Page 83 of Light Up
“Really?” Benjamin sighed. “You’re not supposed to access records out of curiosity or for personal reasons or for any reasons unrelated to patient care. You know that.”
“I was worried for Tal.”
“That’s not going to wash with a tribunal.”
Louis glared at his boyfriend.
“Glare all you like. I understand that you had Tal’s best interests at heart. I know how much you care about him. We both do, but it was an invasion of Corey’s privacy. Keep what you found to yourself.”
Tal couldn’t help but wonder what Louis had discovered but he kept his mouth shut. He was tired and his head was hurting.He pushed to his feet. “I need to go to bed. You two need make-up sex. Keep it quiet.”
Louis laughed. “I’ll follow you up, make sure you don’t fall backwards.”
Tal took it steady. He didn’t want to test whether or not Louis could catch him.
“Got everything you need?” Louis asked when they reached the guest bedroom. “There’s water on the bedside table. Don’t forget to take your tablets.”
Tal’s case lay on the blanket chest.
“Call if you need anything.”
“Thank you.” Tal was so tempted to ask what he’d discovered about Corey but knew it was better that Louis didn’t tell him. He’d risked his job to find out and Tal wished he hadn’t.
Tal also wished he was in his own home, surrounded by his own things. But he’d slept in this room plenty of times. He was lucky that Louis and Benjamin were still his friends. His best friends. He didn’t want to lose them over this. He unzipped his case, took out his toiletries and walked across to the ensuite. He’d unpack tomorrow. He recoiled when he saw himself in the mirror. He’d not really looked in the hospital. They’d said no shower until tomorrow morning but his hair felt awful.
He cleaned himself up as best he could and put on fresh boxers, just in case he was woken in the night. Tal took the pink hat out of his case and rubbed his thumb on it. Another reason to find Corey, to return it. He retrieved the polar bear from his coat pocket and put it by the bed. Something about that was pulling at him. Tal wasn’t a fan of ornaments. He liked clean lines, no clutter, but the bear… The way it was lying was familiar. Though not the little bear cub on top.My head! What can’t I remember?
Whatever it was that tugged at him, didn’t keep it up for long. Tal slid into a deep sleep.
When he woke the next morning, his head was full of a dream about a murder-mystery party. He’d never been to one of those. Why would he dream of that? A vet, a gravedigger, an alien… It sounded like the start of a terrible joke.
There was a knock on the door and Benjamin popped his head round.
“Morning. Tea or coffee?”
“I’ll shower and come down. Has Louis gone?”
“Yes. Couple of hours ago. He told me to wake you if you hadn’t already woken.”
The shower was mostly bliss. Tal couldn’t have the water too warm or soak his head but he felt a whole lot better afterwards than he had before. As he was looking for something to put on, he found a painting of a reindeer in his case.When did I do that? Did I do that?Beneath it was another painting. Not a good one, but virtually the same sketch. Why were they in his case? Tal assumed they’d been put there accidentally. Everything else in there appeared to be his. Oh, but not the silver dice or the reindeer cufflinks. Where had they come from?
He took down the bottle of wine he’d planned to drink and gave it Benjamin. “It’s all I have to offer. Sorry. If you want to order extra food and drink, I’ll pay.”
“Don’t be daft. You sent us that hamper. Coffee or tea? Toast?”
“Coffee and toast, please.”
“By the way, I looked up Solas Suas but there’s no hotel with that name. Not that it makes sense that you and Corey walked there, then walked back to wait for rescue in the car.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t.”
“You were found several hours after the crash. The police could tell from the dash what time the accident happened. You’re lucky Corey had that duvet. Cuddling up together probably saved you both. But Louis is right. He’s delusional.”
“Concussion does strange things.”
“There’s a huge amount we don’t know about the brain. Billions of neurons, trillions of connections. We don’t even know how it processes information and the way consciousness and unconsciousness come about. Or, for that matter, where imagination comes from and why it’s stronger in some people than others. There’s been recent research that suggests the fusiform gyrus, which is behind your temples, on the underside of the brain’s temporal lobe, is partly responsible for helping the brain to determine whether what we see is from the real world or our imagination.”
“Is that where my skull was damaged?”
