Fifth Excerpt from Ne'er Do Well

Chapter Five

            “Would you like to see the control room?”

Steve was pleased.

“Yes, I would.”

“This way, then.”

Jerry and the unknown man led Steve through multiple expansive doorways and passages until they halted in the presence of a control panel, which was much larger than any Steve had seen before. The man placed both hands on the panel and muttered an undecipherable pass-phrase. After several rather loud, high pitched noises, a nearby chrome door opened upwards. Behind it sat several indistinguishable screens, panels, and buttons. A note on the furthest wall read ‘Authorized Personnel Only’. Several books of diverse colors and sizes were spread across the floor. Seated behind one of the screens was a dark-haired man, who wore a bright white lab coat.

“This way, boss!”

“How’s progress?”

The man showed the boss the screen which displayed a group of people, in town square, huddled around a scene of some sort. The association had installed security cameras in various locations around Ne’er Do Well, as to be expected.

“Then, they haven’t arrived yet, I presume?”

“No, but it is only a matter of time until they do. I suggest we take action. Now.”

“Mhhm. Are all of the men in place?”

“Almost. One appears to have gone missing.”

“Missing?! You’re joking…… Then we will carry on with the plan without him. Grab him and take him here.”

“Yes.”

It was then that the black-haired man grabbed a receiver connected to the screen and spoke

“Go. Now.”

“You’ve seen enough, Steve. Come along.”

            The boss led Steve through yet another door. The room reminded Steve of the elegantly quiet break rooms at his previous workplace. His old break room was merely quiet because Steve was the only employee who took breaks at Mr. Smith’s. He took a deep breath and relaxed in the lovely atmosphere.  The room itself had green lounge chairs, dispensing machines, and a dry, white wall.

“Please sit.”

Steve and Jerry chose seats and relaxed.

“Now, Steve. Jerry is, as you know, a Squad Leader. He will be the one you follow. For now, you can leave if you wish. I have shown you all that you need to see.”

“But, you have not even told me what this room is.”

The Boss raised his brow

“You can’t tell? This is the break room.”

“Oh, right”

Jerry laughed.

“My, YOU are perceptive.”

“Quiet. I’m leaving now”

Steve left the rooms, making his way back down the elegant hallway, ignoring the loud pool-players, and once again admiring the focused readers. He regained his focus; his destination was the Library.

“Haven’t seen you here in a while. Welcome back.”
“Glad to be back.”

Silence.

“By the way, are there any new arrivals?”

“Nope.”

There never were.

“Shame.”

Steve made his way to the west wing of the library: Science and Mathematics, the area Steve most seldom visited. Science and Math were challenging subjects for Steve and were the reason behind many of his school lashings. It was not as if he could not logically understand the world, rather he did not possess the patience to comprehend complicated equations and graphs. Yes, perhaps Steve was a little slow, by Ne’er Do Wellian standards. But on the rare occasion that he did challenge himself with the west-wingers, he found himself moving in different directions. This was probably because the topics stimulated a whole new area of his mind, or perhaps he had grown too bored with business tips and happiness guides. But, either way, Steve found himself thinking more clearly, and even more so, he found himself logically thinking through point A to point B situations. His book? Calculus: A New Perspective. This book in particular had a bright orange cover, perhaps to draw attention to it, and had beautifully drawn childlike pictures. Steve grabbed his new book and sat at a nearby table, blew off the dust, and ‘lightly’ escorted the other books from the table. BAM! Steve was the gentlest man in all of Ne’er Do Well.

Presently, off near the entrance to the library, arrived a man, not much unlike a typical Ne’er Do Wellian, with empty dark grey eyes, flawless white skin, and a black suit.

“Yes, can I help you?”

“Why, yes… You can. I’m looking for a man named Steve.”

“He’s in the west wing.”

“Thank you.”

The man walked past the self help section, past a couple tables, pushing books off of their little seats. And, as he noticed the young man seated happily in his seat, he smiled.

“Hello, Steve.”

The man sat, moving uncomfortably close to Steve. Steve looked up, fearless.

“Yes?”

Steve knew those eyes. He knew how they worked. They were a tactic, an attempt to force guilt, then remorse, until finally causing the victim to conform. Steve looked deep into them, watching the eyes readjust. Steve was not afraid.

“I’m here to eliminate you.”

His voice chimed an eerie noise, devoid of emotion. Within only moments, the man reached in to his pocket and reached for the one thing Steve may have actually feared: A gun. The man aimed. Pulled the trigger, and just then, Steve hit the hand of his enemy, displacing the bullet. BAM! Within moments Steve was running. He broke through the nearby window. He was headed for the hospital.

“Please, can you help me? Gunshot wound. My arm.”

“Name?”

“Please, I need help NOW!”

She spoke louder

“Name?”

 “Ahh, please.”

“I can’t help you without a name.”

“Steve.”

“Social Security Number?”

“Really?”

Louder

“Social Security Number?”

His mumblings were robotic

 “871-758-8490-1903”

 “Date of birth.”

“11/14/40”

“Ok, here you are.”

 “What?”

“Fill that out and we will be right with you.”

            Steve carried himself in to the waiting room, filled with chairs, magazines and televisions, all useless in distracting him from the pain in his arm. He waited….. Waited some more…. And again… Until, darkness….

            Steve awoke to find himself placed in a hospital bed; his body was complete with a strange machine and cheap, disposable clothing. He had the complete package, or so he thought.

“Hello Steve. Do you have medical insurance?”

“What? No. Is the bullet out?”

“Of course not. We just attached a device to your body to ensure that you have enough blood.”

Steve checked his arm. Still bleeding.

“It’s still bleeding.”

“Yes. But the machine puts enough blood in to make up for the lost blood.”

The nurse smiled… An ignorant smile.

“I see…. Could I see the doctor first?”

“No. We need to ask you some questions.”

“I know you must be new here or something, but actually, I am in deep pain, and despite what you think, I’m still losing blood. I NEED to see the doctor.”

“Excuse me? I AM a senior nurse and you WILL cooperate or I can just as well refuse you service. You’re not in THAT much pain.”

“I was waiting in there forever. Could you not have given me faster service?”

“Forever, huh? Let me check…”

“30 minutes. Forever, huh?”

Her sarcastic tone was beginning to irritate him.

“Actually, yes, when I’m bleeding, it is.”

“Please cooperate, Steve. We are only trying to help. You just have to help us.”

“Help you what? Make sure I can pay the hospital fees?”

“Well of course, Steve. We all have to make money somehow.”

“I’m done.”

“What are you doing? Stop!”

“So that’s what happened, huh?” said Jerry

 “Who knew I would rely on a hospital instead of you guys. That was my mistake.”

“Yeah. Don’t go back there. Bad place.”

“Hmmph. I can tell.”

“I actually had an experience there when I was young…”

“Oh? Was it as terrifying as mine?” inquired Steve

“Perhaps not, but despair-invoking nonetheless. It was a time when my grandmother was very sick. She was sick with a disease called Scanderitis. I’m sure you’ve read medical books, right?”

“Uh… not many.”

“Oh well, it’s deadly. Very deadly, actually. And, it would be only another day until she was ready to leave the hospital. I was happy. I would be able to see Grandma again, ya know? But, you’ll probably be able to guess what happened next. As it turns out Grandma was too poor to afford the next hospital bill. My family was helping out, I was working an extra job; we all helped out. But even we weren’t enough. Grandma didn’t have a chance. They threw her out. Just like that, Steve. Like a piece of trash. Didn’t even tell us she was outside on the sidewalk in front of the hospital. When I went to visit her the next day, I saw her lying outside. You know, I guess they forgot to clean her up after she died 8 hours ago. I was heartbroken… and furious. I stormed into the place; I was brewing a storm bigger than anything you have ever seen. What I didn’t know was that they had dealt with people like me before. They knew what they would do. I walked up and said ‘Hey! Why the fuck is my grandma lying dead outside?!” They had built and prepared a system, a pre established wall of indifference to push away my kind. ‘Name?’ That’s all they said. I kept asking. The only response? ‘Name?’, ‘Name?’, ‘NAME?’! I wasn’t finished. I stormed my way past the front desk and demanded to speak to the doctor or someone who was in charge. I demanded respect. They all treated me the same. ‘Oh? Yes, we can help you. Just give us your name first.’ Their robotic smiles were atrocious, but I was desperate. I gave in. ‘Jerry’. After many hours of questions I was given my answer. ‘I’m sorry. We can’t help you. Why don’t you come back tomorrow? I’m sure we can help you then.’ My body, my face, my mind was so hopelessly angry that I was driven over the edge. I was not the only sane one there anymore. I had given in to indifference as well. When I did that Steve, I was no different than them. I began to take out my careless rage on my family and friends. That was when Ne’er Do Well began to change, as anger only caused indifference, which drove people to hopelessness when they achieved no growth, no answers.

One day, I quit. I quit everything, my job, my marriage, my mortgage…. Everything. And, in the lonely reaches of poverty, I met the Boss. He had a dream. And he’s leading that very dream today….”