| DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS THAT ARE WITHIN THIS STORY. THEY ARE OWNED BY FOX. NO PROFIT HAS BEEN MADE FROM THIS STORY. |
| * I've made some minor changes to this chapter because I wasn't happy with the original layout. I've also added some small bits and pieces to the dialog as well. I hope you like this version a little better. If you have any questions please email me at: Pinkkatz77@hotmail.com.* |
| Presence |
| CHAPTER 1 They say that there are two things in life that are for certain. One is taxes and the other is death. Unfortunately death was something that happened to me when I was young, 18 to be exact. My name was Walter Eugene O'Reilly, but most folks called me Radar. They called me that because I used to able to tell when things were gonna happen before they happened, such as choppers arriving before anybody else could see them and that sort of thing. But the one night when I needed my so- called 'radar' the most, I was killed. I was drafted into the army a few weeks after I turned 18, and was sent to Korea to serve in the 4077th MASH unit as the Company Clerk. I was a short spectacle- wearing corporal, who pretty much ran the unit if it wasn't for the fact that we had a C.O. The 4077th consisted of four doctors. Captain 'Hawkeye' Pierce, Captain 'Trapper' John McIntyre, Major Frank Burns and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake (he's the C.O.). Great doctors, with the exception of Major Burns who, from what Hawkeye told me couldn't even carve the guts from a dead turkey. Major Margaret Houlihan was our head nurse- tough as nails, although she could be mean and stubborn. But from what I later found out though, was that she was compassionate and sensitive person with a heart of gold, and it wasn't until after I died, that I saw these qualities that she and others rarely ever showed. The rest of the MASH consisted of nurses, the resident camp Chaplain Father Mulcahy - best priest I've ever known and about 70 Enlisted men including, Corporal Max Klinger who wore dresses trying to (unsuccessfully) get a section 8 discharge from the Army. SATURDAY AUGUST 2ND 1951, 20:35 HOURS. "Heyya Hawkeye!" Radar yelled as he crossed the compound almost at running pace, trying to catch up with him. It was a Saturday night, raining and with nothing to do. Hawkeye was in a hurry because he had a date with one of the nurses. Frank Burns arrived 5 minutes late to relieve him of Post-Op duty after one of he and Major Houlihan's little Saturday night escapades that, unknown to them had run overtime. "Hey Hawk can I talk to you for a few moments? I have a problem." Hawkeye already irritated with Frank's tardiness said " Radar can't it wait? I'm late for a date and I have to get ready for it, nurse Abel's favorite color isn't olive drab" He pulled at his shirt. "Well jeez, I guess but...." Radar trailed off "But what?" Hawkeye said cutting in quickly trying to hurry the question as he shifted his eyes back and forth from his wristwatch to Radar. "Well it's Saturday night.." "You noticed?" Pierce quipped as he continued to glance at his watch "Yeah well all the other guys have dates to the movie and I haven't. I mean, even Klinger has one and he probably has more dresses than she does" "Yeah and...?" Hawkeye replied as his patience was steadily running thin. "And I need you to find me a date to take to the movie tonight" Radar paused, not looking up. "Radar you don't need me to find you a date, I'm sure one of the nurses will gladly go with you tonight if you ask" "Well that's the thing" he replied in an almost whisper that Hawkeye had to bend down to hear what he was trying to say. "I already asked all the nurses, and they said that they already had a date or that they had to wash their hair or something" Hawkeye who was now 10 minutes late and wanting to get to his date before someone else did said "Look, Radar you don't have to have a date to go to the movie, its not like your gonna be able to talk to her anyway, why don't you try again next week?" Crestfallen and slightly embarrassed by his situation, Radar decided to give up and finish off the large amount of paper work that had to be done anyway. "O.K sir, I guess. I have so much paper-work anyway, I'll prob'ly be up till 4 in the morning trying to get it out of the way, not that it makes any difference..." "Yeah, yeah, you do that..." Hawkeye said cutting in as he quickly walked away. Watching Captain Pierce hurrying back to The Swamp, Radar sighed kicking the dirt as he made his way back to his office, which was also his room. 'Even if I ever do get a date, where would we go?' He thought.' I mean, I have no privacy whatsoever with people barging in and out of here, and the Supply tent is always occupied with either Hawkeye or Captain McIntyre' "It's not fair" he mumbled to himself as he pushed open the double doors that lead him to his bunk, and seeing the large pile of paperwork that had to be done. "It's double not fair" ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Getting as comfortable as he could sitting at his typewriter with his trusty soft teddy companion he decided to start the weekly report that was due the next day. Typing away loudly and the rain softly falling onto the tin roof, he didn't hear the double doors that lead from the outside open and the quiet figure creeping inside. The office was dim with only a small desk lamp giving off enough light for him to see what he was he was doing. Radar stopped typing for a moment, and the figure thinking that he must have heard him sneaking in took the opportunity to grab him. Radar jumped as he felt a rough manly hand clasp around his mouth tightly and the pressure of cold hard steel pressing into his right temple. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` CHAPTER TWO (Radar's POV) I was sitting at my desk typing out the weekly report that I started about an hour a ago. Nothing much really happened this week. Just more choppers bringing more wounded and doctors getting drunk and Klinger with his new dresses- nothing that H.Q would really care about, I mean it's not like they don't know what's going on around this mad house, they've seen it and heard it all before. Anyway as I was saying, I was typing away when I noticed that my ink ribbon was starting to play up. ' Darn it' I thought, ' I haven't even finished the first paragraph and the darn thing wants to play up.' As I stopped to fix the ribbon I felt a movement of air behind me. A swift manly hand clasped around my mouth and the cold hard steel of a gun barrel pressed into my right temple. "Don't move!" I heard a loud angry whisper behind me " if you move or try to fight, I'll be forced to use this gun sooner than I wanted!" Sooner? What does he mean by sooner? At that time I was too scared to even breathe let alone trying to fight. "Now if I remove my hand do you promise not to call out?" the voice said, pressing the gun into my temple even more. All I could do was nod. " Good " he replied. "Now that I have your attention, I'm gonna turn you around, don't say my name, if you do...BLAMMO! -Got it?" Once again I nodded and he turned me around roughly in my chair as we met face-to-face. "Huh?!" I gasped, I couldn't help it. I was shocked to see who was facing me. It was Private Danny McShane. "What did I say!" he hissed and now pushing the gun barrel into my cheek. "Not a word O'Reilly! I warned you the first time" scared out of my mind I just looked at him giving him a sign that I wouldn't disobey the orders again. "Don't say a word, just do as I say." I nodded once again. "Now get up and get dressed." All- though it was raining it was a rather warm night, so I wore my army issue olive drab shorts and cotton t-shirt. Once I was dressed into my usual fatigue green pants and jacket with my shoes back on my feet he ordered me to sit at my desk. For a while nothing was said, he just looked at me. I knew Danny from around the camp, he helped out time-to-time removing the wounded from O.R to the Post-Op. He had very few friends around here and I usually got the feeling that he didn't like me very much-that's probl'y why he was the only person other than Major Houlihan that Major Burns got along with. Major Burns would always call him 'The All Round American Boy' and always told me I should follow his example instead of succumbing to the bad habits of disobeying his orders when Hawk and Trapp were around. After a few more moments of deafening silence he finally spoke up. " I'm gonna give it to ya straight O'Reilly, no tip toeing, no sugar coating. I'm here because I'm gonna kill ya." "Huh? K-kill me, w-why?" I stammered. Once again I spoke when I wasn't supposed to and for a second I thought he was gonna hit me good, but he hesitated for some reason. Instead he laughed with a slight crazed look in his eyes and simply said, "Revenge." 'R-revenge? Why? I didn't do nothin to ya, I've been nice to everyone since I got to this place, I don't remember doing anything to you" I stammered once again. "It's not revenge against you O'Reilly, it's for Captains Pierce and McIntyre." Pushing the gun barrel in a little harder. "B-but why? They didn't do anything to ya either, I don't u-understand" "They didn't do anything to me?! He replied livid. They cost me-they cost me a lot of money, money that I needed to buy my way out of this hell-hole and back to state-side!" Realising how loud he was then, he quietened down to a somewhat barley understandable Whisper. " I could have rid myself of this MASH for good, I could have escaped from the daily taunting and harassment that I endure from the others if it wasn't for Pierce and McIntyre." "W-what did they do?" I knew I was taking a risk by speaking up again but I was curious as to what the two doctors have done that would have pushed him to go as far as to kill someone who probably had nothing to do with it. Pulling the gun away from my face a bit and examining it as if were something under magnifying glass he finally continued " Since the first day I arrived here I've been an outcast. I don't know what it is about me that the others don't like, I mean I like playing football and playing poker and that sort of thing but they wouldn't let me in. So after a while I tried to be extra nice, but just as before it didn't work and Major Burns being more tolerable towards me and not them didn't help." Pausing for a moment he continued " But one day when I was at my lowest, I met a 'Dr' Pak. He said I could make a lot of money that would guarantee my ticket out of here" Even more curious I couldn't help but say "how?" Thinking he let his guard down McShane pushed the barrel back into my face again. "By arranging for me to marry a Business girl for a thousand bucks, and when we were married, we would part company and she get shipped state-side to work for some of 'Dr' Pak's 'friends', and me with a fist full of bribe money to give to a pilot to take me home too." I was stunned. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. " But the main problem was Pierce and McIntyre." He continued. " They were the ones giving the physicals and noticed who Soong Hi was. I tried to convince them that I was in 'love' with her but they thought they knew better. At first they let it go and figured that maybe I would wait after all, but then a few days later that big mouth Pak came visiting them and tried to bribe them with money to O.K Soong Hi's physical. When they realised what was really happening they faked an X-ray claiming that she had T.B and busted the whole scheme wide open." Just then I realised what he was talking about. I know for a fact that they would never have faked an X-Ray and Danny must have concluded that it was a personal attack on him, and not them trying to protect all those who were involved. " When the others found out what happened I was beaten and harassed worse than ever before. I was suicidal and wanted to die, but then I realised why should I? So I figured why not let them pay?" he said. By this time my heart was racing, and I was sweating bullets down my face. He looked at me and said "O'Reilly, I've been watching you lately. I've also noticed that you haven't been very happy as well- you know, not been able to find a date like the others and the paperwork building up, late nights answering the phone and being ordered around harshly by Burn's." " Yeah?..So?..." I replied cautiously "So" he started " haven't you been feeling a little depressed lately?" confused by his question I simply answered "no." "Well your about to." He replied glancing up at me with a look in his eyes that I have never seen before in any human being. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````````````` CHAPTER THREE That was one of the most disturbing looks I've ever seen. It was the look of a person who had lost all hope and joy in their life and instead it was replaced by pure anger and hate for fellow human beings. When he said that I was about to be depressed, I was terrified. I didn't like where this was heading and even though he told me that he was gonna kill me I tried to stall him for as long as I could. "W-why do you have to kill me? Y-you could talk to Father Mulcahy or Dr.Freedman, maybe they can help you?" I stammered. "O'Reilly" he said with an almost regrettable tone. "I'm way past help now, no one can help me any more, not the priest, nor the shrink. What I'm gonna do to you is enough therapy for me" he replied. At this point I was ready to cry, I wanted to but I had more dignity than that and maybe just maybe someone would walk in and rescue me. But I knew better. "Ok O'Reilly" he said, back into his demanding tone. "This is what I want you to do. I want you to grab that note book and a pencil and write down EVERY thing I tell you" he told me waving his gun near my face. So I did as he as he told. When someone is pointing a gun to your head, you don't want to make them angry--although I didn't know how much angrier Danny could get. "O.K, now write this down... Dear Hawkeye and Trapper, I can't take it any more. I hate it here. I hate the way people make fun of me all-day and everyday. I hate the office that I live in and the constant build up of paper work, the broken sleep because of the phone ringing in the dead of the night and the orders that people give me. I hate the way you sir's make fun of my height and treat my love life and job like It's a joke. It has to end here and now, away from you and away from this place. I just hope Klinger will be able to do a better job than me. Goodbye. -Radar O'Reilly." "Read it back to me" he demanded. So I did. "Perfect" he laughed "I can't wait to see the look on Pierce and McIntyre's faces, the pain is just gonna be exquisite" 'Oh boy what a sicko, he's making me write my apparent suicide note and then he's gonna kill me' I thought. By this time I was panicking, I didn't want to die. I was scared of pain, I remember when I had to get those rabies shots I almost cried because of a little needle- this was a gun and that will blow me away across my office and besides what about ma? She'll be heart broken and so will Uncle Ed, how will they be able to manage to farm without me for good? Especially if they think they I killed myself. I would never kill myself over something as silly as McShane made me write in that note. "Please, don't do this to me" I begged. I hated begging. " I don't want to die, I didn't do anything to you". "Sorry O'Reilly, this is the way it has to be." ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````` I pleaded again, but it was no use. He didn't care and I knew that there was no way in changing his mind or trying to talk him out of it, he has been pushed to a point of no return and that tired look in his eyes said so. "Turn your chair back around and face the typewriter again." He simply said. I silently did so and I looked at him one more time with the hope of him reconsidering, but no such luck. I sat there staring straight ahead, with my heart beating faster than a jackhammer and my body drenched in cold sweat. A million things were racing through my mind. Ma, Uncle Ed, the farm and the people of the 4077th. I suppose this is what they meant by about your life flashing before your eyes. I didn't really believe in that sort of thing until now. "O.k O'Reilly close your eyes and grit your teeth if you must, because I don't know whether or not this is gonna hurt, so lets just get it over and done with shall we?" "P-please" I whimpered "P-please don't kill me, I don't want to die" When I closed my eyes a single rotten tear ran down my face. So much for the dignity thing. This only got him a little more excited. "Revenge is the sweetest thing" he laughed. In the distance I could hear the thunder and lighting rolling behind the clouds. When the gun goes off no one will hear a thing. Everyone is at the movie and I'll die alone. McShane grabbed my messy handwritten note in his left hand and read it once more, he chuckled at it and then put it in his army jacket pocket for safe keeping for the moment. Once again I felt that cold hard gun barrel pressed against my right temple. With my eyes still closed and my teeth clenched I started to brace my self for what was coming at any moment. At that time I wished I did fight him, I mean he was gonna kill me whether I did or not. The O'Reilly's ain't quitters, but it was too late now I was too scared to move and I was breathing in small gasps. I heard him unlock the safety switch, and I held my breath for a moment. I felt him lean closer to my left ear as he whispered quietly and coldly "After I get the reaction I wanted out Pierce and McIntyre, their next." " What?..No...I quietly whimpered I heard him laugh, as he pulled the trigger. There was a loud ringing sound in my ears, and spots started dancing behind my eyelids, I felt limp and light headed for a moment and then every thing went black. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````````````````````````````` CHAPTER FOUR I felt no pain as I sat up in my chair, the room was spinning and I couldn't focus properly. I felt my face to see if my glasses were still on. 'Yep, there still there' I thought as I looked around the office to see if I could find McShane. ' Boy is he gonna get hit real good when I find him after playing that practical joke on me, he sure seemed convincing using that toy gun'. Once again I looked around the office. It was dark. The rain must have leaked into the generator and shorted it out. All of a sudden I heard a match strike, and saw a candle being lit. I always kept a candle in my desk draw just in case the generator suddenly breaks down. Now that my vision was starting to clear a little I saw it was Danny who was holding the candle, which was giving off a soft glow around him. "Danny! You idiot!" I yelled as I stood up and stormed over towards him. "Why did you play that stupid joke on me, you scared me to death!" He ignored me as he looked down at his clothing, and I didn't even notice what was on them until now. " Great" he said " now I'm gonna have to go and try to wash this blood out before breakfast tomorrow." 'Blood...Why did Danny have blood on him?' . "Boy what a mess" I heard him say. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and he started to wipe the blood from his hands and face. He was covered in it. Once he managed to clean most of it away he walked over and placed the lit candle on my desk, and it was then that I realised where the blood came from and that the gun wasn't a toy. I looked over to where McShane was standing, I saw a small figure slumped over the typewriter that was sitting on my desk. I didn't recognise who it was at first, my mind was mixed up and fragments of memories were seeping through. I remembered that I was sitting around a typewriter a moment ago scared and shaking for some reason. "Damn O'Reilly, you made a hell of a mess" he laughed, as he lifted the candle and carefully examined the area. "Klinger ain't gonna be happy cleaning this up." 'What!?.. O'Reilly? W-why did he say my name to that guy? I stammered in my thoughts.' "Hey, McShane I'm standing right here!" I yelled out, and once again he didn't answer. 'Why was he ignoring me?' " Sorry it had to be this way kid, you weren't that bad. I actually kind of liked you; otherwise you would have been dead sooner. Oh well it doesn't matter now, the jobs done and now it's time to reap the benefits of the reward" he continued in a some-what eerie and unnatural happy tone. "Huh, Dead? I'm not dead, I'm standing right here!" I called out angrily. I walked around the desk and looked down, then I realised who it was. It was me. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````` I screamed as I stumbled backwards and fell onto the floor. Danny didn't look up once and I couldn't understand what the heck was going on. "T-that was me!" I yelled out " W-why am I here and there at the same time! I glanced over to where he was still standing and I saw him pull out a white piece of paper from his shirt pocket. He then placed it on the desk beside the typewriter. Next he carefully lifted my right arm, which was slumped over the side of the chair and placed the bloodied gun into my hand and clasped my fingers around the handle with my index finger on the trigger. Making sure that the grip was tight he lowered it down again and took a step back to examine the scene. "Perfect" he said grinning. He took one more glance around and decided that it looked just the way he wanted. "The perfect suicide scene " he laughed. Making sure that there were no bloodied boot prints on the floor he blew out the candle and replaced it back into the desk draw and exited out through the double doors that led out to the compound, slipping into the night without anyone noticing him. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````` I sat shaking on the floor I was too stunned to move. I couldn't believe what was happening-- what I just saw. "I'm dead?... Am I a ghost? Maybe that explains why he didn't answer me back" I whispered. I finally got the courage to stand up. Feeling a bit wobbly I lost my balance and I tried to grab my cot as I fell, but my hand went right through it "Huh? Whoa!" I cried out as I crashed hard onto the floor again. Gathering up my senses I tried to stand up once more and surprisingly I found it easier this time. The office was dark, but the moon was peaking over the broken clouds so there was a little light coming through. Although it was very dim I could make out the objects in the room. I looked down at myself confused. "I don't understand.." I said slowly " I look real enough and I sure as heck feel real enough" I patted my arms and chest "why did I just fall through my cot?" Looking back over at my desk I realised why. Slowly and quietly I walked over towards the body that sat in the chair. When I arrived I bent down to get a closer look. It was me alright, I saw the moonlight reflecting onto the lenses of the glasses that were worn and the woollen cap was on the floor. I stood back up saddened. "At least I didn't experience any pain, it was so quick. Thank God." I sighed. "Speaking of which, if I'm dead aren't I supposed to go to Heaven, or Hell, or something? Where is this bright white light that I've heard about?" I remember once when I used to help out in post-Op I heard one of the wounded talking to the others about a bright light that he said engulfed him when he died on the table and the feeling of peace and happiness washing all over his body. Later I told Hawkeye what I heard and he softly said "Radar, that man was very badly injured and in a lot of pain. Yes he died for a few moments but we managed to bring him back. That bright light he was talking about was probably the lights that we use in O.R" At the time I guess he was probably right, but I wasn't too sure. But now I don't know what to think, I never used to believe in ghosts, but now I am one. The moonlight was fading away as the clouds started to move over and the lighting and thunder returned. On the desk I saw the note that Danny placed next to the typewriter. I tried to remember what it said, but I couldn't no matter how much I concentrated. Glancing back at my body some of his words that he whispered to me before he pulled the trigger were floating back. 'Pierce...McIntyre...Reaction.' I trailed off. "Reaction?..wait a minute! He said that when he got the reaction he wanted out of Hawkeye and Trapper after he killed me, he was gonna kill them too!" The lighting and thunder outside started to grow intense and the rain was falling hard. Water was leaking from the roof and softly dripping into a helmet I placed on a file cabinet earlier. The wind was howling outside and it slightly rustled the papers on desk. Just then, a huge bolt of lighting scattered across the sky lighting up the whole office. "OH JEEZE!" I screamed when I saw the walls. Blood was splattered across every where, and the desk and floor were a mess. "B-blood, oh, Jeez there's so much blood!" I cried out covering my mouth thinking that I was gonna be sick, but of course nothing came up. ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` |
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