Notes of a madman

The day when everything is decided.

#13. Peter.

I waited and waited and waited... But I was happy to wait, because after almost a month, I started moving my hands. Toby, Gina, Kenneth, Joe, Max, and Eileen were so happy that I could leave the hospital.

I spoke poorly, often wrote on the monitor what I wanted to say, the photo that Russell gave me, I still keep.

There was Mary, but it's almost unrecognizable. Next to her was a short man with glasses. His dark hair was combed almost to a mirror-like shine. These men are usually found in the office. Incredibly serious, people with really big calm and patience.

 I really need to find this man. He can help, but why I'm so sure?

— Dad, let's go to the place where that door was... Where we went through P-13...—after breakfast, Tobias tells me.

I try to say something indistinctly, but I can't. After several hard and unsuccessful attempts, I hand him the photo and write on the monitor: "I need to find him. He is important."

— I'll go to my wife's brother, see if he can find it from the photo, the police can... Where did you get it?—Firefly looks at an old photo.—Did you find it in the hospital?—

""Russell. Russell gave me a photo..."- I write on the monitor and look up at him.

— Pff... Russell! Didn't he hit us enough and do lot of nasty things? And you still believe him? What's that?—the guy snorts.

"He's afraid. And he has nothing to fight for... And I have you... And grandchildren... "

— You still forgot about the nurse with a higher culinary education!—Toby laughed.—Okay, I'll see what I can do...—

He went to work, and Gina had the day off.

Tobias worked in the rescue service-it's a lot of work and bad for nerves. I know that... I worked there...

I use the lever to move slowly into the living room. This wheelchair in my understanding is a strange thing, incomprehensible, but I'm starting to understand...

In the living room, my grandchildren are sitting at the TV and watching cartoons.

In the beauties of Max and Eileen, the features of their grandmother, my beautiful Grace, are vaguely visible. Joe looks just like Toby.

I just noticed that Gina is pregnant again.

— Mr. Bauer, would you like something now?—the girl asked as she entered the room. It looks like her back is hurting. I smiled and shook my head,

" No, thank you. And call me Charlie. I don't like being addressed by my last name by family members."

***

I've been in a coma for so many years, and all I want to do lately is sleep. But fear keeps me awake.

When the massage therapist my son hired came in, I almost didn't listen to him. He flexed and flexed my limp limbs, which made me more and more aware of how useless I was and how much trouble I was causing.

— ... isn't moving?—In hear a fragment of a sentence and start.

I reach up to the monitor attached to the bed and type with difficulty: "what?"

— Your legs... Mr. Bauer, you can't feel it? No one leg did not move?- the man repeats the phrase.

I shake my head.

— Believe me, Mr. Bauer, I have seen many cases of paralysis. And yours isn't like any other in the world. There is a huge chance that you will never get back on your feet. Your limbs are not injured, not atrophied, they just don't seem to exist... I'm sorry, I said too much...—the man looked away.

—Dddddon't worry...—I was surprised that I said a single word clearly.

I said goodbye to him and stared unseeingly at some TV show.

Faces quickly flashed, and I was lost in my own thoughts...

—Daddy!—Tobias almost screamed, and I almost jumped in fear. Or rather, my entire body shuddered slightly, but it felt like this.

Tobias was in his work clothes, his face red and very happy.

I looked at my son questioningly.

— I found this man and called him. When he heard that we had both seen Mary Hamilton, he asked us to come to him. Both of us.—Tobias literally crawled into the entire closet and started looking for clothes for me.—And do you know who he was? You'll never guess!— Sitting in a wheelchair, I typed more with my right hand on the monitor: "If I try to think, my head will ache..."

Firefly chuckled: —Mary was engaged to him. It turns out that before her husband and daughter were tried to kill, she was a simple girl and adored life. The man's name is Peter Brady...—

#14. What was once, what is now...

It was not like an ordinary bar. The sign had fake cobwebs and a skull hanging down. There were Nosferatu, werewolf, count Dracula, Cthulhu, and a lot of monsters whose names I only recognized from the signs below.

So creepy was this place, the "Tomb", even the tables seemed to be made of real human bones.

Peter Brady seemed out of place in this setting. A very sad brown-eyed man with glasses was sitting at one of the tables with a laptop. He looked about forty five years old, but there was a lot of gray in his hair.

When I noticed the very familiar ring with the red eye stone and the fangs bracelet on his hand, I shuddered inwardly-I saw the same thing on Mary, and also on her right hand.

The bloody clown on stage was laughing uproariously, and I noticed that Toby didn't like it either. Although the creepy place seemed to appeal to him...

— Hello, did I talk to you on the phone? I'm Peter.the man turned to my son.

—Yes, with me. My name is Tobias Bauer, and this is my father, Charles... What do you know about "Mindless" hospital?—Toby pulled an old drawing out of his back pocket.

I remember it... First appearance... He thought, it's a nightmares...

— You saw her, didn't you? Were you there?—brown eyes stared at us through their glasses with a maniacal expression.—And you can take me there?—

Something about this man scared me. And madly I felt sorry for him...

***

Peter lived upstairs. Before coming with us, he went to see his daughter and asked one of the waitresses to sit with her.

— How do you know about Mindless?—Tobias asked him as Peter helped him roll me into the car.

— I didn't pay attention to the news of the kidnapping. But when they began to return and comatose people began to appear among members of their family... I have spoken to many people, but only two have spoken to her. You, Charles, are the second. I learned something from them...—he jabs the hypodermic needle of syringe into my thigh like a killer from old horror movies.—You'll soon can move a half of body, maybe more ...—

" You're a smart man. Tell us about your fiancee."—I'm typing on the monitor.

— Mary... In the world I haven't seen people like her, and there will be no more. A little crazy, dark, explosive... A girl with the character of a knight... She really wanted this bar and I did everything I could to make sure she got it... Everyone there is her... And those figures-the nurse from hell-that's her... Her face...  I was sure she was still alive. Mary couldn't just leave... Rowena said she could feel her...—at Toby's direction, Peter turned off the road.

— I don't think you'll like what you see... She's changed. I wouldn't believe she was human if I didn't know you. Only the most terrible things, horrors that words can't describe, change people so much...— We drove on in utter silence.

Peter, it seems, was angry. But who should he be mad at? If only on fate...

— Dad, now road won't be so good!—Tobias got off the passenger seat.

Even lucky that Peter's car is big and you can easily move around the cabin.

—Calm down, my baby rides like on rails!—Peter started to turn, and the sound of pebbles hitting the bottom of the car was incessant.

Tobias managed a short cry as the hammer pierced the roof of the car...

* * *

Stinks of gasoline.

The wind blows the smoke right into your eyes.

As I calmly jumped to my feet, I realized that we were no longer in the human world.

Blood runs down my temple.

Are we sure we're already in Mindless? It didn't bleed so much in there...

— Mary!—Peter yelled, and ran as fast as he could.

The fear was even stronger. Toby didn't come to his senses... Peter probably doesn't care...

How loneliness can be strong...

I grab the dark green jacket and pull my son away from the overturned car.

I won't budge...

Apparently, Tom decided to interfere with my promise ...

— Came to offer Peter instead of himself?—a voice growled, familiar and frightening as death.

— I'm here to talk. I think the doctor will talk to me when she sees who I brought to her...—I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed that Firefly was awake.

— Go through a Deaf Hallway. Then she will talk. May be...—Tom suddenly laughed hollowly.—But it won't do you any good...... And not me... You need a demon. A man named Baal—

I was shocked that Tom left without trying to attack us ...

# 15. Memory.

I don't recognize the hospital from the inside. Those who are here are dressed in their own clothes and they angrily beat on the walls, then with their fists, and then with their heads. It's clean, much cleaner than it was before. It didn't look like a hospital at all.

— They feel there's a way out...—I say softly.

— Alive!—suddenly a badly disfigured man rushes at me with a yell.

I couldn't even figure out who it was. I wring his neck without thinking.

I see Mary upstairs.

— Try to get Peter out of here. He didn't see me...—she turned to Tom.

—What if Baal notices something?—the man boomed.

— I'll try to convince him that Pete isn't right...—suddenly she turned around.—You shouldn't have come to this awful place, Peter... Mindless isn't for people...—

—I've come for you, Mary, I'm not leaving here without you!—

I thought that all that was left of love was madness, but I shouldn't have been so sure.

I felt sorry for Peter again. And Mary... She was standing there looking completely lost. Tears froze in her eyes.

— I can't get out of here... Peter, please leave before he sees you!—the girl's eyes changed color.

They reflected her pain.

The "loonies" climbed up to the balcony. Some of them stayed down there with their futile attempts to kill us.

I twisted one arm behind his back and heard the bones snap like rotten wood.

Sparks danced in front of my eyes-someone hit me with a piece of Foundation...

Tobias breaks the arm of my attacker. The stone falls "psycho" exactly on the head.

— This Way, Bauer! Over here!—Tom throws a rope ladder, narrowly missing my head.

It was very difficult to climb, and everyone saw the stairs at once. It was necessary to climb and fight back at the same time.

Someone grabs my leg, but I can barely feel it anymore.

When it's only a short distance to the top, Tom reaches out to me, the second knocking the others off the balcony without effort. I only hesitated for a second.

My hand tightened on his leather-gloved hand.

 My legs were still shaking for a while, but I could easily pick up my pace.

— I'll get you all out of here safely.—Mary said as she ran.—It was very stupid to come here! Especially you, Peter!—

— I want to stay with you!—Peter almost shouted it.

— You can't be here, my love, I've been dead for a long time... I can't go from there... You came for nothing... Live for Rowena, our little girl needs you very much...—

A man stood in our way. His brown eyes were opaque, showing no emotion at all. Like a dead man's eyes...

— Baal... This is owner of this place... We're finished...—Mary looked even whiter, even though she already looked like a corpse.

— Hello, Mary.—the man said dryly.—Something told me to look into Mindless, but I didn't know what it was. Have your patients already acquired privileges? I told you clearly: if a contract is made, only

their corpses can enter the human world!—

— Let Peter and Tobias out, they don't have any contract...—the girl started to speak, but was hit on the shoulder with a long, snake-like whip:

—The contract doesn't matter now! They came here of their own free will, and you know the price you will have to pay to get them out of here with my consent!—he made a strange gesture with his hand.

Mary nodded and followed him.