It took you long enough

I watched the last of the sunset through the big windows that overlooked the park. Night had fallen now and that’s How I knew it was time to leave. “We’re all done here, Mr. McCallister.” The nurse told me. 

“Thank you, nurse,” I said. I gave her my best smile. It felt good to be able to smile wide now that I had my new dentures. I no longer needed to worry about my dentures flopping loose when I talked. I just wish I could remember her name. I had seen the same nurse every week for dialysis for a year now. And for the life of me, I couldn’t remember her name. 

She finished unhooking me from the machine and helped me out of my chair. I stood by the chair until she returned with my walker. 

Have a good week Mr. McCallister. I’ll see you next week.” She said. 

I nodded and began my slow, tedious task of walking out to the front door of the clinic. I hated the way the walker clicked with every step I took. But, I refused to get a wheelchair. My daughter had been insisting that I get a wheelchair since my hip replacement last year. But I refused. And she wasn’t the only one. My doctor had been trying to get me into a wheelchair also. 

I was finally at the front door preparing to open the door and maneuver the walker out. Much to my relief, a young man was walking in. “Hold the door for me, Son!” I asked. 

He smiled and nodded while he did. Even with him holding the door open It took a while to get outside. As I did had the strangest feeling. I knew I recognized the young man holding the door open for me. He looked so familiar. I noticed he was wearing scrubs and a name tag. I couldn’t read the name on the tag without my glasses. This was one of the rare occasions I wish I had them with me. 

I made it outside and began to make my way to the cub and wait for my daughter to pick me up.. The young man began to let the door close. “Have a nice night Jim.” The young man told me just the door closed. 

Male nurse, I thought to myself. He knows my name, he’s wearing scrubs…. He must be a nurse here. And I couldn’t place him here because he is a man. Even at eighty-two I still spent my time flirting with every woman that would let me. So I had seen him around here but never paid him much attention. 

My daughter pulled up in her minivan a short time later. She came around and helped me into my seat and then put the walker in the back. After she got back into the driver’s seat she buckled up but didn’t put it in the drive. I was a little puzzled at first but became concerned when I looked over at her. She was staring over my shoulder at the clinic. 

“Did everything go okay at the clinic, tonight dad?” She asked

“Yeah. Same as any other night, why?” I asked her

“That man is staring at you. He looks really angry. You didn’t run your mouth and offend him, did you?” She asked.

“No. I didn’t run my mouth again.” I said. Sounding more defensive than I had intended. 

My daughter put the car in drive and started heading back to my apartment. There was an awkward silence most of the ride. I knew she didn’t want to start a fight. But I also knew she was concerned that I may have offended the staff at the dyakisis center.

The last ten years or so have been rough for her, My health is failing and I have developed an short temper that I thought I had outgrown decades ago. As a result I ended up losing my house in a lawsuit with my neighbor. My daughter Carly was kind enough to take over my finances and get me placed into a home. I was resentful at first and was shortly kicked out of that home due to some rude and uneccissary comments I made toward the staff and other tenants. 

Since then, I have been in a much nicer retirement community. The money I have left in my retirement and from my social security doesn’t cover the expense. Fortunately, Carly has been paying the difference… as long as I promise to be on my best behavior. 

We pulled up to the home and Carly helped me out of the car and situated with my walker. “I didn’t do anything at the clinic…. I swear.” I told her.

“Okay dad. Get some sleep. I’ll stop by tomorrow for dinner.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek and got back in her car. 

About two in the morning I got up to get a snack. I wan’t hungry but I couldn’t sleep. Not that I ever slept much anymore. My knees hurt. My back hurt even worse. It was getting harder and harder to sleep. Most nights I would toss and turn for a few hours. Get up and eat some sugar free jello and sit in my chair until my exhaustion finally outweighed my pain. 

After I finighed my jello I put the cup and spoon on the table next to my chair. I don’t know how long I had been asleep but I awoke to the sound metal clanking on the floor. I sat up and looked around the room. It was dark. Even with the lights on I doubt I would have been able to see much without my glasses.

I saw that the jello cup had fallen off the table and taken the spoon with it. I strained to bend down and pick it up but managed. I sat it back on the table, wondering why it had fallen. 

A cold breeze hit me and I watched the plastic jello cup blow over and roll off the table again. I glanced around the room and saw the curtains blowing in front of the living room window. I struggled to stand and make my way over to the window. Without my walker it wasn’t easy. It took all of my focus to stay balanced. My heart began to beat heavily in my chest from the exertion. 

I was nearly to the window when i saw someone looking into my window. I lost my balance and nearly fell to the ground. Fortunately I was close enough to the couch to catch the back of the couch and steady myself. I looked back up to the window and saw that it was wide open. It was empty. There was nobody there. There couldn’t be. I was on the third floor. I reminded myself. 

I finished the last few steps to the window and closed it. In the morning, I would give the maids a piece of my mind. One of them must have left my window open when they were cleaning. And then, down in the front lawn, I saw him. There was a man staning there staring up at me. It was dark and he was perfectly sillogheted by the street light, as if he wanted me to see him. 

I couldn’t see his face but something about they way he stood there I knew who he was. I knew it was the young man from the clinic earlier. More than that I knew he wasn’t a young man, He was a thousand years old. Maybe even older. I shuffled papers around on the desk, knocking over the lamp in the process. 

Finally, I found my glasses. I put them on and looked back at the man. He was still just standing there. Staring up at me. I could feel his cold, steely gaze from across the street. Memories from so long ago began to flood back to me. 

It had to have been over fifty years ago. I was a young man then. I had  just met my wife. It was out first year of college. We had had gone out for dinner and were driving back to campus. It was a beautiful spring night. She had been talking about getting her driver’s license so I decided let her practice in my Dodge. 

It was dark in the country. I started to second guess letting her drive on the third attempt to flip the high beams on. The old dart had a dimmer switch on the floorboard like a pedal. Sally had been fidgeting with every knob on the steering column. She started to swerve. 

“Where is the high beam switch?” she asked.

“It’s on the floorboard. By the gas pedal.” I told her. Trying to conceal the fear and anxiety in my voice. I thought for sure we were going to crash. 

I remember Sally laughing nervously as she tapped the gas pedal a few times while her foot searched for the dimmer. Pumping the gas pedal had brought us up over a hundred miles per hour.

Then Sally had decided to move her head over so she could peek under the steering wheel. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds she had taken her eyes off the road. But it was just enough time. 

A young man and woman were standing in the road. They were waving their arms frantically trying to get our attention. Sally couldn’t see them because she wasn’t looking. A few loud thumps brought her attention back to the road as the Dodge rolled over them. 

I have forgotten quite a bit over the years. Especially recently, as my mind gets more and more foggy. But I will never forget the panic as Sally brought the car to a screeching halt. I’ll never forget what happened after that either. There was blood all over the windshield. And I wanted to tell her she hit a racoon, or a possum… Anything to spare her the truth. But I knew I couldn’t. 

I told her to stay in the car as I grabbed the flashlight out of the glove compartment. I stepped out and began searching the road for the couple we had hit. Immediately I could see the blood streaked from behind the car. 

I found the woman first. Her head had been severed. But when I stepped closer I could see her face was still twitching. I kneeled down to see that she seemed to be alive still. Her eyes were focused on me. Her mouth was moving as if she were trying to bite me. She had two giant fangs. I had never seen anything like that other than in the movies. 

I heard a noise from behind me. As I stood up to investigate I was tackled to the ground. The man was strong. Incredibly strong. He took me to the ground even though his arms were broken. They were twisted in ways an arm shouldn’t twist. They seemed to pop and crunch as he moved them. His face was just inches from mine. His fangs missed my neck and face as he tried to bite me. I had both arms on his neck trying to push him away. But he was strong. 

Just as I thought my arms would give out, I heard a horrible, crunching thud. The man rolled over to his side. I looked up to see that Sally had hit him with the tire iron. He started to get up but fell over because his leg had also been broken in the wreck. 

Sally pulled me up and we stood shoulder to shoulder watching in horror as the man’s leg popped and clicked it’s way back into place. He was healing himself.

“Why?! Why did you kill my beloved?! He demanded.” I followed his gaze back to the body of the decapitated woman. 

“We had been together eight hundred years!.” He yelled.

His arms began to pop and click now…

“Why didn’t you stop?!” He screamed.

“I didn’t see you. “Sally said.

“You will both die for this. I will find you. No matter how long it takes. You will die for this.” He yelled.

His arms began to stop clicking as they were almost in place now.

Sally began wailing on him twith the tire iron. She hit him until she could barley move her arms. And then I took the tire Iron from her hands. “Do you think he is dead?” She asked me.

His arm twitched. And then I began hitting him. 

My arms were sore for three days after that. During that three days, I sold the Dart. And Sally and I used the money to buy bus tickets to move to Ohio. And we lived our life. Had careers, raised our daughter and grew old together. We lived a great life together until the cancer took her from me. 

And I know now that I will be joining her soon. I know that because the young man is no longer in the street and I just heard my door close.

“I told you I would find you. I saw your wife’s picture in the obituary. You humans age, but we can still recognize you. No matter how old you get.” The man said from behind me.

I tuned to face him. I looked at my walker. It was too far away. My cane, was leaning against the table right next to me. I picked up the wooden cane my daughter had given me for christmas. I spent a minute admiring it. It was heavy. And I had never noticed just how nice it was. 

“That night on the road, you and your wife were waving us down…. I’ve always wondered, if we had stopped would you have killed us?” I asked the young man. 

“Yes, as we had done to a dozen other couples that week. But you didn’t stop and you killed my wife. I have to admit I wish I had found you earlier. I have wanted to kill you both for so long. But your wife is gone now too, right?” He asked me.

“Yes.” I told him. “I could barely take you in a fight back then. And i was in peak shape, and you had two broken arms and a broken leg.” I told him.

“You don’t have a chance. But soon, I will have my revenge. And you will be with your wife.” He told me.

I raised the cane over my head and smashed it over the table. It snapped in half. I was left with a jagged, two foot wooden wooden spear in my hand. “You do what you gotta do. Maybe we will both end up reunited with our wives…