Mr. H

Beep...beep...beep…

The sound lulled Alex out of his painful sleep. His eyes opened only to embrace the agonizing light. Complete consciousness still eluded him. His unfocused eyes looked around, trying to recognize something, anything that would be familiar to him.

Beep…beep...beep…

The intervals were steady, almost rhythmic. He saw figures walking around him in the haze. He closed his eyes to fight back the headache that had begun. His mind, still swimming, reached out for sounds this time, for smells, for anything that would identify his location.

Beep...beep...beep…

He began to faintly feel a presence that was in the room. There was an anxiety about the person. Eyes still closed and sounds still muffled by whatever had happened to his head lent no clues to the identity of the person. He knew nonetheless that whoever was in his room with him walked quickly, wanting to go from task to task in order to help him.

Beep...beep...beep…

'Help me?' Alex thought. 'Why the rush to help me? Why do I need help?' He again strained his eyes to open. He fought the blurred vision, desperately trying to discover his location. The fog began to lift from his eyes. He looked at a pale white ceiling. The light from the window was only slightly blocked by a thin curtain which wafted gently through the air. He searched the room for his helper bus only saw a machine to his left that had wires coming from it. This was the source of the beeping. He watched as a playful green line bounded up and down along a black screen.

Alex looked around the room to find who was so anxious about his well-being, but he saw nobody. Realizing he was lying down in a bed he attempted to sit up in bed. As he did however, a sharp pain from his left side shot through him causing him to cry out.

Suddenly a door swung open and a woman in a gray uniform came to his side at once. As she saw him, her joy was immediately evident. She rushed to his side and began to talk to him. Her voice was muffled, as if she were attempting to speak to him through a pillow. She recognized Alex’s confusion at her words and instead motioned him to stay where he was. Although her face was stern, her elation still lifted his spirits. He relaxed and gave a slight nod to her showing that he understood. After checking the machine and the bags that hung suspended at his bedside, she exited taking with her the cheery spirit.

Alex lifted his hands, only to see tubes protruding from them. His palms looked as if something had tried to chew through them. 'A hospital,' he finally realized, 'I'm in a hospital. But why?' Slowly the constant beeps from the machine became clearer. The light from the window didn't hurt his eyes anymore.

Finally, the woman returned with another bag of fluids.

"Can you understand me?" She asked.

"Yes, I can understand you now," He replied. "What happened to me?"

"You are a hero Alex." She answered. She took an empty bag off the hanger by his bed and hooked up the fresh one. He could feel a chilled sensation pass through his hand as the new liquid entered him.

"I'm a hero?" He asked groggily.

"Yes, you are a hero." A new voice replied. A man stood near the doorway wearing a long coat and fedora. He entered slowly, cautiously. This man was very different from anyone Alex had ever met. The light ambiance that the woman brought with her was real, tangible almost. This man though showed no emotion.

"Who are you?" Alex asked.

"I'm Mr. H. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance Mr. Spellbody." The man sat down in the visitor's chair to Alex's right. Alex looked at the man carefully. By this time, the woman and light atmosphere had left. Alex felt a slight longing for the woman to come back and help calm him down. "I'll thank the nurse for you when I leave, but for now I need to talk to you about what happened last night." The man in the hat wasted no time.

Alex looked up to the ceiling, not knowing how to reply. "I don’t know what happened last night." He answered honestly. "I don't really know where I am, I have no idea who you are, and I don't know why I'm in a hospital."

"So you do know where you are." Mr. H replied.

"Sure, I know I’m in a hospital, but I don't know which hospital. There isn't one within seventy miles from where I live."

"True, but thankfully this is more of a school than a hospital." The stone cold look on the man's face remained unreadable. As Alex studied the man's face more carefully he saw the evidence of a rough life that had worn him out. No exhaustion was expressed by the man, but the skin around his eyes seemed to droop from sleeplessness. The light green-yellow eyes however held firm, resolute. The only thing for sure was that this man was interested in Alex.

"Why am I at a school then? I was never able to afford school. What would you want with me?" Alex asked.

"We want to know what happened last night," the man repeated. "Are you sure you remember nothing from it?"

"Nothing."

Alex turned his interest once again to the ceiling, not wanting to meet the hard gaze of Mr. H. He closed his eyes, trying to figure out how he got there, retracing his steps from his rundown apartment. Slowly, Alex began to feel a familiar hunger. His desire for control, power, and the pain of others began to grow, slowly engulfing his body. As the voracity swelled inside of him, a figure came back to his memories.

The smell of gas, the red baseball cap on his head, and the hand clutching a knife sped across his mind, exploding into a revival of the fight he had barely survived.

"Do you remember now what happened?" Mr. H asked calmly.

"Yes." Alex replied.