“What seems to be the trouble ladies? Hello, Maisy, how are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine Doc, its Eva Harmon’s daughter. She’s in a bad way, could you please help them?” Maisy gave the doctor a pleading look.
“Of course, that’s what I’m here for.” He looked over at his wife. She’d been fussing at him lately about the house calls and accepting food and animals as payment. But in a place like this you took what you could get. Patients and treating them came first. He didn’t care one whit about getting paid anyway; he had a trust fund that would last them even if they had ten kids.
“I’ll run you up to your house Mrs. Harmon. Maisy thank you for bringing her in, I’ll take care of it all from here.” Doctor Avery waved goodbye to Maisy as he ushered Eva out of the door, his black bag in hand. “Now just tell me what’s happened so I’ll be prepared when we get there.”
The trip back up to her house felt amazingly fast to Eva, she just knew she’d have never made it all the way to the doctor’s place without Maisy. She was near to breaking down when Maisy had picked her up. Her legs ached and her back throbbed a message of impending doom that she knew would come true later. She was thankful for the ride back up, if nothing else.
Eva explained the situation as quickly as she could, holding onto the door to steady herself as the doctor sped up their bumpy road. She looked over at the doctor, a younger man but he looked trustworthy and capable. He had dark hair and dark eyes that seemed to soothe you as they sought out answers you may not be able to answer. She answered as best she could and sighed with relief when the house finally came into view. Now the doctor would help.
“Let’s get inside quickly, Mrs. Harmon.” The young doctor all but ran into the house, Eva couldn’t keep up and trailed behind.
He shook Malachi’s hand and asked to be shown to Adelaide’s room. Malachi walked him through, sparing a glance for his wife. He could see she was in pain but still moving so he’d check on her after he took the doctor in to Addy.
“I’ll be out in a few minutes, just let me look her over.” The doctor spoke with assurance to Eva, who sat down by the stove, putting the coffee pot on the stove and adding wood to the fire.
Malachi soon came out and checked on his wife, brushing her hair back from her face. She’d taken the scarf off as soon as she got in the house and he saw it was rolled neatly beside her on the table.
“You alright darling?” He asked her, wanting to assure himself she was.
“I’ll be alright, Malachi, I just have a pain or two.” She said with a weak smile.
“Well, you got the doctor here so you did good. I’m proud of you.” Malachi fixed her a cup of coffee when the pot started to steam and set one aside for the doctor as well.
“Has anything changed?” Eva asked with hope. Her eyes turned a little dimmer when he shook his head.
“Let’s see what the doctor says.”
The doctor came out a few minutes later and Eva fixed his coffee with cream and sugar.
“I won’t mince words, folks, she’s in bad shape. Eva, you’ve done far better than I could have expected with her but she’s not very well, at all. I’ve given her some injections, pain medicine, some antibiotics, and I hope those will bring her fever down. The pain medicine should also help to take care of the swelling. I believe you’re right, Eva, it’s that head injury we need to worry over. There’s a slight infection in it. I think we should move her to the hospital…”
Doctor Avery’s words cut off as a long painful sounding wail came from Adelaide’s bedroom. All three stood up from the table and ran into the girl’s room. The doctor got there first and saw Adelaide thrashing around on the bed, her arms straight out as her head craned back. Long screams came from her throat, screams that sounded like they tore the very flesh used to produce them. Doctor Avery threw himself over Adelaide, trying to stop her thrashing before she hurt herself more.
“Help me but be gentle. We don’t want to hurt her more.” The doctor panted out.
Malachi and Eva sat to each side of Adelaide, each trying to soothe her while holding her shoulders down. Doctor Avery moved down to her feet while her body continued to thrash. Adelaide’s thrashing continued and her bladder let go as strange noises started to come from her throat. It sounded like the air was being forced from her lungs with great pressure. Doctor Avery had never seen anything like it.
Eva’s tears began to flow as she watched her daughter thrash on the bed. The evils tormenting her daughter just wouldn’t let up.
“Hush now, my darling, it’ll be okay. At least this is something different. Some sign of life.” Malachi wanted to soothe his wife but couldn’t do more than speak to her at the moment.
Finally Adelaide’s body relaxed and she became calm. Her eyes flickered open for a moment, then she gave a sigh before falling back to sleep.
“I think she’s really asleep this time, she’s not comatose. I’m going to stay here for a bit, keep an eye on her. If she’s waking up that’s a good sign. I’m not sure what this fit was but we’ll keep an eye on her. I wanted to get her to the hospital but it may not be necessary and it could possibly be too dangerous to move her. We’ll keep her here for the night. Do you mind if I stay? I can rest on your couch in there if you don’t mind.” The doctor pointed back at the living room before going back to checking Adelaide’s pulse and breathing.
“No, please do. Anything you can do and anything you need, just let us know. As long as it helps Addy we’ll do our best to provide it.” Malachi told the doctor, moving away from his daughter’s sleeping form.
“Yes, I’ll get some supper going. Malachi, bring the doctor his coffee in why don’t you?”
The doctor checked the splints to make sure they were still in place then moved to the sutures on Adelaide’s head. The stitches were fine and neat, not bad for an elderly woman working by lamplight with poor eyesight. The thread wasn’t what he’d have chosen but the lady had worked with what she had. He’d have to talk to her about these herbs she’d used at some point. They might be good to know about if he ever had a shortage of medicine. They were worth researching at the very least.
Doctor Avery was a young man, barely even in his thirties, but he was a good doctor. He’d been a good student and kept his studies up even after he finished medical school. Unfortunately, head injuries and the workings of the brain hadn’t been a subject he’d studied much yet. He only had his knowledge from medical school to rely on but he knew enough to know this injury could leave some lasting damage. If the infection didn’t kill her. He hoped the medicine he’d given her was going to work its magic soon and bring the fever down as it fought the infection. He was worried it might spike again, as sometimes happened in these cases, but was sure the pain medicine would help to bring it down.
The girl was lovely in a sweet and innocent way. He’d never met her before but there were plenty of people up in these hills he might never meet. Her parents seemed kind and loving, if poor, and he wanted to bring their daughter back to them. He sat down, sipping at his coffee once more.
“If we get your fever down I think you’ll be much better, young lady. I’m not too happy about that fit you had but hopefully that was a one-time occurrence. Now if you could just open your eyes one time for us, let us know you’re still in there that would be just dandy.” The doctor spoke to her, not really sure why, but hoping it would help to bring her around.
He sighed as she remained still for the longest time but she did roll over. Eva became excited when she saw this movement. Adelaide hadn’t move on her own in days. This was a good sign, she just knew it.
Eva made supper, ham with pinto beans and cornbread, then cleaned up as the doctor went back to watching Adelaide. Eva was grateful for the time to clean up and change her clothes. It had been a long few days and both of the older people were starting to feel it with someone else around to ease the burden. Eva shook her head at herself, Adelaide wasn’t a burden but the work that went into caring for her,
the worry, and fear had taken a toll.
Eva sat down on the couch, intending to listen to a radio program Adelaide liked, but fell asleep just after the opening credits began. Malachi woke her an hour later, worry written all over his face.
“What’s wrong? Is she worse?” Eva jumped up, going to Malachi with wide eyes and a pounding heart.
“No, she’s better. Well, she’s awake. You’ll have to come and see for yourself my dear.” Malachi took his wife’s hand and led her into their daughter’s bedroom.
Adelaide was sitting up in bed, her pillows propped behind her. Eva ran to her daughter, flinging herself onto the bed to embrace the young woman to her rather large bosom.
“My baby!” She cried, joy smoothing the lines from her face for a moment.
Eva sobbed once more, but this time with joy, as she held the struggling girl close. She didn’t care that the girl struggled, she was hugging her conscious daughter. But then she worried she might be hurting the girl and moved away. Eva pulled back, smoothing long strands of hair from Adelaide’s face.
“Oh my beautiful girl. Am I happy to see you awake. I never thought I’d see life in those brown eyes of yours again.” She said, her face aching with the smile that she couldn’t hold back.
“You might not if you don’t get off of me you old cow. Do you know how fat you are? You’re hurting me! Get off!” Adelaide’s normally pleasing and kind voice was now replaced with a harsh, scratchy voice that dripped venom. The words were harsh but softened by the fact that it sounded as though Adelaide’s mouth was filled with cotton. The words were slightly slurred and garbled.
Eva jumped from the bed staring at her daughter in shock and hurt. What was wrong with her daughter? This was certainly not her sweet little Addy!
Chapter Five
Eva and Malachi’s faces turned from Adelaide to the young doctor. 'What was wrong with Adelaide?' their faces seemed to ask through the obvious shock her words produced.
Adelaide stared up at them all, settled into her pillows once more, her face a scowling mask, as she sat with her arms crossed over her chest, the left arm patting at her other arm. A yawn split her features for a moment and she looked over at them all once more. There was something about her eyes that just didn’t seem right to Eva.
“Well, what’s all of this about then? What happened to me?” Her words weren’t an enquiry, they were a demand for answers, though Adelaide’s speech was still impaired and Eva’s left brow rose with anger.
Malachi reached over to soothe Eva, he’d seen that eyebrow rising, and spoke to his daughter.
“This here’s Doctor Avery, your mother went into town to fetch him to have a look at you. Do you know who did this to you?”
“Did what, Poppa? What are you talking about?” Adelaide looked confused for a moment before reaching up to her head. It was almost as if she hadn’t felt any of her injuries until Malachi spoke to her then the pain hit her full force.
A mewl of pain escaped her lips and she sank further under her covers, glaring up at them.
“What have you done to me?” She accused.
Doctor Avery stepped in at that point and started to speak.
“Miss Adelaide,” he spoke with professionalism and cordiality, “you’ve had a nasty accident of some kind. Your father found you injured several days ago and you’ve only just woken up. Do you remember who did this to you?”
Adelaide put her hand down and sighed heavily, her eyes rolling in her head for a moment.
“Knowing these two lazy sods I probably tripped over one of them fetching and carrying for them like I do. They work me to death, I tell you.” Her hateful words stopped for a moment and she looked over at the doctor. “You married then? Maybe you could take me away from here. I’d much rather cook and clean for you, maybe give you a baby or two.”
Everyone in the room gasped at Adelaide’s rudeness and her mother tried to rush the doctor out of the door.
“No, no, it’s alright Mrs. Harmon.” Doctor Avery maintained his composure. “I am married Adelaide, very happily. Now, do you remember anything about what caused these injuries you have?”
Adelaide sat back once more, a calculating look coming over her face. She shot a glance at her mother and whatever she’d been planning to do died as she looked down at her hands.
“No, I don’t remember nothing excepting I do remember seeing something white. With pink around the top but I’m not sure. I might just be imagining it now.” Adelaide’s sweet voice was back, the country twang slipping back into the voice that had gone flat and harsh before but with the slurring still present. “What’s wrong with me, Doc?”
“You’ve got some broken bones, ma’am, and a nasty head injury. That pain medicine will kick back in soon. Get some rest and let me go talk to your parents. That’s right, close your eyes and just rest, it’s the best medicine.”
Adelaide closed her eyes and within moments gentle snores could be heard. The others in the room padded out quietly, wanting the girl to sleep.
“Doctor, what’s wrong with our girl?” Malachi and Eva asked at the same time.
The doctor scratched at his head and pondered the situation. “I’d say she’s had a lot of trauma, no matter what caused her injuries, and head injuries can do strange things to people. She might just be tired and cranky, or…” the doctor stopped speaking and looked at the parents with some sadness. “That could be how she is from now on. Complete personality changes have been known to happen.”
“But she’s not acting like our daughter at all!” Malachi said in protest. “And what about that fit she had?”
“Has she ever had anything like that before?” Doctor Avery asked.
“No, no I don’t think so. Eva?” Malachi turned to his wife but she shook her head no.
“Not that I’ve ever seen. She’s been one of the healthiest children I’ve had. She catches a cold every now and then but nothing serious or like that, whatever that was. Will it happen again, do you think?”
“I don’t know Eva, I’ll stay, keep an eye on her tonight. We’ll just wait and see. I’m not sure what it was. Perhaps it was just the shock of waking up or her brain coming back to life when she woke up. I wish I had a few of my colleagues here to talk with. I may give them a call tomorrow if it’s still happening then.”
They all sat down, waiting out the night. Eva made more coffee while Malachi went to bed. She sat up well into the night, praying over her daughter and reading what she could from the Bible. Malachi had taught her most of the words she didn’t know but sometimes she still stumbled over the pronunciation.
Eva read the words at Adelaide’s bedside, speaking out loud so her daughter would hear her voice and be soothed if she woke up. Everything was alright, momma was close. She hoped that’s how Adelaide would react anyway. That hateful child that had woken up with such a foul tongue simply wasn’t her daughter. Eva wasn’t sure but she was starting to suspect there was far more wrong with Adelaide than anyone suspected.
She hadn’t forgotten the words Adelaide spoke, a white thing with pink around the top. Eva knew what that meant; the Moon-eyed people were after her daughter. She was glad now she’d put in all that work protecting the house, and Addy, from them. They could want her daughter all they wanted to but they weren’t going to get near the girl. Adelaide stayed up until Malachi woke up and relieved her.
She fell asleep wondering again if her daughter was safe. That ancient race of people had been so bad the other tribes in the area had feared them. Feared them enough to go out and slaughter all that could be found. Now their ghosts would come out to make mischief and harm people. And it seemed they were after Addy, whether Malachi believed in them or not. Eva reminded herself to go back to the hexes tomorrow, something she’d learned to do long ago, and keep them strong. She didn’t want to let any of that in her house.
Over the next week Adelaide continued to heal but she was still hateful, rude, and downright mean. Her vision seemed to decline and h
er words remained slurred though she was becoming far more vocal. And her personality continued to decline. If she was awake when her mother started to read from the Bible Adelaide would growl quietly until she stopped. If Eva started reading again Adelaide would start growling once more.
Deep inside Adelaide was fighting a battle with herself. She didn’t understand her own anger, though Doctor Avery had dismissed it as part of the trauma, and she hated the things she said to her parents, and her behavior. She’d made her mother cry this morning by throwing a plate of eggs, biscuits, and gravy out of the window in her bedroom while calling the food pig-swill.
Adelaide hated her behavior but she couldn’t stop it. The only escape was sleeping and she did a lot of it, often sleeping more than she was awake. She’d wake up to eat, go to the bathroom, and go back to bed. She showered when her mother insisted on it but wouldn’t have otherwise wasted the time. She just wanted away from the anger.
Eventually even sleep lost its value as a refuge. Adelaide started to have nightmares. She would wake up screaming, dreams of pale white men with pink eyes chasing her through the darkness haunting her even when she was awake. Their bodies were shaped normally but their skin looked as though it had been bleached by the sun or as though someone had painted them white with a smooth paintbrush. And their eyes, their round pink eyes that glowed in the darkness, terrified Adelaide and she’d run once more. Even in sleep her limbs would move as though she were really running, and her desperate moans would wring at her mother’s heart. Adelaide would awake from her dreams in the night, too terrified to move, because even when she forced herself awake they’d be in the real world, waiting for her.
She could feel their presence just at the side of the bed and she knew if she moved, if she even breathed in or out slightly, that they would pounce on her and carry her away to their own version of Hell. Adelaide would hold her breath until she passed out, her body fighting for air and the dreams would start all over again.
Thriller: Horror: Conceived (Mystery Suspense Thrillers) (Haunted Paranormal Short Story) Page 25