by C. S. Won
“Sounds like Adam, alright,” Gabe said.
“Sorry about all that. He’s usually more . . . reserved, you could say,” Jae said, clearing his throat.
“It’s fine. We’re trained for that kind of thing. Most of us are used to it.” She motioned toward a door. “Well, here we are.” She turned toward them. “Take your shirts off.”
“What?” Jae said.
“Damn it. I forgot about this part.” Gabe started pulling his sweater off.
“It’s going to be really hot in there, and you’re wearing too many layers,” the nurse said.
“Is the heater on? I’ll be fine; it won’t bother me,” Jae said.
“Not because of the heater, but because of Adam.”
Jae frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“We can’t figure out how or why he’s even doing it, but for the past few weeks, his body has been generating a massive amount of heat. So much so that we had to isolate him in his own room so he wouldn’t affect our other patients.”
“What do you mean he’s generating heat? Is he ill?”
“He’s fine, but it’s like the nurse said, his body is putting off an extraordinary amount of heat. Put a hand near him and you can feel it emanating from his body,” Gabe said.
“Every test we’ve run on him so far has come back either negative or inconclusive; meaning that, despite the skyrocketing body temperature, he’s functioning quite normally. He shows no signs of a fever, his insides aren’t cooked, and his flesh isn’t melting off his bones,” the nurse said.
“Are you sure it’s not because of some malfunctioning heater or something?” Jae asked.
“That’s what we initially thought, too, so we messed around with the temperature settings, even turning on the air conditioning to full blast, but that did nothing. We moved him to another room, but that room got just as hot within a few minutes. We moved him for a second time, but that produced the same result. It didn’t matter where we placed him or how much we fiddled with the thermostat—wherever he went, the heat followed. We then realized that the heat was coming directly from him.” The nurse folded her arms. “It is as your friend said: put a hand near him and you can feel the heat, almost as if he were a stove. You’d think he’d be burning up judging by all the warmth he’s producing, but he’s functioning just fine, somehow.” She shrugged. “Anyways, we have a few experts coming in tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll get some answers then.” She looked at her clipboard and wrote something down. “This is where we say our goodbyes. Are you two good?”
“We’re fine. Thanks for allowing us to see him,” Jae said.
“Remember, you only have thirty minutes. After that, I’ll have to kick you out.” She made her way to the other end of the hall.
“Before you ask: no, I don’t know what’s happening with Adam,” Gabe said.
“I didn’t expect you to know,” Jae said.
“That storm had something to do with it though, that much I’m sure of.”
Jae was ready to scoff at the suggestion, to mock it even, but something told him that there was probably a kernel of truth to what Gabe was saying. With every absurdity he’d learned since waking twenty-four hours ago, what was one more to the list?
Jae gripped the door handle but quickly yanked it back. He brought his hand up and saw the outline of the door handle pressed red into his skin, a piercing throb aching in the palm of his hand.
“What’s wrong?” Gabe asked.
Jae reached forward with his other hand and flicked the metal of the handle with his finger. A lash of heat greeted him. He pulled back, wrapping his finger with his other hand. “It’s hot.”
“Let me see.” Gabe tapped the door handle and reared back, eyes going wide. A whistle sang from his lips. “Holy hell, that is hot. Is Adam doing that?”
Jae pulled the sleeve of his sweater over his hand, gritting his teeth in anticipation. Using the thick wool as a buffer against the heat, he gripped the handle. A slight nip attacked him, but the potency of it was lessened by the wool. He pulled the door handle and walked into the room.
A thick musk of heat pounced on him, welcoming him in with as much geniality as a punch to the face. Already, he felt several pounds heavier, the layers he wore soaking in the heat like a wet sponge. Sweat formed in the creases of his brow, trickling down the ridge of his nose and the sides of his face. Breathing itself became difficult, an act that he now had to consciously strive toward, rather than something he could take for granted. The nurse wasn’t kidding. He pulled off his sweater, but the relief that brought was only temporary. The air was as thick and heavy as slow-cooked stew. He peeled off another layer—a thin, white thermal shirt—leaving just the t-shirt underneath, but even that did nothing. No matter how many layers he stripped out of, the heat continued to oppress, doing whatever it could to make his life miserable.
And then Jae saw him near the corner of the room and next to the window, confined to his bed, a prisoner to his wounds and scars. He was a ghastly looking thing, made even more frightening by the fact that he was awake and cognizant. His exposed flesh had been replaced by a film of burnt crust, which seemed to flake and peel every time he moved. Was he really not in pain? How was he not crying out in agony? He even seemed unbothered by the heat, and Jae wondered if a man whose skin was burnt off could even sweat.
“What are you doing here?” Adam asked.
It took every ounce of willpower to not look away in horror from this man, who by all appearances should be dead. There had been a few changes, though, since the last time Jae had seen him. The smell of burnt flesh no longer tickled at his nose; although, a faint trace of it still wallowed in the air. Bandages were wrapped tight around large acres of Adam’s body just as before, but blood and ash no longer left an imprint on the cloth. He drew breath without struggle, accomplishing the task just fine on his own now.
“What’s up, Adam? You doing alright?” Gabe asked.
“Other than the fact that it looks like I spent my entire life inside a hot oven, life is just fucking peachy. Thanks for asking.” Adam sneered at him. “How do you think I’m doing, you fucking chink?”
“Good to know you’re still you,” Gabe said, rolling his eyes.
“And you.” Adam glared at Jae. “I can’t believe you have the balls to show your face around here after what you’ve done. Are you here to gloat?”
Jae made his way toward Adam, stopping just at the foot of bed. He looked even more horrifying up close. “I’m glad you’re okay. You have no idea—”
“I have no idea? Go fuck yourself, chink. You’re the one who put me in here. You tried to kill me back at the apartment. You don’t think I remember? You pushed me right into that collapsing ceiling.”
Anxiety and uncertainty crept back in. “Adam, I didn’t do anything to you. What happened was nobody’s fault. It was just a freak accident. I—”
“That’s your excuse? That it was a freak accident? Easy enough for you to say, you’re not the one who took the worst of it. You’re not the one chained to a bed. You’re not the one who looks like grilled meat. The way I see it, everything that happened was your fault.”
“I was trying to push you away from that ceiling. I’m sorry things ended up the way they did, but things happened so quickly. It could have been any one of us trapped in there. We—”
“You’re sorry? You’re fucking sorry? What the fuck is ‘sorry’ going to do for me?” Adam waved his stump at Jae. “Say sorry to my missing arm. Maybe, it’ll grow back if you do.”
Things were deteriorating quickly. Jae was beginning to regret his visit. “Adam . . .”
“This is your handiwork, so take a good look. You wanted me out of your life, and now you got it. Your finest achievement, I’d say. I hope you’re happy with the results.”
“Jae did you a fucking favor. He was the one who pulled you out of that fire. If it wasn’t for him, then you’d be fucking dead,” Gabe said.
“Fuck you. You’re
not the one with burns all over his body, you fucking chink piece of shit.” Adam turned to Jae. “Enlighten me, savior. What the fuck am I to do, now? You’ve got all the answers, don’t you? You’re so great and awesome and so much better than the rest of us. Tell me what I need to do, you worthless fuck. What the hell am I—”
“I didn’t do shit to you!” Jae said, spit flying from his mouth. Perhaps it was the intense heat whittling away at his patience or Adam’s constant abuse that triggered his anger, or maybe it was a combination of the two. Whatever it was, he was angry now, and his thirst for confrontation overwhelmed him. The dam had broken. “I didn’t cause the roof to collapse on you. I didn’t ask to argue with you inside a burning apartment. We had everything taken care of, but then you came in and fucked everything up. If you had just minded your own damn business, none of this would have happened!”
Adam gripped the metal railing around his bed, leaning against it to get closer to Jae. The room grew hotter, almost to the point of suffocating. “That kid was mine to save, you greedy son of a bitch, and you tried to take that glory away from me! Your selfishness nearly cost me my life!”
“Glory? Christ, is that all you can you think about? Glory this and glory that. Look where your quest for glory got you, you fucking narcissist.” Jae clenched his fists. Sweat covered nearly inch of his face, and a small puddle had already formed near his feet, but he didn’t care. It was almost inconsequential. His anger made it difficult to even notice. “I tried to save you—I did save you, in fact. If I wasn’t there to drag you out, then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. You’d realize that if you simply pulled your head out of your ass, but of course you won’t because you’re incapable of being wrong, right? I wasn’t expecting gratitude, a pat on the back, or even a thank you. Hell, I didn’t want any of that. But to blame me for what happened? That’s fucking low, even for you. You know damn well that what happened was not my fault. The blame falls squarely on you and you alone. You’re just looking for a scapegoat for your own stupidity.”
Gabe whistled. “Shit, I never knew you had it in you.”
Adam’s mouth curled into a fierce snarl, teeth flashing bright white. “It’s not your fault? Is that what you tell yourself every night before you go to bed? Does it help you go to sleep when you feed yourself such pretty little lies? Take a look at yourself, and then take a long look at me, and you’ll realize who’s at fault here. The fact that you keep placing the blame on me, even when I was on the edge of fucking death, tells me everything I need to know about you. You’re not the hero you think you are. You’re not a good guy.”
Jae turned and headed for the door. He didn’t need to hear anymore. There was no point in talking with him. Adam was steadfast in his beliefs and so was he. Neither party was going to convince the other of their position, no matter how logical or emotionally charged the argument was. A pointless endeavor, he realized. If continued, it could lead down a very dark path.
The coolness in the hallway provided a much-needed respite from the heat. Using his arm, Jae wiped away as much sweat as he could from his forehead and smeared whatever he collected on the thigh of his pants. He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes, letting the cooler temperature do its work. A mistake, he thought. Gabe was right, I should have waited. He should have expected that, should have seen it coming a mile away, in fact, but he had hoped against his better judgment that Adam would have reacted in a more understanding manner. But he should have known. There was no other way for Adam to react. Adam was Adam, an isolated man who thrived on hatred. Not even a cleansing by fire could wipe away the disdain brimming in his soul.
Adam’s voice drifted out through the ajar door. “You’re not going to chase after your boyfriend?”
“Come on, ease up on him. You know what happened had nothing to do with him. He already feels guilty enough as it is,” Gabe said.
“So it’s my fault I look like this? You look normal; I look like burnt bacon. Try walking a mile in my shoes, dipshit.”
“Whatever, you’re a lost cause.”
Footsteps padded toward the door. Gabe came out with his sweater bunched up underneath his arm, his tank top soaked clear through with sweat. He whisked away a line of sweat forming underneath his chin and whipped it toward the floor, watching it spatter.
“I’d say that went well,” Gabe said.
“You were right. I shouldn’t have visited,” Jae said.
Gabe smirked and thumped a wet hand on Jae’s back. “Don’t worry about it. You said your peace and that’s all that matters.”
“I shouldn’t have snapped at him.”
“Are you kidding? That was awesome!” Gabe thumped him on the back again. “He needed to hear that, especially from you. You did the right thing.”
“How was that right?”
“Because you were honest, and in the end, he’ll appreciate that. The truth may hurt now, but later on he’ll thank you for it. Trust me.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Aren’t I always?” Gabe lifted a sweaty arm and sniffed his pit, reeling back with a puckered face. “Do they have showers around here?”
Chapter 4
Two weeks after he had awakened, he was granted his release from the hospital. Jae was happy but also surprised. He had expected a longer stay, but multiple tests and examinations revealed only a man who was in good health, and there was no point in keeping someone who wasn’t sick. He wasn’t complaining, though; he welcomed the early exit and yearned to see the hospital fade behind him as he rode off into the sunset. He would have to return for routine checkups, but his doctors confided they weren’t expecting much if the previous two weeks were any indication.
And so, on the day of his departure, he made his way toward the exit, a small bag hanging from his shoulder. Along the way, he shook hands with various staff members of the hospital, many of them saying their farewells and wishing him good luck. One nurse in particular held his hand in both of hers for a long time before quickly turning and vanishing behind a corner, her face glowing bright red.
Gabe met him just outside the entrance and they hugged, clapping each other on the back. Light wintry winds nipped Jae in the face, a chill settling on his skin. Behind a veil of idle clouds, the sun sat nearly hidden, its meager warmth clashing with the wind. He closed his eyes. Being locked indoors for two weeks had made him stir-crazy, and he spent most of his days next to an open window because of it, getting as close to the outside world as he could. Now, with the sun over his head and the cold wind in his hair, he felt like he had been set free. The taste of liberation was heavy and sweet in his lungs.
They walked over to Gabe’s car, a rustic, oak-colored Honda Accord. Slinging his luggage into the backseat, Jae entered the vehicle and was greeted with strange, earthy smells. The Korean Taegeuk symbol—a circle colored with even, harmonious swirls of red and blue—hung from a necklace attached to the rearview mirror. Sunlight reflected off of its gleaming edges. A small picture of a scantily clad woman taped on the glove compartment winked at him, smile coyly.
“Good to know some things never change,” Jae said.
Gabe smiled. The car roared to life. Start Me Up stirred to life from the radio. The car made its exit, screeching out onto the street and heading toward the highway. Jae increased the volume, loud enough for the Stones to drown out all other noises, and rolled his window down, letting the winter breeze whisk through his hair. It may not have felt like six months in his mind, but his body yearned for nature’s touch nevertheless. It responded resoundingly to the elements, heart racing and skin goose-pricking against the cold.
“Did you ever talk to Adam again?” Gabe asked.
“No. Why?” Jae asked.
“Just wondering.”
“You?”
Gabe shrugged. “Nope.”
“Probably for the best.”
Jae hadn’t spoken with Adam since that last, disastrous conversation. He wondered if it was goin
g to be the last conversation they would ever have. The way that meeting ended had a sense of finality to it, and with Adam destined to stay at the hospital for an indefinite period of time and Jae having no real desire to visit him anymore, whatever relationship they shared would inevitably fade into nothing as the seasons whittled away. Even if the hospital deemed Adam fit enough to be released back into society, the state would never allow him to retain his old job back at the station. He would be a liability. They would chain him to his home, tended to by a nurse at all hours the day. Opportunities to interact in the real world would be few and far between, if not nonexistent. He would be out of sight and out of mind, the reclusive hermit who lived in dust and darkness.
Could they have ended matters in a different way? Perhaps. Maybe if he endured Adam’s abuses with a bit more dignity, things might have settled a bit more gracefully. But a man could only take so much before he finally put his foot down and said enough. Maimed or not, Adam wouldn’t be allowed to browbeat him any longer, not anymore.
Gabe reached over and gripped him by the shoulder. “Don’t worry, he’ll come around. He just needs time. Once he’s on his feet and they finish patching him up, everything that was said and done will be long forgotten. He’ll be a whole new man; I can feel it.”
Jae doubted it. If catastrophic injury could not change him, then what hope did time have? With the way Adam was now, he was more liable to withdraw further into his deep, dark pit. Time would only make it worse.
Chapter 5
He dreamed of a great and wild storm.
A flash of lightning cracked the sky, drowning the world in a milky-white haze. Thunder quickly followed, echoing in the darkness. He heard a voice calling out to him, urging him to move and seek shelter. He turned toward the voice, hands raised to block the rain, and saw Madeline kneeling in the grass a few yards away, the storm lashing her hair across her face.
