Those days after Anthrocon I spent at Seel's place in Williamsburg, just before coming back to Spain, were interesting in a way you can't imagine. It was, believe me, the hottest summer anyone could remember in Virginia. One day, I went with Seel to the hospital to help her at work so she were able to finish earlier and then enjoy some video-games at her dad's office computer during the evening, but we arrived at the hospital too early in saturday morning: It was between shifts: friday shift had just left and the regular shift were due in just two times next monday. That left the cleaning staff, Donna, Oscar, Merry, Seel and me, for a peaceful weekend.
Unknown to us, a bus - a gray prison bus - was winding along the road outside of the hospital parking lot, transporting a single prisoner. The man was criminally insane, according to the tag on his prison uniform, and the two guards assigned to him believed it. He was very tall and strong, so his hands were manacled in huge handcuffs and his legs were hobbled close to each other with a chain. To keep him from running or kicking out at anyone, the Warden had added an old-fashioned ball and chain, which he'd found in a prison storeroom. That kind of thing hadn't been used since the 1920's. The chain was clamped to the maniac's right ankle, and the heavy iron ball was on the end of the four-foot chain.
The maniac was sitting quietly with his eyes closed, smiling that same simple smile he always smiled just to keep the guards wondering. Thinking that the maniac was asleep, the guards weren't being watchful enough. As the bus swerved on a tight mountain curve, one guard slid off the wooden bench and fell against the prisoner, who wasn't asleep at all. He quickly grabbed the guard by the neck with the short chain on his handcuffs.
While they struggled, the other guard got up and went after the maniac. The prisoner dropped the strangled guard and lunged at the other one. The guard tried to draw his pistol, but the maniac had picked up the iron ball and thrown it before the guard had so much as a chance.
The maniac found keys on the guard to remove the cuffs and the leg irons, but he could not find a key for the ball and chain. He picked up the iron ball again, smashed the wire glass window to the cab of the prison bus, and grabbed the driver by the throat. The bus swerved all over the road and finally crashed into the deep ditch beside the road, coming to rest against a large tree. The maniac was out!
Back at the Hospital, Seel and I had swum all afternoon and were now back in her dad's office deciding what to do, checking FurAffinity and our e-mails. There wasn't a TV anywhere in the place. We decided to take a walk outside to get some fresh air since it was really, really cold. The sun went down and the owls began to hoot scarily off in the distance. We thought the other 3 staff people would be there also taking a break. Suddenly someone screamed! We came running out of the building and met at the main parking lot.
Donna, the office cleaner was missing! The other two, Seel and I ran to her office. The door was open and there was a pool of blood on the floor. We all gasped, then suddenly became very quiet.
"Ssshhh! whispered Oscar. Throught the window, we all strained to listen. In the trees outside, somewhere nearby they could hear:
Step... Drag... step ... drag... step ... drag...
"Let split up and look for her!" said Oscar. We all ran off in different directions into the dark woods. After a few minutes Oscar yelled for everyone to come to him. It was hard to follow his voice in the underbrush; it was hard to believe that the woods around the hospital were so thick and impenetrable. Soon Seel and I found Oscar staring up into a tree. There in the moonlight was Merry. She was hanging by her head in a fork of the tree branches; her neck must have broken.
Off to the south they could hear noises in the under-growth:
Step... Drag... step ... drag... step ... drag...
Being the strongest one there, I climbed the tree and lowered the body to the others. The three of us carried the limp corpse back to the main building. Once there, I hurried to lock all the doors with big wooden boards.
"You all stay here", Oscar said, "and lock this door behind me. I've got to get to the main office where the phone is."
Seel annd I objected, but Oscar went out the front door and slipped off in the darkness. We just dropped the wooden bar back into its metal brackets, to prevent anyone from entering. After a few minutes the lights suddenly went out. No need to say, Seel and I started to scream, but then we realized that whoever had cut the wires might not know where we were. We held our hands over our mouths and hid under the serving counter.
Suddenly, something rattled the front door. It must be the maniac! We both huddled together. Next we heard something outside the window just above us, something dragging along the ground, going:
Step... Drag... step ... drag... step ... drag...
The double doors rattled again. Oscar whispered, "hey dudes, let me in!" The dragging sound was moving around the building going toward the back door. Oscar gasped louder, "Let me in!"
I ran from the Counter to the door and lifted the bar. Oscar darted into the mess hall like a scared cat.
Just as they got the double doors shut, the dragging sound came around to the front. Just as they dropped the wooden bar into its brackets, something huge and heavy hit the door, cracking the wood.
Oscar and I ran across the room, tripping and stumbling over chairs in the dark.. The object hit the door again, and the wooden bar cracked with a loud noise. After the shock, Oscar and I looked under the serving counter where we jumped into. Seel wasn't there! We ran to the back door.
"The phone lines must have been cut" whispered Oscar. "The phone was dead". The heavy weight hit the front door again, breaking part of the door's upper half. Oscar and I lifted the bar from the back door and swung it open. Another crash at the front door told then the doors were about to give. The two slipped into the tall pantry and closed the door.
Back in the mess hall, the double front doors gave way in a burst of splinters and broken boards. A deathly silence followed. We both hardly dared to take a breath. Suddenly, we heard that sound out on the wooded floor:
Step... Drag... step ... drag... step ... drag...
The sound stopped right outside the pantry door. Oscar gasped. I cupped my hand over my mouth and the two of us held our breath. Oscar was afraid the thing outside could hear his heart beating.
Suddenly there was a terrible scream outside the pantry.
It was Seel! She had moved to another hiding place, leaving Oscar and me on our own. Now the thing, whatever it was had found her. There was another scream and the sound of something going out the back door.
Then everything was quiet as a graveyard.
The two of us waited all night, hardly breathing. The sun began to come up; we could see light coming in through the cracks of the wooden pantry. A morning dove was calling softly in the woods.
We then heard a sound. Someone was coming in the front door. Slow footsteps crossed the floor, along with the sound of something dragging along the boards.
The sound came closer to the pantry.
CLOSER.
Suddenly it stopped, right in front of the pantry door as if someone was waiting.
I could not stand it anymore. I screamed.
The Pantry door swung open, and there standing over them was a tall, muscular form, lit from behind. The man bent over.
He took off his wide-brimmed hat and show them his badge. "I'm the Sheriff", he said, dropping the heavy bag of weapons and bulletproof vest he had been dragging.
"THANK GOD YOU TWO ARE ALL RIGHT!"
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skifi's journal
It’s not for pleasure, but for work, since there’s a medical meeting I need to attend here. Of course, the speeches are not 24/7, so I still can spend some time in the evening to take a look around, and I have rented a car with a few friends to drive around Tenerife, where we have set our headquarters x)
but I have found out there is no internet connection in the hotel rooms, that’s why I can only use a few minutes online to download and send my e-mails, and upload journals like this, but not really to spend some time online, IM, or take a look around deviantART as I usually do. (I hope Katmomma and Pixel are caring for everything while I’m away). However, it’s not like I’m craving it, I have many things to do here to get bored, hahaha.
I’m a bit disappointed at how my iPhone seems to fail with SMS lately, because, for example, I get Inuki’s and Kai’s messages, but they don’t seem to receive mines… and I bet Telefonica is still adding them to my monthly bill, lol. Also, there are a few small personal issues bugging me, but I’m dealing with them. I have a though backbone, lol.
And the ceremony, really emotive. Noemi's family came from the South of Spain to attend it, and also Thomas' parents and siblings came all the way from Germany to see him seal his fate.