The Nostradamus File

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"You pissed me off," Nick said.

Milton nodded.

"It sounded like you were blaming me for what happened. For the deaths."

"Why don't you talk about that?"

"You were there. You know what it's like."

"Yes. But we're not talking about me."

"Why is this important?"

"You tell me." Milton sipped from a mug with an inscription that read I Used To Be Schizophrenic But We're So Much Better Now.

"You're not going to give me much, are you?"

"What do you think I should give you?"

"I don't know. Advice, maybe? About how to stop the dream?"

"Would it help if we spent time analyzing it to try and figure out what it meant?"

"No. I already know what it means."

"There you go. Talk about that."

"Seems pretty straightforward. I had to kill a kid. I didn't want to. I feel bad about it."

"So why do you keep having the dream?"

"Isn't that what happens with PTSD? You have nightmares."

"More happened than just that kid. You were almost killed. Several of your men were killed."

"It's what happens in war."

"That's like saying the sky is blue."

Nick felt himself getting angry again.

"You're getting angry. Want to tell me why?"

"It feels like you're not listening. I say something and you throw another question at me or dismiss what I say."

"Because I said that about the sky."

"Yes."

"When you say people getting killed is what happens in war you're ducking the issue."

"What issue?"

"You tell me."

Nick wanted to get up and walk out again. He thought about Selena.

"I guess almost getting killed."

Milton nodded. It could have been approval. Or not. "How did you feel when you saw that grenade coming at you?"

Nick's back began hurting. "I didn't feel anything."

Milton waited. Nick remembered.

The boy's head explodes in a cloud of blood and bone. The grenade is in the air, coming at him. He starts to move but he can't get out of the way. He's helpless…

"I don't remember," Nick said.

Milton waited.

"Helpless," Nick said. Milton nodded, just a little.

"We're almost out of time," he said. "Do you want to come next week?"

"I'm going out of town. I'll have to call when I get back."

"Good," Milton said.

As Nick walked to his car he felt like something had happened, but he wasn't sure what it was.