So...did Mac really die? Read on to find out!
Accusations Part Eleven
Rated: PG
Opening his eyes, MacGyver saw the blood on his hands. Red and blue strobes from police cruisers flashed intermittently in the background, slicing into the darkness and briefly illuminating it. Voices spoke around him, low and distorted, echoing.
“MacGyver…can you hear me? MacGyver…”
The world spun sickeningly around him, creating a disorienting, dizzying effect. Shapes blurred as they moved around him, faint and indistinct. Once again he stared at the blood on the ghostly outlines of his hands in incomprehension and horror.
“MacGyver…”
“D-didn’t…do…” he whispered, still staring at the blood on his hands, oblivious to his surroundings. He began sobbing, but he didn’t understand why, didn’t understand the appearance of the blood, didn’t even know where he was or how he got there.
“It’s okay, Mac. We know you didn’t do this. They caught the perpetrator.”
“Didn’t do…didn’t…”
“Look at him. He’s completely lost it.”
“It looks like he’s been drugged with something. I’m sure we’ll find out what the substance is once we take him to the hospital and order some toxicology reports to be performed.”
“Didn’t do…”
“Listen to me, Mac. Can you hear me? Can you hear me at all? We’re taking you to the hospital. Everything is going to be fine. MacGyver?”
He continued staring at the blood staining his hands as if mesmerized, rocking back and forth, sobbing uncontrollably, babbling. “Didn’t do…didn’t do…didn’t…”***
“I’m innocent!” MacGyver screamed, writhing and thrashing around on his hospital bed, awaking Pete who had been resting in a hard, uncomfortable chair by his bedside and had dozed off into sleep. “No! Please, stop! Don’t do this! I’m innocent!”
“MacGyver!” Pete shouted, gently shaking his tormented friend, trying to rouse him from his terrifying nightmare. “MacGyver, it’s okay! You’re safe!”
“Pete?” MacGyver asked sleepily, opening his eyes, a bewildered, frightened expression on his face. “Pete…what…no…how did I…this can’t be real…”
“It’s okay now, Mac,” Pete said softly, smiling. “You’re going to be all right.”
Through the hazy sunlight streaming in from the curtained windows of the hospital room, Pete looked like an angelic, otherworldly vision, the soft orange glow of dawn casting an aura around his bulky frame. MacGyver regarded him carefully for several minutes, unsure what to think, his dazed mind disordered and confused.
“What’s happened?” He asked, his eyes wandering around the room. “How…? Am I dead?”
“Dead? No, you’re fine. I promise.”
“But I…I thought…I could’ve sworn…I just died…”
“What are you talking about?”
“It was awful. I dreamt I was back in the time of the Puritans. They accused me of being a sorcerer. Nothing I could do would convince them of my innocence. They put me to death, and then I awoke in a modern prison cell, accused of rape and murder, even though once again I was innocent. I was convicted and sentenced to death, and this time…I knew it had to be real, that it wasn’t a dream anymore, and yet…” his eyes settled on Pete. “Tell me what’s going on. I don’t understand…what happened? Was my sentence commuted at the last minute?”
“Sentence? Mac, you were never sent to jail or put to death. You’re just fine. You’re alive.”
“But I remember…so much blood…I remember her…” he stared distantly and shuddered in horror as he recalled the grisly details.
Pete closed his eyes and sighed. “A young woman was raped and murdered, but you had no part in that,” he said. “The police arrested the perpetrator and they believe they have enough irrefutable evidence to convict him.”
“But…how is it that I…? The blood…” MacGyver lifted his hands and stared at them, as if expecting to see them still stained.
“You were there, but as an unwitting witness,” Pete said. “It appears you were drugged with an Ergot-laced derivative.”
“Ergot…that’s what some theorize led to the hysteria of the witch trials,” MacGyver said, staring blankly at a fixed point in the distance, considering what Pete had just told him, his mind starting to make the connection. “I…I tried to prove it to them that it was the cause when I was in that time period, but they wouldn’t believe me, wouldn’t listen. It acts as a powerful hallucinogen, similar in its effects to LSD for producing and creating vivid, intense visions.”
“Yes, well within all likelihood, that’s probably what caused you to experience this inexplicable travel through time that you described so realistically,” Pete said. “You’ve been here in the hospital for days, recovering from the effects of the poisoning.”
MacGyver looked pleadingly up at Pete, reaching out his hand. Without hesitation, smiling, Pete grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
“It was so real,” MacGyver said. “I mean, it was as if I was actually living it. In both cases, I tried to save the young woman’s life, but no one would believe me. They all considered me a vile criminal, a pariah, a social outcast guilty of the most violent, shocking, and unspeakable of offenses.”
“Well, when I arrived on the scene, it did appear that you were only trying to help the woman, but it was too late,” Pete said.
“But why was I there? How was I poisoned?”
Pete shrugged and shook his head. “I really don’t know,” he said. “The police think that the man who actually committed the crime drugged you to try to frame you. Your mental state was so confused that when we found you, you had the victim’s blood all over your hands and you were babbling incoherently. I’m sure that’s what he was counting on, hoping that you would be so out of your senses that you would touch the evidence without being aware of it or realizing what you were doing and leave enough of your DNA behind to incriminate you. It’s only speculation at this point since he isn’t talking and won’t say how he knows you, but it’s the only explanation that makes sense and accounts for your appearance there that evening.”
“If only that had happened in my dream. Pete, I was put to death…twice. Nothing could save me, nothing could prove my innocence. Are you…are you sure this is real this time? That I’m safe?”
Pete looked into MacGyver’s frightened eyes, desperately seeking reassurance. He squeezed his hand again.
“Listen to me,” he said. “I promise you this is real. The real killer has been caught, and there is strong enough evidence against him to prove that he did it, and that you were an innocent and unwilling participant in his despicable crime. No one believes you are capable of such a thing. You’re going to be just fine, Mac. The long nightmare is over.”
MacGyver sighed and closed his eyes. “It almost seems too good to be true,” he said. “After everything I’ve been through…someone finally believes me.” A few stray tears rolled down his cheeks as he sobbed in relief.
“We all believe you, trust me. We understand what happened. We saw what happened firsthand. You’re not to blame for the gruesome, appalling act he committed against that young woman. You never could be. You were under the influence of a powerful hallucinogenic drug and weren’t thinking clearly.”
“It was so lonely, so isolating,” MacGyver said, opening his tearful eyes and looking at Pete. “I knew I was innocent, but everyone else thought I was a liar. I’d never felt so vulnerable before, so alone and hated, the others completely lacking in sympathy and compassion, refusing to listen to my pleas.”
“I know,” Pete said, “I know what that must feel like, how horrible that is…to be accused of something you didn’t do, know that you didn’t do it, and being unable to convince others. But it’s over now. I believe you. So does everyone else involved in the case. You’ve been fully vindicated. Now, you just have to rest and get well.”
MacGyver smiled slightly at him. “You always believed me,” he said. “In both time periods, in both hallucinations, you were the one who defended me, who tried to help me even when it was too late.”
Pete returned the smile. “Of course I would defend you,” he said. “I always will. I could never doubt you, not after knowing you for so long.”
“Thanks, Pete. It means a great deal to me to have someone like you in my life.”
“Likewise. Now, you continue to rest. The doctors say they will be discharging you soon since it appears there aren’t any further complications from the drug. You’ll be home soon, and safe. All of this will be over. You can forget about it.”
“I don’t think I…could ever forget the sight of all that blood…the woman…”
Pete sighed. “I know what you mean,” he said. “At least now though we can be assured that the right man will be punished for the crime, and that you had nothing to do with it. It’s terrible and unfortunate that someone had to die, and so brutally, but at least now there will be closure and you can move on with your life as the innocent, decent man you always have been.”
A knock sounded on the door of the hospital room.
“Come in,” Pete said, thinking it was either a nurse or a doctor coming to check on MacGyver’s condition. Instead, it was Jeff Benson, one of his security staff. The man had a grave expression on his face and was motioning for Pete to come over. Pete looked at MacGyver. “Ever since this happened I’ve arranged for extra security around your room just in case,” he said. “It looks like Benson has something new to tell me. Excuse me for just a moment while I go see what he wants. I’ll be right back.” He smiled and squeezed MacGyver’s hand again one last time. “Remember, everything’s going to be fine now.” He released his hand and approached Benson, feeling a little uneasy about the demeanor and expression on his head of security’s face, knowing that despite his assurances to MacGyver, something must have gone wrong.
Lying in the hospital bed, MacGyver strained to listen to their conversation, but it was too quiet, spoken in low murmurs. He could tell by the men’s posture and concerned, alarmed expressions that something terrible had happened, but he couldn’t imagine what it was. A brief moment of panic passed over him as he wondered if they were going to have him arrested after all, that he was going to have to go through the harrowing ordeal all over again, that he would be imprisoned, brought to trial, and possibly put to death, this time no escape, no fantasy or delusion, no dream left to save him, nothing to awaken from, this time trapped in reality. When Pete returned, Benson quietly leaving the room and shutting the door behind them, both men stared at each other with deep concern in their eyes.
“Pete, tell me, please…what’s going on?” MacGyver asked.
“It’s the suspect,” Pete said. “He somehow managed to escape from custody.”
To be continued…
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
--Henry David Thoreau
brains+brawn+beauty+personality=MacGyver
