Twenty-four
First Marla and her armor of glass, and now Becky.
Rick raced down the corridor toward Becky's frantic shrieks with Marla on
his heels screaming, "Rick, no! Stop!"
He stopped within sight of the Social Skills room,
not because Marla ordered him, but because Becky Marple came tumbling
through the door tangled in a mass of vines and blue flowers.
Marla backed away with a cry of astonishment, her
face drained of color. Rick rushed resolutely forward to help Becky to
her feet, then to free her from the flowers pouring from the open
doorway. Lavender blossoms sprouted and unfolded from the tiled floor.
They grew from the steel frame of the doorway.
They grew from Becky Marple's clothing and even her
hair. Rick dragged her a dozen feet down the hall and watched the
delicate blue flowers follow across the hard tile.
"Told you so," Becky said. She looked up with her
narrow brown eyes and smiled at him with her heart-shaped lips. "Aren't
they lovely?"
But she trembled, half mad with fear, and pulled away
from his touch when he tried to brush the blossoms from her clothing.
"We're still in a virtual reality environment," she said. "None of
anything that has happened to us is real."
"It is, too, real!" Marla screamed at her. "I'm
awake! I'm not dreaming!"
"Why?" Rick said quietly. "What is this all about?"
"I don't know," Becky said softly.
Marla's knees wobbled. "Rick, I think I'm going to
be sick."
Becky gazed at him longingly. Despite her phobia of
being touched, she needed his friendship.
Marla tried to turn him away from the girl. "I found
something. I want to show you."
Rick glanced back at Becky. He needed to listen more
closely to her ideas.
"Rick, please!" Marla cried.
Rick turned to deal with Marla before she panicked.
"Let's go find Mort," he suggested as calmly as possible.
Marla thought about it. She shook her head. "I want
to go home now."
"I want to go home, too," Rick said. "It's been a
rough night. Let's wait in Mr. Mangrove's room until he gets back. Maybe
if you took a little nap..."
Marla's eyes widened in horror. Even Rick thought
better of the suggestion. "We'll just wait," he said instead. "This
can't go on for much longer."
Marla turned away and obediently led the way to room
ninety-eight. She took her seat at the front of the room and sat staring
straight ahead.
"I want to check on Mort," he said gently. "Maybe
he's found a way out by now."
"Stay away from Becky Marple," Marla said. She
looked around in her seat. "I'm warning you."
Rick backed from the room one step at a time.
Rick saw or heard nothing of Mort Braggs in the
corridors. He backtracked to where Mort had been pounding away at the
wall and found the hole. It looked big enough to step through without the
need to duck one's head, but he couldn't see through it.
Becky drew close. She reached out tentatively and
touched his arm.
"I can't find Mort," Rick said. "I think he got out
through here. Marla's in room ninety-eight. Watch out for her. She
thinks you're responsible."
"You have to make them listen to us. They don't
understand."
"I don't understand!"
"Yes, you do."
He understood more than he wanted to admit, more than
Marla or Mort. Becky, though, was one step ahead of him. "Since when
does anybody ever listen to me?" he asked of her.
"I listen to you." She picked an orchid from her
hair. She smiled at it. As terrifying as the phenomena had been, she had
no fear of it now.
"Becky, I don't know what to do!"
She blinked back tears without looking up at him.
"Nobody has to get hurt," Rick said, knowing she felt
otherwise. "It won't go that far."
"It's already gone too far, and you're going to get
hurt right along with the rest of us if you just sit back and let it
happen."
He gestured with a nod at the black hole in the
wall. "Should I go in after Mort?"
"I don't know. I just know that things are going to
get worse if we don't do something."
"You proved your point with the orchids. I take it
things got out of hand."
Becky nodded. She looked down and started to turn
away, lost in her own dark thoughts.
"I won't hurt you," Rick said. "You don't have to
shy away from me like that."
"I know. I can't help myself."
"Try harder. If we can't be friends, it would be
such a waste."
She stared at the floor looking scared.
Rick tilted her face up with a finger on her chin.
She smiled. "Do you really like my eyes."
"I'm wild about your eyes," Rick said.
She blushed, and looked quickly down at the ground.
Catching herself at her old habit, she laughed gently.
The sound of Mort's sledgehammer beating against the
front doors boomed through the corridor. Mort was gone, which meant Marla
was taking a crack at it.
Every muscle in Rick's body knotted with fatigue and
unrelenting tension. "I'll go check it out. You had better stay here."
He had no choice but to leave Becky to her own
resources. He hurried away and approached Marla with caution, surprised
by the ease with which she swung the sledgehammer over her head with an
almost maniacal energy. He could see the floor to ceiling glass
reverberate with the impact.
She had yet to crack a pane.
"Marla, don't!" he called out. "You'll hurt
yourself!"
Marla lowered the heavy tool with shaking hands and
gave him a thin-lipped smile. "So what?"
Rick had stopped well back from the girl. Marla
would misinterpret a gesture of comfort.
"What's the matter?" Marla said in a mock-friendly
voice. "Are you afraid I'll go off my rocker and bash your head in?"
Laughing, Marla swung the heavy sledgehammer and
balanced it over her head momentarily. "I really should bash her head in,
though."
Rick glanced back to see that Becky had followed. He
held out an arm to keep her from approaching too closely.
Marla laughed. "That's alright. She's close enough
right where she stands."
She threw the hammer end over end with more power
than was humanly possible.
