Port Charles Chronicles: Chapter 17

        Kevin moved quickly.  At first, Kevin thought Todd had fainted, but his patient’s eyes were opened, unfocused, and his body was limp. Kevin pulled out his penlight and checked the pupils, and they were slow to react.  “Todd, can you hear me?”  No response.  Kevin reached for his phone and called 911.  With the ambulance on its way, he returned to his patient. He knew a catatonic patient when he saw one.  “What are you hiding from?”  He checked the pulse, it was steady, but Todd showed no signs of rousing. What had triggered this reaction?  Kevin played back the last conversation in his head.  He had been trying to get Todd in for a physical.  Could something that innocuous have brought this on?

       Kevin tried again to bring Todd around without success.  He left his patient long enough to let the paramedics in.  Then he stood back as they checked Todd’s vitals and let them bring in the gurney.  It looked like he would get the physical for Todd after all.  With Todd unresponsive, they had no choice but to take him into General Hospital.

      Todd fought the darkness.  He became aware just as they were strapping him onto the gurney. “Stop! Let me go!” He grabbed the hand trying to tie him down.  For a brief moment he thought one of Baker’s goons was above him, then an unfamiliar face came into focus.  “What are you doing?”

      The paramedic immediately stopped, his hand caught in a vice-like grip and his patient staring angrily up at him.  “Easy, Sir. We’re here to help.”

      Todd released the hand and looked around.  Thank God.  He was still in Dr. Collins’ office.  He spotted the doctor.  “How long?”

      Kevin was surprised.  It appeared Todd was familiar with what had transpired. “About twenty minutes.”  He watched for Todd’s reaction.  The man visibly relaxed.

      Todd breathed a little easier.  It had been pretty short, all things considered.  “Look, I’m fine now.  You guys can leave.  I’m not going to the hospital.”

      The paramedics looked over at the doctor.

      At the look, Todd responded. “Don’t look at him for answers.  I know my rights.  I don’t have to go anywhere with you guys.  Now, let me off this damn thing.”

      “Maybe you should reconsider, Todd.  What happened isn’t normal.  You need that physical.” Kevin was hoping he could be persuasive.  The longer he was with the man, the more problems seemed to be cropping up.  Right now all he had were a few vague answers and everything was wrapped around Todd’s missing eight years.

     At the mention of the physical, Todd shook his head.  He had never been afraid of them before, but now the idea of facing another syringe sent chills down his back.  “Not going to happen, Doc.  I can’t explain it, I’m asking you to back off that for now.”  Todd accepted the steadying hand of the paramedic as he slipped off the gurney, then shook it off quickly. “Thanks, now goodbye.” He moved away from the EMTs and back to the window, ignoring them as they left. When the door closed behind them, he turned and met the doctor as he re-entered his office. “Well, I've given you quite a show today.  All my boogeymen showed up.  Just how crazy am I, Doc?”

       Kevin weighed his words carefully.  “I don’t usually use that word in conjunction with my patients.  You have a number of issues that I think I can help you with. This isn’t going to be easy and I’ll need you to be absolutely honest with me.  Do you think you can do that?”

       Todd had always found it easier to lie to others when it concerned him. He was wary of giving another person too much info about himself, but the events of the last couple of hours hung over him like an ax waiting to take off his head.  “I don’t know.  Honesty has never been my strong suit.  I’ll try to be as truthful as I can.”

      “I have one question I would like you to try and answer.  I need you to tell me about the episode in the outer office earlier.  I think if you can put it into words, I’ll know more about what I’m up against.  You said your mother appeared to you out in the office.  I’m guessing that was when I first approached you, but then something else took place.  You were someplace else.  Where?”

       “I...” Todd didn’t want to admit it, but he was scared if he talked about it, it would put him right back into that hellhole all over again.

       “Do this for me.  Think of yourself in a movie theater and you’re watching a show.  Describe what you see.”

       Todd leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He did as instructed and found himself viewing the scene as if from the outside.  “Me, I see me. I’m in my glorified cell.  I’m being held by two men.  The head guy is in there.  His name is Baker.  He’s coming at me with another damn syringe.  I know it’s going to be bad, but I can’t do anything to stop the injection.  This one has something bad in it. God.  I can’t stand it, I’m in agony and he just stands there and goes on at me about ‘it’,  his precious ‘it’.  He pulls out another syringe, it’s the antidote to the one he injected.  All I have to do is give him what he wants and I’ll get relief....”  Todd can’t go any further.  Tears had fallen on his cheeks and he was helpless to stop them.  He gulped trying to get back some control.  He opened his eyes to find himself facing Dr. Collins’ sympathetic gaze.  He straightened up. “I never got the antidote.” He ran the back of his hand across his face to wipe away the tears.

        Kevin could tell Todd had reached his limit.  “I’m sorry.  I think I understand a couple of things a little better.  I’m guessing this wasn’t an isolated incident during the eight years you were held.”

        Todd just stared at him.

        Kevin’s eyes dropped first, he had gotten his answer.  Todd wasn’t going to be the easiest patient.  He had already proven how stubborn he could be, but it was clear that he would make an effort.  “I think you’ve been through enough today and I would like to continue this as soon as possible, but I’m afraid I have to go out of town tomorrow.  Could we meet again, the day after that?”

        Todd nodded and walked over to take the card Dr. Collins was holding out to him.  Inwardly, he prayed that his problems would give him a breather for at least 48 hours.  He looked at the time scheduled on the card.  “I’ll try to be here,” he said cryptically and left the office without looking back.

        Kevin frowned at Todd’s words and watched the man leave.  He sat down and began dictating the events of the visit into his digital recorder.  Later, while sitting in the airport terminal, waiting for his connecting flight, Kevin took out his recorder and pulled Todd Manning’s file out of his briefcase.  Running it back he listened and the hair on the back of his neck seemed to stand up. He recalled Todd’s final words. Have I just made a serious mistake?

        ***

        Starr and Blair were laughing and happy, as they plopped their bags down next to them and settled into chairs at Kelly’s.  “Okay, tell me why we’re eating here?” asked Blair, looking around at the pleasant surroundings.

       “Because it’s got good food and you can be yourself here.  Michael brought me here.  His great uncle owns the place.” Starr looked around surreptitiously, secretly hoping Michael might be around.

       “Starr, were you beginning to like Michael?”

       “It’s not that Mom, he perjured himself to get me off the hook.  I don’t know.  I just wonder what made him change his mind.” She picked up a menu and began looking at it.

        Blair glanced at her daughter, she had a pretty good idea that Todd had something to do with Michael’s change of heart.  She knew she hadn’t gotten anywhere with the boy, and when he got up on the stand and changed his story, she caught a look between Todd and Sonny.  Thinking about Todd, she looked to see if she had missed any calls.  No calls.  After the last couple of days, she was worried about him.  She was about to make a call when her phone rang. “Todd, where have you been all morning?  I called the Metro-Court when we finished shopping and Carly told me you left hours ago.”

        Todd was standing at the end of the dock staring into the water again. “Don’t worry about it, I had some business to attend to for Hallie.  Something I needed to take care of for the courts.”  He kept turning Dr. Collin’s card over and over in his hand.  He got distracted as the water began lapping at the end of the dock, the tide was coming in.  It looked cool and enticing. He stood there remembering the sensation of feeling like he was burning from the inside out.

       “Todd, are you there?  Is everything alright?”  Blair listened and he didn’t answer.  She turned to Starr,  “I’m having trouble hearing your father.  I’m going outside for just a  moment.”  Once outside she tried again to get some response from Todd.  The connection was still open.  ‘Todd, I wish you would answer me.”

        The water splashed up over the edge and Todd danced back just a little bit, breaking his train of thought.  He heard Blair’s frantic voice and put the phone to his ear again.  “I’m here, Blair.  I’m just a little out of sorts right now.  Where are you and Starr?”

       “We’re at a place called Kelly’s.  Come and join us for lunch. Okay?”  She had been so scared for a moment.

      Todd could feel his stomach growling at the mention of lunch.  His thoughts turned to the more mundane everyday thoughts of food and normal life. He turned away from the water’s edge and headed back up to stairs leading to the main street. “Sure Blair, I’ll be there shortly.”

       Blair felt relief at Todd’s words.  She closed her phone and went back in to join Starr.

       Todd was just leaving the dock and taking the phone away from his ear when he felt a sharp sting.  His cell phone was sent flying out of his hand.  He was reaching down to pick it up when he heard the thud on the wall above him, just where his head would have been.  “What the hell!” He ducked around the corner of the building, as the siding, facing the water, splintered from a third impact.  There was silence.   He reached up to his neck as he felt something dripping and his hand came away bloody.  Someone was trying to kill him.

        For one brief second, he wished they hadn’t missed, then his survival instincts kicked in.  He might be contemplating death, but he wasn’t going to just let someone take him out, without finding out the reason.   There was something in him that hated to give up the fight when someone shot him.  Irene and Kent had found that out the hard way.  Todd pulled his handkerchief out and put pressure on his nicked ear. This is great Manning, you can’t go to Kelly’s like this.  Blair and Starr will go ballistic if they see it. Whoever had been shooting seemed to have stopped, but Todd stayed close to the building and out of the line of sight of the water.  He needed to find a drugstore and spotted one as he hit the main street.  He found the aisle with the bandages and peroxide, then grabbed a solid-colored gray t-shirt he could wear under his suit jacket and headed to the bathroom.  Within minutes, he had the ear bandaged and his silk shirt was tossed in the trash.  He removed as much of the blood from his black suit coat and put it on over the T-shirt.  It was not a look he was fond of, but it would do.  Gathering the supplies and the tag from the shirt he left the bathroom.  In the old days, he would have probably just replaced the bandages and peroxide on the shelf and walked out, but he was trying to change some of those old habits.  He also realized his appearance, when he first arrived, had attracted the manager’s eye.  Not wanting to have to explain, he just walked to the counter, paid for his items, and left as his limo rolled up out front.

         As he sat in the limo, he fingered the shattered cellphone and found himself touching the bandage on his ear. Todd knew an inch more to the right and the bullet would have been through his skull. The shooter was a pro and only his own sudden change of direction had saved his life.  After lunch, he had a date with the Port Charles Police Department.






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