The Secret Sin

Part Two

                                                                Truth and Consequences 

  When Agatha Murphy pulled herself out of bed at sunrise, she only had one goal set in her mind: To find another job. Being in this house was no longer an option. She had money saved in the bank to sustain her until she found a new residence but she wanted to keep her options open. She would give proper notice and escape this hell hole in two weeks. This house was driving her insane, or there were secrets looming in the darkness of every corner, edging forth, trying to resurface. Either way she wanted no part of it.

As breakfast cooked on the stove, she slipped into her room and called the Hospice office, frowning when she got the voicemail. Didn't anyone answer phones anymore, she wondered as she gave a brief rundown of her decision to leave. Then after hanging up, she typed out a swift two week notice email and tapped the send button. She felt a bit of relief knowing soon this would all be over and her life would return to normal.

She hoped.

When she went in to get Navada up for breakfast the fear boiled within her, making it difficult to swallow. The old woman slept soundly in her bed and Agatha hated to admit, it gave her a minuscule amount of pleasure waking her up just as Agatha kept being woken up the night before. She couldn't really see how Navada was the cause of all her suffering however, this entire experience had something to do with her.

That much Agatha knew.

She stayed silent with Navada as she dressed her and put the nylon sling under her body so she could use the lift to hoist the woman up and swing her into the wheelchair. The two made eye contact as Agatha pushed the button, watching lift raise Navada into the air.

The woman was evil.

Agatha knew that now. Navada's bulging eye popped out even further as they watched one another, her thin, saliva soaked lips pulling back in sneer. Agatha felt truly frightened by this woman. And to think about that logically made her feel crazy. Navada was nothing more than a dying, old hag. But what confused her, was the sharp intelligence she saw when she made direct eye contact with her. Agatha had read the paperwork herself. This woman had the advance stages of Alzheimer's. How was it she could look directly at anyone with any sort of emotion? That wasn't the norm. People in Navada's state of mind were usually trapped in a memory or state of hallucination. Any sort of lucidity was rare and far between. Yet this woman gave these stares all the time. Every day. And she couldn't help but feel Navada was right here, right now. Not trapped in the past reliving old moments.

Nothing about this made sense.

Agatha's cell phone rang as Navada sat at the table, refusing her food once more. Seeing it was from the Hospice she quickly answered. Becky was on the other end, and armed with questions regarding Agatha's notice. She calmly answered all of Becky's inquiries as she bustled around the kitchen, keeping busy cleaning to avoid sitting too close to Navada.

"And you're sure there is no way we can change your mind, Agatha," Becky asked with disappointment in her tone. Agatha laughed softly as she thought of the face of the broken child hanging over her the previous night, "No, I'm afraid not."

A low growl sounded from behind her and she glanced over her shoulder to find Navada staring at her in silent rage. Even as Agatha made eye contact with her, the old woman refused to turn away. Oh but Navada may be dying, but the evil that was her, kept her going and would until the very end. Once Agatha hung up with a very distraught RN she walked slowly over to Navada, trying to keep herself together under the cruelty of the impenetrable one-eyed stare. Quickly, needing a moment of relief from the woman's hateful scrutiny, she pushed the wheel chair to the bedroom, attached the sling to the lift and returned Navada to bed.