Ch. 33

Laurie was standing in front of the factory again. Something about this was very familiar. Rorschach was standing next to her. She couldn't see him very well, but she could feel him there. Laurie tried to focus on Rorschach, but he was wavering, as if he was made of cloth. She reached out and felt a coldness go through her hand like a dozen pins. No touching, said a voice. Was that Rorschach's voice? He was walking away now. Laurie realized then that this must be a dream. This had all happened before, hadn't it? She wanted to wake up, struggled to even, but when she opened her eyes she was still there, forced to watch as that figure appeared again. Then the smell -- so strange, like sweet paint, she couldn't describe it any other way -- Laurie felt sick this time, rather than just dizzy and weak. The figure disappeared into the night, and Laurie braced herself for what would happen next.

Laurie struggled again, but it was all for nothing. The man appeared, drunk, still overpowered her. Why couldn't she fight back? He half dragged her into the building, cursing her out. She tried to resist, but it felt as if she was paralyzed. All she could so was lay there as he towered over her. She didn't remember him being so big. The man was laughing when the walls behind him began to contort, dark shadows twisting to create horrifying patterns as they came closer. They bore down on the man, and suddenly there was Rorschach again, but jet black and angry, a shadow of movement and speed as he attacked the man. Black bile poured from the man's throat, and where it landed it continued to twist, making Laurie feel sick from looking at it.

You think you know everything, Laurie thought. No, that wasn't her -- it was a voice that came from the floors, the walls, all around them. The voice was base and low and grating, like the sound of static heard through a paper cup. With every word the voice vibrated; Laurie could feel it through her body and it terrified her. The man was screaming now, but the voice continued over him. The tone hadn't changed, and the volume was still in that harsh whisper, but Laurie could hear it in her head, her ears, her heart, and through the screaming man, and she cried.

Filth. Garbage.

So easy to dispose of when you're nothing but trash--

"Laurie?"

Laurie opened her eyes to an unbearably bright room. She stared at the woman in front of her and for a moment didn't recognize her. Laurie's breath was ragged, and her heart was racing so fast she didn't think she would be living much longer. Laurie leaned to the side and vomited.

"Oh, Laurie," exclaimed her mother -- of course it was her mother, how did she not know it was her -- as she put her hand on Laurie's cheek. "Are you all right?"

Laurie nodded. Her stomach was still roiling (like those patterns on the walls and on the floors and on the man) but her breath was slowing to accompany her heart. She still felt a dull ache in the back of her head, but it wasn't as bad as the night before. Oh, right. She was in the hospital, wasn't she? She remembered now. Rorschach, her father, then of course her mother, and even Dan. Rorschach said he was going to visit in the morning.

"What time is it?" Laurie asked. Somehow, she knew it was late, too late. Wasn't it?

"It's almost noon, dear." Sally said, looking concerned. She gave Laurie one last look before she bent over and started to clean the mess Laurie had made on the floor.

"Where's Rorschach?"

"I don't know," Sally looked up briefly before turning her attention back to her task on hand. "He never showed up."

Laurie rubbed at her eyes, but it was no use.

"He said he would visit in the morning," Laurie sobbed. "Did you drive him away? You told him to go away, didn't you?"

"Laurie," said Sally, looking alarmed. She put her arms around her daughter. "Of course I didn't, why would I do that?"

"Because you hate him," said Laurie, wishing the tears would stop. Why was she crying so much? She felt the sickness threatening to rise up again and had to pull away. "If he was dead you would like it, wouldn't you? If he never turned up and was found dead somewhere, you would laugh, Mother, I know you would!"

"Laurie," Sally exclaimed. That seemed to be the only thing she knew how to say at the moment.

Blake burst into the room.

"What the hell is going on in here?" he asked. For an instant he gave Sally a suspicious look, but he didn't accuse her of anything verbally.

"Laurie is delirious," said Sally. Laurie wanted to tell her that no, she wasn't, she was making perfect sense and she just couldn't stop making sense even if she tried, but all she could do was cry harder. "Do you think it's the concussion?"

Blake shook his head.

"No, some bastard gassed her up with something toxic," he said. He looked worried as he approached the bed. "Laurie, how are you feeling?"

Laurie found herself unable to speak. Instead she held out her hands until Blake hugged her. Compared to her mother's chest, her father's was like hugging a wall, but a great warmth emanated from it. Feeling calmer, Laurie turned her attention to her mother, who was only looking on with a worried expression on her face. Laurie held out one arm to her. Sally hesitated for a moment, then hugged her daughter. The three of them stayed as they were until Laurie felt a little better and pulled away.

"Uh," said Blake, shaking himself away from Sally as Laurie let go of him.

"Well," said Sally, not looking at Blake. "Are you better, Laurie?"

"No," Laurie sighed. She lay back down, wincing as the back of her head was still tender. The pain in her side had grown now, and she wondered if her stitches had burst. "Side hurts."

Sally nodded.

"I guess the medication wore off," she told her. "I'll ask the nurse if they can give you something for the pain."

Sally left the room, and Blake noticed the half-cleaned mess next to the bed and started to clean it himself.

"Dad," said Laurie."Did Rorschach stop by?"

Blake paused for a moment, but didn't look at her.

"No," he said.

"Do you think he's okay?"

"Dunno -- probably."

Laurie frowned. If he was okay, then why didn't he come like he said he would? He must be in some kind of trouble, and it worried her. She would go out to look for him, but she was in no shape to do it, and even if she was, she still didn't know where he lived. She couldn't even check up on him, and that made her angry. For a moment, Laurie was surprised to feel anger again. It seemed that she had been feeling only sorrow for such a long time. But it had only been one night -- to her it was as if she had been in the hospital for days.

Blake straightened up just as Sally came in with a tray.

"Oh, thanks, Eddie," she said, glancing at him.

"No problem," said Blake stiffly as he moved aside to let Sally take his place next to the bed.

"They said I could feed you if you wanted to eat," Sally explained to Laurie. "And they also gave me some pain killers for you to take, but you should probably try to eat something before you take them."

Laurie wanted to refuse. She didn't feel like eating, but at the same time the pain in her side had grown substantially and she wanted it to go away. She let her mother feed her while her father stood in the back looking a little awkward.

"Oh, darn," said Sally, as she looked around. "It looks like they forgot to refill the pitcher; Eddie -- could you get some water for our Laurie?"

"Uh, sure," said Blake, wiping his hands on his shirt as he started to leave. He stopped when a bored looking young man with blond hair and overalls peered inside.

"I got a delivery here," said the man, as he sauntered in. In his hand was a bouquet of flowers, and in the other was a clipboard. He tossed the flowers aside as he looked through the papers. "It's for a miss Laurie She...Shexa..."

"Schexnayder," Sally told him, finally.

Laurie winced at the name, and it seemed Blake did also. Laurie vowed to change her surname as soon as she got the chance. The delivery man shrugged and picked up the bouquet. It was a dozen purple hyacinths.

"Wow, it looks like someone's sorry for something," Sally said, looking amused.

"Who are they from?" Laurie asked, hopefully.

The man blinked and looked down at the clipboard again.

"A mister... S. Miles." The man laughed. "Funny. Gag gift? Anyways, sign please."

"What is this, certified flower delivery?" muttered Blake, as he signed. The delivery man guffawed as if he had said the funniest thing in the world.

Laurie looked down at the flowers as the man left. Her mother leaned forward and pulled out the attached tag.

No words, just a smile.

"Shit," said Blake suddenly. He snatched the flowers away and they seemed to wither under the force of his hand. He stormed out of the room with the bouquet, leaving Sally looking bewildered.

"Eddie," Sally called after him, but he was already gone. "What's going on?"

Laurie took her mother's hand, feeling unbelievably frightened all of a sudden. Blake came back with a scowl on his face.

"Didn't seem to be contaminated or weird in any way," he told them. "But can you believe this creepy shit?"

"Eddie, what happened?" Sally stared up at Blake. Even she was looking a little pale.

"Haven't you been reading the papers?" Blake asked, as he started to pace. "That Agent Orange guy. Smiley face bullshit, stealing my goddamn face and threatening my daughter."

Sally put a hand to her throat in surprise.

"Laurie's in trouble?" she asked, voice rising in alarm.

"No, I don't think..." Blake stopped pacing and shook his head. "No, I heard about this guy. Doesn't sound like the regular shit he pulls. Makes me wonder about the..."

Blake looked thoughtful with his finger on his chin. Then he slowly turned to Laurie. His expression was neutral, but there was something about the way he was holding himself that made Laurie nervous.

"Laurie," Blake asked, "Did Rorschach go back to that factory last night?"

"Factory?" Laurie said. Suddenly her mind drew a blank.

"Yes -- he told me you were attacked at a factory. Do you know where?"

"Oh, uhm..." Laurie looked around. "I had a map in the pocket of my costume..."

"All right," said Blake. "I need to go check on something. I'll be back later."

"Eddie..." Sally started to say, but Blake held up his hand.

"Just watch her, all right?" Blake asked. Then he turned and left.

Sally paused before she turned to Laurie.

"Do you want to eat some more of your lunch?" Sally asked.

Laurie shook her head. She was certain that small serving of lunch she had managed to consume would be the last thing she ate that day. Sally nodded and stood up to get Laurie her water. Laurie bit her lip and turned her head towards the window, feeling miserable.

The afternoon seemed to crawl by. Throughout the day, Laurie received pink tulips from Nelly, daisies from Hollis, and even pansies from Dan. The flowers around her made the room look bright and cheery, but Laurie did not find joy in seeing them. She was too busy worrying about Walter. Her father returned in the early evening. He wouldn't tell her what he found, but he assured her that he hadn't seen Rorschach. Laurie watched him speak to her mother quietly and wondered why Rorschach couldn't just give her a simple phone call to let her know he was busy, at least, if that was just the case. If he was busy, at least Walter could--

Laurie shook her head. She didn't know why she had just thought of them as two people. But they were different, weren't they? Rorschach and Walter. As soon as the mask went on, his demeanor changed. Laurie could bet that Walter hadn't gone to sleep last night. He always went a little strange when he didn't sleep. No, that wasn't it. He always went strange when he was in costume for too long.

Laurie tried to think about Rorschach, Walter, as much as she could, but she found it hard with her mother there attempting conversation. Late that evening, a nurse stuck her head in.

"A visitor here to see you," she said, to Laurie.

Sally looked up, as did Laurie. Laurie dared to hope, but at the same time had a feeling that Walter wouldn't come in the normal way.

"Send them in please," Laurie said, feeling quite weary. If it wasn't Walter she was just going to sleep.

A handsome young man entered, and Laurie wondered for a moment if he had the wrong room. Sally looked from Laurie to the man, then to Laurie again. The man held out a bouquet of yellow roses in front of him, and looked almost apologetic. He had a visitor's badge on his chest.

"I apologize if this is confusing--" said the young man. Laurie recognized him as soon as he spoke.

"Ozymandias," said Laurie, smiling in spite of herself.

"Yes," he said, smiling back at her as he approached. Up close and out of costume, he looked quite young, but he also looked drained of life, as if he hadn't slept in days. "I was told you were in the hospital, and I couldn't resist visiting you."

"That's very kind of you," said Sally. She turned to Laurie. "And he's out of costume, too. Isn't that nice?"

Laurie sighed and shook her head. Her mother was relentless.

"I might have shown up in costume," said Ozymandias, shrugging, "If I knew that I would be able to get past security."

Ozymandias handed the bouquet to Laurie.

"My name is Adrian, by the way," he said. He gave her another smile.

"Nice to meet you," said Laurie, letting her mother take the flowers out of her hands. "How did you know I was here?"

"Rorschach told me," said Adrian.

"Rorschach?" Laurie sat up, ignoring the throbbing pain in her side that followed. "Is he all right? Where did you see him?"

Adrian looked taken aback.

"Did he not visit you?" he said, brow furrowing. "I met with him earlier this evening, to talk business, of course. He mentioned you in passing, but I assumed he would have come here afterwards."

"No, he didn't," said Laurie. She was feeling angry again. It wasn't just the fact that Rorschach hadn't visited her, even though he had time to visit Ozymandias, but it was the way that she seemed to have been mentioned so casually. Here she had been worried sick about him, and he had been out running around doing god-knows-what.

Disappointment seemed to show in Adrian's face, but he said nothing; just nodded.

"Well, I... I'm sure he will turn up at some point," he said, almost to himself. "I hope."

Adrian turned and looked as if he was going to speak of something else, but he smiled instead and adjusted his collar as if he were wearing a suit and about to put on his tie.

"I hope you recover soon, Miss Laurie," he told her.

"Thank you, err, Adrian," said Laurie.

Adrian nodded first to her, then Sally before he left the room.

"He's quite a nice young gentleman, isn't he?" Sally asked Laurie. "You know--"

"Good night, Mother," said Laurie.

"Laurie--"

Laurie turned away from her mother. Fortunately her mother was sitting next to Laurie's bad side, so she was able to do this without hurting herself. Sally took the hint and left the room after turning off the light.

Laurie blinked, hoping that those confounded tears would come back and let her cry it out, at least. But nothing. Laurie sighed and lay on her back again and stared at the ceiling; the way the shadows played against the stark white top of the room reminded her of Rorschach's mask. Usually this might have been a comforting thing to see, but instead it spooked Laurie and gave her chills. Oh, of course, the nightmare.

Laurie waited for half an hour, wondering if Rorschach would somehow come in through the window or anything, now that her mother was gone. Not a trace. She eventually drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

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To be continued...