Fook (21 page)

“Really?” Jason disregarded the question. “I
think we’re way past broken trust here. Don’t you?”

“Listen, I’m sorry about Bethany,” Derek
stood up to meet Jason eye to eye across the counter.

Jason didn’t respond.

“We have something far more important to
discuss though, like why your blood is in the machine’s core,”
Derek continued, his tone becoming more stern.

Again, Jason didn’t respond. He just
continued to stare at his friend before slowly reaching for the
iPad and with a few taps, called up the image of himself tied to
the bed.

Derek was speechless.

“It would appear that we have a lot to
discuss,” Jason spoke for him.

Derek just stared at the familiar image.

“How did you get that?”

Derek didn’t have a response.

“Did you take it? Were you there that
night?”

“No I didn’t take it, Jason.”

“But you were there?”

Derek hesitated.

“After all these years, how could you keep
that from me?” Jason’s voice quivered as his eyes started to well
up.

“Jason, it’s not what you think,” Derek
attempted to defend himself.

“You were the only one I ever talked to
about that and now I find out you were there?”

“I didn’t mean to be.”

“Oh, you accidentally hid in the closet
while that cunt set me up.”

“Jason, calm down and let me explain,” Derek
began to circle the counter, attempting to calm his obviously
distraught friend.

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Jason wiped
away a tear as he struggle to regain his composure.

“I didn’t know what was happening until it
was too late. Tyler told me to follow him. He said he had something
to show me. Honestly, when he brought me up to the bedroom I
thought he was going to tell me he was gay and hit on me,” Derek
joked with a smile to lighten the mood.

Jason didn’t laugh.

“Anyway, when we got up there, everyone was
hiding in the closet. I didn’t know what was going on and the next
thing I knew, someone whispered ‘they're coming’ and they pulled me
into the closet. I didn’t know what they were planning.
Honestly.”

Jason just stared, processing the
information.

“Jesus Christ, Jason, why do you think none
of those pictures ever made it out. After you ran out of there I
made everyone delete the pictures.”

“What about that one then?” Jason motioned
to the iPad as the screen went to sleep.

“Tyler managed to get that one out without
me knowing. He emailed it to me a week later, threatening to send
it to the entire school while spreading the rumor that I had set
the whole thing up.”

Jason looked at him inquisitively.

“I didn’t. I swear,” Derek defended himself
again. “Anyway, I went over to his house and convinced him to
delete the photo.”

“Was that the—”

“—The broken nose,” Derek smirked.
“Yeah.”

“Then why do you still have it?” Jason
asked.

“I don’t know why I didn’t delete that copy.
Over time I guess I’d just forgotten about it. There’s no excuse
but I’m so sorry that I never told you,” Derek reached out, lightly
grabbing hold of Jason’s shoulder.

Jason sat down on the stool next to him.

“I would do anything to be able to go back
and stop that night from happening,” Derek continued.

Jason looked up.

“But you know we can’t do that,” Derek
anticipated what his friend was thinking. “You said it yourself.
Altering the past could have devastating consequences.”

Jason lowered his head again.

“You need to put it behind you and move on.
You can’t let that one event haunt you for the rest of your life.
No one in your life knows about it other than me and I’m certainly
not going to tell anyone,” he assured Jason as he grabbed the iPad,
unlocked the screen and deleted the image. “See. Now it never
happened.”

Jason continued to sit silent, his eyes
focused on the floor beneath the stool.

“Now, honestly. Why is the core filled with
your blood?"

“Grandma Ushi always said I was special,”
Jason mumbled, his eyes still diverted downward.

“Huh?”

“You’re going to do wonderful, amazing
things is what she always told me. You’re special. You have a gift,
she said. For the longest time I didn’t know what she was talking
about. You know that it wasn’t until she was on her death bed that
she told me the truth?”

“The truth about what?” Derek asked, trying
to get Jason to look up at him.

“The truth about who I am and where I came
from. Hell, the truth about
what
I am.”

“What you are?” Derek asked confused.

“Apparently it skips a generation.”

“What does?”

“My great uncle had it, Grandpa Fook I used
to call him, though I guess he wasn’t actually my grandfather. He
died when I was eleven, seven years before my grandmother told me
the truth.”

“Jason, I have no idea what you’re talking
about but you're scaring me.”

“I was scared when she told me. At first I
couldn’t believe it. How could anyone believe something that
crazy?

“What?” Derek asked impatiently.

“I tried to kill myself you know,” Jason
looked up briefly before returning his gaze to his tapping
foot.

Derek eyes widened at the previously unknown
information.

“Yeah, tied a rope to the basement
rafters.”

“Jason, I—”

“It wouldn’t let me die though. It prevents
you from dying.”

Derek had no idea what Jason was talking
about or what to say.

“Two weeks. I woke up in a corn field in
Nebraska with no recollection of the previous two weeks. That’s
when I decided that I was going to figure this thing out; to
harness the power that was inside of me.

“Jason, I don’t understand. You need to tell
me what’s going on.”

“I’ll never forget the last thing she told
me though. Jason, she’d whispered, fighting the cancer for every
word. People won’t understand. You have to keep this a secret. You
are the last of this family. For your own safety and to ensure that
our family’s gift endures, you must keep this a secret. Promise me,
she’d said. So I did. She died moments later.”

“Jason—”

“—So what are we going to do about this?”
Jason questioned, looking up at Derek with a hollow stare.

“What do you mean?” Derek asked
confused.

“I can’t break my promise to my dead
grandmother. She was right. No one could understand. Not even
you.”

Preoccupied by the text and the photo and
the unusual story, Derek hadn’t noticed that Jason’s left hand was
still concealed behind his back. It wasn’t until the light overhead
struck the thin needle that he noticed the hidden weapon.

Plunging the syringe into Derek’s thigh,
Jason stared coldly into his roommate’s fading eyes as he slumped
to the floor.

“Not even you.”

TWENTY-ONE

“What took you so long?” Bethany greeted Derek at
the door with a smile and an enthusiastic hug.

Unable to muster the energy to even lift his
arms, he just leaned into the welcoming hug as the world continued
to spin out of control. He didn’t know how he’d gotten to the
girl’s sorority. He didn’t even remember telling her that he was
coming over.

“Are you alright?” Bethany’s excitement
shifted to concern as she realized that she was the only reason
Derek was still on his feet.

He wanted to say “no”. He wanted to tell her
that there was something wrong with Jason and that he’d been
drugged with God knows what, but just as the syringe’s chemical
concoction had rendered his motor skills practically useless,
they’d done the same to his vocal cords. All he could do was moan
as a thin line of drool fell from the corner of his mouth, onto
Bethany’s shoulder.

“Jesus,” Bethany proclaimed as she wrapped
her arm around Derek’s back and helped him into the house.

Looking around the elaborately decorated
sorority, everything seemed to have a fog like quality. The
members' pictures, both past and present, seemed to float instead
of hang on the surrounding walls, and the eyes of the female bust
beside the grand staircase seemed to follow them as they made their
way toward the stairs.

“What happened to you?” Bethany questioned,
her concern growing as they reached the first step.

“Oh my god,” another sister gasped as she
appeared at the top of the stairs.

“I need some water,” Bethany looked up at
the girl as she began coaching Derek up the first step.

“Do you need help?” the shocked girl asked
as she hurried down the stairs.

“Just get me some water.”

Reaching the bottom of the stairs the girl
bolted down the hall, disappearing into the kitchen.

“Jason,” Derek mumbled, causing more drool
to escape.

“What?” Bethany questioned the nearly
inaudible word as she struggled to maintain their balance.

“Sick,” Derek added.

“I know you’re sick.”

“No. Sick,” Derek repeated, forgetting to
add Jason to the statement.

“I’ll take care of you. We just need to get
you upstairs.”

“No,” Derek protested as he stopped climbing
and, turning his gaze back toward the front door, spotted Jason
standing on the bottom step, staring up at them with the same cold
look he’d offered just before jabbing the needle into his leg.
“No!” Derek yelled as he lost his footing, nearly sending both he
and Bethany tumbling back to the first floor.

Grabbing hold of both the banister and her
suddenly startled friend, Bethany managed to regain both of their
balance as Derek went down to one knee and using his hand to prop
himself up, spun his attention back down the stairs.

“What is it?” Bethany asked confused as she
too turned in the direction of Derek’s terrified gaze, just in time
to see her sister returning with the glass of water. “It’s just
Rachel.”

Making her way up the stairs, Rachel handed
Bethany the glass.

“Here, take a drink,” Bethany instructed as
she coaxed a tiny sip past Derek’s lips.

“Do you need me to call an ambulance?”
Rachel asked.

“No, I think he’ll be alright. I just need
to get him upstairs to lay down.”

“Let me help,” Rachel offered as she grabbed
hold of Derek’s other arm and, helping him to his feet, they
managed to get him up the remaining steps, down the hall and into
Bethany’s room.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to call?”

“No. He just needs to rest,” Bethany assured
her as they stared at Derek who, upon reaching the pillow covered
bed, had fallen face first into the comforter and lay motionless.
“You go. Have fun.”

“You’re sure,” Rachel questioned, hesitant
to leave but based on her retreating motion, eager to remove
herself from the situation.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Go.”

Rachel didn’t need any more convincing as
she turned and quickly left.

Like a rowboat on the open sea, Bethany’s
bed seemed to pitch and roll with each passing wave as Derek
struggled to make out the conversation taking place behind him.
Fragmented memories of the night seemed to form and then fade away
as quickly as they’d appeared, leaving his thoughts incomplete and
his mind struggling to piece together the reality of the
situation.

He heard the door close behind him as
another wave hoisted the bed into the air before sending it
plummeting downward again, the constant motion, combined with the
flowery smell of the bed, stirring up the contents of his stomach
as another blackout overtook him.

*****

“Derek. Are you alright?” Bethany’s concerned voice
whispered in his ear.

He wanted to answer but even though the seas
had calmed and the wave of nausea had passed, he was still hesitant
to open his mouth.

“Derek.”

Chancing it, “Yeah,” he moaned.

“Derek.”

“I’m fine,” he assured her.

“Derek.”

“I’m okay. Just need to lay here.”

Suddenly a shrill scream filled the room as
Derek opened his eyes to the sight of Jason’s face only inches from
his, laying beside him on the floor.

“Fuck!,” he exclaimed at the sight of his
unexpected roommate as he slid himself back and closed his eyes,
expecting the vision to disappear when reopened.

“Derek,” the voice repeated again. This time
it was clear that the voice had not been Bethany’s but Jason’s the
whole time.

Reluctantly reopening his eyes, the vision
remained as Jason repositioned himself to sit Indian style beside
him.

“Where—?”

“—Where are you?” Jason completed the
anticipated question. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” he spoke
in a comforting tone. “You’re dead Derek. There was an accident and
I’m sorry to say it but…you didn’t make it.”

Derek just stared back at the familiar, yet
oddly different man sitting beside him.

“I’m just messing with you,” Jason laughed.
“I had you though, didn’t I.”

“No,” Derek thought, still confused over
just about everything as he glanced back and forth at Jason’s
hands.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that
again,” Jason chuckled. “No more needles. I just needed that to get
you here.”

“Where—?”

“—Where’s here?” Jason once again completed
the question. “You my friend are in a sorority house. Familiar
territory I bet,” he added with a grin.

“Bethany,” Derek recalled being helped up
the stairs and onto the bed on the other side of the room.

“You know, you sure did make a mess of
things,” Jason disregarded Derek’s recollection. “You couldn’t
leave well enough alone. You just had to know what the mysterious
fluid was. The magic, chemical concoction that I’d whipped up to
make time travel possible. As if two college students...albeit
brilliant ones, but college students nonetheless, could solve a
century's old fantasy like time travel with some computer scraps
and a chemistry set,” Jason laughed. “That’s absurd. Frankly, I’m
shocked you went for it.”