Stripes of Gehenna Page 6

  "Oh, hi. Good morning," I said, reaching to take the tray. The man walked in, setting it on the dresser.

  "Good morning. I’m Bryce," said the bearded young man. He wore a yellow shirt beneath his white lab coat. He shook my hand and could tell that I cringed. "I’m not gonna crush it," he laughed, his eyes magnified slightly behind his glasses. "Your dad told me to bring this in to you since you weren’t feeling up to breakfast."

  "Thanks." I felt fine but perhaps my appearance indicated otherwise.

  "Is there anything else you need?" he asked, politely backing towards the door. He looked around the room briefly and then reached up and scratched his short, dark beard.

  "I think no…" I eyed the breakfast, my stomach rumbling. "Is there a gym or something here?" My time in the jungle and near the ocean had been so short that it seemed borderline torture. I had to get back on the sand and my legs cried for exercise.

  A hearty laugh hit my ears and again I cringed. He pushed his glasses back onto his face and shook his head, his thick, black hair waving with the motion.

  "We have a gym alright but you’re in no condition to be using the kind of machines we have in there. What did ya have in mind?" He continued to laugh. Embarrassed at his mockery I was determined not to blush.

  "After the long travel day, I just wanted to exercise a bit. Is there a track or someplace I can run?" I persisted through his ongoing chuckles.

  "Just outside. But we….well… your dad would probably let you go for a run outside. I’ll pass the word on." He shook his head laughing and muttered, "Is there a gym?" over again as he left.

  It isn’t particularly kind to make rash judgments, but I decided from that interaction that I did not like this guy Bryce very much.

  As I was finishing up my breakfast, Richy came to the door again, this time with Bryce and the boat driver from the previous day at his side. Once again, the driver gave me his back.

  "I heard you wanted to go for a run outside? Along the bay?" Richy and Bryce walked in, leaving the familiar dark-skinned guy in the doorway.

  "Yeah, my legs need to stretch. All that travel being cooped up kinda took a toll on me."

  "Oh I’m sure, I’m sure it did." He patted my head again which made me quite irritated because I found it demeaning. "Well, you can certainly take a jog on the island. It’s lovely out there, and it’s not like you can go anywhere. There’s not much that’s dangerous but I’m sending Bryce with you anyway. Even though, as you can tell, he doesn't need it."

  "Shardul on the other hand, he could obviously use it!" I whipped my head over at the name. What had he said? Shardul? I looked at the brown hair, the stature, the way he held himself confidently even in Richy's company. It had to be him…but it couldn't be!

  “You remember him right? Offered him a job here working with tigers. Little guy couldn’t resist the opportunity, could ya!” Jesting at Shardul’s smaller stature, Richy pushed him, harder than I anticipated, and Shardul struggled to stand. He took a few fast steps to the right and steadied himself on the wall, still not looking me in the face.

  Shardul. Shardul!. What in the world was Shardul doing here?

  Shardul was missing. Gone. Disappeared. And here he was, in my uncle’s research lab. I wanted to rush to Shardul and hug him, but the shock of seeing him here froze me in place. My lips couldn't move and something inside of my chest couldn't believe any of it.

  “What are you doing here?” I barely made the words audible. “The police are looking for you. Your mom is mortified!”

  Shardul’s face looked pained but he shrugged. He still wouldn’t look at me. Richy stared at him nearly as intently as I did.

  Shardul starting talking. “Richy approached me with a job opportunity. I knew my parents would never consent to letting me take it, so I ran away.”

  I furrowed my eyebrows. “You ran away to take a job? You dropped out of high school and completely disappeared! Everyone in the whole town has been sick with worry.”

  Shardul’s expression hardly changed. It stayed cold. Hard. Very unlike how he’d been in Panama.

  “Well,” he said, indifferent. “We all have to make our own choices.”

  “We all have to make our own choices!?” I repeated, shouting this time. “That’s all you have to say about it? I’ve had to attend therapy and meet with the guidance counselors all because you decided to up and leave without saying goodbye?”

  “Sorry,” he muttered. “But that’s really not my fault.” I stared at him. Shardul wore a light blue button-up beneath his white lab coat. His bare knees poked out beneath the bottom of it.

  “Kat, you heard him. Left on his own. Wanted the job,” Richy chuckled, clapping Shardul on the back. His knees nearly buckled under him at the force. “Why don’t you get changed and head out for that run,” Richy suggested.

  “Okay,” I said, glaring at Shardul. He’d put me through so much anxiety and nightmares and for what? A job opportunity? I didn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it.

  "A word," Richy said and then grabbed Bryce by the arm and pulled him out of the room.

  It was only then, when Richy and Bryce were out of earshot that Shardul hurried toward me.

  Shardul from school. My Shardul. I tried to talk to him but my mind couldn't digest it. He was here. Standing right in front of me.

  "Shar—" I started to say, when he pulled me in quickly, hugging me tightly; so tightly. He looked to the door and pushed me back. His eyes locked into mine as he held me by the shoulders.

  "Kathryn? Are you okay?” His voice was rushed and quiet.

  “Well, yes. Except I sort of want to deck you! You’ve been missing for over a month! The police are looking for you!"

  "How is my mom?” he asked.

  “Terrified. Distraught. We all were. What’s going on?” I said, my head still spinning.

  He just shook his head. “You’re smart. You know it’s not true, but go with the story of me running away. Please! Accept it and make sure Richy doesn’t know you’re suspicious.”

  “If you didn’t run away, what happened? How did you get here?”

  Rage and horror built up in my chest. Shardul grabbed my hand. “Kathryn, you have to listen to me. I only have a moment." Shardul's eyes widened and his face showed real fear. "Richy told me that I had to pretend to be here on a contract with him. He didn’t want to alarm you. I told him we weren’t really close anyway, and you probably would be indifferent to seeing me." His voice was hushed as he spoke nearly directly into my ear. His warm breath birthed a swarm of butterflies inside my chest. “I’ll do and say whatever it takes to get you back home safely.”

  "Shardul, you're talking as though this is a matter of life and death," I chuckled, attempting to lighten the situation. Right now who cared what Richy thought or who I was pretending to be? Shardul was here. I was here. If he was safe, and not dead in a ditch somewhere, things weren’t so bad.

  But there was nothing but serious fear in Shardul's eyes.

  He stepped back as he heard Richy's loud voice in the hallway draw near to the door. "I've never asked you for anything, and I'll never ask you for anything ever again. But please, keep up the charade. I’ll pretend you’re his daughter. You pretend that you’re happy for me. Congratulate me on my job opportunity."

  Richy stepped into the room and scowled when he saw that I was wearing the same clothes and flat soled shoes. "She said she needs to get changed," Richy shouted and pulled Shardul by the collar outside the door. "I called you in here to remind you to check on Habib! Not to talk while on the clock. Everything okay here?”

  "I was just giving your daughter some wisdom for her run. The hill at a distance appears smooth." He smiled and I tried to find the meaning in his adage. But maybe it was random.

  I found out that it's true what people say. When you tell one lie, it leads to another.

  “Congratulations on the job opportunity,” I said half-heartedly to Shardul.

  “Thanks,” he said
curtly, and then left.

  My run seemed less urgent now than it had moments prior, but I couldn't very well change my mind without explanation. I hurried and got changed, unsure if sweating in some of my few items of clothing would be regrettable in the future as I was unsure of the washing machine situation.

  Bryce, Richy, and I walked down the hallway, and I peered out the glass hoping to catch sight of the tigers, but no white or black streaked into my vision, and I was left wanting as we entered the lobby and went down the steps to the door we entered the day before.

  Bryce must have changed quickly from his white button up and lab coat. Now he wore a grey muscle shirt and black gym shorts. Richy stood in the doorway surveying Bryce and they appeared to be having a non-verbal conversation of which I caught nothing. Bryce looked into the trees with a scowl, and I wished I had been given a friendlier companion for the run. At least he had spoken to me, albeit a bit snidely.

  "Bryce has a watch and he'll keep track of time. I’ll give ya 45 minutes to meet me back at this door for me to let you in." Richy’s voice was stern and he seemed to be directing it more to Bryce than to me. "And Kat, if you aren’t back, I’m gonna get real worried. You don’t know how important you are to me."

  My eyes almost rolled at the comment, but I controlled myself and went along with the charade. Just as Shardul had requested. I tried not to seem confused or flustered.

  "We’ll be back." I intended to add ‘Dad’ to the end of the sentence, but it wouldn’t come so I left it out and felt pleased that I had at least not called him Richy.

  It was awkward standing there with Richy watching us, waiting for something to happen.

  "Let's stretch," Bryce suggested, and I agreed. Back at home I was taking AP Anatomy. We had a big test coming up after winter break. I took this as a good time to sneak some studying in. Leaning my head to the side I thought, sternocleidomastoid. I pulled my toe up, stretching my shin and mentally recited tibialis anterior. I worked my way down my legs stretching my adductors, abductors, and hamstrings.

  "You don't have to watch us stretch," I said to Richy. It felt weird to have him standing there in the doorway staring at me while pulled my leg up for a quadricep stretch.

  "Okay, okay, I'm going." Richy said and he marched away. The door creaked slowly behind him and I realized that once it shut, we would be locked out here. I shouldn’t have left my keycard in the bedroom. I guess Bryce had the same thought. He jumped over and jammed his fingers in before the door shut.

  "Got it," he sighed out. He stood there, his fingers in the otherwise shut door for a minute.

  "Are you gonna like…wedge it open with a rock or something?" I asked.

  "Yeah, just a minute." Bryce opened the door a crack and poked his head in. "Drake?" he called.

  I was sitting on the sand doing a deep, gluteus maximus stretch when Drake shuffled out of the door. Shuffled is what he attempted to do. He was huge, like all the men here, and shuffling didn't really suit his form. Once Drake was outside, they shut the door.

  "I thought you were going to put a rock in the door," I said. "Is Drake running with us too?"

  Drake turned to me. He was a younger version of Bryce but without the glasses. It was hard to guess the age of someone who had a young face, and a years-of-work bodybuilder body. He didn’t wear a lab coat, but his blue and brown striped polo didn’t shout jogging clothes.

  "No…I have something else I have to do," Drake said. I knew they were trying to have a conversation without me noticing. But I heard some things as I stretched and got sand all over my legs. "I'll be fast. I've always been fast." Drake was about as good at whispering as Richy was. Bryce took his watch off and handed it to Drake.

  "You won't be as fast as usual. Your body is bigger now and heavier. You'll tire sooner. You have to push through," Bryce cautioned.

  "I know. I'll be back. Soon." Drake looked at me again and forced a smile. They weren't talking about something that made them happy. I didn't want to pry so I looked away.

  "Get out of here. You don't have much time!" Bryce said.

  "I know."

  "And Drake…I'm sorry," Bryce whispered.

  Drake's feet thumped as they hit the sand running. He was fast; I hadn't seen someone with that sort of upper body run so fast. He left a trail of deep footprints the same way Richy and Alec had the day before. He ran down the path through the trees, leaving me and Bryce beside the heavy door and the thick, iron fence.

  "Well, I'm ready to get going." I stood and brushed some of the rough sand from my calves.

  Glancing at him I began a slow jog, warming up my legs and trying to gauge how much of a runner he was.

  The sand underfoot woke up my muscles quickly, and my heart beat with happiness at the exercise and exertion. All around me was a new world. Along one side of me was the seemingly endless sea of foliage. The green leaves gleamed wet with ocean dew, and the chirping and whistle of birds and insects thrilled me as I sped the jog.

  On my other side spanned the ocean, calm and inviting. I moved my jog closer to the water, letting a few of the small waves wash over my sneakers, causing a suctioned slosh when I moved back to the sand.

  My lungs loved running at sea-level and I wondered if I could run forever. We reached the point of the beach where the small boat from the previous day was tied to a tall stick dug deep into the sand.

  "You can drive, so let’s go for a little ride." I suggested, mostly joking.

  "No gas," he said curtly, clearly unamused.

  Ignoring his cold shoulder, I jogged again, letting my mind contemplate what sort of research was going on back at the lab.

  "Kat. We need to get back. Richy—your dad wants us back in time." He stopped and looked at the tan line where his watch had been. Honestly, I kind of forgot that he was there because of how silently he ran beside me. Though, I couldn’t exactly ignore the heavy thuds in the sand or his large frame in my peripheral. Never speaking, never slowing he just followed my pace and kept track of time. I wanted to tell him that my name was Kathryn, not Kat, but I wasn’t sure how to in a kind way.

  "Okay, can we just sit here a minute before we head back?"

  "Yeah." He sat away from me, looking at the water.

  "So, you aren’t from here?" The best way to learn about a person was to ask them, so I did just that.

  "No, I'm from Texas."

  I smiled, "What are you doing out here so far from home?"

  "Same thing that all of us out here are doing, research with your father."

  "Have you been here awhile?" I asked.

  "He offered me a contract a few years back. I guess it’s kinda funny how it happened. I was in the gym, working out before a big test, and he wandered in. We got talking and I asked him what supplements he took. That’s how it started. He found out that I was studying biochemical engineering, and I found out he was Richy Douglass. I used to be a big card collector and had him sign his rookie card. Man, that was a good day." Bryce smiled as he looked over the waves.

  "Then you came here?" I asked.

  "Yeah, he got me in on the ground level of his research project. He picked me up outside of the testing center on Baylor University campus just after finals. I'm sure you know how it is. He’s not super patient. We got started here at the compound soon after. Wow, three years ago. Time really goes by fast."

  "And you get paid pretty good to work here?"

  "Well, not exactly. We get paid when the work is done and we all go home." He shrugged.

  "You’ve been here for a few years? Have you visited home?" I didn't like the idea of doing research for such a long time without a break. But maybe when you do research in such a beautiful part of the world, it feels like a vacation.

  "No," he said, shaking his head, staring down the deep footprint path that Drake had made when he ran off.

  "So you haven’t seen family in a few years?"

  "Well, other than Drake." He smiled and looked back at me.

  "Drake
is your brother? I wondered," I said. "What about Shardul?"

  "What about him?" Bryce replied.

  "Did he get…recruited by Richy?" I didn't want to let anyone know that I knew Shardul, but there was something so strange about the look on Shardul's face when he saw me in my room. And the things he had said…

  "No. Richy doesn’t know the staff personally. I mean, he contracts work like multi-level marketing. It’s a pyramid scheme. You know about those?"

  I was familiar with a few that sold candles, jewelry, and home security so I nodded, though I’d never heard employees of such companies refer to them in such derogatory terms. "It’s like that. Your income increases with every person you contract to work here. I don’t know who brought the Indian here. He’s been working with the tigers. I know your dad's glad to have him here." So Shardul was here because of some enormous coincidence. Maybe his project that won the National Science fair had drawn their attention. Maybe it was a job. But why didn’t his own mother know about it?

  "But you recruited Drake, didn’t you?"

  "Yep," he said and he didn’t seem too pleased. "We should head back before we’re late."

  "Just a minute," I said, and I reached into my sports bra where I’d stashed my phone. Homesickness wasn’t what I’d call it, more like a loyalty to my dad. I wanted to give him a call and let him know that I was doing okay. Just so he knew I made it here and all. I held down the power button but nothing happened. The screen didn’t light up but I’d had my phone plugged in all night. I flipped the phone around and opened the back. The battery was corroded. It was partially melted as if acid had been poured on it.

  "What the heck!?" I complained. "You don’t have a phone, do you?" I asked Bryce.

  "No, only Richy’s phone works here."

  "Hmm," I mused. "I wonder why that is."

  "Yeah…I wonder too." He looked at the sky. "We need to go." He was right. Bryce stood and scanned the shoreline back the way we came. I knew it was time to run back.