Chapter 5

 

 

DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE

 

 

Alister rubbed his tired eyes and moved from the bed to his chair. Concerns for the doctor and the uncertainty of her return kept him frustrated and awake.

He stretched and yawned and looked out the window. Against the skepticism that ran so deep that it was a part of his being, he searched the darkness for something positive.

Murky shadows stretched across the garden, which was teeming with a thick fog that lingered and swirled as if it had life of its own.

Alister looked to the clock over the door and sighed. He knew every second of the three hours until morning would feel like a lifetime. Constant contemplation and a million different scenarios playing out in his mind allowed him no peace.

When he returned his gaze to the garden, a shadowy figure concealed by the backdrop of trees and morphing mist caught his attention.

He stood, pressed his forehead against the window and tried not to blink. The figure seemed to look back at him even though its features were nearly impossible to make out. A black cloak long enough to drag on the ground hung off of its shoulders like garments on a hanger.

Alister slapped the window. “What is it you want from me? Take the doctor if you wish, but leave me alone!”

The figure drifted toward him and pulled back its hood. The face was unmistakably familiar.

“Sharon?”

The pound of his heart quickened, and he became frantic in his attempt to open the window. It was of no use; it was nailed shut, and the thick iron bars outside were impassable.

When he looked back up, Sharon reached for him and crumbled into the shadows.

 

 

Anna sat up abruptly. The confusion of where she was and how she had gotten there fogged her mind and dulled her senses.

The room was dark and stuffy. An unfamiliar odor lingered about, and the sound of air blowing demanded her attention.

“Housekeeping.”

Anna looked at the door, at the radiator and then at the electronic clock on the nightstand. She was in a hotel and it was half past nine.

“Shit.”

She tossed the covers aside, jumped out of bed and flicked the light switch on. The glow that filled the room hurt her eyes. She rubbed away the sting.

“Come back in a half hour.”

Papers were spread across the bed, and some were on the floor. Most were crumpled from rolling on top of them while she slept.

“How could I forget to set the alarm?”

She hurried around and gathered the papers, flattening them as best she could. The notes contained details of what she had learned about Alister and the complex life he had lived.

“This just gives them reason to believe I fell victim to the curse.”

Anna turned on the shower; getting to Alister as fast as possible her top priority.

 

 

Anna parked her car in the dirt parking lot across the street from Sunnyside Capable Care Mental Institution. Turning off the ignition, she accessed the rearview mirror. She pouted at what she saw. Her hair was damp and flat, and a purple bag hung beneath each eye.

Pushing taut fingers through her hair, she twisted the gathered mound and secured it with a hair tie. She grabbed her briefcase off of the passenger seat and exited the vehicle with optimism about what progress the day might bring.

A few hours of question and answer would help in getting to know Alister better. There was no denying how well organized he was. He paid close attention to detail and thought things through before answering as she did. Whatever trauma infected him was hidden deep, and she would have to be extra careful in bringing it to the surface.

“Look out!” someone off to her left shouted.

A car horn blared and a paralyzing tingle coursed through Anna’s body. Her survival instinct shouted for her to get out of the way, but the surprise of her situation grounded her feet. The vehicle skidding toward her seemed impossible to avoid.

The bumper tapped the briefcase Anna held and knocked it out of her hand. The driver clutched the steering wheel with white-knuckled terror, and Anna’s heart hammered against the inside of her ribcage. They stared at each other.

“Are you OK?” The person that shouted the warning gave Anna’s arm a gentle tug and escorted her to the sidewalk.

“I was in deep thought and not paying attention.”

The man handed Anna her briefcase and waved the vehicle on. “Well, I thought the curse had caught up with you right in front of my eyes.”

Anna breathed a sigh and tried to steady the tremble in her legs. “Right, the curse. I almost forgot about that.”

“That might have been your first mistake.” He smiled and picked up a rake.

The man wore blue jeans with a collared shirt, which looked like it had been washed a thousand times. An old, dirt-stained cap was crooked on his head. “Maintenance” in bold white letters was printed on the hat, and his first name was stitched above the front left breast pocket. He had a lazy eye that held Anna’s attention.

“Terry,” he said, and he pulled up his drooping pants. “I’m the groundskeeper.”

“Thank you for your help, Terry.”

“No offense, but we thought you were as good as dead, especially being how late you are.”

Anna did all she could to hide her astonishment. It seemed as though people had no problem being blunt about their superstitions.

“We were certain you were going to be found dead in your hotel room by noon today.”

Anna checked her watch. 10:23. “I’m almost sorry to disappoint everyone. But you never know—I still have an hour and a half left.”

“I suppose you do. But I think you’re being foolish by mocking it.” He raked debris out from behind a bush and pulled it into a neat pile. “The curse is serious business, and it’s quite unpredictable.”

Anna couldn’t help but wonder what Terry could see out of the lazy eye.

“If I’m remembering correctly,” he said, “this is the first time someone made it through an entire night after speaking to Alister.”

“Well, I find this belief in a curse rather ridiculous. I suppose you can understand where I’m coming from?”

“No.” Terry worked his jaw up and down, and Anna saw the small pinch of tobacco between his teeth and cheek. “Not really.” He spit.

“Well, now you know how I feel about the things I’ve been told.” Anna smirked.

Terry held the rake in both hands and leaned on it. “I’ve been caring for this place for thirty-five years. Before Alister arrived, the land outside his room was green, and the flowers were ripe with color. But immediately after his arrival, the grass, trees and flowers died. Just like coworkers and doctors that interacted with him who didn’t make it past a day.”

Anna curled her lip and held it between her teeth. If she were to interview willing members of the hospital staff and gain some insight about their perception of the curse, she could use the gathered information to help Alister.

“I’m interested in learning as much as I can about the curse. Can I meet with you sometime to discuss these experiences you speak of?”

Terry looked at his cheap watch and surveyed the grounds. “I should be done around three o’clock. If you’re still breathing when I get off, I could give you about an hour.”

Anna offered a smile and extended a thankful hand. “I certainly appreciate your time and your willingness to meet with me. I’ll meet you inside the lobby at three o’clock then.”

Terry shook his head. “I think we should meet out here instead.” He extended a gloved hand to converge with Anna’s. “I think it best no one knows. I’m sure you understand.”

 

 

Anna entered Sunnyside Capable Care, winded from climbing the steps. Her thoughts were on Terry and how he fit the mold both Bonnie and the director were from. She was certain she would find that behavior throughout the hospital. And maybe she hadn’t come to counsel Alister but rather the hospital’s staff.

“Good morning, Bonnie,” Anna said.

Bonnie slowly stood, her eyes fixated on Anna and her face flushed. Her mouth hung open.

“I’d like to see Alister, please.”

Bonnie remained unmoved; her eyes were transfixed by Anna.

Anna stepped forward and knocked on the desktop. “Maybe you should sit down before you fall over.”

Bonnie lowered herself into the seat. She blinked hard, distance in her gaze. “Yeah, sure. I’ll get Michael to take you inside.”

“Thank you.”

Bonnie reached for the phone. Feeling around the desktop without looking, she knocked the receiver off of the base.

Anna turned away. “This is unbelievable.”

 

 

Michael entered the lobby, his pace slowed by a severe limp. His right leg was stiff at the knee and dragged behind him. He would help swing the leg forward with the use of his hand grabbing the pant leg and pulling on it.

“Whenever you are ready, doctor,” Michael said. His blue scrubs were neatly pressed and not a hair on top of his head was out of place.

“I’m ready now.” Anna picked up her briefcase. “Finally, someone with some logic.” Although her words were spoken low, the acoustics carried in the grand lobby.

“If that was a comment about my indifference, doctor, you should know I’m not that surprised by your return.”

“Michael!” Bonnie said. Her eyes were wide and her body stiff. “You shouldn’t say things like that; it’s provocative!”

Michael stepped to the keypad and entered his pass code. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” The door buzzed. He pushed it open and held it for Anna. “After you.”

Beyond the door was a hub where three corridors intersected. On either side of the hallway were doors every fifteen feet, and each one had a small window for easy viewing of the patients’ rooms. The white linoleum floors were buffed to a high sheen, and the bare white walls and ceiling were impossible to look at without squinting.

A good distance down the hallway, Michael paused a moment, rested his back against the wall and muted a chuckle. “I’m sorry,” he said, turning away. “I can’t help but picture what her face must have looked like when she saw you come through that door today.”

Anna watched Michael with a growing smile. She covered her mouth and laughed. “Yeah, it was pretty funny.”

He bent over and rested his hands on his knees. “I’ve always had a measure of doubt about the crap I’ve been told.” He shook his head. “I can’t tell you how many times I almost said something to Alister, just to test it, you know?”

Anna’s laugh faded and her smile disappeared. “I couldn’t imagine the things you might have been told.”

Michael looked down the hallway, started to walk toward Alister’s room and lowered his voice to a whisper. “When I first got here, the director had me in his office and was showing me a book with a bunch of newspaper clippings.” He motioned like he dropped something. “Boom, it landed on top of the desk and a waft of dust spewed out at me.”

Anna touched Michael on his shoulder. “He showed me that same book.”

Michael tapped his chest. “Yeah, well, that was enough to scare me quiet.”

“I imagine it would. Do you know of anyone speaking to Alister since you’ve been here?”

Michael shook his head. “No way. No one would dare. There is a lot of fear surrounding him.”

Anna nodded her understanding. “I see that.”

“He just sits there,” Michael said, “day after day, staring out that window, never having a word spoken to him or a smile to brighten his day. I could only imagine what that could do to a man.”

“I suppose it doesn’t take a doctor to figure out that won’t help him to get better.”

“I’m not a superstitious person, but what if the things I was told were true?” He shuddered. “I have a wife and daughter at home. Speaking to him just isn’t worth my life.”

Anna clapped Michael’s shoulder. “Your heart is in the right place, Michael. Now is not the time, but soon enough you will be able to speak with Alister.”

Michael’s thoughts seemed to drift, and his smile revealed little about where they had gone.

“He believes this curse is as real as you and I are,” Anna said. “And until he begins to doubt it, I think it’s best you continue to keep to yourself.”

Michael opened the door to Alister’s room and held it. “I understand.”

“Thank you,” Anna said, and she stepped inside the room.

 

 

Alister sat in a chair positioned in front of the window. Each of his hands clutched the respective armrests, and he remained perfectly still.

“Good morning,” Anna said. She sat on the bed, and the springs whined. The thin mattress caved even under her minimal weight. “I’ve returned, just like I told you I would.”

Anna popped open her briefcase, gathered her pen and pad and sat at the ready. Alister remained unmoved with his attention on something Anna couldn’t see.

“It’s OK,” she said. “Take your time. We’ll talk when you’re ready.”

Alister shifted, looked over his shoulder at Anna and returned his gaze outside.

“It’s OK,” Anna said again. She stood and went to his side. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I am here for you.”

Alister whimpered and his body trembled. Anna rubbed his back.

“Your hands are always so cold,” he said, and he shrugged off her touch. “I can feel them right through my shirt.”

Anna blew into her fists and backed away. “I’m sorry. This building is kept much colder than I find comfortable.”

“You scare me, doctor,” Alister said. Spittle strung between his lips.

Anna sat. “I won’t pretend to understand why.” She continued to work on warming her hands.

His jaw quivered. “Weren’t you listening to the people when they told you about the death that surrounds me?”

“What they say is just stories.”

“You seem reasonably intelligent, doctor. Do you really believe I’m here because of a mental disorder?”

Anna offered no response.

“I’m here by choice and necessity.” Alister stared at the lumpy flesh on his palms and the dirt caked beneath his fingernails. “I came here because every tragedy you’ve heard about is true, every death, every fear from every person is as real as you are sitting there next to me!”

Alister panted and the foul odor of his breath backed Anna away.

“If you don’t believe the things you were told,” he said, “then you should go to the library and find the newspaper articles.”

Tears streamed down his cheeks and disappeared into a tangle of facial hair.

“And you scare me because you are the first person to talk to me in forty years that hasn’t died within a day.”

“I would think that would make you happy and fill you with hope.”

Alister wiped away the tears. “I can’t feel the way you think I should. What I feel is the slow approach of something wicked.”

“Is it possible my returning today has made your curse less real?”

Alister jumped to his feet with a snarl. “Why don’t you go and tell the family members of all those people that died because of me that their death wasn’t real?” He turned away, leaned against the sill and hung his head. “Tell my dead daughter that, too.”

“I understand there have been awful events surrounding your life, Alister, and I’m sorry for it. But I’m afraid to say that none of it has anything to do with a curse.”

Alister slapped the window. “Damn you and your logic.”

“Help me help you by sharing details of your life so that I might understand what you’re going through.”

He gave her a long, hardened stare and sat. “It has taken me half of my life to understand the things I know about the curse, and you expect me to relay that to you just like that?” He snapped his fingers. “Impossible.”

Anna started to reach for Alister but resisted the urge. There was no denying he had had a hard life, but the next few days would be the most terrible of them all. Understanding there was no curse would be as hard for him to accept as it would be for a drug addict to quit cold turkey with a pocketful of his favorite fix. Denial, anger and fear would be his biggest obstacles.

“I’m here to help you, Alister, and you should know I’m not going to leave you.”

Alister twirled the hair on his chin. “I’m incapable of caring in return. The death that has surrounded me has blackened my soul and filled my heart with hate. It’s a hate so consuming that I’ve forgotten what love is.” He forced his fingers through the knots. “I don’t understand why everyone is so desperate for it.”

“Why do you think you feel that way?”

Alister paused and greeted her question with a smile. “If what I said isn’t enough, I would like to add that I have found it is much easier to hate. Loving someone is too much work, and it doesn’t pay off.”

“Hating someone seems so much less rewarding to me.”

His smile didn’t fade. “If you say so.”

“Are there specific things that you hate?”

“This life and all those who are able to love.”

“I don’t understand why.”

“Because you are all going to die, and the only thing left behind is pain. So what’s the sense in it?”

“But love is what gives life meaning.”

“And death inevitably takes that all away, doesn’t it?” He opened his arms wide. “This is what defines my life.  The world isn’t filled with ice-cream and puppies. There is a lot of pain and misery and awful things people don’t like to talk about.”

“Like this curse you have?”

Alister waved a dismissive hand. “I hate your questions and your being here. It causes me pain, and I wish you would leave me be.”

“If this curse is real,” she said, “then I’m already dead and any secret you tell me will be taken to my grave. You should relish in the opportunity to have a conversation with someone while it lasts.”

“How do you not see that I have everything to lose by you being here?” He slammed his fist onto the arm of the chair. “Others won’t believe the curse is real, and they will come like you have. And when they do, they will die, and that is something I will have to live with.”

“I’m only trying to understand.”

“I’ll have to live with it, not you!” Alister turned askew, closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “What’s the use?”

“Suppose these things were made up by a mind that was sick? What then?”

Alister opened one eye and focused on Anna. “I hope your life was worth this meaningless interaction we’ve had.”

“What brought this curse into your life?”

Alister sighed, pulled himself to the edge of the seat and placed his elbows on his knees. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “What will it take?” He heaved a sigh, ran his hands through his hair and stared at the floor. Flakes from his scalp filled the air. “That is a question that requires me to go back in time to when the curse first introduced itself to me.”

 

 

Director Conroy sat at his desk; the squeak of the leather chair was background noise as he worked on his budget plan. Fingering the buttons on the calculator, he dropped his pen and sat back with a sigh.

“That doesn’t look good.” He pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. “Not at all.”

Looking at the clock, it was 10:20, and Bonnie hadn’t yet informed him of the doctor’s arrival. He would have bet everything he owned that she would survive the curse and begin to change the minds of those that had never experienced it themselves.

“What a mess that would be.”

The telephone on his desk lit up and chirped softly. The call was coming in from the maintenance building. He let it ring once more and picked up the handset.

“Conroy.”

“She arrived, but I thought the curse was going to take her right in front of the building.”

Director Conroy allowed the pleasure of that thought to lift the corners of his mouth ever so slightly. “What happened?”

“She was walking to the building and not paying attention. A car missed her by mere inches.”

“A shame.”

“There’s more. If you have a moment, I can come to your office.”

The director couldn’t tell whether it was the urgency or concern in Terry’s voice. But in either case, his need to meet face to face hinted at serious developments.

Before he could respond, a brisk knock at his door demanded his attention.

“Hold on,” he said to Terry, and covered the mouthpiece.  “Come in.”

Bonnie entered his office with wide eyes and a loud voice.

“She’s here, and Michael is escorting her to see him.”

The director held up a pointer finger and spoke into the phone. “The door is unlocked. Help yourself inside when you get here.”

He hung up the phone and looked at Bonnie.

“That was Terry. He said he ran into her outside.”

“Her eyes are puffy and her hair was still wet; it’s obvious she just woke up,” Bonnie said.

The director placed the papers that covered his desk in a neat stack.

“Her coming here,” Bonnie said, “is going to make people think it’s OK to talk to him.”

“I was just wrestling with that thought myself.”

“Just take away her access to him; let her call her boss.”

“I can’t.” He swiveled his chair back and forth. “I don’t know if the knowledge of Alister goes that high up the food chain, and I can’t risk bringing any unnecessary attention to him.”

“Damn it.” Bonnie plopped herself into the chair that was positioned in front of his desk. “What are we going to do?”

“Allow the curse to run its course.”

“But at what price?”

Bonnie’s eyes focused on the director’s papers and something stirred her.

“Yes,” the director said, pulling Bonnie’s focus to himself. “At what price?”

“What if it doesn’t come?  What if she’s immune to it somehow?”

“That’s not possible.” He neatened his necktie. “I think it might be waiting for more people before it will do anything.”

Bonnie chewed her fingernails, and at that moment, Terry entered the office. He was moist with sweat, and the smell of motor oil accompanied him.

“Should I come back?”

“No, have a seat,” the director said as he motioned to the empty chair next to Bonnie.

“I’m not clean,” Terry said, and he stood next to the desk. “I wanted to tell you that the doctor asked to meet with me to talk about Alister. I told her we needed to be discreet and that today at three o’clock would be a good time for us to get together.”

After all these years working with Terry, the director still felt uncomfortable looking Terry in the eyes. Staring at the one that drifted was rude, but it was hard not to focus on. He grabbed the pen off his desktop and twirled it. “I need you to be firm with her and let her know what her coming here means to us.”

“I’ll make quick work of her.”

The director smiled. “That’s good, especially because you’re leaving for vacation tomorrow. This is your only shot. Make it count.”

“And you need to speak to Michael,” Bonnie said.

The director stopped fidgeting with the pen. “Michael?”

“He was casual about Anna’s return, and I even got the feeling he was doubting.”

“I’m surprised to hear that after all he’s been shown,” the director said. “Let him know I would like to see him, but make no mention as to what it is about.”