Anna (Part 4)
Chris looked out through the passenger window of the van as they drove into town. The day was a somber one with gray skies and threatening dark clouds that seemed to inch closer to them with each passing minute. The houses that lined the streets seemed colorless and drab while the trees that sat in their front yards seemed to reach upward in silent agony with their dry, skeletal limbs. Chris knew that this town was pretty in the sunlight, after all they had driven through it to get to the house just two days ago. Back then it had looked charming and cozy. Now, with no sun to warm it, the town looked strangely dead.
Chris turned away from the gloomy images that the window presented him with and instead focused on his friend behind the wheel.
"I hate doctors, Justin," he said in his best whiny voice.
"Tell me something I don’t know," Justin responded as he concentrated on the road.
Chris could see he would get no sympathy from Justin. He turned his head to peer into the backseat. "Guys, don’t make me go. I hate doctors."
All he received was a stern look from JC and a rolling of the eyes from Joey. Lance laughed softly but his words were no help. "Tough. You know you have to go, Chris."
"Fine, fine," Chris grumbled as he faced forward and said nothing more. No sympathy from any of them. What kind of friends were these anyhow?
Chris watched the scenery change from quiet residential streets to bustling New England main drag with only slight interest. His thoughts were instead on his friends and the reason for this journey. Everyone had been so tense since last night and the "freak-out" episode as Joey called it. Couldn’t they see that their grim attitudes were just making him worry more?
They traveled in silence for a few more minutes until Justin spotted his destination. He slowed down and carefully drove the car into the asphalt parking lot and into a space near the front. Everyone got out and looked at the building in front of them in awe.
"This is the prettiest doctor’s office I’ve ever seen," JC said as he looked over the two story, brick and ivy-covered structure.
"Well, considering that this is the prettiest street I’ve ever seen, that seems fitting doesn’t it?" asked Lance.
"Johnny didn’t exaggerate about how nice this town was, that’s for sure," said Joey.
"So, you ready to go in?" Justin asked as he looked at Chris.
Chris shrugged. "Guess so."
Justin turned towards the others. "Alright guys. I guess I’ll just call you when we’re done, right?"
JC nodded. "Yeah, just call my cell."
"But you’re not going far are you?" Justin asked.
"No, I think we’ll mostly stay on this street right here. There’s a lot of stores that look interesting."
"Ok, see you," Justin said as he waved.
The other three men said their goodbyes as they gave Chris reassuring smiles. Chris forced himself to smile back despite the continually building tension in his body. When he turned back to look for Justin, he found that the younger man was already at the entrance to the building, holding the door open for him with one hand.
Chris sighed and moved forward like a condemned man. "I hate doctors," he muttered to himself as he walked through the doorway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris sat on the cushioned exam table and wrapped his arms around his body. "Cold in here," he muttered.
Justin looked up. "Yeah, it is a little. At least he let you get dressed though."
"I was never UNdressed," Chris said.
"You know what I mean. Those paper gowns don’t count as clothes."
An uneasy silence fell over the room, as each of the men became lost in his own thoughts. Chris always considered this as the worst part of any exam, the waiting. The exam itself, and the collection of various bodily fluids from him, had been a relatively easy experience. The doctor, whom Chris estimated to be about 20 years his senior, was a kind, funny man with a good bedside manner who was able to put Chris instantly at ease. Now that there was nothing to do but wait however, Chris’ earlier tension was quickly returning.
Without warning Justin’s voice invaded the stillness of the room. "You know you’re going to be fine, right?"
Chris looked up at him. "Huh?"
"That you’re going to be alright. That this is probably no big deal," Justin said.
"Well, that’s what I keep trying to tell myself, but you and the guys have been acting so weird since last night…I don’t know, I guess you got me worrying."
Justin smiled. "Sorry. We suck, I know. And I know we made it worse. We just care about you, Chris."
Chris smirked at him as he shivered. "You still suck, though."
Justin nodded his agreement. "Yeah, we suck. But you’re still going to be fine."
"Really?" asked Chris.
"Really," Justin affirmed positively.
Both men smiled despite their lingering doubts.
Another five minutes passed before the doctor finally entered the room with a puzzled expression on his face. He sat down on the stool reserved for him and said, "Well Mr. Kirkpatrick, I have tell you. As far as I can determine, there is nothing wrong with you."
"Whoohoo!" Justin shouted while Chris let out a sigh of relief.
The doctor smiled at the two men and continued. "However," he began.
"Damn, there’s always a however," Chris said as his spirits deflated.
"However," the doctor began again, "the episodes that you and your friend described to me do have me concerned. Now, I won’t get the results from some of the bloodwork until late tomorrow, so we might have some more answers by then. In the meantime, I’m going to refer you to a very good hospital that has a wonderful neurological department."
"Oh God, you think there’s something wrong with my brain?" Chris asked as his voice rose.
"I don’t think it would be wise to rule anything out, Mr. Kirkpatrick. Better to be safe than sorry."
"Right," Chris said dazedly as he nodded.
Justin stood up and walked next to Chris, placing an arm around his shoulders for comfort.
The doctor looked down at the paper and clipboard that he held in his hands and began to write on it. "Let me just write the referral," he said.
"Ok, doctor," said Justin.
The doctor looked up briefly from his scribblings and glanced at the two men. "So, you the boys that rented out the Taylor house?" he asked conversationally.
The Taylor house?" repeated Justin in confusion.
The mansion right outside of Frenchman’s Woods."
"Oh yeah, I guess we are," answered Justin.
"Beautiful house isn’t it?" the doctor asked.
"Have you seen it?" asked Justin.
"Sure. Once. They gave everybody in town a free tour of the place after they remodeled it and opened it back up as a recording studio. Course to the folks around here, it’ll always be the old Taylor house."
"It has a lot of history?" Justin asked politely.
"Oh yeah. You could say that. Lot of history, lot of talk surrounds that place."
"Like what?"
The doctor stopped writing and leaned forward conspiratorially. "Well, most folks around here think that the house used to be haunted."
"Haunted?" said Chris, snapping out of his zombie-like daze and entering the conversation for the first time.
"That’s what they say," the doctor said as he finished the referral and handed the piece of paper to Chris.
"Well, can you tell us about it?" Chris asked eagerly, his mind momentarily forgetting the doctor’s earlier words.
"He loves stuff like this," Justin explained.
The doctor laughed. "Well, let’s see. The Taylor house. The Taylor family pretty much started the town back in 1805. They owned most of it for about a 100 years, just a rich, rich old family, nothing out of the ordinary. Then, sometime around the 1830’s, the house started to get a reputation for being haunted. Lots of strange things started happening…"
"Like what kind of strange things?" Chris asked.
"Oh, pretty standard ghost stuff; noises in the night, cold drafts when it shouldn’t be cold, whispering voices. Things like that. Some people reported intense feelings of dread when they entered the house; like you Chris."
"But nothing like the two episodes that Chris had?" Justin asked.
"No, nothing like that." He paused as he shook his head. "Anyway, after the rumors about ghosts started, the Taylors ran into a streak of horrible luck. Quite tragic really."
Both Chris and Justin leaned forward in obvious interest.
"The Taylor men started to lose their lives in senseless accidents. The Taylor women suddenly contracted and succumbed to horrible diseases. But what happened to the babies was the worst of all. Almost half of the Taylor children were born stillborn. Just awful the things that befell those people. After awhile, the house not only got the reputation of being haunted, but of being cursed as well."
"God, that’s horrible," said Justin."
"Yes it is," the doctor nodded as he agreed.
"You said people think that the house used to be haunted. They don’t think that anymore?" Chris asked.
"Let me give you a little bit of the more modern history. Robert Taylor was the last to own the house. By the time he died, three years ago, the family fortune had dwindled down to nothing. Robert Taylor was a hermit, he had no friends or surviving family members, so after his death, the state took control of the house. The house just sat there, empty, for two years until the recording studio bought it. Well, after they bought it, they turned right around and remodeled a lot of it. Not that it didn’t need it, cause it did. Anyway, while they were digging up the gardens to redo them, they unearthed a skeleton. Turned out to be a man, killed from a gunshot wound to his head. Most people around here just assumed that he was the ghost that had been haunting the Taylors."
"So, nothing out of the ordinary’s happened since the body was found?" asked Justin.
"No…but then again, no one has lived there since it was found. You boys are the first."
A heavy silence fell upon the room just then. After a few uncomfortable seconds, Justin broke it by laughing uneasily. "Well, that’s an interesting story doctor."
The doctor smiled. "Well, take it for what’s it worth. I just hope I didn’t spook you." He indicated the referral in Chris’ hand with a nod of his head. "The closest hospital that has the types of facilities you’ll need is in Hartford, which is about 40 miles away. Give them a call as soon as you can and set up an appointment with them. In the meantime, I’ll be calling you with the results of the other tests," he said kindly.
Chris got down from the exam table and grabbed his coat. The lighthearted mood that had existed in the room when talking about the Taylor house was gone. Again he felt dazed, as if everything were happening to him in a dream. He saw, as if through a distorted looking glass, Justin step forward and shake hands with the doctor. He saw the doctor give them both yet another kind smile. He saw himself move forward to shake the doctor’s hand as Justin had done. Then he saw the doctor turn slowly towards the window and heard him speak in a tone that he had not yet heard from the man.
In a voice without emotion or inflection, the doctor said, "Storm’s coming. Gonna be a bad ‘un."