The Hellandback Kids: Be Careful What You Wish For

by LL Helland

  Chris thought his granmama was going to stare him down again, but she looked at twelve-year-old Brittany. “What about your future, Brittany?”

  “I’d like to be a scientist someday and work with extremely dangerous viruses like Ebola, SARS, or H5N1 Avian virus—you know, the bird flu. I’d like to go to college overseas, maybe go to school in England and study abroad. I sometimes wish I had been born about a hundred years ago, and England makes it so easy to believe I was.”

  Trisha chimed in. “I think I would like that also, Granmama. I’d like to live when the boys acted like gentlemen and a lady didn’t have to worry about getting hurt.”

  Granmama smiled. “I’m sure you will get into a college in England if that is where you truly want to go. And how about you, Jon? Have you given much thought to your future?”

  Jon grinned confidently. “Granmama, I don’t have to put too much thought into that question. I’ve had my future planned out since I was three years old. I will own my own multimillion-dollar company. I enjoy hard work and long hours; that’s what keeps me going.”

  “What about a family and friends, Jon? Do you plan on being alone?”

  Chris looked at his older brother for the first time like maybe he wasn’t as lucky as he thought. It was so difficult for Jon to make friends and then keep them.

  “I’ll have plenty of time for all that when I make my money.”

  “I see. And just how much money will make you happy enough to slow down and connect with others, and perhaps have a family?”

  “I don’t know right now, Granmama, but I’ll know when I get there. I’m only fifteen years old.”

  “That’s very interesting, Jon. I think you should think about it so you can schedule your high school classes to match what you want to take in college. I do wish you would follow your father and be a lawyer or an inventor, but that’s up to you. Now let me show you to your rooms.”

  They all got up and looked for their luggage. But it was gone. Chris asked, “Where’s our luggage?”

  “It’s in your individual rooms.”

  Jon said, “I didn’t see anyone come into the kitchen. Chris, did you see anyone? You were sitting closest to the door.”

  Chris just shook his head.

  Granmama said, “So, before I begin this tour, does anyone need to use the loo?”

  Brittany and Trisha never passed up an opportunity to use the bathroom, so Granmama showed them to a tiny half bath off of the kitchen.

  When they came back into the kitchen, Brittany was saying, “Trisha, did you feel something against your arm?”

  “No, nothing. Why?”

  “Are you sure you didn’t see or feel anything move past you?”

  “No, Brittany. I felt a small gust of air, but this is an old building, like ours—you know, with drafts and things.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” They all watched the bathroom door swing slowly shut.

  Granmama said, “All right, children, it is time I showed you to your rooms.”

  The only thing resembling an old hospital was the building itself.

  Brittany asked, “Where did all these things come from?”

  The walls and hallways were covered with exotic objects, including old weapons: spears, daggers, hitting rocks, two-sided swords, flintlock pistols, knives of every shape and size, axes, fencing equipment, even several old cannons. There were skulls, skeletons, old birthing pots, Indian artifacts, canvas pictures, very old rugs, armor, shields, helmets, shrunken heads, two-headed beasts, stuffed alligators, and many other things.

  Jon was studying the mechanism for the old weapons. “Where did all this come from?”

  “Your great-grandfather and I loved traveling and collecting all these items.”

  Chris said, “I bet you needed a lot of money to go to all those faraway places?”

  Chris was still trying to figure out if his granmama was going to tell them about their inheritance. So far, the trip had been uneventful with the exception of the weird house. There must have been a good reason to interrupt their routine life in Boston.

  “Actually, no, Chris, we didn’t spend any money. Come now, children, let me show you to your rooms.”

  “How could you get all this stuff without paying anything? You and great-grandfather have sticky fingers or what?”

  “Chris, I can talk about that later. Let’s move on.”

  Chris leaned over and whispered to Brittany, “Looks like we have a fugitive in our family tree.”

  Brittany said, “Chris, hurry up. We’re going to lose Granmama.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Granmama gave them a quick tour of the first floor. Then, pointing in a different direction, she said, “Chris, your bedroom is on the first floor like mine. The other three rooms will be on the second floor.”

  Chris mumbled, “Oh, great! She put me closer to her so she can keep an eye on me.”

  Jon said, “This place has an interesting odor to it.”

  Brittany said, “It smells like the hospital we took you to when you broke your arm playing lacrosse in sixth grade.”

  Chris said, “What about when I broke a bone in my foot?”

  Trisha rolled her eyes. “Okay, Chris, we didn’t forget about when you fractured your foot falling off the curb. This place does smell like that.”

  Chris was getting irritated. “You have got to be kidding me, Trisha. Don’t you remember? A car slammed into me and ran over my foot. Probably a driver like Jon.”

  Granmama looked surprised. “Didn’t I tell you that this used to be a hospital many, many years ago?”

  Chris shrugged his shoulders, not remembering if she had told them that or not. “I just thought that you were kidding or that, maybe, over the years, there had been some remodeling, but I can see that’s probably not true.”

  Trisha started to fidget since she was a little unnerved, but she was also excited about getting a room to herself.

  Granmama said, “I will take you all around to see where each of you will be sleeping, in case you want to find each other in the middle of the night. Oh—I’ve also put flashlights in all your rooms. Sometimes the lights go out. But, when you are sleeping, who needs lights anyway?”

  Chris said, “Makes sense to me.”

  Trisha said very quietly, “Granmama, Jon and Chris never get scared of anything. I don’t know if all boys are like that or just them. This place is a little scary to me. But, if Dad grew up here, it must be a great place.”

  Finally, they walked down to the end of a long, dark corridor. There were two huge doors under a sign that read: OR.

  Granmama stopped in front of the doors and said, “Chris, this is your room.”

  “What does OR stand for?” Chris asked.

  Granmama put her hand on his shoulder. “Chris, it stands for Operating Room. This used to be where all the surgeries were performed.” She pushed the button on the side of the doors, and they swung open, nearly knocking Trisha down. They all looked inside, not wanting to walk through the doors.

  When they did step inside, the air felt cool, almost cold. The old operating room held a stainless steel table with a round light over it. Since it was very dark in the room, Granmama grabbed the surgical light over the steel table and gave the handle in the middle a twist; the light blazed on. They all looked around the room.

  There was medical equipment everywhere. Two steel tables, which once had probably held surgical instruments, were set up next to the operating table as bedside tables. There were no rugs or curtains or anything to make the room feel like a bedroom. The windows were completely covered. Chris didn’t know if that had been done for the surgeries years ago or if someone had done it later to keep out the light. He just knew that if the light were off and the doors were shut, he wouldn’t be able to see his hand in front of his face.

  Chris asked, “Granmama, are you sure this is my room? It doesn’t look anything like a bedroom.”

  “Chris, does it not have a bed in it, and a blanket an
d a pillow?”

  Chris looked around the room and saw a small table in the corner with, not a blanket, but a sleeping bag and a pillow.

  Trisha picked up the bedding, put the sleeping bag on the stainless steel table, then fluffed the pillow. “Chris, I think you’re going to like sleeping here. You’ve slept on worse.”

  Brittany said, “Chris, when you have your friends spend the night, it never bothers you to sleep on the hard, cold floor.”

  “Yeah, I guess it is kind of neat to sleep in an operating room.” Chris walked over and opened one of the metal drawers of instruments.

  Trisha, right behind him, looked into the drawer also. “Wow! All that shiny stuff—it looks like a drawer filled with jewelry.” She picked up a hemostat and watched the light bounce off the handle.

  Jon said, “Theses instruments look brand new.”

  Brittany said, “Granmama, who dusts this room? It’s totally clean.”

  Chris could almost see his reflection in the floor. “I think you can eat off the floor; it looks freshly polished. And what’s this?” There in front of him was a metal box, about eighteen inches by eighteen inches, sitting on the metal counter above the instruments.

  Granmama said, “That’s an autoclave. It sterilizes the instruments. It hasn’t been used in years, but I’m sure it still works.” Above the instrument drawers, several drawers contained gauze and bandages, all in perfect condition. An X-ray box, writing board, several large mirrors, and a telephone decorated the walls.

  Chris turned and asked his great-grandmother, “Can I wrap the bandages around myself and walk around like a mummy?” Ideas for scaring his sisters roamed around in his head.

  Chris thought this was getting boring. He wondered if he had taken his ADHD medications. He couldn’t even figure out what day it was, let alone if he was current on his meds. Restless, he started fiddling with a machine on the counter. He picked up two metal defibrillator paddles and pretended to put them on his chest.

  Chris yelled, “Clear!”

  Trisha jumped into the air, and Jon automatically punched Chris in the shoulder. “I saw that on a medical show.”

  Brittany said, “Chris, don’t yell like that again.”

  Chris put the paddles down and rubbed his right shoulder. “What a bunch of scaredy-cats.” Another machine caught his eye.

  “What does EKG stand for, and why is everything abbreviated?”

  Brittany said, “Chris, not to go into a lot of detail, but it stands for electrocardiogram, and it measures the electrical signals that control the rhythm of your heartbeat.”

  She even managed to impress Jon, which was no easy task. He gave Brittany a look of satisfaction.

  “I learned that at the hospital when I volunteered.”

  The round surgical light flickered off and on. It started making a buzzing sound.

  Granmama said, “The wiring in this building is very old. You children wait here while I go check something.”

  Great-Grandmother had just stepped out, and Chris’s mind filled with ideas. He took some of the surgical equipment out of the drawers and brought over the defibrillator. He was going to do some pretend surgical procedure. As the lights in the hallway flickered, there seemed to be someone lying on the steel surgical table. The four Hellandback children came close. What or who was on the table?

  Trisha said, “Chris, that looks like you.”

  Chris was very rarely speechless, but he couldn’t move his mouth. He picked up his lacrosse stick and tried to poke the vision with his stick. The illusion on the table let out a bloodcurdling scream, and the Hellandbacks all jumped back several feet.

  Jon never swore, but he said, “What the hell!”

  The vision of Chris on the table sat up and, without a sound, slowly dragged itself out of the room. The next thing they heard was their great-grandmother talking to someone.

  Chris’s voice cracked. “Who is she talking to?”

  Trisha’s eyes were bugging out of her head as if they would burst. “I want to go home.”

  Great-Grandmother walked through the door. “Everything is fine. Just blew a fuse. Children, what’s wrong? You all look like you’ve seen a spirit.”

  Jon was the only one who could find his voice. “We just saw a vision of Chris on the surgical table, and it looked like he was dead.”

  The surgical light buzzed and slowly came on. Chris found his voice. “I know I’m pale, but I had no color to my skin at all.”

  “Children, everything is fine. I know you never met your great-grandfather, but he was a very mystical soul.”

  Brittany grabbed her chest. “Granmama, what does that have to do with Chris being dead on the table?”

  She cleared her throat and hesitated. Great-Grandmother finally said, “He is a very loving man and would never harm you children.”

  Jon said, “Why are you talking like he is still alive?”

  “Children, please don’t take this the wrong way, but he still walks the hallways of this hospital. He shares his visions with others.”

  Trisha started to leave the room. “I want to go home!”

  Chris nervously laughed. “He’s my kind of guy if he can pull off scaring Jon and me.”

  Trisha and Brittany looked at each other. Sure, why hadn’t they realized it until now?

  Trisha said, “Chris, you’ve really stepped it up a notch. Not only have you recruited those disgusting friends of yours, but now Granmama.”

  Brittany blew out air through pursed lips. “Chris, how low will you go to scare Trisha and me?”

  Jon slapped his little brother on the back. “Way to go, bro. You need to teach me that one.”

  Granmama winked at Chris and cleared her throat. “Pretty good trick. Children, let’s move on to Trisha’s room.”

  “Granmama, I hope my room is warmer than Chris’s room. I get cold easily. And please, Granmama, tell Chris no funny stuff in my room.”

  “I think you’ll like your room. We’ll go up the stairs at the end of the hall.”

  Jon said, “Ma’am, doesn’t this place have an elevator? They would have had to have one to get the patients up to the second floor.”

  “Yes, Jon, my house has a lift, but I’m a minimalist, and I don’t like to use it. All these stairs keeps me in shape. Besides, it is very old, and we might get stuck between floors, and then who would save us?”

  Chris mumbled, “Great-Grandfather could send one of his goons to rescue us.”

  “Yes, of course, Chris, but let’s just take the stairs.”

  Chris just had to ask his granmama one more time, “Are you sure this is the room that suits me? I could go for an overstuffed mattress and some bed linen. I like the temperature in the room, but the rest has got to go.”

  “Yes, Chris, this is the room I prepared for you.”

  Granmama turned off the light, and they all walked out of the OR.

  What did Great-Grandfather Hellandback really have in mind for his great-grandchildren? Granmama was somewhat eccentric, but her deceased husband was not to be trusted.

  CHAPTER 10

  They walked through the dark hallways all clumped together, stepping on each other.

  Granmama said, “Children, spread out. You’re going to hurt one another. This place will become more comfortable after a few days.”

  Granmama stopped in front of huge double doors. Unlike the OR doors, they were made of thick, heavy, and ornately carved wood. She opened the massive doors with very little effort. A feeling of comfort came over them, and they looked around in amazement.

  Standing up front on either side of the church were two wax figures. One was of a handsome man in a tuxedo, and the other was of a young lady.

  Chris started laughing. “Trisha, that’s you in that wedding dress. I guess that’s one way to get a man to marry you.”

  Trisha was upset. “That manikin doesn’t look anything like me!”

  Brittany said, “Trisha, the wax statue is identical to you. T
he only difference is her hair is pulled up in ringlets.”

  “I would never wear my hair like that.”

  Trisha went and stood in front of the man in the tux. “He looks older than me, and his clothes are old-fashioned.” Trisha touched one of his hands to see if he was real and got a pins-and-needles sensation in her hand. She quickly pulled away.

  “I think I got shocked. Granmama, is this man hooked up to electricity?”

  Jon interrupted her, as he usually did. “I think the more important issue would be, why is there a coffin on the floor?”

  It was a nice enough coffin, bright white and shiny. You could almost see Jon’s reflection in it. Chris had to check it out, so he ran over. “Let’s see if there is anyone in it.”

  Jon snorted, “Why would anyone be in the coffin, Chris? This is not a funeral parlor.”

  Granmama intervened. “Chris, there is no one in the coffin. That is where Trisha will be sleeping.”

  Chris opened up the top portion of the perfectly glazed rectangular box.

  Trisha gasped, “It is absolutely perfect, Granmama!” She ran her hand along the side of the coffin.

  Jon said, “Leave it to Trisha to think a coffin is perfect for sleeping.”

  The coffin was lined with white silk, padded and tufted, with a small pillow and a small white blanket inside.

  Granmama said, “Trisha, I know how you like small places. It makes you feel safe. But, the most important reason is your fetish with vampires and men of mystery and everything that goes along with them.”

  “This kind of surprise I like. When I tell my friends in Boston, they are going to think this was so cool.”

  Chris said, “Hey Trisha, do you think that wax manikin is some type of vampire?” He walked over to her and opened his mouth and showed his teeth as if he was going to bite her neck. “I want to suck your blood.”

  Trisha waved her younger brother away as if she was shooing a bee away. “Chris, get away from me.”

  Trisha took her shoes off and climbed into the coffin, snuggling down into the pillow. For some reason Trisha said, “I feel safe.” But then, she liked small spaces. She loved to dance with her friends, but was easily overwhelmed and liked to retreat to a quiet place. She had read every vampire book available and had seen any movie dealing with an unusual relationship with a man of unknown origin. “If this works out, can you tell Dad and Mom to get me a coffin for a bed at home? My friends will be so jealous. I feel like I’m in a cocoon.”