AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Great,” I say again. “Where were you before Philadelphia?”
“Narnia,” he says.
Leo always loved Narnia. In our childhood games, he played Peter, and I played Lucy, a believer in magic till the end. Leo had a stuffed lion, because of his name, and we called it Aslan and made up elaborate stories.
But now I tell him, “You weren’t in Narnia. Where were you before Philadelphia?”
“Narnia,” he insists. “I went through the wardrobe. I met Mr. Tumnus.”
His voice is high and reedy, like he can’t quite catch his breath. His thumb has slowed down on the red button; he’s rubbing it now, like it’s some sort of worry stone.
I make one more try. “Narnia isn’t real, Leo. Where—”
But he interrupts me. “Itisreal!”
“We read the books with Mom—”
“I’ve been there!
“You might have dreamed—”
“It’s safe there! No one can hurt me there! The bad men can’t go there!”
He’s frantic now. His legs thrash beneath his sheets like he’s determined to run all the way to his imaginary refuge. Two spots of color bloom high on his cheeks, and his breath comes in short, sharp pants.
“Leo—”
“I’m Peter!”
“You’re not!” I say, filled with an anger I can’t begin to control. “You’re Leo Aidan Key. And you have to help me, right now. You owe me!”
He closes his eyes and covers his ears with his hands, like a toddler throwing a tantrum. He pulls his knees up to his chest. He starts to rock violently, humming to himself, a tuneless song I can’t identify.
An alarm rings from the computer panel above the bed.
“Leo,” I say, fighting to grab his hands.
His humming grows to a steady moan. He flings himself back with enough strength that his skull bounces off the headboard.
“Leo!” I shout.
Before I can reach him, before I can calm him down, the door opens. A nurse rushes in, her white shoes squeaking on the floor that looks like wood. “Mr. Key,” she says, planting beefy hands on Leo’s shoulders. “Mr. Key!
She glances over her shoulder and snaps at me, “You have to leave now.”
“I can’t—”
“Now!” she commands.
“But he’s my—”
She loosens her grip on Leo just long enough to hit a large square button on the computer display. “Security to Room 1201,” she says.
I could wait. I could try to explain. I could stay in the hall until she gets Leo settled, until he stops that horrible, keening moan.
But I’m not strong enough for that. Not brave enough. I don’t have enough faith—that Leo will stop, that he can tell me what I need, that he can ever be the brother I used to love.
So I hold up my hands as two armed security guards pound into the room. I keep my head high. I walk to the elevator like I own the entire hospital. And as I make my way to the parking garage, I wonder if anyone ever manages to break out of hell.
