Dear Maria: Chapter 5

Beep. Beep. Zzzzzztttt. Beep. The normal chirps and chimes of the medical equipment rang loudly throughout the spacious room. Earlier this morning, on her way to work, Elaine had heard the shrieking cry of a young woman coming from one of the houses along Oakfield Drive. Now, that woman lay between the crisp white sheets of the metal double bed. When Elaine had found her, she appeared to have collapsed in the furthest corner of the room with small amounts of blood clotting her hair together, and some of the red liquid had dried on her own nails. This of course, had all been removed. The woman still lay unconscious, and could do so for a while. All Elaine could do at this point was fill in what she could of the medical report, fill it for the time being, and wait. Elaine stared up at the shining clock face above the door, watching the tiny, black hand mark each second with the faintest tick, making its way slowly around its destined path in short staccato movements. One minute turned to two, two to five, five to thirty-six. One hour, two, seven. Her eyes felt weak and she found herself slumping over the small table covered in documents. Tick. Blink. Tick. Blink. Tick, sleep.

Maria stirred slightly. Slowly twitching, her limbs stroking the wooden, blood-soaked floorboards. Her eyes fluttered, slowly reprocessing the child’s room once again. Within moments, she sat upright, running her hands over her face, her body, arms, before looking frantically about the room for the creature that attacked her just moments before. Nothing. There was nothing in the room. No monster, no debris, no torn up dolls and no body of the little girl. All gone - except for the small metallic lighter resting by her shin, waiting patiently for when its bright assistance would be needed once again. Her hand picked it up. Its cold surface refreshing to the skin that surrounded it. Maria rubbed at her eyes before standing upon weary legs. She took one more look around the room before timid feet took her out of the room.

The streets looked different than what they did before she entered the home. Darker, bleaker, with a subconscious tinge of malevolence twisting in and around the buildings. The cracks in the streets seemed to have gotten wider, and the dead foliage seemed to have rotted just that little bit more. The lights seemed dimmer, as did hope, as Maria stared around her, into the paths of the dark labyrinth she was trapped in. Aimlessly, she ambled down one of the streets, wishing for anything.

Her eyes still hazy from her doze, Elaine reached up, feeling her muscles stretch all over her body. The time was 3.25am. How could she have been so careless to fall asleep for so long? She quickly sprung from her chair, whipping the hair back from her tired eyes. Quickly, she scanned the rates on the glowing monitors, scribbled the readings down onto a sheet of paper, which she would file up properly later. Reaching her hand into her brown leather handbag, she clutched onto her small mobile phone, before swinging the strap over her shoulder. Hammering buttons into the small device, her thumbs darting over the surface much as a fly would over a hot meal, she dialled her house number. Wanting to reassure her father that she was ok, and had once again “overworked”, she raised the phone to her ear, awaiting the first ring of the dialling tone. Although, that tone never came. As a replacement for its absence, a harsh shriek rushed out of the device, a cry so horrid it would make the deaf cringe. Suddenly in shock, Elaine instantly dropped the phone to the floor, where the feeble contraption snapped open in two, its screen cracked, before dying away to black. Her heart raced from the sudden fright the sound gave her, the noise still echoing in her head. Clutching the strap of her bag, she hurriedly made her way out of the room, and down the permanently bleak corridors, taking no notice of the new stains upon the walls or glass shards on the floor. Twisting and turning the familiar, yet unrecognisable corridors, she made her way to the main exit – her hand already outstretched to push against the metal bar. Applying a great deal of force to it in her haste, she was unable to process the fact that the door had infact not opened, and barged straight into the heavy obstacle. Elaine stood back, regaining her balance, and again pushed heavily against the bar. Stuck. Again she pushed, getting more impatient and frustrated each time, before turning away in a storm to leave through the small door located near the staff room. Marching her way impatiently down the corridor, she rummaged around in her bag, searching for the set of hospital keys, as she required one to open the side door. After searching the perimeter of her handbag several times, her fingers flinched slightly as they collided with the cold ring of keys. Bringing them out of their home, she fumbled around with them in her hands, muttering furiously about the lockdown procedures of the building. Amidst her enraged rant to herself, the keys slipped from her careless grasp, but instead of hearing the small clunk of the steel hitting off the floor tiles, there was silence, as the keys drifted down into the large pit that had miraculously consumed half of the hallway. Elaine stared at it for a minute, a minute of worried awe, before a tiny word escaped her lips.
“Help…”
“Help me…” she whispered to herself, clutching her head, spinning in confused panic,

“Somebody help me!”
Maria’s voice echoed around the empty streets, the darkness reflecting her own voice back at her. She stumbled helplessly past abandoned cars with missing doors, boarded up houses and abolished stores, searching for a goal with no hint of where to start looking. Fatigued legs unable to take any more running, she slowed down to a brisk walk, chest heaving. Continuing without direction along the uneven road, the little light that spewed from the lonesome streetlight slowly began to evaporate, its bright will not enough to overtake the colossal strength of the dark. It wasn’t much longer until Maria reached the end of the ruined artery, and was now left with the choice of flowing back up it again, or travelling down one of the smaller veins that branched off, exploring further into the body of darkness. Bringing out her lighter, she allowed it to disgorge its fiery innards, giving an orange glow to the open mouth of the alley she opted to travel down next. Her breath shook as she built up the courage in herself to walk forward. Left, right. Left, right, repeating this simple instruction in her mind, attempting to distract it from her surrounds: the surroundings of the rusted pipes, leaking, spurting blood onto the ground. The ground that was covered in what looked like fragments of flesh, bones, muscles, organs gathered in a corner. A corner in which sat a wheelchair, tipped on its side, the cushion torn. Its wheel slightly turning as Maria brushed past it. Left, right, left, right. She turned the corner and stared on at a new profanity.

The bodies, dear Lord, the bodies, nailed to the wall like some sort of hunting trophy. Each one with a distorted face, scarred with pain and fear, each body slowly rotting, stiffening, blacking further into nothingness. However, there was one body in particular that truly looked beyond all hope. It’s face in folds made of scars, each drooping over one another to create textured, sagging cheeks of which the flesh hung low below the protruding cheekbone. The jaw hung loosely, filled with apathy, holding onto the skull for no purpose, no true reason. The upper torso was charcoal black and also incredibly scarred, much like the face. Large open wounds from both sides slowly bleed. A black blood, oozing out, over the hip bone and dripping down, down, down onto the ground underneath. Maria slowly stepped forward, raising her tiny light up, to get a closer look of the carnage that hung ahead to satisfy her sick curiosity.

The eyes burst open. The wild, ferocious pupils darting frantically around the eye, before locking forward, set on Maria with an animalistic stare. Suddenly the jaw became rigid, firm, unlike its pathetic hanging moments before. The destroyed body remain stiff, simply staring wildly. Maria could hear her heartbeat in her ears as she hung in the moment of suspense, holding the gaze with this body. Abruptly, the male body started to thrash about with great strength, causing each of the nails holding it firmly to the wall to shake and loosen. Ping, the first nail hit the ground. Ping, the second. Ping. Ping. Ping. Third, fourth, fifth. Within seconds, the mutilated body lay on the floor, twitching slowly, struggling to make use of its limbs once again. Holding himself up with only his arms, he continued to gaze at Maria, head snapping to the left and to the right before spewing a black liquid all over the stone ground. The fluid trickled along the bumpy ground, creating rivers amongst the cracks, coming into contact with Maria’s shoes. It hissed on contact, the acidity of the vomit attempting to consume anything it touched. She stumbled back as the body stood upright. On its crippled legs, it lurched forward; both arms outstretched, hands wide, reaching forward for the warm, perfect skin before him, envious. Pops and cracks came from the stiff body as each limb twisted and turned, the cold bones unfamiliar with the movements. Maria’s grasp loosened on the lighter and it fell to the ground, greeting it with a heavy clunk. The small flame continued to flicker, and as it danced, the red tongue licked forward, catching a taste of the black acid that was slowly seeping into the ground. Immediately it became alight, the fire running down the black trail leading directly to the monstrosity. It wailed instantly as the fire touched its perished flesh and at once, each nailed body on the wall howled in harmony as if they too could feel the pain.

Maria stood, both astonished and afraid, staring intently on the scene folding in front of her. The frozen bodies on the wall had sprung to life, thrashing themselves around to free themselves from the wall, and rush to the aid of their friend, only to be engulfed themselves in the fiery rage. One after another they fell, even after just watching the consequences, it did not halt them in their heroic rush. They each wailed, louder than the previous, as slowly, one by one, they died together – and as the flames too began to wilt away, one body with the essence on life looked at Maria, capturing her vision, looking equally as petrified and distraught. In a few seconds, the wild bloodshot eye rolled back inside the body’s skull. It was dead.

On quivering legs, Maria bent down to retrieve the small metal square that caused the catastrophe. The smell was dire; the burning of rotten flesh. Quickly she enclosed the desired object in her hand before covering her nostrils and backing away from the smouldering heap. Yet, a part of her wondered, were they really dead? Or would they once again rise forth, just as they fell from the wall. She was not about to stick around to find out and without delay, she retraced her steps back into the streets of the damned town.

Elaine collapsed to the floor, clutching the edge of the ravine as she peered down into the darkness, seeing no sign of a bottom. She took grasp of one of the tiles that had been peeled back from the floor and simply tossed it down into the dark mouth of the pit. Nothing. No soft echo of the ceramic crashing against the ground. After straining her ear for what seemed an age, she crawled back from the edge of the hole and clambered to her fearful feet. It was only now that the silence closed in around her, seeming thicker, eerier than ever before, like a cloud of fog coiling around her. Never before had the quiet silence bothered her, but now, for some reason, the inexistent sound seemed threatening. Eventually, she ripped her gaze away from the abyss, and made her way back along the corridor, wishing to return to the patients’ room she was in not long ago; the sight of another human being would be comforting, even if they were in a deep slumber. She turned the final corner and stood in front of the peeled white painted door, knowing that the entrance was not in this condition before she left. Hesitantly, she turned the handle on the door and with a deep breath and eyes closed she tip toed into the room.

If it wasn’t for the door mysertiously locking behind her, Elaine would’ve been running from the room in a second. Instead, she stood, in fear, eyes now as wide as they could be, taking in everything. The floor occasionally moved from under her feet, pulsating, much as a heart would. The muscle-made floor was covered in blood with overly large cockroaches crawling over its hideous surface. The paint on the walls had flaked away, revealing heavy iron walls underneath, decorated with rust, with words written in blood splattered across them;

Fire doesn’t cleanse, it blackens.
The blood will never wash, it hardens.
Wounds will never heal, they deepen.
Souls wander lost, dead.
Sins will never be forgiven....

As Elaine read these words over and over again, trying to make any sense of them, failing to notice the large cyst that were bubbling up over the room, bursting, spilling pus and giving birth to hideous roaches. It was only when a sharp gasp came from the bed when she snapped out of her trance, turning to face the now poorly made piece of furniture. The woman lying upon its surface appeared to be coming around. Although she still remained blinded by heavy eyelids, she could raise her arms to her face and utter the words “Thank god...it was only a dream...” Knowing it was against all medical procedure for a coma patient; Elaine dashed to her side in a panic, and began to shake the woman, talking comforting words in a frightened tone.
“Yes, that’s good. Could you repeat that? How are you feeling? Can you move all your limbs? Why don’t you try and open your eyes?”
With that suggestion now put in place, the woman on the bed slowly managed to pull her eyelids part, the eyeball rolling forward as she struggled. She blinked. One, two, three times before her eyes were willing to remain open – and as they did, she let out a horrific scream.
“Nooooooo! It’s not a dream! Nooooo!”

The woman immediately flung herself off the bed and dashed towards the door, banging hard on its surface and running her nails down its face, trying desperately to escape. After kicking, pounding and clawing at the exit, the woman turned to find her means of escape elsewhere. She ran desperately over to another, smaller door nearer the bed – that was once the toilet to the normal world- and nearly ripped it off its hinges in her terror. Instead of it leading to the quaint little bathroom it normally would, it led to one with a smashed porcelain toilet, overflowing with faeces, a shower spraying black water all over its cubicle, a sink slowly dripping blood and a gaping large hole in the centre of one wall, framed by small bloody handprints. Elaine was quick to follow the eccentric woman into the bathroom, and clutched onto her wrist before she dashed into the dark hole in the wall.
“Calm down! It’s dangerous! You have no idea what’s through there!” exclaimed Elaine, trying to talk sense into the woman.
The woman began to sob, “I don’t wanna be here anymore...I wanna wake up....Where am I? I Wasn’t here before....”
“You’re at the Hospital...”
The young woman looked puzzled, “But....I was just walking the streets a minute ago...”
Her confusion passed on to Elaine, “But I...I found you in a room...”
The womans eyes were now drowning behind the tears, so much so it had became impossible to see, “What the hell is going on?” she whimpered as she hid her face in her shaking hands.
Elaine stood awkwardly at the side, scuffing her shoe off the dirty floor, unsure of how to comfort the lady. Slowly, the womans powerful wails began to subside, and she wiped her face of the existence of the tears, now being able to see clearly again, and feeling a tad more calm.
“So what’s your name?” Elaine asked, curious about the woman.
“It’s....It’s Maria,” said the woman quietly, now turning to face her aqquantice properly for the first time, “What about yo-....Abigail!?”
“Excuse me?”
“N-nothing!” Marias face had took on a very nervous expression and tripped over her words, “So, uhm, Yes! Your name! What is it?”
Elaine raised an eyebrow and exaimed her patient up and down, “It’s Elaine...”
In the awkward silence that now filled the room, the squeaking of overhead pipes now filled the small square room. With no notice, Maria simply tore herself away from Elaine, and crawled into the dark hole in the wall beside her.

Dear Maria,
To be reminded of your past, does it hurt yet Maria? To remember the awful things you done, are we playing with your mind yet, Maria? Are you scared, do you want it to end yet, Maria? It’s only just begun. Just begun Maria. Aren’t you lucky?