Burn victim number two
Inquiries as to the two burn victims yeilded mixed results. One of the youths was in a serious but stable condition with second and third degree burns over 30% of his body. The doctor (Sheila Wilson) refused to allow an interview. But the second boy, who suffered smoke inhalation, was aparently mostly recovered, and Dr Wilson, while reticent, had no major objections to his being interviewed. "Five Minutes." she said firmly, showing Karen and Melanie the door to his recovery room.
Karen asked about the first boy�s condition and what she knew of his case, and if the doctor had noticed anything unusual about his wounds or about the case in general. She didn't push at all for an interview after her first simple request. She explained to the doctor about the missing man and how urgent it was to try and find out if these boys had seen him or knew anything about it. For the boy who was unable to be interviewed she asked for an estimation of number of days before such a thing would be possible and gave the doctor her name and number to contact at that time.
Seeing how co-operative she was being, the doctor said, "It could be a while... His eyes have been pretty badly burned, so it is unlikely that he would have seen anything anyway. And his throat and mouth have suffered quite a bit... He must ahve been face down in the flames for a while. By some miracle, I think the damage /is/ peripheral and repairable, but it will probably be at least four days before I would say he would be well enough to interview." The doctor took the contact number regardless.
Karen frowned a little and glanced at Melanie before looking at the doctor again. "Peripheral damage? I don't know much about burns admittedly...but isn't it a little unusual for someone to take such light damage under these circumstances? Especially to the eyes?"
The doctor nodded. "It is possible his face and hands were sheilded somehow in the fire, that is the only explanation I can offer. He is one lucky boy."
Karen thanked her, then she and Melanie headed towards the secnd boys room. As she moved she kept a keen eye out to see if there was anyone around who seems unusual, particularly near the rooms of the two boys. Karen became quite sure they were alone.
The boy looked to be in his mid teens, and had an inhaler covering his lower face. He looked up, surprised and weakly.
Karen checked his chart. It listed his name as David Clayton, but a nurse had written 'Dave' in felt tip under the name.
Karen smiled as she walks over and introduced herself "Hi Dave, i'm Karen and this is my partner Melanie. We'd just like to chat with you for a while about what happened today, and particularly about any people you may have seen around the fire, or anything strange you may have seen or heard."
The youth looked up with fear in his eyes. "Are you police?" he asked, voice muffled by his breathing aparatus. Karen could see guilt and remorse written all over this young fellow. "We didn't mean anything by it... Honest. It was just a prank... Is Josh going to be all right?"
Karen smiled warmly at the boy, trying to put him at ease "Don't worry, all we want to know is exactly what happened there today. And i've spoken to the doctor who is taking care of Josh and it looks like this time you and he were lucky. The doctor says that although there was some serious damage, and he's not feeling very well at the moment, it looks like he's going to be able to make a full recovery and that all the damage is repairable." She smiled and took a seat near the bed, asking first if she may, then casually mentioned "I'm sure that his recovery is due to the expertise of the one who did the first aid on the scene...Did you see that?"
Dave seemed visibly releived at the news about Josh and slumped back a little. "I saw a bit... I ran in to find Josh after the fire started, and then when I heard the sirens I came back out. There wasa couple of guys going off at that time. They might have been the ones that helped him. I dunno."
He looked at Karen nervously. "I am really sorry about the whole thing. Honest. We didn't mean to hurt anyone. Josh just thought that it would be fun to break into the chursh this morning since there was no service and maybe mess some stuff up... I tried to tell him, you know, but he wouldn't listen... So we went and he had brought a spray can. Anyway, we were just in and then this guy surprises me and says yells something abotu messing with the church, so I ran... But then Josh didn't come out, so I hung arround for a bit and I heard sounds of fighing and yelling and stuff, and then the fire started. So I got scared and ran it to find Josh, and you know the rest."
Karen listened, and then asked a few questions "Could you describe the man that startled you? The more details you can give me the better. Did you actually ever find or see Josh when you went in there? Did you see a man bleeding from the hands? Did you see a tall dark man wearing a red t-shirt?" She also looked to Melanie to see if she had any questions.
Dave frowned. "He was... I dunno...Not overly tall, not the kind fo guy I would expect to yell, you know. He was pretty upset about the church getting messed with. Maybe late 20's-early 30's. Tan skin and short brown hair and brown eyes. That is about it."
�I will never forget what he said though, He didn't even look like the sort of guy who would be that religious, y'know. He said, or yelled 'Who desecrates the sanctity of the Church of the Living God?'. Jeez that was scary. Felt like He was really watching, y'know, like I had done somthing terrible."
Karen looked a little unforgiving at this point as well, but she was trying to make a point of puttng him at ease and wasn't all that attached to churches anyway, so let it pass.
He answered the next question. "No... Not till I came out. The guy must have dragged him out the window. I had a pretty good view of the door the whole time."
"Dark guy? No... But the short guy running off... he wore a red tee shirt. Actually, now I think about it, the other guy running off might have been the same guy that surprised us in the church. Yeah... The one of them was the guy that surpised us and yelled, and the other one I hadn't seen before, but was short and wore jeans and a red tee shirt. He limped a bit, and the first guy seemed to be leading him like he didn't know where he was going... They were heading off in the direction of the bus stop.. you know, the bus that goes into the city."
Melanie blinked at Karen, and shrugged her shoulders. Then she looked at Dave intently. "Dave, the smaller person. Are you sure it was a man?"
Seeming at first cirtain, he looked a bit doubtful. "I am not sure... I guess it could have been a woman. I dunno."
Melanie nodded. "The red tee shirt. Was it red everywhere?"
Dave thought about it. "No... No I guess it wasn't..."
Melanie continued. "It was splotchy, or like it was tie dyed? And the colour wasn't really red, more deep burgany?"
Dave nodded emphatically. "Yeah! Exactly like that."
Melanie tilted her head. "Tell me what you think about that person."
Dave seemed to have trouble answering this. "I ... I dunno... I wanted..."
Melanie nodded. "Its all right. She or he were hurt, weren't they."
Dave looked up at her, as she put her hand on his. "I was just so sorry you know... I just wanted to make it better."
"It's OK, Dave. Really."
There was a moment�s pause.
Dave looked at Karen mournfully. "I am not gonna have to tell my parents about this am I? They are gonna go ballistic..."
Karen sighed and looked seriously at Dave "Dave, your parents -are- going to have to know about this, but you knew that before you even asked me." She then smiled. "Would you like me to be the one to talk to them?"
Dave swallows and looked at Melanie for a second. Finally he sighed. "No... No, I guess I will face the music."
Karen smiled encouragingly at Dave and nodded "It will be best. You will grow stronger from this experience."
Melanie motions to the outside of the room and pats Dave's hand reassuringly as a goodbye.
When the two of them got outside, Melanie spoke. "It was the person I sensed... She/He healed the other boy, but it cost them to do it. They took the boy's blindness onto themself. I guess whoever the other figure must have led him/her off. The boy said something about the city. Where would two people like that go in the city to hole up? They seemed pretty decided to avoid hospitals. Maybe someplace like those Tethers you told me about... at hospitals or churches."
Karen thought of a few options. Most tethers were at hospitals or churches, but she remembered that in New York there were a few in other places. The Empire State Building, The Public Library, A cemetary in Queens, and a hostel in the Uptown area.
Karen sighed and nods, muttering something about getting too close to people, then rang bus information asking about where the buses that pass that area went to. She then figured out which one of the tethers this passed closest to.
She looked at Melanie "Well for holeing up, the hostel would be the most logical choice, although if either of them are familiar with the buildings, i think nearly any of them could be possibilities. Although... i have to say i'd be surprised if one that was so close to humanity would be comfortable taking shelter in a cemetary."