Monday, May 21, 2012

The Visitor Ch 7-8



Chapter 7

Kate woke and looked around her room.  She was alone, safe in her town house.  She looked at the clock on the nightstand, just after nine in the morning. 

She lay in bed for a moment, thinking about the visitor’s dirty face.  “Believe,” she said, and the stress from the previous night returned. 

She made a quick cup of coffee and decided to check her email.  Mister Hedley jumped in her lap.

Spam, spam, and one from Ramona.  She clicked it.

Kate, don’t worry about last night.  Everything was fine after you left.  I was a little worried about you though.  I know you aren’t very religious so a pastor is probably out of the question, but I did set up an appointment for you to see Dr. Riley, the psychiatrist, this afternoon at 2 pm.  You don’t have to go but death affects people differently and I just want you to talk to someone.  I look forward to seeing you this afternoon.  Let me know about Dr. Riley, either way.

Ramona Bolling

Kate sipped her warm coffee.  “I am not crazy” she thought, “but I did see that woman and now she is in my dreams.”

She made herself some breakfast, occasionally glancing at Ramona’s still open email.  “Just talk to someone, not crazy.  Just a little stressed.  He might be able to explain the dream.”

She sat down at the computer desk and replied to Ramona that she would keep the appointment.

Chapter 8

Kate found the psychiatrist, Dr. Riley, to be very kind and professional.  He was in his mid fifties she guessed.  He was balding slightly on top, with a genuine demeanor and a warm smile.  She immediately liked and trusted him.

“Let’s get some history first.  Tell me a little bit about yourself.”  Dr. Riley asked.  “Are you single or dating?”

“No.  I am single.  I go out on dates occasionally, but nothing serious.”

“Why not?”

“I just haven’t fallen in love.  I don’t want to settle for the wrong guy.”  She answered.

“Were you ever in love?”  He asked.

“In college.  I thought I had Mister Right.  He turned out to be a jerk.”

“Cheat on you?”

“Yeah.  One time mistake he said, but I never made any mistakes.”

“And you are thirty two now.  Nothing serious since then?”

“I have been on a few dates.  I can usually tell after a few minutes that so many of these guys are losers or not worth my time.”

“Bitter?”

“No. I would call it being picky.  I don’t want to support someone who is still playing video games.  I certainly don’t want to raise someone else’s children.  Seems like everyone is divorced with kids these days.”

“You don’t want children?” He asked.

“My own children would be great.  I have heard too many of my coworkers complain about their ex and problems with the kids.”

“And your parents, are they healthy?”

“Psychologically?”

“Yes, just checking family history.”

“They are fine.”  She assured him.

“Any visions, hallucinations or voices?  No matter how insignificant.”

“Nothing like this, just normal stuff.”

“Define normal for me.”

“I don’t know, déjà vu, catching something out of the corner of my eye.  That’s normal right?”

“Give me some examples?”  He asked.

“Déjà vu, feeling like I have been somewhere before, which is normal.  Everyone experiences it.  Sometimes I feel like I see a shadow move or lights getting brighter.”

“Sensitivity to light could be a medical problem.  Any symptoms associated with that?”

“I am not sensitive to light.  I swear sometimes I can see a light in the room getting brighter.  There is nothing associated with it, just bright light.  Your desk lamp seems brighter than when I first came in.”

“But it isn’t.”

“How can you be certain?” She asked.

“How can any of us be certain?  Do you hear voices or talk to yourself?

“I am single.  I talk to myself all the time or I talk to the cat.”

“Ever get in any serious arguments?” He asked with a chuckle.

“No. I guess you can say I get along with myself just fine.”

“Cute, we are about out of time.  I would like for you come back tomorrow and get a little deeper?  I think you will be fine but it helps to get these emotions out.  You can’t let them fester.”

“I would like to get this nightmare out of my head.”

“What happened?” He asked.  “Ramona said you experienced two sudden deaths and thought you saw someone in the room.  You also had a dizzy spell.”

“You might think I am crazy.” She answered.

“Good, that is why I am here.”  He said with a smile.  “Most people are not technically crazy.  Sometimes people just need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on.”

She was nodding her head but staring out the window.  He could tell by the look in her eyes that she stopped being so matter of fact.  She wanted to let go.

He added, “Ramona said you aren’t a religious person.  Are you stressed about…”

She cut him off.  “There was a woman in the room.  She opened her mouth back over her head right in front of my face.  I closed my eyes for just a second, and then she was gone.  Ramona was just outside and never saw anyone leave the room.”

He stared at her for a few moments.  His pen at his lips.  “Interesting.” He said.  “Spend the rest of the afternoon with me?  Just a few more hours?  I will clear it with Ramona.”

“Sure” She said.  “I would be happy to get this out of my head.”

“I would like to get into your head, ever been hypnotized.”

Monday, May 14, 2012

The Visitor Chapter 6


This is Chapter 6, scroll down for the previous chapters.  Leave some feedback please and let me know if you find any mistakes.  I wrote this years ago and am going to finish it up as I go.  After going to sleep, Kate dreams.


Kate stood in the street of the old frontier town.  She felt as if she could hardly breathe.  She looked down to see herself in an old fashioned, long dress and dirty lace up boots.  She felt her waist.  A corset squeezed at her torso.

She looked across the dusty dirt road to the bare wood buildings as the rider came in.  In this western setting she expected to see a horse, but it was not.  It had the body of a haggard camel.  Its huge feet slowly drug through the dirt as it walked down the dusty street toward her.  The beast was covered in wart like welts.  Its snout was hard and pointed, resembling that of a crow. 

Its rider was wearing a black duster and hat.  From the side she could only see dirty dark hair flowing from underneath the hat.  The beast stopped and the rider dismounted away from her.  Her heart was pounding in her chest.  She felt as if it might burst through the corset.  A sense of worry came over her as he was standing on the other side of the beast.  Heart pounding, she could hear it, she began breathing through her mouth, the corset squeezed her so tightly.  What is she going to do?

The visitor stepped in front of the beast and faced Kate.  Even with the full sun shining, from the distance Kate only saw darkness from her clothes to her hair to the dark glasses on her fat face.  The looked directly at Kate and spoke, “Believe me now?” then turned, looking back from where she rode in. 

Kate turned and faced that direction.  Although she could not see anything in the desert beyond, she knew something was out there.  She felt something bad had happened.
She turned and grabbed a horse that was behind her, jumped on and rode as fast as she could toward the edge of the small town.  Following a dirt path, she rode harder, out into the deserted prarie and after a few moments she saw several people lying on the ground ahead.

She stopped the horse at the first person she came to. She dismounted and stood over the man lying on the ground.  His face and hands were covered in blood from several cuts.  His face was ashen from the blood as it gathered dust from the desert winds.  A horrified look was frozen on his lifeless face.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught movement from another man. She ran over to see about him.  He was sitting up, his back against a large rock.  As she approached him she noticed he was severely beaten and bleeding, but still alive.  His eyes followed her as she came closer.  She locked her gaze upon his face.  As he drew his last breaths from his open, drooling mouth, his eyes were focused completely on her.

When she got closer she could see his right hand clutching a pistol.  She showed no fear; he appeared too weak to do anything threatening to her. 

Suddenly he held his breath and heaved his pistol, aiming it shakily at her.  He winced as he pulled back on the hammer.  Her eyes slowly watched the movement of his hand.  She noticed another cut across the back of hand as he struggled with the pistol.  What little blood he had left slowly ran from the cut and dripped from the grip of the gun.  His hand shook slightly, weak from holding up the gun, as it clicked on an empty round.  His arm dropped.

“I shot you.”  He moaned.  “I shot you, I killed you.  Why aren’t you dead?”  His voice faded to a whisper and he grew weaker with each word.  Finally his head slumped down and he moved no more.

Several steps ahead lay the last person.  She could tell from the long hair and dress it was a woman.  She was laying flat on her back and did not appear to move.  Slowly, Kate made her way over to the woman.  The first thing she noticed was the lower portion of her dress was ripped to shreds.  Bloodstains covered what was left of her dress, between her legs and coagulated in the dirt she lay in.  She saw the woman’s torso moving, she was breathing.  Kate moved closer to see the wounded woman’s face.

She wasn’t prepared to be looking down on her own self.  Her eyes were open and fixed in a stare up into the sky above.  Kate moved her face into her line of vision.  After a few seconds her eyes shifted and focused on her own face standing above her.  She looked at herself looking at herself.  She didn’t speak, she figured she was in shock.  Suddenly she recognized herself standing there…and screamed

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Visitor Chapter 5


Scroll down for earlier chapters.

Kate hurried home as fast as she could.  She was surprised she arrived safely in her current stressful state.  All she wanted to do was sleep in order to wake up from the nightmare day she had so far.  “Believe, Believe, Believe” raced through her mind while she was driving.  She sang a variety of songs she could think of containing the word believe.  Anything she could do to change the context of the word. 

Her cat, Mister Hedley, greeted her as soon as she walked in the door.  He rubbed his body against her leg and she picked him up immediately, hugging his soft body to her cheek.  “It’s so good to see you.  I’ve had a bad day,” she said as the cat began purring. 

The first stop was the kitchen, where she fed Hedley.  Her stomach was also complaining about being empty on the way home.  A banana sandwich sounded good.  She ran some water in a glass and took one of her sleeping pills.  She could not wait to be unconscious.  Bread, mayo, banana and plain potato chips squeezed together made a simple but satisfying meal.  She took a bite, savoring the creamy mayo and bananas, the chips were salty and crunchy, a perfect balance.  The image of the visitor raced through her mind.  She cursed the woman and made her way to the bedroom. 

She took the last bite of her sandwich as she was undressing.  She turned on the water in the shower, letting it run hot.  Then Kate stood in the relaxing hot water.  She breathed deep the steamy vapors.  It was soothing and the sleeping pill began to make her drowsy. 

After the shower Kate went back to the kitchen for a nightcap.  Couple of ice cubes, half Coke, half Bacardi.  She took a sip and felt the tingling sensation rush over her body.  Believe still played in her head.  She went back to the bedroom and grabbed another sleeping pill.  “I don’t care” she thought “I am off tomorrow and I do not want to remember this day.”  She popped the other pill in her mouth and chased it down with her mixed drink.

Kate pulled an old pack of cigarettes from the back of the cabinet drawer.  She fished around for a lighter, finally finding a pack of matches, then stepped out on the back porch.  The night air was cool and damp.  “Won’t be long now.”  She thought as she savored the rum. 

After about ten minutes, she took one last sip of the drink and the last drag from the cigarette.  She was very relaxed.  “Time for bed.”

She giggled, feeling tipsy as she stood.  She locked up the house and made her way to the bedroom.  She pulled back the covers, turned off the lamp and lay down.  Mister Hedley nestled in beside her. 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Visitor Chapter 4



This is Chapter 4, scroll down for chapters 1-3


Kate felt her skin grow cold.  The room was silent except for the hum of the oxygen supply to Tim.  She opened her eyes.  The woman was gone.  She was cold, but put a hand to her forehead and wiped sweat away.  She felt lightheaded and leaned against the bed.  She felt as if the room was spinning.  She noticed that her patient, Tim Johnson, had stopped breathing.  She put her hand to his neck and felt for a pulse.  There was none.  He had passed.

She turned to make her way out of the room, which was more than her senses could handle.  She dashed into the bathroom, fell to her knees and vomited into the toilet.  Her body heaved until there was nothing left.  She felt exhausted.  She rested her head on her forearm.  Her body was cold and covered with sweat. 

After a few moments Kate flushed the toilet and stood in front of the mirror then looked at the pale face in the mirror.  She washed her hands and rinsed her mouth, then just looked at herself in the mirror while wondering what just happened.  Pull it together.  You have a job to do, then get out of here.  Believe… believe what.

Kate took a deep breath and relaxed.  She wet a hand towel and wiped her face.  One last look in the mirror.  Her head was feeling steadier now. 

Kate walked out of the room into the hall.  She looked up and saw Ramona working at one of the computer terminals in the hallway. 

As she got closer Ramona looked up at her stunned at Kate’s appearance.  “Kate, are you okay?  Why are you so pale?”  Ramona asked.

“I’m not feeling very good.  I just got dizzy and threw up.”  Kate said.

“Honey, sit down, is there anything I can get for you?  What happened?”  Ramona asked as she helped Kate into a chair.

“Mr. Johnson passed.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know Ramona.  I was taking his vitals, it was dark, then…then I just got dizzy.  Ramona, I hate to ask but I really need to get out of here.  I really don’t feel…”

“Kate, aside from vacation, you haven’t asked for a day off since you started working here.  We can handle this.  You go home and get some rest.  I am going to get you some water.  Okay?  Sit down over there and I will be right back.”  Ramona said as she turned to walk away.

Kate bit at her lip, but she had to ask, “Ramona, did you see anyone come out of the room?”

“No honey, I have been standing at that terminal the whole time you were in there.”

“I thought I saw someone, a woman, in the room,” she said, unsure of what just happened.

“That’s it.  You’re going home.  Come on,” Ramona said as she helped Kate to her feet.