James Grippando - Leapholes

His gaze swept the room. Slats of sunshine were streaming through the blinds on the window. The shadows made a funky zebra-like pattern on the floor. There was a television, but it was turned off. A woman was seated in a chair at the end of the bed. She was slouching, and her chin was resting on her chest. She appeared to be asleep. Finally, Ryan's vision came into focus.

"Mom?" he said.

Her eyelids fluttered. She seemed dazed at first. Then her gaze met Ryan's, and her face lit up. "Ryan, are you awake?"

It was a simple question, but it still confused him. He was feeling a bit disoriented. "I think so."

His mother rushed to his side. She threw her arms around him and hugged him so tightly that the heart monitor actually did a beep, beep-beep, blip. She switched off the volume on the machine and said, "I can't believe you're back."

"Where am I?"

"Mercy Hospital. They brought you into the emergency room yesterday afternoon."

"You mean I've been gone less than a day?"

"No, no. You were missing for three days. Teddy Armstrong and his friends told the police that you tried to race your bike against their car. They saw you get hit by a station wagon. The driver stopped, and the boys thought he was taking you to the hospital. But you never made it to a hospital. You never showed up anywhere." Her eyes welled with tears. "Oh, Ryan. I'm just so glad you're back."

Ryan hated to see his mother cry. He'd seen her cry too often since his father went to prison. "It's okay, Mom. I think I'm okay."

"Thank God."

She wiped away her tears, and they shared a little smile. It actually felt good to be back. But this was all so confusing. "So, how did I get here yesterday?" he asked.

"It's the strangest thing. Someone found you lying on the side of the road where you had your accident three days ago. They called for an ambulance, and there you were."

"Who called?"

"Nobody knows. The person didn't leave a name, and when the ambulance arrived there was nobody there but you. Think hard, Ryan. Do you have any idea how you got there?"

He sighed, thinking aloud. "The last thing I remember is opening that courthouse door. All that wind rushed in, and those tall, stone columns started going back and forth, and…" He stopped himself, seeing the incredulous look on his mother's face.

"Courthouse?" she said.

"Yeah. I was in the Court of International Justice."

She laid her hand on his forehead and checked for a fever. "Do you even remember the bike accident?"

"Of course I do. But that seems like such a long time ago. So much has happened since then. When I woke up, I was in the emergency room-a place a lot like this one. Then a fire broke out, and I met a girl named Kaylee and some other people. We tried to escape from the fire, but we ended up in a disease control center that was top secret and…"

The concern on his mother's face stopped him in mid-sentence. "This all sounds crazy, doesn't it?" he said.

"You poor boy. It's just like the doctor said. You must have bumped your head pretty badly in the accident. You couldn't even find your way home. He thinks you may have been wandering around aimlessly for the last few days in some state of temporary amnesia."

"No, Mom, that's not what happened."

"It's all right, darling."

"Mom, I'm telling you the truth."

"Please, just rest, son. The police are going to want to take a statement from you. But I want you to rest until you're able to tell the difference between what's real and what's not real."

He wanted to explain more, but he feared that she would only think that he had really lost his mind. "How's Ainsley?" said Ryan.

"She's fine. Misses her big brother."

"And Sam?"

"If he could talk, he'd say it wasn't very nice the way you left him frozen in the stay position when you bolted out of the house on your way to the bike accident."

Ryan felt bad about that, but it also made him proud to have such an obedient dog. Good boy, Sammy.

They sat in silence for a minute, and then his mother took his hand. "Ryan, why did you leave the house that morning?"

He struggled for the right words, but there was no way to say it without shame. "Because I didn't want to go visit Dad in jail again."

"I wish you would give your father a chance."

"I know."

"Your anger is understandable," she said. "No child wants to have to visit his father in prison. But if your father tells you he's innocent, I wish you would at least consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, he isn't lying to you."

Ryan took a moment to think about all he'd been through over the past few days. He had seen with his own eyes that bad things can happen to good people. Good people could even find themselves trapped by bad laws, like those passengers thrown overboard on the William Brown. Or like that woman on the bus who was arrested because of her skin color.

Ryan wondered if his father was like them.

"Okay, Mom. As soon as I get out of here, let's go visit him."

"You mean it?"

"Yes. I want to hear what Dad has to say. I really do want to know why an innocent man would confess to a crime he didn't commit."

"I'm sure he'll tell you if you seem willing to accept the truth. But remember. You still may not like what your father has to tell you. The truth is sometimes hard to swallow."

"I understand."

"Good," she said as she squeezed his hand.

Ryan smiled a little, then said, "I'm starving. Would you mind getting me something to eat?"

"Sure. I'll check downstairs in the cafeteria. Why don't you try to get a little more rest while I'm gone?"

"Okay, Mom."

She kissed his forehead and left the room, leaving the door open on her way out. Ryan's head sank back into his pillow. This truly was bizarre. Hit by a car. Gone missing. Found three days later in the exact spot where he'd had his accident. Could he possibly have been wandering around the city all that time, not sure who he was? Could he have imagined the hospital, Kaylee, the casting of lots for a vaccine? He supposed it could have been a dream or some sort of delusion. Except Hezekiah. That lawyer had seemed too real to him. He couldn't have been a dream.

Because Ryan really missed the old geezer.

Ryan suddenly did a double take as a man passed his room in the hallway. He was eerily familiar. He looked exactly like the driver of that car that had hit Ryan on his bicycle. It was the man with the incredibly flat face. Slowly, Ryan slid out of bed. His bare feet came to rest on the cold tile floor. He felt dizzy for an instant, but he soon got his bearings. He disconnected the wires that tethered him to the heart monitor. Then, one step at a time, he walked toward the door.

He stopped, poked his head out, and peered down the hallway. A nurse got onto the elevator. An old woman was being taken to her room in a wheelchair. No sign of Flat Face anywhere. Maybe Ryan had imagined it. Maybe he'd imagined everything. He closed the door, turned and started toward his bed, then stopped short.

Flat Face was sitting on the edge of his bed.

"How did you get in here?" asked Ryan.

"With ease," he said.

Ryan took a half-step back. "What do you want?

"Don't be afraid. My name's Jarvis. I've come on behalf of Hezekiah."

The mention of Hezekiah caught him off guard. If the last few days had truly been nothing but a dream, how did this Jarvis know about the old lawyer?

"You were not dreaming," said Jarvis.

"How did you know I was wondering about that?"

"I would be happy to elaborate, but I know how you reacted to Hezekiah's explanation of how leapholes really work."

"You mean the computerized virtual legal environments?"

"No. I was referring to his other explanation."

"You mean magic?" said Ryan.