The Triangle (Episode 1: Origins)

Chapter 4

Dr. Adams said a few brief words to the guards outside before he cleared the room. They nodded, but didn't look at us. Once he was gone, we sat in silence for a few moments. The quiet intensified as though white noise buzzed in to fill it. I shook my head and rubbed at my eyes and it seemed to die down.

Fear twisted in my stomach. I tried to take a deep breath, but it came in shallow and left me light-headed. How could this be happening. I was a good person. I went to the doctor regularly. I brushed my teeth twice a day, sometimes three times. Yes, I watch too much TV, but my eyes weren't too bad off for it.

I stared at the small device sitting on the floor. It all felt so odd that he left it there, but then, this whole situation felt odd. We weren't falsely pegged for something we hadn't done. I didn't feel relief though, just more confusion. Why hadn't I asked more questions? I had so many now, but when he was in the room, I couldn't find them.

He would be back... or... I could try the remote. I tried standing, but I immediately felt lightheaded and almost vomited.

"Whoa, hold on." Cassie held me in place as I fell back down. "I'll get it." She stood, crossed the room and picked it up. She looked at it, frowning as she crossed back and sat. "So, what are our demands?"

"It's crap, you know."

We both turned to Jesse. He had resumed staring at the flickering light.

"What he said about it being a medical condition," He said. "That's not what's going on."

"How do you know?" Cassie asked. "We didn't do anything. We aren't plotting to take down the government. What could they possibly want from us?"

"I don't exactly know what he's hiding, but he's hiding something." Jesse said. "I'm sure of it."

"How can you be so sure?" I asked. "You think you have that much going on?"

"I just know."

I rolled my eyes. Even that hurt. "Right."

Jesse sat up and gave us both hard looks. "You think you're smart, huh, Nerdicus? Think that just because someone waltzes in with a white coat he's a good guy?" He pointed towards the male guard. "You know what he's thinking right now? How he can get with the lady guard on the other side. And her? She's thinking about finding an excuse to leave early because she's sick of the horny looks she keeps getting from him."

Clearly Jesse was starting to freak out. I needed to find a way to calm him. We were already in a bad spot and him exploding in here wasn't going to make it any easier for any of us. "Look, Jesse... I get that –"

"Oh, and you?" He pointed at Cassie. You gotta chill out about Isaac and your gig. Isaac is fine if he can suck it up like a man. And your band would have had to cancel hours ago." He directed his attention to me. "And you. I'm not 'freaking out.' I'm the only one thinking logically right now."

I opened my mouth to respond but closed it quickly. Those two guards could be thinking anything. I had no idea what that had to do with his argument. Admittedly, he did pretty much nail my thoughts, but why wouldn't I be thinking that? And Cassie... well, even if her concern wasn't for me, it kinda felt good thinking about her caring. But it was time to get back to reality.

"Okay," I said. "I get what you're saying. Things are probably more complex than they seem. I'll totally give you that, but what are we gonna do about it?"

"No," he said. "You don't get what I'm saying." He rubbed the unbruised side of his face. "I know that things aren't what they seem because I can tell he was hiding it just like I could tell what you were thinking... I'm kinda... psychic or something."

And there it was: the point where the improbable meets the impossible. You always see it coming. You can sit with almost anyone and eventually they'll spew something that flies straight in the face of all reason. They saw the ghost of their grandmother because she died unhappy with the decisions her youngest child made with the inheritance. They're without a doubt, one hundred percent sure that Elvis is still alive and chillin' with Tupac and Michael Jackson in Thailand. They think the government is harnessing the power of CERN to engage in time travel to find incriminating evidence on everyone putting up 9/11 Conspiracy websites (Yes, that last one is a real person I know, and I can't really take them seriously anymore).

Give anyone a microphone and they'll eventually reveal their crazy. This was Jesse's crazy. If I played this one right, I could talk him off the ledge without hurting his feelings.

"You're not going to hurt my feelings!" Jesse growled. "I've gotten the same response from a couple of people... the few people I tried to tell the past year. They all think it's a trick. Once they start seeding doubt in my head about what I know is real, it just disappears."

"So, you're telling me that you can read people's minds?" I asked. He was beginning to increase my head pain just by talking now. "You have to understand why I don't believe that, right?"

"Yeah."

Cassie, who'd been looking between the two of us, finally spoke up. "So... regardless of whether or not you can read thoughts, what are we going to do now?"

"I don't know," I said. "Jesse, did you bring your tarot cards?" He gave me no push back. The fact that he didn't respond made me feel a bit bad about saying it. "Sorry."

"Whatever." He took up stargazing again.

"I think we should ask them some more questions," Cassie said. "We kinda sat here looking stupid when we had a good chance to ask."

"I kind of want my phone back." I said. "I didn't expect it to be in my hand, but now that it's just a medical emergency, I don't really see why they wouldn't let us have our phones back."

"Good idea." She said. "I also want to know what happened to my car."

We both looked at Jesse, half expecting him to chime in as well. He glanced at us. "Why don't we ask what our condition is?" He waved air quotes at the word 'condition.' "And what they think will cure it. And what caused it."

"And a T.V. actually wouldn't hurt." I said. They both frowned at me. "Bad joke. Sorry."

Cassie clicked a button on the remote and held it close. "Hello? Can someone help us?"