The Day of Legion (2 page)

The only conclusion was Christopher was some kind of philanthropist who was in the right place at the right time when he collapsed. He was probably at his door seeking donations to a charity. If he had organized this hospital stay and paid for it, John was determined to pay all of it back. He didn’t want to owe anybody anything.

His head continued to ache and he felt tired all of a sudden. He closed his eyes and, just as he was drifting away, he realized he couldn’t see or hear his personal hell for the first time since…it happened. For months he had the same noises and sights in his head every time he closed his eyes, but now there was nothing, and that disturbed him. He put it down to his condition, closed his eyes tighter and forced the images and sounds into his mind, before falling into a restless sleep.

He awoke about five hours later with a nurse checking the chart at the end of his bed. Even though the room was completely dark now, the light from the corridor provided a small amount of illumination. The nurse smiled when she noticed him awake, looking at her. She was stunningly beautiful and in another time and place, John would have wanted to meet her. Her hair was as black as black could be, tied neatly in a pony tail. Her skin was golden and her eyes glinted in the dimly-lit room.

She was slim but fit and radiated health, especially in the presence of the very unhealthy John. She moved with grace. She was strong, but feminine. She had full lips that gave her a natural pout. John could see himself kissing them lightly all night long. Well, another time and place maybe, another life.

He was amazed that he could think like that now, but this woman’s beauty shone through his pain and depression. She looked at him directly as she stood by the bed. “Feeling okay? We thought you’d have permanent damage, but you appear to be luckier than most who drink too much and don’t eat properly.”

He felt his cheeks redden. Even with his current attitude to life he was a little embarrassed to be considered another alcoholic loser who nearly drank himself to death, especially by this beautiful woman.

“Your friend is a nice man,” she said. “We talked a lot while you were sleeping.”

“He’s not my friend,” John replied. “I barely know him.”

She looked a little surprised. “He’s paid your account in full; maybe you’re still a little confused. Dehydration does that.”

“No,” John replied. “The first time I ever met him was when he knocked on my door to sell me something and I collapsed in front of him. He paid my account in full?”

She nodded, smoothing his sheets and fluffing his pillow. Her perfume was light and fragrant, reminding him of summer the year before—at the beach when he was still enjoying life. “Well, I’ve never heard of that kind of generosity, maybe he’s a man worth knowing.”

She left the room, leaving him to think about Christopher, about the nurse, and of course the day it…all happened, because eventually those thoughts took over all others.

Chapter Two

Four weeks earlier

The sun was shining, the air was crisp and the gentle breeze, which had only just appeared, cooled John’s skin as he chased Jason through the park. He liked the fact the park was just down the road from his small apartment. It was a small piece of green in a bustling city, serene despite its location. Sometimes he just sat and people- watched. Other times he wandered down after school hours to see the mothers playing with their children.

When he left Janine after seven years, he found a little apartment on the edge of the central business district; the park was a bonus. It didn’t take him long before he found the little oasis during a walk after work. He saw a group of women with their children, and thought that at least a few of them would be single. Even though he had just left the mother of his child, he would keep a look out for that “special one”.

It was a bigger bonus when Jason visited. The apartment was small and Jason became bored very quickly, especially since John refused to have any video games in his house. As far as he was concerned, they were mind-numbing and did nothing to enhance any child’s growth. The park was always there, and even though Jason complained about the lack of games and having to walk the block and a half, once he got there he enjoyed himself.

John sat down and let Jason continue running. The park was such that, wherever Jason ran, John could see him and he would be within earshot. As Jason ran to and fro, John watched his son with a mixture of pride and sadness. Pride over the way he was—gentle, kind and doing very well in school. Sadness, because he and Jason’s mother had separated, and as far as John was concerned, they wouldn’t be getting back together. He firmly believed that would affect Jason negatively later on in life. He knew he would have to be there as often as he could.

His own father had left him while young, and even though he thought he turned out okay, he did some things he wished he hadn’t and was sure he wouldn’t have if his father had been around. He was determined to be different from his own father. John Senior was an angry, unpredictable drunk, tarnished by failure and prone to violence when drinking. He never hit John, but he instilled an unhealthy fear which made John keep his distance whenever he heard the cap of a beer bottle being popped.

Jason seemed to have more energy than usual. It looked like he was playing with his imaginary friend again. He would run, then stop, then turn around and look at the air as though someone was there. He didn’t speak to anyone, but his facial expressions showed he was imagining someone talking to him.

John remembered the first time he and Janine realized Jason had an imaginary friend. At first they were concerned because of movies they had seen, where the strange kid in the neighborhood talked to imaginary friends, but no one they knew had experienced it for real. They contemplated sending him to a psychiatrist to see if there was anything wrong, but after a while they got used to it. Jason told them one evening his friends name was Cristo, who often played with him when he was in his room.

Both parents agreed that, as long as he wasn’t having long-winded conversations with the air and his friend wasn’t a black caped devil who told him to strangle small animals, it was okay. They assumed he would grow out of it, but he hadn’t yet.

John noticed a young couple walking hand-in-hand and talking quietly, leaning in and whispering in each other’s ears. It reminded him of when he first met Janine. It wasn’t in a park like this, but in a pub after work. They were both intoxicated and, although he thought at the time no good will come of a relationship formed during a drunken party, they actually stayed together for seven years. The first two years were the best. Frequent sex, dinners out, weekends away and no real money hassles. Then they got married. That set them back fifteen grand, the honeymoon another five. Then the house that they couldn’t afford, but purchased anyway to try and match what their friends had. Eventually they were financially crippled.

Janine was one of those women who wanted it all despite being brought up middle-class with a mother who was a teacher and an engineer father. She probably wouldn’t have been with John had it been a setup or a different social gathering, but because she was as drunk as he was, it suited them both at the time. They got Jason out of it, which John would never complain about. The hell Janine put him through during the last year, with her tantrums and moods, was cancelled out by the joy of his son.

The young couple passed directly in front of where he sat, and smiled directly at him. He smiled back, remembering that when you’re in love everyone is a potential friend. It reminded him of walking on the beach with Janine in their early months. He even smiled a little when he thought of the time they argued over baby names. Janine was the one who came up with Jason. She said it was funky and modern to have all their names beginning with a J. John thought it was dumb, but didn’t fight it too long—just enough so that if Jason ever complained about the three J’s when he was older, he could honestly say he didn’t agree with it and voiced his opinion accordingly.

The sound of Jason running up to him laughing snapped him out of his daydream. It was getting a bit dark and cool, and they hadn’t eaten much that day.

“Time for dinner, I think,” he told his smiling, energetic son.

“Okay,” came the quick reply as he zoomed around John’s legs with his arms outstretched like a plane coming in to land.

They walked back to the apartment hand-in-hand as the last of the Sun’s rays competed with the city’s skyscrapers, creating long dark, cool patches where they walked through the shadows and then back into sunshine.

They both enjoyed a dinner of John’s homemade pizza. He had a beer and Jason a Coke. It wasn’t the healthiest of meals, but he knew that when Jason came to visit he wanted food like that, because Janine was so strict with what he ate. She expected their five-year-old son to eat the same diet as she did, while seeing all of his friends get treats like the occasional pie or chocolate muffin, and it upset him sometimes. John always made sure they ate balanced diets. Treats every now and then and healthy ninety percent of the time, was his motto. Jason was staying the night so John would send him to school the next morning with a healthy sandwich, fruit and a muesli bar.

As he did the dishes, John thought about the conversation over the phone he and Janine had had the night before about Jason staying the night. He was supposed to be dropped back the same day, but John had asked if Jason could spend the night and be dropped off to school in the morning. At first she refused, but when he kept calm and merely suggested another night would be fun for Jason, she relented. He got the feeling she suddenly realized she had something on and would appreciate Jason staying out the night with his father. He was determined to show her he was responsible and could be trusted with Jason’s well-being.

He couldn’t really blame Janine for being a little worried. When they first split, she took Jason and played the doting, stressed solo mother, working and taking care of their son. He, on the other hand went out, and drank his sorrows away, picking up women as often as he could. Some nights he was successful, other nights he bombed, but he always got drunk. He came home more often than not with a young, dumb, drunk woman.

Janine had been in the bar one night after they had separated, and watched him in action. She talked to one of the regulars about this, who gave a funny, very damaging commentary of John’s antics over the preceding weeks.

As he scrubbed the plates, he couldn’t help thinking about some of the women he’d picked up. He smiled to himself about Lisa, the nutter. She seemed nice in the pub, was a little drunk. She was a pretty, tall redhead with large breasts and cute little dimples that appeared when she laughed at his lame jokes. When he got her home though, it became apparent she liked sex very rough and would swear loudly in his ear, ordering him to pound her harder “like a man, not like a pussy with a strap on.” At one point she hit him in the head because he slowed down. He didn’t call her back.

Then there was Paula, the skinny thirty-five year old, who was petrified she was running out of time to have kids and forced herself to have sex; it was obvious she abhorred physical contact with men. She refused to let him go down on her, wouldn’t go near his penis with anything but her hand during foreplay, and wouldn’t even look at it. When he made love to her, she turned her head to the side, closed her eyes tight and made little squeaking noises each time he thrust inside her. She also didn’t get a return call.

There was the occasional one he would have called back; but in the end he was using them for sex, to take his mind off his failed marriage. As far as he knew, they were using him as well.

When he finished the dishes, he walked down to Jason’s room. His son was fast asleep and snoring very quietly. John grinned. Just like his Dad, he thought; a snorer. He covered Jason in the Spiderman blanket he bought when Jason begged endlessly after seeing it on television.

He couldn’t be happier than he was now. Although he was separated from his wife, living in a very small inner city apartment, and single after a failed marriage and disastrous one-night stands, he had his son. He was a miniature version of him and Janine. An innocent, happy boy. He would grow to be a good man if it was the last thing John could do.

The next morning, John was up before sunrise and on his treadmill. He had the TV on a documentary about killer ants on the animal channel. It was the only way he could exercise long enough to be beneficial, so he watched television every morning while he worked out.

Once he had finished and showered, he woke Jason up and made him take a shower. Jason was not very good about getting up in the mornings and getting ready for school. Soon, however, he was at the table eating apple flavored porridge and drinking orange juice. He never spoke much in the morning. John and Janine used to joke he had to have at least an hour before his brain kicked in.

While Jason ate, John got ready for work. He gathered the papers he needed for an early meeting, double-checked his facts and figures. At 8.30 they walked out the door together. He held a briefcase while Jason had a backpack, he was wearing a suit while Jason was in school uniform. Both were freshly showered and ready for the day. John smiled at the sight.

“You have a good time staying over last night?” he asked.

Jason looked up and smiled as they got to the elevator. “I had the best time,” he replied. “When can we do it again?”

“I’ll talk to your mother. When she sees how much fun you had and how well we did, she shouldn’t mind.”