mirror of https://github.com/nealey/Horrors2
166 lines
3.0 KiB
TeX
166 lines
3.0 KiB
TeX
\chapauth{Phthalogreen}
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\chapter{Pearl}
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I stand in the shadow. The sounds have been coming again and again
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for thirty years. I'm in the old folks' home on 42nd
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Street in New York. Right by the alley where it all started. My
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hand shakes slightly with my pain meds in my hand.
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Pearl, my ten-year-old granddaughter, sits on the bed across the
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room. I keep my hat down and my collar up so she can't see my
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face. I won't let her get any closer. I don't want her
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to see what I've become.
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``Why won't you take your medicine, Grandpa?'' she
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asks.
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``It won't help me,'' I say. ``There
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isn't a cure for what I have.''
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``It's okay, Grandpa,'' she says. ``You
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don't have to take them if you don't want
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to.''
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Suddenly the nurse enters the room. Nurse Packard. She's the
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old hag of the nursing home. Everyone hates her and everyone is
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hated by her.
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``You there! What are you doing? Swallow those meds!''
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she shouts through the darkness.
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I look at the pills and hesitate. They are huge and taste
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horrid.
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``That's it, I'll have to feed them to you!''
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Nurse Packard shouts again.
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``The pills don't help!'' Pearl cries.
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``Don't you get it?''
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``Quiet, kid,'' Nurse Packard yells. ``Turn
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around,'' she says to me.
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``No. He's sick. You don't want him to turn
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around,'' Pearl says.
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``Sure I do,'' she replies. ``Step out of the dark
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and open your mouth.'' She doesn't know my mouth is
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always open now. I stay put and pull my coat collar over my
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chin.
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With that she runs towards me and commences her brutality, grabbing
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the pills from my hand. I keep my head down, but her clipboard
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smashes my head terribly powerful.
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``Grandpa!'' Pearl shouts. ``Stop it, you
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hag!''
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Nurse Packard ignores her. She giggles and forces her hand into my
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mouth. The pills enter my throat.
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Unable to control myself, I inch forward. I feel the light on my
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legs. Then my chest. Then my head.
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``Look away, Pearl!'' I shout. I lift my hat and Nurse
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Packard screams at the sight of my scarred, purple face.
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As the pills enter my stomach I feel it turning and tightening.
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Putrid vomit erupts from my mouth and nose and splatters on Nurse
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Packard's face. As the old woman screams, something pops in
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her head and she drops to the floor, twitching. The vomit keeps
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gushing toward the wriggling body on the floor.
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Then my stomach is empty. I fall to my knees. My head is spinning.
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But I hear Pearl's voice.
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``Grandpa!'' she says. I feel her grabbing my coat.
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``No! Don't look at my face!'' I shout.
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``It's okay, Grandpa,'' Pearl says. ``I saw
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you. I never looked away.''
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Suddenly I am sobbing. I realize I was wrong to assume she was
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weak. She has the right to see her Grandpa's face. I turn and
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look at her.
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``Grandpa,'' she says, hugging me. ``I want to know
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something.''
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``What, honey?'' I say.
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``What is your real name? Mommy won't tell
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me.''
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I think for a moment. Then I pick Pearl up and put her on my
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lap.
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``My name,'' I say proudly, ``is Luke
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Bavarious.''
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[edit: typo fixes]
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