ZonaJewel

Men & Monsters

By Debra E. Hancock




“ So...there are monsters?” Maggie arced an eyebrow, “And we're all nine years old.”
“Aye, you can think what ya want, but they're there. Ye're just nae lookin' right.” The scotsman took another long draw from the bottle on the bar, sat it down, and gave Maggie a wink.
“What's a nice scottish lass like you doing serving drinks in here?”
Maggie rolled her hazel eyes and sighed, “I told you, I'm not scots.”
“Ah well, nobody's perfect then...come on I'll buy you a drink.”
“No sir,” Maggie looked him dead in the eyes, “ I think you've had enough.”
And with that she turned toward the other end of the bar and left the man to his own devices. Which just happened to be falling down at the moment.
So many drunks, so little chloroform...she thought, shame too, that's a killer accent attached to those brown eyes. She shoved a lock of chestnut hair beack behind her left ear and proceeded to wipe off the beer left all over the bar by the last occupant at this end.
“Maggie!” One of the barmaids called out from behind her, “This one's lost his legs, could you give me a hand?” For some reason she couldn't fathom, she knew who it was. She turned and sighed. She knew it. The scot had finally drank himself under the table.
“Who started serving this man, and when?”
“You did, Maggie...the girl hoisting the scot up off the floor said...about an hour ago.”
“Jessica,” Maggie said, “Shut up. He must've been pretty well gone when he got here.”
“Maggie. He was sober as you,” Jessica said, looking serious now.
Maggie was just trying to decide if the man was ill or just a lightweight, when he siezed.
The movement of the seizure yanked him from their grasp, and Maggie's jaw set. She bent back down, grabbed his shoulder and shoved him over onto his side.
“Somebody call 911! Now!”
“Got it Mags!” One of the guys called from behind the bar.
“Cliff, Jackson, get over here and help me hold him!”
The two bouncers shoved their way through the crowded bar and despite feeling a little weird about the whole thing, reached in carefully and helped steady him.
The seizure ended almost as abruptly as it had begun. The man whose name she didn't know, lay unconscious. He was breathing, though, and that was something. The ambulance arrived and the paramedics did whatever it was that paramedics do, and then they wheeled him out on a gurney. Maggie followed them out the front door.
“Can I ask where he's going?” One of the paramedics looked at her as if to ask 'why do you care', and she said that she didn't think he had any family in town.
“He's going just down the road to St. Francis.”
Maggie finished out her shift and as she went to leave, she stopped at the end of the bar. “Jess,” she said, a little worried about what she was getting into, “tell Jackson I'm going to the hospital to check on our spastic friend...and to give me a ring about three to make sure I got home okay?”
“No problem, Mags...have a good night.”




Maggie went to get out of her car at the hospital parking lot, and dropped her keys. She bent to pick them up and when she stood, she seemed to feel very uncomfortable all of a sudden. She cinched her long sweater around her waist and made for the lighted doorway, trying not to look alarmed. She almost felt like Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow. It's all that talk he does about monsters, she thought wearily, must have my brain wired for the spooks.
Entering the doorway she spied a row of kiosks to one side, a fountain to the other and some rather interesting looking religious statues in the wall in front of her. She made for the kisoks. The woman in the only open kiosk did not raise her head when Maggie stopped in front of the window. It was after ten, she might not even be able to see him. Why am I even doing this? Not like he's anybody to me...just a customer. But the more she tried to talk herself into leaving, the further into the mess she got. The woman in the cubicle looked up as if to ask what she wanted.
“Um, there was a man brought in here a couple hours ago...brownish hair, blue eyes...had a seizure in the bar. I was just wondering how he's doing...”
“You a relative?”
“No,” Maggie gulped, “I was the one who helped him until the ambulance arrived.”
“No visitors after eight.” The receptionist went back to her work.
“Please, I just want to make sure he's okay...he gave us quite a scare. I won't disturb anyone...I promise.”
The woman in the box gave her a hard look, appraising how much trouble she was going to be. “Room 201...Elevator is around the corner to your right. I'll buzz you, up, but you can't stay long, and if anyone asks there was someone else at the desk who let you in...wasn't me.”
“Thanks!” Maggie chirped quietly. Then she set off for the elevator.
The second floor was much less inviting than the first. It was much darker and there were none of the glamorous decorations from the floor below. Somehow even this
creeped her out.
Silly goose, she thought, you're thinking like a kid.
Maggie looked at the numbers on the doors as she went along. His room would be the last one, next to the nurse's station...the numbers seemed to start there and work up the further away they got. The station seemed to be deserted for the moment. She hoped she could sneak in without being spotted. Managing to slip through the door just as one of the nurses was exiting a room on the opposite floor, she closed it quietly behind her. Turning, she saw a grinning face she recognized, and one she didn't. Taken slightly aback, she stared at the two men for a moment.
The tall dark skinned man looked worried until he saw the scot's reaction.
“Maggie!” He spoke softly, obviously aware of his surroundings and quite alert and NOT drunk, “Come in, come on...have a sit. I was just tellin' Donald here how you saved my life!”
“Oh, no,” Maggie said, grinning now that she knew everything was allright, “It's not like that...don't let him feed you-”
“Oh yes it is!” he broke in, “The paramedic told me how you were holdin me over so I didnae choke on me tongue!” His accent got thicker as he spoke, which usually indicated a ramp up in the story.
“Now..Daniel. Anybody would have done the same-”
“Aye they might have done, but they didn't. You did,” his voice and tone softened slightly, and his brown eyes locked on hers with a look she didn't really want to see.
Maggie, still standing motioned toward Donald to break the sudden tension, and said, “Aren't you going to introduce your friend?”
“Oh, yes, Maggie the barmaid, this is Donald Lexington. He's an associate of mine on a project...which is why I've come here to the U.S.”
“Hello, “ Donald regarded her now woth a reserved smile, and reached his hand across the bed to shake her hand.
Maggie pushed her own hand out nervously and said “Hi. I work at the nightclub down the street, name's Maggie Morgan.” She shot a glance back at Daniel, “Does he terrorize everybody with those wild stories of his, or is that just to impress the chicks?”
“Oh, I umm...” Donald looked more uncomfortable at the idea of talking about the subject at hand than Daniel's strange look at Maggie.
“You see, that's the project I've come here to work on.” Daniel interjected. Maggie and Donald both stared at Daniel dumbly. All the color seemed to have run away from Donald's face. “We're writing a screenplay together for an upcoming series.” Donald relaxed slightly, and Daniel went on. “It's about the unseen world that lies beneath our own. Kind of like that comedy one you folks have here...only this one is serious.”
“Oh, really...like one of those documentary things on History Channel.”
“Sort of, but much, much more real.”
Not really sure what he'd meant by that, she glanced at Donald again.
“Maybe I better go.” Donald said, “We'll talk tomorrow, about the new character...”
The men seemed to study each other for a moment, then Daniel said, “Right then, tomorrow at the bar?”
“How about my room at the Hotel?” Donald suggested, obviously not wanting a public venue, ”I'll get us something to eat, you'll probably be starving when they let you out of here.”
“Sounds good! See you then...how will you know when I get out?”
“I just gave you the number genius.” Donald shook his head as if to say Daniel was just being his usual self.
“Right...”Daniel said, arcing an eyebrow...”G'night, then, Donny.”
As if he'd just caught shrapnel in his teeth, Donald said, “Sweet Dreams.”
They watched him exit and Maggie turned to Daniel and said, “What the hell was all that?” Then after half a moment's thought, added quickly, “No...I don't want to know. I'm just glad you're not dead. So goodnight, Daniel, and...”
“Maggie.” he said.
“I hope you feel better”
“Maggie.” he repeated.
She had turned to go and now was trying desperately not to turn back around. This was NOT going to happen...he was just a guy in the bar. No way she was going to get involved in this guy's life.
Then, very gently, “Marjorie Joan Morgan-Little. Your ancestor needs you.”
She went cold. That did it. Who the hell did he think he was? Nobody called her by her full name! And then to mention an ancestor? The Ancestor? She wheeled on him.
“What did you just say to me?” She seethed, “Who the hell are you? Why do you know my full name and what are you really doing here?!”
“My name is Daniel Caldwell, I'm from a small village named just west of Aberdeen. I'm 39 and I am um... gifted. I really work with Donny as part of a private international consortium to study the reality of legendary creatures still in existence and thriving, secretly today...and please don't tell him that I told you yet, because he'd have a stroke.”
Maggie stared at him. She had been furious, but now she was stricken. “Then you knew who I was all along?”
Daniel nodded,
“And you played me for a fool. Aw, god I knew I shouldn't have come here. Was the whole thing a set up? Were you even sick?” She was angry again, but now she was alarmed as well.
“I was poisoned.”
“Poisoned. You've been playing me for weeks, and I'm supposed to believe that?”
“Look at the chart if you don't believe me. And I wouldn't blame you.”
He did look like he genuinely felt like crap for having deceived her. But she'd seen those faces on men before. She picked went to the end of the bed, picked up the chart and flipped through the pages. They'd pumped his stomach and done a bunch of other stuff. Looked like they were still not really sure what kind of toxin he'd ingested...but it was something he'd eaten...or drank. Daniel watched her intently. She was aware of his eyes following her facial expressions and knew that he was judging her reactions to what she read. She was not going to make it easy. Her ex-husband had taught her all about keeping her reactions private. She had a perfect poker face, and chose to use it.
“Now how do I know you didn't take something just before you came in?” she tested him.
“Oh, yes, cause I needed to get you alone to tell you my not-to-be-believed story, right?” It was Daniel's turn to get frustrated. “Bloody Hell, woman, I almost died!” then, becoming aware again that he was in a hospital, “That's just exactly how I like to end an evening. Actually, things like that tend to happen a lot to me, if I'm honest.”
“Whay didn't you just say something sppner, instead of just dragging it out over weeks of bullshit?”
“Bullshit?” he knitted his brows...”None of that was bullshit.”
Maggie couldn't help grinning at the way he said bullshit.
“What are you grinning at?”
“Bullshit,” she let slip a giggle. Then recovering she said stoutly, “Scots should not say bullshit. It's unbecoming.”
“Bollocks then.” he beamed back.
“Seriously, though,” she began, “why are you looking me up...and what has any of this got to do with me?”
“Your great, great, great grandma needs your help.”
“Huh?”
Daniel sighed... this was going to take a while and he could not be sure how long they would have to talk before the nurse came in. It was sort of amazing somebody hadn't been in yet. “Not here, if you don't mind. After I meet with Donny tomorrow we'll stop in at the club...will you be there?”
“Yeah, but I won't be able to sit and talk for long.” Suddenly uncomfortable again with being too involved with one of her customers, she said, how about 2:00 at the park across the street from here. I'll have about an hour before wor-”
She never got the word out...The lights had gone out. There was a rustle from The bed where Daniel had been, and she turned, only to see in the light of the streetlamp that he was no longer there. Her heart leapt into her throat. Panicking, she squinted around in the near darkness. She could see him now, over by the closet pulling on pants. Turning away quickly, she started to remark on his speed, when the streetlamp went out as well.
“Maggie,” he whispered from across the silent room,” come here, follow my voice;”
“Why should I-”
There was no need, he'd already crossed the room and was now shoving her into the closet. She resisted instinctively, clocking him in the jaw with her elbow. “Hey!”
“Shhh...” he was still whispering, “Stay here.”
He closed the door and she was left in total darkness. She could hear the door open and then the room was silent once again.

To Be Continued....

butchiesmom

Ah crap! Went through both chapters to find a cliffhanger? Not fair! Your dialogue, thoughts and reactions of the characters, description of the hospital, the characters and the whole story had me intrigued right from the start!

Your characters are so well developed that I could almost hear the thoughts of Maggie and almost anticipate her reactions to everything going on around her. That you ended this in a cliffhanger is so most unfair. I'm leaving this and looking for the next installment immediately!

Fantastic, Zona!
Gail