Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-25329900-20141119082320

THE EMBRACE

Henry and Margaret were married when they were both very young. This didn't bother Margaret as she knew she had married him out of true love and not out of the scandel of wedlock like most of her family members had assumed. The accusations flew before their wedding day from both sides of the family but Margaret defended and maintained the innocence of herself and her husband to be.

She declared again and again that Henry had been nothing short of a pure gentleman with her and was every bit as old fashioned as their Catholic parents had been when it came to pre marital fornication. They believed those who fornicate would go straight to Hell as it was a mortal sin. Margaret knew of all the sins her parents did not approve of and she always did her best to be mindful of them.

She loved Henry with all her heart and knew he was the man she wanted to be with for the rest of her life. Shortly after their marriage she was with child and they were both very excited when Henry recieved a position in her fathers firm. He worked that job tirelessly and became her fathers right hand man as he would say. The company was left to Henry when her father passed away.

He was the very best husband Margaret could ever ask for. They had much happiness over the years together while raising up their daughter despite hardships that would come at them here and there in life.

When the companys stocks began to plummet and it seemed that it would go bankrupt, Henry stuck it out for both his wife and his little girl refusing to give up. He still loved Margaret and adored her as much as he did the day they met and on their wedding night he promised he would never leave her or their child even in the most drastic of hardships.

Henry would bring his wife breakfast in bed when she was sick or not feeling well. He had worked two jobs to support them both when she had been pregnant with their child. He had worked himself to the bone to help send their daughter, Sarah, off to the best college and even arranged it in his will to give the firm to her when he passed away.

He had expected that both he and Margaret would retire and leave life together the same way they had bound themselves together in Matrimony from the beginning. Henry had worked himself half to death just to keep up with the bills on their old victorian home when Margaret's illness seemed to have become much worse and she could no longer work to contribute to their finances.

He was honest and true with eyes only for Margaret and never once gave her reason to be suspicious that he was having affairs when he worked late nights at the office. Their marriage had lasted a long time and Henry had remained by her side ever faithful. Even when the day finally came that she had been diagnosed with stage one of Alzheimers that over the years would progress into the final stages that would seriously impact her quality of life.

It had been rough on Henry but he had stuck it out like a champ. He never abandoned her and he vowed to take care of her as best he could so she would not have to be put in a home. He knew he could not have the heart to inconvenience their daughter to leave her schooling just to care for them both. Sarah came often over the years to visit and make sure they were doing well.

She always left with the impression that Henry's health was fine and that he was still able bodied to care for his wife. She deeply cared for her father's sense of well being and had to make sure he could care for her mother properly. Margarat always did feel that secretly though she had wished he would put her mother in a home and be done with it.

Margaret assumed this was because they both could see the turmoil and pain as well as the stress it put on Henrys body and morale to care for her. Nevertheless, he kept on smiling and doing his best no matter how much it may have weighed him down. He felt he owed it to his wife considering all the times she had been there for him and would do anything it took to make sure he was okay. Anything he ever needed she gave to him freely and more.

Sarah had tried to talk to him about possible nursing homes or hiring a caregiver but Henry stubbornly refused claiming that they had been together this long now in life that only he should care for her in the final years.

Their daughter could not convince him otherwise and she admired his spirit and inner strength although she had hoped he would agree to her offer. Margarets husband even moved his work home with them to his very own office he had setup in one of the spare bedrooms that used to belong to their Sarah. He did this just so he could be available to her for around the clock care as needed no matter what.

The hospital and doctor had provided him with medicine such as sadatives and mood stabilizers he could give her should one of her spells get so bad that she might become dangerous. But she never did and he never had to use them. Her episodes could get quite bad but she was for the most part harmless. She was as the doctors would say, a very rare case. She would just cry and talk to people that only she could see or sit rocking in her chair staring out the window endlessly.

Sometimes she would come back to him and be the same old young and fiery spirited woman he had married so long ago and her mind would be clear and in tact. Other days she would treat him like he was a total stranger and phase him out completely or begin to panic, struggle, and run from him. He saw how badly this disease effected her mind and it grieved his heart to have to witness his beloved being ravaged by the effects of it over the long years. But she never lost her first love or passion for him.

Each morning he would care for her, bathe her, feed her, and help her dress, then go to work in his office. He would check on her often in between his work schedule. He had setup one of those baby monitors in their bedroom putting its twin in his study in case she had a fit of disorientation or became frightened calling out for him.

And each night after his working hours were finished he would fix their dinner, feed her, bathe and dress her for bed, and take a bath of his own. When he was all done bathing he would quietly come into their bedroom and get into his pajamas then climb into bed putting one loving and warm arm around her before they would both drift off to sleep together. Margaret owed everything to her loving husband of sixty-two years and for him putting up with it as long as he had the will to try he was a saint in her eyes.

Margaret would just smile at the feel of her husbands embrace and be thankful each night before bed that they were so lucky to be in love after all these years and still together. Sometimes Margaret would panic and not recognize him and throw fearful fits thinking he was an intruder. But he was always able to calm her and help her remember who he was so that she chould rest knowing she was safe with him in bed. It was very hard on him and in moments of clarity Margaret would often apologize to him profusely and sometimes cry out of her guilt. But he would always smile, forgive her, and cheer her up then wrap his arm around her until she settled in and finally fell asleep.

He would do this every night and it was a source of comfort for Margaret. She felt safe knowing he was always with her and beside her when he would come to bed and hold her. She eagerly awaited that moment every night. Even in her subconscious mind when her Alzheimers would peak but would leave her with just enough memory and awareness that he was there with her. Even in her old age and the random spells of confusion it settled and calmed her to know she wasn't alone. That her faithful husband still loved her and cared for her even in her most difficult times.

One night Margaret lay awake staring at the alarm clock on her nightstand as she waited for him and their usual routine. The familiar sounds of the quiet night air and their silent spacious bedroom coupled with the medicine he gave her to help her relax was lulling her gently until she was almost half asleep.

In her grogginess she realized that Henry was walking down the hall to their bedroom as he always did. He paused to take off his shoes and jacket and she could tell he was prepping for his bath. In a matter of minutes he would be ready for bed. Soon she could hear him slowly open the door and it creaked as did the floor boards of the old house while he made his way to her. He took a few moments to climb in bed with her while she silently awaited his comforting familiar embrace.

The bed lowered on the side where he usually lay with the pressing of his body weight and Margaret smiled as he slowly came to her as fast as his old age would let him. Tonight her mind was working fairly well, she was sure of it. Sometimes she could tell she was mentally intact and other times she would be completely lost. But this time she was perfectly aware of her husbands presence and her thoughts. She was thankful for the clear moments her mind would periodically grace her with.

However, her smile faded and her blood ran cold in her veins when she suddenly realized that instead of a warm embrace, the arm that draped about her was clammy and felt like ice to the touch.

"Are you cold, my love? I thought it was a bit drafty in this house. It is Winter time after all. Come rest in the thick blankets,dear." She said hoping that was the reason why he felt so cold and patted the thick bedding she lay under to emphasize her concern.

But in the back of her mind something kept nagging her that this wasn't so. The only response she got was Henry pressing his body against her backside and all of her own warmth seemed to be drained out of her because of this. There was no warmth here and she felt something was wrong. She heard ragged breathing behind her that in her frazzled state of mind she could only compare to the slow wheezing breaths of someone who seemed could not get enough air into their lungs. Her body trembled as she tried to get a grip on herself and fight off her mounting panic and confusion.

Surely this was all just in her head, wasn't it? The doctor warned them both that sometimes her disease would cause hallucinations and that her sense of time and perspective would be off, somewhat warped.

Thr haze of her confusion suddenly let go of it's grip on her and she picked up the faintest traces of an important memory long since buried but not quite forgotten. As her husband held tightly onto her in the stillness, the familiar and yet oddly unfamiliar feel of a long thin arm squeezed her as if it did not want to let go. Suddenly this helped her to recall a most imperative fact. Her husband couldn't possibly be in bed with her, of that she was certain. Because Margaret recalled that Henry had been dead for over three years now. A heart attack in his study had taken his life in a twist of irony because all had expected her to go first before him. The doctor on one of his weekly visits had found him there in his office and found Margaret all alone in the bedroom half starved and unwashed.

Margaret didn't recognize the bedroom she was in anymore either. This was not the comfortable bedroom of their two story home. She remembered everything now as it slowly came to her in pieces.

Her body locked up in fear as all these realizations crept slowly in to invade her every waking thought. She froze in terror and dared not look down at the impossibly thin arm and hand that rested over her. The cold and putrid breath of the stranger she had mistaken for her husband was awash over her neck causing goosebumps to to rise on her skin. She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed the lump in her throat that found residency there.

Whoever, or whatever it was that was in bed with her, it was clearly impersonating her husband, invading, and violating the personal precious memory they had once shared each night. It was an imposter but she wasn't certain just how real it was or if it was even human at all. She was terrified to even look and check to make sure she was not going completely insane or having one of her delusions. She know she felt Henry climb in bed. Know she heard his heavy footsteps at the door and in the room. But she could not shake the feeling that she wasn't imagining things about her husband being long since deceased. Was this just another one of her fevered imaginative stories her imperfect brain was telling her? Or where they cold hard facts and real memories?

Her body shook with fright the more she understood this and the feeling of unfamiliarity washed over her in a strange and alien way. All the comfort Henry's warmth and embrace once brought to her was now being replaced with the ice cold touch of this stagnant and malevolent being that terrorized her in the dark. Her whimpers of fear echoed in the musty small room that now suddenly seemed to swallow her whole. The nausea in her stomach over the distress of not being able to tell reality from non reality was overwhelming. She felt she was going to be sick. Or was it the smell? The sudden smell in the air of something long since rotted away?

This being was a vast and growing darkness that enveloped her, strangling her, suffocating her as it tried to drain her. Just like a parasyte, she thought. The darkness and futility of death, decay, and dispair present in the stench of its icy breaths washed over her as it labored to gasp and breathe in the quiet dismal gloom.

This was her own personal hell now complete with her own personal demon. Here in the dark cramped nursing home that reeked of urine and the silent acquiescence of the elderly who have lost all hope. The hundreds of old people abandoned by their loved ones to rot out their days with no love or mercy to find them. The very hell that her own daughter had neglectfully committed her to shortly after Henry's death. The hell he had tried so hard to spare her from for as long as he could.

She now knew what her mother meant when she told her long ago that the sins of ones past always catch up to us sooner or later and damn the persons very soul. That you could not hide your sins from the Evil One however you may try to mask it with good intent or nobility.

She thought she had done her best as a young woman when she married Henry to spare them the shame of their secret love affair. Thought she had done right by marrying him out of love. Although it had been true, the reason was not pure and apparently it had not been enough. The Devil had found her now and there would be no escape or salvation.

(Tell me what you think. Not scary enough? Too detailed? Punctuation, grammer, and spelling errors? Please feel free to give constructive and polite criticism.) 