The taste in my mouth just about had me gagging. I needed a glass of water, and I wasn’t about to risk drinking from the tap in the bathroom. There was no telling what kind of bacteria or heavy metals were in the well. Yesterday there had been a pitcher in the refrigerator of what I presumed to be fresh water.
The hallway was a yawning black void into nothing. A solitary candle created enough light for me to navigate my way. As I exited the room I hesitated, considering a check on Salpsan. I brushed the thought away about as quickly as it came to me. It was a strange feeling, almost as if I was sure that he was all right, healthy even.
I winced in pain at each step, more so than normal. The cold was deep. I don’t think at any point in the day the stone of the old house ever warmed up. It was as if I had been walking through a huge igloo. My joints screamed. My crippling arthritis almost caused me to drop the candle. I hadn’t been in that kind of pain in quite some time. Having worked in the hospital for so many years I knew how easy it was for nurses and doctors to develop drug issues. It was so easy to get painkillers for any ailment that some people used medications to stifle every little pain including the ones that stem from the heart. Many years ago my best friend, Mary-Ann Waverly, became addicted to a number of strong painkillers that began with Tylenol and Codeine that was prescribed for pain from a severe sinus infection. She claimed it wasn’t enough and began taking stronger painkillers, but the infection was long gone. After her husband left her for another woman I caught her popping pills on several occasions at the hospital, and her work suffered for it. She was eventually fired and even pushed me away, claiming that I had ratted her out. It was for reasons such as this that I only used my painkillers when I was truly suffering. I would rather deal with some irritation than turn myself into a numb zombie.
I promised myself as I scaled that dark, cold hallway that when I returned to my room with a glass of water I would take some of my meds, just to help get back to sleep. Then I realized—like last night—that the reason the hallway was so impenetrable was because the door to the sitting room had been closed again and locked.
I would have knocked, but feared the pain that would result in my knuckles. I used the palm of my hand, padding the door as loudly as I could to get someone’s attention, but like last night there was no answer. What I thought had been an anomaly was turning out to be a serious issue that had me wondering whether Adler or Blake was locking the door to keep me here.
Again I hollered and palmed the door to no avail. My mouth was dry and the taste left there by the night was worse than the worst morning breath. It was becoming clear that I would have to risk the water in the bathroom else I return to bed parched, which would result in drying out my lips to the point of painful cracking.
In the bathroom I set the candelabra on a ledge above the sink. The water was so cold it flared my arthritis like fire.
Fire.
In that moment I had a fleeting vision of something damnable, what I thought must have been the afterimage of a dream. I saw a headless goat. I could taste the blood.
I couldn’t compromise my health by drinking bad water so I decided to wet my lips and then go back to bed. What I saw when I looked into the mirror, the shock that flared my body with waves of nausea and adrenalin almost caused me to crumble to the floor. I grabbed the pedestal sink with both hands, eyes never leaving the cloudy mirror. My face was coated in something dark, almost black. It was then that I remembered what had happened and realized that the visions of the dead goat were not from a dream, but some somnambulist reality.
I frantically washed my face, crying and shaking from not only the cold, but from memories of what happened that were assaulting my frail mind. I knew then that I had to get out of there, that there was no way I could care after something as horrid and evil as Salpsan. How he could have coaxed me outside in the night I couldn’t understand, and I didn’t want to check in on him for fear that his restraints had somehow been breached. He may be in his room waiting to take me on some vile outing of ritualistic slaughter.
The shadows that flickered over my face seemed to show a dark side within that had been revealed by Salpsan, a dark side I hadn’t been aware of. In the darkness I could see the goat, the blood, the evil that permeated the night. It was there inside of me and I feared the consequences were that dark half to be harnessed or even brought forth again.
I became transfixed, staring into my own soul, tracing the lines on my face, the wrinkles time had left me with. I had never looked so old, had never felt so crippled and helpless. I wanted desperately to be at home in my cluttered flat, sitting on my couch with a good book, lying in bed with my favorite comforter, watching the evening news—anything but this.
What in the world was I doing in Spain?
I took a deep breath and before I could let it out, my candle was snuffed leaving me in complete darkness.
It was when my heartbeat accelerated that I realized I had continued to hold my breath. I had never been afraid of the dark, but this house left a lot to be desired. The last thing I wanted to do was fall and break my hip.
After taking another deep breath and letting it out slowly through my mouth, I used my hands to feel which way I was going. It was easy to navigate out of the bathroom, and I knew that a right turn would lead me to my room, so I headed that direction one step at a time, scaling the wall to be assured that I wouldn’t run into anything.
I might as well have had my eyes closed it was so dark, but I kept them open in case I saw some sort of light to indicate my direction. Several feet down the hall I smacked my head on one of the sconces. The blow was so hard I almost fell to the ground. My head throbbed a wave of nausea that washed over me. I gently placed my hand on the point of impact, but didn’t feel any blood. There would surely be a bump there in the morning.
I finished walking the hall with my arm stretched out, fingertips gracing the cold stone wall. As I made the curve that would lead me to the end of the hall where my room was, I saw a faint red glow in the outline of a door. The glow hardly illuminated the hall, but I was sure it was Salpsan’s room. As I came closer to the door, I could feel heat radiating from it and I knew for sure that it was his room, which meant that my room was to the left.
Was it the hearth creating the glow, I wondered. Had Blake been feeding the fire through the night?
I found my door and gripped the handle, quickly pulling my hand away at the crippling icy chill that seemed to burrow into my bones. For a half a minute I couldn’t feel my hand. As soon as the numbness dissipated, the pain returned tenfold. I tapped the door handle with my other hand, measuring the subzero effect. It was as if someone had encapsulated the handle in dry ice.
Placing my hand within the sleeve of my nightshirt I grabbed the handle and twisted, flinging the door open and entering the room in one swift motion. It only took a moment for me to realize that I had stepped into a giant walk-in freezer, the effect of which took my breath away, dropping me to the floor like landing on a frozen lake. The last thing I remember as darkness swept over me was the feeling of my muscles seizing, my lungs tightening, and the most intense pain I’d ever felt.
Chapter Six
Adler’s Rule
Warmth, comfort, reeling from horrid nightmares so vivid, so fresh in my mind…
I jumped up, frightened, a scream choked back for fear of what would happen if Salpsan woke with me standing there in his room. How did I get there? What happened?
It took me several minutes to gather my thoughts. What I seemed to remember could have been an elaborate dream, right? I couldn’t have really been outside with Salpsan. The temperature of my room hadn’t really dropped below zero, had it?
The room was so hot I’d broken out in a sweat. The fire glowed bright orange, flames licking the top of the hearth. Someone had been feeding it, but there was no wood left in the room.
I couldn’t care less. This place was getting to me and my health was suffering for it. I was beginning to realize t
hat I had no other option than to resign and forfeit my payment. It was a decision that would surely cause me to become destitute, but my health came first and I would find a way to survive. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Before leaving Salpsan’s room, perhaps for the final time, I had to know one thing. He was fast asleep, snoring loudly, face contorted. What only twenty-four hours ago I thought was a malformed man in distress I now regarded as a repulsive monster. I grabbed his multi-layered cover of blankets and pulled them back, revealing that his arms were still fastened to the sides of the bed. I dropped the blankets suddenly as a repulsive odor wafted up, stinging in my nose like ammonia. I didn’t bother investigating the stench. Salpsan was no longer under my care as far as I was concerned.
The house was as cold as I would have expected in the morning; however, the death chill I remembered from last night had gone, or maybe it had never been there at all. I continued to speculate whether my late night proclivities were dreams or true horror, and then my answer came when I used the bathroom.
I stood there, slack-faced, shocked, staring into a sink stained with splashes of dark fluid, what I had washed off of my face last night. Atop the sink was my candelabra, right where I had left it.
Stumbling out of the bathroom I must have looked a fool to Blake who’d been walking by in the hallway. He stopped at the sight of me, a crooked grin surfacing on his face. I could see his thoughts through that grin and I wasn’t impressed.
“I need to speak with Mister Adler, now,” I demanded.
“He’s very busy, Miss Flei—”
“I don’t care! I’m packing my suitcase and leaving this madhouse. I cannot take it anymore. I—”
I was so frustrated that I was lost for words, so I proceeded past Blake to my room, but before I could maneuver beside him, he stepped in front of me in a way that could only be construed as threatening. At my age I didn’t take a whole lot of bullshit from anyone, even a man who could break my bones with his bare hands.
“Please get out of my way, Blake. I don’t want any trouble. I just want to leave.”
He placed his hands on my arms just below the shoulders and stared into my eyes. I averted his pervert glare by looking to the side and maneuvering my way out of his grip. I could only see from the corner of my eye, so his next move was distorted. It wasn’t until I felt his breath on my cheek that I knew for sure he had come in close, perhaps to whisper something into my ear.
His mouth made slimy contact with my cheek.
“Leave me alone, please,” I said, shuddering at his intrusion of my personal space. He kissed my cheek, slobbering and licking my face and I couldn’t keep the tears at bay. I’d never been violated in such a way, and I could only hope he would stop there. I’d heard of sick men who raped old women, but never thought I would come face to face with one of them.
“Something to remember me by,” he said as he pulled his mouth from my face. As soon as his hands let go of my arms I made a dash out of his grasp. Without so much as a parting word I rushed down the hallway to my room. From behind me I heard him remark something along the lines of, “You’re not going anywhere, dear.”
I closed the door and leaned against it, as if my small frame could stop Blake from entering if he wanted to. Breathing as deep and hard as I had been just then I feared that I would go into cardiac arrest. I hadn’t exerted myself that much in a long time.
Slamming my suitcase on the bed, I threw in the few possessions I had managed to pull out of it in the few days I’d been there. Before leaving the room, hopefully for the last time, I grabbed a candelabra, disregarding the candles that fell to the ground, for I didn’t need the fixture for light, but to use as a weapon were Blake to be waiting for me in the hallway. I would be damned if I was going to allow him to abuse me again.
The hall was clear. Salpsan’s door remained closed. There was an irrational part of me that wanted to check in on him. The better part of my mind insisted that he was something monstrous, evil, but there was that motherly part that wanted to care for him, to do what I had been hired for. That compassionate part of me had a way of overlooking danger and taking risks for the sake of helping. That was the part that allowed me to assist a terminal cancer patient into the arms of God all those years ago. Maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do in the eyes of the law, but I knew, without a doubt in my mind, that it had been the right thing to do morally. I had helped that poor, suffering man.
I struggled for a moment. Good or bad, I was trained not to look at any patient with bias. Everyone was to be treated with equal care, even if there were police officers standing guard at their room, prepared to take them to jail as soon as they were healthy enough. Nurses have no bias. We assist healing. We care.
Eyes closed, I searched for some inner voice that would lead me in the right direction. My father had taught me very young to always follow my heart. He’d said to me that when in doubt, if I always listened to my heart I would know which direction to go. I found that it wasn’t always so easy to do, especially when I was in my twenties. There were times my heart told me what was right and I banished the thought for the sake of fun, or what seemed like fun at the time. Now, older, I’ve found that it’s easier to listen, and my heart told me that I needed to get out of Mister Adler’s house. If I’d been perfectly honest with myself, I would have to admit that my heart had wanted nothing to do with this overseas job to begin with.
I cannot explain how odd I felt scaling the hallway with my suitcase in one hand, candelabra in the other. I’d never inflicted harm upon anyone in my life, much less flung a brass candleholder in their face. I wondered if, when push came to shove, I could even do it. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. I’d never been a praying woman, but right then as I neared the door at the end of the hall I prayed that Blake wouldn’t be on the other side.
He wasn’t.
Because I couldn’t get the door open.
It was locked again, only this time in the middle of the day.
A weary sigh escaped me. The fear that straddled me in the night when I realized I was locked in was long gone now, having been replaced with concern. I needed out.
I knocked on the door and to my surprise it opened, Mister Adler standing on the other side. I could see in his face that he was up to something, or that he suspected that I was.
“Blake tells me you’re planning to leave,” he said. “Is that so?”
“Yes.” No hesitation, no fear.
“May I ask why?”
Now I hesitated. There were reasons aplenty for my departure; however, I felt I had to choose my response wisely for I still didn’t understand Adler and his intensions, but I was quite sure that they were dishonorable.
“I appreciate you hiring me. I had been out of work for so long, lonely and bored with life and I thought this was the opportunity of my lifetime, something no one in the States would offer due to my background; however, I think I had stars in my eyes and could not see past the possible dangers that awaited me here. I trusted you, Mister Adler, but I cannot work with Blake in the house.”
I looked down just then, absurdly ashamed for calling Blake out for his actions. I shouldn’t have felt shame—he violated me—however it was my word against his, and he had been under the employ of Mister Adler far longer than I. Not that Blake was the only reason for my departure. If it didn’t come up, I wasn’t going to mention my issues with Salpsan.
“What do you mean? Blake has been working here since I moved in a year ago. He has been nothing more than helpful to me.”
“I understand that; however, he cannot be trusted around women, not that you would believe me.”
Lips pursed, he raised his eyebrows. “So that’s it, is it? You’ve got your suitcase packed and you’re leaving, are you? And just what do you intend to do with that candelabra?”
I swallowed hard which made me realize how deeply I feared the man standing before me. He may not have been aggressive with me as Blake had been, but there was
something about him that caused me to feel cold inside.
“This is for my protection. I regret to inform you that I have to tender my resignation.” That sounded so idiotic, but I was trying to be as polite as I could. “If you would please step aside I would like to leave.”
Adler didn’t move. My stomach clenched, hand tightening on the candelabra. I had no real intention of using it. The very thought of swinging it at Adler’s head frightened me. I wasn’t sure I had it in me to do something so savage.
What about the blood on your lips? You know about savagery.
“What about Salpsan?” he asked.
I had no answer, for I had been trying to forget about Salpsan as if by thinking about him would allow him into my mind. I had put up a mental cloak to block out thoughts of that monster. I couldn’t explain it, but I was sure he had some kind of uncanny ability to invade my thoughts, manipulate them.
“Have you ever heard the name Salpsan before?” he asked.
“No.”
“I’ve been doing some research.”
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I really must go.”
“Where are you going to go? How are you going to get there?”
“I’ll make do.”
Adler shook his head. “No, you won’t. You’ll stay right here where I want you, where I hired you to be, and you will continue to look over Salpsan. It’s very important that he remains in good health. By the way, how is he doing?”
“Just fine. He’s fine. At what point will you be satisfied enough to allow me to leave?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure I believe you that he’s fine. Don’t test me, bitch! I can make your life a living hell.”
My eyes went wide. It was such a shock, such a verbal slap that I didn’t know how to respond.
“Get back in there and make sure everything is all right. If Salpsan dies under your care I can guarantee you won’t see the light of day outside these walls. No one comes out here, Marion. That’s why I chose this location for my work. Go ahead, try to leave. You won’t get a quarter mile down the road before Blake finds you. If you run out on me you’ll have hell to pay.”
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