‘Open the door. It’s the police!’, Thomas shouted while standing outside the main door. ‘I do not hear anything inside. Should we break in?’, he asked his partner. ‘Hmm’, came the reply immediately. They were already late by 7 mins for this distress call; she already had a bad feeling regarding this one. Thomas kept his hand on the door and gave it a nudge. The entire house was pitch dark. They stepped in carefully, covering each other. There was light coming from the upper floor. They headed to the top floor, while the floorboards occasionally creaked under them.
They were standing outside the bedroom door from where the light poured out. It was slightly ajar. Thomas called out again, ‘Is anyone in there?’. The air coming out from the room was sickeningly pungent. Fiona realised what the stench was of. With a dreadful sense, Fiona pushed the door and there was the deadliest sight see had ever seen in life.
She felt herself being lifted and then felt hot lights until she passed out again. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a hospital bed. She looked around only to realise her hand was plastered. She could not remember anything about last night except for the missing rosary. It took a lot of her effort to press the call button, but instantly she had a nurse by her side. ‘Where am I? How did I get here? Who got me here? Where did he go?’, she looked quite perplexed. ‘You need to calm down. I will get the doctor for you’, saying this the nurse rushed out.
‘Finally, you are up’, the doctor said while coming in. ‘How long have I been here?’, she asked. ‘About 9 days’, he replied. The machines suddenly started beeping at her anxiety. ‘You need to calm down. Let us have a look at you for now’, he said and started checking her vitals. ‘Who got me here?’, she enquired. ‘The police’, he replied. ’As of now, your vitals are stable. I will come back to check up on you in a while’, saying this he left. After a while the doctor came to visit her, but he had brought company. It took her a while to get adjusted to the light this time. For the first time she noticed him. He was quite tall, slightly grey on the sides, he had dark green eyes, or at least they appeared to be green. He had quite the grim look on his face. ‘Hi, we are detectives Sarah and Hannah. We have been meaning to talk to you, if you are okay. We received a call from the doctor confirming that you were awake, and we thought to come by’, Detective Sarah saying this gently while introducing themselves to her.
‘Hello’, she said sheepishly while looking quite anxious to see those two women. ‘Can you remember anything from that night?’, Detective Sarah asked. ‘I was getting ready for bed. I thought I heard someone behind me Saying, ‘My Mother’s, why did you touch it? However, before I could turn, someone grabbed my head and smashed it on the mirror twice. I must’ve blacked out. The next I remember waking up in a basement tied to a gurney. There were many strange instruments there. I also saw a bath tub a few steps away from me. A body was hanging on hooks while all the blood was pooling into the tub. The place was reeking with awful kinds of smells. I screamed and screamed for help, but no one came’, she cried all the while when she was telling them all this. ‘Please calm down. We did not mean to upset you. We appreciate you talking to us’, saying this the detectives stepped out with the doctor.
Detective Hannah turned asking, ‘Doctor does she have amnesia or something similar?’ ‘We cannot be sure for now. She thinks that she was traumatized, however we did not find anything scars or internal injuries or even any minor or major concussion either. When she was brought in, in her left hand had a hairline crack on the ulna. Other than that, there are no injuries on her’, the doctor replied. Detective Hannah continued questioning the doctor, ‘Did she have anything on her’? ‘Nothing significant, but I could request the nurse to show her belongings to you. We keep the patient’s belongings in a storage until the patient is discharged’, he replied. ‘Can we please have a look at it?’, Detective Hannah enquired. ‘Sure, Penny. Can you please show this patient’s belongings to the detectives?’, he requested. A flustered young nurse came in and asked the detectives to follow her. The detectives followed the nurse through a maze of corridors, until they reached the storage. The nurse requested them to wait while she went inside to get the belongings.
She came back within a few minutes holding a small cardboard box with her. Inside that were the patient’s clothes. They seem to be stained with blood. There was only one loafer in the box under the clothes and right next to it was the Rosary. The rosary seemed like any other rosary except that this one had blood over it. ‘There is a lot of blood on the clothes. As per the report filed by the officers, the room was a sight from any gory movie’, Sarah mentioned. ‘Hmm, I read that. But then look at her she does not seem injured and there was no one else there. So, where did all that blood come from? Have we sent it to the forensics and any word from there?’, she pressed on further. ‘Yes, as per the report, the blood does not match the patient’, Hannah replied which pressing her lips. ‘Then whose blood is it? Animal?’, Sarah prodded. ‘No, it definitely belongs to a human. The forensics are running the sample through the database we should have something in a few days’, Hannah replied. Being a few years senior to Sarah, she had a feeling that this was not an ordinary case.
‘Do you remember your name?’, the nurse asked. ‘Yes, its Anne. Anne Jones’, she introduced herself with a smile. ‘Anne. Nice name. I am Penny. The name Anne Jones sounds familiar though, isn’t it?’, Penny said. ‘Yes, it’s a common name. Every forth girl will have this name’, Anne added. ‘True. But I recall hearing this name recently; but not sure where’, Penny replied. ‘Can I ask a favour? Please?’, Anne asked. ‘Sure’, Penny replied. ‘Can you please get my rosary? I like having it around. It brings a certain calmness to me’, she answered. ‘It is safe in a box in a storage unit. I will get it for you by 8. I will drop it off to your room while heading home. Would that be okay?’, Penny asked. ‘Oh sure. No rush. I understand that you have work’, Anne smiled. ’See you in a while’, saying this Penny was about to leave when Anne abruptly said. ‘Do not touch the rosary, I do not like it’, Anne’s eyes gleamed in menace when she said this. This spooked Penny a little who almost ran out of the room.
‘Hello, is this detective Sarah speaking? This is Doctor Albert from City hospital. We will be running the patient through some tests in a while now. Just thought to inform you that the patient has given her name as Anne Jones. I will update you once the reports are in’
‘That was the doctor’s call stating her name. Check our old files and look for a name Anne Jones. Let us head to her house and look for a few things’, Sarah mentioned this to Hannah while heading to the car.
‘Hi, you awake. I got your meds’, Penny said while silently entering the room. ‘Hi, I guess I drifted off’, Anne smiled while getting up to take the meds from her. ‘Anne, where are you from? You know a few weeks back, there was a news in the paper. Apparently, a woman with the name Anne Jones had gone missing. She was a teacher in the school. The police never did find any dead body. Are you running away from anyone? Are you in any kind of danger?’, Penny asked. ‘No, I live a quiet life. I moved out from my hometown in search of work. I work in a departmental store nothing fancy. Like I said earlier, Anne Jones is quite common name’, Anne politely mentioned. ‘I just thought that you were in danger, so I checked. I hope you don’t mind’, said Penny sheepishly. ‘No problem’, saying this Anne smiled.
She was walking through the corridor, the same maze of corridors. She was done with her shift and was about to head out. She was excited to head home to her boyfriend. He was a medical resident like her and tomorrow being their day off, they had special plans for tonight. She took a bath, got ready and was about to head out when she remembered the rosary which Anne had requested her. She changed the direction and was now headed to the storage unit to get Anne’s rosary.
She went to the storage to get the rosary from the box. She found the rosary at the bottom of the box. She got curious and picked it up to give it a proper look. She heard someone move behind her, the next she knows is being strangled from behind. The voice said, ‘My Mother’s, how can you touch it?’. It was a familiar voice but before she could scream or do something, she felt her head smash on the locker and Why was the last question she could think of.
The detectives were going through Anne’s house. They found it strange to not have a single picture in the entire house. The furniture also seemed quite old when compared to Anne’s age. With a shrill, detective Hannah’s phone rang, it was from the department, ‘We could trace the blood using the DNA, but the blood belongs to a case of a missing lady in Redding. Her name surprisingly is Anne Jones. She has been missing for 13 weeks now. That case is still open; however, the police think that the victim might be dead as there are no leads. The body is also yet to be found’, Charlie the forensics guy was ranting all of this over the call.
‘Sarah, in the car, now!’, saying this they jumped into the car and headed towards the hospital.
Penny realised that she was on a wheelchair which was being pushed by someone. A relief spread over her to be alive only to drift off again. A minivan was parked just at the entrance. Anne loved the disabled people; their cars made the best escape route.
Penny woke up after a few hours only to realize that she was on a gurney. Her hand and legs were restrained. The place seemed like a dark basement with the most pungent fumes reaching her nose. Looking at the other side of the room, she found a body which was on hooks. There were numerous cuts on the body and whatever little blood was left in it, was still trickling into the bathtub below. The nurse now screamed and screamed and screamed, only hearing her own screams echo back to her.
Entering the new hospital, the nurse introduced herself, ‘Hello, my name is Penny. I will be your nurse while your time here’, she told the patient. ‘Just hit the call button whenever you need me’, saying this she started to move out of the room into the corridors while rolling the beads of the rosary…