You Had Me at Halo(48)

“I thought you said that couldn’t be done?” She narrowed her eyes. “So what’s changed all of a sudden?”

“I’m not taking him out of the body. I’m just going to put him to sleep for a few hours, so that he doesn’t interfere with the machine.”

“You want to give him that big needle and knock him out?” Holly demanded and when Dr. Hill agreed she gave a decisive shake of her head. “No way.”

“If I don’t do it then I can’t do the reading,” the doctor tried to explain but Holly just poked out her bottom lip in a mulish expression.

“Look, I might have deserved to be kicked out of heaven, but poor Vince here has been really good to me today and I’ve already messed up his life quite enough. He’s not having the needle.”

“What happens if we don’t do it?” Vince suddenly asked. “Will Holly get in trouble for not having this mid-purging analysis thing?”

Dr. Hill frowned. “She won’t get in trouble, but it’s designed to let her know how close she is to getting her issues sorted. Without it she’s more or less flying blind. It’s very haphazard.”

“I’ll chance it,” Holly said firmly.

“Well, I won’t,” Vince retorted in a surprisingly alpha way. “You hated Level One so the sooner you’re out of there the better. Give me the needle.”

“No.” Holly shook her head “Vince, it’s really nice of you, but honestly you’ve done enough already.”

“If you don’t get your issues sorted you might never see your parents again.” Vince thrust out his right arm. “Now let’s just get this thing done.”

“I need your consent as well, Miss Evans.” Dr. Hill appeared to be studying her face.

Vince—

Just say yes, Holly. I mean it, I’ll be okay and this way you can make sure you see your dad again. Okay?

Holly sniffed as she reluctantly nodded at Dr. Hill. “Fine, but you better make sure this thing is one hundred and ten percent safe.”

“You have my word on it.”

She winced as the cool tip of the needle sunk into her arm. “How does it know where Vince is and where I am?” she tried not to notice that her voice was wobbly.

“It’s all part of the abracadabra stuff. Mystical medicine is the best way of summing it up.” Dr. Hill now put away the needle and picked up the machine.

Vince, are you okay? she tentatively asked but she already knew he wasn’t there. After spending the day with him, it felt...odd, not to have him right with her.

He’s a nice guy by the way. You were lucky. Now, are you ready?

Holly held out her hand and the doctor slid a small steel ring over her knuckle. For a minute or so nothing happened before the machine started to make a beeping noise.

“What does that mean?”

“W-well.” He didn’t quite meet her eye. “It’s not great. You still seem to be struggling to get things resolved.”

“Yes, but I’m getting there,” Holly tried to nod her head in a positive fashion in case Dr. Hill was up for a bit of Jedi mind trick. “There was a bit of a setback with finding out who slipped me the pills, I was so certain it was Rochelle, but...well...Gemma and I will retrace my steps again and see what else we can come up with. As for Todd, I’m seeing him tonight. I have a feeling that’s going to go okay.”

“Of course.” The doctor gave a supportive smile. “It’s just you’ve really got to try and get everything sorted out. I can’t stress that enough.”

“I know.” Holly nodded. “Or else I’ll be stuck in horrid old Level One for ages. Well, I suppose there’s always the fat bloke to talk to,” she said with a sigh.

“Miss Evans,” Dr. Hill said in a soft voice. “If the manual purge doesn’t work you won’t remember who the fat...I mean who Mr. Michaels is.”

“As if I’m going to forget him and his smart mouth in a hurry.”

Dr. Hill started to fiddle with laser beam machine before coughing. “The thing is, if this doesn’t work, you won’t remember anything. If we can’t separate your earthly issues from the rest of your mind, then as a last resort we erase everything.”

Holly rubbed her chin and studied Vince’s shoe. “Well that doesn’t make any sense,” she finally said. “If you erase my memories then how will I know when I’m in Level Three? When I see my father again...or meet my real mother for the first time?”

“You won’t.”

For a moment all Holly could hear was the slight buzz of the insects floating around in the warm air. It was a perfect summer evening. The sort of night that in the past would’ve had Holly and Gemma down by the marina at their favorite bar, righting the wrongs of the world over a glass of wine. .

It was the sort of evening that she would never remember.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? She finally managed to croak.

“It’s all in the—”

“Rulebook,” Holly finished off with in a dull voice. “They should start to put a health warning on the front of that thing: ‘Don’t read at your own risk.’”

“It’s not normally such a problem, but for some reason your mind is really blocked to the greater glories of heaven.”