M Sellars - Miranda

“Exactly,” she agreed. “To be honest, I’m actually a little disappointed that there isn’t any more to all of this than what you’ve told me.”

“I’m afraid it’s rather unremarkable, for the most part,” Felicity told her. “But I’ll be happy to make use of a broom if it would enhance the experience for you.”

“Seriously?” the doctor asked.

“Aye, it’s not necessary, but I can do it. Brooms make for excellent protection spells, and a little extra warding won’t hurt a thing.”

Kingston nodded with a bit of a grin. “I’ll get one for you.”

There are plenty of old sayings and metaphors meant to illustrate just how quickly some things can change, and every single one of them came crashing down upon my wife. In a matter of a few short minutes, I had seen her earlier confidence dissipate as if it was being leeched directly out of her by the cold of the room. I was still allowing her to take the lead on this, but I had to admit, I was beginning to worry even more than I had at the outset.

“So whaddaya gonna want me ta’ do?” Ben asked.

The three of us were standing in the autopsy suite awaiting Doctor Kingston’s return. The M.E. had already ducked back in earlier with the broom and was now supposed to be retrieving the body that would set this all into motion. I gave my friend a quick shrug in response to his query.

“I guess whatever it is you normally do, but you should probably ask Felicity,” I said. Then I looked over at my wife and called her name a bit louder, “Felicity?”

She continued staring blankly off into space, so to finally get her attention, I had to reach out and rest my hand on her shoulder as I called again, “Felicity, honey?”

She glanced toward me, her eyes shining with a glassy vacancy. Blinking, she stuttered, “Ummm… Oh, sorry… What?”

“Ben needs to know what you want him to do,” I explained.

“Oh…” She creased her brow then looked at him and asked, “Did you already put the broom in the corner?”

“Yeah,” he replied, a bit of confusion in his voice. “A coupl’a minutes ago.”

“With the bristles up?”

“Yeah,” he said again, pointing toward the upended implement several feet away. “Right over there where ya’ told me, and exactly like ya’ said. Ya’ just stood right here and watched me do it.”

“Oh…” she mumbled. “Right.”

“So is there anything else ya’ want me ta’ do?” he pressed.

He kept his eyes locked on her as she appeared to concentrate hard on the question, but both of them remained mute. After a quiet moment he asked, “Are you okay, Firehair?”

She looked at him blankly, and then as his words appeared to register, she nodded.

“You sure? You ain’t already goin’ all Twilight Zone on us are ya’?”

“Aye…” She nodded again. “I mean, no… I… Yes, I’m fine… I’m not… I don’t… I’m not sure what you can…” she stammered through unfinished sentences as she glanced around. Finally, she shook her head and said, “Well…I guess if you just want to stay out of the way, that would probably be best then.”

“Yeah, that part’s kinda a given,” he grunted. “I’m just offerin’ ta’ help if ya’ need somethin’ else is all.”

“I know,” she replied, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. This is a little…”

He nodded slowly as her voice trailed off. When she had fallen mute once again, he said, “Yeah, I’m kinda startin’ ta’ get that… Don’t worry about it. S’all good, as long as you’re okay.”

“What? Oh…I’ll be fine,” she returned.

I hoped she was correct, but her rapidly deteriorating state wasn’t filling me with confidence. Inside my head, every objection imaginable was screaming at me, presenting themselves with explicit detail and backup arguments tailored to overcome any opposition. However, I left every last one of them unspoken. Felicity was obviously edgy enough as it was, and I couldn’t afford to add fragility to that mix. Me casting any further aspersion upon this undertaking wouldn’t help her at all if we intended to continue. In fact, it might well be dangerous if I piled my misgivings on top of the latent doubts that were now peaking through her slack expression.

My friend turned a questioning glance in my direction and then jerked his head to the side indicating that I should follow him as he began to wander away from Felicity. I looked at my wife, who was once again staring off into space, then stepped over to where he was waiting.

“The little woman seems pretty out of it there, white man,” he whispered. “I’m sorta used to it outta you. Her, not so much.”

“Yeah, I know,” I replied in a hushed tone.

“She was fine a little bit ago, so what’s goin’ on?”

“She’s just starting to get nervous, Ben,” I told him, as much to reassure myself as anyone. “This isn’t her normal role. And, she has a lot to worry about on the periphery as well.”

“Yeah…” he breathed, nodding. “The psychobitch.”

“Exactly.”

“So…she gonna be able ta’ do it?”

“Maybe. She definitely wants to try.”

“How ‘bout you?” he pressed quietly, thrusting his chin toward me. “You seem to have calmed down quite a bit.”

I shook my head. “Only on the outside.”

“Not feelin’ any better about this?”

“Not really,” I replied and then glanced back at Felicity for a moment. She hadn’t moved and seemed almost catatonic. I turned back to my friend and added, “Maybe a little worse, actually.”

Ben reached up and smoothed back his hair. “So, I hate ta’ ask, but what if somethin’ with this goes south? You gonna be able ta’ hold it together?”

“I don’t have any choice, Ben. I’m all she’s got on this side.”

“Yeah, Row. That’s pretty much ‘zactly why I’m askin’. Can you handle it, or should we just stop right now?”

“Aren’t you doing a bit of an…”

Across the room from us a pair of doors swung inward and interrupted me mid-sentence. We both turned toward the sound and saw the end of a gurney appear as it nosed its way through the opening. The elongated cart was swiftly followed by the rest of its length and brought up on the opposite end by Doctor Kingston who was providing both the propulsion and steering. She finished pushing it toward Felicity then brought it to a halt and locked the wheels in place. Although we certainly weren’t finished, Ben and I broke from our whispered conversation and joined them.

Resting atop the stainless steel surface of the gurney was a rubberized body bag. Given its current bulk and shape, it was definitely engaged in doing exactly what it was designed to do. I kept my eyes on my wife as I slipped around the end and came up next to her. I could see that she had moved, but not much. She was now staring at the bag in front of her, unblinking, with a faint look of dread now twisting itself into her features.

“Sorry I was gone so long,” the doctor announced. “I wanted to make sure everyone knew this suite was off limits for the time being. So…are we ready?”

I remained quiet, watching and waiting to see if Felicity was going to respond. She was still squarely focused on the black zippered sheath, seemingly transfixed in a moment only she could see.

After several seconds passed, I gave her arm a gentle nudge and called softly, “Felicity?”

“Aye…” she muttered, her voice even thinner and more distracted than before. “I’m okay.”

I didn’t believe her. The arrival of this newest member to the party was obviously pushing her apprehension beyond the next level. Of course, I had already been hovering up against the red line for hours, so I knew exactly how she felt. Unfortunately, that knowledge wasn’t comforting to me in the least.