Elsbeth woke up. She was lying on the street in the nude…
When she was finally able to lift her flayed face from the blood-soaked asphalt, her empty eyes stared at an ant. The creeper was busy rushing to and fro between slashed fragments of skin that covered an arm-like piece of flesh and then lifted its head with an air of inquisitiveness, just like it were in a hurry to catch the scent and later test the abundance of blood nourishment that would soon be at its disposal. Eventually, it disappeared between nervous fingers that squashed it.
Painfully, Elsbeth moved her face a little more away from the asphalt, held her head just a little bit higher and finally made out the end of the wet asphalt layer in the early morning dawn. And on both sides, she saw how the street that had destroyed her continued.
Then, finally, there was another gust of rain.
Hesitantly and tentatively, she felt new life creep up on her as she felt the clapping of the rain on her skin and each impact on her arms, legs, back and head hit her like a caress. The body she had thrown away seemed to have retrieved its former functionality. Some individual parts of the ill-used flesh even reacted to inner impulses towards movement.
She was able to hear, see, feel and taste and cry again.
Instinctively, she crawled closer towards the curb, used her final strength to roll onto her back and enjoyed the clean freshness of this rain on her bruised bosom and scratched stomach.
The hailstorm-like rain took with it all dirt, yet it was powerless against her feeling of shame. Neither was it any help against the fear!
Could Hugo return? Had he survived her attack??
She no longer knew where she had found the strength and determination to suddenly take the knife he himself had smilingly placed under the front window and ram it into his side while they were sitting in the car.
She had been so terrorized by his beast-like outcry that she had totally lost control and thrown herself out of the car into the rainy night. After a dull impact, she had slided over the wet asphalt like some lost cargo and then finally remained lying somewhere.
But what had happened to Hugo? Had he driven into the ocean after being seriously wounded? Or had he stopped after the bend up ahead in order to return?
Well, probably not with this rain! The street had turned into a torrential rivulet.
With a huge amount of perseverance, Elsbeth got up from the rapidly flowing water, staggered along the curb and got more and more secure and optimistic with each step she took. She closed her eyes and wanted to cry, but she refrained from doing so. Perhaps Hugo was still near, regardless of his wound? His predatory presense always seemed to lurk somewhere just around the corner …
Then she saw a car slowly making its laborous way down through the rain. Elsbeth stood illuminated by the floodlights totally naked. She helplessly tried to cover her nudity with her hands. She could not run away. Shock paralyzed her. The car slowly passed and then stopped a short distance behind her.
A woman exited. She did not seem to be bothered by the rain.
She called something to Elsbeth, but Elsbeth understood no French. At least „Broken English“ was possible!
Hesitantly, Elsbeth teetered towards her assumed saviour. Did she know this woman? The middle-aged lady took a short moment to look her over, then got a blanket from her trunk and carefully wrapped it around Elsbeth. Then she asked her to get into the car. It was tedious, but the woman cautiously and carefully helped.
Thank God that she was alone. She never asked any questions. She just helped. She carefully fastened the seatbelt around the human package sitting next to her and then slowly drove down the coastal street.
The street was quite twisty. Even with all the best intentions, Elsbeth did not manage to keep upright. Each curve they passed made her hope and look for a broken railing where Hugo might have run down the side.
But there was no broken railing.
The woman at the driver’s seat was all concentration and kept murmering to herself.
At one time, Elsbeth said „Hospital“? The woman nodded.
The way seemed endless.
The warmth of the blanket was a comfort. Elsbeth feared she might just glide into sleep. Regardless of the rain, everything now seemed peaceful. Even the far-reaching ocean. It did not fit: where had hell gone to?
A village appeared.
„In a few minutes we’ll reach the hospital“, said the woman with a smile. She added that her name was Celine F.
Thanks to Celine, the registration at the hospital was no problem! All of a sudden, Elsbeth actually felt she had been there before, which upset her. But finally she lay in a bed and sleep just came…
With an outcry, she sat up in bed. A young nurse tried to soothe her. Her German was good and she seemed to have sat there all the time.
According to her, she had been asked to give notice when Elsbeth woke up. Then the doctor in charge would look at her and she, Geraldine, would do the interpreting. But she said Dr. Hugo L. spoke German quite wel, since he had spent many years in Berlin working at the Charité.
Elsbeth froze.
Geraldine noticed the change and asked if she was feeling unwell.
Instead of replying, Elsbeth pushed at her duvet like an obsessed person and tried to lift herself up on the hospital bed frame.
She swollowed hard and asked to go to the police station in order to give a statement.
“Well, that is something you will have to do, anyway“, said Geraldine. But first her physical condition would have to be checked.
“No, no“, Elsbeth hysterically screamed, “please, Geraldine, first the police, first the police,…“
“No police“, came an energetic male voice as the door of the hospital room opened.
It was Hugo – Dr. Hugo L.
Behind him, there was Celine F. with two nurses.
Panic welled up in Elsbeth.
Again, she was trapped.
Helplessly and desperately, she pulled at her nightgown. She moaned, fought for air and, with a gurgling yell suddenly leaped out of her bed. But Dr. Hugo L. was faster. He dexterously caught her and – with the help of the two female nurses – put her back into her bed very carefully, regardless of her intense struggles.
While he was busy with her, the knife had fallen out of his doctor’s coat.
It was a trick knife for magicians! When you used it to stab someone, the blade slid back into the handle.
Like before, Dr. Hugo L. showed the mechanism to Elsbeth as he put it back into his coat pocket. Half a year ago, she had also stabbed him with it. Before that, it had happened each month. The knife was part of the therapy, it helped channel her attacks.
Elsbeth knew that he lied. The knife in the car had been a different one.
And when he had found her in her hiding place and she had to accept how desperate her situation was and how, again, the attempt at fleeing the hospital had been a failure, the knife had also been a different one. And he had threatened her. She had to strip nude. To make sure she, the little bitch, could not run away, he had said. And then he had energetically pushed her into his car like some cattle.
Eventually, Elsbeth calmed down! Perhaps it was the drugs she had been given.
She stared at Celine and glared at Hugo.
The hideously swollen remains of her face tried a lopsided smile. It seemed – with razor-shart intuition – to insinuate that he, too, had long ago arrived in her private hell…
KH
Comment on the picture: Bettina P. McKinney “Elsbeth”, B 90 cm, H3 x 30 cm, Acryl-Collage auf Leinwand
PS: And two weeks from now, on July, 28th, 2011, we will join ”Carl and Gerlinde“ on their bike trip along the Danube!
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