Natasha’s mother had been happy for her as well, but she had some advice. She told her daughter she needed to step away from what was familiar, at least for a short while, before committing her life to one man. Natasha had been quite surprised by her mother’s advice. She was always the calm and steady type, never taking a risk. But she’d been young herself once. Natasha and her mother walked the twelve-acre property line while she listened to her mother tell the tale of when her father had proposed to her. She said she’d been terrified of what her parents would say. With no surprise, her parents had scolded her and threatened to kick her out. Needing a break, her mother had borrowed a motorcycle from her best friend and spent the next three months backpacking through Europe. When she’d come home, she felt just as strongly for her man as she had when she’d left. She took hold of her daughter’s hands and looked her right in the eyes; a stern woman letting down her guard.
Natasha had taken her mother’s words to heart and began researching the different summer jobs for people that needed to get a little life experience. When she’d stumbled upon AMFAL, a company that sets up work abroad program, she had jumped at the opportunity. The hardest part was her long and drawn-out goodbye to Gerik, constantly having to reassure him that she would be coming back and that nothing would change. That was his biggest fear; that she would go to America and fall in love with some cowboy and forget all about him. But she gave him a solemn promise that nothing between them would change.
But something had changed. She pushed her cart of cleaning supplies and spare towels down the hall, knocking on the first door by the stairwell despite the fact she knew it to be empty. “Housekeeping.” The words were so hollow after she’d uttered them over a hundred and twenty times a day. No response, open the door. It’s an easy instruction to follow.
Natasha pulled out her master key and unlocked the door, walking in backward while pulling her cart, careful not to let it jostle too much so everything would spill out onto the floor. Her job had become entirely too easy. With almost every room vacant, she just needed to do a thorough walkthrough, make sure everything was dust-free, the toilet paper was on the roll with the ends folded into a nice decorative triangle. She laughed every time she folded the two corners inward, wondering how many tourists admired the toilet paper before wiping their fat asses. Her laugh was the first one to escape her nervous lips in two days. With this room clean, she stepped out into the hall, locked the door and moved on; opening the next door to the same old scene. Not the best job to have when you’re mulling over a dilemma; nothing to distract her mind from her royal screw-up.
Natasha stood for a moment, looking down at a bed while thinking back to her cabin a few nights ago. As with most nights, it had started out as a social gathering with some friends she’d made; two girls from Poland, a man from Costa Rica, and two guys from the States. One of them, Kent, had been very charming. He worked a few miles down the road at a bicycle shop, renting bikes out to tourists. He was very handsome; tall, muscular, and extremely funny. She’d never felt so free as she did around him, laughing and having fun. The five of them had gone through two full bottles of vodka mixed with some kind of sports drink. She wasn’t sure how much persuasion had come from the alcohol before she’d taken him back to her cabin. As soon as the door shut, her clothes had come off. It was the best sex she’d ever had. She’d actually cried a little after they were done; of course she’d turned her head and nonchalantly wiped the tears away with the sheets. It had been amazing, but it had not been with Gerik. Not only had she broken her promise, but she had felt a spark she didn’t get from Gerik. How could she be with a man who didn’t give her the pleasure Kent did?
The room began to spin, swirling around her as she kept her feet planted. Natasha turned and took a seat on the end of the bed, crying into her hands for the tenth time since she’d shared her bed. She truly did love Gerik, had since the first time she’d ever met him, but there was so much to think about now. Telling him about it would be the hardest part. She was a shy person by nature, avoiding confrontation as best she could. She was sick to her stomach thinking about how the hurt feelings would spread over his face as she told him. She looked up from her wet palms and wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. If she didn’t keep moving she’d end up retching in the bathroom. At least she’d have all the supplies needed to clean it up. Natasha managed a weak smile at the thought.
Natasha left the room and worked her way through the next one, then the next one. Room after room, moving across the hall to an identical floor plan of the room she just left. Back and forth all day long, like a human ping pong ball with the doors as paddles. She was dreading the end of this shift, knowing full well she needed to speak with Kent. It wasn’t just a night full of fantastic drunken sex; she’d felt a connection. Something in his touch lingered on within her long after he’d left in the morning. Could a single night be enough to fall in love with someone? Natasha had never thought so before the other night, but she couldn’t get his face out her mind; not just because of the guilt she was feeling. He gave her the thrill she’d secretly desired and never knew, the spark that got her heart beating. She craved it now. Like a drug, she needed it. It must be love.
Natasha had been lost in thought when she’d reached the last door, knocking out of habit and waiting the token three seconds for the noise that wouldn’t come. Then she reached down for the locked knob, only it jiggled. Natasha looked down to the knob in her hand with wonder, as if she’d grabbed a doorknob for the first time. She pushed the door open slowly, watching the room grow as the door swung inward. The curtains were closed and there was little light in the room, the only room in the Inn without the shades open to see the splendor of nature.
“Oh, I am very sorry.” Natasha saw the man lying on his stomach with his bare feet hanging off the edge of the bed. “Please excuse me.”
Natasha shut the door and turned to the room across the hall, nodding to herself at the familiarity of the locked knob. She took out her master key and unlocked the door, pulling her cart in after her. As with every other room in the Inn, or the cabins, depending on which shift she was working, she followed her mental checklist of room maintenance. Not a lot of work to be done in this room, just a few tissues in the trash and a candy bar wrapper on the dresser. At least the firemen were pretty respectful and tidy when they slept for a few hours. Not like the one across the hall, looking as if he’d had one too many and just fell into bed.
There was something not right about how he was lying there; the way his feet stuck out over the bed like that, lying over the footboard. It couldn’t possibly be comfortable; sleeping with a thin piece of wood jutting into the tops of his feet. And the way the tips of his fingers touched the floor, he looked as if about to fall out of bed. Natasha just figured he was exhausted from fighting the large fire.
She loaded up her cart and left the room, locking the door behind her. She gripped the cart but remained where she stood, staring at the door. It nagged at her, as if her mind were a ball of yarn and he held the thread. She needed to see what was wrong, had to. The position of his body puzzled her too much to simply head back to the laundry station. Natasha stepped around her cart and held out her hand, holding it an inch from the door while she built up some courage. She timidly knocked twice, so softly she herself could barely hear it.
“Housekeeping,” Natasha announced as she opened the door.
The fireman lay there without movement, either asleep or completely unaware of her presence. Natasha saw something piled on the floor, like ashes from a cigarette. She pulled a napkin from her pocket and bent down to wipe it up, walking over to the bed on tip-toes. The small pile was just below his hand, but the cigarette itself was nowhere to be found. Natasha found it so very ironic that a fireman of all people would be so careless with fire. While on her knees, she looked up from the pile of ash to the man’s hand, getting her first real
glimpse.
Natasha dropped the napkin as her hands began to tremble, moving up through her body like an earthquake. The ashes hadn’t come from a cigarette or pipe. The fireman’s flesh had gone dry, cracked and flaking like a lakebed in the desert. She wanted to scream, to stand and bolt from the room, but she was frozen, as if her mind had lost communication with her extremities. All she could do was tremble in horror, shaking her head as tears ran down her cheeks. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be. There must have been something all over him, some kind of ash off of some tree. But Natasha knew better. The state of the fireman’s face was enough to get her moving. His nose had crumbled and fallen into a fine pile of ash at the base of the pillow, his eye sockets bare and black. The color of his flesh had gone from normal olive brown to a light gray. Natasha stepped away from what was left of his face, bumping into his foot. The contact made his right foot crumble to the floor before her very eyes, leaving nothing but his skeletal foot up to the ankle.
Something was watching her, grinning even. She could feel it. Every fiber of her being told her not to look, to run and hide, but she couldn’t help it. Her actions were now under the control of numb panic, not rational thinking. Natasha turned her head slowly and looked into the closet. Two green eyes were staring at her from the top corner, peeking out through the small opening. They were fastened on her, pinning her to the wall with malice. Natasha felt her sanity slipping, pulled from her into those eyes. It let out a deep snarl, resonating from the darkness of the closet. Natasha had seen enough. She slid along the wall to the door, screaming at the top of her lungs, producing a shrill sound she herself didn’t know she was capable of.
Natasha pulled open the door and ran out into the hall, running straight into her cart, flipping over onto her back, spilling all her cleaning supplies. Ignoring the pain, she scrambled along the floor and got to her feet, screaming and crying hysterically. Jessie came out from behind the desk, startled and frightened by the scene. Natasha saw the huge girl and ran straight for her, nearly knocking her over.
“Calm down,” Jessie told her, patting the back of her head nervously as Natasha cried into her bosom. “Just calm down, please.”
Jessie was close to tears herself. The emotional outpouring from this poor girl was almost too much to bear. She trembled beneath Jessie’s arms, shivering as if she’d been pulled from the ocean. Jessie was a nervous person by nature, not the comforting type, and holding this girl was sending her into a panic of her own. People began to gather from the restaurant and the gift shop, looking to her for answers. She furrowed her eyebrows at them and shook her head, feeling small despite her height. Jessie wanted to understand this poor girl’s rant, but she was rambling on in Polish.
24
“What the hell happened here?” Joe asked from the doorframe, looking over Dr. Emilio Cartman’s shoulder to Cameron’s remains.
“It appears to be a fireman.” Dr. Cartman turned on his knees, looking back to Joe. “It’s always a pleasure, Ranger Rand. Of course, our meetings never seem to be under happy circumstances.”
“What happened here?”
“Completely unknown. From what we’ve been told, this young man here fell down a hole out in the woods. He stated that he felt ill and so they brought him in for a rest.”
“Yeah, but what could do that to a person?” Joe grimaced, turning his head as the man’s skin fell from his arm, exposing his humerus bone beneath. “Is that contagious?”
“Highly unlikely.” Dr. Cartman turned back on his knees, picking up some of the dried out skin from the floor to rub between his gloved fingers. It was so fine and smooth, just like ash. “There are cases where a person’s body has dried out, a reaction to a type of environmental agent. Smoke inhalation might have triggered some kind of internal chain reaction that led to a complete cellular breakdown. Maybe he was on some form of experimental medication…who knows.” The doctor shook his head, knowing there wouldn’t be a simple explanation. “I’m truly baffled here. I mean, nothing has ever even come close to this puppy. It looks as if someone took a vacuum to every one of his pores and sucked out the moisture. He’s been completely dehydrated.”
“You’re sure there’s no danger of contamination?”
“No one who has been in contact with the victim here has shown any signs of illness. And being void of fluids makes it hard to spread. But I’m going to take the body back to the hospital here and run some tests, just to be clear.” The doctor laughed. “Hell, just to get some kind of idea.”
“Please, let me know if you find anything.”
The doctor nodded and went back to work, rubbing off the flesh and muscles from Cameron’s arm into the bag he was holding. He came apart so easily. Joe shivered, ending with a head shake to toss the uneasy sensation free and clear. He turned to the room behind him, glad to be away from that horrible smell. But wasn’t there something familiar about that smell? Not that it accompanied every corpse. It was different; something not associated with the rotten odor of human death and decay. Joe put it aside, not wanting to investigate further by sticking his nose over such a nasty corpse. He wasn’t entirely convinced that what happened to that poor fireman couldn’t happen to all of them. New diseases and viral weapons pop up all the time.
Joe stepped across the hall, waiting a moment for some medics to clear the room. A young woman was lying on the bed, her head rocking from side to side. She wept softly, not caring if the tears continually rolled into her ears.
“She’s been sedated,” Andy informed Joe, speaking behind his hand so she couldn’t see. He looked back at the girl with a heavy heart. “She’s really freaked out.” Andy stepped out of the room, knowing he couldn’t take the scene any longer. The young girl had been crying and moaning since he’d gotten there over twenty minutes ago. It wasn’t like he could help her in any way. “I’ll go interview the other witnesses out in the lobby.”
Joe nodded, glad to see him go. Things just seemed to run a bit smoother when he did it alone. Andy was a great guy and a compassionate ranger, but he was a bit slow at times and always said the wrong thing. He had the bad habit of putting his foot in his mouth. Joe didn’t need that right now and neither did she. Looked like they both could use a nice stiff drink. His flask felt heavy in his inner coat pocket, threatening to burst through the seams if he didn’t reach in and take a drink, but he couldn’t. Knowing he couldn’t have even a small sip made him want it all the more. He had to focus now. He owed it to this poor woman lying there with her eyes open only enough to allow her tears to fall. Joe stepped over cautiously, not wanting to start off the interview by startling her. He kneeled beside the bed and smiled, a warm and inviting smile; one that told her he wasn’t there to talk or yell, but to listen.
“My name is Joseph Rand, I’m a ranger here with the park.” Joe spoke calmly and slowly, like he would to a child. “I was hoping I could ask you a few questions, miss…?”
“Natasha Grabowski.” She turned to face him, her eyes twitching.
“Is it okay if we speak for a moment?”
“Are we safe?” Natasha asked desperately, nearly pleading.
Joe nodded, unsure what they should be protected from. If she was referring to the dead “ash man” back there, he really didn’t know if they were safe or not. For all he knew they could all be piles of dust by nightfall, but best to keep her calm and comfortable. Otherwise he’d never figure out what the hell was going on.
“Can you tell me what happened in there?”
“Didn’t you see it?” Natasha lifted up onto her elbows in a panic, settling down as Joe touched her shoulder, easing her back into bed.
“Calm down please, everything is going to be just fine. You’re safe now.” Little lies never hurt anyone, Joe thought, holding his breath to keep a calm face. He looked down at her palms and saw four or five half-moon shaped cuts in each
hand, the blood beginning to dry. Her fingernails weren’t very long, but they’d done the trick. “Tell me everything that happened. Can you do that please?”
Natasha closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then another. She calmed herself as best she could. The drugs Dr. Cartman had given her were still doing their part to slow her mind. She opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, seeing herself from earlier and not the wooden beams above. Joe listened intently as she began her story, keeping his mouth shut so as not to disrupt the flow it had taken so long to achieve. Most of her information was a waste of time. What she was doing, where she was going. How she was feeling and blah blah blah. But he paid close attention to details as she bent down to clean up the ash on the floor.
“Why had you decided to go back into the room if you saw someone in there?”
“Normally I leave the room alone, but there was this smell.” Natasha wrinkled her nose as the memory of the awful fragrance came back to her. “And the way he was lying there, so uncomfortable looking. It just wasn’t right, you know?”
“Tell me about the smell.”
This had piqued Joe’s interest, remembering the other night in the woods, the smell radiating off Doug’s watch. To think the two occurrences might be connected brought a tightness to his chest, an uncomfortable pressure he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
“It reminded me of stale water, stagnant; but way stronger than a pond or swamp. It was just so overbearing.” Natasha shook her head, reminding herself this was a retelling of what had already happened, remembering the keywords of past and happened. “I thought maybe he was smoking; ‘cause the ashes on the floor. But then he started falling apart. His skin…it just fell off.” Natasha began to tear up. “I wanted to leave but I was so scared.”
Faithful Shadow Page 12
