Nine Months to Live
ow Chastity, how about going over the story for me one last time?"
Chastity Sands looked up into the concerned eyes of her social worker Kay Willard, then back into her cup of stale coffee. She looked at the pale salmon walls of her quarters and let out a slow sigh.
It was her six month evaluation at St. Benadict's psychiatric ward, and Chastity was sick of looking at these pale salmon walls, sick of talking, and definitely sick of smelling the stale coffee. Maybe because she was going into her eight month of pregnancy everything was making her so damned sick. Yet she felt like it was her job - no her duty - to warn them. They had to be warned.
"Where do you want me to begin?" Chastity asked.
Kay pulled out a tape recorder and her file and said, "The beginning will be fine."
"It was about a year and a half ago, when I met Christian Lewis. He was such a unique individual I thought. I met him at a pottery class I was taking on Wednesday nights and that sort of attracted me to him. You know, it's not every day you meet a guy who's interested in making ash trays," she said with a laugh.
"Anyway we talked, and later on began going out. As I got know Christian I realized he had a lot of problems - you know, psychologically speaking - but he had a good reason for those problems. At sixteen he saw his father shoot his mother, then shoot himself. I mean, I can't even imagine what that would do to a child's mind!
"As the ninth year anniversary of their death approached, Christian changed. He began blaming the world for their deaths, and rambling on about how the world was going to pay. Then he began having this crazy obsession with water, like asking me did I ever dream of traveling to the bottom of the ocean and telling me he wished he could be buried under water. He began to scare me, so I told him we should give our relationship a break for awhile to allow him time to get himself together.
"Well, he told me I was like everyone else. I didn't hear from him for two weeks after that. Then on the night of his parents' death, at eleven o'clock I fell asleep reading. I felt chills and nudging and someone calling my name. When I awoke Christian was standing there.
" I was about to ask him how in the hell he got in there but I barely uttered a word before he told me he needed me. He spent the night there with me, and that was the first time we were ever together . . . and the beginning of my nightmare.
You should imagine my surprise when I got the phone call 5 :30 the next morning telling me Christian's body was found at 9:30 in the lake, and that he was pronounced dead on the spot "
After a long silence Chastity began again, but her eyes looked as if she were somewhere else.
"'That's impossible' is all I could say."
Kay scribbled something on her note pad and looked up.
"Chastity can you tell me about the dreams?"
"They started about a week after I found out I was pregnant. At first they started with just babies, you know, but then . . . then they got more detailed. I could hear Christian's voice, yet I never saw his face . . . just heard his voice telling me that I was his 'window back.' Sometimes I would see bodies of water - an ocean, or a lake - and all the while I heard him whisper 'Chastity.'
"I also saw his return in my dreams. There was celebration everywhere, yet it seemed wrong, so wrong that the moon turned the color of blood, and the heavens cried until the water came down in thick chunks of hail. There was confusion and innocent blood shed and only those who believe were spared."
"Believe what?" Kay asked.
"You just have to believe, that's all. You'll know it when you feel it."
Kay cleared her throat. "Tell me, where are you in these dreams?"
Chastity's eye's suddenly grew dark and hard. Barely above a whisper she said, "I'm not in any of them. Look, Kay. I'm asking - no, I'm begging you - please end this before it starts, just slip me the pills and let me overdose. It'll buy time and . . ."
"Wait a minute . . . you're asking me to help murder you and your baby? Chastity this is crazy."
Tears formed in the corner of Chastity's eyes.
"No it's not crazy, and it's not a baby. You have to understand it's a nefarious being full of rage and hatred. You think it's a coincidence that I was committed weeks after I found out I was pregnant, where I am constantly watched and where I can't do anything to stop this!"
"Chastity you lost your loved one then found out weeks later you where pregnant. I can see why your mind is playing tricks on you, but you're not making sense."
Chastity jumped to her feet knocking over her stale coffee in the process.
"Damn it! you psychologists and psychoanalysts are all alike. If it doesn't follow a scientific method or if it can't be explained like a mathematical formula then it's not real. I mean, Jesus! Can't you see the truth when it's staring you straight in the face?"
Kay gathered her files and stood up.
"Well, I can see you're not at all ready to be released. We'll meet again in another six months. I'll evaluate you then and see if you've made any progress."
"Six months is too late! It's too late! It must be done now. Please, please help me!"
Kay left Chastity while she was still screaming.
ay hadn't checked back with Chastity in over a month. She was at a New
Year's Eve party when her pager went off and she had to leave.
"This is Dr. Reece at our Lady of Mercy Hospital. Chastity Sands went into labor about a hour ago, and something's gone terribly wrong. Kay, if you're not too tied up, I suggest you come right over here."
Kay jumped into her car, lit a cigarette, and looked at her watch. "11:03 on New Year's Eve, and almost two weeks early. Looks like her kid just couldn't wait to come into the world and take it over," she chuckled
Kay arrived at the hospital but wasn't allowed in the delivery room. Moments later a doctor came out.
"Doctor, can you tell me what's going on? I'm Kay Willard, Chastity's social worker."
"Yes, Ms. Willard. I'm Doctor Reece. I really don't know how to say this but I'm afraid Chastity has had some serious complications. She began hemorrhaging and running a temperature. There was nothing we could do. She passed away twenty minutes ago. I'm sorry. Yet the baby is fine . . . six pounds one ounce. I'm truly sorry about your patient," he said as he walked off.
Kay let out a sigh and closed her eyes. At that moment it seemed as if she could hear Chastity whispering words into her ear.
"On his return there is celebration everywhere but it seems wrong, so wrong that the moon turns to the color of blood, and the heavens cry hail. There's confusion and innocent blood shed."
Kay looked at her watch. It was only a few minutes past twelve. New Year's Day.
She ran to the window and looked at the moon. It had a dark shadow over it, sort of like an eclipse. Suddenly hail began to fall.
Kay clutched her chest and whispered, "Dear God."
