Читать книгу The Curse - Vasilios Bouzas - Страница 7

Saint Agatha’s Cancer Institute, Washington, 1997

Nurses and doctors buzz from ward to ward in a busy hospital. The halls are crammed with patients on trolleys being pushed at a jogging pace between operating theatres and wards. The mood is serious and friends and relatives wait praying for their loved ones to live.

In a quieter ward, in a private room, sixteen year-old Luke Whelan is lying in bed, his head is shaven and he is pale and weak. The tube in his arm feeds him with a cocktail of morphine and anti-nausea drugs to numb the pain and sickness from the chemotherapy treatment.

At his bedside is Martha Whelan, a woman in her eighties. She is staring at Luke who is watching a television news program about to show the inauguration of a US President.

A newsreader announces:

“January 20, 1997 marks the changing of the guard. The United States of America has elected its first President over the age of seventy. President-elect George Sweeney has never been married nor had any children.”

Forty year old John Whelan, a man of average size with thick black hair, wearing blue jeans and a black jumper looks at the woman and the boy from the doorway. He signals Martha to come out of the room. She reluctantly lets go of Luke’s hand and walks over to join John who gently puts his arm around her and walks her into the corridor, out of earshot of Luke.

Waiting for them is Dr Bill Clifford, a self righteous, middle-aged doctor with graying hair and probing dark eyes who has always looked after the family.

“I’m sorry John, Martha, but there is no hope, I really wish I could give you better news, but you are my friends and I have to be blunt. I have just finished speaking to the specialists and the treatment we gave Luke did not work, the cancer has spread all over his body, we can give him one or two days, maybe a week at best.”

“Then we have no option now,” says Martha, looking at John in a way that to suggest there would be no more debate.

“Martha, no, please, I will be lost without you, but Luke, oh this is so unfair,” said John, looking through the door at Luke.

Martha puts her hands up to John’s face and looks him in the eye. She pulls him close.

“You know there is no choice.”

“I have had a wonderful life with you and Luke. You have given me so much joy. Please just remember all the wonderful times we had together John.”

“When Luke gets older please always remind him about me.” Martha pauses for a second, there are tears in her eyes, “tell him how much I love him and that my love will be for all eternity.”

“Will you do that for me John? promise me you will.”

John is in tears and wraps his arms around Martha. “I love you Martha, I love you more than anything in the world.”

Martha pulls away from John and turns to Dr Clifford.

“Thank you for everything that you have done for me and for our family Bill. Without you I don’t know if I would have come this far. Do you think my horrible dreams will end when I am at peace?”

“I am sure they will Martha, and we will do everything we can for Luke.”

“Please make sure that Luke and John stay safe and healthy. I will never forget you Bill.”

Martha leans over and gives Bill a hug, he is looking over her shoulder at John, knowing what is about to happen, he closes his eyes in silent prayer.

Martha breaks away from Bill and takes John’s hand, leading him back into Luke’s room. They sit on either side of the bed and face Luke.

“Is everything okay?” asks Luke weakly.

“Everything is wonderful my love,” replies Martha.

Luke’s gaze turns from Martha to the television again. Martha and John follow his view and all three stare at the television for a minute.

“Do you think I will ever meet the President?” asks Luke.

“I am sure you will one day my love, and I am sure he will love to meet you too because one day you will do great things too, just like him,” replies Martha, smiling at Luke.

Martha turns back to John and gives him the look that it is time. She gives him a kiss and turns to Luke. She stares at Luke for what seems like an eternity. Luke is looking back, a little confused at the sudden intensity of her look and her words.

She tries to hold her emotions but her tears flow endlessly. She leans over and gives him a hug and kiss.

“Luke, my love, my life, I will love you forever.”

She lies down next to Luke and places her hand on Luke’s hand. Her body appears to rise slightly and starts to shake as a glow appears around them both. Martha now feels she is falling off a cliff. As she falls freely in the air, she starts to have flashbacks of her life. Firstly it is her childhood years and then her marriage to John. Secondly her most memorable moment is holding Luke in her arms. Now her flashbacks slowly begin to fade and a force finally passes from Martha’s body into Luke.

Martha’s body goes limp, she is finally dead. An eerie glow slowly starts to surround her, it tries to take shape as a human figure and release itself but it is trapped. The glow moves slowly back into Martha’s lifeless body.

Luke is unaware Martha has died next to him; instead he is staring wildly at the ceiling, his eyes open wide. In a flash moment Luke sees an image of a blackish red coloured hand with long finger nails with three circular markings on it.

The image is blurry and only lasts a split second. Luke’s body has risen too from the bed, it spasms for a split second, then it relaxes and he slumps back down into the bed, unconscious.

John is hugging Martha’s dead body, crying, while Luke remains unconscious. The doctor stands in the doorway, tears running down his cheeks. He continues his silent prayer.

Two Weeks Later

John and Luke are at the Lake Valley cemetery. Luke is looking fine and is holding a new friend, a Golden Retriever puppy. He and his father are visiting Martha’s grave. They stare at the tombstone.

TO OUR BELOVED MOTHER AND WIFE

MARTHA WHELAN

WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

BORN: OCTOBER 10, 1960

DIED: JANUARY 20, 1997

John turns to Luke.

“Your mother was a kind and caring woman, she loved you very much.”

“I loved her too dad and I miss her so much, but there is so much I don’t understand.” John is about to reply to Luke when a man walks up to the grave, it is Dr Clifford.

He shakes John’s hand and gives Luke a big hug.

“Hi Luke who is your beautiful new friend?”

“His name is Chester, dad bought him for me.”

“I think your dad made a very good choice.”

Bill turns to John and takes his arm to walk away from Luke who is now distracted playing with Chester.

“Luke’s test results are all clear John. His cancer has gone, just like we thought it would be, just like everyone else that Martha helped.”

“Thank god Bill, thank god for his mother. I just hope in God’s name he is not cursed the way she was.

“What about the black markings on her face?”

“Did you find out what they are?”

“Nothing John, the lab ran every single test available on the specimen I gave them. We have never seen anything like it before. We have no idea what the marks are, they do not appear to be any symbols we recognise and it is hard to say what brought them about when she died, there were no blood clots there.

“As for Luke it is impossible to know what will happen to him, we have to wait and see. We have no idea why Martha had this thing, this gift, this curse, so we’ll just have to monitor Luke and somehow keep it quiet. This is something extraordinary John, we have to be careful.”

“How will we know if Luke has it?”

“We won’t, I guess we might have an idea in a life or death situation. If he has it, we will have to encourage him to do whatever it takes to survive, for as long as we can, as we did with Martha.”

“I hope in God’s name he has nothing Bill, but if he has the same powers, I hope he never discovers them.”

They both stare at Luke who is happily playing with Chester, oblivious to what he may have inside him.