Memories and Lies- Prologue

Sirens blared in the distance as I fought whatever poison they injected into me, in and out of consciousness I observed the world whir past in a hazy indistinguishable blur. I couldn’t tell where they were taking me, head throbbing, nausea sweeping my gut. I needed to sit up, to let it out, but my wrists were tethered by restraints to the gurney and my arms too feeble to fight. None of it made sense as I sought the memory of what lead me there, a reason, something to help me rationalize. Nothing, a deep gaping void. Perhaps I fell into a dream again, reassurance echoed in my mind despite any confirmation. In the past, I had a knack for recognizing the distinction between dreams and reality. The sirens were no doubt passing by my modest one-story apartment as I slept. My eyes darted around the cabin of the ambulance for the face I hoped to find; he always showed up in these dreams. Maybe he eluded me at the moment, but I knew he would appear. I faded back out and when my eyes opened again, a gate loomed in the distance. Accompanied by an array of old abandoned buildings, neglected and shrouded in ivy. I recognized this place from my darkest dreams and I needed to stay away from it. “This isn’t the hospital!” I wailed, “Take me to a hospital” Thrashing again, I cried. “I will die in there! He will kill me!” My words confused me, I didn't understand why anyone might kill me, yet I believed with every inch of my being that someone or something in that place was organizing my death.

Paranoid, I stared through the rear windows of the ambulance as it backed into an ambulance bay. I forced myself to be still and tried to moderate my tone as I appealed to the men in their crisp blue uniforms.

The doors opened confirming my suspicion, I was dreaming, the man standing in front of me proved it. Tall, with uneven black hair and eyes too dark to be real, he regarded me in my moment of peace.

“Are you certain you want to leave her here, detective?” The Emergency Medical Technician asked. “There are rumors about this place.”

The dark man hunched over and climbed into the ambulance. “What is your name?” His voice a sharp growl that made my heart drop.

“Karen Jenner,” I whispered.

“Do you recognize me?” He explored my face, something in his eyes begging me to say yes.

I should have answered yes, implored him as a friend to save me. But he was a mystery except for his face and the calming smell of whatever deep musky scent he wore. Maybe he was an angel.

The serenity associated with him washed away and I lost control of the fear when I noticed the doors to the building open behind him. I stared into a long dark corridor lined with closed, unlit rooms. At the entrance stood an older man with gray-white hair and spectacles, flanked on either side by two beasts of human beings. A woman towered to the left of him and to the right, stood a man at least six-foot-three and four hundred pounds of muscle.

Unloaded and inside, the exterior door of the building closed. I laid my head back as the sleepiness returned, eyes heavy rolling in and out of focus. Only every other light on either side of the hallway gave out light and it produced a rich orange glow. The place appeared to be a basement. No windows, no hint of any natural light.

“Who she is?” The tall woman asked the detective.

“I thought it might have been her.” He whispered with a deep sadness in his tone and I willed myself to listen. “She told me her name is Karen Jenner. Her id and a man at the scene confirmed it. Not that it matters.”

A man at the scene? What scene? I closed my eyes sinking into the tranquility of the medication. Dreams are mysterious, hopping from place to place, collecting pieces to a puzzle I could assemble when I woke.

I didn’t wake up though, something leaned into my space, long hair tickling the tip of my nose until I opened my eyes. It was on top of me, straddling my abdomen and leaning into my face. The force of my screams was matched solely by the madness in the creatures laughter.

The figure looked to have been human at some point. Nothing defining on its face, one eye swollen shut, the other a hollow socket. A nose barely distinguishable in the poor lighting, obscured by blood that dripped over lips and into the dank jagged toothed abyss of its mouth.

“Help me!” I begged to gasp in ragged breaths, turning my head away, nervous that the sanguine fluid or drool from its lips might fall into my mouth.

“Get it off me!” I thrust my body against the restraints. “Please.”

The woman leaned in close, “Try to stay calm darling and we will fix you up.”

Fix me? As if I had a nick or a crack. “What is it?” I shouted.

“There is nothing.” She frowned, “Tell me what you see.”

How could I describe the phenomenon and keep any hope of sanity? I closed my eyes firm in my decision to sleep away the terrors. Vibrations of its urgent breaths refused to leave me, hot rancid breath on my face. How could this not be real when signs point to the opposite being true?

When my eyes opened again, I was in a vacant white room. The only gap in the rush of padded walls was a door that looked too heavy to open. In the door was a window. I stood intending to plead for mercy. I needed to understand what was happening.

Instead, I fixated on a dark smoke filtering in through the base of the door. Thick and black, staining the walls with residue as it passed. I didn’t flee despite my brains insisting. Standing my ground, I waited for the dream to end. The nightmare had gone on long enough, heart racing in my chest I realized a good scare should wake me. The smoke reached me, creeping into every opening on my face. My esophagus seized, trying to fight off the thick mass. In through my nostrils, stinging as I gasped for breath. Each desperate inhale inviting more of the substance inside of me. Wide-eyed and powerless I choked, hands around my throat as I dropped to the soft floor begging to be free of this nightmare. Falling over I braced my body on hands and knees, finally ejecting the smoke back out of me. As I lay sobbing and exhausted near a pile of what must have been my last meal, I looked back up at the windowed door. The detective peered into the room. A single strand of dark hair draped over terrified eyes as the tall woman in white spoke to him. I used to consider him an omen of good, but as I trembled curled into the fetal position, I was no longer certain.