Tall Tales
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Videos
  • Narrator
  • Benediction
  • Matteson: P.I.
  • Over the Hedge
  • Wonderland
  • Store
  • Find on Amazon
  • Tall Tales RPG
  • Resources
    • Discord Server
    • Wiki
    • Supporters
    • The Editor
    • Calendar

Valley of Dry Bones, Part Seven

2/2/2020

0 Comments

 

14 December 2004

​Roger jerked awake with a scream, and found that he was in the hospital. He sat upright and his eyes darted around the room, crazed and bloodshot. A nurse ran in and began trying to calm him down, but he could barely hear her through the haze of pain medication and his own focus on finding something no one in the room could see. It was a full three minutes before the nurse managed to get him to focus, and he then learned that he had been found by maintenance. There was concern about the notes the previous workers had made about the state of his bathroom floor, and they had arrived to take measurements and make an exact list of things they needed to buy to have it fixed. When they found him they had called an ambulance, and he had arrived at the hospital unconscious five hours earlier.

Now that he was awake, the police wanted to talk to him about what they suspected was a break in. They found no evidence of forced entry, but the severity of his wounds and the obvious struggle told them someone else had been there. He told them he couldn’t remember, that he hit his head after slipping in the shower and nothing after that was clear. The officer left with no answers, and Roger wanted to fix that, but he had no idea how to explain what he could recall.

Every time he tried to sleep that night, he saw Alethea, sitting on his chest, or standing by his side, or floating on the ceiling. It didn’t matter where she was, she was always watching, always smiling that cruel smile, always startling him awake. Usually she was just on the corner of his eye, and if he turned to look she’d be gone. By morning, he was delirious with exhaustion and the night staff were eager to hand him off to someone else. Sometimes, when a nurse came to check on him, they’d find him muttering to himself. Sometimes he’d just stare off into space. But they hardly found a way to interact with him either way.

Over the course of that day, other people made decisions on his behalf. His landlord, after being briefed on the state of the apartment when he was found and the running shower and the water he dragged out that was making the damage to the bathroom worse, moved to evict Roger. The doctor in charge of his case recognized where things were going and, in light of his mental and physical state, submitted an insurance request to move him into a nursing home on his release. With no family to contact for approval, and given his apparent inability to speak for himself, arrangements were made to find him a place to go. His wounds, though extensive, were not something that required any supervision from the hospital that he could not get just as well at a long-term care facility, and frankly they needed the beds. It was decided that Roger Bilson would be released into the custody of a new home as soon as the insurance allowed it and a pickup could be arranged.

​Roger, for his part, would find sleep no easier that night than the one before.
Previous
Beginning
Next
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    I watch.
    I record.
    ​I remember.

    Leave a Tip

    Boost on TopWebFiction


    Tall Tales: Volume Two Now available


    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018

    Categories

    All
    Aaboukingon
    Akshainie
    Alethea Bilson
    Babylon
    Back In The Day
    Barzai
    Benediction
    Bob Aronsen
    Born Of Water
    Brandon Myers
    Brood Of Nachash
    Buné
    Cain Abroad
    Charles Whitman
    Crossroads
    Daniel Matteson
    Deadline
    Dr Francesca Harris
    Dr Harold Price
    East Of Eden
    Elizabeth Kline
    Father Benedict De Monte
    Father Josef Klappenger
    Golden Calf
    Hastings
    Hecate
    Henry Matteson
    Horselberg
    Huginn And Muninn
    Inhuman
    Iravati
    Jackie Veracruz
    Jeremiah Matteson
    Joanna Wozniak
    John Matteson
    Kastor
    King And Queen
    Land Of Goshen
    Lore
    Lori Berman
    Magum Imperatoria
    Manfred
    Marilyn Myers
    Mark Hendricks
    Mary Matteson
    Michael Hudson
    Nachash
    Nephilim
    Old Tom
    Power In The Blood
    Ravens
    Red Sprial
    Rev Liam Halzberg
    Rick Fielding
    Road To Perdition
    Robert Norris
    Robert Partridge
    Shadow Of Death
    Skin And Bones
    Story Extras
    Tadzio García
    Tannhauser
    The Devil's Church
    The Prodigal
    The Two
    Toledo
    Unsolved
    Valley Of Dry Bones
    Viktor Wozniak
    Walls Of Jericho

    RSS Feed

Story Blogs

Narrator
Benediction
Matteson: P.I.
Over the Hedge
Wonderland

Resources

Read Order
Weekly Updates
Wiki
Credits
About the Author

Support Tall Tales

Patreon
Ko-fi
Subscribe
Store
© COPYRIGHT 2018. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Videos
  • Narrator
  • Benediction
  • Matteson: P.I.
  • Over the Hedge
  • Wonderland
  • Store
  • Find on Amazon
  • Tall Tales RPG
  • Resources
    • Discord Server
    • Wiki
    • Supporters
    • The Editor
    • Calendar