Double Identity Ch. 02

I hope that everyone enjoyed the first chapter. Now that Sal is involved I'm going to use the convention that anything in italics is non-verbal communication. I hope you enjoy this chapter and those that follow.

***********

I came to with Shawna holding my head and a nurse from the rehab facility checking my pulse. I shrugged the nurse away and struggled to sit up. Shawna helped me and in a few seconds I was leaning up against the side of my bed.

"Are you all right Mr. Buck!" The nurse asked, once again reaching for my wrist.

"I'm fine." I said, shaking my head to clear it. "I think I stood up too fast."

"You're just a big pussy!" I heard in Sal's voice to my right. I whipped my head around and there he was, standing against the far wall, a well-chewed toothpick hanging out of his mouth. He was grinning at me, his almost too white teeth shining in his swarthy, roman-nosed Italian face. I felt my mouth drop open as I stared at him.

Following my stare, Shawna looked over and then back at me. "What's wrong Roy?" She asked.

"It's Sal." I muttered in disbelief. She looked again.

"Sal?" She said it as a question. "Who's Sal?"

"My partner." I muttered. "Over there."

"You're scaring me Roy." She said. "There's no one over there. You're seeing things."

I looked up at her and said, "He's right over there against the wall. Can't you see him?"

"Roy, there's no one over there. I'm afraid you might have hit your head. We need to call Dr. Seldon." Shawna said looking at the nurse. She and the nurse helped me stand and then get into bed. The whole time, Sal stood against the wall and watched. Once I was situated he pushed off the wall and walked toward me. He flicked his head back swinging a lock of his black hair out of his eyes, an action I had seen him do a thousand times, as he walked up behind Shawna and the nurse. He leaned over them and stared unabashedly down both of their shirts as they worked to straighten out my bed covers.

"This one here's got a nice rack too." Sal said, indicating the nurse with a nod of his head. "But your girlfriend has got her by a mile in the ass department." Sal strolled over to the doorway and headed out of the room. Before he left, Sal leaned back in and said, "And Roy, bro, you're not going crazy. I'll catch up with ya later." Then he was gone.

Not going crazy! Bullshit! I think I've gone from zero to ape-shit crazy in about ten seconds. Fuck!

Shawna and the duty nurse finished getting me settled and then brought in my dinner.

"Here Mr. Buck, eat something. It may be that today's exertions lowered your blood sugar." The nurse said. "I'll be back to check your vitals in a few minutes. Can you stay and keep an eye on him for a few minutes Ms. Torry?" The nurse asked Shawna. Shawna nodded and the nurse hustled off.

As soon as the nurse left Shawna sat on the edge of the bed and put her hand on the side of my face.

"Are you all right?" She asked me softly.

I shook my head. "I don't know Shawna, I really don't." I replied.

"What did you see?" She asked.

I looked up at her and all I saw was concern for me. I sighed and decided to tell her the truth. "I saw my dead partner Sal."

"The policeman that died in the bombing?" She asked, the look on her face growing more concerned.

"Yeah." I answered. "At first he was sitting on the bed and he spoke to me. That's when I guess I fainted. When I came too he was standing up against the wall over there."

"Where is he now? Is he still here?"

"No. He, um, walked out of the room." I said. "He's gone."

Shawna moved her hand away from my face and held my hands in hers. She looked down and our hands and I squeezed them. She squeezed me back. Suddenly she looked up at me.

"Wait, did you say he spoke to you?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Hmmm. That's interesting." She said. "It's not uncommon for people to have visions, especially after traumatic events, but it's unusual that the visions speak to you too."

"What, are you a psychiatrist too?" I asked using my just joking around voice.

"Psych minor in college actually, but I liked massage therapy and nursing better." She told me, "But I do remember some things. I actually did a internship at a military hospital dealing with PTSD patients."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to put you down..."

"You didn't, I know you were fooling around." Shawna said. "So, what did Sal say to you?"

I blushed. She caught me.

"Come on spill it, or your next massage is going to hurt like hell!" She threatened. "And there won't be a 'happy ending' either!"

I looked straight at her and said, "Sal said you have a sweet ass."

"Damn right I do!" She said, "and don't you forget it!"

Shawna stood and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "Roy, my best guess is that today's physical therapy, massage and sex wore you out and allowed your mind to pull a fast one on you. You ended up having a hallucination. Probably nothing to worry about. And, since that hallucination was dredged up out of your subconscious, I'm going to say 'thank you' for the nice compliment about my ass!"

"Yeah, you're probably right." I agreed. Shawna folded up her table and put her oils away, finishing up just as the nurse returned.

"I'll see you tomorrow Roy." Shawna said as the nurse prepared to draw some blood from me. She slipped out of the room and I listened as her footsteps retreated down the hallway.

"I called Dr. Seldon." The nurse said as she poked around at my elbow looking for a vein. "He'll be in tomorrow, but he wants to run some blood work overnight. Okay?" She asked as she jabbed me with the needle.

"Ouch, damn!" I swore as the needle hit a nerve dead on. "Would it have mattered if I didn't want blood work done?"

"Nope, not one bit." She replied with an evil grin. "Devin hasn't left for the evening, I have a feeling he would just love to hold you down for me while I got my samples."

"Let's do this your way then." I replied with the unfortunate vision of how Devin would probably like to hold me down spinning in my head.

"Good choice." She replied.

***********

Dr. Seldon walked into my room bright and early the next morning, followed closely by my old partner Sal. Sal put his fingers to his lips, imploring me to keep quiet. So, I did my best to ignore him as he took a seat in a chair across the room. The doc perched himself of the edge of my bed and began flipping through my medical chart. He looked at it for several minutes before putting it down and looking at me.

"Well, there's nothing in the lab work to indicate why you fainted yesterday. Blood sugar is normal, blood oxygen and iron content are good, blood pressures were normal," He said, "so we can rule out a physical problem. That leaves a traumatic experience. Tell me about your hallucination."

"I saw my dead partner Sal sitting on my bed." I said rather matter-of-factly. "I guess it must have shocked the shit out of me."

"I can understand that." He replied. "I also understand that you continued to see him after you woke up, isn't that true?"

"Yeah."

"Has he reappeared to you since then." He asked. I could see Sal shaking his head at me to be quiet. Now, Sal hasn't always been the best option for good advice so I wasn't inclined to take his word about not saying anything.

I took a deep breath and decided to trust my own instincts rather than my hallucination of Sal. "Doctor, I need you to promise me that no matter what I tell you, you'll do you best to help me get back to work at the police department."

"I can't promise you anything for sure, but I'll do my best to get you healthy. Will that work?"

"Yeah. And another thing, what I'm going to say may implicate an employee here in something a bit, um, unusual. You must promise me to keep that part secret."

He looked long and hard at me before nodding his head.

I told him the whole story, well not the play by play with Shawna, but I told him we had oral sex. He even laughed when I told him what Sal said about Shawna's ass. When I finished, he sat there for a minute lost in thought before speaking again.

"And he's in the room right now?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's sitting in that chair over there giving me the finger." Doc Seldon looked over there and then back again.

"Well, I definitely can't see him." He said. He stood up and moved to the bed next to my head. He gently turned my head so that he could look and the damaged side of my skull. My hair still hadn't fully regrown over the scars from my reconstructive surgery, giving my head a lop-sided look. "This is healing well." He said before sitting down again. "Roy, we never discussed this in depth, but I think that we should now. Do you know what hit you in the head during the explosion?"

"No." I said. "I guess that I assumed it was something in the backpack or a piece of the tree planter."

Doctor Seldon shook his head. "Roy, it was large piece of Mr. Martello's skull. Part of the problem that the neurosurgeon had during the operation was trying to determine what was your brain matter and what was Mr. Martello's. The area of your brain that was damaged was a hot mess, if you'll excuse the terminology. The best that could be done was to remove the fragments of bone and try to stop the bleeding. We really didn't think you would survive. There were potential issues with necrotic tissues, bleeds, and swelling. We weren't sure if you'd ever wake up or even be able to speak or move. You have far exceeded our expectation. In fact, you're a miracle."

"How come I haven't had any serious effects from the brain damage?" I asked. "If the damage was that extensive how come I'm not paralyzed or something."

"Pure luck." He replied. "The area that was damaged is thought to be mostly involved with artistic activities and pleasure response. It doesn't involve motion, speech, memory or hearing."

"So, what does all this mean?" I asked.

Doctor Seldon sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Here is my official thought. I think that your sexual exploits yesterday stimulated the damaged portion of your brain and caused your hallucinations. If so, I believe that, in time, they will probably go away as your brain continues to heal."

"You said that was your official thought. Do you have another?" I asked.

He nodded and flipped open my chart. He turned it toward me and pointed to a number on the lab sheet. "Do you see this? This number in a normal person should be below 1.5. You are at 7.0."

"What does that mean?"

"We only see the higher numbers in people who have had organ transplants." He said. "I believe that you have incorporated a portion of Mr. Martello's brain into your own and your body has accepted it. If so, your hallucinations may be a result of his residual memories expressing themselves. Again, probably brought on by having sex with Ms. Torrey."

"So Doc, you're saying that I literally have Sal Martello in my head?"

"Yes."

From the chair Sal laughed his fucking head off.

**********

Doctor Seldon soon left, leaving me alone with Sal for the first time. He got up and walked over to me, taking Seldon's place on the edge of my bed. I reached out to touch him but he cringed away.

"Don't touch me." Sal said. "It hurts like hell when I touch living people."

"Living people?"

"I'm a ghost." Sal told me. "I've been like this since the moment of the blast. Hell, I was standing next to the blast site before the dust settled. It was a fucking mess, I'll tell you that. They had to scrape me off of everything."

"That's disgusting." I said.

"You're telling me?" Sal replied. "I'd have lost my lunch if I could have. Anyway, if I touch a living person it shocks the hell out of me, almost like being tasered."

"Can you walk through walls and shit?" I asked.

"Yeah, and that doesn't hurt but it feels weird." Sal explained. "It's like your body is slipping through a screen or something." He shuddered. "But you have to do it to get around. I can't open doors or anything."

"That sounds like it sucks."

"You get used to it." He said.

"So, where have you been all this time." I asked. "How come it took you so long to find me?"

"Shit bro, I didn't even know you were alive until a few weeks ago. I thought you croaked in the explosion too." Sal told me. "Mostly I've been hanging out at my house watching over Jenny. But a couple of weeks ago I started to feel something... something pulling me in this direction. It didn't happen all the time, just a hint here and there. But yesterday, when you were getting your knob polished by that fine piece of ass, it was suddenly like a beacon drawing me in. I got here just in time to watch you finish her off. But now I can pinpoint you no matter where I go. I went back to my old house last night but I could still feel where you are."

"How?"

"The Doc was right Roy, there's a piece of my brain stuck in there with yours. I can feel it. I'm still attached to it somehow." He said. "I think that's why you can see me and hear me."

"Oh fuck!" I thought. "This can't be happening."

"Oh, it's happening all right." Sal responded.

Wait. What? "You can hear my thoughts?" I asked him, dumbfounded.

"Of course I can." He said. "I am literally 'in your head.'"

"Oh shit! I am so fucked!" I thought.

"Yep." Sal replied with a grin.

**********

And so things went for me for a while. I continued to get stronger with the help of Devon and Shawna and Shawna continued to 'help' me with my other needs too. We grew closer together, as friends, but I think we both knew that there wouldn't be any long term thing for us. I had a pretty good idea that we would remain fuck buddies until she eventually found a man and settled down. I'd been down the marriage road once and that was enough for me. I might have a live-in girlfriend from time-to-time, but I had no intention of ever getting hitched again.

I quit mentioning Sal to anyone, even Doctor Seldon. He eventually wrote it off as a traumatic experience that didn't repeat itself. Sal, however, popped in every day to check on me and to shoot the shit. While I was in rehab, I got to experience a little of the outside world from a ghost's point of view. It was definitely enlightening.

First of all, you've got to realize that Sal is an immature asshole. He's that guy who always has some gross sexist or racist joke to tell. He's the guy who puts a whoopee cushion on your seat or pulls your pants down in front of the class. Being a ghost has made him worse and I'm not kidding. Sal has decided that being a ghost is awesome because he can now be the ultimate peeping tom. Yep, you heard me right. Sal, pervert extraordinaire, sneaks into women's homes to watch them get naked, masturbate and have sex. Here's an example from a week or so ago:

"Dude, do you remember that little latino girl that lived next door to me and Jenny?" Sal asked one day as we were hanging out in my room watching a ball game.

"Um, sort of." I said trying to remember. "Carmen, right? Skinny girl with braces?"

"That's her, but she ain't skinny no more." Sal replied. "She filled out. Double D tits and a tight little ass that just begs to be grabbed. She gives me a chubby just seeing her."

"So."

"So anyway, I'm over at the house hanging out, making sure that Jenny's all right when I see some douche bag hanging around outside Carmen's house." He tells me. "So I follow him around thinking that maybe he's going to rob the place and wondering what the hell I'll be able to do about it if he is. All of a sudden, the back door opens and Carmen is waiving this guy inside. I slip inside the door before it closes and I swear that before the door finishes closing little Carmen has her tongue down this guys throat."

Sal has my attention now.

"She takes this dude's hand and drags him over the couch in the den. She sits down and he stands in front of her. Carmen unzips him, pulls his pants down and proceeds to swallow him whole." He says. "I mean right down to his curlies. I don't know where she learned it but that girl can sure suck dick. Anyway, he's got his hands on her head, fucking her mouth while she's unbuttoning her shirt. She shrugs it off and she's not wearing a bra. Roy, them tits are un-fucking real! They're the size of cantaloupes and they stick straight out from her chest like the business end of a couple of torpedoes. I just had to touch them!"

"What!" I said out loud. "I thought that hurt you."

"It does but it was worth it." He said with a smile. "Zapped the shit out of me but you know what? Her nipple got hard!"

"No way."

"Honest to God!" Sal said.

"What else happened?" I asked, wrapped up in the story now. I was getting a hard on and wishing that Shawna was coming today but it was her day off.

"Well, I grabbed a seat at the end of the couch where I had a good view and I watched the fun. She sucked him for a few minutes, getting his dick good and wet, then she let him tit fuck her!"

"No shit!" I said

"Oh yeah. She held them big tits together and he slid his prick right in there. It didn't take him long. He blew his load all over her face and chest. It was fucking sexy as hell."

"Then what happened?"

"Her mom and dad came home." Sal told me with a grin. "Douche bag hauled ass out the back door while Carmen dashed upstairs. She almost got caught. Now that would have been fun to watch. How you going to explain being topless with a dick load of spunk sprayed all over your face and tits?"

I laughed my ass off at the thought of it. "So that was the end of your peeping huh?"

"No way. I followed her upstairs and found her in her room." Sal continued. "She stripped down, grabbed one of those rabbit vibrators out of her underwear drawer and lay down on her bed. Dude, with one hand she was running that big purple vibe in and out of her cunt and with the other she was rubbing douche bag's spunk into her skin. It was the sexiest fucking thing I ever seen."

"Wow!" I said. Then I thought about how damn horny just hearing about this little escapade had made me and I wondered how Sal could stand it. "Sal, how does this not drive you crazy. I'm worked up just hearing about it."

Sal looked me like I was stupid. "Roy, I took care of business. I rubbed one out right there in her bedroom. In fact, I shot my wad all over her pretty face! Of course, she didn't know it but I enjoyed the hell out of it!"

"Uh, yuck! I said kind of grossed out. I guess that the thought that a ghost could be jacking off on me without me knowing it was a little too much information.

Sal shrugged his shoulders, "You asked." He replied.

**********

Two months later I was finally released from rehab. I had regained full use of my legs and arms. In fact, I was probably in better shape now than I had been before the bombing. Shawna brought me some clothes to wear home and she even offered to drive me after I was released. I signed all the paperwork and said my goodbyes and before I knew it I was standing outside the front door. I was healthy again and about to reenter real life. An orange Camaro with black racing stripes pulled up in front of me. The heavily tinted window on the passenger door rolled down and I could see Shawna behind the wheel.