MY TERESA
[NOTE: I originally wrote this story as an assignment for a writer's workshop I attended in 1993. The following year, I revised it extensively. Enjoy! K.G.]
It was a foggy, drizzly day. Elena Thompson sat upright in her living-room armchair, reading a Eugenia Price novel. Occasionally, she stuck a toothpick in her mouth and gnawed on it. She did that to fight her ongoing craving for cigarettes.
The phone rang, and Elena picked up the receiver. "Hi, Mom," a familiar voice said.
Elena leaned forward. "Teresa! How are you, dear?"
"I'm just fine, but I don't know about Dr. Gorby. There was another break-in, last night."
Elena froze. "Was anyone hurt?"
"No, Mom, but the burglar stole some of Dr. Gorby's medicines and lab equipment. Dr. Gorby's had me cancel all of today's appointments."
"Why?"
"He's pretty shook up."
"I'm sure he is!" Elena swallowed. "And so am I, at hearing about it. This is the fourth time Dr. Gorby's been robbed, and he won't even call the police! Teresa, dear, I worry about you working there."
Teresa laughed. "Now, Mom, there's no need for that. I can take care of myself."
Elena tried to smile. "I suppose you're right, but I just can't help it. Maybe if that burglar hadn't assaulted me so long ago, I wouldn't worry so much about you and your brother. I want you to call the police, you hear?"
"I will. Love ya. Bye, Mom."
Elena hung up and sat slumped. For a long time, she chewed toothpicks into tiny splinters.
A burglar had attacked Elena at gunpoint, when she was fourteen years old. Because of that memory, she had always worried about her children, Tom and Teresa.
The phone rang again. Trying to steady her hand, Elena removed the toothpick from her mouth and picked up the receiver. "Teresa?"
A male voice chuckled. "No, Mom, it's Tom."
The two exchanged greetings, then Tom said, "Mom, I can't seem to reach Dr. Gorby. I think his phone's off the hook."
"Your sister's probably calling the police. There have been several night burglaries at Dr. Gorby's office, lately."
"So that's it!"
"What?"
"I saw Dr. Gorby at the hardware store, yesterday. He looked pretty glassy-eyed. I guess it's lack of sleep."
Elena smiled wryly. "No doubt. Son, why do you need to call him?"
"I just sprained my hand. I guess I'll have to go there to get an appointment."
"You do that."
"Well, I gotta go, Mom. Talk to you later." The line clicked.
Elena set the receiver down and rose to her feet. She decided to go to Dr. Gorby's herself, to check on Tom and make sure that Teresa was all right.
She found her purse, then raced out to the car. Minutes later, she pulled into the doctor's parking lot. As she stepped out of the car, she removed a toothpick from her mouth and stared at the gray, overcast sky. So dreary.
As soon as she entered, she began to tremble. Something was wrong. The waiting room lay empty, and Teresa, who normally sat in the receptionist's cubicle, had disappeared.
With a pounding heart, Elena hurried toward the glass partition. As she looked through it, she screamed.
Teresa lay sprawled on the carpet behind her desk. A pool of blood surrounded her chest.
Elena screamed hysterically. Soon, the door opened behind her. She whirled around.
Tom, who had on a T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, raced toward her. "Mom! What are you doing here?"
"Your sister's dead!" Elena screamed. "She's killed!"
Elena and Tom raced into the cubicle. Out of the corner of her eye, Elena saw the phone's receiver dangling on the floor.
They knelt by Teresa's side, and turned her over. Her chest rose and fell. Tom pressed his finger on Teresa's neck. "She's been shot. Call 911."
Elena obeyed. As she gave the police the necessary details, Tom pressed his handkerchief against the gunshot wound. When Elena hung up, she knelt by her son. "The police and an ambulance will be here, soon."
Minutes later, the door opened. A couple of policemen led two paramedics into the receptionist's cubicle. As the paramedics examined Teresa, the police questioned Elena, then left to search the building.
The paramedics took Teresa away, limp and unconscious. Later, the police returned, reassured Elena and Tom, and left.
Elena sighed. "Thanks for your help, son." She hugged him.
Tom left the receptionist's cubicle. As Elena picked up Teresa's jacket and purse, she heard a thud in the next room. Somebody had entered that room! Could it be the kille?
"Mom?" Tom reappeared in the doorway. "Are you all right?"
Before Elena could answer, she heard a louder thud, as if someone had knocked over a chair. Then a door slammed. Elena and Tom stared at each other.
"The killer's still here, son. I'm sure of it."
"You want to call the police?"
Elena shook her head. "He'll probably be gone before they arrive. If he learns my Teresa's alive, he may try again."
"So what will you do?"
Elena paused. "I'm going to hunt for him."
Tom frowned. "Mom! That's crazy! He'll try to kill you!"
Elena sighed. "You think I don't know that? Yet I can't let him murder Teresa."
Tom stood silently a moment. "OK. I'll help you. Where shall we begin?"
"The next room, where we heard that noise."
And they did. They found an overturned chair and some empty drawers, but no conclusive evidence. For a while, they searched one room after another.
Once, Elena searched an examination room. "Nothing here."
No answer. "Tom?"
She turned around. Tom had disappeared!
Elena panicked. I'm getting out of here!
Even as she turned to flee, she paused to reconsider. She remembered the danger that faced her daughter.
She sighed. I can't run. I can't do that to my Teresa.
As she continued to search, she kept one eye out for Tom and a wary eye out for the killer. Repeatedly, she fought off the urge to flee, which arose in her continually.
At the back of the building, she found a flight of stairs that went downward, closed in by two walls. No doubt, they led to a basement or cellar.
Again, Elena hesitated. Who knew what horrors lurked down there?
Enough! Courage!
Elena slowly descended the stairs. What lay at the bottom?
Would she ever come out again?
When she reached the bottom, she paused and took a deep breath. She then minced across the threshold.
In the middle of the room, a wooden crate rested on a table. It contained powders, pills, and syringes, such as Elena had seen on "60 Minutes."
Narcotics! Elena shuddered. The police didn't find this. That means the killer's here! Right now!
Footsteps creaked on the stairs behind her. She whirled around, praying it was Tom.
She screamed. In the doorway stood Dr. Gorby, and he held a revolver!
He aimed it at her chest. "Too bad you found out my secret, Elena." He looked glassy-eyed. Must be the narcotics he's on, Elena thought. As he was when my Tom saw him yesterday.
From the corner of her eye, Elena saw a stack of wooden crates piled on the floor near the back corner. She had seen several such piles when she entered. She stepped backwards, staring at Dr. Gorby.
"If you're going to kill me, Dr. Gorby, you may as well tell me, first, what's going on. I don't even know what this secret is."
Dr. Gorby smiled. As Elena backed toward the pile of crates, he moved toward her. "It's simple," he said. "I don't make enough as a doctor to live as I wish, so I've gotten me a little sideline."
"You--sell drugs?" Elena shook her head at him.
Dr. Gorby gestured impatiently. "Shut up and listen! Yes, I sell drugs! I use it, too. It calms me down, eases my worries. Being a doctor is most stressful, you know."
He paused. "That's why I shot your Teresa, Elena. She wanted to call the police about the burglaries, even before this morning, so I made sure there were no witnesses."
He shook his head. "So sorry about your daughter! Even more sorry that you have to die with her."
Hope suddenly arose in Elena. Could it be that Dr. Gorby didn't know that Teresa had survived, or that Tom was in the building with her?
Dr. Gorby stopped short. "Oh, by the way, Elena, what about Teresa? Is she dead? And why isn't your son Tom down here with you?"
Elena froze. Dr. Gorby stared at her and shook his head. "Never mind. I know. She's alive, and you want to hide that knowledge to protect her from me. As for Tom, you must have separated from him by accident." He grinned at her horror-stricken face. "After I dispose of you and Tom, I'll go to the hospital. I'll give Teresa an injection that will kill her." He glanced at his gun. "But now, first things first."
Elena scrambled around the pile of crates, then toppled them, knocking the doctor down. Dr. Gorby swore.
As Elena raced to the next pile of crates, the memory of her assailant flashed through her mind. Attempting to suppress it, she hid behind the next pile. "It won't do you any good to hide, Elena."
Elena trembled. The previous assailant had spoken similar words to her: It won't do you any good to fight, little girl.
Shut up! she screamed inwardly.
"I'll find you, Elena. And I'll put a bullet in your heart when I do."
Elena slipped behind a third pile. She must keep behind the crates!
Dr. Gorby suddenly appeared. "Good-bye." He cocked his gun.
Before he could fire it, Tom leaped upon him. As the two men wrestled, Dr. Gorby dropped his gun. He grabbed Tom by his injured hand. He then pulled a knife out of his pocket and held it over Tom's chest.
Elena leaped forward and snatched the revolver. "Not so fast, Dr. Gorby!"
With his good hand, Tom wrenched the knife out of the doctor's hand. He yanked Dr. Gorby upward. "You're coming with us."
While Elena held him at gunpoint, Tom marched him upstairs. In the receptionist's cubicle, Elena called the police. While the three then waited, Elena suddenly pictured her previous assailant standing in handcuffs. She'd never been able to imagine such a thing before.
Elena sighed, looking at her hands. I must let go of that memory, once and for all. It's behind me. And my kids! What have I done to them, feeding them with my worries so constantly?
The same policemen as before entered, and Elena and Tom told them everything. As one officer read Dr. Gorby his rights, the other said, "We'll need your statement before you go to your daughter at the hospital, ma'am."
"First I must call the hospital and find out about Teresa."
Elena dialed the hospital number. As she spoke with the floor nurse, she learned that Teresa's condition had been stabilized. Yes, Elena could stay with Teresa; the nurse would order a cot for her.
She hung up the phone in joy. "She's going to live!"
"That's wonderful!" Tom said. "You're going to stay with her?"
"Yes. After I give the police my statement."
Tom grinned. "You sure were brave, Mom! A real hero."
Elena smiled and hugged her son. "So are you."
"And Teresa?"
Elena laughed. "Both my children are brave!"
THE END
©1994 by Kathryn D. Green