For some reason, my mind wanted to type this all in present tense when it's supposed to be in past tense. So if there's any weird tense changing, please let me know. I don't always catch those things and it can really throw off the rhythm of the writing. Thank you.
The Files of Kazdan Kalinkas
Book Two: After the Storm
Chapter 15: Interlude – Nathaniel
"No one was hurt. We're all together and okay. We lost a few of our nice things, but things don't matter much really. It's hard to believe how often we forget that." – Calvin's Mom from Bill Matterson's Calvin and Hobbes
Work was difficult.
Seeing the pictures of my son around my desk made my heart ache but I couldn't bear to put them away.
They were all I had left of him.
I was preparing for a board meeting when it happened.
The phone rang.
I pressed the button for speaker phone as I pulled on my suit jacket.
"Mr. Kalinkas?"
"Yes, what is it Malory?"
"You've got a call on line one. It's from the local hospital and they say it's urgent."
I froze momentarily, one hand reaching for my briefcase, and then swiveled around to pick up the receiver.
Please let everyone be okay. Please it's not my wife. Please…
"This is Nathaniel Kalinkas. How can I help you?"
"Mr. Kalinkas, this the Brian-Foy Hospital. We…" There was a pause on the other end, an intake of breath, "We found your son."
I dropped the receiver and ran out the door, only stopping briefly to grab my keys out of the pocket of my overcoat. As I tore past my secretary, I shouted, "Cancel my meeting, Malory! Cancel everything! I'm going to the hospital!"
For some reason, the elevator seemed to take to long so I ran full tilt down the stairs, across the lobby, and into the parking lot. I slid a little on the snow in front of my car as I fought to get the keys inside. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I grabbed my cellphone and speed-dialed for home.
"Nathaniel!?" Marietta sounded breathless, "I was just about to call you! I got a call from the hospital—they found him, Nate! They found him!"
"I'm on my way over there right now!" I said, tapping my fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as I pulled to a stop at a red light, "I'll meet you there."
"Nate, I'm going to pick up Tom from the high school."
"Wha—Mari! He's in school—!"
"He's Kaz's best friend!" She said, her voice quivering, "He deserves to know!"
"Alright, honey, alright." I pressed too quickly on the accelerator and the car jack-rabbited forward, "I'll meet you and Tom at the hospital. With the way traffic is, you'll probably beat me there."
"Okay, be careful."
"I will."
I hung up and spun the wheel with both hands, swerving onto the on-ramp for the highway. I was going a little over eighty but I did't care. I had the right to.
Kaz was alive.
And he was home.
I pressed harder on the gas pedal.
I squealed the car into a spot in the hospital parking lot and jumped out, running across the lot as fast as I could, slipping and sliding all the way. I burst through the front doors and slammed into the front desk.
"Kazdan Kalinkas! Where is he!?" My voice was louder than I intended.
"Nate!" I whirled around and saw Marietta standing with Tom at her side and doctor beside them both of them.
"Mari!" I left the bewildered nurse behind the desk and leapt to my wife's side, clutching her hand. I looked around at the doctor, "Kaz! They said Kaz was here! Where—!?"
"Mr. Kalinkas, please," The doctor said in a soothing voice, "Calm yourself. Your son is in an isolated ward and he's fine. I have police officers standing by to keep out any nosey members of the press who happen to catch wind of his reappearance."
"Are we allowed to see him?" Tom asked, his voice strained with worry. I glanced at him; he looked worn out but his eyes were bright.
"Of course, please follow me."
I followed in a daze. My mind was a blur of worry and questions. Where had he been? Is he okay? Who took him? What does "fine" mean? Was it kidnapping? What if he's seriously hurt? Why did it take so long for him to come back? Will he still be my son?
"I'm going to ask you to be quiet." The doctor was speaking in a low voice and I realized that we had stopped walking and were standing outside a door, "He's weak and his body needs rest. We've given him a low dose of a sleeping drug that helps him stay asleep. But it's light enough that loud noises can still wake him up."
Tom, Mari, and I all nodded and the doctor pushed the door open.
My heart jumped up into my throat.
There lay my son, looking older than I remembered him. There were a few light scrapes on his face, his glasses were missing, and his hair had gotten long. A heavy blanket was pulled up to his chin but I could see the IV tube trailing underneath it.
"Kaz…" Tom's voice cracked, "Uh…excuse me…" He turned and dodged out the door, closing it behind him. Even through that, I could hear him crying in the hall.
"There's…something you should see." We both glanced at the doctor. Marietta had tears shimmering in her eyes. The doctor walked over to the bed and gently, carefully pulled back the blanket. Then he unbuttoned the front of Kaz's hospital gown. My wife and I moved closer.
Mari suddenly gave a distressed cry and buried her face in my shoulder, tears streaming down her face. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, unable to look away. A jagged scar was traced around Kaz's neck, another punctured under his left shoulder, and a horridly long one right down the middle of his chest. I could see more of them on his stomach and one on his arm.
"That's enough." I said, my hoarse voice no more than a whisper. The doctor nodded once and redid the buttons and pulled the covers back up. I blinked. I could still see those scars.
"Your wife may…want to step out in the hall." The doctor said quietly and I ushered Mari out the door. Tom was sitting against the wall, staring at the opposite one, eyes wide and rimmed in red. The police officers glanced in curiously and I glared at them as I shut the door. Then I turned to face the doctor again.
"How…" I swallowed, trying to speak clearly, "How bad is he?"
"Not as bad as he looks, surprisingly." The doctor responded, "Wherever he was, he's been working out and his body is perfectly healthy except for the fact that he seems to be extremely weakened."
"Weakened as in how?"
"Well, it's almost like his muscles don't have enough energy for them to respond to the signals the brain is sending them. For the moment, I can only say we're going to put him on a special diet. I don't know about medication yet."
"What about those…scars?"
"That's the funny thing." The doctor glanced at Kaz sleeping in the bed and then looked back at me, "At first glance, they seem superficial but they go much deeper. We found scaring on the bones of his left arm, his neck, and even on his sternum and spine."
I stared at him, "What's that mean?"
"Normally you'd only finding scaring like that…from fatal wounds." He glanced from Kaz to me again, "Like the one on his neck, it indicates that whatever cut him—presumably a knife—it indicates that, well, that it slit his throat."
"What!?" I said it louder than I meant to and the doctor made hushing movements at me, "Sorry."
"Look, I'm no forensic squad," The doctor muttered, "But with wounds like that kid got, he should be—."
"I don't care." I said, cutting him off before he can say the word, "He's home." I looked at Kaz, at my son, sleeping in the bed, peaceful, "He's home and that's all that matters to me right now."
Oh my gosh, we're almost to the end of "After the Storm."
Almost. But not quite.
Yay for Kazzey getting home! Yay for his parents being happy! Yay for…for..for cookies and justice!
Don't question it.
