Wallstrait | Issue 1.12
One: "Earthquake"
She spoke this word shortly after ten in the morning on February 26th, according to her physical therapist. It was the first word anyone had heard her speak in the nine weeks she had been in Room 917 of Jordan Ridge Recovery Center. Four hours later a tremor struck, centered just eight miles from the facility in which she was being cared for. Some animals are said to be able to sense quakes long before they happen. Was Maribel, in her unconscious state, somehow aware of the disturbance in the earth?
[Alternatively, Maribel is known to have studied with various mystics and psychics throughout her life. -prm]
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Two: "Louisiana"
Heard by the same physical therapist on the afternoon of February 28th. Maribel had traveled to New Orleans months before she slipped and fell on the icy stairs outside her Buffalo home. Upon returning, she had told her sister, Annabelle, that she intended to move down south before the end of the year, as the northern winters no longer agreed with her. She did not move, and it's unclear what led her to remain in Buffalo. But if she had known what awaited her in this particular Buffalo winter, she would have made a different choice, wouldn’t she?
[Psychic abilities such as precognition rarely manifest themselves consistently, let alone conveniently. -prm]
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Three: "Thomas"
Reportedly heard by the janitorial staff member who cleaned Maribel's room on March 1st. The name "Thomas" has multiple relevancies in Maribel's life. Her stepfather's last name (which was not adopted by any of her other family members) was Thomas. Her last supervisor with the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library was named Thomas. Perhaps most noteworthy, the surgeon who operated on her after her fall was Dr. Thomas Kowlaski.
[Certainly more noteworthy in light of the totality of events is that her brother-in-law, her sister's husband, is named Joseph Thomas Granger. -prm]
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Four: "Murder"
Heard by a nursing assistant on March 3rd. He reported this utterance to the charge nurse who, in turn, contacted the police. The police showed little interest, having previously investigated. No one saw Maribel fall. She was found by a neighbor, crumpled and covered by a dusting of snow. Nevertheless, the nursing assistant posted about this occurrence to an online community in which he participated, despite the fact that no evidence exists to suggest Maribel was pushed.
[Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Recall, too, that the security camera outside Maribel's apartment had been tampered with, apparently only shortly before her fall. -prm]
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Five: "Annabelle"
The same nursing assistant reportedly heard Maribel say this word on March 6th, the day after the police declined to reopen their investigation into her fall. Maribel's sister was Annabelle Granger. She visited Maribel often early in her stay at the Jordan Ridge Recovery Center. During that time, she sat for hours, reading and frequently asking the staff for updates on her sister’s condition. The answer was always the same, that Maribel was in an unconscious state and that there was no way to predict when, or if, she would recover. By mid-February, Annabelle had stopped coming. Maribel had no other visitors.
[While the visitor's log of JRRC does not show any other visitors to Maribel's room, there is a single entry for a visitor to her neighbor's room on February 12th. The name in this entry is illegible but the handwriting does not match any of the other visitors to the facility's patients during Maribel's stay. -prm]
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Six: "Adieu"
One of the patient care assistants heard Maribel say this on the afternoon of March 8th. That evening, when a nurse went to check on Maribel at 10:05 PM, she found that Maribel was not in her room. The equipment monitoring her vital signs all stopped reporting data at 8:37 PM, though no alarms were triggered by the equipment. She was never seen again.
[Maribel has not yet been seen, though of course, the search has been confined to Buffalo and its surroundings. -prm]
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Seven (?): "Revenge"
On March 10th, the member of the janitorial staff assigned to clean Room 917 refused to finish her work. She said that she felt uneasy in the room and her supervisor, Clara Reynolds, seeing the fear in the young woman’s eyes and aware of the odd disappearance of Room 917’s occupant, sent her to work on another room. Reynolds went and finished the cleaning herself.
Twice while she was in the room, Reynolds thought she heard the word "revenge" whispered. She never asked the other worker if she had heard anything, even later that day, after the police had been there, after the whole floor had been abuzz at the news of the sudden death of their missing patient’s sister. Not even when she heard that Annabelle Granger's body had been found at the bottom of her house’s basement stairs.
Annabelle's death has since been ruled accidental, as she was the only person in her home that day, with her husband Joseph away at a sales conference.
[Annabelle is the only person known to have been in her home that day. Regarding Joseph, he recently accepted a promotion with his company, relocating to New Orleans. Neighbors report hearing him through the walls, speaking to a woman, though they have never observed anyone entering or leaving Joseph's apartment. -prm]
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An ardent short story reader and writer, Michael’s debut collection, At the Intersection of Love and Death, is available now. His stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and other publications. He enjoys photography, cooking, and travel. Find him online here.