The Waiting Game

For Tom, the waiting was excruciating. Not only was he generally concerned for the wellbeing of his grandfather, but also his own possible restoration hung in the balance. Days bled into a week and while Tom Sr.’s vitals stabilized, the old man remain comatose.

Whether Dr. Holmstrom was aware of the liaison between him and Freja, Tom’s subsequent interactions with the doctor’s assistant were to be video recorded for research purposes, much to his chagrin. He spent the majority of his time taking advantage of the institute’s state of the art entertainment system, or on his phone Snapchatting with Janine and Tess. The blonde’s suggestive pictures doing little to defuse the rising swell of want in him. What he wouldn’t give for a night with her, tied to whatever it was she thought might be fun.

While not specifically confined to their rooms, the group was sequestered in the east wing of the institute with Tom receiving specific instruction to refrain from exploring other areas of the institute because his diminutive size placed him at elevated risk of injury due to misadventure.

After the seemingly endless week, Tom’s inquisitiveness and boredom compelled him to forego the notion safe isolation and see what other things he could discover in the institute. What other experiments were they conducting elsewhere?

As had become daily custom, he shared breakfast with the ladies before being left to his own devices until lunchtime. For the previous week, he mostly just slept until midday, but not today. Today he needed to get out and about and shake the lethargy filling his impatient brain: he needed an adventure.

He felt he had a solid understanding on the layout of the east wing, well at least his floor anyway. What other things were there to uncover?

Getting down from the bed was easy, old pro like he was, dropping onto the short pile carpeted floor. Rubbing his hands together mischievously, he eyed the open door and grinned wickedly. Setting off at an easy lope, he crossed the floor to the door, pausing at the metal strip across the door threshold where carpet transitioned to linoleum. Peering left, then right, he checked to see if there was anyone in the hall. Seeing no one, he stepped out of his room, the smooth waxed surfaced of the off color floor covering was cool under his feet. As usual when he was in an area where he might get accidently trodden upon, he kept close to the wall, skirting along the grey colored baseboard. The exception being on Miss Harwood’s bathroom rug, where she nearly stepped on him. Thinking of his teacher, he couldn’t help but envision her magnificent body towering naked over him.

Moving toward the end of the residential corridor, he paused to looked at the massive opaque glass barriers. Unlike the sealing doors of the operating or experiments rooms, the sweep across the door thresholds between wings weren’t as low to the ground, leaving a short space Tom figured with some effort he could probably sneak underneath. Down on his stomach, he gazed under the door at the space beyond, a slow smile playing across his face.

The area beyond on the door resembled some type of an open reception area, with a broad set of stairs bracketed with glass panels and chrome rails descending to his right. To his left, another set of opaque double doors and a wide counter. Straight across yet another set of double doors.

He could her a female voice speaking in Swedish as two young blonde haired women came into view walking up the stairs conversing. Swedish. Tom frowned. How prevalent was English in this country? Kind of took some of the fun out of eavesdropping if you didn’t know what the hell people were talking about. Reaching the landing, the women turned away from him, walking to the doors directly across from him. One of the women used an ID card and swiped it across a shiny black reader causing the door to swing inward, revealing a mirror of the hall from whence he had come.

What might they be doing down that way? Was it a hospital type setting? Residences? Were those perhaps college girls? The smile on his face turned slightly wicked. This kind of distraction might just be the type of thing he needed to wash away the sense of ennui plaguing him.

Squirming forward, something suddenly grabbed hold of his foot, jerking him back violently and lifting him into the air. Twisting from side to side, he glimpsed his aunt. Left leg pinned between a thumb and forefinger, she lifted him high into the air near her face.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked, one eyebrow arched.

Still inverted, he pointed back behind him as he swayed, “The great beyond,” he replied,

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head, “I don’t think so,” she stated.

He was utterly and completely surprised he hadn’t heard her. How had she managed to sneak up on him with him noticing? “You startled me,” he admitted sheepishly.

“Imagine my surprise to see you scurrying down the hall toward the door. You and your grandfather are very much alike,” she answered, tone slightly exasperated as she placed him in the palm of her free hand.

Grinning up at his mother’s sister, “Something about the acorn and the tree,” he quipped in response.

“Speaking of your grandfather, he regained consciousness about an hour ago,” she informed, turning on her heel and walking back down the hall Tom had most recently traveled.

“Really?” Tom asked, perking up.

She nodded slowly, “So far, everything seems to be, how did the doctor phrase it, within normal parameters,” she advised, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth and grinning impishly.

“That great,” he acknowledged.

“It is,” she stated.

“Where are you taking me?” he inquired.

“Your mother was speaking with the doctor about performing the test on you and she asked me to come fetch you. Little did I expect you would be sneaking off,” she chastised.

“I wasn’t ‘sneaking off’, I was simply gaining a better understanding of my environment,” he protested with a cheeky grin.

“You are a little gremlin, I swear,” she chuckled.

Tom knew it was true. Filled with the knowledge of his grandfather’s awakening, hope for his own restoration now seemed to be within his grasp.