ONE

I watched Jimmy, lying in the hospital bed.

His lips were peeled back, revealing a yellow and mangled set of teeth, clenched together.

The machines buzzed and beeped, keeping him barely alive, in the depths of a coma. Their sounds made me uncomfortable.

“Jimmy.” I said to him.

He didn't respond.

“The second you wake up, you're going to jail.”

Frustration wafted over me.

“You can't hear me. I might as well be talking to myself, but I don't care,” I lied. “Just wait, Jimmy. You're mine.”

Once again, I could hear the machines.

I closed my eyes and exhaled.

With them shut, I became paranoid. I imagined Jimmy slowly rising from his bed, like an enormous monster from the depths of the ocean.

Suddenly:

“Ryan.”

I looked up.

Elise stood in the doorway. She approached when I spotted her, high heels echoing off the linoleum floor. She put her warm hand on my wrist, and pulled it away from my body. “Come with me.”

“No.” I said.

TWO

Visiting hours were up.

She was waiting in the hallway. “Where have you been?”

I kept on walking. “In there.”

She rushed to keep up with me, speaking to my back. “Once you leave, I mean. Where do you go? You're not at home.”

At the end of the hallway, I called the elevator, and waited.

Having finally caught up, she put her hand on my shoulder. “Ryan.”

“Stay out of this.”

“This isn't healthy. You're obsessed. He's going to become a vegetable, or he's off to jail. He's got his punishment.”

“Not yet, he doesn't. He's in a coma.”

“This won't bring them back.”

“I know.”

“Have you been out to see them?”

“I don't like the cemetry.”

She screeched in frustration: “It's pointless. Don't become obsessed with this. Let the law take care of him.”

My teeth clenched up. “I've been here for more than two weeks now. Every day, the same thing happens. The doctors come into his room twice. In eight hours - twice. They fill out their forms and then they leave.

“When he wakes up, he'll be alone. There's no guard. There's just a doctor and a few nurses. He can overpower them. All he needs is a chance to escape, and he'll have it if I'm not here to make sure he goes in.”

The elevator opened up, and I entered.

She followed. “What if his coma lasts for years – decades? What happens then? You're going to wait in there until you're both old and rotten?”

“For every second his heart still beats and he is a free man, I'll be waiting. He murdered my wife and my son, but it isn't about that. It isn't revenge.”

“What is it, then?”

“Justice.”

She sighed. “You're not home. You're not at work.”

“I got fired.”

“Ryan.” She said. “Where do you go at night?”

I didn't answer her.

THREE

The sweat collected on my forehead, my neck, and under my jumper. I was in the throes of a nightmare; a morbid movie in my mind.

I startled myself awake.

Through my disorientation, I looked to my right.

The monolithic white rectangle was obscured.

I reached over and wiped the fog from my car window with my wet hand.

Under the moonlight, the hospital was ominous. The first few floors were outlined by the intense glow of the streetlights. Higher up, the lines and corners were obscured by shadows in the darkness of the night.

I counted the floors up, and then counted the windows from the left. I found the window I thought was Jimmy's. I searched, looking for signs of commotion – signs he'd woken up.

The light was off, and all appeared normal.

With my binoculars, I couldn't find a conflicting picture.

I sighed, and relaxed back into my seat.

The dreams started when Jimmy had kidnapped my wife and my son, but they were never about him.

They were about the devil.

His white ivory horns protruded from the top of his red, blistered head. The fibers of his facial hair looked as course as a wire brush and were pure white.

Tonight, he grinned.

He reached out, as if to give me a high five, but then he turned his bloodied palm around, and clenched it into a fist.

FOUR

I saw the piece of paper, instantly knowing what it was.

Three days had passed.

Elise was back, with a policeman.

He was a fat man in his mid forties. From his shaved head, enormous ears poked out, making him appear like an overgrown infant.

“This is your copy.” He handed it to me. “It is a restraining order. Seven hundred meters away from the hospital at all times.”

“No.” I said, standing up.

“Yes.” He corrected me.

“Elise?” I pleaded.

“I had to do it, Ryan. Please believe me.” Elise said, avoiding my eyes. “You've gone insane. You think you're some kind of superhero. You think you're the only man who can put him away.”

“It's early. I'm going to go and get a coffee” The officer said. “I'll be back in five, and I expect both of you gone.”

He exited.

Elise sighed. “I know why you're doing this. You've known and trusted Jimmy since you were young, and he killed your family.”

“I never trusted him.” I said.

“This is all so messed up. I hate to see you go down like this. I hate to see you angry, confused, and afraid.”

“So you filed a restraining order!?”

“On psychiatric grounds. For you.”

I put my hand on my head – my palm rubbing my hot forehead. “I should have taken care of Jimmy earlier. He has always been like this, you know – ever since we were kids.”

“Always been like what?”

“Psychopathic.” I sat down. “He wanted to be feared. I guess I was too ginger back then to know I had to take him out, but it makes sense now. We're opposites.”

“Please listen to yourself.”

“When he was twelve, he killed an old lady.”

Her expression became a mix of awe and sadness. She stopped arguing.

“He made a bomb. I don't know how he did it – but he did. He...” I sighed. “He set it up in a park, in the middle of the night.”

“How do you know?”

“He caught up to me at school and told me to watch the news. He said, 'look out for a bang'. He didn't mean to kill her. She lived next to the park and had a heart attack when it blew up.

“Afterwards, he was boasting about it – collecting clippings from the paper.”

“Did he know the woman died?” Elise asked.

“Yes.” I said.

“Why didn't you tell the police? Or a teacher?”

“I didn't understand it was my job, back then.”

“What else did he do?”

“Elise,” I said. “This is my problem. Let me deal with it. I won't kill him. He's going to jail. He will kill again if he escapes, and he will escape if I'm not here. Please reverse this thing.”

“I can't.” She said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because you need to move on.”

“To what? My dead wife and son? I have nothing left.”

She was suddenly hurt. “I'm still here, Ryan.”

The officer appeared in the doorway. “Are we coming.”

“Yes.” I said.

FIVE

Elise looked up over the bowl of soup, her glowing eyes connecting with mine. “Thanks for taking me out.” She said.

“Finally.” I joked. “You've found your manners.”

She giggled.

“I can't let you cook for me, and not give you anything in return. So it's on me tonight. More wine?”

“No, thanks.”

She took a deep breath.

“What's up?”

“How are you doing? Do you mind me asking?” She leaned backwards slightly, as if expecting me to explode into a whirlwind.

“Fine.”

“You know, it's been six months.”

“Hm?”

“Since that day at the hospital. It's been six months... well, on Friday.”

“Oh, I guess it was.” I smiled.

“The restraining order expired.”

“So I don't have to be afraid of a medical emergency, now?”

She frowned.

“I'm not going back.”

Her eyes searched every crease and curve of my face, making sure it was the truth.

“Hey,” I said. “I didn't tell you what happened at work today. Boss called me into the office. Probation's over. They're happy with me. I'm back, better than ever. They had 'every confidence in me.'” I laughed. “If they did, they wouldn't have put me on probation when I went back to them.”

“I'm so glad for you.”

SIX

The time passed so fast. Looking back, I was never sure what happened when, because the nights fused the days together, like reels of some mundane movie.

Things had gone back to normal...

Until...

SEVEN

I awoke, in a panic attack, choking, and almost crying. My body was coated in sweat.

Another nightmare. Another dance with the devil.

God, no!

My last nightmare had been before.

Magic, monsters, beasts – they weren't real, but this dream was.

It could only mean one thing.

Jimmy had woken up.

EIGHT

The emergency room was the only part of the hospital open. Inside, many people were patiently waiting for medical assistance.

I knew they'd never let me up there. Not at this time of night.

I rushed past the waiting area, to the front counter, giving the woman Jimmy's name, wing, room number, and floor level in a rush.

“He's escaped. He was in a coma, but he's awake now.”

She scanned my eyes in disbelief. “Start again.”

I repeated myself slowly, and then added: “Please hurry up. This is urgent.”

“Okay. Take a seat and I'll sort this out.” Her voice was too slow and casual.

I took a seat in the corner. There was nothing else I could do. Either I was too late, or I had made it in time. I couldn't change anything now.

I started to relax, my heart slowing for the first time.

Almost everybody in the room was looking at me.

How must this look? I wondered. The absurdity made me want to chuckle, but I didn't.

Minutes passed.

The woman at the counter was busying herself on the phone, annoyed.

“It was a nightmare,” I said, to myself. “A nightmare.”

I knew I'd never be rid of Jimmy. We weren't kindred. His waking, if it did ever happen, wouldn't disturb my sleep. My mind was just overworked.

We were perfect opposites because of what we believed in, but nothing more.

It was foolish of me to come out here. Elise was going to flip.

My mobile phone vibrated up against my leg.

Speak of the devil; The caller ID told me it was Elise.

I wondered how they'd contacted her so fast. They probably had her number on the old restraining order paperwork.

“Elise?”

The hospital's doors locked with a large thud. An alarm sounded.

Startled, I pulled the phone away from my ear. I walked up to the counter with the phone by my side.

“A nurse is dead.” The woman said. “He's gone.”

I looked at the phone, down by my side. I put it to my ear.

“Elise?” I asked again.

“Not Elise.” The deep rusty voice corrected me. “I'm surprised I remembered your number first go. Some things you don't forget, eh, Ryan?”

“Jimmy. Where are you?” I demanded.

The phone beeped in my ear.

CONTINUE