Unsung Requiem by C.L. Stone

Apaisé

(Fr. Calmed)

Victor

Dr. Green’s office was dark when they opened the door, and Kota flicked the light on.

No one was inside.

“Weird,” Kota said. “Thought at least Luke would be here.”

“Maybe he’s somewhere puking,” Victor mumbled.

Kota sent a text, and he was shortly given an answer. “He’s taken over an empty hospital room. Let’s go.”

Within moments, Victor was led through more hallways within the Academy hospital, to a room at the end of one hall. He really didn’t see where or how they got there. There might have been an elevator. His mind was foggy and it was very hard to focus. He wanted to just look at the lights and stare into oblivion.

Inside, Luke was alone, playing with a TV remote in one hand and the bed’s remote in the other, making the foot of the bed go up and down at random while flicking through TV channels.

He didn’t stop as they entered. “Finally, different company. They won’t stop yelling at me.”

“Well, you’re about to get a partner in crime,” Kota said. “In the other bed, Victor.”

Victor was excessively tired. He wasn’t going to complain his way out of this, so he walked over, sat on the bed, and tried to take his shoes off.

Before he could unlace, North and Dr. Green materialized in the doorway.

North’s face said everything to Victor. He was in trouble.

“Hang on, don’t yell at him yet,” Luke said. He flung the blanket he had over himself and hauled himself up. He wore just the hospital gown but otherwise was completely naked.

“I said you didn’t have to wear that,” North said.

“I was naked, but the nurse kept coming in to check on me,” Luke said and he walked over to the bathroom, not bothering to cover up his butt as he walked by. “Let me pee first. I want to hear the story.”

North rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to Victor.

Only he didn’t say anything, he just waited for Victor to say something.

Victor didn’t want to say something. He didn’t feel like anything. He simply took his shoes off, positioned himself on the bed, and laid down. Partially he did it because he knew it would make North mad. Mostly he was tired and hoped they’d just let him sleep this off.

Only he sensed something falling out of his pockets.

Before he could figure out what it was, North came over, picking up Victor’s set of keys, and a tiny green pill.

He scowled down at Victor. “What’s this?” he asked, holding the pill between two fingers.

“Brie gave it to me,” he said.

“Is this what you took?” North asked. “One wasn’t enough?”

“She said to save it for later.”

“What the hell is the matter with you, Victor?” North shouted at him. “Taking random pills and drinking until you’re out of control?”

“It wasn’t random pills,” Victor said.

North held the green pill closer to his face. “Then what’s the name of this one, Victor? What doctor prescribed this to you?”

Victor tried to hold his glare at North but his eyes didn’t seem to want to hold, and instead drifted to the flickering television.

North rolled his eyes and brought the pill to Kota. “Do you know what this is?”

“Something anti-anxiety, supposedly.”

“Brie didn’t lie,” Victor called to them.

“Well maybe we should bring Brie here and we’ll decide,” North said with heavy sarcasm. “And who the hell is Brie?”

“I’ll tell you later. And stop yelling at me.” Victor turned around on the bed and covered his head with one of the thin pillows.

“Kota,” North called, although to Victor it was a little muffled. “Talk to him.”

“He should probably sleep off the alcohol and the pill effects,” Kota said calmly, as if telling North the time. “The pill we can figure out. We can ask the pharmacist or check a pill identifying database.”

“I don’t care about that. Get him to talk to us. I want to know why.”

“Because you weren’t there,” Victor called to him through the pillow. “No one came to my birthday when I needed you. Now go away. I’m still mad at everyone.”

The room fell into silence for several moments, and then there were footsteps and the lights went out.

When Victor turned over a moment later, Kota and North were gone, leaving the TV on. Voices were out in the hallway. They were leaving him alone, talking in the hall.

“Good,” Victor mumbled to himself. He was mad at himself, of course, but he was really disappointed, too. His birthday was miserable.

A toilet flushed. A beam of light came from the bathroom. A minute later, Luke appeared on the side of the bed Victor was facing and peered down.

“You okay?” Luke asked.

Victor shrugged. He was just sad, and his head was foggy and he couldn’t focus on much.

“Scoot over,” Luke said.

Victor did, thinking Luke was going to sit down, but instead, Luke laid down, facing Victor, gazing over at him with his head propped up on his arm.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it.”

“Not your fault,” Victor said.

“It is,” Luke said. “And then Nathan and North had to be late. Dr. Green was going to try to make it but with me being here, he stayed behind and then they asked if he could do a few rounds…” He sighed and the drape of the hospital gown slid a bit on his body, and he adjusted it. “I wish you’d said something. I would have puked in your bathroom. It wouldn’t have done much good, but I could have made an appearance now and again.”

Victor snorted, trying not to laugh.

Luke paused. “Was it that bad?”

“They don’t want me around, Luke,” Victor said, his voice strained and feeling the worthlessness he’d felt the moment his parents had made the announcement to him, among a bunch of friends of theirs so he had no choice but to stand back and take it in the moment. “They wanted me to go to the school Brie goes to. In Europe… somewhere, I don’t remember.”

Luke blew a raspberry. “But you wouldn’t go to that.”

“They tried to make me sign some contract tonight,” Victor said. “And when I said I wouldn’t do it until later… and then I… got on stage… I lost it. I said so many things.”

Victor paused, dropping his head, closing his eyes. It was the most miserable moment in his life. Alone, or he thought he was, facing so many people he didn’t like personally, or didn’t know, and his mother making an announcement about his birthday presents to the crowd on top of introducing him, and with all the alcohol in his system, he couldn’t stop himself.

Victor suddenly sniffed hard, trying to not think about the evening anymore. “I just want to sleep.”

Luke reached over and embraced Victor in an awkward half-hug. “They aren’t going to take you from us, and you know it.”

“I know it,” Victor mumbled through the deep emotional thickness in his throat and the watering at his eyes. “I just hated… after all this time… they didn’t like who I wanted to be or who I spent time with, so they wanted to send me off, with Brie… somewhere else… to be who they want.”

Luke held on to him. “Yeah, that really sucks.”

Victor sniffed again, realizing that Luke had been through similar, though at a younger age. “I didn’t think I cared anymore.”

“You’re still in the middle of it,” Luke said. “And the stuff you’re feeling is just stuff we grew up believing we should have. Parents that actually care. But we care, even if we’re idiots who miss your birthday party.”

Victor huffed once but didn’t say anything. The words simply wouldn’t come.

Luke didn’t move. He let Victor go, turned over to gaze at the television, but he didn’t move from the bed. He stayed there, with Victor, until Victor eventually fell asleep.