Billy Troll's Arc

Chapter 15 of 15

The morning after the competition, Billy drove to the hospital before the sun came up. The trophy sat in the back seat wrapped in a towel. He wanted to show it to the kids on the ward before the day nurses arrived. But when he stopped at the front desk to sign in, the ledger wasn't there. A printed sheet had replaced it. His name from last week was missing. Billy asked the volunteer at the desk where the old book had gone. She said the records had been moved to the archive room for scanning. Billy walked down the hall past the colorful murals and pushed open the archive door. Boxes sat stacked against the wall. He opened the top one and pulled out the ledger. He flipped to his own name and ran his finger down the column. Whole months were gone. Someone had cut pages out with a blade. The paper edges were clean and fresh. A voice behind him said, "You weren't supposed to see that yet." Billy turned. A short man with glasses and a badge clipped to his blue shirt stood in the doorway holding a laptop against his chest. Pens lined his shirt pocket. Billy had seen him before, hunched over a monitor at the nurse's station, fixing printers. The badge said Marcus Datawell, IT. "You did this," Billy said. He held up the cut ledger. Marcus didn't move. His face went red under the fluorescent lights. He set the laptop on a filing cabinet and pushed his glasses up his nose. "He paid me," Marcus said. "Mic. He said you'd been faking the visits. He wanted the digital files gone too. I was going to put it all back after the competition. I swear I was." His hands were shaking. "My kid is in this hospital, Billy. On the third floor. Mic said he could get her moved to the specialist in the city if I helped him." Billy set the ledger down on the table. He looked at Marcus for a long time. He thought about walking out and calling the administrator. He thought about the twenty years he'd spent keeping quiet while other people wrote his story. Then he thought about a scared father on the third floor. "Restore every file," Billy said. "Every page. Then you go to the administrator yourself and tell her what you did. Not me. You." Marcus nodded fast. "And your daughter?" Billy asked. Marcus looked at the floor. Billy pulled out his phone and opened his contacts. "Dianne knows the specialist. I'll ask her tonight. That part isn't a trade. That part is because your kid is sick." Marcus started crying. Billy picked up the cut ledger and tucked it under his arm. He walked out into the hall. The trophy was still in the car. The kids were still upstairs. He had somewhere to be.