Excerpt:
A man entered the room. His name was Bert Mixby. Bert asked, “Steed, have you been keeping up with your mom’s finances.”
“Not much to keep up with. Aunt Terence helps and dad helps pay the bills here but mom doesn’t have any money.”
Roger felt sure that Rachel did have money. But he kept quiet. He did not want to argue with his cousin.
Bert said, “Well, I found a company called Selmedox Inc. taking money out of my mom’s account. I can’t figure out what the hell the company is or if mom actually owes them money. Regardless, I put a stop to it. Then after I stopped that company from making withdrawals, another subscription type billing began pulling money out of the account. It is called Medocseltech. I stopped it. Just thought I’d let you know. I have no idea if the withdrawals are connected to this hospital or not.”
Hearthville Serial 3
What Happened To Victor:
A Paranormal Suspense Gangster Horror
By Charles Peters
Copyright 2019
All Rights Reserved
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Chapter 12
Steed and Roger walked into Rachel’s room at the mental hospital. Steed closed the door to the room. Rachel’s room looked more like a bedroom than a room in a hospital. Rachel rested in a white canopy bed with a black and yellow striped canopy above the bed. The blanket on the bed had the picture of a large tiger in its design. Her sheets were black. The bed stands next to the bed were black.
There was music playing. The song was by “Cage The Elephant.” The song was “House of Glass.”
Roger stared at Rachel who seemed to be sleeping. He looked around. He took notice of her open roll top desk and another desk next to it that had a desktop computer situated on it. Roger whispered, “Cool music.”
Nurse Shelby Winters opened the door. She looked at Steed and Roger. She whispered, “Your friend did not sign in.”
Steed said, “Yeah, he did. Roger Ogleby.”
“These dang computers. Sometimes the names get deleted. I have no idea why. I will update the record.”
“First, come on in and talk to me for a minute.”
Nurse Shelby entered the room. “Your mom had a pretty good day. She played Trivia with an imaginary friend. There were times she was fairly lucid and there were other times that she was not.”
Steed said, “Nurse Shelby is Bert’s girlfriend. She was actually a nurse at the Atlanta hospital when Jossette died.”
“Sure. I think I remember you.”
Nurse Shelby said, “It is okay if you don’t. Watching Jossette die was so heart breaking for everyone.”
Roger said, “Yeah.” Roger turned his attention back to the computer in the room. “Is that for the nurses or does Aunt Rachel use the computer?”
Nurse Shelby said, “The nurses’ computer is over there close to the bathroom. The one on the desk is Rachel’s.”
Roger asked, “Does she use it?”
Steed said, “At times she is fairly lucid. She plays games on it.”
Nurse Shelby said, “And sometimes she goes to look at chaturbate models doing what they do there.”
Steed and Roger both laughed. In unison they said, “I wonder if she watches Deven.” They laughed again.
Nurse Shelby cocked her head. “Are you talking about Deven Raven? I go to church with him.”
Steed said, “Please do not cause him any problems.”
“No. Of course not.” Nurse Shelby did a motion like she was zipping her lips. “He is a sweet heart. I would never intentionally cause him trouble. But now his girlfriend is a bitch. I hate her with a passion.”
Steed said, “They broke up because I did something bad.”
“What?”
“She was using Deven. She was being mean to him. And he would not listen to Victor or Judy.”
“I know what you are saying.”
“So I told her that he does a cam show on chaturbate. I also told her where he lives. He lives at the Hearthville Lake View Trailer Park which is the same trailer park where I live. That was enough to cause her to dump him. So basically I broke them up.”
Nurse Shelby said, “Well, we will see if we can find him a nice girl.”
Roger said, “One who likes chaturbate?”
Nurse Shelby laughed. “Other than Trish, as I now understand, who doesn’t like chaturbate?”
Roger laughed.
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Nurse Shelby said, “I’ve got to get the computer record right and then I’ve got to start my rounds. Roger, it is was really nice seeing you again. Tell your parents hey. I have not seen Terence in forever and I was not on duty the last time or two that Lawrence visited Rachel.”
“I will tell them that you said hey. It was good seeing you.”
Nurse Shelby left the room.
Roger and Steed sat down. Rachel seemed to be sleeping. Steed started to wake her but Roger stopped him. We can just sit here and talk until she wakes. I have heard father say she gets less agitated if she wakes on her own.”
“That is true.”
A man entered the room. His name was Bert Mixby. Bert asked, “Steed, have you been keeping up with your mom’s finances.”
“Not much to keep up with. Aunt Terence helps and dad helps pay the bills here but mom doesn’t have any money.”
Roger felt sure that Rachel did have money. But he kept quiet. He did not want to argue with his cousin.
Bert said, “Well, I found a company called Selmedox Inc. taking money out of my mom’s account. I can’t figure out what the hell the company is or if mom actually owes them money. Regardless, I put a stop to it. Then after I stopped that company from making withdrawals, another subscription type billing began pulling money out of the account. It is called Medocseltech. I stopped it. Just thought I’d let you know. I have no idea if the withdrawals are connected to this hospital or not.”
Steed said, “I don’t know. Thanks for telling me about it. I will mention it to Aunt Terence and father just in case they come across something similar.”
“So how is your mom doing?”
“About the same. I understand earlier she was playing trivia.”
“Cool. So I am about to take my mom outside. If your mom were awake I thought you might want to join us, but I see she is sleeping.”
“Yeah.”
The music changed. “I’m Only Joking” by the Kongos began to play.
Bert turned to notice Roger was in the room with Steed. He stared at him for a moment and then his mouth fell open wide with a look of surprise. “Oh my word. I have been so rude. I didn’t see you sitting there. You are Roger Ogleby, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I have not seen you in ages. It is so good to see you again.” Bert grabbed Roger’s hand and gave him a firm handshake. “I hope what I have heard is true. I hope you are planning on playing football for Hearthville.”
“I am not sure. My dad and granddad would love it but I am busy in business and I am not even sure college is my thing.”
“Well. You have to do what is best for you. But still. Go Hearthville U.”
Roger laughed. “They are a good team. I am just not sure.”
“Well. It was nice seeing you again. And you two say hey to Stewart for me. I miss our games in the park.”
Roger agreed. “Those were good times. So what are you doing now?”
Bert said, “I work in public relations for Dirk Stowe and I wrestle some when I am in shape and in practice but training is a lot of work and I am lazy. All considering, Dirk has been good to me. I take some classes out at Hearthville but I am not going full time.”
“You are good at football. You are not going to try out for the team?”
“My grades are not that great even with the low number of classes I take. And like I said, I like working for Dirk and Sandy Stowe. Besides wrestling they handle some racing teams at the mud track. I’ve done that some. Working for them is a hoot.”
Steed said, “And Bert does a lot to take care of his mother.”
“Yeah, she is my priority.”
“Understood.”
“Well, it was really good seeing you again. I didn’t see you sitting there to start and then I had to do a double take. You’ve changed some.”
Roger said, “I am not quite as skinny. I didn’t place you right off either, but I remember you were a good football player when we played in the park.”
Bert said, “Oh yeah, I thought I was just as good as you and Stewart but of course I wasn’t. I wanted to be. Then I saw the fun Victor was having with his gang of goof-offs. They were funny. Such nerds and misfits. I enjoyed playing with them and that kind of changed my attitude. I was able to step back and I realized me taking the game too seriously was silly. I realized my limitations. Hell, Victor was a better player than me.”
Steed said, “Yeah. That is who I played with mostly. Don’t sell Victor short. He was actually pretty good. And so were you.”
“Oh, I know. I remember when you would come and stay with your granddad and play with us. You kind of idolized Victor.”
“True. I did. And now I don’t understand why Victor doesn’t remember me. It bugs the hell out of me.”
Bert said, “Well. Sam said he practically had a nervous breakdown after Jossette died. But in fairness you look a lot different from when you were that little nerd playing football in the park with Victor. I only realized who you are because of your mom and a nurse told me that you are her son. I almost didn’t recognize Roger either. But yeah, Victor changed when Jossette died. He became more reclusive. His main outlet became working on cars with Sam and Sally. Sam told me that there was awhile there Victor struggled to stay in focus on what he was doing. And knowing how brilliant Victor is, that worried his father. Sam says Victor is doing better though at times when he starts talking about Jossette he will take off running. Sam guesses that he does that so he can cry in private.”
Roger had to fight back his own tears. He said, “I didn’t even know that Victor was at the funeral, much less that he took her death so hard.”
Bert said, “Yeah. I remember watching them and thinking that if ever two souls were one, it was Victor and Jossette. I don’t know why they parted ways but he took her death really hard. Do you know that most of the town does not even know she is dead. Stewart and Judy don’t know. I started to tell them but Victor told me not to tell them.”
Roger said, “I guess to most people that would seem odd, but I don’t want her death to feel real either. I still have her picture and phone number on my phone. When I run into people who don’t know Jossette is dead, I can’t bring myself to tell them. I know to some people that might seem weird.”
Bert said, “I will be honest, when Sam told me about Jossette dying and Victor trying to kill himself, I had to get somewhere and cry in private. It broke my heart. So no, it is not weird. It is upsetting but you can not spend your entire life crying, so you deal with it the best way you can. A lot of people don’t know that mom is here. I don’t tell them. It is not that I am ashamed or anything. I just see no reason to tell them. Of course, I am not dating them.”
Steed laughed. “Shut up. I know what you are saying. I just don’t want to have that conversation with Judy yet.”
Roger sniffled but didn’t say anything.
Bert nodded. “It is none of my business. I will not tell her who you are, but at some point you are going to bump into someone who knows who you are. Anyways. See you. I need to get back to mom. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Bert left.
The music changed. “Forever & Ever More” by Nothing But Thieves began to play.
Roger took a deep breath and composed himself. He said, “Bert is a good guy.”
“Oh yeah. He and his girlfriend Shelby are nice.”
“You know, I think Shelby was friends with Jossette even before Jossette got sick. I could be wrong on that. I was not really close to some of Jossette’s friends, but I am thinking Shelby was one of them.”
“I think you are right. But Shelby didn’t grow up here in Hearthville. She grew up around Atlanta. Shelby has never told me that she knew Jossette before Jossette got sick but I think you are right. Though I have never questioned Shelby about it.”
Roger looked at his Aunt Rachel. He stood up and kissed her on the forehead. He whispered, not intending to wake her. “When you get better, I am going to make you go to a Falcon’s game.”
Rachel opened her eyes. She took Roger’s hand. “I would like that. We could bring Steed and Victor with us.”
Roger smiled. He nodded.
Steed stared at his mom. Her mentioning Victor surprised him. “I thought you hated Victor.”
“No.” Rachel said, “I was crazy that day. Rita and I were bewitched.” Rachel looked around. “I am crazy most days. I belong in here.”
Roger said, “You are going to get better.”
Rachel closed her eyes. She whispered, “Jossette has told me how much in love with Stewart you are.”
Roger turned a bright red. “No. We were just friends. But we don’t even talk any more.”
Rachel whispered. “You will talk again. You will love again. It will be good.”
Roger laughed. “Not with Stewart. I don’t think so.”
Rachel said, “You know I once had a lesbian affair. She was just a crazy bitch using me and trying to steal from Arthur. But Stewart is a good boy. And Victor is a good boy. I was just crazy and bewitched by the warlock.”
Steed puzzled on what he should say.
Roger took his aunt’s hand. “What warlock?”
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Rachel said, “Just the talk of a kooky woman.” Rachel turned to Steed. “Jossette wanted me to warn you about two men. You must be tough. Don’t show weakness.”
The music changed. “Broken Machine,” by Nothing But Thieves began to play.
Rachel turned over. “I am just a broken machine.”
There were moments of silence.
Roger said, “I want to visit you more. I will come back, if that is okay.”
Rachel whispered, “Of course it is okay. Bye.” Rachel began to snore.
Roger took a deep breath. He and Steed left Rachel’s room and began their walk to the elevator. Roger said, “I have goosebumps. I feel chills. And I feel confused. What happened that I don’t know about?”
Steed said, “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Roger nodded. “Later. Sure. But I am going to ask. Why did you think Aunt Rachel hates Victor?”
“Later.”
“Okay.”