Dreams Ltd (42 page)

When the old soldier was finally able to get his eyes off Hulk’s face, to his horror he saw the direct evidence that the ranch owner really did possess the skills of the "Blind" method. Once the reading process was over, the whites of Shereen’s eyes got turned as bright red as a scarlet cloth, which people used to tease the bulls with. There wasn’t a single white spot on them anymore, all the blood vessels have burst and now the blindness took over her.

Greg was as sure of it as he was sure of the fact that his name was “Greg”.

That was exactly the reason for the name “Blind” - as a result of such a brain scan any person would always lose their vision even if the process lasted for just one second. For how long? No one could predict precisely. That was also the reason why this method could be applied in cases of extreme necessity; when someone needed to obtain the information quickly, accurately and when all other methods were impractical or would take too long to perform, adding the risk of potential failure to the operation for the Special Departments.

It seemed like an eternity has passed since Hulk began performing this technique, but in fact, the overall process probably took no longer than ten seconds. Shereen was now sitting on the floor, covering her face with her hands; her shoulders were shaking, but she did not utter a sound.

Some of the guards were looking at Hulk in total shock; the others were staring in horror at the girl sitting on the floor. It was clear that if it was up to them, they would have been gone out of this office a long time ago, but they did not have the permission to do so, so they retreated to the wall, huddling together and looking insecure and miserable.

For a few seconds Hulk stood silent, looking somewhere ahead of himself, while his brain was analysing the gathered information and when the process was completed, he slowly turned and stared at Greg. At this very moment, senior warden wouldn’t mind if the ground would swallow him up, because it became obvious that now Hulk knew absolutely everything about the past few days from Shereen’s life and it made no sense to argue with him.

The Knight. Check. And Mate.

There was nothing one could do against the “Blind”. There has only been a few times in Greg’s life when he felt as bad as now; his knee suddenly began aching - some time ago it was injured in a street fight, a muscle in his back started to hurt - maybe because it got a bit of a chill or was overworked. By the time Hulk came close Greg’s tongue ceased to function and became unpleasantly rough and dry.

“She wasn’t there.” Hulk said quietly in an even voice, and Greg instantly realised that he was afraid to look in his grey eyes. The gaze of the man in front of him reminded him of a steel blade surface - it was cold, and promising some sort of perversely slow death, “You will bring to me the one who is really responsible for the arson in the next twenty-four hours.”

A chill crept down Greg’s spine; he was almost devastated by the realisation of the necessity to fulfil the order. He understood that very clearly before Hulk ended his sentence:

“Or all the guards including you will be thrown out and replaced.”

The senior warden clenched his fists so hard so that his fingers wouldn’t tremble and was now looking over Hulk’s shoulder.

“If you bring me the wrong person, I’ll know it. Do you understand?”

Greg understood and therefore nodded. From now on he has no right to disobey, because he could almost feel how this soulless white light would cut through his memory like a knife that goes through some melted butter. And then the darkness will fall upon him; complete blindness - a nightmare that could become a reality within one day. He gritted his teeth in order to disguise the chattering, which they would produce if he’d just open his mouth.

“You have twenty-four hours. Take your people and get out.”

Hardly remembering how he managed to move his feet, Greg left the room. The others left the office right after him.

I sat on the floor, not daring to move.

The shock from the last incident deprived me of every last ounce of strength and self-control. The latest events were blurred in my head, thoughts hid somewhere on the back of my mind, fearing that someone from the outside might come and steal them. The last thing I remembered before the darkness fell was a bright blinding light. No, before that there were Hulk’s silvery eyes with the dark rims, bright and unblinking, and then there was an unbearably cold white light coming from somewhere, and it began to feel as though my thoughts started floating away beyond my consciousness. I couldn’t describe this even to myself - this weird, surreal feeling. Yes, my head was aching, but the pain was bearable; less pleasant was the pulsing in temples area. What was the point in napping during the day?

But worst of all was the fear - it was now different to the one I felt when I was led into the room and interrogated and when Hulk stood silent next by the window, making his final decision. The Fear, which was now inside of me, was made of some different substance - it was alien, monstrous and too strong as if the world around would came to an end and there was nobody around me anymore. Not a single person. Nobody. And nothing.

I was no longer terrified by either Greg or any other punishment, or even by what other horrendous things might have happened in that other world, which remained outside of my mind. Something very bad, something horrible has already happened to me, and more than anything I was afraid to open my eyes again, and see nothing.

Someone touched my hand.

“Give me your hand I will help you to get up.”

Hulk - the voice belonged to him, but where were the others?

I tried to listen to what was happening around me.

Why is this so quiet? Have all the others already gone? When? As soon as this strange light touched my eyes, I was hardly noticing a single thing happening around. What was the verdict then? Was it announced out aloud and I missed it? Or that what was happening to me now was my punishment? Why did it seem to me that Hulk wanted to get something out of me first? Did he change his mind?

Trembling and not daring to take my other palm off my face, I stretched one hand out to Hulk - his warm fingers clenched around my wrist and pulled me up. Barely touching my back, he gently led me to the couch and helped me sit down.

“Do not try to open your eyes for a while, ok?”

I nodded, not knowing whether he saw me do it.

Yet again I felt unusually scared. And freezing. It seemed like the temperature has dropped immensely, I was constantly shaking and just couldn’t get warm.

“Hulk, please... what’s wrong with my eyes?... Was there an announcement about my punishment? Where are the others... and... What’s going on?”

I wasn’t sure if my voice was trembling from the cold or my emotional redundancy.

“Hush, hush... Sh-h-h-h...” Hulk comforted me, “Try to sit quietly and calm for a few minutes. You have to get warm first.”

“But my eyes...”

“I know. Just stay quiet.”

I heard his footsteps die away somewhere in another room and then they approached me again. A soft fabric feeling like a fleece blanket covered up my shoulders.

“Wrap it around you, alright? I’ll make some tea and then we’ll talk.”

“Alright.”

He didn’t need to be asked twice - I bundled myself so tightly into it that I barely knew how to get my hands out and take the cup of tea. The coldness began to recede.

I could hear Hulk making the tea - the clattering of the dishes, sound of the pouring water, tapping of a spoon on the porcelain.

“Take it.”

“I can’t see.”

“Just give me your hand.”

I reached out in his direction.

Hulk took my hand and gently placed a warm cup into my fingers - thanks to him, it wasn’t very hot. I took a sip and relaxed a little.

“Thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

He sat down, probably, in the same chair where he usually liked to sit while listening to my translations. Thinking about it I suddenly felt cold again. If I cannot see anymore, how can I translate? And why was I thinking about the books instead of the more important thing that I couldn’t see... What a load of rubbish...

“Tell me...”

“Of course. What I did to you is called the “Blind” - it is a method of reading the human’s memory. Unfortunately, it affects the sight. But for me it was the only way to find out the truth quickly and unmistakably. Do you understand why?”

I did. If Hulk was to follow the usual procedure, it would take him much longer and all the facts in this whole story were against me. Yet somehow he, as usually, found the most effective way to solve the problem without a delay.

“So, you read my memory.”

“Yes.”

I hesitated.

“All of it?”

He chuckled.

“No, only the period of the last few days. It’s not easy to define the timing boundaries while doing that, but I tried not to go in too deep. How is your head? Try to think how well you remember the last twenty-four hours.”

It felt that everything was fine there and nothing was missing. I remembered walking to the stone-pit, eating in the kitchen later; then I remembered trying to fall asleep, then Tabitha and the warehouse... There weren’t any obvious gaps, or at least I couldn’t find them yet.

“I think I remember it well.”

“Okay.” The tone of his voice indicated that Hulk was satisfied.

“What about my eyes? I tried to open them a few times, but couldn’t see a thing.”

Perhaps this question was the most painful for me, and I was afraid to hear the answer - I felt as nervous as a patient at the doctor’s who’s just been tested for cancer and was now waiting for the result.

But the answer, instead of causing a fatal shock, brought an incredible relief to me.

“Your vision will recover within approximately ten to twelve days.”

“Completely?” I began fiddling on the sofa.

“Yes, completely.” somehow, I knew that Hulk was smiling, looking at my happy, but what must be an absolutely terrible looking face - my cheek was still swollen but I had almost forgotten about it.

“I was trying to be careful with you.” He added gently, and it felt like I was stroked from within.

The coldness, growling with disappointment, faded away, and pleasant warmth filled up my body.

After a short pause I quietly thanked him again.

He didn’t reply and we were silent for a while. Again, I could hear the clock ticking, but this time the sound didn’t feel formidable and became familiar and cosy - as the fear was gone, it no longer seemed like a bomb attached to a wall. A light breeze that flew through the half-open balcony door touched my face.

“So, now you know that it wasn’t me?” I asked that question to make sure that there was no longer any need to be scared of the punishment.

“Yes, I know. And the person who did it will be found.”

Although his voice has not changed much, I understood that Hulk has no doubt he would achieve a good result. Of course - who would dare to argue with him, when it turned out that the ranch owner was not as feeble as it seemed? I never thought that he was that simple, but now it became clear that I have not even seen the tip of the iceberg of the person named Hulk Conrad.

Not being able to hold back my curiosity, I asked:

“Where did you learn how to do that?”

The silence was his answer. Of course. It would be very unwise of me to expect any revelations. I was hoping that Hulk didn’t notice my frustration since he was not obliged to disclose any secrets to me. It was good enough he took my side so many times before without jumping to the wrong conclusions. And that was already much more of what I could expect living in Tally.

“Someone betrayed me.”

“Don’t think about it, I’ll deal with it.”

His voice sounded particularly warm again and something inside of me began trembling and reaching out towards him as if I was a plant and he was the sun.