Ruben Mecho Sanguesa

The new sunrise

“Mr. Decker, Do I have to remind you what I told you about wandering around at midnight?” Miss Sullivan angrily said while frowning. She clapped her hands in order to make the poor man rush
The old man did not utter a word he just nodded and led his way towards the main corridor. Everything was in silence, only his feet crawling along the worn out carpet could be noticed. He was a very thin man, in his seventies with many freckles which could be easily distinguished even with the dirtiest bulbs hanging from the stained walls of the geriatric.  Although he had devoted himself to the army and saved many lives, he thought himself to be the one to be   morally and physically saved, he was like a rusty weapon dropped away after being used and stored in the most unpopular stock.
Miss Sullivan was an overweight young woman who after having gone through a hard imminent divorce had been dedicated to take care of the old people of the centre. It was not her ideal job which could be told by the way she stared at the residents but it meant money and it helped her to pay her bills of course.
“and do not go out of your room under any circumstances, you hear me Doc?” she added while cleaning her hands in the old white apron. She did not understand why he insisted on being called Doc all the time, it seems hallucinations were gaining the match so as to speak. Once she made sure he was out of sight leaded to the kitchen in order to have a warm cup of chamomile tea that was supposed to calm her nerves and let her sleep at least five or six hours that night. She switched on the kettle and sat down in the kitchen chair thinking about if this job made it for all she had to put up with. After the red light from the kettle let her know the water was ready she poured some on her mug and added the chamomile; she smelt the steam and had a sip. The wind hit the window making a disturbing sound; Miss Sullivan stood up, closed the window in anger and decided to go to sleep. It had been a hard day indeed.
Miss Sullivan opened her eyes, one after the other after hearing some people downstairs mumbling something in the distance. She stretched her arms and yawned, she climbed down of the bed and approached to the window; birds were singing and the sun was oddly shinning, especially in such a cold winter morning in Manchester. She saw something that did not match with the garden: two police cars parked in front of “The new sunrise”, the name of the geriatric. She put on her slippers and the night gown and went down the stairs to find out why the police were there that morning. Her knees hurt while going down the stairs, “you should lose weight, Margaret” she told herself
Two young policemen were talking in the kitchen with Mr. Thompson, the Geriatric manager, a man in his fifties, who spoke calmly and quietly despite the scenario she was going to witness.
When Miss Sullivan appeared downstairs, he immediately said:  “Oh, Margaret I was about to wake you up, something horrible has happened, something unexplainable and of course…”
“what is it?” interrupted she
“are you the nurse, Miss…” continued the blond policewoman
“Sullivan, yes, I am, I am the nurse of the centre” said Margaret
“Can anybody tell me what’s going on?” Margaret nervously aked
“well,  Miss, we are sorry to inform you that Miss Andrews has been found dead on the kitchen floor this morning. She was covered in blood, and of course she did not commit suicide since she had a hole in her chest and her heart was missing” continued the policewoman. “whoever has made that to her cannot be a human being, that is a monster’s act”.
They opened the kitchen’s door and there was Miss Andrews, lying in the floor, all covered in blood, which by the way was fresh, her eyes and mouth were wide open showing off how much she may have suffered and her chest had an enormous but precise hole in it. One metre away from the body was her heart, and a soup spoon all stained in blood next to the organ.
Margaret was in shock, they have been talking the previous night before she told off Mr. Decker. Miss Andrews was a kind young woman, an adorable woman with no apparent enemies. Why and who could have wanted to kill that woman?
Three days had gone by and the smell of death could not be erased from the atmosphere. Margaret used to come in the kitchen with a sense of fear that was already part of her soul; she could not help having a look at the floor still thinking there was a blood stain on the pottery made floor of the kitchen. She sighed and closed the door behind her.
“good morning Miss Sullivan” Mrs Harrison vividly said.
Margaret took a big breath, she was scared to the bone, the minimum noise or word put her into anxiety these days.
“good morning ladies” Margaret said, “please, go to the dining room, everybody’s there for breakfast” she continued drawing a fake smile in her face
Mrs Harrison walked with the help of Mrs Kenneth, a deaf tall woman who seemed very young to be in such a stranded place. She was not weak, in fact she was really strong and was Mrs Harrison’s arms and legs when she needed to walk.
Margaret joined the other staff in the dining room:  miss Redford, always smiling and showing off her reddish cheeks, miss LeNoire who as usual seemed absent minded  and Mr. Neville, the youngest boy in the geriatric, he was only twenty-three years old and alike the rest with enthusiasm for his work.
After breakfast the residents went for a walk in the garden taking advantage of the good weather; only few of them preferred to watch television. Mr. Neville, who liked being called Nev and the ladies started to clean up the tables while Margaret heated some pasta on the microwave and was about to start eating it when Mr. Thompson, the manager, called her to his office to talk about some electric problems the geriatric was having. “he enjoys spoiling my meals” Margaret thought to herself. The rest of the day was just the other days: a dull day in that windy grey area of Edinburg.
Margaret’s sweet dreams of her childhood in her grandparents’ cottage was suddenly interrupted by a scream in the middle of the night. She opened her eyes but stayed in bed, without moving, pretending it was nothing. Somebody was definitely crying downstairs and some people gathered the person crying as she was hearing other voices. She gasped, swallow some saliva and ran downstairs. The scene was unthinkable. Nev was lying on the corridor floor, only wearing his trunks, he was there as if he was sleeping, however, the red blood colour made a big contrast with his white skin only stained by its own insights. As unfortunately expected he had a hole in his chest and his heart had been removed as well.
Only a few minutes later, Agent Loomies arrived, this time with a new policeman, he was not the one coming with her the other day. Agent Loomies, the blond young policewoman, was in shock to witness that massacre. She had not been prepared for that after her years in the training programme in the academy. It had been a year since she graduated. She asked if she could speak to the manager in a trembling voice, she said so in such a weak pitch that it could break if it was a flower stem. The agent ordered that nobody should be out of their rooms under any circumstances and people working in the centre ought to go around in groups of two people at least. All the new rules were welcomed by the whole staff. The residents were explained not to go out unless the nurse or another person from the geriatric told them to come out of their rooms. Almost all of them agreed; some such as Mr. Decker and Mrs. Harrison complained about that new plan.
“I have to come back to the police station but I will come back in a couple of hours. I need not say that all of you are suspects” Agent Loomies added
“yes, we have to be extremely careful, If you need any help do not hesitate to contact me” interrupted Mr. Thompson
“I insist Mr. Thompson, all of you” coldly uttered the blond agent
Mr. Thompson tried to smile but he did not succeed.
“Why Nev this time?” the manager asked himself. He was extremely confused. His mind was crowded with different motives and some staff members came to his head as possible suspects. To say the truth Margaret was his first suspect. It was not the first time she mistreated a resident. She used to lose her temper very often. Mr. Decker could tell that.
Mr. Decker had always felt pity for her and offered Margaret a sweet.
“I usually eat sweets when I am nervous Miss, it will help” he told Miss Sullivan
She looked at him and although she had more important things to worry about than listening to stupid old stories, she smiled and accepted it
“Margaret, could you please watch the residents for  a moment? I am going to the basement, I am really fed up with this light problem, and especially now we do not need any dark corridor here, I want a lot of light, no darkened corners at all” he asked her
“of course Sir” replied Margaret
Margaret watched the clock in the wall, she did not fancy the idea of being alone in charge of all the old people. After a few minutes, Miss Redford and Miss Renoir appeared
“where have you been girls?” Margaret asked them in an imperative voice, like an army general
“We have been upstairs checking every single room on the second floor and it seems everything’s fine. No resident is there; all of them are here with you”
Suddenly lights went off. Panic was starting to reign in every single resident of the geriatric, some started to shout, scream, take each other hands and even embrace Margaret who was feeling really embarrassed.
“Ok, do not worry, listen up to me carefully, each person will come back to the room, I will lead the ones in the first floor and Miss Redford will take control of the second floor, Miss LeNoir will stay here and will try to contact Mr. Thompson, ok? Understood? So, follow us pleas and do not separate, emergency lights will not mislead you” Margaret shouted.
Once upstairs, Margaret leaded each person to the rooms; first Mr. Decker, then Mrs. Kenneth and finally Mr. Mills, a deaf old man who had serious trouble walking. She helped the old man to enter his room and sit on the bed when she heard Mr. Decker screaming.
She immediately closed Mr. Mill’s door and rushed to see what was happening to Mr. Decker. She took out a knife that was hiding in her apron as if it was to save her life.
“what’s wrong Mr. Decker?” she urged to ask.
“I saw a shadow, like a human shadow behind the curtain” he said
His voice was trembling and his eyes watering.
“There is nobody there Mr. Decker” Margaret tried to calm him down.
“you know what, I will lock the door and nobody will be able to come in, ok? We will be safe” Margaret told the old preoccupied man.
She did so and approached the wardrobe to place the key when she saw something shinning reflected thanks to the emergency light inferring directly on the object. She pushed the wardrobe a little bit and saw a spoon, she picked it up and a shiver went down his spine to see it was stained with blood.
Mr. Decker gazed her in such a coldness that it could frighten anyone
“Miss Sullivan, can I call you Margaret, right?” he asked at the time he put the key on his pocket. “You can call me Doc, as you know”
She could not utter a word, she could only nod.
“It had not been easy to kill Miss Andrews and Nev, especially I felt pity for the boy, he did not deserve this end, but about Miss Andrew… I do not pity her at all, with that superiority on her eyes all the time…” explained Mr. Decker
“but Mr. Decker…” she started to cry
“Doc, please, Doctor Decker… I have served in the army as the most important doctor they have ever had, I saved many lives, I did surgeries that other doctors only dreamed about, and how am I paid for that? Yes, dropped like a nasty Kleenex in this hole of place, full of rats and people who tell you what to do or not to do the whole time” he started to speak anxiously
“have you heard of the FS theory, Margaret?, to be more concrete, the feeding one’s soul theory” he explained
She could not speak, she could only feel anger and anxiety
“you feed on youth to stay young, take the heart, the blood, the soul from a young person and feed yourself from it, the experience is marvelous, unexplainable dear”
“you are insane” she finally cried
Margaret started to feel dizzy and her eyes rolled, she was sweating and stumbling around the room
“well, well, well…I guess the sweet is having its effect, did I say sweet, sorry, I meant the drug you just ate; I am sure it will make things easier” he smiled at her
Margaret had to lay on the floor as she was about to crumble. She heard some steps and saw Doctor Decker looking at her from an upper position
“what do we have in the menu today? All these sudden accidents made me hungry dear” he sarcastically added.
Margaret could not even shout as the drug was having its effect on her body, she could not listen to him, she was only able to see him going on his knees and taking out a spoon of his pocket and a scapel.  She closed her eyes ready to feel the pain he was going to inflict to her preaching with all her forces and senses to faint.
 
 
The end 

All rights belong to its author. It was published on e-Stories.org by demand of Ruben Mecho Sanguesa.
Published on e-Stories.org on 11/02/2012.

 
 

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