What Happened to Maggie Dalton? by Christopher Tobin

Author:Christopher Tobin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flanker Press
Published: 2022-08-12T18:55:06+00:00

34

October 28

Ten o’clock at night, the day over, and we were no better—the same awful situation with my daughter on the edge of dying. I’m going to go back to the beginning of the day. My heart isn’t in it tonight.

That morning, I didn’t hear Morley come into the playroom, and I don’t know how long she was standing behind me, but when I wrote down that I was done for now, I hit save, stretched, and leaned back in the chair. My eyes were burning out of my head, my neck and shoulders were cramped from being hunched over all night, and my ass felt numb. I stood from the chair, and she was standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Nothing. Couldn’t sleep. Just messing around on this thing, is all,” I said as I turned off the computer screen.

“You’re not looking at porn, are you?” she said with a half-giggle but I could hear the seriousness of the question.

“No, I’m not looking at porn. Nowhere close to the headspace for any of that,” I replied. That was true, and I think that answer upset her more than if I had said yes.

Actually, no, porn would have been worse.

I hadn’t felt the desire for sex since I don’t know how long. I don’t remember the sensation, the anticipation for sex, or any kind of excitement for any of it. Porn included. At this point I would say I’m either depressed, or furious, or both. Fuckin’ demon.

“Have you been up all night?”

“Yeah, I can’t sleep. Did you sleep?” I asked.

“I cried for a long time and then would fall asleep but would wake up suddenly,” she said.

“Are you having nightmares?”

“Yes, but I can’t remember them when I wake up.” She looked at me with relief. “Are you?”

“Yeah, to the point where I don’t want to sleep. They’re insanely real,” I said.

“Care to tell me one?” She took a step toward me, and that hoof flashed in front of my eyes.

“I can’t remember, either,” I lied.

Maggie was awake but was unusually quiet—unusual for her new demonic behaviour, anyway. Dr. Lewis and Morley went into her room at seven thirty when a slow wheezing came from the baby monitor. They prepared Maggie for the day, which still seemed to go fine. It allowed them to tend to her body. Dress the wounds, change her nightgown, clear the IV as the liquid feeding into her was empty. We had solved the problem of Maggie soiling the bed with diapers. Dr. Lewis said that Maggie stared at her with those yellow eyes, following her every movement during the whole routine. Maggie leaned in extra close when she checked her arm where the IV was injected. Just a slow, rhythmic wheezing in and out with those yellow eyes fixed on her. Maggie’s stomach wounds looked and smelled infected. Dr. Lewis started her on an antibiotic. Once Maggie was prepared for the day, Dr. Lewis and Morley came back down to the living room.

Dr.

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