M Sellars - All acts of pleasure

“Honestly, I don’t know. She just left a message with the desk to call her as soon as you arrived and have you wait in the lobby for her.”

I could tell she was lying, but making that accusation wasn’t going to get me anywhere. However, she didn’t seem to be trying to hide any excessive concern, so I struggled to swallow my sudden rush of panic and dropped the pen back onto the counter.

“Yeah, okay,” I replied. “I guess you’d better let her know I’m here then.”

“If you’d like to take a seat,” she offered with a somewhat forced smile, pointing to the side of the lobby.

I nodded and trudged over to the waiting area, but I didn’t sit. My initial reaction had been that something was wrong with Felicity, but I started trying to discount that because if it were true I would certainly have received a call. I quickly managed to talk myself into believing that rationalization then the next thing reached out and slapped me on the back of the head. It was entirely possible that Helen was going to try to convince me to lessen the frequency of my visits. She had grudgingly given in to the twice per day schedule as it was.

If that ended up being the case, I immediately decided that she was going to need an overabundance of evidence that could prove to me why I should listen. Of course, this entire line of thought easily replaced any lingering sense of trepidation with annoyance, not that trading one anxious emotion for another was any better. However, it didn’t get a chance to grow much beyond that, as I only had to pace for a few moments before a ruffled looking Helen Storm rounded the corner, already shrugging into her coat.

“Let’s talk outside if you don’t mind, Rowan,” she said, not even bothering to slow down as she strode past.

The first thing that struck me wasn’t what she said, but how she said it. While her tone didn’t seem completely off-key, it was harried. However, even more glaring was her choice of words. Helen was very exacting and deliberate in her speech. I had never known her to use two contractions in the same sentence if she could help it, so I instantly knew something had her rattled. Of course, that realization only served to shift me back to my original fear.

I hurried to follow, lagging several steps behind as she bolted out the automatic sliding doors and made a quick right onto the sidewalk. I didn’t manage to catch up to her until she finally came to a halt beneath the tinted Plexiglas smokers’ canopy forty or so yards from the entrance.

“Okay, so what’s wrong?” I asked as I came beneath the overhang with her. “What happened? Is Felicity okay?”

“For the moment,” she replied cryptically.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She didn’t answer me but instead set about lighting a cigarette before giving me a quick glance. After taking a healthy drag, she said, “Are you still smoking, Rowan?”

“Do I need to be?”

“Here,” she replied, offering me her cigarette case and lighter.

I had actually been staying away from them since running out the day Felicity checked into this place. However, given Helen’s apparent level of agitation, I took one and lit it then handed the case and lighter back to her.

“Now,” I said. “I don’t want to sound like an ass, but I asked you a question. Would you like to explain what you mean by ‘for the moment’? Is Felicity okay?”

“I’m sorry, Rowan,” she replied. “That was unprofessional of me, and I shouldn’t have said it that way. Felicity is fine. She’s resting right now.”

“Okay, there you go again.”

“There I go again what?”

“You just used three contractions, Helen,” I pointed out. “For anyone else, no big deal. When you do it, it sets off bells and buzzers all over the place.”

“I never noticed.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I apologize.”

“Don’t apologize, just tell me what’s going on. You’re not acting like yourself, and on top of that you’re telling me Felicity is resting, and it’s after eleven in the morning. What the hell happened?”

She regarded me quietly for a moment before replying. “Felicity experienced an episode with the spirit this morning.”

“What?!” I yelped. “Why the hell didn’t you call me?”

“We did, but all we got was your voice mail.”

“Voice mail? But that’s…” I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and immediately saw that it was switched off. Even so, I stabbed at the buttons with my thumb as if I could somehow change the fact that I had never turned it on this morning. Finally I muttered, “Dammit!”

“We tried both your lines at home as well, but there was no answer,” she offered.

“Yeah, I had a breakfast meeting with a client, so I left early,” I replied, waving my hand to dismiss the turn of the conversation. “But that’s not important. What happened? Please tell me no one got hurt.”

“No one got hurt, fortunately,” she replied with a shake of her head. “We cannot be sure exactly when the episode started, however it could not have been too long before she was found. I was first alerted to it when the floor nurse went to check in on her and another patient because they had not come out for breakfast. She paged me as soon as she realized Felicity was not in her room.”

“What do you mean she wasn’t in her room?” I knew my voice held more than just a hint of agitation, but I couldn’t help it.

“She was not considered psychotic or a threat to anyone, Rowan, therefore she was not housed in a locked ward.”

“You said ‘was’. I take it that has changed?”

“Yes, I am afraid so.”

“Yeah, okay, but obviously you found her. Right?”

“Yes, we did, and fairly quickly. She was located down the hall in the other patient’s room. She had somehow managed to get her hands on a set of restraints and was strapping him to the bed with them. Rather gleefully I might add.”

“Gods,” I mumbled, rubbing my forehead, and then I asked, “You mean he didn’t try to get away from her?”

“No, he actually seemed to be enjoying it almost as much as she.”

“I can guarantee you he wouldn’t have if it had gone much further.”

“Yes, I know.”

“So then what happened?”

“We removed her from the situation, and she was brought to my office.”

“There’s more to it than that, Helen,” I pressed. “You’re too rattled, and that’s just not you. What else happened?”

She finished her cigarette then immediately lit a fresh one from the pack. She offered me another, but I hadn’t sucked down the first one as fast as she, so I declined.

“I think you are aware that excessive and unnecessary gore bothers me, yes?” she finally asked. “The truth is it makes me violently ill.”

“I remember you mentioned that recently,” I said, giving her a nod. “As a matter of fact I recall being a bit surprised by that, what with you having the MD as well.”

“Yes, well, you do not see me working in an emergency room, now do you?”

“No, I don’t. So tell me, what happened? You said no one was hurt.”

“No one was. However, Miranda and I had a long talk.”

“So, the Lwa didn’t exit when you stopped her from tying up the other patient?”

“No, not at all,” Helen replied, shaking her head emphatically. “ Miranda stayed around for quite awhile.”

“She didn’t get violent?”

“No. In fact, her comment to me was something on the order of, ‘I was wondering when you would show up’.”

“As if she knew who you were?” I half asked, half stated.

“Yes.”

“The Lwa has access to Felicity’s memories, so in a way it makes sense. She knew where she was, and she knew someone would stop her.”