Missed Appointment

After having attempted to knock a few times and not getting a response as well as not hearing anything from inside, the apartment she'd finally decided that he really wasn't home and was going to leave.

Getting back to the street she now saw John's old car parked none too well in fact down the block. Curious she walked over to take a look, Holly didn't see him in the car at first but as she got closer she found someone slumped over the wheel. Holly approached the car with more caution now while she also kept one hand on the small can of pepper spray in her coat pocket and took a look inside.

With that one look she confirmed that yep it was John alright and he didn't look like he was moving; in fact from the way he was sitting there it looked like he was unconscious. . Wondering for a moment if he was drunk which, considering the neighborhood they were in, wouldn't have surprised her all that much. Holly taped on the cars window a couple of times and when she didn't get a response she knocked louder and this time he seemed to come around and with a grunt sat up.

"Oh hello there nice to meet you at last," he told her with a crooked grin. As if they had some kind of standing appointment. Then with what was a visible effort he got the car door open and with a louder grunt of what could only be pain stepped out. While he took a moment to rest, Holly was really starting to wonder what was wrong with him, then he asked her to get his bag out of the back seat. Please he offered. Since he seemed to be having some trouble or other that didn't at least appear to have anything to do with alcohol, she complied and found the bag in question had a camera and various lenses in it. With that, the two of them set off at a slow pace for the front door of his apartment. Holly was really getting concerned now because the more steps he took, the harder it seemed to be for him to go on.

Just getting up the stairs to the second floor of the building seemed to about do him in. . Finally unable to hold back her curiosity any longer she asked about his apparent difficulty he just shrugged.

"Had a rough day," he told her with a shrug that brought a wince of pain, "sort of an occupational hazard." Since up to this time he had on a long shabby overcoat it wasn't until they were inside the apartment and she helped him off with the coat that she got a look at the big red stain on his shirt. .

Gasping she asked the obvious question, "Are you alright?"

Settling into a well worn easy chair, John just gave a deep sigh and nodded, "I'll be fine he assured her. Like I said it's an occupational hazard."

"What happened?" Holly asked in spite herself, the reporter in her coming to the fore again. . From where she was standing in the living room, Holly took a second and glanced around at the some of the things John kept out. Most of the furniture appeared to be as low rent as the apartment with most of it showing a few burn holes. Which made sense since the whole place reeked of cigarette smoke, not that the overflowing ash trays scattered around weren't a giveaway.

But there were a few pictures in what look like real sterling silver frames that looked very old. Taking a closer look Holly saw one of a young and very beautiful woman in old fashioned clothes standing next to a horse; in fact there were several of her in different poses. It was the last one that quickly got Holly's attention though since in this one, the women was standing next to someone in what looked like a wedding picture and that man looked just like John...but how could that be?

Holly's diverted attention hadn't gone unnoticed. John simply took the moment his young guest spent studying his apartment to fish a pack of smokes out of his pocket and light one up with as deep a drag as the hole in his chest would allow before it started to protest.

Smelling the fresh smoke Holly turned back to John, "You know those things are going to kill you," Holly said only half in jest. John though started to laugh at that idea and between gasping coughs and told her that smoking was the least of his problems.

Seeing where she had been looking John, despite his discomfort, wanted to get the conversation back on track. He had already decided that the inquisitive young women wasn't ready to know the whole story, not yet, so he decided to answer her first question as a segway to the rest of it by stating the obvious fact. "I got shot," he replied simply.

"What! How?" she asked. John had been right, that information got Holly's full attention. .

"It was a car jacking across town and I got in the middle of it."

"Why did you do that?"

"Trust me that wasn't my plan," he assured her, "unfortunately sometimes you can get a little too close to the action," he replied with a shrug wincing at the sharp pain that movement caused. . "This is one of those times."

"Why aren't you at the hospital?" she asked incredulously. She knew that's where she would be if she'd been shot. But John was already shaking his head.

"I'll be fine in a while, this isn't the first time that something like this has happened." Seeing that she didn't understand he continued, "If I go to the hospital they have to file a report and in any case I'm not going to die so there really isn't any point." Pausing to look at her more intently he said, "I'm surprised that you're not at the car jacking actually it looked like it was going to be a real three ring circus."

"I'm not the only person working at the station you know," she informed him. At that moment fate decided to prove her wrong with the sounding of her cell phone, showing more than a little annoyance she pulled it out of her purse. Holly saw it was Roger at the station, and with a sigh she flipped it open suspecting what he was going to say.

She was right of course Roger wanted to know was just where the hell she was and how soon she could get down to the station. Holly informed him that where she was was none of his business and why did she need to come in already? She found out why with the information that there had been a car jacking that went bad with two people dead and now there had been robbery across town and he needed her to meet Tami over there and cover it like right now. Holly shot a glance at her new acquaintance, there were so many questions that she wanted to ask but with Roger on the line and time slipping away, she knew she had to go. Holly told Roger that she'd meet Tami at the scene of the robbery and then hung up. .

John waited, sitting as comfortably as he could with a bullet in his chest and a lit cigarette sitting none too easily in the full ashtray by his chair. Holly was really getting frustrated that once again she was not going to get the answers that had brought her here but she knew it was just going to have to wait. .

As if he could read her mind John reassured her, "Don't worry I'll be here when you get done doing your thing. You can come back and we can talk then." Seeing the sincere look on his face Holly decided he was telling the truth, not that she had a lot of choice in the matter in any case she knew that she'd just have to save all her questions for later and quickly headed out the door with a promise to get back as soon as she could.

The scene of the car jacking might have been the three ring circus that John described but the robbery sounded pretty lively on its own, from what she heard on the police scanner anyway. It took what seemed like forever for the two women to get the footage and interviews they needed then get it edited and ready in time for the evening news show. But once it was finally done, Holly couldn't stand the suspense anymore and headed back to John's apartment as fast as she could. Tami had noticed that her friend was a little off her game and when she asked about it, Holly almost told her what had been happening but at the last moment she held back. Not because she didn't trust her but because to be honest, what did she really know?

So after again promising Tami she'd tell her what had been going on later Holly finally got out of the station. Arriving back at John's apartment she found the lights still on, which was encouraging. She took it as a hopeful sign, but Holly did wonder if she'd find a dead body waiting for her inside despite his assurances to the contrary and if she did what would she do about it? How could she explain what she had been doing there to the cops and the fact she didn't call for help the first moment she knew something had happened? With a sigh at how deep she was getting into this, Holly pushed those thoughts out of her head for the moment. First she wanted to see if he was dead or alive and then she'd somehow deal with whatever she found.

Knocking at the door Holly was suddenly struck by the thought of how she'd even get in if this enigmatic man was in fact lying in there unconscious or dead. But those thoughts were quickly left by the way side when after a moment the door opened to show John standing there now looking only a little worse for wear. He'd even changed his cloths and at least seemed to be alright.

Seeing her surprise at his recovery John simply said, "I told you not to worry," and motioned her inside. Walking into the room Holly found herself keeping her distance. This was after all a man that a few hours ago looked like he was about ready to drop, his shirt covered in blood and now well he still didn't look entirely well but he sure looked a lot healthier than he did then. How was this possible, she asked herself and in those few seconds her thoughts ran the gambit from being curious to intrigued, to frightened to just what the hell was she doing here alone with him. After all no one knew she was here... what the hell had she been she been thinking?

"You were shot weren't you?" she asked suddenly asking the obvious just to get it out in the open. Also wanting to make sure she wasn't the victim of some kind of practical joke.

John just snorted in amusement, "Oh yea I sure was," and just to prove it he lifted his t-shirt to show the large bruise on the right side of his chest.

Moving closer to him she could even still see the mark where what must have been the bullet had hit him. But it had already almost healed already. So it was true then? But how could this be?

When she voiced her thoughts out loud John just shrugged telling her it was a long story if she wanted to hear it, "but to be honest you probably wouldn't believe me anyway, I don't blame you for that really," he assured her, "since if I were you I wouldn't believe it either."

While waiting earlier to see if the young reporter would in deed come back though, he would have been very surprised if she hadn't. John had some time to think about things and had decided that he really didn't have all that much to lose by telling her as much as she was ready to hear, so he would bring her in on his secret if it looked like she wanted to know and if it looked like she could handle the truth. . He sincerely hoped she could; it had been so long since anyone had known the real truth, and the loneliness of his existence had sometimes become almost overwhelming. John didn't consider the fact that he could be inadvertently placing her life in danger by bring her into his confidence. Though afterward he'd have plenty of time to reconsider and regret his decision.

So here she was standing in the living room of a guy who she had just met who by all rights should either be dead or, at the very least in the hospital, but was instead walking around with no more discomfort than if he' d pulled a few muscles. The sane move would be to get the hell out of there and just right all this off as some sort of breakdown on her part, or maybe it was just one of those weird unexplainable things that people sometimes run across and when they can't figure it out, they just forget it with a shrug of their shoulders and move on with there lives. All these thoughts were clearly visible on her face as she considered them.

Again resting comfortably in his easy chair John had been studying her closely, as she waged her internal debate. Finally getting up with a still noticeable twinge he moved over to look out the window since he didn't want to influence her decision either way if he could help it. He would just have to wait to see just what she was going to decide. He honestly wouldn't blame her if she just walked away. It wouldn't have been the first time someone had. There have been a few over the years that have gotten suspicious of him and that led to one sort of meeting like this or another. But somehow he didn't think she would learn perhaps a bit of the truth and decided it was just too crazy and walk away no she struck him as someone who wanted to know the truth even if the knowing might mean that they wouldn't ever sleep well again.

Some truths are like that; once you know something it so fundamentally changes your outlook on the world that nothing is ever the same again... sort of like the loss of childhood innocence, he supposed with a mental shrug.

Turning to John and squaring her shoulders finally Holly reached her decision, "I want to know what's going on," she said in as firm a voice as she could manage.

Nodding John simply turned from the window and moved back to his easy chair and gingerly sat back down. But before he began he first lit up another smoke. Holly though wondered if all the second hand smoke in the room with them would kill her. .

"You have to know a few things right off, first if I tell you this then you have to know that your life will never be the same. You'll never look at the world the same way again." he told her in all seriousness, giving voice to his earlier thoughts. "I don't know what your religious affiliations are but this will most likely shake you up a bit."

"What? Are you trying to talk me out of this?" she asked with a smirk. It was a little funny to have the mystery man tell her all this now after she had made her decision to want to know what was going on.

Giving her back a tired smile of his own, John just stated, "No but I want you to go into this with your eyes as open as they can be. I also want you to know that if you want to walk out that door and forget about me I wouldn't blame you. . In fact it could very well be the smart play here," he told her in all seriousness

Nodding Holly knew what he was doing, at least she thought she did; it was the same sort of thing that a reporter might use on a whistle blower, giving them an opportunity to back out before they are in too deep. But she, like them had made her decision and was committed. . "I understand that and I appreciate the offer but I want to know."

John nodded as he crossed his legs and relaxed back into his chair ready it seemed to tell his tale. "Very well then," he said waving her over to the other chair in the room and started in, "I remember from before that you were looking at the photo's I have set out," he said by way of a beginning.

"Yes I was."

"And you saw the one with me in it?"

"I saw one with someone that looks a like you but that could have been someone else or maybe the picture wasn't as old as it looked," she told him giving voice to at least a couple of the more rational explanations for what she had seen.

John nodded his understanding, "That's all true. But what if the pictures you were admiring were real and were perhaps even older than you thought?" Holly wasn't sure what he was trying to say.

"The wedding photo was taken on April 13, 1832," he stated bluntly, watching her reaction. "The others were taken shortly before and just after that."

"What? That was how long ago?"

"Almost 132 years," he told her, sparing her the effort of trying to do the math. "You look just the same," she informed him unnecessarily. He nodded, "You haven't aged?" He nodded again.

"How is that possible?"

"It started with sickness, you see we were both deathly ill, just like lots of other people, a wave of cholera was seeping thorough the city, this city ironically enough, thousands died in just a few weeks. Well one of those people was my beloved Edith."

Staring off into space for a moment John was surrounded by a sea of memories. He pointed to a photo album on a shelf, "That one there, could you give it to me please." Holly took down the old and worn tomb and carried it over to him. Thumbing through the well-worn pages it was almost like he was talking to himself. "Our life together was so carefree then so innocent, how things have changed, he said, his voice getting grim. "Of course I didn't know what would happen till later, no one saw this coming. We both caught the bug and got very sick in fact I suppose that's where our story really begins.

On October 13, 1832, both Edith and I were sick with cholera. We were being treated in the same makeshift clinic, though we were in different rooms. All the hospitals were completely overwhelmed of course, there were so many people sick and dying, you can't even imagine," he told her. "I was lying there so ill I can hardly describe to you the pain I was feeling. The otherwise quiet room was filled with moans and the delirious ranting of others. There were a good 50 of us in there together, with just one nurse to look after all of us." He met her eyes for a moment before continuing.

"I don't blame her for what happened she was doing her best in an impossible situation. But I was laying there drifting in an out just waiting to die like the rest of us, since other than trying to make us as comfortable as she could, there wasn't anything else the nurse could really do. But after a time I came to realize that someone or something was there with me. I could just catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye. But when I turned to look at it was gone. As time passed it either got bolder or maybe I just got sicker, I don't know but I could see it more clearly. . As incredible as it sounds I came to believe I was actually seeing death."

Of all the things John could have said, that really caught her off guard; even though Holly wasn't buying a word of this after all what sane person would, John though didn't notice her skepticism being so caught up in his story.

"It would move around the room and take this person then that one, sometimes it leave us alone for a while then it would be back and take a few more, it almost seemed to just be at random. Then one day it came for me. I could see it there looking at me but some how I don't know how," he told her honestly, "but I knew that if I didn't look at it then it wouldn't take me so I turned away. That was the hardest thing I had ever done, I so wanted to look you have no idea," he told her his voice full of certainty.

"I wanted the pain to end, and I knew it would if only I would lock eyes with my visitor but then I would think of Edith and I knew I couldn't do that to her, she needed me," his face showing his obvious passion for this woman that Holly had never met, "so I turned away and death passed me by."

"The next day my fever broke and I was told I was one of the lucky ones to recover. I hadn't realized what I had done at first or the price I was going to have to pay for it. The first inkling of what that was going to be was when Edith died." With that John stopped his story for a moment and seemed to drift off in thought.

His memories went back to happier times for a moment, times that seemed so long ago now even to him but he quickly shook himself back to the here and now. "Anyway after Edith died I just drifted for awhile. Life didn't have any meaning for me really anymore; it wasn't till a few years had past that it began to sink in that something was wrong. That sort of realization doesn't come all at once of course, its made up of a lot of little things but the event that finally make me comprehend the extraordinary truth was when I would look at my friends and there families and could clearly see the years passing and having those years mean something but not for me. I realized I wasn't getting any older. It wasn't long after that I began to comprehend the enormity of the mistake that I had made."