Part 1 of 2
I gasped as I flew back into consciousness. The blood pressure cuff on my arm squeezed tightly and I could hear the alarm notifying the nurses that there had been a change in my vital signs.
“Hospital? …Why is everything so dark?”
I could feel something soft tied firmly around my head. As I tried to bring my hand up to my face, I was instantly hit with a shockwave of pain. “Is anybody there?”, I winced.
“Mr. Tarver, so glad to see you awake. I’m your nurse, Amy.” Her voice was kind. “My nurse? Ms. Amy what’s going on? What happened?”.
“We were hoping you could tell us. You were attacked at work Mr. Tarver. Samaritans found you unresponsive, hanging upside down in your harness. You have some broken ribs and severe lacerations”, she said. My mind became aware of the cuts on my body and they burned like fire.
“Why is my face wrapped?”, my voice cracked. I heard her sigh as she gently took my hand. “The doctor is very hopeful that you’ll regain partial vision in your right eye”, she said. “Partial vision…I don’t, I don’t understand. Whats wrong with my eye?”.
Thats when my ears caught the “tick, tick” of the IV pump as it pushed the droplets of whatever was in the bag down the line and into my arm.
My chest fluttered …“tick, tick”… The equipment beeped an alert as my heart rate increased. “Try to take a few deep breaths, Mr. Tarver”, Amy said. But all I could hear was the loud …“tick, TICK”…of the machine. “No, no, no, no, we have to leave, we need to leave”, I pleaded. I tried to ignore the pain and get up, but a new pair of hands held me fimly in place. “Keep breathing Mr. Tarver”, the nurse said as I heard her open something and click it to my IV line…“TicK, ticK”… “Please, listen to me, its comi…”. The medicine took affect immediately. “We need to leave”, I repeated, quieter this time. My body stopped responding to my brain ordering it to run. “Please, please, don’t let it get me…” I begged. My heart rate slowed and I felt the cold of a stethoscope touch my chest. “You’re doing great Nathan.” I started to drift in and out of consciousness again. “Can…can you please uncover my left eye? Please let me see something, anything”, I asked tearfully. She pulled the stethoscope back and softly squeezed my hand. “I’m so sorry, your left eye was missing before you got to the hospital.”
•••••••••••
My name is Nathan Tarver and I’m a window washer. For the last 2 years, I’ve repelled down the sides of multi level buildings, cleaning the glass, and trying to ignore what was on the other side. You can probably imagine some of the stuff I’ve seen. Extreme hoarders in apartments, infidelity in business offices, and so many exhibitionists. I think I even witnessed a satanic ritual once. (I try not to think about it) So when my coworker Tommy said we were cleaning a vacant building, I was happy to hear it.
Tommy was in his early 50’s, overweight and red faced from high blood pressure, with a really big nose. He was a pretty cool guy. He told good stories and was a great mentor. He gave me the rundown of the job during the ride over. He said someone had bought and renovated an old hotel and would be having the grand opening soon. Easy peasy.
Pulling up to the location though, I was kind of confused. It wasn’t in disrepair, the place seemed functional, but it definitely wasn’t recently renovated. The paint on the outer walls was faded, the cloth awnings over the doors were frayed, and the pool was green. Tommy looked at me and shrugged, “This is the address they gave me and they already paid. I guess let’s get set up.” I watched him roll out of the drivers seat and he grunted as he stood. “Kid, I’m glad you’re in the harness now. I don’t think my fatass could take it anymore”, he laughed, smacking his denim overall covered belly.
Tommy was my spotter. He’d sit on the roof and tend to my lanyards, making sure I didn’t twist them up some how. He’d also set up a manual crank, so on the off chance something happened, he could “rescue me”. I’ve told him multiple times not to worry about lugging that heavy winch around, but he always ignores me. I think he just likes feeling like he’s still protecting his rookie.
I watched him walk toward the entrance of the hotel with his arms full, undoubtedly going to find an elevator, when he stopped short in front of some bushes and bent down. I figured he’d found a penny on the ground. He intensely studied the shrubs. “Whatcha find Tom?”, I called over to him. “I don’t know Kid”, he shouted back. “Some kind of animal? Or it used to be, I think. It’s got grey fur and pointy ears. Maybe a cat or a raccoon? Its really hard to tell. It must have been hit by something. Its mouth is gone.”. He stood up and shrugged, then disappeared through the sliding doors. “It’s mouth is gone? That’s weird”, I thought.
Walking up to the front of the building, I scanned my eyes over the windows. 6 floors high and 5 rooms across. “Cool, “only 30 windows on this side”, I said to myself. As I went to find the exterior ladder that lead to the roof, a “tick, tick” caught my attention. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. It was the unmistakable “tick tick” of a fingernail tapping glass.