Safe

Regina Adams

The dark silence of the night surrounded me, threatening. Only thing breaking it was the ticking of an old oakwood grandfather clock on the wall above my bed. It was a family treasure. However, it had not chimed once in the past few decades even though it was seemingly working as it should and I kept winding it. I did not want to pay a fortune to someone so they would come and look at it, fix it maybe, so I was completely fine with it staying silent. Actually, I was already sleeping light, so I needed no more noises to keep me on my toes at night. Not even sleeping pills worked anymore. I stayed up mainly because of the fear. You see, years ago I was told that this would be the age I die at and so, I was terrified that the prediction could come true.

 “When you turn 83, that is when you will die.” That was what the gypsy woman had assured me. It had been five months now since my 83th birthday. Five months that I had lived in fear. But even though I waited for my demise, at the same time I had been readying myself for the battle. I was not going to die, that I had decided. I was in good medical condition, both physically and mentally, regardless of the fact that I was currently living in a one-room apartment of a row-house meant for elderly and on my kitchen counter there was a plastic container full of all kinds of prescription medication, vitamins, lactic acid bacteria and so on. I had no idea which one should be taken when and what pills were for what, I just took something if I ever felt bad somehow. But I never had any severe illnesses or disorders. However, I feared death anyway, it was almost a phobia to me. I was not sure why. 

So, I had stopped going out or even opening the door for anyone else but the housekeepers and food service workers who visited me regularly and even with them I had agreed on precise days and times they needed to come at. Out of those times, I opened my door to no one. I had no family alive and no friends, I had never kept many anyway. And I had heard that there were thieves going around from door to door, robbing helpless, elderly people who invited them in. The old man next-door had been robbed twice but well, he had a bad memory anyway, so he probably forgot to be more careful after the first time.

I never opened the curtains covering the view from my only window, either. The view was not worth it as I did not care to stare at the house facing this one and the muddy, plain yard between the two. Also, I felt a lot safer when I was hiding from everything and everyone. I had put rugs all over my bathroom floor, you see, many old people died when they slipped while taking a shower and I wanted to eliminate that possibility. I also used slippers everywhere in the apartment so I would not slip anywhere else either. Food came to me from the food service as I dared not to use my oven or the stove in order to cook. I might cause a fire, after all. So I just microwaved all my food, even though I was not too keen on using that either. Then, I smashed or diced all the food so there were no possibility for me to choke on it. Hard candy and such, I did not eat at all.

I used any electronics carefully. I had a television, that I sometimes watched the news on, but normally I kept that unplugged. I had also an old radio I loved to listen to, and a mobile phone in case of an emergency but that was all. All the pointy corners of tables and other furniture I had covered with cloths, so I could not hurt myself on them if I somehow were to fall. By the years, I had hunched over, losing height, so I asked the janitor to lower down my hat rack and some cabinets so that I never had to reach too high as that could be dangerous too. I was prepared in every possible way and saw no chance for the gypsy’s prediction to come true. Unless, I would have a stroke of some kind, and that was the very reason why I could not sleep at nights. I had called an ambulance so many times the medics were getting fed up with me.

“I think you are just having some digestion problems,” they said. Maybe, but you can never be too careful, I thought.

The smell of cigarettes and lilac perfume haunted me at nights. Something had convinced me years ago that the prediction was not to be taken lightly. Perhaps, it had been the alcohol or the dim lighting in the caravan and all the golden linen around me. I had felt dizzy, I remembered, scared. Last week I asked the janitor to put another lock on my door, just in case. All the silverware I had hidden under my mattress and I used only dispensable cutlery as I could not accidentally cut myself with those. In addition to all that, I kept a mug full of water on a counter all times so I remembered to drink enough. The summer had been dry and hot, after all. The mug was at least 50-years-old and had painted lilies on it.

Five months later

I was dreaming that a cold wind was brushing against my face and the evening sun was setting. Suddenly, I woke up and realized, I was standing in the middle of the room. It was dark, the curtains were closed and it was winter, so I could not tell if it was day or night. I had an unexplainable feeling that I had dreamed of the old grandfather clock. In my dream it had been chiming. I blinked my eyes and waited for them to adjust to the darkness. I did not have my glasses on.

Then I saw something. Right in front of me, there was a tall man dressed in black. He stood there with his fingers crossed. His face was unmoving. I was frightened. He had broken in, I thought.

“Hello Regina, I'm here for you.”

“What do you mean? Go away or I will call the police!”

“Regina… Look behind you”, the man said inside my head. He did not open his mouth. I turned and faced my bed. To my horror, there was someone lying in it. It was me. The oakwood grandfather clock on the wall above my bed had fallen on me. It had crushed my head and face, I was bleeding.

“It's not possible...” I whispered.

“Regina, we all have our time, it is predestined. Your time is up. Come with me”, the man said and offered his hand to me. I shook my head.

“I was so careful. I thought of everything, there was nothing that could happen in the safety of my own home. The clock… I never thought of that, though.”

“When you refused to give up, I had to be more creative. I am sorry, Regina, but we need to leave now. It's gonna be three days before the food service comes, your body will have to wait before it is found.”

I stared at my face that had caved into my broken skull and was covered in blood and pieces of wood. I was scared. I felt pain and terror like never before. There was no white light. I did not know where I was going. Slowly, the room around me disappeared. In my dream, the grandfather clock chimed but had it been a dream or reality?