauty parlor, he walks further down the street to the McDonald's in order to get French fries.
The boy leaves the McDonald's with French fries in hand. He walks slowly in the direction of the beauty parlor because he needs to finish the French fries so his mother doesn't see.
A van slowly drives down the street.
"Hey, check it out." The passenger said as he points at the young boy who is alone.
The passenger and driver look all around to see if anybody is looking for the child. They watch as the child stops in front of an alley.
While in front of the alley, something shiny at the other end catches the boy's eye. The boy enters into the alley.
"This must be our lucky day." The driver said.
"Come on, let's get him." The passenger said in excitement over the thought of kidnapping the child.
The van enters into the alley and parks near the entrance in order to block the visual of the street. No one will be able to see them abduct the boy.
The child walks further and further into the alley. He continues eating his French fries without the knowledge of what's behind him.
The two men exit from the van and walk into the alley following the boy.
The young boy passes a dumpster. With passing the dumpster, the sight of the boy catches the eye of another person. Seconds later, the two men pass the dumpster.
Apocalypse stands up from behind the far side of the dumpster. Neither the boy nor the two men even saw him lying behind the dumpster when they passed. The escaped prisoner follows the two men who are following the young boy.
Apocalypse taps both men on the shoulder. The men turn around. The escaped prisoner quickly grabs both men by the throat. Both of them are silenced by the crushing of their throats. Lastly, he crushes the entire neck of each of the men; their necks now look like permanently crushed stress balls. He stashes their dead bodies in the dumpster. Then he looks down the alley at the child. With the intention of killing the child, the escaped prisoner walks in the direction.
The boy leans down and picks up the shiny object. It's not as interesting as he hoped so he tosses it. The boy turns around and bumps into Apocalypse. The boy looks up in shock at the size of the man in front of him. He's never seen anyone of this size before. The escaped prisoner looks down at him.
"Whoa…" The boy said in amazement. There's a brief pause as he holds up the food. "You want some of my French fries?" He offered to share.
Apocalypse reaches his hand out and places it on the young boy's head.