Free Dracula (A Modern Telling) by Victor Methos Page A

could’ve happened.
    “Dr. Seward,” one of them said, “I think it was the window. Look at it, it’s all damaged. I bet he slid through the window.”
    Some of the orderlies had taken off after him through the front door and were scouring the neighborhood but I thought the quickest way to find him was to follow him out the way he had left. I was the thinnest man there so I had the orderlies help me out the window. It wasn’t far off the ground so I went feet first and landed outside.
    “He went to the left,” one of the orderlies shouted.
    I jogged at a brisk pace and at the far end of the property saw a figure dressed in the white gown of our hospital. It must’ve seen me because it bolted directly for the wall separating the hospital from the property next door, which is a foreclosed vacant house.
    I ran b ack and told the orderlies which direction he was going and then I ran after him and climbed up the fence myself. I saw the figure running down the street and I chased him for about a block until we got to this old church. I followed him around the building and saw him pressed up against a massive oak door. He was talking to someone.
    “I’ve worshipped you my whole life,” he said. “I’ve done everything that you wanted. I will do everything that you ask me to. I’ll be your slave but you won’t pass me by when you give out good things, will you Master?”
    The orderlies arrived and we had him trapped. Someone asked if we should call the police but I said no, we could handle him ourselves. But I did wish later that we had called the police because he fought like a cornered tiger. I’ve never seen a patient with so much anger and hatred.
    But we finally got him sedated and brought him back to the hospital. I’ve had to place restraints on him in case he thought about escaping again or hurting himself. I tried speaking with him but he just kept saying, “Master, master! It’s coming coming coming. Master!”

To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: Jonathan
    Date: August 24, 2012
     
    Lucy, I can’t even tell you how relieved I am to be in California with Jonathan. The flight was fine except for a male stewardess that was really rude to me for some reason. But it didn’t matter when I saw Jonathan for the first time. I ran up to him and hugged him and kissed him and just held him for a long time. He looked so thin and pale that I was worried he was malnourished and told him I was taking him out for salads and burgers.
    He says he doesn’t remember much about what happened. It’s funny that men think they can lie to us and we can’t tell. But he doesn’t want to talk about it for some reason and I’m not going to press him on it.
    The next day he was doing better and could speak clearly whereas, according to the nurses, he was ranting and raving like some crazy person for the past few days. But when he sat up yesterday, he took my hand and he kissed it and said the only thing that got him through the past few weeks was the thought that I might be his wife. I felt so emotional I started crying like a fifth grader and we kissed and held each other a long time. Then he asked that I grab his stuff off the shelf. I did and he took out his Macbook from a backpack and opened it to a blogging app.
    “Everything is in here,” he said. “I don’t want you to read it. I don’t want you to know anything about what I’ve been through and I don’t want to relive it. I don’t even know how much of it is true. The doctor told me I might’ve had a stroke and there could’ve been hallucinations from seizures. But I want to forget it, as much of it as quickly as possible.”
    I closed his Mac. “I trust you. I don’t need to know and I don’t care. I’m just so glad you’re okay.”
    He kissed me and said, “Let’s get married.”
    “We are.”
    “No, I mean now. Right now. They have a little chapel here and a priest.”
    I didn’t even need to think about