Death's Captive: Will she escape eternal confinement?

CHAPTER 29

I don't think I can spend eternity here in this hospital – reaping souls and following nurses. What would happen if the hospital were to close? Would I be locked in here wandering the empty corridors forever? What happens when the building gets torn down to make way for something new? Will I be released from the confines of these grounds? That seems like a long time to wait to find out. Perhaps if I don't pay attention time will escape my grasp and I'll find out sooner? Like going to sleep and waking at the end of a movie. I suppose that would be giving up – am I ready to give up? While contemplating these thoughts I follow Margie as she goes down a corridor towards the nurses' station in Emergency. Susie is there as always, and greets Margie with an excited smile.

"You'll never guess who was admitted last night!"

"Who?" Margie smiles in response.

"Harold Barden!" Susie's voice lowers to a conspiratorial hush. "That man who was being trialled as a child killer all those years ago. The one who was acquitted because the evidence was tampered with. He came in with some heart difficulties last night and they're keeping him here under observation."

I've been around long enough to know when Margie feels uncomfortable. Her expression doesn't change much but there's a tightness around her mouth and a twitch between her eyes.

"Are you alright Marg?" Susie asks.

"Fine." Margie plasters a fake smile across her face as she collects some patient files and looks them over. "Will he be here for long?"

"No, I expect that they'll release him tomorrow."

"Where is he?"

"Cardiology. He has angina, I think. At least that's what they're saying upstairs."

Margie nods and looks as though she's making friendly banter, but I'm not convinced.

I follow Margie as she makes her rounds and attends to patients. It's her break time but she isn't heading for the break room behind the nurses' station. Margie takes the lift to the cardiology department, so I trail after her. She shuffles down the hallway to Barden's room and slips in through the open door.

She closes it behind her and presses her body against the door. That doesn't stop me, I just push through the wall.

"Do you remember Kieran Dobson?" Margie asks.

Barden remains silent while looking towards her.

Margie pushes off the door and takes a few slow steps towards the bed. "Good kid. He used to live next door to me and my husband. He hanged himself when he was 15."

Barden's eyes haven't shifted from Margie. His voice is even and controlled. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"You should be sorry. In his note he mentions you."

Barden's expression hasn't changed, but there's an intensity to his voice. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to pay for what you've done, not just to the people who came forward, but for the people who didn't."

"What are you going to do about it? Report me?"

Suddenly I can see Margie though Barden's eyes. I've been with her so long I sometimes forget she's an unfit woman in her sixties.

Margie stays silent and doesn't move. She looks Barden in the eye and doesn't back down.

"That's what I thought. Nothing. There's nothing you can do." Barden's voice is taunting and confident.