The Package - Part 2: The smell from within (Weekend Freewrite - Single Prompt Option) 10/26/19

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Weekend Freewrite -10/26/19 - Single Prompt Option

Start Here for Part 1

Part 2:
"Quick, call an ambulance!" Mr. Jordan roared in an authoritative voice to the other two neighbors. They had all rushed to assist their elderly neighbor they saw slumped down on the swing. Nestled in a moderate-income neighborhood, Eastwood St. was a quaint cul-de-sac where everyone looked out for each other.

"Mrs. Dennison, can you hear me?" Mr. Jordon shouted. He applied a soft slap to her face, which forced the groggy woman to open her eyes just for a second. She didn't want to return, but the voices talking at the same time stirred her to consciousness.

Looking up at the faces surrounding her, she should have been overwhelmed by the mingling of the strong odors from the men's cologne. Instead, she sensed a faint aroma in her nostrils. It was too much to bear.

Margaritte didn't hear the sirens nor feel Mr. Jordan's warm hand on her cheek as the ambulance made its way to the hospital. Once there, he sat in the waiting room as she was rushed into the ICU. For several hours he waited and would wait for as long as it took.

The doctor finally emerged from the ICU. "Family of Mrs. Dennison," he said with an expressionless look on his face. "That would sort of be me," Mr. Jordan rushed to explain. "You see, I'm her neighbor, and accompanied her to the hospital. She has no one else here right now. But her children are on the way." The doctor hesitated, then pulled him to the side.

He explained that Margaritte had suffered a massive stroke and was partially paralyzed. The doctor then said, "It was a good thing you were there to get her to the hospital quickly. I can't tell you any more. I'll have to wait on the family."

Mr. Jordan was given permission to see Margaritte. He just poured out what he wanted to say to her. The children explained to him that she could hear and understand, but couldn't respond. With her eyes closed, he said in a soft voice, "You fainted, Mrs. Dennison and almost fell off the porch swing." After a few minutes, Mr. Jordan left the room.

"Thank you for letting me see her," he said softly. Darnella responded quickly, "No, thank you. If it weren't for your kindness and swift action, Mr. Jordan, we might have had a different outcome". Kindness, he thought. He held his head down because he didn't dare look into her eyes.

Darnella slipped quietly back into the room. She reached for her mom's hand and laid it on the bed, her head on top of it. "I can't lose you now. Not after all this," she sobbed. She was close to finally getting justice.

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She thought her mom was asleep, but Margaritte was remembering the words: “Addressed to Mattie Longarina”.

How did they find me? I never talked. She tried hard to sort out the jumbled memories from a far away place long time ago. The same memories that now thrust themselves into her consciousness.

"I have a present for you, Mattie," her boss said, as he set the case of perfume on her desk. "All you have to do is hand it out to each applicant. Understand?" In a military-style gesture, Mattie said with a grin, "Yes, Sir.". She opened the box and thought she wouldn't have to buy perfume for the rest of the year!

Her first applicant! To impress her boss, Mattie made sure the the person qualified for the job. Wow, this is easy, she thought. After a year, a sinking feeling began to rise up in her whenever her Boss called to request more temporary workers. She wrestled with this unknown fear for several days, while delaying the calls to the agencies.

"How did the system work?" she thought. It was not to recruit for factory work in a French transportation enterprise, that's for sure. Besides, the new employees never returned after she gave them their orientation and access cards. Whenever she asked, her Boss would just reply, "They were reassigned to another location." The answer just didn't feel right. Mattie was determined to find out what was going on. She slowly came to the realization that the company she worked for was not was advertised. But why the perfume? A dread enveloped her as she realized she had to tread carefully.

Mattie waited until the weekend when her Boss would not be in the office. She excavated the keys that were taped to the underside of the bottom drawer. Hurriedly closing the drawer, she slipped out the back door of the factory. Instincts drew her to the trailer parked in the far back of the lot. The closer she walked, she could smell the faint odor of that perfume.

"I'll never get this door opened," she swore. Panic began to rise in her throat. What if she were caught, she thought. But then the door swung open. She stood there in horror as her eyes took in the outlines of bodies strewn all over on the bed of the truck. And that awful smell. The same perfume she was required to wear, but mixed with something else which magnified the stench tenfold. Questions swirled in her mind.."Why were they in there? What happened to them?" Mattie turned and vomited until her stomach was empty. She sobbed profusely now as she covered her mouth and thought, "What have I done?" She threw the keys to the pavement as she stumbled over the "DO NOT ENTER" stanchion sign. Then she turned and ran as fast as she could. Didn't know where she was going. She just ran.

Startled, Darnella woke to her mom's barely audible, slurred words as she tried to speak. "Do you need anything, mom," she said in a concerned voice. But tears were strolling fast now down Margaritte's cheeks.

A headache was also moving slowing across her head, determined to meet the pain in her eyes. But it couldn't overshadow the smell from within.