Eye Contact, page 21
The door to the elevator opened at the first floor, and David looked directly across the corridor to the open door of the hospital gift shop and saw the elderly woman of whom Gina had spoken. Although he was positive he had never met or even seen the woman before, there was something so incredibly familiar about her, as if he really had encountered her somewhere. Without memory of such a meeting and without anything else to go on, he was perplexed. Yet somewhere deep down inside of him, he could not shake the impression that if he had met her before, any such meeting would have ended tragically. This train of thought made no sense to David, as the woman was standing right in front of him alive and healthy. But the thought persisted nonetheless.
As he and Gina exited the elevator and turned right to head toward the front entrance of the hospital, the old woman in the gift shop recognized Gina and noticed the sunglasses on David's face. She smiled cheerfully and waved at them. Gina waved back.
Then, without warning, David saw the woman’s face horribly transform into a ghastly bloody pulp of unrecognizable runny flesh. Her eyes and nose were gone, leaving horrible black holes, which was all that seemed to remain of her mouth as well.
He blinked behind his sunglasses, grateful Gina could not see the shocked look in his eyes. The hideous woman continued to wave, and in complete disbelief, he saw Gina wave back to her, as if to indicate she had not seen the same horrible spectacle he had seen. David was frightened and unsure of what was going wrong with his mind. The woman remained standing, waving like some sort of automated robot. As they turned to leave, David looked away from the woman not wanting to see any more of the hideous mass of bloody fleshy tissue void of facial features.
Approaching the front door, the friendly security guard nodded and held the door open for them. As they passed him, David ventured a furtive sideways glance up and saw the security guard’s head was missing. The man’s stump of a neck was exposed as his blood pumped slowly upward, oozing down over the rim of the stump and down onto the white shirt of his uniform. David shook his head to try to clear away the vision, but the guard had not returned to normal, and he could hear the dreadful headless creature impossibly wishing them a pleasant day as they walked by.
David had no idea what to do or say. He knew he really should tell Gina about the problem, but he was frightened if he did so, she might turn the wheelchair around and take him right back into the hospital. And if there was one place he no longer wanted to be, it was the hospital. So instead he chose to force himself to calm down, taking deep, even breaths.
“Everything OK, David?” Gina asked. “You seemed to be breathing a bit strangely there for a while, and I just wanted to make sure you were not having any anxiety issues or anything.”
“N…nnn…no. No, I’m fine,” he lied. “I just have to…to get away from…all of these people…and get home with you and Davie…then I know I will really start getting better.”
Gina pulled the wheelchair up to a black Ford Focus parked in the pickup zone. “Hey…what happened to the Toyota?” David asked in an attempt to change the subject and get his mind off of the bizarre hallucinations.
“That died about a year or so ago. I had to get something else,” she replied.
“I suppose…a lot of things...have changed…over the years,” he replied with an understanding tone. “I suppose…money has been tight as well…with me in the hospital…and the new baby…and everything.”
“Yes. It certainly has been,” she said. “But I have been fine. Daddy has helped out as needed.” She could see David, always the self-sufficient type of man, was not happy with someone helping them out financially. “It’s OK, David. He and Mom wanted to do what they could, as did your parents, and to be perfectly honest, Davie, I could not have made it without their personal and financial help.”
As David allowed Gina to help him into the car, he ventured a furtive glance back toward the hospital entrance and saw the security guard opening the door for some other people entering the hospital. His head was still missing and the blood from his open neck was splashing onto the clothing of the people walking by him, yet they didn’t seem to notice, as they smiled at him, thanked him and went about their business.
“Let’s go home,” David said with an air of finality as Gina closed the passenger door to their car. She walked around and took her place behind the wheel. Within a minute they were heading out of the hospital parking lot out onto U.S. Route 51 toward Ashton.
At the bottom of a steep hill they came upon a familiar landmark, Manny’s Drive-In Restaurant, which had been a long-time favorite hangout for teenagers for generations. David felt a surge of relief as they passed the restaurant. It represented one more recognizable element that brought him great comfort. “At least it’s good to see Manny’s is still there,” he thought to himself.
Just outside of the Ashton town limits, David noticed a disheveled man standing on the side of the road. He presumed by the man’s unkempt clothing and filthy large floppy hat he must be some type of hobo or vagrant. He automatically cast his eyes downward to protect them from the stranger as he seemed to do with all strangers of late, and the car quickly zoomed past the man.
After a moment, the man lifted up his head, as if in recognition. His face was a wretched mess of stippled, dead, pockmarked flesh. Hundreds of blowflies encircled the horrible creature’s face as his filmy eyes stared in the direction of the departing car. The foul being opened its large toothless hole of a mouth and, as maggots dripped from its shriveled lips, it howled at the car like a wolf baying at the moon. Then it began taking a series of slow, stumbling steps in the direction of Ashton.
Eye Contact (retail) (epub), Eye Contact
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As he and Gina exited the elevator and turned right to head toward the front entrance of the hospital, the old woman in the gift shop recognized Gina and noticed the sunglasses on David's face. She smiled cheerfully and waved at them. Gina waved back.
Then, without warning, David saw the woman’s face horribly transform into a ghastly bloody pulp of unrecognizable runny flesh. Her eyes and nose were gone, leaving horrible black holes, which was all that seemed to remain of her mouth as well.
He blinked behind his sunglasses, grateful Gina could not see the shocked look in his eyes. The hideous woman continued to wave, and in complete disbelief, he saw Gina wave back to her, as if to indicate she had not seen the same horrible spectacle he had seen. David was frightened and unsure of what was going wrong with his mind. The woman remained standing, waving like some sort of automated robot. As they turned to leave, David looked away from the woman not wanting to see any more of the hideous mass of bloody fleshy tissue void of facial features.
Approaching the front door, the friendly security guard nodded and held the door open for them. As they passed him, David ventured a furtive sideways glance up and saw the security guard’s head was missing. The man’s stump of a neck was exposed as his blood pumped slowly upward, oozing down over the rim of the stump and down onto the white shirt of his uniform. David shook his head to try to clear away the vision, but the guard had not returned to normal, and he could hear the dreadful headless creature impossibly wishing them a pleasant day as they walked by.
David had no idea what to do or say. He knew he really should tell Gina about the problem, but he was frightened if he did so, she might turn the wheelchair around and take him right back into the hospital. And if there was one place he no longer wanted to be, it was the hospital. So instead he chose to force himself to calm down, taking deep, even breaths.
“Everything OK, David?” Gina asked. “You seemed to be breathing a bit strangely there for a while, and I just wanted to make sure you were not having any anxiety issues or anything.”
“N…nnn…no. No, I’m fine,” he lied. “I just have to…to get away from…all of these people…and get home with you and Davie…then I know I will really start getting better.”
Gina pulled the wheelchair up to a black Ford Focus parked in the pickup zone. “Hey…what happened to the Toyota?” David asked in an attempt to change the subject and get his mind off of the bizarre hallucinations.
“That died about a year or so ago. I had to get something else,” she replied.
“I suppose…a lot of things...have changed…over the years,” he replied with an understanding tone. “I suppose…money has been tight as well…with me in the hospital…and the new baby…and everything.”
“Yes. It certainly has been,” she said. “But I have been fine. Daddy has helped out as needed.” She could see David, always the self-sufficient type of man, was not happy with someone helping them out financially. “It’s OK, David. He and Mom wanted to do what they could, as did your parents, and to be perfectly honest, Davie, I could not have made it without their personal and financial help.”
As David allowed Gina to help him into the car, he ventured a furtive glance back toward the hospital entrance and saw the security guard opening the door for some other people entering the hospital. His head was still missing and the blood from his open neck was splashing onto the clothing of the people walking by him, yet they didn’t seem to notice, as they smiled at him, thanked him and went about their business.
“Let’s go home,” David said with an air of finality as Gina closed the passenger door to their car. She walked around and took her place behind the wheel. Within a minute they were heading out of the hospital parking lot out onto U.S. Route 51 toward Ashton.
At the bottom of a steep hill they came upon a familiar landmark, Manny’s Drive-In Restaurant, which had been a long-time favorite hangout for teenagers for generations. David felt a surge of relief as they passed the restaurant. It represented one more recognizable element that brought him great comfort. “At least it’s good to see Manny’s is still there,” he thought to himself.
Just outside of the Ashton town limits, David noticed a disheveled man standing on the side of the road. He presumed by the man’s unkempt clothing and filthy large floppy hat he must be some type of hobo or vagrant. He automatically cast his eyes downward to protect them from the stranger as he seemed to do with all strangers of late, and the car quickly zoomed past the man.
After a moment, the man lifted up his head, as if in recognition. His face was a wretched mess of stippled, dead, pockmarked flesh. Hundreds of blowflies encircled the horrible creature’s face as his filmy eyes stared in the direction of the departing car. The foul being opened its large toothless hole of a mouth and, as maggots dripped from its shriveled lips, it howled at the car like a wolf baying at the moon. Then it began taking a series of slow, stumbling steps in the direction of Ashton.
Eye Contact (retail) (epub), Eye Contact
