Seven-X (26 page)
JOURNAL ENTRY:
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 22, 2010 – 3:33 AM
At exactly three am I was jarred out of a deep sleep. I don’t remember what I was dreaming but I felt like I was choking and I rose up gasping for air. That’s when I saw Rudy hovering over my bed naked, staring at me.
He was in this deep trance, a lurid dream. His face was locked in torment, like Santiago’s. His eyes were wide open, but he couldn’t see me. He was palpitating, shivering, unconscious to this world.
All I could see were the whites of his detached eyes locked into me, close to my face. It perturbed me deeply, sending this rush of adrenaline through me.
My reaction was fast and furious. I quickly rolled back, tucked my knees to my chest and shot my legs out hard, landing a hard kick beneath Rudy’s jaw. It knocked him back to the ground hard.
With raging menace, I leapt out of my bed and flung myself on top of him, landing two jarring left hooks to his face. I was ready to pound him into submission, when I saw his eyes rolled back and I realized it wasn’t his conscious body trying to attack me. He was defenseless.
My fist was positioned to strike again, when I heard people running around frantically and doors slamming.
I jumped off Rudy and made my way to the window, seeing bodies run across the great lawn toward Ward B. The whole ward moved into high alert as an alarm sounded.
Rudy was still lying there, not moving. I quickly ran to the door and peered out to make sure no one was coming. Then I dragged him to the bathroom and threw cold water on his face. Spit and blood washed across the floor and he flopped like a fish awakening out of his daze. Rudy had no idea what he did or how he got there.
I told him he hit his head sleepwalking and I got up to help him. We need to go to the nurses’ station for help. So I threw a gown on him and we made our way downstairs.
When we got there, patients were scurrying about frenetically. A Security Guard was stationed at the door making sure no one got out of the building unauthorized.
It was chaos, so I lead Rudy to the back stairwell unnoticed and briefed him on our next mission.
I told him he broke the code open, which activates everyone into the game. Now his mission is to find Annette Dobson. It’s top-secret I told him. He gets all ten points if he finds her. All we needed to find was a way out.
We made our way to the laundry room. I remembered a window by the air conditioning vent, which led out, so I squeezed Rudy through, giving him final warnings about the secrecy of our mission and the penalties of revealing it.
Now my mission began. I made my way back here avoiding contact with the staff. I rummaged through Rudy’s possessions to get additional information on him. Anything that might help me understand his reason for being at Uphir.
Other than medications, underwear, uniforms, there was nothing but a picture of him with his dog, a Bible and a checkers board.
JOURNAL ENTRY:
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 22, 2010 – 7:45 AM
I’m tripping. Rudy hasn’t come back here. I fell asleep around four, after things died down.
At seven on the dot Nurse Regan barged in for wakeup call. There was no sign of Rudy. She drilled me hard about his whereabouts. I told her he sleepwalks; maybe he got spooked when the alarms went off.
She gave me that look with her puffy, black eye that said she wasn’t buying it. A small pool of dried blood she spotted next to my bed didn’t help.
“I don’t know how it got there,” I told her.
She said security guards and cameras monitor the exits and no patients left the building. To top things off, now Dr. Haworth wants to see me after breakfast.
They’re checking the cameras now and interrogating the security guard, who was assigned front door duty.
JOURNAL ENTRY:
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 22, 2010 – 9:25 AM
Everyone’s eyes fixated on me as I entered the cafeteria, like I held the answer to some riddle. Quiet whispers replaced the ceremonious shrieks from the night before. As soon as I looked at someone, their eyes would turn away in fear and the murmuring began, about demons coming back for vengeance.
Finally, a coherent voice attacked me saying, “You’re the one. The one who killed Rudy.”
It was Donald, Rudy’s old roommate, staring at me with an intense glare. He held that the same venomous grin from last night’s service, as he kicked out the chair in front of me for me to sit on.
“Not like he didn’t have it coming,” Donald said, grinning seditiously.
I took a seat across from him and set my tray down, asking, “Why would you say such things?”
“I saw it with my own eyes,” he told me. “And you groaned of it, in your sleep.”
I remembered the look he gave me in the chapel, the way he shuddered in pain. The way he seemed detached from his body. Could he really have been watching me, the way Rudy was? I wasn’t sure how to answer, so I said, “Nice. I dreamed of you too.”
“Dream is a strange word for someone who dwells in you. Don’t you think? Think. That’s more suitable. You think with me.”
Donald went back to ravaging his eggs, scooping them up in his hands and shoving them in his mouth. He so was so focused on eating he didn’t even look at me when I asked, “What’s inside us? Parasites? Demons? Are we diseased? Poisoned? Injected with something?”
Still ignoring me, I told him, “I know you have the headaches too. The migraines. They’re unbearable, like someone sticking a knife through your eyes!”
He ate faster, ignoring me. I pushed harder to get through, saying, “We need to stick together. We can get out before this disease takes over. Before we end up like Tyler.”
That stopped Donald cold as he looked up, laughing maniacally. “Tyler! Before we end up like her. That bitch is in denial. A drug induced daydream. Pretending. Pretending,” he groaned digging his fingernails forcefully into the table. “Pretending that God will wash away her stain. Lying to herself and acting like the virgin fucking Mary.”
“That’s what I said,” I added, meeting Donald eye to eye, finding our common ground.
“Then we’re the only ones who know the truth. And the truth shall set you free, right? That’s what the priest said, ET!”
“He did,” I replied, glued to Donald’s gaze, drawn to his mission.
“Then set her free!” Donald demanded.
He continued devouring his food, humming to himself in contentment as Annette Dobson walked by us and sat down, two tables back.
Donald shucked me this knowing glance and I felt a wave come over me. The hairs on my arms stood on end. I knew! I knew intuitively, the time was now! This was fate. I got up and walked toward Annette. I could hear Donald whistle in these sadistic tones, a song which seemed so familiar.
Annette smiled warmly as I sat down next to her.
“Good morning Annie. You sang beautifully last night. Like an angel, ”I said touching her hand. She pulled back a little frightened and her whole body tensed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She looked at me with fear and said, “He’s crying again.”
“I’m sure someone is watching him, right?”
“Yes.”
“Someone you trust?”
“Of course,” she replied nervously.
“Like Keron. Keron can be trusted. You should listen to him when he talks to you. You hear him, don’t you?
“No!” she answered, as tears formed in her eyes.
For someone who believed in truth, I could tell she was finally able to lie. It was time to end that false religious pretense and become herself again. As I touched her arm, I said, “Yes you can, Annie. You hear him now.”
“No Eddie. He’s not real,” she said, trying to convince herself of her own words.
With that, something kicked inside me. He was very real. I could feel he wanted to tell her something. And then, for the first time, I began to realize, that there was something unseen working in this place, and now, perhaps working in me. I felt awakened, driven to find the gateway into Annette’s soul.
I scanned the room and saw it. Like a bolt of lightning, this energy rushed into me! My mind lit up and there was the answer right in front of me. It was so clear. So crystal clear. A picture in my head, saw me open the gateway. A symbol that transcended time.
I pointed and said, “Look at all that delicious fruit, Annie. My favorite is that apple. So shiny and red. Doesn’t it look delicious? You must be hungry.”
“Yes,” she answered, staring at the fruit.
“It almost glows. It must be calling your name. Annie. Annie. Come eat me,” I added with a cartoon-like voice that made her giggle.
Staring at the apple, she replied, “It is glowing.”
“Would you like me to get it for you?” I said. “I know it will make you feel better.”
“Okay. It looks so good.”
I walked over to the counter and when I picked up that apple, this feeling of euphoria came over me. I grabbed the plastic wrap beneath it and placed my hands over the apple, wrapping it shut, trapping in this life force, which made me tremble with excitement. The anticipation of Annette touching this was intoxicating. I felt high, returning to the table, seeing her innocent, little face light up as she gazed at the fruit.
“Here sweetheart,” I said. “I kept it fresh for you.”
“Thank you Eddie.”
“Unwrap it,” I gently instructed.
I watched her cautiously dig her fingernails into the plastic and this orgasmic, radiant energy filled me. I put my hands on hers and we pulled back the wrap slowly, in unison. It felt like we were making love.
“Feel that,” I said. “Feel the plastic. It feels like home doesn’t it? Wrapped around the little baby apple. Oh God, it’s good, isn’t it?”
“No,” she moaned.
“It’s the way life should be. Your life. You and Kevin. Remember Kevin, honey,” I said keeping her hands glued to the plastic as we suffocated the apple together.
I could hear it gasping for air. I felt Annie resist me, trying to push her hands back.
“No, please,” she cried as I locked my grip tighter, peering into her eyes.
“See him, Annette. Kevin Dobson. Your husband. Tall, brown hair, brown eyes, wearing that tuxedo with the pink bowtie. How you loved pink. He looked at you with such love, in that old church, with the bell tower ringing, as he said, ‘I do.’ You can see him now, can’t you?”
“No. No. I don’t,” she cried.
I could feel her hands gripping the plastic wrap. I knew she saw the same thing I did. Our minds were one. And now, a new picture enters. I see her wrapping plastic around her child’s face. I grabbed her hands tighter and forced them along the plastic, feeling its shiny surface slide through our fingers together.
“Remember how we put the baby to sleep?”
“No,” she muttered, defeated.
She knew she couldn’t deny who she really was any longer. I felt her fingers get some sick satisfaction with the touch of plastic, but her eyes feared this discovery. The forces in the room began to work harder and I felt their presence invade the air.
The room grew dry and cold. I saw my breath form shapes, molding the plastic around the apple to look like a baby’s face.
I watched reality sink deeply into Annette, as a chorus of voices ushered in this vision. Donald began the song I suddenly knew deep in my heart. Others followed. I heard eight voices distinctly sing.
“
Bye, baby, Mama’s here,
Rocking her little baby so dear,
Angels guard you while you sleep,
Hush now, baby, do not peep.
Oh! Bye, little baby, bye oh,
Bye, little baby, bye oh.”
The despair in Annette’s eyes was glorious. Tears poured down her cheeks. The truth was finally released into the frigid air, ringing out of my lips with fervor.
“Annette Dobson, Executed Offender 381. The state of Texas found you guilty of murder in the first degree of six of your children. Miranda Dobson, February 14
th
, 1997. Richard Miles Dobson, July 4
th
, 1999. James Edward Dobson, April 1
st,
2002. Bridgette Dobson, Christmas Eve 2004, Kenneth Kennedy Dobson. Ken-Ken! You strangled his helpless body, on Halloween, 2007. And your last victim, Anthony James Dobson, baby Tony, murdered on your birthday, March 1
st
, 2009! Now it’s time for Kevin!”
“No. No, Oh God no,” she cried, clutching the apple in agony, finally realizing the veil was broken. She needed to see the truth for what it was.
HER FREEDOM!
I continued with unbridled passion.
“I showed you six little graves last night. Six little graves while you were singing. Six little graves where your children lay sleeping!”