Page 65 of The Wicker King

It was decided that he would remain at the hospital for one more month for stabilization and rehabilitation purposes before his release, on the stipulation that he continue seeing his resident therapist for three more months.

There wasn’t extensive property damage from the fire, outside of the abandoned building itself. But he would still be required to pay $2,000 in fines due to the closeness of the burn site to the nature preserve forest area, along with destruction of public property.

August went back to the ward with promises of significantly less restriction and a significant increase in privileges, but he really just wanted to sleep for days.

CHANSONNIER

The Raven

The Golden Bird

The Eagle of the North

The Champion with Sparks in His Veins

The King’s Lionheart

The Bringer of the Blue

Defender of Light

Would it still be real after the treatment, or would all his titles collapse like a tower of sand?

Would Jack look at him from across a table years from now and see the hero of this story? Or would he just see a man? A friend?

Nothing so glorious as to be shouted from the rooftops or cemented in legend.

Or was “friend” enough of a title to satisfy? After all of this?

August didn’t know. And it kept him up at night.

BIND AND BREAK AND FIND AND TAKE

They brought Jack back at night, when they knew August would be sleeping. August was banned from the entire left wing of the institution, where the more fragile patients were kept, for three full days while Jack recovered and readjusted to life without his vision clouded by hallucinations.

The nice orderly had been coming into his room every so often to bring news. Today she came in and shut the door behind her. August sat up in bed. “He asked me to tell you that he’s being acquitted as a condition of him going through with the surgery. It’s likely that he’ll have to pay fines, but otherwise, he should be released.”

“When is he leaving?” August asked.

“As soon as possible. He’ll likely be gone before you. I overheard one of the doctors in the hallway talking with the director. He said that he’d only be here for a couple more days. It’s likely that the only reason he didn’t go straight home after the week of recovering from his surgery is because they can’t release him from the hospital before first settling things here in the ward.”

August began getting up. “I need to see him.”

She put a hand on his shoulder. “You need to stay here. You’re so close to getting out, August. You can’t do anything to jeopardize that. You have a month left. Don’t make it six more. You and I both know that it’s not worth it.”

“Okay, yeah … okay.” August went to lie back down, like a titan finally falling to dust.

CIRRUS

He was dreaming. He had to be, because he was walking through the hospital in broad daylight. No one stopped him. No one told him to go back to his room. There were no guards. There was just the sun coming through the windows and the unbearable stifling white, washed golden in the light.

He walked the length of the hospital to the room he was forbidden from entering and opened the door. There was nothing inside. August searched the room. Then, disappointed, he went out into the hallway.

“He’s not there. He was never there.”

An orderly he had never seen before stood at the end of the hallway.

“What do you mean, he was never there? Of course he was there! Just because nobody is in there now doesn’t mean no one was ever there at all,” August said, frustrated.