The helpful nurse even fudged some paperwork so that two dinners were delivered to room 434. Bert had to admit the stereotype of hospital food was close to the truth but spending extra time with Jamie as she seemed to be coming down off the major effects of her pain medication was more than offset the somewhat less than ideal cuisine. Pretty soon Bert realized he would soon be needing to take off. Partly not to overstay the generosity of Lucy Tanner having bent the rules for him, but also so Jamie could get some rest. He knew she was enjoying his company, but he could see the fatigue in her eyes and hear it in her voice.
“Guess I had better hit the road, Jamie. You need anything else for tomorrow?”
“No thanks, Bert. I can’t imagine I will be here that much longer. My guess is that Dr. Abrams will release me sometime tomorrow once he looks me over and makes sure all is well.”
“OK…let me hit the bathroom and then I will split.”
Jamie was sad to see Bert leaving, but she knew she needed to sleep. It had been a long and challenging day and she was sure the morning would leave her in a more positive frame of mind than she had been that afternoon due to the loose talk in the orthopedic suite. The only nagging bug in her brain now, actually, was that visit from Dr. Malone. The one who Lucy had assured here did not exist on the staff of Westmore Memorial. She knew Bert was just trying to make her look at the logical aspects of the experience to make sense of it, but all the same she was sure she had not hallucinated the man. But what else could it be? It was not like Lucy Tanner would lie about such a thing…
Jamie began to lower the angle of her bed but stopped in mid-action as a series of dim, but distinct lights began to form at the foot of her bed. Initially, Jamie thought it was simply a reflection from headlights in the parking lot nearby, but a glance in that direction confirmed that there were no cars in the vicinity. The lights pulsed in and out of intensity, finally acquiring a soft rose-colored hue as the diffuse illumination began to reshape into the vague outlines of human forms. The shapes never fully materialized to display distinctive limbs or even heads. But what she saw were definitely six human-like entities. Even if the entities had possessed fully developed appendages, Jamie knew they were not real, as she could see the wall of her room through them.
She closed her eyes and waited a few seconds, but nothing had changed when she re-opened her eyes. What had changed was a whispered chant-like sound coming from the group:
“beware of Dr. Malone…. beware of Dr. Malone…beware of Dr. Malone….”
After a few rounds of the chanting, a reverberating scraping sound took over, and the figures all began to fade away in an eerie swirling-like pattern, resembling what Jamie remembered from childhood as powdered chocolate was mixed into milk. Within seconds, all again was quiet and there was no sign of her new visitors as the last of the apparitions vanished completely.
Jamie found herself gaping wildly at the bare wall at the foot of her bed, suddenly feeling very weak and feverish as a cold sweat covered her in a sheen. Bert returned from the bathroom to find her in this state. As well, he saw she was extremely pale and ashen, trembling like a leaf in the wind. He was sure something more had gone wrong with her, some sort of inexplicable complication, either from the orthopedic treatment or her medication. Bert froze for a moment where he stood, as Jamie had her hands clasped tightly to the sides of her face as she mumbled over and over:
“you’re not real…you’re not real… you’re not real… you’re not real… you’re not real…”
He finally snapped out of his own stupor and rushed to her, pulling her hands from her face. He had only been gone a minute or two, he guessed, but in just that short interval something horrible had apparently happened to her. Jamie began to hyperventilate as Bert came to her, and her mumbling continued.
“Jamie! Snap out of it!”
Despite his efforts, Bert was getting nowhere with the cold and clammy Jamie and he was about to chase down Lucy when Jamie flinched in his grasp and clung to him with a grip so tight Bert was sure she would crush him. Bert was no weakling, but a lifetime of athletic training had made Jamie stronger than most women he knew.
“Oh, God, Bert….it was…there was….”
Bert was afraid she was having an attack of some sort as she was blubbering and talking in nonsensical run-on sentence fragments between gasping for air. However, just as he was about to go for help, Bert sensed her calming and he waited as she came back to normal.
“It’s OK, Jamie…I’m here now…take some deep breaths and tell me what in the hell just happened…”
Jamie nodded rapidly, still trembling in Bert’s arms. She did as he said and made several deep inhalations and exhalations until she could talk in full sentences. Bert got a towel and mopped away the layer of sweat that was on Jamie’s face and waited as she once again raised her bed to put her in a sitting position. Slowly and with a measured effort, Jamie explained to Bert about the apparitions that had come to her and what they had said. Bert listened as she went through her story, but if he was to discount any hallucinatory aspects from her medication to make her imagine such a thing, that left him more uneasy than ever.
Bert saw no reason to continue on the same old tact of trying to convince Jamie that she had just imagined the six spirits. They had been over this and over this, and each time she had denied it. He saw no point in continuing on in this vein. The other issue he did consider, though, was Jamie’s propensity toward an interest in the paranormal. It was not that Bert did not believe in such things, but more that he had just never seen such phenomenon first-hand. He had never discounted Jamie’s interest in that area, but at the same time he began to wonder if the stress from her accident in combination with the drugs she was on was making her dream up some sort of non-physical hallucination, due to her interest in the paranormal.
First it had been the non-existent Dr. Malone and the oxygen mask, and now a whole wrath of entities warning her about the mythical doctor. The worst possibility that occurred to Bert, and he hated himself for even considering the possibility, was Jamie’s family history. When they had been dating for about six months, Jamie had confided in Bert about a history of schizophrenia and a dissociative personality disorder that her mother had suffered from when Jamie was just five or six. Bert had no idea if such things had a genetic component or not, but it did pop into his mind.
“I know what you are thinking, Bert…” Jamie finally said as he figured she could sense his reticence at believing her story. “You think I am imagining all this! Dr. Malone…the visitors that were just here…”
Bert did not respond.
“Bert, you have got to believe me! I am not seeing or hearing things that are not there. I am not my poor, demented mother!”
That last bit stabbed Bert in the heart. Somehow, she had seen the gears in his brain beginning to turn. He felt guilty for even letting those thoughts come to him, but right now he had no idea what to believe. He felt ashamed at his reaction, but Bert knew he would, for now, have to humor Jamie until he could get some help. And Lucy Tanner seemed to be his best bet for some initial help.
“I know you are not your mom, Jamie. But something is going on here.”
“I could not agree more…can you do me a favor and just poke around and see what you can find out about a Dr. Malone in Westmore? Please?”
“Sure, Jamie…that much I can do. You want anything else to help you sleep?”
“Hell no! I’ve had enough drugs turning my system upside down for one day, I think…”
Bert kissed her good night and waited until she had settled in and doused her night table lamp before leaving. He felt duplicitous letting Jamie believe he would research a doctor that Lucy Tanner had assured them did not exist…at least here at Westmore Memorial…as he made his way to see the nurse to try and get her assistance with Jamie and these possible hallucinations. Lucy looked up from her work as Bert approached and waved.
“Heading home?” Lucy asked.
“
Actually….” Bert began, “you got a minute?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Can you take a break?”
Lucy nodded, bringing her pager with her in case there was an emergency as they moved to the waiting room just down the hallway from Jamie’s room.
“You OK, Bert? You look upset.”
“I am. It’s about Jamie. I need your professional advice or at least opinion. In confidence.”
Lucy nodded as she furrowed her brow, wondering where this was going. Bert went through all the visions that Jamie had described to him following the siting of Dr. Malone. He tried to be as thorough and detailed as he could from Jamie’s descriptions of her latest experience as well as the state he had found her in when he returned from the bathroom. Lucy began to take notes as Bert talked.
“I’m a bit concerned about her mental health based on all of this, Lucy. At first, I thought it might be just some bizarre drug interactions, but now I am not so sure.”
“Any family history of mental illness?”
Bert nodded sheepishly and told Lucy what little he knew of Jamie’s mother.
“Can that kind of thing be passed on from parents to children, Lucy?”
She shrugged.
“It depends on who you talk to. I’m not sure I am convinced, though. The drugs can cause certain types of visual and auditory hallucinations, but I agree with you that the window for that explanation has most likely passed. I am not sure what to tell you, but there may be something else going on with her…. maybe we should...”
But Lucy never finished her train of thought. Before the rest of her sentence was finished, a menacing scream of terror pierced the hallway coming from room 434.
Call in the Shrinks
Westmore Memorial Hospital
Westmore, NH
April 20, 2017
11 PM
Just as Jamie finally felt her body relax and her eyes closing for the night, she detected an odd rustling sound and cracked her lids open to see the large curtain that divided the room in half moving as if a breeze from an open window was blowing it about. The problem, Jamie saw, was that there was no open window. Not even a breeze coming from her door which was just slightly ajar. Before she realized it, the form of Dr. Malone was hovering over her again. This time, however, the doctor appeared much more ephemeral than on his previous visit to her room, much like the group of six specters that had come to warn her about the good doctor. His features, unlike the others, were distinct and solid-looking, but this time Jamie detected a slight difference.
He was semi-opaque, which had not been the case previously, at least from her recollection. But his movements were also just a bit off. Before he had seemed to move with the normal mechanics and fluidity of any person. This time his movements were a bit jerky or contrived, as if his form was being controlled from elsewhere. He seemed more solid and real than the other spirits, but this time around, not quite so humanoid. Also, if he had feet, which Jamie could not have sworn to, he was not using them. He was floating across her bed as he came at her with the oxygen mask again. He did not speak until he was almost on top of her, but when he did, his voice was off as well. It had this distant echo-like quality to it as he insisted she put on the mask.
But what really made Jamie’s blood run cold, was when she looked up into the Malone-thing’s face. The eyes were dead and black, much like the quality of a shark that she remembered from the many nature shows she had watched over the years. His mouth was drawn back into a half-grimace, half-sneer of perversion as he lowered the mask toward her face. It was then that whatever spell Malone had over her, Jamie broke free of it and screamed with all that she had as she fought the specter and his attempts to place the mask over her mouth. It was just then that Bert and Lucy burst into her room to find Jamie flailing at the air as she thrashed from side to side, nearly falling from her bed.
Jamie was alone in her room. All that was moving other than her was a loose oxygen mask that had come detached from its mooring of the tank that sat next to her bed, apparently from all of Jamie’s contortions. It took Lucy and Bert together to collect Jamie and get her to stop all of her thrashing about while she related a hysterical and overly agitated version of what she had just seen: the latest drop-in from Dr. Malone. As Jamie’s ranting and raving went on and on, Bert looked across the bed and caught Lucy’s eyes. The nurse just nodded and left to leave Bert alone with her. Lucy came back in just a few seconds with a pill cup and some water. Jamie looked over at her and her agitation returned.
“No more drugs, please, Lucy…I am begging you!” Jamie cried out as she struggled in Bert’s grip.
“Jamie, honey…there is no way you will ever sleep tonight without this and I am afraid another episode may damage the casting on your ankle and that is something you do not want, trust me. You want to go through all of that orthopedic torture again?”
That last bit seemed to mollify Jamie and she stopped struggling against Bert. He looked over Jamie’s head and mouthed “thank you” in Lucy’s direction. As well, Bert appreciated that the nurse had had the approach to not deny what Jamie had imagined, but rather framed it as “another episode”. Jamie relaxed and took the pill from Lucy. The sedative was quick acting and Jamie felt herself slowly drifting away.
“No need to worry, Jamie…” Lucy said as she took back the empty pill cup. “Both Bert and I will be here all night to keep an eye out for Dr. Malone.”
Jamie nodded that she understood as she fell back into bed under the effects of the sedative. However, just before she nodded off completely, she looked up to see the form of Dr. Malone back again hovering over her bed, up near the ceiling, chuckling to himself as if he had just heard the most delightful joke ever.
“This is how it will feel when you die, Jamie…just drift away…no pain…no suffering…no more people thinking you are crazy…like your Mom…just give in and join me…”
Jamie could hear the man distinctly as if he were whispering in her ear, despite his being far away and up near the top of the room as he flitted back and forth over her. She wanted to call out to Bert and Lucy to warn them…to show them this was real…but the drug was too powerful, and the sight of the Malone-thing and the sound of his mocking voice were the last things Jamie was aware of that night. Her lids grew too heavy to hold open any longer and her world went black.
………
When Jamie awoke the next morning, she felt rested, but did not recognize anything of her surroundings. She was alone in a much smaller room, with bars on the windows. It made no sense. Where exactly was she? Had they moved her? And why? Or was she really losing her mind? The sun was slanting through the lone window, but it did not look like the morning light at all. Had she actually slept through the entire day? It was an odd feeling, to be this disoriented and confused. Jamie remembered a time from high school when she and some friends had gone on a drinking binge and then crashed. When she had awoken from that stupor, the sunlight from outside looked as odd as it did now, giving her no idea if it was morning or late afternoon.
As Jamie pondered her new digs, the door opened and Lucy Tanner appeared carrying a tray of food. She set the tray on a table nearby and came and sat on the edge of Jamie’s bed. She smiled, but even in her confused state, Jamie could see Lucy’s smile was forced and contrived.
“Brought you dinner, Jamie….”
“Not sure I have much of an appetite tonight…mind telling me what is going on? Maybe where I am for starters?”
Lucy’s smile fell away as she reached out and touched Jamie’s hand with her own. The gesture had good intent, bur Jamie drew her hand away, sensing whatever was up was about to piss her off.
“Based on what you have been experiencing since we checked you in, Jamie, we decided to move you here to the psych ward for some further evaluation.”
“Psych ward?”
“Don’t try and make this out to be more than it is, Jamie. We’re just trying to figure out what is going on with yo
u.”
“To determine if I am full-blown insane, so you can have me committed? Something like that?”
“Not at all. It could be some lingering side effect of the medication or…”
“Or the fact that my mother had to be hospitalized for a few years due to her mental illness diagnoses? And you just assumed it’s a family thing?”
“Please, Jamie…you are really overreacting…”
“Really? Overreacting? I came into this place for a broken ankle and end up in the looney bin? Take my belt, shoelaces, remove all the sharp objects from the room…that about right?”
Lucy sighed with exasperation, as she weathered Jamie’s outburst.
“It’s just so we can try and understand why you are seeing things…and hearing things that are not there…”
Jamie knew what she had seen and what she had heard, and she did not understand it all yet, but one thing she did know was that it was not her imagination or hallucinations due to some medication. The other thing she knew was that showing more anger or antagonism toward Lucy or the hospital for her situation was only going to make matters worse. She reluctantly bit her tongue and took a deep breath. In the back of her mind, Jamie prayed that Bert was not in on this decision and that he had trusted her enough to actually look into the history of the hospital, the maniacal Dr. Malone and Westmore. In the meantime, she would have to play along with whatever these people had in store for her.
Haunted House Tales Page 49