by Ailes, Derek
He looked over at the long brick wall of the retirement wing and wondered if Kenner was telling the truth about secret experiments going on over there. And if there were, who were the test subjects? There were a lot of residents who had Alzheimer's. Maybe they were trying to come up with a cure.
He was the opposite. He possessed an eidetic memory. People were astonished at how he could remember everything anybody ever told him down to the exact word. Some of his co-workers claimed he missed his calling as a blackmailer. What they didn’t know was he could also read lips. Because of his speech and hearing impairment as a child, he went to a special school to learn sign language and read lips. Over the years, thanks to watching television religiously and going to the theater with his father, he learned to speak properly. He was well read and, thanks to his eidetic memory, he remembered everything he ever read from his favorite childhood book “Charlotte's Web” to thousands of mystery and science fiction novels he read ever since.
“Are you ready to go back in or can I smoke another cigarette?” Christine asked.
“You can smoke the whole pack if you want.”
“Don’t tempt me,” she joked as she lit another one up.
He watched her walk away. Her shiny, raven black hair flowed in the wind. She had black framed glasses that gave her extra sex appeal to a nerd like him. She was a short, beautiful Hispanic woman in her early twenties. If it wasn’t for her constant smoking, she would be perfect. Having a sense a humor was also a plus.
As lightning began, she informed him it was time to go back in. She wheeled him back inside as the rain poured down. A few minutes later, the tornado sirens went off outside.
“All staff and patients, a tornado has been spotted in our area. Move everybody to the designated tornado areas,” the head nurse announced over the PA system.
“Finally, some excitement,” Evan laughed as he followed Christine over to the dining area.
The staff moved all the patients in wheelchairs to the dining area within seconds. The ones who were bedridden, their beds were rolled to the hallway past the dining room where there were no windows.
As the power went out and the emergency lights instantly came on, Evan noticed that a few of the older residents were unaccounted for.
“Christine, where’s Janine and Julie?”
“They both passed away last night,” she answered sadly.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“They were both good people. They died peacefully.”
As the severe storm passed, everybody was allowed to go back to their rooms. As Evan was heading back to his room, he was stopped by Kenner.
“Evan, do you want to know a secret?” He looked to the right of him and spoke to the invisible person next to him. “Yes, we can trust him.”
“What’s the secret?”
“Janine and Julie are alive. They took them to experiment on.”
“Who took them?”
Kenner looked around afraid they were being watched. He leaned closer and whispered, “the government.”
“I think your imagination is running wild. Christine said they died and I’ll believe her before I believe you.”
“Fine. When they come for you, don’t say I didn’t try to warn you,” Kenner said and wheeled himself into his room.
“And people say I’m the crazy one.”
The next morning, Evan’s doctor, Neal Eckes, examined his leg. “It is healing very nicely.”
“How long until I can get my prosthesis?”
“I will re-examine your leg in two weeks and then I’ll make my decision.”
“Ok.”
“Keep a positive attitude.”
“I always do, Doctor.”
A short, beautiful nurse with long curly hair walked into his room followed by Breanne. She possessed a striking resemblance to Taylor Swift.
“Hello,” Evan greeted her excitedly.
“This is Jenna. She’s a new trainee fresh out of nursing school.”
“A new victim.”
“Down, Evan. She’s young enough to be your granddaughter.”
“I’m not that old,” Evan laughed.
“Who was president when you were born?”
“Truman.”
“I think I made my point.” She looked over at Jenna. “Watch this one. He’s trouble.”
“I think I can handle him.”
Another beautiful nurse with long, strawberry-blonde hair and freckles all over her face and arms walked in.
“Breanne, I finished giving Walter his shots,” she informed her.
“Evan, stop drooling,” Breanne laughed as she handed him a Kleenex. “This is Juliana. This is also her first day.”
“Hello, Evan.”
“You know my name already. I’m not sure that is a good thing.”
“Mental note to self, he’s a flirt. Don’t worry. I’m a flirt too,” she teased.
“I like her,” he said to Breanne.
“I figured you would. We better leave before we give Evan a heart attack,” Breanne joked and led them out of the room.
“Bye girls.” He waived at them as they left. “This is such an amazing place for a bachelor.”
He slid himself into his wheelchair and left his room in hopes of seeing one of the new nurses bending over to pick something up. Across from his room, Kenner sat staring at Juliana suspiciously. Evan wheeled himself over to him.
“Kenner, is there something wrong?”
“I’ve seen pictures of Julie when she was a teenager. The nurse could be her twin.”
“What are you implying?”
“Think about it. Julie. Juliana.”
“Your point?”
“Maybe the experiments are to make them young again.”
“Are you implying there are alien cocoons in the swimming pool outside?”
“Huh?”
Kenner looked at him confused. It was apparent he had never seen the movie “Cocoon”.
“Just an old movie reference.”
“Movies? I remember seeing movies in Chesterton where the Ben Franklin used to be for a quarter. Now the kids are paying a buck or two.”
“It hasn’t been that cheap in decades.”
“What are you talking about? I just saw ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ the other day at the General Cinema for a buck.”
“The General Cinema was torn down decades ago.”
“What year is it?”
“2015.”
“I think he lost his marbles. He thinks it’s the future,” Kenner laughed, looking over to his imaginary friend. He began to have a long conversation with him.
Evan took this as an opportunity to wheel himself away unnoticed. He continued down the hallway and saw Julianna talking with Jenna. They stopped talking when they spotted him.
“Ladies,” he said as he passed by them.
Once he was out of hearing range, they continued their conversation.
He made it to the dining area and stared at the retirement wing for several minutes recalling the conversation he had with Kenner. He wheeled forward toward the retirement wing and was stopped by a tall black doctor wearing a long white uniform reminding him of an orderly in a mental institution.
“Sir, you can’t pass beyond this point. The retirement wing is currently off limits,” he instructed.
“Why?”
“There’s an illness going around. It’s on quarantine. Don’t worry. It’s not fatal, but it is nasty.”
Evan try to see past him, but the doorway was closed.
“Sir, can you please go back the way you came.”
“I will. I just got bored and wanted to do some exploring.”
“I can have a nurse paged to take you back to your room.”
“That is ok. I know the way.”
He turned his wheelchair around and headed back to his room certain that Kenner was right about something suspicious going on in the retirement wing. His curiosity was getting the best of him, and
he changed direction toward the front door. Christine’s shift started a couple hours ago and she may want to go outside and smoke. While she is preoccupied with her cigarette, I can wheel myself over to the windows of the retirement wing and see if I can get a glimpse of what is going on inside.
“Christine, interested in a smoke?”
She looked up from her desk and smiled at him. She stood up, grabbed a pack of cigarettes from her purse, and walked up to the front door unlocking it. She pushed him through to the outside and then walked to the end of the sidewalk to smoke. As she was smoking and checking her messages on her smartphone, he wheeled across the sidewalk toward one of the glass windows of the retirement wing. He glanced behind him making sure she wasn’t paying any attention to him and stopped at the window and looked inside. He saw a couple of beautiful young women walking down the hallway. He watched impatiently for a few minutes hoping to see anything suspicious.
As he was about to glance back to see where Christine was, he felt a large hand grab his shoulder. Before he could react, a man forcefully placed a towel over his face. Within seconds, he lost consciousness.
As his eyes opened, he saw the black doctor from the hallway standing above him. He was strapped to a gurney and the doctor was staring at him smiling. He looked over to the right of him and saw a large, moss covered brown sphere.
“Are you going to make me younger like in the movie ‘Cocoon’?”
“Not the movie title I would use.”
Something was pushing through the sphere and, like an egg, it cracked as something began to climb out of it. It looked like an overgrown albino spider with a long tail. It reminded him of the face hugger from the movie “Alien”. It looked over at him for a few seconds and jumped several feet in the air landing on his face. The last thing he remembered was the creature burrowing its way down his throat.
Kenner watched the television in the recreation room. His wife had brought him a stack of DVDs she found at the Goodwill down the street. One of them was his favorite movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.
“Kenner’s in here,” Breanne shouted.
Jenna and Juliana walked into the room followed by a new doctor Kenner had never seen before. His heart started beating faster as he realized the new doctor looked like Evan, but forty some years younger.
“Hello, Kenner. I’m Dr. Edward Koontz. According to your chart, you suffer from dementia.” He looked over at the two nurses. “He’ll make a perfect candidate. Take him to the retirement wing.”
“Yes, doctor,” the two nurses said, smiling.
Sirens of Lake Station
“Thank you for an enjoyable evening.”
“My name is Jake,” I answered as both of us were standing in my hotel room.
“Mine is Vicki,” she said as she put her grey t-shirt with the word PINK written across it back on. “Are you sure you can’t stay longer?”
“No, I’ve got a sales meeting in South Bend in a few hours. I guess this is goodbye.”
She looked at me sadly as she brushed her straight, black hair with a pink hairbrush. With a sinister laugh, she said, “We’ll be meeting a lot sooner than you can possibly believe.”
She walked over to me and gave me a kiss on my left cheek. My heart was telling me to stay, but I knew I had to be at the sales meeting. If I didn’t land the deal, I was going to be fired. My boss promised me that. She continued laughing sinisterly as she walked out the door.
As the closing door echoed through the room, I said, “That is what I get for picking up a hitchhiker.”
I headed for the bathroom to take a shower and shave. After a twenty minute shower, I headed back into the bedroom to change into my grey business suit. I opened up my briefcase and checked to see if I remembered to put my new business cards in. I walked over to the window and saw the hood of my midnight blue Dodge Neon sticking straight up. I grabbed my briefcase and ran out of the room and over to my car. Being someone who knows nothing about mechanics, I did not know if somebody had tampered with it. I closed the hood and checked to make sure nobody slashed my tires. Satisfied nothing appeared to be wrong, I got into the car and felt a sigh of relief as the car started right up.
I drove out of the parking lot and headed for the exit leading to the interstate. Five minutes down the road, I began to hear a sound coming from under the hood like metal grinding on metal. The check engine light came on. I cursed and turned right at the next intersection. I could see a sign up ahead that said: Welcome to Lake Station. To the left of the sign was a gas station with a repair shop. I pulled into the parking lot just as the car stalled. I turned the key and it wouldn’t start. I got out of the car as a mechanic walked over to me.
“Someone has been playing with my engine.”
“Open the hood and I’ll see what’s wrong.”
I popped open the hood and the mechanic did an inspection. “Someone did a beautiful job on your engine, mister,” he said sarcastically.
“Can it be fixed in two hours?”
“I’ll be lucky to have it done today.”
“Damn, I’ve got to be in South Bend in a few hours. Can I use your phone?”
“Our cell phone service isn’t working at the moment. Something’s blocking the signal. Probably one of those solar flares I keep hearing about on the news. You can check the Walgreens across the street. They have a landline. I’ll get to work on your car right away.”
“Thanks,” I said as I handed him the keys. “I’ll be right back.”
I walked over to Walgreens and walked in. I didn’t see any sales clerks at the front counter so I headed toward the pharmacy in the back. I walked past the magazine aisle when I heard a loud alarm going off from outside. It sounded similar to the sirens I hear going off constantly during severe thunderstorms. When I walked into the store, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. As I was heading back to the front door to see what was going on, somebody grabbed my arm.
“If you go outside, you will die.”
The badge on his uniform stated he was the store manager.
“What are you talking about?”
“They’re going to get you?”
“Who are they?”
“The sirens.”
“What is a siren?”
“They bestow the kiss of death.”
He grabbed my arm and forced me through the swinging doors leading to the backroom.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked angrily.
“In the middle of Main Street is a gateway leading to death.”
“Death?” I asked giving him a suspicious look.
“They sing to put you in a trance. Once they have you in their power, they will kiss you and drain the life force completely from your body.”
“What the hell are you talking about? This is complete nonsense.” By this point, I was getting annoyed by his paranoia.
“On Main Street there is a hidden gateway mankind can’t see. It is where they come from.”
All of a sudden, I heard a faint singing voice from the distance.
“They come through the gateway so they can claim victims to satisfy their lust,” he continued.
“This is the real world. Mythical creatures don’t exist,” I argued.
“You don’t know about the history of Lake Station. They’ve demanded a human sacrifice for one of them each year for centuries. Today is the day.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! Are the people in this town so primitive they would let human life go like cattle?”
“We have to. Their singing makes us.”
Our conversation was interrupted by someone screaming, “Help!”
The singing was getting louder as if it was coming directly from outside the swinging metal doors.
“Jack, Jeff is acting funny! He’s under the sirens’ spell!”
The store manager rushed out the back room and ran to Jeff who was standing with a blank expression on his face as he was being beckoned by the song of the sirens. He grabbed Jef
f’s shoulders and shook him violently. “Why didn’t you have sex last night?”
“I…couldn’t…find…my…wife…last…night,” Jeff slowly said as he was still under the spell.
Jeff’s body became stiff and it rose several feet off of the floor. The store manager grabbed onto his legs and held onto him tightly.
“Let me go! I have to have her! She belongs to me and I belong to her! My dream! My Love! My Life!” Jeff screamed.
“Mister, please help me,” the store manager pleaded as I rushed over to them.
I grabbed onto Jeff’s arm and held it tightly. The singing was getting louder as if it was coming closer and closer. Jeff jerked violently forward causing both the store manager and me to fall backward from the force. Jeff slowly landed on the floor. A few seconds later a tall, beautiful woman with silver hair and glowing red eyes appeared. Her skin was silver and she was wearing a silver dress that was a shade darker than her skin. Her hair stood straight up like it was full of a strong electrical charge. She slowly walked over to Jeff and put her right hand seductively on his chest. She was singing while her mouth moved seductively with every word. She cocked her head to the side and raised her hands. Jeff’s body rose several feet in the air and then she floated upward until her head was aligned with his.
“You’re all mine. My love. My Life,” Jeff chanted repeatedly.
She began to kiss his lips. As she continued to kiss him, his body caved in as she sucked his insides out through his mouth. As his whole body became flat as a sheet of plywood, he fell to the ground. The siren stared at us for a few seconds and walked away.
I couldn’t move at all being frozen in fear.
“Is everybody ok?” the store manager asked a few seconds later. He kneeled down over what was left of Jeff and prayed. He looked up toward me.
“For the rest of my life, I will never forget what I witnessed here.” I said.