Free Inanimate by Deryck Jason

such a
person either. This was boy nicknamed “The Baby Killer” and Greg
MacNamee was about to meet him.
    A scratchy meowing sound bounced off the
walls in the Williams house ten times in a row. The joke present
Andy bought for his wife all those years ago was still going
strong. Andy stared blankly from his armchair; his eyes were red
from a combination of a lack of sleep and excessive alcohol
consumption. Minutes after the last meow, Andy shakily got up and
took a stroll around the house; his eyes graced from room to room
searching for someone to be there. The ticking cat’s tail was
hypnotic, quietly keeping Andy’s pace like a morbid metronome. The
family home had no family now; all the rooms had one thing in
common: They were all empty. Andy didn’t want to sleep in his room
after the incident so the couch was where he ended up. Even if he
wanted to, all his bedding had been stripped by CSI’s and now the
bed frame lay there, naked, a mausoleum of the memory of what
happened. As if staring at it would reverse the past he stood there
solemn, trying to piece together what went wrong. He tried to
picture his family life before the incident; unable to think of any
good memories before Beth’s voice interrupted him; screaming inside
his head over some trivial situation. Connor’s face flashed in. It
was sad, miserable.
    “ How could I not have seen it
coming?”
    His whole domestic life was immersed in
anger and pain for years and he did nothing about it. As his heart
rate rose, his emotions rushed to the surface.
    “ Fuck!”
    Andy screamed and with a solid square
right he attacked the bedroom door. Splintering the white timber,
he bloodied his knuckles in the process. Standing, fighting for
composure Andy’s shallow breathing made it hard for him to get
oxygen. The fist opened the clouds in his head, allowing clarity to
shine through for just a moment. Interpreting it as best he could
he headed down the stairs and snatched his car keys which were
hanging on a push pin by the door. He needed to get out; he was
suffocating in his own house. He convinced himself he was not
running away from his responsibilities as a father, he genuinely
felt he would be serving people better if he were out of the way.
Andy pulled the door shut behind him, leaving the cat clicking away
in the house alone.
    Connor Williams looked up at the
two Doctors standing before him. The older Doctor Crass stood in
the doorway observing as the younger Doctor MacNamee pulled up a
chair beside him. The boy’s mind felt a little clearer than it was
few days earlier. “Beth’s passing” -as he called it-removed a weight, a weight that
had dissolved itself and dissipated back into his subconscious
until such time that it may be required again.
    “ Hello Connor…” said the younger
Doctor in a low voice. “I’m Doctor Greg MacNamee, and this is
Doctor Benjamin Crass. How are you feeling today?”
    The high pitch of
Connor’s pre-pubescent voice only served to feed MacNamee’s fear of
how young the boy actually was. “Fine. How are you?”
    Before MacNamee answered, his psychologist
brain took note of the boy’s tone, and how it didn’t seem like he
was aware of what he had done.
    “ I’m very well thank
you .”
    Connor turned to Crass.
    “ And you?”
    Crass had been studying the boy
intently and almost stuttered when he was engaged by the
youngster.
    “ I’m good, thank you for
asking.”
    “ Connor, do you know where
you are?”
MacNamee asked, smiling at Crass’s reaction.
    “ Yes. I’m in hospital”
    “ Very good . But this is a special hospital;
here we help people who have problems with their mental health.
Myself and Doctor Crass here were your Doctors”
    “ I have two?”
    “ Yes, you happen to be a very
lucky boy Connor. You have both of us to help you here.”
    Connor switched his glance back to Crass who
stood by the door. Uncomfortable with the boys stare, he forced a
smile and a nod. Connor just stared back at