Peeler (3 page)

“One day at work… I told you he worked in a chemical plant, right? Some kind of fertilizer company? Peeler was a technician of some sort, a lab rat, used to take samples from these huge chemical vats to make sure they had their ingredients mixed right, I guess. Anyway, one day he’s standing on a catwalk over this chemical soup buggering around with his lucky coin when we should have been paying attention. Long story short, he loses his balance and falls into the stainless steel vat. It’s deep too, he ends up practically fucking swimming and whatever is in there it’s nasty shit. Corrosive as fuck and it starts eating the clothes and skin off everything it touches.”

“Oh my God!” Randy said. “That’s horrible!”

“I’ll say. It takes a while for them to get him out too. He’s down there, screaming and bleeding out from the chest down. The chemicals end up burning the cock and balls right off the poor bastard and practically skin him below the nipples before he gets dragged out, but get this… he wants back in. You believe that shit? His co-workers had to restrain the crazy prick or he’d have hopped right back inside!”

“Jesus! Why?”

“I don’t know. This is where his story gets really fucked up. According to Peeler, when he was down there being eaten alive, he saw something in the refection on the stainless steel wall of the vat. Like a mirror, you know? Something incredible that opened his eyes and finally let him see the light or some such bull. It was spiritual for him; a religious awakening he said, that changed him instantly. If you ask me, his brain was probably short-circuiting from the trauma and pain, frying some of his common sense, but he says he saw a doorway open up, I don’t know…an exit from this shitty world, and the more his skin dissolved into that chemical soup, the more the doorway swung open.”

“And that’s why he wants the rest of his skin peeled off? He thinks if he completes the job the chemicals started, this magical doorway will appear again?”

“That’s right. He’s convinced himself that he was supposed to go through that door that day, and his co-workers denied him his destiny. Never mind that they saved his bloody life!”

“What does he think is through this mirrored doorway?”

“Who knows, man? He thinks it’s a portal to someplace better. Someplace a long way from here; that’s all I can tell you. Heaven? The fountain of Eternal life? Zanadu? Sesame Street? Who fucking cares? He’s out of his mind, Randy, but you wanted to know so I told you. If you want more, you’ll have to ask him yourself.”

“Yeah right. I wish,” Randy said, frustrated. “I can’t get near him.”

“No. Not on your own you can’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Lucius smiled at him, a big toothy feral smile that froze Randy to his spot on the floor. “What if I could get you in to see him? Would you like that?”

“How can you pull that little miracle off? Peeler is in max, Lucius. No one gets in to see him. You know that as well as I do.”

“Not true at all. He’s in max, sure, but he’s relatively harmless, except to himself of course. People know that and they don’t play nearly as hardball with him as some of the other whack jobs downstairs. The doctors get in… the guards get in… Director Ross gets in… and so does his best friend Lucius Barber, once a month, to visit and help keep the obviously disturbed Mr. Peeler happy as a peach.”

“Are you serious? You visit him every month?”

“That I do. Last Friday night of the month, 7:00 p.m. sharp! Director Ross thinks it’s good therapy for Peeler, letting him keep a little in touch with the world and all that jazz. I’m his only friend here so it’s me that gets in. We usually just shoot the shit for an hour and that’s about it. He seems to enjoy it and I’ve got nothing better to do either.”

“That’s cool, but it still doesn’t help me.”

“Oh, but it does my friend. We meet down in the basement, but not in Peeler’s room. Director Ross has a second office down there just outside the security gates and he supervises our visit.”

“What? Director Ross will be there? He’s not going to let me in?”

“Of course not, but we’re going to pull the coin trick, Randy. He’s used to me being there and will only see me, but you’re the other coin, the hidden one that no one ever looks for because they aren’t expecting it. You’re going to be hidden in the room, long before our meeting starts. Director Ross will open what he presumes is his empty, locked office, and let us in for our routine visit.”

“What about Ross? He’ll find me hiding in there, I’m sure.”

“No, he won’t. When I said he supervises us, all I meant was he walks us to his office and locks us inside. It’s been over a year since he actually sat with us. He’s got far more important things to do and when things get routine like this, people get lazy and careless. That’s why the coin trick always works. People only see what they want to see. Peeler and I will have been strip searched and escorted to a windowless, locked room, where someone from security will guard the door from the outside. No one thinks past the obvious. That’s how magic works my friend. Trust me, this will work. I’ll have to teach you how to pick a lock, but that’s a piece of cake. If you want it bad enough, I can get you in there.”

Randy took a moment mulling the plan over. He knew about complacency and believed Lucius’ plan just might work, but the question was why did he want to go through with this in the first place? Was it really worth losing his job over seeing this unbalanced man? Probably not. Check that;
definitely
not, but that thought, no matter how true it might be, didn’t stop Randy’s scars from heating up and itching every time he thought of standing face to face with Peeler. Doing a little soul searching this morning, Randy was starting to admit to himself his big plans of being a famous chef were a crock of shit anyway. Who was he kidding? If he was going anywhere in life, he’d have been on his way there already. Being what amounted to a short order cook in a nuthouse wasn’t a stepping stone to becoming a real chef anymore than making paper airplanes was someone’s ticket to becoming an Astronaut. It was time to face facts here. Time to face reality. Randy was just a fucked up young man from a broken home that was never going to amount to much more than he already had. He’d survived his stepfather’s abuse and his mother’s indifference. He’d finished high school and he’d eventually found this decent job. Noting to be too proud of, but it was what it was and it was all he had. Maybe all he ever would. Was it worth tossing it all away? Of course not, but if nothing else Randy was a stubborn son of a bitch, an stress-induced compulsive self abuse addict and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get this mysterious man out of his head. Even knowing how wrong it was, he couldn’t stop wondering about him. What would he look like? What would Peeler say to him? And perhaps more importantly, would this strange skinless man be able to help Randy understand his own demons better? Hard to say, but Randy was honest enough with himself to know something inside him desperately needed to find out. Crazy or not, he’d never forgive himself if he let this opportunity slip away.

“Of course I want to see him, Lucius, but what’s in it for you? Name it and I’ll pay. After all, you’re holding all the cards here, right?”

Lucius started to laugh. “Ha! Aren’t you the anxious one? And here you promised me you’d drop all this interest in Peeler.”

“Fuck you, Lucius! Cut the shit. You knew I’d want to see him. What do you want?”

“Nothing really. Not for myself anyway. I want you to help me give something to Peeler though. A present I can’t take in there with me.”

“What?”

Lucius held out his hands, palm up, theatrically showed Randy that both were empty. With a practiced flair, he rubbed his hands together and made a fist with his left hand then blew on it before slowly let his fingers fall open. Randy saw the small metal object that had seemingly materialized out of thin air, and gasped.

In the magician’s hand was a shiny new razor blade.

***

Randy Baxter was having trouble breathing. Completely his own fault, too. He kept staring at the locked door of Director Ross’ office anxiously holding his breath waiting for it to open, and forgetting to breathe. It was his nerves, of course, which had been on edge ever since planning this crazy scheme with Lucius nearly two weeks ago, but they were totally shot now that the night of the meeting with Peeler was finally here. It was Friday, July 29, and closing in on 7:00 p.m. according to the watch on Randy’s sweaty wrist. Within minutes, he’d either be caught breaking in here (and promptly fired) or he’d finally be face to face with Theodore Dorsey, Ashbury Creek’s infamous Peeler.

The wait was driving him crazy. As per Lucius’ strict instructions, he’d made his move just after lunchtime today. He’d informed his boss he wasn’t feeling well and was taking the afternoon off. Chef Mitchell had nearly had a stroke at that news, but reluctantly let him go after the lunch crowd thinned. On his way out, he’d made a point to deliver the basement security meals last. When the guards were distracted, chowing down on the extra-extravagant lunch Randy had prepared for them, he’d quickly slipped down the hall away from the security gates and used the two-paperclip method Lucius had taught him to pick the lock into the Asylum Director’s basement office. Once inside, his heart still trip hammering inside his chest, he’d quickly relocked the sturdy steel door from inside and tried his best to relax.

Easier said than done.

Lucius had informed him Director Ross rarely used the small office and that he’d be left in peace all afternoon, but that didn’t stop Randy from having the worst panic attack of his life waiting for his eyes to adjust to the gloom inside the semi-dark room. While he waited, he used the tip of one of the paperclips to scratch the word
LOSER
into the flesh of his left forearm. He would have used the razor blade in his pocket but he didn’t want it covered in blood when Peeler arrived. As it was, the letters on his arm barely bled but were still legible and managed to make him feel slightly better.

The room he was in wasn’t much of an office. Certainly not what he’d pictured in his mind in the days leading up to this. Of course, this wasn’t Director Ross’ main office. That one was on the ground floor and Randy had only seen it once, on the day he’d been hired. Ross’ real office was a huge sprawling space complete with a massive oak desk, two walls of leather bound medical books, and an oriental rug that probably cost more than Randy would make in wages this year. It was as lavish as this one was stark. Here in the basement, the walls and floor were bare. There was a simple wooden desk, three chairs, and a few metal filing cabinets stacked on the wall opposite the door. This was a place for working, not for show. The Director of the asylum probably only came down here when dealing with a patient in the basement and even then, he probably met them in their own quarters. Most of the men who lived down here were far too dangerous to bring here.

In the corner of the room was a small closet. It wasn’t good for holding much more than a few coats and maybe a broom, but today it was where Randy intended to hide out when Ross and the security guards came to unlock the door. He’d hidden inside there already for a while, until boredom had beaten his fear of being discovered and he’d ended up sitting on a comfortable padded chair at the desk. Every now and then throughout the long afternoon, someone would approach the door outside in the hallway, causing Randy’s heart to race and send him quietly scurrying into the closet again, but no one ever came inside. He was stressing himself out over nothing, but what else was new?

Now that Lucius and Peeler were scheduled to arrive at any second, Randy headed back to the shadows of the closet again, not wanting to go through all this just to be caught at the last minute. Good thing too, as he was no sooner inside the door when he heard men’s voices approaching outside in the hall. This time, their footsteps didn’t fade away, but rather stopped on the other side of the locked office door. Holding his breath again, Randy heard a set of keys rattling around, heard the distinctive metallic sound of the lock disengaging, and before he could fully prepare himself for whatever was about to happen he was no longer alone in the Director’s office. The overhead lights clicked on and several people entered the room. Randy couldn’t see who, but he heard Lucius Barber say, “…That’s right, sir. Have him hold all my calls,” then laugh like it was the funniest thing he’d ever said. No one joked back and Randy wasn’t laughing either. He was so scared right now he was close to wetting his pants. If Lucius was wrong about Director Ross’ laissez-faire security measures for these meetings, he was in a whole heap of trouble. Forget losing his job, Randy would probably be arrested.

How the hell did I get myself into this anyway?
Randy wondered, honestly having no idea.
All this bullshit and potential trouble just for the chance to see a lunatic who’s even more fucked up in the head than me. What possible good can come of this?

Beyond the closet door, everything was quiet for a moment, but just as the tension was getting unbearable Randy heard a chair scrape against the tiled floor, Lucius chuckle yet again at apparently nothing, and then the office door slam shut and relocked from the outside. Did that mean Director Ross was gone already, or was he sitting at his desk just outside the closet door? Randy had no way of knowing so he stayed as quiet as possible and waited to see what happened next. Fortunately for his already shredded nerves, he didn’t have to wait long.

Lucius yanked the closet door open seconds later, but quickly held his finger to his lips to shut Randy up before he had a chance to speak. In a whisper, he leaned toward Randy and said, “Quiet. We’re alone but Gustoffson has his ass parked outside the door. He hates Peeler and he’ll wander off down the hall to talk to his buddies as soon as Ross is in the elevator. It’s what he always does. Just hang tight a sec, okay?”

“Sure. Is… is Peeler here?” Randy asked, knowing it was as stupid question, but needing to say something to break the silence. “Does he know I’m here?”