Revelation by Michael Mancini : Chapter Four

Chapter Four – Strange Visitor

      From the city street, the hospital appeared dim and quiet.  All the windows were dark.  The flickering of bluish light emitted from the televisions playing silently as the patients slumbered could be seen occasionally through the shades.  Michael, lying silently in his hospital bed, barely blinking his wide, tired eyes, stared at a sliver of florescent light coming from under his door.  The recent events in his mind swirled tempestuously as he desperately tired to spark a latent memory.  The series of events that forced him into the Intensive Care Unit still eluded him.

The stillness of the night began to fuel his memory.  Without the distraction of visitors and the nursing staff intruding, Michael could meditate.  He frequently used meditation to help relieve stress, a technique he perfected while incarcerated.  Meditation meant mental escape from the confines of jail.  His cell mate, a black man named Christopher Adair, taught him how to clear his mind.  The challenges of growing up in the southern United States as a black man during the 1960s and1970s carried its own type of “confinement”.  The experience gave him a set of survival skills that most white American males would never formulate, given their upbringing in white society.  The self preservation method worked well and came in handy in high stress situations.  He smiled to himself as he quietly thanked Chris for the wisdom he shared. 

Michael found it ironic that the man he was locked up with in a cramped eight by ten cell for six months shared the same name as his patron saint.  Living in the cramped and stressful environment drew them as close together as some war veterans.  The kind of closeness rarely exhibited in the “real world” by opposite races.  Michael preferred thinking of his confinement in civilized terms and likened the relationship to a “war buddies” scenario.  The two friends shared much of their life lessons with each other in relatively short period of time.  It was a meaningful and retrospective time in Michael’s life. 

Michael closed his eyes and focused on clearing his head.  The meditation began to work.  In a state of anamnesis, he found himself back in the alleyway where the events unfolded.  Last night’s traumatic events revealed themselves as if a movie played out in his head.

The tunnel was dark with the exception of dim light spilling in from the end.  Visibility was poor as the muffled sounds of the street grew fainter.  Ahead in the tunnel, next to the brick wall, he could see the faint outline of someone moving.  Inching closer the frightening noise of muffled screaming became apparent.  Focusing hard on the movement, he now made out two distinct silhouettes, one figure on top of the other.  As he cautiously approaches, he soon realizes that he is witnessing a rape in progress.  Seeing more detail, he witnessed a filthy middle aged man forcing himself onto a young and very attractive young woman.  With one hand, he managed to hold both of hers above her head.  He held his grimy free hand over her mouth to muffle her screams.  His dirty long fingernails cut into her delicate and soft cheek as his scuzzy hand pressed tightly down over her soft lips barely allowing her to breath.  Her blue eyes, filled with tears, bulged with broken blood vessels from screaming.  Michael could see the terror in them as she struggled for her life.   Her blond hair, matted with saliva and tears, was caught between his grubby hand and her mouth.  She struggled desperately as the man forced himself on her.  Oblivious to Michael’s approach, the man continued his feverish attempt at raping the poor girl, but she saw Michael through her teary eyes while she screamed helplessly into the assailant’s foul hand.

Her eyes locked with Michael’s as he appeared to her over the rapist’s shoulder secretly screaming “help me”.  Her innocent blue eyes drowning in hopelessness enraged him as, for a split second, the image of his sweet young daughter Victoria flashed through his mind’s eye.  He felt as if he was witnessing his own daughter being defiled as his temper swelled.  Michael leapt into action.  He moved as if someone or something controlled him, as if he no longer could control his own body.

Tightly clenching his right fist, he swung viciously at the man from behind connecting precisely at the assailant’s temple.  The blow was swift, hard and completely unexpected.  Stunned, his hand slipped off the young girl’s mouth allowing her screams to echo in the long corridor.  As the criminal dropped to the ground, Michael helped the terrified girl to her feet.  As turned his back, the rapist, now on his hands and knees, realized what had happened.  Agitated and frightened he reached into his jacket and pulled out a long shank of sharpened steel.  Michael felt the pain of sharp cold steel plunge deep into his side.  The rapist turned and fled as quickly as his feet would carry him as Michael fell to his knees clutching his side.  As the assailant’s footsteps faded, the girl’s loud plea for help became a distant echo in his ears.  Michael’s face pressed slowly into the cold concrete as his warm blood collected into a large puddle beneath him.

As he opened his eyes from the vision, Michael noticed his hand began to shake as a wave of disbelief mixed with fear overcame him.  The events that just played out in his mind seemed so distant from reality, so convoluted and unlike anything he could imagine himself capable of doing, he barely believed it.  He slowly began peeling back the sterile white cotton dressing over his wound.  Blood leaked through the thick sterile gauze pad tapped to his side.  The heart monitor still connected to his fingertip began to steadily increase with each second.  His mind and heart raced as he slowly revealed the jagged gash mark made by the rapist’s blade.  Stainless steel surgical staples pierced his skin holding together the craggy laceration.  Caked with dried blood, it looked like some horrific Frankenstein makeup from a b-rated horror film.  Evidence of the Betadine antiseptic solution stained his skin around the deep gash.  The pain he felt in his ribcage as he sat up hinted at the depth of the wound.

Michael’s anxiety gave way to rage.  He hated himself for getting involved in this mess.  He had no connection to the girl and had no idea why the rapist did what he did, nor did he care.  Michael had a wife and a child to protect which should be first priority.  Michael convinced himself he had no right to get involved. He decided that his actions were not heroic but blatantly stupid and vowed never to put himself in harms way for anyone other than his family again.  Now he had to deal with the media bugging him and he knew they would ask stupid questions completely unrelated to the incident.  He would have to explain why he went to jail so many years ago and his motivation for helping victim. Beginning to feel a little nauseous he knew he had to calm down.

Suddenly the door handle his hospital room began slowly turning.  He quickly glanced at the clock, it seemed later than it was, but visiting hours were certainly over.  As the door opened, the room flooded with bright light from the hallway temporarily blinding him.  He squinted to allow his eyes to adjust and made out a female figure standing in the doorway.  Almost completely naked from looking at his wounds, he jumped to cover his exposed privates.  The young woman standing in the doorway was noticeably embarrassed and quickly averted her eyes when she saw Michael’s naked torso exposed.  Stunned to see who quietly walked into his room, the embarrassment on Michael’s face gave way to surprise.