Threshold, Part Two

Goddamn you, Claire. This is a darkness modern medicine cannot heal. Doesn’t take a fucking brain surgeon to realize that. I swear to God sometimes I think you’re adopted. Oh wait. You were. And because of you I’M STILL FUCKING DEAD!

Claire began to cry. She picked up Mr. Ramirez’s necklace and put it on. Hers hung in her locker. She hugged her legs and rocked back and forth in the squeaky desk chair tucked away in the corner of room 3. No one had noticed her yet.

“This makes no sense. This can’t be real. She’s dead. I can’t breathe. This should help.” Claire whispered.

She stood and picked up the bloody endotracheal tube Mr. Ramirez ripped out of his windpipe. Claire spit onto the end of it and shoved it down her throat. A moment later she pulled it out. Black vomit sprayed onto the gurney.

“Oh my fucking god, Claire!” Faith shouted.

Claire’s phone chimed and buzzed in her back pocket. She looked at Faith robotically then jumped backwards. The floor shook when she landed.

“Claire, are you alright?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“You just fucking threw up all over our dead patient. Why did you try to put the tube down your throat?” Faith said.

“Everything is fine. I’m fine. Mr. Ramirez is with my mother now. They’re both resting in a nice warm place.”

“Callum, what do we do?” Faith asked.

“I think she’s in shock. You said she has history of…” Dr. Singh trailed off when he felt Claire’s eyes bore into him.

“She does.” Alan confirmed. “Takes Zoloft and Lithium.”

“Why is everyone talking about me? Everything is fine.” Claire said.

“Honey, I think you’re in shock. Come lay down with me in room 6.” Faith said.

“I don’t want to. I hate that room.” Claire said.

“Claire, let’s go.” Alan said, grabbing hold of her wrist.

 “Touch me again, Alan, and I’ll rip your dick off. I know you’re fucking Faith.” Claire said.

Dr. Singh knelt in front of Claire. He put a tender hand on her shoulder. Before he could say anything, Claire opened her mouth and vomited all over his face. She wiped the black bile off her lips then smiled sadistically up at Alan.

“Now, I’m ready to go.” Claire announced.

Faith wiped the vomit off Dr. Singh’s face then handed him a cup of water. The three of them held Claire down in the chair as they pushed her into room 6. It took all of three of them to get her onto the gurney.

“Restraints!” Dr. Singh yelled

“You’re all going to die tonight, Callum. When I’m done with Denburgh, I’ll go to your posh little neighborhood and kill your pretty little wife and your kiddos and your doggo.”

“Claire, you’re sick. We’re going to help you.” Dr. Singh said.

“No one can help me. No one can save me.” Claire said calmly. Faith rushed back into the room and handed the restraints to Alan and Dr. Singh. A moment later, she was secured to the rails of the gurney.

“This room feels like home. I can’t really get comfortable for some reason. Alan, could you be a dear and take this necklace off me? It’s burning a little.”

Alan eyed Dr. Singh and Faith nervously. “Faith, are you seeing this?” he asked.

The three watched as the silver necklace burned Claire’s skin like it had been heated in a fireplace. She writhed and bent her body until bones cracked. The restraints held but the gurney rocked from side to side. The thrashing was cut short by a muted buzzing coming from under Claire.

“Oh, I wonder who that could be.”

She smiled so wide the corners of her lips ripped. Blood dripped down her cheek from the horizontal tear that stretched from her mouth to cheeks.

“Faith, no!” Alan said.

Faith reached into Claire’s back pocket and pulled out her phone. Claire snapped at her like rabid dog, her razor-sharp teeth missing her ear by only inches. “Foolish bravado will get you killed around me, sister.”

Faith answered the call. “Hi, Greg. Yeah, she’s right here. I was. Fine. Just for a little while.”

Faith tapped the phone and put Greg on speaker. “There isn’t much time, Claire. Sweetheart, if you’re in there, fight. Okay? Fight it.”

“Hey, pookie. I know about all the things you did with her. He’s telling me everything. Sinners get punished.” Claire said.

A forked proboscis dropped out of her mouth. The tongue-like structure licked all the vomit and blood off Claire’s mouth. Her almond-shaped eyes transformed into obsidian pools. Droplets of blood rolled out of her nostrils. Her eyes teared crimson. She screamed then lunged at Faith who held her ground. The restraints kept her in the gurney but the bed moved forward several feet. Alan and Dr. Singh jumped backwards.

“Just hang on until he gets there. Faith, take me off speakerphone please.” Greg said.

Faith tapped the button again. She kept her eyes on Claire and backed away several feet. “What now?” she asked.

“Keep her restrained. Keep your distance. Go to her locker and get her necklace. It’s got a silver cross on it. Put it on because that thing will try to take control of you too. I tried to help her but I couldn’t. That’s why I sent him.”

“Greg, what the fuck are you talking about?” Faith asked.

Claire had been chanting in Latin into Alan and Dr. Singh’s ears. Both men was slumped over the sides of the gurney. They were each trying to pull Claire’s pants off. She turned her head to look at Faith then grinned macabrely. “Whoever he’s sending is going to be dead by the end of tonight.”

Claire ripped her hand free from the restraint and stabbed her finger into Dr. Singh’s eye. She pulled it out then plopped the bloody eyeball into her mouth. Her stomach made a gurgling sound then she vomited black and pink bile onto Dr. Singh’s face. He fainted and fell backwards onto the floor.

“Let’s get him into the room next door!” Alan screamed. He was rubbing his eyes like he had just woke up from a nap.

Faith dropped Claire’s phone and helped Alan carry Dr. Singh out of room 6. “I’m going to the locker room.”

“Why?” Alan protested.

“Greg wants me to get Claire’s necklace. He thinks it can protect me.”

“Faith, that’s ridiculous. You told me after your dad you didn’t believe in that shit anymore.”

“Alan, you saw what just happened in there. Just trust me.”

Alan sighed. He grunted as he dragged Dr. Singh’s body over to the empty wheelchair. “Fine. Wheel him over to the locker room and stay there. I’ll deal with her.” Alan said. He grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her hard. “In case you didn’t know, I love you. It wasn’t just sex to me.”

 Faith smiled with tears in her eyes. She kissed him back then wheeled Dr. Singh past the nurse’s station and into the staff locker rooms.

One by one all the lights in the unit snapped off. Alan fumbled for his phone and turned on the flashlight. He shined it in the direction of room 6. Claire was gone. The empty restraints hung from the gurney. Her cracked phone lay on the floor. Greg was still on the line. Alan tapped the end call button then walked to room 3. The door was closed. He put a tentative hand on the handle and opened it. Mr. Ramirez’s corpse was laying still in the gurney. The window was open. He looked down to see if Claire has fallen. He gasped as the desk chair in the corner of the room began to spin and squeak. Alan thought of his daughters as he raced toward the door. The air left his lungs when it slammed shut. Claire emerged from the bathroom. Her scrubs were covered in filth. Her pale face was gaunt and jutted at odd angles. Her eyes were obsidian pools that saw nothing but him. Claire caught Alan’s right hand after he tried to punch her. She squeezed and crumpled his wrist bones like an empty aluminum can. Alan’s eyes dimmed from the pain. As he screamed, Claire vomited into his mouth. The black bile spewed out of his mouth and down the front of his scrub shirt. Claire grabbed Alan by the temples. Her thumbs inched closer to his bulging eyes. Alan shut his eyes desperately but Claire was too strong. Her razor-like black nails pierced his eyelids. He screamed in pain as she scooped out his eyeballs then stuck them into her mouth. Claire chewed and chewed and swallowed. She grabbed Alan by the throat and walked to the open window. The heels of his worn out trainers hit the glass-littered window pane. Alan felt a breeze cool down on his sweaty back. Blood and tears streamed out of the holes in his face. Claire brought Alan’s ear near her mouth.

“If she keeps the baby, I’ll eat its eyes too.”

The proboscis dropped out of Claire’s mouth and licked the gore off Alan’s face. She kissed his forehead then let go. He fell ten stories and landed on Faith’s Toyota 4runner. The back of his skull pushed gooey brains out of his empty sockets. His body folded in half. His ass end lodged itself into the top of Claire’s SUV. Alan looked like he was trying to fellate himself. His bloody palms looked like they were high-fiving the tops of his trainers.

Her watch buzzed on her wrist. Greg was calling again.  She felt the cool night air on her cheeks. Claire looked down at Alan’s corpse and began to cry. Pain exploded out of every part of her. Her back, her ankle, her hands. Claire fell to her knees and forced her finger down her throat. She threw up bits of eyeball. The room spun a thousand times around her. The lights flickered rhythmically. Her ankle throbbed in rhythm with the lights. Claire walked on wobbly legs. She looked down at her buzzing wrist. Greg calling again. Before she could answer it, the thing grabbed her throat. Its hands burned her skin. The disembodied hand reached into her chest and squeezed her heart. Claire fell backwards. The floor should have smashed her head but she fell through it and the rest of the floors at Denburgh General. She fell all the way to what felt like the center of the earth. Light poured in through the deep chasm. Claire remembered the movie about the haunted video tape that killed anyone who watched it. She thought the ring of light she was staring up at looked a lot like the movie. She felt warmth spread all over her body. The warmth became a burning sensation that metastasized to every part of her. Her skin bubbled. Her hair caught fire. The urine trickling down her legs boiled from the heat of her skin. Claire wanted to scream for help but her throat was too dry to form any words. And then the thing pulled her upward and out of the chasm. Her face smashed through the bottom of the tenth floor and she was back in room 3. Claire was standing. Her bottom lip trembled as she waited for the demon to take over again. She felt weak, cold, broken, alone. There would be no going back after this. It was going to be a part of her. Her vision dimmed like the thing was turning her consciousness down. She looked at her buzzing wrist once more and read a text message from Greg: He’s on his way. A high school friend. His name is Father Gabriel Carrasco.

Claire returned to room 6 and slipped her hands back into the restraints. She laid her head on the pillow and snapped. The door slammed shut as Dr. Singh and Faith returned from the locker room.

“Faith, come on. We have to go. We can’t fight this thing!” Dr. Singh screamed. He was wearing new scrubs and had a bandage over his eye that made him look like a bloody pirate.

“I’m staying.” Faith said quietly.

The lights continued to flicker in a rhythm. A knock came from inside room 6. It went tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat then lub-dub lub-dub. Dr. Singh started for the exit. The security doors slammed close in his face and locked on their own. Someone knocked from the other side. Tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat, lub-dub, lub-dub.

“Guess no one’s leaving.” Faith said.

“What do we do?” Dr. Singh asked.

Faith shrugged her shoulders. “Alan would know. Where is—”

Faith covered her mouth as she ran toward room 3. She stopped in the doorway. Her jaw dropped when she saw the open window. She stepped around Mr. Ramirez and looked down. Faith shuddered and buried her face into Dr. Singh’s shoulder.

“Oh my god,” Dr. Singh said after he looked down.

Faith tugged at the cross hanging around her neck. She couldn’t bring herself to cry. “It’s not Claire. It’s the thing inside her. Maybe this Father Gabriel will.”

They both jumped at the loud knocking on the unit’s security door. Dr. Singh was first to investigate. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw who was standing behind it.

“It’s Murray! Open the door, Murray! We’re trapped.” Dr. Singh shouted.

Denburgh’s longest tenured security guard looked nonplussed at having to fish the keys out of his belt this late into the night shift. The young man standing next to him kept apologizing. He made eye contact with Dr. Singh through the little window in the door. He swallowed hard when he saw what was going on inside room 6. The door had opened silently. The lights in the unit turned off again. The machines in room 6 began to beep even though none of them were plugged in. Murray dropped the keys. He slammed his face into the door until his nose was broken. Murray pressed his face into the little window. He tried to scream but the sound was cut off by the invisible hand squeezing his throat. It squeezed until Murray’s neck broke. The young man wearing a black suit and a new cassock made a sign of the cross. The chorus of beeping machines in room 6 fell silent. A deep and guttural voice emanated from inside Claire.

“Let the priest in. I’ve been waiting for him. That pussy of a doctor can leave if he wants. Don’t worry, Dr. Singh, I’ll keep an eye on Faith and Claire for you.”

Faith pulled the heavy doors open. Murray’s body fell inside. “Let’s get him outside the ICU. The less bodies in here the better.” Father Gabriel said.

Faith nodded and helped Father Gabriel pull Murray’s corpse outside the unit. The doctor stood frozen in the threshold. He had one foot in the unit and the other outside. He looked down at Murray and thought of Alan and Mr. Ramirez.

“Fuck me,” he cursed under his breath.

Dr. Singh walked back into the unit and leaned on the nurse’s station counter. Gabriel took a knee beside Murray’s corpse and kissed his crucifix.

“Grant eternal rest unto this fallen man, your son, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”

Gabriel jumped to his feet and dove into the ICU as the unit’s doors swung shut. Dr. Singh helped him up.

“Thanks, doc. Glad you decided to stay.” Gabriel said. He was still clutching his crucifix.

“Don’t make me regret it. If anyone deserves a second chance, it’s Claire.” Dr. Singh said mirthlessly.

The machines in room 6 began to beep again. The lights flickered on and off right before the PA system crackled. A woman’s voice began to laugh.

Everyone knows, honey. Everyone! Our family. The neighbors. They all know how your father liked to watch you dance naked. You were only eight years old! I had to do it. He deserved what I did to him. I threw his little thing into the trashcan after I cut it off. Then he had the nerve to have me committed. Those fuckers should have never left me alone. I had a goddamn heart attack. When I got here, all I had to do was stab myself in the throat with one of those breathing tubes. I was so good at helping the doctors put them in. I was fucking good at my job. Faith was just a little baby pig when I was in charge. By then, I’d changed my name back to Collins and you were with your new Christian family. You know what’s really fucked up? I asked Him to come. I asked for His help to kill your father. It was me, darling. He is the eater of souls. He especially likes the pure ones. The virgins. I guess your only sin is making your brother fall in love with you. And now you’re all alone. No one can help you. Not even that baby priest.