Chapter 3

Linda Timmons

It was three days before they would let him have visitors. His mother and Wanda never left the hospital. Brock's father had arrived and when he heard about where Brock was, he brought bags for both Wanda and Brock's mother. I talked to them for a long time before getting them all to see things my way. At this point, I think I'm the only one he would trust anyway.

I convinced them to let me be the first one to talk to Brock. I was hoping that I could straighten things out between Wanda and Brock before anymore misunderstandings took place. Wanda had been inconsolable for the last three days and was sure that Brock would leave her. Brock's father had been to the apartment complex and had gotten his rental agreement voided by informing them of his delirium at the time of his having signed it. Brock's father is a very successful engineer. His success came at the expense of his marriage and his relationship with his son. Personally it's not a price I'd have been willing to pay, but that's just me.

I have known Brock and Wanda for six years and have considered them my friends for most of that time. I talked to Brock a couple of times a week after they went to college and I spoke to Wanda even more frequently. That Brock could believe that Wanda had cheated on him was a testament to just how shattered his mind was in my opinion. Wanda worshiped the ground he walked on and from what she had told me over the years the thought of another man touching her made her ill.

When Brock had described what he had seen as I looked at the pictures he showed me I knew that he must have been delirious or delusional or hallucinating. He said she was wearing a silk negligee, but the photo showed her wearing a scoop necked tee shirt.

He had said she kissed them all passionately but the videos showed only pecks on the cheek. I had kept possession of his laptop and the memory card after we got to Springfield. I knew that I'd need them to sort this mess out. I was also the only one who knew they existed aside from Brock and Wanda.

Brock

I woke up again and I could breathe a little easier, the pain was less than it had been. I wasn't in the glass walled room anymore. I was confused and wasn't sure where I was. Then the memories started. They were all fuzzy and disconnected, disjointed. My despair began to mount as I thought about what I thought I knew had happened. A nurse peaked in, saw me awake and left again. The doctor came in and explained that they had kept me sedated for the last three days so they could treat me. He left and a moment later Linda came in with my laptop, and sat down.

"How are you feeling Brock?" She smiled thinly at me and I knew she was worried.

"I've had better days. How long have I been here? Where is here by the way?" I knew I was in a hospital but I needed to know which one.

"You're in the hospital in Springfield. You ran away from the one in Columbia and nearly gave your mother a heart attack when you ran away like that." Her voice was very disapproving. She had never spoken to me like that before.

"I just couldn't stay. She wanted to rewrite history and then with what Wanda did to us I couldn't deal with it. So I left." My voice sounded weak and despairing even to me. Then a memory surfaced. "Why are you here first? I'd have expected dad or mom or Wanda before you'd have been allowed to see me."

She smiled "You've been unconscious for three day, Brock." I wasn't surprised at that revelation. "It took me most of that time to get them to let me talk to you first and to tell you some things that you need to know. I think I'm the only one who could tell you what you need to hear and be believed." She reached into the case and pulled out my laptop. "I've had your laptop ever since your father retrieved it from your apartment the day you collapsed. Since your father didn't know about the photos, I saw no reason to tell him. No one but you, Wanda, and I know they exist."

I couldn't see where she was going with this. I didn't want to see the pictures again. She continued "I want you to look at them with me," she held up her hand to forestall my protest, "before you say anything I think you should know that when you showed them to me I didn't see what you told me you were seeing when you took them. The doctor says that you were delirious or maybe in a delusional state for several hours, perhaps the whole day, before you collapsed. Your brain wasn't getting enough oxygen."

My skepticism must have shown on my face because she continued. "When you collapsed, your lungs were in the process of shutting down. They were no longer processing oxygen the way they were supposed to. The doctor gave you a dose of antibiotics that slowed the deterioration but then you ran away and the added stress from it caused your second collapse. In the last three days they have told your parents twice that they didn't know if you'd survive or not. You're still very sick and it'll be a while before you can go home. At the same time Wanda's parents and I have been keeping her under a very close watch because if you die she'll try to follow almost immediately."

That got my attention in a hurry. "She's been fucking around with God knows who for however long and you can say that to me? Get out!"

She looked angrily at me and then set up my laptop on my feed tray. "You look at these with me and then I'll go, you spoiled little boy! I've been your friend all these years and I have never had a reason to regret that until now! I have never lied to you or misled you! Never! Now you ARE going to look at these with me!"

I'd never seen Linda so angry. I watched as the pictures scrolled by, they were still familiar but they were also off. My memory said one thing but the pictures said another thing altogether. When the videos played I became even more confused and agitated. "I don't understand. How... ? What... ?" I took a moment and asked "Why do I remember things one way but these say they didn't happen? If she wasn't having an affair why has she been pushing me away for the last three months?"

Linda

I sighed. For the first time today he was willing to listen. "Do you remember the hypoglycemic episode Wanda had?"

He nodded "When she went to visit her mother. What about it?"

"It wasn't a hypoglycemic episode. She went to tell her mother she was pregnant. The antibiotics for her ear infection negated her birth control pills. While she was at her mother's she miscarried." The look of excitement and then devastation flashed over his face.

"She was afraid to tell you and was convinced you'd leave her."

His head snapped up, "What!? How could she think that? WHY would she think that? I don't understand." Tears had started falling by this point and I got up and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Honey, the only one who knew what she was thinking was her. The hormones in her body got all screwed up when she miscarried and her thinking was affected. She didn't tell anyone she had miscarried and her friends got worried about you and her. You said you had no clue what was happening so they called her mother.

Her mom came down and brought a friend, a colleague named Martin Willis, and she's been seeing him for a while now. He got her treated for the hormone imbalance and got her head straightened around. The day you collapsed her friend Shelly and their friends helped her set up the spare room for a "Fantasy Date Night" The room is still ready, but you came back while they were finishing up. Shelly and her boyfriend slipped into your room for a quickie. Your phone call spooked everyone so the mess didn't get cleaned up."

He looked at me and asked, "How do you know?"

"I was there when Shelly apologized to Wanda for leaving the mess in the bedroom. She told us what they had been doing and that led us to figure out what you thought had happened. Wanda loves you more than her own life, but is convinced that you'll leave her as soon as you are well enough to leave the hospital. We've spoken to the college and gotten you a medical leave. You can finish your courses online or next term or, if you think you can do it, you can still take the finals when you are better and graduate early."