Two Pills a Day

Originally written November 18, 2019

           William took two pills a day, one every morning at precisely 8 a.m. and one every night at precisely 8 p.m. For fifteen years, he never missed a single pill.

            All in all, William was a pretty normal kid. He was a decent student and a decent athlete, far more concerned with girls than anything else. He stayed up too late and ate too much junk food. Basically, he was your average teenager. Except for the fact that he was sick.

           Very sick.

           When William was a young child, he had some routine bloodwork done. His doctors discovered that he had a rare disease. In fact, his pediatrician had apparently never seen anything like it. Multiple doctors flew into William’s small hometown in Indiana to examine him. None of them knew exactly what was going on inside the child’s body. Until one day, a doctor from Harvard got word of his condition and made the trip to examine William.

            Doctor Sicile was an expert in rare genetic disorders. He took William back to Cambridge and ran countless tests over the next several weeks. By the time he was finished, he had developed a drug to keep the disease at bay. While it couldn’t be cured, the effects of the disease were eliminated completely. To look at him, you would never know William was sick. It was incredible.

            William’s parents thought of it as a miracle. Their boy was cured. William didn’t understand what was different about him. He didn’t even know what the disease was called. But he was diligent, and he made sure to take those pills every single day. He didn’t want to know what might happen to him if he missed one.

            It was December of his junior year of high school. William went to Winter Formal with his friends. None of them were dating anyone, so they decided to go together as a group and have fun. It was a great night. He even got to dance with Alice, the girl that he’d had a crush on for the last three years.

            As they swayed in time with the ballad, William’s wrist started vibrating. He knew what that meant. It was time to take his pill.

            “I’m going to go outside for a minute,” he said. “I’m sorry. I left my medicine in my car. I’ll be right back.”

            Alice and his friends nodded and watched him exit through the old double doors of the gymnasium. It was cold outside. Freezing. There was a thin layer of snow that had fallen over everything during the first hour of the dance. One of his friends, Josiah, almost offered to go with him. Until Marilyn pulled him to the side for a dance, that is. William was content to go alone. He just wanted to take his pill and get back inside to Alice as quickly as possible.

            William walked toward his old, rusted pickup. Two kids were leaning against a pickup truck a few spots away. They were standing very close together. They must have been a couple looking for some alone time. William turned his eyes away and focused on getting his fingers to work so he could get the key in the door of his truck.

            His hands were shaking from the cold, and he dropped the keys into the snow. He bent down quickly and snatched them up. Embarrassed, he turned around to see if the couple had noticed, but they were gone. They must have gotten into the truck for some more privacy.

           William refocused and managed to get the door unlocked. He reached inside and retrieved his bottle of pills from the glove compartment. He dropped one pill into his hand, replaced the cap, and stood up.

           Two arms reached around William from behind, pinning his hands to his sides. At the same time, another set of hands forced a shirt into William’s mouth, pulling it tight to gag him but leaving his sight unblocked. William fought hard against the two mysterious figures. They were probably just football players trying to freak him out, or a friend playing a prank.

           But this was serious. He needed to take his pill. He squirmed and struggled against the arms wrapped around him, but it was no use. Before he could do anything to free himself, he was sideways. The two attackers lifted him off of his feet, carrying him away from his truck with the door standing open. These were no high school bullies. They were way too big and way too strong to be anyone from his high school. William tried to scream for help, but the gag was tight in his mouth, blocking anything more than a soft groan from escaping.

           William looked back toward the open door of his truck. Sitting on the driver’s seat, he could barely make out the outline of his evening pill for the day. Fear of his assailants vanished as a new fear set in. At this point in his life, he had no idea how his disease would affect his body without that pill.

           The attackers threw William in the back seat of their nearby truck. He tried to sit up and lunge for the door, but there was another person already waiting in the back seat. When William sat up, this third attacker hit him in the back of the head. Hard. His vision blurred. He watched through the window as they pulled out and away from the school. Away from his car. Away from his pill.

           The motion was too much. William vomited, staining the carpet of the truck the dark red of the punch from the dance. The world around him started to fade.

           Everything went black.

# 

           The room seemed to spin around William as he regained consciousness. Bright lights were shining directly above him, causing his head to throb in pain. He tried to ignore the light and settle back in for some extra sleep. No luck.

           Frustrated, he tried to sit up. He couldn’t move. He struggled to lift his arms, his legs, and his head, but to no avail. He was completely immobilized. As he struggled against the force keeping pinning him to the hard bed, his memories of the night started coming back to him.

           William’s heart started to race. Where was he? Who had taken him? And why? What did they want with him? What was going to happen to him without his medicine? William jerked his arms violently, but the leather restraints kept him in place. For all of his efforts, he couldn’t move an inch. He tried opening his eyes, but the lights were too bright for him to get a view of his surroundings. Thinking back to all the movies he had seen about someone being captured, he stopped trying to break free and accepted the fact that he would have to wait for a better opportunity to escape. It was more useful for him to conserve his energy while he could.

           A few minutes later, when his heart was finally beginning to slow, he heard footsteps approaching. A key slid into place and a metal door swung open behind him. A fresh wave of adrenaline shot through his veins. A woman’s voice came from behind him. Despite everything, it seemed warm and comforting.

           “Good morning, Mr. Zamore. Did you sleep well? I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable.”

           “What’s going on? Where am I?” William’s voice grew louder and more frantic. “Who are you? Why did you take me? What are you going to do to me?”

           “Get those straps off of him and help him up.” Her voice was sharper than before. “Imbeciles. He’s not an animal.”

           William felt a pair of strong hands release the straps holding his feet, legs, head, and body. He sat up slowly, careful not to push himself too soon, and opened his eyes. Before him stood a woman in her early thirties. Her short, brown hair was tied up in a bun on top of her head. She wore a lab coat and had an air of intelligence about her. If he wasn’t busy freaking out, William would probably find her very attractive. When she spoke, her voice was calming and warm, like she actually cared about him.

           “William, my name is Doctor Alice Osborn, but you can just call me Alice.”

           “Okay. Hi, Alice. Can you explain what’s happening now?”

           A large man, the one that had released William from his restraints, stepped between them when William’s voice became agitated.

           “It’s fine, Marcus,” Alice said before returning her attention to her captor. “Everything will be explained to you, William. I apologize for how Marcus and his team treated you last night. They will be punished for their brutality. Despite their forcefulness, I want to ensure you that we have your best interests at heart.”

           “And who exactly is ‘we?’”

           “Everyone here at IntelliCorp.”

           “And what is IntelliCorp?”

           “Everything will be explained.” The watch on Alice’s wrist vibrated. She checked it quickly and nodded her head. She looked back to William with a bright smile. “George will be in to see you now.”

           “Who’s George? What is going on here?”

           Before Alice could answer, another key clicked into the lock and the metal door swung open once again. William gasped as a man wearing a lab coat walked in. He was older than William remembered, with more lines on his face and more gray in his beard, but there was no mistaking his identity.

           “Hello again, William.” Doctor Sicile, William’s childhood doctor who had finally discovered the treatment for his disease, looked at William and smiled softly. “We have much to discuss.”

           “Doctor Sicile, is that you? What is going on here?” William had to brace himself against the bed to keep from falling over. The shock of seeing his childhood doctor had left him reeling. Was he dying? Had the pills stopped working? Had Doctor Sicile just wanted to capture him all along? Why was everyone being so mysterious?

           “I will explain everything to you,” Doctor Sicile said. “But first, you look very pale. You should eat something.”

           “I’m fine.”

           “No, you are most certainly not fine. You need food.”

           “I said I’m fine.”

           “Alice, will you run and get William some breakfast, please?”

           “Of course.” Alice walked out of the room, leaving William with Doctor Sicile and Marcus. Marcus glared at him with an intensity that made William wonder what exactly he had done to upset this man so much. Doctor Sicile simply sat and gave William a reassuring smile while he waited.

           Alice returned with a tray containing a carton of milk, scrambled eggs, toast with butter and jam, a banana, and a blueberry muffin. William looked at the food and told himself he wasn’t going to give his captors the satisfaction. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t silence the growl that escaped his stomach. He gave in to the temptation, diving in to devour his breakfast.

           Doctor Sicile sat patiently while William ate. When he finally stopped to take a breath, the doctor straightened his lab coat and sat in the bedside chair. “I know you probably have a lot of questions, and I will attempt to answer them all,” he began.

           “Well, get started.”

           “William, you’ve been taking two pills a day since the time you were a little boy. Your mother has informed me that you have never missed a single pill, and that you take them without question at the same time every day. That is good. You know that you were given these pills to fight a rare and deadly disease, but you’ve never been informed about what the disease is or what it could do to you.” Doctor Sicile removed his glasses to clean them before continuing. “That is because there is no disease. You are perfectly healthy. In fact, there are very few individuals on this planet who possess your particular talents.”

           “If I’m not sick, then why have I been taking these pills for so long?”

           “Have you ever heard of phenomenon known as telepathy or telekinesis?”

           William narrowed his eyes, wondering why Doctor Sicile was getting off track. “You mean like moving stuff with your mind like in the movies? Yeah, but that’s not real.”

           “I assure you, it is very real,” Doctor Sicile said. “Actually, you were given those pills to suppress your abilities until you were old enough to learn to control them. William, you are the most powerful telepath this world has ever seen. That is why we gave you the pills when you were so young. We didn’t want more sinister entities finding out about you and trying to use you for their nefarious purposes. We think, with our help, you will be able to learn how to use your abilities. Then, once you learn, we will leave it up to you. You will be given a choice. Either you can retain your power and use it for whatever purpose you see fit, or you can continue taking the pills and lead a normal life, free of any supernatural abilities.”

           “So, let me get this straight. You’ve been lying to me my entire life? My parents have been lying to me my entire life? I spent every single day worrying about taking my pills so that I wouldn’t die, when it was actually just to make me a lesser version of myself.”

           Doctor Sicile could see that William was getting more and more upset. “No, William. We did it to protect you.”

           “Protect me? Right. Because that isn’t the line everyone always seems to say even when they’re in the wrong. It’s not the oldest cliché there is or anything.” William stood up, feeling angrier and more determined to get away from Intellicorp.

           “William, why don’t you have a seat and we’ll discuss this furth—”

           “No! Get away from me!” William threw his hands into the air as he yelled. Everything in front of him, including Dr. Sicile, Alice, and Marcus, rose up into the air.

           “No,” Doctor Sicile gasped. “It’s too soon.”

           The Intellicorp workers flew backward, slamming against the wall and falling to the ground, unconscious.

           William looked down at his hands, unable to process what had just happened. Was it true? Did he have telekinetic abilities? Had he just done that? Overcome with the questions in his head and a sudden wave of fatigue that that overtaken him, William fell back onto the bed and passed out.

 #

           William jolted upright. He scanned the room, looking for threats. Everyone else was still unconscious. He struggled to his feet, still slightly dizzy, and tried to focus. He stepped over the crumpled bodies of Doctor Sicile, Alice, and Marcus, and walked through the door into the hallway.

           He looked left, then right, and then left again. A long, empty hallway with bright lights and doors every ten feet stretched in both directions. He hesitated a moment before heading left. “Left is always right,” he muttered to himself.

           He ran the length of the hallway, turned left at the end, ran a full fifty yards to the end of this new hallway, and decided to take a right this time, only to be greeted with another hall that looked exactly the same as the previous ones.

           William ran down five separate, identical hallways before coming to a stop at yet another intersection. It was obvious that he wasn’t doing anything productive. He slowed to a walk and continued searching for an exit of some kind. At the end of his eighth hall, he turned to the right and saw an open door halfway between him and the next fork in the path. A renewed sense of hope shot through him, and he took off running with newfound excitement.

           This could be his way out.

           William covered the distance in a few seconds. He stopped a couple of doors away and took a deep breath as he approached the opening. He stayed close to the wall, hiding from potential threats. When he was close enough, he peeked out around the frame of the door. In front of him were the unconscious bodies of Doctor Sicile and Alice. He had made a big circle through the building. A groan escaped from William, causing the two bodies to stir.

           William’s hand shot up to cover his mouth, but the damage was done. Dr. Sicile and Alice were waking up. William considered staying and trying to talk to them, but then he recognized something. Marcus was gone. He must have woken up and realized that William was gone, which meant he was probably searching for him at that very moment.

           Just as William had made up his mind to take his chances running through this maze of a building, two thick, strong arms wrapped around him. William struggled to break free as he was lifted from his feet, but he was no match for Marcus’ strength.

           “Stop fighting, kid. We’re trying to help!” Marcus yelled.

           “Help? Who helps someone by kidnapping them?”

           A strange sensation passed through William’s head as he fought. It was like a muscle that hadn’t been used in a while trying to wake up. He decided that if he did actually have these strange abilities, maybe this was the way to access them. He reached for that odd sensation within his mind. The feeling warmed his body and a sense of calm came over him. He let his body relax, then quickly tensed his arms and legs. His head felt warm and tingly all over as Marcus’ arms flew open, sending the behemoth of a man tumbling backwards.

           William used the opportunity to run. He ran faster than he ever had before, letting the tingly spot in his mind power his legs forward. William bolted down one, two, three hallways. He tried to remember his previous path, but he couldn’t keep track when every hallway looked the same. Lightbulbs exploded behind him as he ran. He made four more turns before stopping in his tracks. Marcus was standing there waiting for him, and he was holding a gun.

           William put his hands up in the air. Marcus raised the gun higher and barked, “Stop! No more funny business or I shoot! And I don’t think you’re ready to try stopping a bullet just yet.”

           William was frozen in fear. He had held guns before, but he had never had one pointed directly at him. His legs trembled. He thought he might faint again.

           A hand reached out and touched William’s shoulder. “Marcus, put the gun away. That won’t be necessary.”

           William turned and threw his arms around his childhood doctor. “Doctor Sicile! Please, don’t let him hurt me.”

           “He’s not going to hurt you. I promise. That was some pretty extraordinary stuff you did back there. I’m very impressed.”

           “I don’t even know what I did.”

           “That’s what we’re here for. To help you learn to control it.”

           “Wait, you said I had a choice.” William stepped back from his doctor. “Earlier, you said I get to choose. Well, I’ve made my decision. I don’t want these powers. I want my pills back.”

           “Are you sure? With these abilities, you could help so many people.”

           “I could also hurt a lot of people.” William stood up straighter and looked Dr. Sicile directly in the eye. “I don’t want it. I want my pills.”

           “Very well, then.” Doctor Sicile scribbled a few notes and looked back to William, hand extended. “I suppose we’re done here. I’ll take you up front and arrange an escort home.”

           William reached out and shook his hand. “You mean it?”

           “I mean it. I told you, it’s your decision. But William?”

           “Yeah?”

           “I fear, one day, it won’t be your decision anymore.” Doctor Sicile held a newly filled bottle of medication for William. “You may be put in a situation where you have no choice but to accept and use your abilities. I hope it never happens. I hope you live a long, happy, normal life. But remember, always be prepared. And if you need me, I’ll be here.”

           William popped a pill in his mouth and smiled as the unfamiliar sensation receded within his mind. He took a business card from Doctor Sicile’s fingers, nodded, and followed him down the hallway toward the exit.

           At the end of the hall, just before walking out into the sunshine that awaited him, William reached his arms back and over his head to stretch his stiff muscles. With a grin, he clapped his hands together and bounded out into the parking lot toward the same pickup truck that had been used to capture him the night before, scratching the back of his head to relieve the itch that had appeared at the base of his skull.

           A vase holding a dozen lilies rattled on its plate and the ink pen which had been blown backward came to a rest on the soft carpet. Doctor Alice Osborn looked up to the camera in the corner of the ceiling and nodded almost imperceptibly. Smiling to herself, she tossed a half-empty bottle of pills to herself as she turned and walked slowly down the hallway toward her lab.