A story I wrote.
Fleming Storage Unit #98: Anguished Arlis
As soon as that Unit cracked open I could feel the mold and mildew attack my sinuses like they had someone waiting for them back home. I was hired to copy and digitize files, not disinfect them. Three things became clear as soon as I got a good look inside. One, a heavy investment in Sudafed was a necessity. Two, they lied about this being a “simple and routine pick up”, and three, there had better be a god damn permanent position waiting in my inbox when I got back home.
Instead of the “10-15” boxes there were more like 40-50, plus a couple filing cabinets, and I had no clue what that cupboard was there for. I thanked God that they comped me on the U-Haul rental. The Subaru wouldn’t have held even a quarter of the mountain in there.
I’d been through Havre a few times, but this was the first stop. They hadn’t told me the units were going to be this packed. I started checking the boxes to see what from this hoard of paperwork was actually salvageable. A blind dog could tell this stuff hadn’t been well taken care of before being stuck in the unit.
Probably half of them had gotten soaked somehow and were falling apart, the ink on the stuff inside was completely illegible. I don’t care what the job was, that shit could stay here for the cops to deal with. The rest of the load was varying degrees of useful.
A ton of it was basic census type stuff. How many of what age and gender the hospital had admitted in which years, and who admitted then. Same with Diagnoses, and death records.
The filing cabinets looked okay. Considering the condition of the of the other boxes though, I wasn’t very surprised to find the key was completely absent. Not that it mattered since the veneer of rust had them firmly sealed. I’d have to jimmy them open when I got back to my place.
I finally got to looking at the random ass cupboard. The thing was bigger than I thought at first. Heavier to. It was locked with a small padlock, like you would find on a journal. There were scraps of old wallpaper clinging to the edges of it like it had been torn out and just tossed in here. The mirror that made up the front was coated in grime, making me look less like myself, and more like a George Romero reject.
When I moved it I noticed that it was sitting on a box that was sealed with tape in every way short of full mummification. Whoever closed it wanted it kept that way. Kinda weird though. For being so wrapped up, it didn’t feel like it had much in it. Naturally I was dying to get inside.
Loading stuff up wasn’t much trouble, the filing cabinets I took care of with a dolly. I set the mummy box and the cabinet on the passenger seat of the truck and went back and closed things up. Home was only four hours away in Billings and I needed to get into this box.
I got home and left everything but the cupboard and the taped box in the U-Haul. I went straight to my “office” and cut open the wrapped box and looked inside. There were only 4 things. An old leather-bound Journal with “Doctor Arlis Bertram Norstein” embossed in gold on the cover, and three files. I figured the files would be easier to read to get through before bed.
Attending Physician: Dr. A B. Norstein
Patient: Bernard (Bernie) Potts
Reason for Report: Medication Update
Bernard came to me today with complaining that his medicine wasn’t working and he was seeing things again. This was troubling as we believed that Mr. Potts' delusions were under control. I asked him to describe what he saw and he related something quite troubling to me. He stated that he had been playing cards at a table and something in the large mounted mirror caught his eye. He described seeing a man sit down in the chair across from him.
The man was wearing an orange knit cap, and a red and grey sweater. Bernard turned to ask what his new partner would like to play, and saw that he wasn’t there. He looked back at the mirror and the man met his gaze. He looked surprised, and then waved, put his finger to his lips, and stood and walked out of view of the mirror. Bernard immediately became agitated and asked Nurse Barkin to see me as soon as possible. It is sad, but it looks like we will have to up his dosage. He was doing so well.
Attending Physician: Dr. A. B. Norstein
Patient: Margaret Pions
Reason for Committal: Margaret Pions is a 22 year old woman from Anaconda, Montana. She is 5” 2’, with medium auburn hair, and a very thin build. The family of Miss Pions decided that they could no longer keep her in after the incident in July of 1909. Margaret displays several phobias including severe Arachnophobia, Agoraphobia, Entomophobia, and Hypnophobia, as well as several obsessive compulsive behaviors such as washing her hands upwards of 40 times per day, meticulously cleaning every surface of the room she resides in far beyond necessity, and repeatedly checking all entrances and window to make sure they are completely sealed.
These behaviors stem from an incident when Margaret was a child. The young lady was awoken one night by a tickling underneath her nightgown. She turned on her bedside lamp and looked lifted her nightgown to discover a large spider making its way up her leg. Without second thought she brought her hand down and smashed the little monster, which changed her life forever.
There is a species of arachnid named Lycosa Carolinensis. More commonly known as the Wolf Spider, is a fascinating parent. It holds all of its young on it’s back until they molt for the first time. When young Margaret slapped the arachnid, over one hundred tiny spiders swarmed out from their mothers corpse and over her body. She screamed until she passed out, but no one came to help. Her mother took morphine to sleep, and her father worked during the night.
She refused to go into her room for almost a full year, preferring to sleep in the living room. Even when she went to bed in her room, she would often find herself being woken by her father, holding her mother tight in their bed. The hand washing started soon after. Just an extra time during normal periods but it quickly progressed to 5-6 times per washing. Her hands would often run crimson from the skin being scoured away.
The years of therapy were finally staring to show some progress when on July 4th her parents convinced her to leave her window open to watch the fireworks at the family barbecue. A small spider slunk through the window and upon seeing it Margaret did the only thing that made sense to her fragile mind. She went to her father’s liquor cabinet, grabbed the Scotch, and lit her room on fire. No one was hurt, but her parents decided that Margaret’s actions were more than they could handle.
Attending Physician: Dr. John Covington
Patient Name: John Doe
Reason for Committal: Court order.
John Doe was recently convicted of the unspeakable murder of Dr. Arlis Bertram Norstein and his beloved son Archibald. They will be missed. When the police arrived on scene they discovered the Doctor had been stabbed in the abdomen several times, and Archie had, luckily some might say, had died of fright upon seeing his father murdered in cold blood.
While searching the house, they discovered John Doe laying in Archibald’s bed, caressing the young man’s pillow in a perverse imitation of a grieving parent. His face was torn into shreds. He had ripped the flesh scraps of skin from it and dropped them at the foot of the bed, in front of a small wooden bear as a grotesque sort of offering.
The officers commanded the vile cretin too get on the floor, when against all reason he stood up from the bed and threw himself through the window. He landed below in a mangled heap at the feet of two officers who were patrolling outside.
Once the Doctor’s got him stable, he was rather quickly convicted. When arrested he was observed gurgling that he was so close to fixing everything. In a cruel irony, the deplorable wretch was left with us.
This was Heavy Stuff. It seemed that it was all related to this Doctor Norstein. I’d look at the journal in the morning.
April the 18th, 1905
Olivia bought me this Journal. It was a most thoughtful gift, but my schedule doesn’t permit much time for writing.
July 10th, 1910
My Olivia asked if I was using the journal and of course saw right through my false assurances. She went out and purchased her own and now insists that we write together at least once a month.
August 20th, 1910
Olivia has been feeling ill lately. Sick every morning and lethargic during the day.
August 25th, 1910
Olivia is Pregnant! The doctor just left! Olivia Barkin you’ve made me the Happiest Man in Montana.
April 8th, 1911
Our beautiful son Archibald was born today. It was a hard labor for Olivia and she is still in the hospital. The umbilical cord was wrapped around Archie’s neck. There is some brain damage the doctor said, but hopefully the severity was kept low. I believe caring for him will be an additional full time job, so I bid you farewell journal.
January 4th, 1921
My god, I’d forgotten about this. It seems fitting I find it now. Olivia is dead. It wasn’t Archie’s fault. His retardation has kept his emotions out of his control. We’ve done our best to raise him well but it has been hard. All Olivia did was try to unplug and pack away the tree Stand. I purchased it through the Macy’s catalogue, each of the spokes have fluorescent globes. He loved to stare at it all hours of the day. She had unplugged it and went to take it down to the basement. Archie grabbed the stand from her arms and pushed her away. She tumbled down the twenty steps and broke her neck. The coroner called it internal decapitation. I will raise our son to be a fine young gentleman. This I pledge to you Olivia.
January 8th, 1921
I found Archie in his mother’s room today. He had grabbed her pillow and was sobbing. When he noticed me he rushed over and grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards her bed, motioning to the pillow. God help me… How do I handle this alone?
January 15th, 1921
I've decided that I would take Archibald to the toy store and try to find something to distract him.
Success! We were going through the aisles and he found a small carved wooden bear. He stopped in his tracks and grabbed it and ran out. I smiled to myself as I paid for it.
January 25th, 1921
This bear is a miracle! Archibald is offering it his toys, though he does get disappointed when the bear declines to play. He even has a special spot to sit it in when they watch the tree Stand. It has encompassed his attention. I can breathe easy.
March 19th, 1921
Something troubling happened recently. I saw in the paper that they released a nature picture about Bears to the theaters and decided to see if Archibald would enjoy it. He sat enraptured through the whole thing! He then started copying what he saw in in the film.
He has begun sharing pieces of his food with the bear. I was amused by this, but made sure he cleaned up as best he could. The next day he came running in and grabbed me out of my study to show me something he was ecstatic about. What I saw disturbed me.
He had somehow gotten a mouse and torn it open and presented it to the bear, whose small wooden muzzle was stained crimson. I looked and saw a small fork that was twisted and bloody.
I commanded Archie to get away from the corpse and he just stared at me. I went to pick up the bear to clean it and Archie lashed out at me. He scratched me and left several deep gouges in my forearm. I cleaned my self up, and then when Archibald went to sleep cleaned up after the bear. I do not believe I will sleep soundly tonight.
March 25th, 1921
It has happened again. Archie tried feeding the bear three mice this time. I think I may have to take the bear away from him for a time. I shall clean up the mess while he eats dinner, and then take the bear to my study and lock it away. I only hope that he doesn’t attack me again. I could prefer not to fight my own son.
Jesus Christ. That was the last entry in the journal. I flipped through it and noticed a memo taped into the back of it.
Directions: ALL EMPLOYEES MUST READ THIS TO THEMSELVES. SUPERVISORY STAFF WILL QUESTION YOU AFTERWARDS ON THE INFORMATION HELD WITHIN.
By the orders of Dr. Covington: All references to Dr. Norstein are to be erased from the records. All files mentioning him in anyway shall be gathered together and stored away for later copying without the aforementioned name. Arlis will be known as John Doe as of this moment. We cannot have that stain on our great legacy, or his. I shall keep his belongings in my personal storage.
They include the following Items
1 Electric Christmas Tree Stand
All files signed off on by John Doe
1 Three inch carved wooden bear
If any of these Items come up missing, or details of the true nature of these events comes out, NO ONE will be left unscathed.
Fucking hell. I had to get that cupboard open now. I broke of the lock and wrenched the rusted bolts open. Inside was what I’d expected. A little wooden bear, and a small electric Christmas tree stand.
I made it back to the Unit late on the 14th and turned in the key. It was best to let the ruined history of Dr. Norstein stay in It’s tomb. Doctor Covington's memo said that the files were to be copied later without mentioning the doctor. I may be eighty years late but hey, I guess it’s time to get to work.
I don't know if anyone besides my family and friends will read this, but please post your comments and critiques if you have any. Thank you so much. Truly!
As soon as that Unit cracked open I could feel the mold and mildew attack my sinuses like they had someone waiting for them back home. I was hired to copy and digitize files, not disinfect them. Three things became clear as soon as I got a good look inside. One, a heavy investment in Sudafed was a necessity. Two, they lied about this being a “simple and routine pick up”, and three, there had better be a god damn permanent position waiting in my inbox when I got back home.
Instead of the “10-15” boxes there were more like 40-50, plus a couple filing cabinets, and I had no clue what that cupboard was there for. I thanked God that they comped me on the U-Haul rental. The Subaru wouldn’t have held even a quarter of the mountain in there.
I’d been through Havre a few times, but this was the first stop. They hadn’t told me the units were going to be this packed. I started checking the boxes to see what from this hoard of paperwork was actually salvageable. A blind dog could tell this stuff hadn’t been well taken care of before being stuck in the unit.
Probably half of them had gotten soaked somehow and were falling apart, the ink on the stuff inside was completely illegible. I don’t care what the job was, that shit could stay here for the cops to deal with. The rest of the load was varying degrees of useful.
A ton of it was basic census type stuff. How many of what age and gender the hospital had admitted in which years, and who admitted then. Same with Diagnoses, and death records.
The filing cabinets looked okay. Considering the condition of the of the other boxes though, I wasn’t very surprised to find the key was completely absent. Not that it mattered since the veneer of rust had them firmly sealed. I’d have to jimmy them open when I got back to my place.
I finally got to looking at the random ass cupboard. The thing was bigger than I thought at first. Heavier to. It was locked with a small padlock, like you would find on a journal. There were scraps of old wallpaper clinging to the edges of it like it had been torn out and just tossed in here. The mirror that made up the front was coated in grime, making me look less like myself, and more like a George Romero reject.
When I moved it I noticed that it was sitting on a box that was sealed with tape in every way short of full mummification. Whoever closed it wanted it kept that way. Kinda weird though. For being so wrapped up, it didn’t feel like it had much in it. Naturally I was dying to get inside.
Loading stuff up wasn’t much trouble, the filing cabinets I took care of with a dolly. I set the mummy box and the cabinet on the passenger seat of the truck and went back and closed things up. Home was only four hours away in Billings and I needed to get into this box.
I got home and left everything but the cupboard and the taped box in the U-Haul. I went straight to my “office” and cut open the wrapped box and looked inside. There were only 4 things. An old leather-bound Journal with “Doctor Arlis Bertram Norstein” embossed in gold on the cover, and three files. I figured the files would be easier to read to get through before bed.
Attending Physician: Dr. A B. Norstein
Patient: Bernard (Bernie) Potts
Reason for Report: Medication Update
Bernard came to me today with complaining that his medicine wasn’t working and he was seeing things again. This was troubling as we believed that Mr. Potts' delusions were under control. I asked him to describe what he saw and he related something quite troubling to me. He stated that he had been playing cards at a table and something in the large mounted mirror caught his eye. He described seeing a man sit down in the chair across from him.
The man was wearing an orange knit cap, and a red and grey sweater. Bernard turned to ask what his new partner would like to play, and saw that he wasn’t there. He looked back at the mirror and the man met his gaze. He looked surprised, and then waved, put his finger to his lips, and stood and walked out of view of the mirror. Bernard immediately became agitated and asked Nurse Barkin to see me as soon as possible. It is sad, but it looks like we will have to up his dosage. He was doing so well.
Attending Physician: Dr. A. B. Norstein
Patient: Margaret Pions
Reason for Committal: Margaret Pions is a 22 year old woman from Anaconda, Montana. She is 5” 2’, with medium auburn hair, and a very thin build. The family of Miss Pions decided that they could no longer keep her in after the incident in July of 1909. Margaret displays several phobias including severe Arachnophobia, Agoraphobia, Entomophobia, and Hypnophobia, as well as several obsessive compulsive behaviors such as washing her hands upwards of 40 times per day, meticulously cleaning every surface of the room she resides in far beyond necessity, and repeatedly checking all entrances and window to make sure they are completely sealed.
These behaviors stem from an incident when Margaret was a child. The young lady was awoken one night by a tickling underneath her nightgown. She turned on her bedside lamp and looked lifted her nightgown to discover a large spider making its way up her leg. Without second thought she brought her hand down and smashed the little monster, which changed her life forever.
There is a species of arachnid named Lycosa Carolinensis. More commonly known as the Wolf Spider, is a fascinating parent. It holds all of its young on it’s back until they molt for the first time. When young Margaret slapped the arachnid, over one hundred tiny spiders swarmed out from their mothers corpse and over her body. She screamed until she passed out, but no one came to help. Her mother took morphine to sleep, and her father worked during the night.
She refused to go into her room for almost a full year, preferring to sleep in the living room. Even when she went to bed in her room, she would often find herself being woken by her father, holding her mother tight in their bed. The hand washing started soon after. Just an extra time during normal periods but it quickly progressed to 5-6 times per washing. Her hands would often run crimson from the skin being scoured away.
The years of therapy were finally staring to show some progress when on July 4th her parents convinced her to leave her window open to watch the fireworks at the family barbecue. A small spider slunk through the window and upon seeing it Margaret did the only thing that made sense to her fragile mind. She went to her father’s liquor cabinet, grabbed the Scotch, and lit her room on fire. No one was hurt, but her parents decided that Margaret’s actions were more than they could handle.
Attending Physician: Dr. John Covington
Patient Name: John Doe
Reason for Committal: Court order.
John Doe was recently convicted of the unspeakable murder of Dr. Arlis Bertram Norstein and his beloved son Archibald. They will be missed. When the police arrived on scene they discovered the Doctor had been stabbed in the abdomen several times, and Archie had, luckily some might say, had died of fright upon seeing his father murdered in cold blood.
While searching the house, they discovered John Doe laying in Archibald’s bed, caressing the young man’s pillow in a perverse imitation of a grieving parent. His face was torn into shreds. He had ripped the flesh scraps of skin from it and dropped them at the foot of the bed, in front of a small wooden bear as a grotesque sort of offering.
The officers commanded the vile cretin too get on the floor, when against all reason he stood up from the bed and threw himself through the window. He landed below in a mangled heap at the feet of two officers who were patrolling outside.
Once the Doctor’s got him stable, he was rather quickly convicted. When arrested he was observed gurgling that he was so close to fixing everything. In a cruel irony, the deplorable wretch was left with us.
This was Heavy Stuff. It seemed that it was all related to this Doctor Norstein. I’d look at the journal in the morning.
April the 18th, 1905
Olivia bought me this Journal. It was a most thoughtful gift, but my schedule doesn’t permit much time for writing.
July 10th, 1910
My Olivia asked if I was using the journal and of course saw right through my false assurances. She went out and purchased her own and now insists that we write together at least once a month.
August 20th, 1910
Olivia has been feeling ill lately. Sick every morning and lethargic during the day.
August 25th, 1910
Olivia is Pregnant! The doctor just left! Olivia Barkin you’ve made me the Happiest Man in Montana.
April 8th, 1911
Our beautiful son Archibald was born today. It was a hard labor for Olivia and she is still in the hospital. The umbilical cord was wrapped around Archie’s neck. There is some brain damage the doctor said, but hopefully the severity was kept low. I believe caring for him will be an additional full time job, so I bid you farewell journal.
January 4th, 1921
My god, I’d forgotten about this. It seems fitting I find it now. Olivia is dead. It wasn’t Archie’s fault. His retardation has kept his emotions out of his control. We’ve done our best to raise him well but it has been hard. All Olivia did was try to unplug and pack away the tree Stand. I purchased it through the Macy’s catalogue, each of the spokes have fluorescent globes. He loved to stare at it all hours of the day. She had unplugged it and went to take it down to the basement. Archie grabbed the stand from her arms and pushed her away. She tumbled down the twenty steps and broke her neck. The coroner called it internal decapitation. I will raise our son to be a fine young gentleman. This I pledge to you Olivia.
January 8th, 1921
I found Archie in his mother’s room today. He had grabbed her pillow and was sobbing. When he noticed me he rushed over and grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards her bed, motioning to the pillow. God help me… How do I handle this alone?
January 15th, 1921
I've decided that I would take Archibald to the toy store and try to find something to distract him.
Success! We were going through the aisles and he found a small carved wooden bear. He stopped in his tracks and grabbed it and ran out. I smiled to myself as I paid for it.
January 25th, 1921
This bear is a miracle! Archibald is offering it his toys, though he does get disappointed when the bear declines to play. He even has a special spot to sit it in when they watch the tree Stand. It has encompassed his attention. I can breathe easy.
March 19th, 1921
Something troubling happened recently. I saw in the paper that they released a nature picture about Bears to the theaters and decided to see if Archibald would enjoy it. He sat enraptured through the whole thing! He then started copying what he saw in in the film.
He has begun sharing pieces of his food with the bear. I was amused by this, but made sure he cleaned up as best he could. The next day he came running in and grabbed me out of my study to show me something he was ecstatic about. What I saw disturbed me.
He had somehow gotten a mouse and torn it open and presented it to the bear, whose small wooden muzzle was stained crimson. I looked and saw a small fork that was twisted and bloody.
I commanded Archie to get away from the corpse and he just stared at me. I went to pick up the bear to clean it and Archie lashed out at me. He scratched me and left several deep gouges in my forearm. I cleaned my self up, and then when Archibald went to sleep cleaned up after the bear. I do not believe I will sleep soundly tonight.
March 25th, 1921
It has happened again. Archie tried feeding the bear three mice this time. I think I may have to take the bear away from him for a time. I shall clean up the mess while he eats dinner, and then take the bear to my study and lock it away. I only hope that he doesn’t attack me again. I could prefer not to fight my own son.
Jesus Christ. That was the last entry in the journal. I flipped through it and noticed a memo taped into the back of it.
Directions: ALL EMPLOYEES MUST READ THIS TO THEMSELVES. SUPERVISORY STAFF WILL QUESTION YOU AFTERWARDS ON THE INFORMATION HELD WITHIN.
By the orders of Dr. Covington: All references to Dr. Norstein are to be erased from the records. All files mentioning him in anyway shall be gathered together and stored away for later copying without the aforementioned name. Arlis will be known as John Doe as of this moment. We cannot have that stain on our great legacy, or his. I shall keep his belongings in my personal storage.
They include the following Items
1 Electric Christmas Tree Stand
All files signed off on by John Doe
1 Three inch carved wooden bear
If any of these Items come up missing, or details of the true nature of these events comes out, NO ONE will be left unscathed.
Fucking hell. I had to get that cupboard open now. I broke of the lock and wrenched the rusted bolts open. Inside was what I’d expected. A little wooden bear, and a small electric Christmas tree stand.
I made it back to the Unit late on the 14th and turned in the key. It was best to let the ruined history of Dr. Norstein stay in It’s tomb. Doctor Covington's memo said that the files were to be copied later without mentioning the doctor. I may be eighty years late but hey, I guess it’s time to get to work.
I don't know if anyone besides my family and friends will read this, but please post your comments and critiques if you have any. Thank you so much. Truly!
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