My Whole Town is Hiding from Me, Part 3

Read Part II here

I needed a sweater. It was really cold in here. The old-timey thermostat showed the temperature somewhere between sixty-nine and ice-age. It was hard to read. 

Mrs. Carmody wasn't downstairs from the looks of things. No lights were on. The lone light at the top of the stairs always stayed on as far as I knew.

The reason I knew her and her home as well as I did is embarrassing. I was a gig worker for a hot minute and I'd delivered a couple bottles of wine to her.

She'd been nice enough when she'd greeted me at the door with her walker. I was about to hand her the bottles but she asked me to bring them in and put them on the kitchen table.

No sooner had I placed the bottles then she was right behind me. Mrs. Carmody is really old. From the front door to the kitchen was a good fifteen feet. I didn't run but I'm pretty long-legged and I went straight from the front door, through the receiving room, and into the kitchen. 

I placed the bottles on the table and when I turned around, she was right there, smiling at me with dentures that looked a couple sizes too big and eyeballs swimming behind inch-thick lenses. She looked more like a muppet than a human being and, truth be told, I tipped a little in surprise because I was high.

“Oh, did I give you a startle?” she asked me. I had to lean against the counter to catch my breath.

Okay, I didn't yip, I screamed like I'd been set on fire. I scared easy when I was high, but an old lady who looked like she drank souls who'd just pierced my personal bubble was terrifying up close.

I waved her off like it wasn't a big deal but my heart could have swapped in for a drummer in a speed metal band.

“Can I get you some water?” she asked. And then slyly, “A glass of wine?”

My father may not have allowed alcohol in the house, but he had a beer or two when we went to restaurants. I'd been bold enough to order one once and he gave me a judgmental eyeball every time I took a sip.

But I'd had alcohol before. And the icky paired well with a smooth red.

“Pinot would be nice,” I said. It seemed like something I wasn’t to do, but it wasn’t like I'd asked.

I completed the order in the app and had two small glasses before I left. 

Later that night, I'd told my mom, thinking it was an interesting story.

“You did what?” My mom was incensed and I didn't understand why. 

“What?” I said.

She crossed her arms and just stared at me. I knew I'd done something wrong but she made me steep in it like a six foot tall tea bag.

Eventually, I was given the understanding that I had taken advantage of one of my customers. My mother made me replace the whole bottle of pinot at my own expense and take it to Mrs. Carmody the next morning.

I'd practiced my apology in front of my mom until it met her standard of what an apology should have been and then she sent me on my way.

Mrs. Carmody had opened the door for me after I'd knocked for the fiftieth time.

I immediately understood what I'd done wrong. This tiny old lady had opened the door for a complete stranger. I could tell she didn't recognize me even though I'd been here just yesterday.

“Ma'am, I'm sorry, but a bottle of wine was missing from your order yesterday. We just wanted to get a replacement to you as soon as possible.”

“Missing?” She looked confused. But she took the bottle and gave me one of those smiles like the elderly do when they're trying to smile through a moment they don't understand.

Of my own accord, I began visiting Mrs. Carmody and telling her she'd won bogus prizes like a free lawn mow, a kitchen cleaning, home-cooked dinner. I even posed as a would-be documentarian and listened for a half day while she told me her life story.

And every single time, it was like she had met me for the first time.

So, I didn't believe she would've participated in this game. Or at the most, she wouldn't remember she was supposed to be playing.

I made my way upstairs. In my many times coming here, I'd never been on this floor. I guessed her bedroom was the one next to the bathroom and confirmed a moment later. 

A brief moment of clarity came over me, then. I had no idea what I'd get from a senior citizen with Alzheimer's. There was no reason to think the hand would stop just because I'd found one person. And she more than likely wouldn't know anything. 

I was here, though, and I wasn't going to learn anything by doubting myself at every turn.

The bed was empty. Worse, it wasn't made. An old person's bed left unmade just didn't look right. It didn't seem like a thing they would do. 

My mamani had always made her bed when she got up at five in the morning. She'd lived with us the last three years of her life. I'd given up my room and made one with my dad in the basement. That had been the hardest I'd ever worked and he'd been proud of me when we were through. 

Maybe Mrs. Carmody had been hurt. Maybe someone had tried taking advantage of her. Had broken in or she'd let them in.

My mind raced. Calling 911 seemed like a good idea but then it didn't. I'd broken in and off somebody had done something to her, I'd get the baby and the bath water.

If she were hurt, I'd have to call. But there had to be a way to do it without throwing myself beneath the jail.

“M-Mrs. Carmody?” I said. All day long I'd been trying to catch another human being but right then I was hoping she wasn't home.

She wasn't in here but it was obviously her bedroom. It smelled like her perfume in here and that general old people smell had seeped into the walls. I'd gotten used to it but it was particularly strong in this room.

I thought it might be a good idea to check out the other rooms when I spotted the closet door was slightly open. And what looked like a foot was partially sticking out.

I cleared my throat. “Mrs. Carmody. It's me, Simon.” That wouldn't help but u was hoping a calm voice would keep her from being scared.

I approached slowly and pulled the door open. 

Mrs. Carmody was sitting on the floor, so, so still. I could only see her legs because the rest of her was behind hanging clothes. 

I turned on the closet light and pushed aside what looked like a wedding dress. My old friend had her eyes closed and her head turned to the side. The light was soft, so I couldn't make out a lot of detail, but her face looked slack.

She looked like she had passed and I knelt for a better look. I touched her chin to turn her face. Mrs. Carmody's skin was still warm, in fact it was feverishly hot. 

Maybe she wasn't dead and had just crawled in here, delirious with the flu. 

But the other side of her head removed any doubt. It had been smashed in. No, that wasn't right. I had to pull myself off the wall to look a second time. It was like her head had become as brittle as an egg shell and was caving in on itself.

Actively. 

A piece of her forehead just... fell into the fifty cent piece-sized hole. It looked dark and empty. I'd never seen inside a human head but whatever she had going on in hers wasn't right.

I was sweating and took a moment to slick the sweat off my forehead with my forearm and traced it out of the corner of my eyes as best I could with my fingertips. 

Mrs. Carmody's face wasn't just slack, it was essentially meat falling off the bone. Her lips hung down so low, she could have kissed her chest if she were alive. And her lower teeth were poking out of her mouth. It was like her lower face had turned to rubber while the top of her head had dried up and was crumbling.

“I shouldn't be in here,” I said. Before I could move, something gray bubbled up out of that hole and sighed as it popped, glazing down her elongated cheek that looked to have the consistency of melted and then hardened cheese. 

Some of whatever that was got on me and I stood up, walked out of the bedroom and started down the stairs. 

I was running by the time I got to the front door. And honestly, I was screaming, too. It was dark out except for the moon and the streetlights. I was so panicked I ran without orienting myself. I had no idea where I was headed except away from Mrs. Carmody's.

I wound up in the park. I ran past the swing set and planted my back against the side of the jungle gym next to the slide.

There was somebody sitting right next to me.

She was breathing because she was giggling. But it was slow, like she didn't exactly know how to laugh.

She had her head down, her hair covering her face. As long as she didn't have what Mrs. Carmody had had going on, I could deal.

“Hey, you okay?” Her knee looked wrong. Like she has twisted it badly. That made sense why she hadn't hidden from me. She couldn't get away. Or maybe even in the process of getting away, she'd fallen and hurt herself.

She held her head up and looked at me. 

“Oh!” I screamed, leaping sideways to get away from her. I tripped over something and went down, rolling once and landing on my back. I was wrong. I could not deal.

Her face was upside down.