Walls Behind Drapes

Sovi?…

It’s nighttime and Soviya lays asleep in bed. She mumbles and slightly jerks in her sleep a few times. But after some time, she slowly begins to wake up. There is someone in bed beside her. Rolling over on her side, she proceeds to get out of bed to use the bathroom. Once she finishes in the bathroom, she walks over to a grand piano in her living room. The night conceals her. All but the dim light of the moon shining through the blinds of her window. While standing beside it she plays a single note. As she pauses, the silence erases the note in the air, and she strokes the side of the piano. Taking a breath, she sits down and begins to play a mellow tune…

The next morning…

Soviya is now in the kitchen making breakfast as the living room TV plays.

“Breaking News… There has just been an Amtrak train accident near the railroad crossing by Connelly St… The train was derailed from its tracks, and has reportedly injured 32 people and killed 11 people…”

The news reporter continues. Soviya glances at the TV, hearing the news and begins plating her breakfast. As she prepares to sit down at the kitchen table to eat, her cell phone rings on the counter. She looks at the caller ID and ignores the call. Then she sits at the table and begins to eat…

Soviya pulls up to a building of a clinic and parks by the sidewalk. She enters the building only to be thrown into the chaos inside. She hears arguing from one of the rooms in the back and proceeds towards it. There are several patients in the waiting room who are very concerned by the situation. An employee tries to keep them calm. Once Soviya enters the room she sees a group of employees and the police. A woman is shouting at a man. “…You made deliveries with him!” She yells. “Look, what have I been saying all this time?! I haven’t seen him in like two weeks now! I just came back from vacation!” The man tries to explain to the woman. The police try to calm everyone down. Another woman standing near the doorway sees Soviya in a confused state, and trudges over to her. “There’s a situation apparently…” The woman whispers, continuing to look at the conflict. “What kind of situation?” Soviya asks, whispering as well. “You know Daryl Warner?...” Soviya pauses for a second and shakes her head slowly. “Well, he used to deliver lab equipment to this clinic. Mostly to our floor. And uh… He’s gone missing completely… He’s been missing for four days now apparently. And now the cops of course are questioning everyone by association. That’s why we’re all in here now…” The woman explains. Soviya looks towards the commotion in the middle of the room. “Okay everybody just calm down. Alright, at this time we’ll start with asking you all a few questions in private if you don’t mind. The better you cooperate, the faster this’ll be over. Do you all understand?” The officer announces. Everyone, now at a calm, all nod. “Good. Let’s start with you ma’am. You said you were a friend of his right?” The officer asks the woman. “Yes.” She replies, still a bit upset. Two officers escort her to an isolated room. As another officer secures the room where the handful of employees all sit and wait their turn. Soviya walks towards a vending machine to buy a bottle of orange juice. “Miss where are you going?” The officer asks her. “I’m just going to get me something to drink from the vending machine.” She replies. He nods and she proceeds to buy the drink…

1 hour later…

“So, you’ve never really encountered Mr. Warner since you’ve been working here?” The officer asks Soviya. “No… I’m a hostage to my desk on the top floor.” Soviya says with a little chuckle. “I really don’t have to leave it for anything other than to go to the restroom or go home. Believe it or not, I don’t even know anyone on the floors below except Kelly the receptionist on the first floor... And that’s only because I have to see her in order to enter the building and get on the elevator.” Soviya explains. The officers nod glancing at one another, then look back at Soviya. “Okay… Well, we’re sorry we had to take up your time. But all of this is necessary, you understand.” He tells her. “Of course. It’s no problem. I just wish that I had a little more to tell you, so I could feel like I’ve been of some help… This sounds like it’s a pretty bad situation…” Soviya replies looking disappointed. “No, it’s fine. You’ve been very cooperative. And we appreciate that. With that being said, we’re all done here. You can leave now.” The officer tells her. “Okay… thank you.” She nods and gets up to leave. The policeman looks at the other officer. “Let’s bring in the next one.” He tells the officer. “Have a good day Ms. Barnett.” The officer says before she leaves the room. “You too.” She replies smiling. Then exits the room…

Later that evening, Soviya gets home from grocery shopping. She places the bags onto the kitchen table and takes off her jacket. She begins putting up the groceries. Once she’s done, she enters her bedroom. “I bought some more groceries.” She says to a man lying in the bed. His body and half of his face is covered with the bed sheet. Soviya walks over to a dresser and pulls out a syringe with a large needle. “The police were looking for you… Your friend was really upset by the way.” She says, filling the syringe with a clear liquid. “They questioned everyone… I told them that I never met you…” Soviya chuckles. Then walks over to the side of the bed where the man is lying. She pulls the cover from his face, revealing that the man is dead. He’s fully clothed. She then injects him in the neck with the needle. “Don’t worry, no one knows you’re here. You can relax. I’ll take care of you now.” She tells the dead man. “Have you been in bed all day?... You know that’s not good. You need to move around a little babe.” She goes to pull the corpse out of the bed. “Do you want to watch the game on TV in the living room while I make dinner?..” She says. She puts her ear to his mouth as she holds him underneath his arms from behind. “You want to watch the game?... Okay. I’ll get dinner started.” She drags the dead man into the living room and props him up on the couch. She finds the remote and turns on the TV. Then turns it to the sports channel where there is a football game in progress. Once she gets him situated, she proceeds to prepare dinner…

In the late hours of the night, Soviya is playing the piano. She stops for a moment and looks up at the ceiling. Then gets up from the bench and walks up the stairs. Once she’s on the second floor she stands underneath an attic access. Grabbing an attic stair pole, she hooks it onto the attic’s door pull ring and opens it. She climbs up the ladder into the musty and damp room. Reaching for a string to switch on the light to look around. There are preserved human remains throughout the attic space. Small jars and trunks filled with body parts seemingly taken from men. She walks over to a dresser and pulls out a picture. She stares at the photo for a while. “Guess what dad?... I finally learned to play the song…” She smiles and places the photo on top of the drawer. Then she looks up and walks over to what appears to be a corpse of a headless man sitting in a chair. The corpse has several different body parts of different men sewn onto it. She kneels to the body then reaches under the chair and pulls out a sewing kit, stapler and a box. She opens up the box that reveals a petrified left foot. Taking the foot out of the box, she proceeds to sew it onto the corpse’s left leg which a foot has been severed. “I met someone about a week ago, dad. And he’s a really nice guy, this one. So, I don’t want you to worry about anything this time.” She begins talking to the corpse as she continues to sew and staple the foot on. “Actually, he’s living here too now… I know you might not approve, but like I said before you don’t have to worry… There’s no man that can take your place…” She says looking up to the dead man. “You know, they just kind of remind me of you honestly…” She goes on to say chuckling, finishing up the rest of the sewing…

There have been an unusual number of missing persons cases in the past couple of months in Talsea. Local authorities are unable to determine if there is any foul play involved. Since there have not been any bodies recovered, authorities do not rule out that there is a connection to all the disappearances… More of that story at 8…

Two mornings later…

A handsome, well-dressed man enters a financial building. Unusually, it’s not very many people around. He approaches the front desk. “Hi, how are you?... I'm here to see Cynthia Garrett.” The man says to the secretary at the desk. She looks up from her computer at him. “Oh um… Yes… May I ask your name?” She asks him. “I’m Joel. Joel Devonport.” He answers with a smile. The woman blushes and smiles back. “Um, do you have an appointment with her?” She asks flustered. “Yes.” He answers with a charming grin. “Okay, I’ll let her know you’re here.” The secretary says with a chuckle. She picks up her desk phone to call Cynthia. After a few rings she gets an answer. “Hi Mrs. Garrett… There’s a Mister Joel Devonport here to see you… Okay, I’ll tell him…” She hangs up the phone and brings her attention back to Joel. “She says she’ll be right down in just a minute. You can have a seat over there if you’d like.” The secretary tells him. “Awesome, thanks.” Joel says to her. The secretary smiles bashfully. Joel takes a seat, grabbing a hardware magazine. He glances up towards the secretary’s desk, catching her staring at him. She quickly looks back at her computer. He grins and continues reading through the magazine. Footsteps from high heels can be heard a few minutes later. “Mr. Devonport?” Cynthia calls out. Joel looks up and sees her. With a smile on his face, he gets up and she proceeds to shake his hand. After they greet each other, they make their way on to an elevator. As they enter onto the floor of Cynthia’s office, Cynthia gives Joel who is walking beside her a seductive smile. He smirks in return. They both come to her office and go in. Once she locks the door, she turns towards Joel standing by the wall and walks over to him. She begins kissing him as he wraps his arms around her waist. They stop kissing and Cynthia looks into Joel’s eyes. “My husband’s going on a business trip today. I think we can save a little of this for tonight, don’t you?...” Joel just continues looking at her with a small smirk on his lips. “Look, I’ll be honest… I know I’m twice your age, but you’re far too fine to pass up. It’s only been a week since we met, right?... It’s hard for me to stop wanting you.” She states, smiling. Joel remains silent, only keeping the smirk on his face. “Oh… By the way, I put a good word in for you already with Lisa Halman at the firm. So, all you have to do is wait for her call. Just remember, we have to keep this little situation we have as quiet as we can.” She chuckles, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Then she rests her head on his chest. As he looks out into the room, his grin begins to fade…

Later that night…

Where are you Soviya?…

Soviya tosses and turns in bed. She then wakes up with a start. Glancing over at Daryl’s corpse beside her she turns to it, resting her head on the dead man’s chest. She sighs, then turns back over and gets out of bed. Soviya heads towards the living room piano. She sits down and begins playing on it…

It’s 4 a.m. the next morning, the night seems at its darkest. Joel is driving down a dark road with thick woods surrounding it. Pulling onto a hidden path guarded by trees, he continues to drive farther then stops. He turns off the car, gets out, then stretches. He had been driving for five hours straight. Lightly tossing his keys in the air and catching them, he starts to whistle a tune. As he walks up to the trunk of the car, he takes a pocketknife out of his back pocket and looks at it for a moment. He places it back in his pocket. Then he proceeds to open the trunk. Inside are two full large trash bags inside burlap bags. He pulls them both out and drags them behind him deep into the woods continuing to whistle. A swamp can partially be seen in the distance…

The police added yet another missing person to the list… 43-year-old Cynthia Garrett, financial director at Acklon Corporation, was reported missing yesterday. Colleagues and family members say it had been three days and no one had seen or heard from her… Police will not say if her husband is in fact a number 1 suspect although he himself allegedly, had gone out of town the night Cynthia went missing. He is wanted for questioning… A massive search has already been issued, following the disappearances of several other men and women including the recent disappearance of 38-year-old Daryl Warner, early last week…