Chapter Twenty-Five - Conclusion
Nikolas races to the elevator and jabs at the down arrow. He is so nervous that every part of his body is twitching. He’s developed a tic in his cheek just below his left eye. The small muscle twitches convulsively as he waits for the elevator, and he punches the wall several times in frustration.
When the gray metal elevator doors finally open, Nikolas jumps in and frantically pushes at the ‘B’ button until the doors begin to close. As the elevator descends, Nikolas nervously runs his hands over his face, leaving several bloody streaks trailing over his cheeks. He begins muttering to himself, "Go, go, ohmigod, ohmigod…"
The elevator door hisses open, and Nikolas races out into the hallway. He runs to the left, but suddenly stops when his eye catches the sign posted on the green concrete block wall. Morgue, Rm. B45 -à . Slipping on the smooth, polished linoleum, Nikolas struggles to right himself, then takes off in the other direction.
At the end of the long hallway, Nikolas stops in front of B45. Hesitating, he carefully pushes open the door. Nikolas walks into the darkened morgue. The room is very cool, like a cave. Rows of steel, temperature-controlled drawers line the wall in efficient stacks. Nikolas darts his eyes back and forth across the room.
Looking…..looking.
His breath catches in his throat when he eyes a row of gurneys. He runs a shaking hand over his hair. Two of the gurneys have bodies resting on them, covered by thin, white regulation hospital sheets. Nikolas bends over and hangs his head between his knees, desperately trying to regain his emotional equilibrium. He rubs his neck harshly and stands up again. Fear and panic hit him, and he makes a keening sound that echoes off of the cold, hard surfaces in the room.
Taking small, slow steps, Nikolas hesitantly moves over to the gurneys. At this point, he is so manic that he is no longer thinking, just reacting. His breath comes in rasping gulps as he gingerly pulls at the corner of the sheet on the first gurney. The moving sheet uncovers a frail, elderly man that is so emaciated, he looks as if he has just died after a long battle with cancer. Nikolas is shocked but relieved at the same time.
Nikolas approaches the second gurney with a fraction more confidence. He swiftly jerks the sheet away from the body and discovers what it feels like to cross the bridge from sanity to madness. Emily is lying quietly on the gurney, whiter than she ever appeared in her 16 years on this earth. Around her neck is a black leather cord tied so tightly that it breaks her skin and leaves severe, gaping wounds seeping with congealed blood. The wounds had stopped bleeding after her heart had ceased. Her wide brown eyes are no longer soft and warm and pretty with love and humor. They coldly stare straight at the ceiling and nothing else. Her parted lips are blue with her body’s reaction to the total lack of oxygen to her brain. What were her last thoughts as she struggled for the last breath of her young life? Her anguished expression says it all.
Nikolas ceases to exist. The cord to his spirit is broken, and his soul lifts from his body and floats somewhere far into the universe to hide, never to return. Nikolas does not move, he does not think, he does not feel. Those are human reactions, and Nikolas is no longer fully human.
The door to the morgue cracks open, letting in a sliver of light from the brightly lit hallway. When the woman sees Nikolas standing there hunched over, she enters the room. Nikolas does not look up, as he is not aware of her presence. She walks up to him and takes hold of his arm. "Nikolas," she says softly.
Laura gasps sharply as her son finally reacts. Nikolas slowly turns and raises his head to look Laura in the eyes. "Stavros!" Laura strangles out the whisper of terror and despair. She is looking into the cruelest eyes of madness that she has ever seen, and she is horrified by the memory.
~ THE END ~
(but is it ever really over?)