Among the Imposters

Twenty Nine

Luke slid his hands under Jason’s armpits and began dragging him down the stairs. Down was easier than up. And if Jason woke up and started screaming, he’d be less likely to wake somebody if he and Luke were on the first floor.

Of course, if Jason woke up and attacked Luke, there was also less chance Luke could get help on the first floor.

Luke made himself concentrate on pulling the bigger boy Jason’s feet slipped down the first step and hit hard. Jason moaned but didn’t open his eyes.

Maybe he’s just faking Luke thought. Maybe he’s wide awake and he’s just waiting for the right moment to attack. .

That thought made Luke sweat. But he pulled harder, and got Jason all the way to the bottom of the steps withOut waking him up.

Next, Luke dragged Jason down the hall. A right turn, a left turn, a right turn. Jason was heavy, and Luke’s arms ached. His head ached, too, from trying to plan. He found the door he’d been looking for and forced himself to knock.

“Yes?” a sleepy voice responded.

Luke grimaced. He’d been half-hoping this idea would fail. Be brave, he told himself.

“Nurse!” he called out. “It’s my — my friend. He’s sick.”

How could he have called Jason a friend?

Oh, well. He had a lot more lies ahead of him.

The door eased open. The nurse stood there in a ruffled dressing gown.

“Oh, my,” she said dimly when she’d taken in the sight of Jason slumped on the floor. Luke tried to hold him up the way a concerned friend would, but it was hard. Luke would have enjoyed dropping him.

“He passed out,” Luke said needlessly. “He was having a — a seizure, ranting and raving. He was. . telling lies. Making up stories.” That should help if Jason came to. ~I think it’s called delirium, what he had. I think staying unconscious is the best thing for him. Can you give him something that will keep him asleep?”

“Oh, my,” the nurse repeated, frowning. “Usually, in these circumstances, we want to revive the patient.”

It wasn’t fair. Now the nurse seemed to know what she was talking about

“Help me get him inside,” she ordered Luke.

The nurse took Jason’s legs, and Luke lifted. The strain on his muscles was terrible. Luke was panting by the time they got Jason to a bed in the nurse’s office. She immediately began looking him over.

“Did he hit his head?” she asked Luke as she felt Jason’s scalp.

Panic bubbled up in Luke’s stomach.

“May-Maybe,” he said. “He was, um, thrashing around a lot. In his sleep.”

“I thought he was ranting and raving,” the nurse said, fixing Luke with an unexpectedly sharp stare. “Was he doing that in his sleep, too?”

Luke gulped.

“No. He was thrashing about, and then he woke up, and acted delirious. And then he had a seizure and went unconscious. I think It happened really fast. It was really scary.

Luke got another idea.

“You know, you should really strap him down in bed, so if he wakes up and starts acting weird again, he won’t hurt himself”

“Thanks for the medical advice,” the nurse said. She lifted one of Jason’s eyelids and shone a flashlight into his eye. Luke held his breath. If Jason woke up now, he could tell the nurse anything he wanted, and she’d believe him. Jason was a much better liar than Luke. Jason’s lips moved. Had he mumbled something that the nurse could hear but Luke couldn’t? Luke tried to quell his panic. He watched with relief as Jason’s eye rolled blindly back in his head. The nurse gently placed the eyelid back against the eye. Jason didn’t move.

The nurse sat down at a desk and took up a pen.

“Now. What’s your friend’s name?” she asked.

“Ja — I mean, Scott Renault,” Luke said.

The nurse peered at him doubtfully.

“And your name is—” “Lee Grant,” Luke mumbled.

The nurse was watching him carefully. Too carefully.

“Okay,” she said. “Let me type your account of your friend’s injury into the computer.” She disappeared around a corner. Luke could hear the nurse muttering to herself. Then there was the clickety-clack of a keyboard. The sound made him miss Jen. He remembered Jason acting so excited when Luke had mentioned her name. But that had just been an act — an act contrived to get Luke to trust him, to reveal his real name, so Jason could betray him.

Luke’s head spun. It was too hard to recast his memories with Jason as a traitor.

The nurse came back.

“Sign this,” she said.

Disheartened, Luke signed without reading.

“Now. Why don’t you go on back to bed?” the nurse said to Luke. “I’ll take good care of your friend. I promise.”

That’s what Luke was afraid of.

But there was nothing else for him to do but back out of the door.

“Let me know how he is,” Luke begged as he left. ‘And if he says anything crazy— “Don’t worry,” the nurse said. “I’ve heard plenty ofcrazy talk around here.”

Out in the hallway, Luke wished he’d thought of another plan. Ropes! He could have tied Jason up, and gagged him, and… and put him where, exactly? Even the boys who stared at the ground all day would notice a bound and gagged boy lying around. And where was Luke supposed to get ropes and a gag? No, Luke had had to take his chances with the nurse. He just had to hurry even faster now. Who could tell what lies Jason might tell the nurse when he awoke? All Luke knew was, Jason wouldn’t cast Luke as the heroic friend who’d carried Jason to help.

Actually, Jason wouldn’t even have to lie. All he had to say was that Luke had hit him with a book and knocked him down. That was true, though not the whole truth. And if anyone wanted to investigate, they could examine Luke’s book, and— Luke’s book. Stunned by his own stupidity, Luke realized: He’d left his book and Jason’s portable phone back on the stairs.

Forgetting to go quietly, Luke raced down the hall, around corners, and back up the stairs. He saw the history textbook cast off in the corner of the landing, where he’d dropped it. He snatched it up and hugged it to his chest like a long-lost friend. Now, to find the phone— The phone was nowhere in sight.