Destined - Episode 8

Novella Thursdays

Chapter Five

          ‘A is for apple, J is for Jack, Kellogg’s apple, Apple Jacks!’

          This was the one week mark of Jimmy being institutionalized, and his fifth morning of listening to Jeffrey’s cereal jingles. The chemicals they had injected Jimmy with had scared him straight, taking days to wear off enough to regain focus. And so he had no other choice but to be patient and wait for opportunity to present a plan of action, which finally came in the form of this middle-aged cereal fiend recalling word for word an old Lucky Charms commercial while savoring the ‘magically delicious’ breakfasta few days ago. This most unusual of muses unknowingly planting a seed to a scheme that Jimmy was about to now set off. Any time now Aaron would join them, choosing to take his meals in the same cafeteria as the patients he cared for.

Jimmy had to admit, he was impressed with how the young resident went out of his way to connect with them, and wished the two had met under different circumstances.But the path had been laid out, with nothing more important than following it to his beloved.

Just an hour ago he had woke after a dream, a message from her, and although he didn’t receive a room number, he was able to pick up some of the images of the female ward, including the office she had sessions in. 

It was enough to have this morning be the time in which to invoke the plan of action, and he hoped he had enough time to entice Jeffrey before Aaron showed up.

“Hey, Jeffrey,” he said, pulling out a small box of Cocoa Puffs from the pocket of his robe, Jeffrey’s mouth freezing in mid-chew, his eyes as wide as cereal bowls waiting to be filled. ‘Got room for more?’

The whole psychiatric staff in the men’s ward, as well as those who worked in the kitchen, knew that part of Jeffrey’s treatment was his restriction to only one fun-sized box of cereal per day. A limitation Jimmy had picked up on, and was now planning to use to his advantage.

‘You jump up on this table and show me how cuckoo you can be for these Cocoa Puffs and they’re yours. But you need to do it now, before Aaron comes.’

‘Aaron with two A’s?’

‘That’s right. Now I want you to show me-’

‘I showed Aaron when I spelled Aaron with two A’s in my Alpha-Bit cereal.’

‘Jeffrey, I need you to concentrate. You show me how cuckoo you can be for these Cocoa Puffs.Up on the table, now.’

Inhaling his last bite of Apple Jacks, Jeffrey then did as Jimmy asked, jumping up on the table and envisioning himself as the crazy bird as he acted out a commercial that had long ago been stored in his troubled mind.

Orderlies were now rushing into the cafeteria, Jimmy tossing the box up to Jeffrey and stepping away for the melee to play out.

The hysteria was beginning to spread, with the other patients slipping off their edges of sanity as well. Over the past few days Jimmy had observed the colorful characters he was amongst, and was right in guessing there would be a domino effect if an outburst were to occur.

‘Get down from there right now!’ one of the orderlies demanded. But Jeffrey was too hyped up on those little balls of chocolate to care.

‘I’m serious, Jeffrey. Now!’

‘Serious. I’m serious as cereal! Make it happ’n, Cap’n! They’re grrreat!’

Jeffrey’s jingles and cereal slogans faded behind Jimmy, as did the rest of the mayhem that had erupted in the cafeteria. He was now headed to a maintenance closet, where he had hid an orderly uniform the day before, more staff members rushing past him to help bring order to the chaos he had created.

Upstairs in Dr. Moran’s second office, Agent Stevens stood to his feet and shook the hand of the doctor. It had been a week and a half since he and his colleagues unloaded Sarah Moore, with him intentionally withholding such a fact from the doctor and instead attributing his visit to a federal investigation.

He kept answers vague to the questions he was asked, and once he learned the status of the patient, that “Ms. Borelli” had remained in a delusional state after being found outside, was eager to be on his way.

Just as the agent turned to leave, just as Dr. Moran was about to place the card he had been given into his desk, Aaron entered the room with a sense of urgency, catching Stevens’ parting sentence as he walked in.

‘Please be sure to let us know if there’s any change with Ms. Borelli.’

‘Oh, excuse me for the disturbance, doctor,’ Aaron apologized. ‘But we have a code three down on the male ward,’ Aaron’s eyes shifting from the man in black to the card Moran was placing in his drawer.

Hurriedly fastening into place the last buttons of his stolen orderly uniform, Jimmy then cracked the door open to the maintenance closet he was hiding in. The halls were quiet, the coast, clear. He headed for the elevator.

It seemed like it was taking forever as Jimmy repeatedly checked his back out of fear of getting caught. He toyed with the idea of going for the stairs, but at last the door opened and once inside he hit the button for the fifth floor. It was then that he realized he still had his patient hospital band on around his wrist and quickly ripped it off.

As the doors closed, the doors to the elevator on the left opened, Dr. Moran and Aaron rushing out with a few orderlies and down the hall toward the cafeteria.

The nurse’s station of the female ward was almost as quiet as the males. Apparently the disturbance had grown, requiring most on duty to respond and assist. What had started off as an advantage was now threatening to be a risk of exposing Jimmy, the few nurses left behind looking at him with questioning glances.

Not knowing where he was going anyway, he made the decision to try and defuse the suspicion head on.

‘Excuse me, ladies. I’ve only been here a couple of days. Dr. Moran sent me down here to get a file.Can you tell me where his office is?’

The kindest-looking among them wore a nametag with the name Donna, and to Jimmy’s relief she was the first to speak. ‘Sure, honey’, I can take you. Whose file do you need?’

‘Uh, Gloria?’

‘Such a darlin’, that Gloria. Beautiful young thing, with a pair of eyes that look wise beyond her years. An ol’ soul if you ask me.’

The meanest-looking of them, with a nametag reading Angie, spoke up. ‘Don’t they need you down there for the code three?’

The drugs they had Jimmy on made him feel like he needed to concentrate twice as hard just to think normally, so he put on a little coughing spell to buy enough time to fish out a believable excuse.

‘That’s why he sent me down here. Turns out the patient who started everything is the boyfriend to your patient. He’s held up on a table with a knife to his throat. Seems the only thing that’ll calm him down is seeing this Gloria.’

‘Oh my God!’ Donna said. But before she could start guiding Jimmy down the hall, Angie stepped forward.

‘Something this serious, I’d better escort him back down.

’Yeah, serious as cereal, was Jimmy’sfirst foggy thought.

But then clarity came, along with the new worry of having this ogre accompanying him, for she seemed like trouble.

The other nurses huddled in concerned excitement, Jimmy being led off down the hall by the heavy-set woman at his side.

Make it happ’n, Cap’n.

He had to focus to block Jeffrey out of his mind.

As Jimmy and the nurse rounded the corner the lights above their heads began to buzz and flicker, and the disoriented feeling he had experienced on Bourbon Street showed a sign of returning.

Dr. Moran’s office was the first door they came to, and when they stopped the static in the fluorescent bulbs hovered above them, the electrical problem being isolated to the two opposite ends of the hallway.

‘That’s strange,’ Angie said as she went for the door.

Jimmy looked down toward the other end. He knew it was anything but. His beloved was down there, waiting for him, and there was nothing more he wanted than to run after her.

But then what would he do? There would be hundreds of people stopping them from leaving the hospital. An impossible task. As much as it pained his heart he knew now was not the time. He would get the file, learn what he could about his beloved, and go from there.

Jimmy waited by the door while the nurse retrieved the file, When she returned she closed the door behind her and handed the folder out for him to take, but something caused her to freeze in mid motion.

She was looking down at Jimmy’s feet, then to his face and back to his feet.

He tried to take the file, but she now had quite the grip on it.

He followed her gaze down to his feet…

He had forgotten to change out of his hospital slippers.