The Sanatorium of Murcia Page 3

  - "And fuck," -said Jackson.

  Leah shines the light on his face with her flashlight.

  Alaina blows on the back of Jackson's neck, her boyfriend, and it seemed for a moment that she had hit him with the flashlight judging by the noise it made.

  - "Baby, what are you doing? Jackson's eyes gleamed whitely on the beams of the flashlights.

  They walked for a minute or so before they stopped again.

  - "Is it true what I see?" -insinuated Chase who seemed to always carry the full weight of the conversations in the group.

  - "It's huge," -Riley said. - "I think I know what it is about."

  - "So, what is it about?" -Kevin asked, glancing at him.

  - "Well, I mean, I think I know what building it is," -Riley agreed, still focusing on what was in front of them.

  It shone like the big face of the moon, except that it was of enormous proportions with its dozens of dark eyes watching from above the night. The railings of the front door resembled a mouth full of sharp teeth. There were no bushes or trees around the building. It was right at the end of the road. In what appeared to be the entrance was a quite big esplanade with dry leaves wandering on the ground. A fountain that someday must have emanated water, now it was silent and the pipe was brittle. Everything was calm, but the gloomy aspect of the façade made one think that there would be dozens of junkies sleeping there at this hours of the night. There were paintings on the wall, more to the left and were not words or drawings, but some marks. Difficult to decipher. With some uncertainty, they focused on the path that led them to the esplanade and saw more cartridges bursting like firecrackers. But there was no trace of gunpowder in the air.

  - "Fuck! What a sinister,"! -Jackson said.

  - "It's just an abandoned building," -Riley said. It is the Sanatorium of Murcia. This building was built in 1913, and it was not until 1917 when was completed. Here they tried to cure the patients with tuberculosis and leprosy. In addition to the Sanatorium, in the following years, it became an ambulatory for all the neighbours of the nearby towns. It has been closed several times and rescued many others. In the beginning, it had two hundred beds and fifty nurses. On the upper floor were the sickest and on the lower level the least severe, who could take long walks in the Sierra and receive visitors. The last closure of this Sanitarium took place in 1962. Already in 1980, the regional government wanted to reopen it, but the substantial investment needed, it made forgotten with time. Until today."

  - "Fuck! you're an open book. How the hell do you know all this?!!" -Chase asked him, advancing his big head like a pumpkin head. His eyes were restless.

  - "I have read it on the Internet, asshole," -Riley said with a grimace on his lips.

  - "And why the hell have we chosen this Sierra? -Sadie asked as she lowered the lantern shining the light on her feet. His long dark hair moved like thousands of loose threads of a washed-out cloth.

  - "I had planned to spend all the vacations in Aguilas, on the beach, but I told myself, why not. We are going to see the Espuña Mountains and all its nature. After that, the beach will come," -Kevin explained, lighting the ghostly façade in the distance. - "But what the hell? Nobody explained anything to me about this. This is History.

  - "And are we going to sleep in a place where leprosy has passed?" - Luke, the maniac complained. His fingers took on a distorted shape as if the bones had been dislocated.

  - "Be careful, your cock is going to fall to bits," -Jackson said, laughing.

  It was not funny for Riley by the face he made.

  - "Well, we're here. Let's go inspect the building," -Kevin announced as his left arm rested on the shoulder of his beloved Leah who could not believe what she was seeing.

  Suddenly an even warmer air arose that caressed their faces and the sweat without drying it. Like a soundtrack from a bad movie, the air seemed to cry at the corners of the building. But they were laments, and they did not know it.

  Until now.

  12

  Carlos was hidden about three meters from them. Behind some bushes. He almost held his breath not to be discovered. His finger was still trembling on the trigger, but the weapon was not pointing anywhere. It was just resting on the ground and the eye of the cannon, as it is, tried to look at the stars. He felt like something warm filled his underpants and pants. The bladder had pushed again, and the stain grew inside the darkness. He nodded and touched the part of the balls. The urine was hot and had soaked him all. But he did not feel disgusted or move to take off this discomfort. All his thoughts were on those so young boys now. His look was sad, and he had thought that maybe, just that night was the last for them if they entered there. But that could well be the limit of delirium that was confused with reality, or it could be that reality became in delirium. He was not sure about that. Before wetting himself and long before he wanted to pee, Carlos had fired his shotgun several times. Against them or maybe her. But he could not be so sure either, although something inside him told him they existed and that's why he now had a sad look and looked through the undergrowth through the gaps, at those young people, with a sense of uncontrollable bewilderment.

  López watched as one looks through binoculars in the end only retains a fixed image on his retinas. One last vision, and now was them. All so young, with their backpacks hanging on their backs and lanterns piercing the wall of that Sanatorium.

  Maybe they would soon feel the cries and could see things like him or perhaps not. But something inside him made him believe in the most absurd. And again, he wishes to take the pills. The fucking pills, which left you in peace with yourself. That stupid medicine that makes you go constipated to the bathroom the next day, but that prevent you from seeing horrible things, or maybe they existed. At least near the Sanatorium of Murcia, in the Espuña Sierra, where every day someone wandered with his vehicle down the ruinous road that took you to the other part of the world, after reaching a height where the air was always fresh, and the birds flew at low altitude. Where things moved and the branches of the trees fell on the asphalt. That was them. But they were all dead, and it was also an urban legend. Some gossips that had spread since the closing of the Sanatorium. Since the beginning of the laments made up by the exaltation of those who explained to them even though they were never there inside.

  He needed the fucking pills.

  But fortunately, there was no one else with the boys.

  At least not those dark, deformed and blurry silhouettes.

  Until now.

  13

  They skirted the dry fountain, which was in the center of the esplanade, in front of what was obviously the door of the grey building, and white at times. With their backpacks loaded behind them, dragging their feet and lights of lanterns licking the floor and the great ancient wall. Their voices sounded hollows, and some of them were carried by the warm wind that had risen. From the top of the trees that adjoined the building, separated, and from the roof itself that was perceived run-down, you could hear all kinds of whistles to the rhythm of the gusts of wind. Their bodies, increasingly sweaty, trembled with emotion and disbelief in equal parts. Kevin, the captain went ahead, about two steps from the others, who followed him like a herd of scared sheep. The grayish mantle of the moon smeared the facade and their faces. But they did not seem to be worried, but their pouting were increasing, like the heat, which was becoming more dense and sticky. Luke kept adjusting the glasses over his nose as they approached those tall, rusted irons embraced by a new and sturdy chain. At the end of all, hung a padlock that shone timidly before the spotlights of the lanterns, as if they were all inquisitive eyes.

  Chase closed his fingers around one of those bars the size of a bottle neck and pulled it away, unaware of what he was doing. It was an instinctive act. The railings of the door began to squeak and tinkled like a giant crystal that fortuitously breaks to pieces.

  - "Do not you see that the padlock is locked?" -Jackson said, shining with the light on his face. Chase saw a big flash and Jackson'
s face turned white before he was almost blind.

  - "Put that light out of my face, moron! Chase grunted, bringing his left hand to his eyes, the same one that had clung to one of the bars. - "I know what it has a padlock. Sometimes they are so old that they cede."

  - "Indeed, it is old!" -Kevin said as the light of his flashlight diverted to the left. The white light searched up for the opening in the first window. - "Look, but if the windows do not have bars ..."

  - "That's very strange," -Riley cut him off, focusing on the window opening. Through it, he saw how the interior wall was peeling, with bare bricks and a bright red colour. There was no graffiti, except for drawings formed by the blocks themselves that had ceased to be protected by the gypsum that lay on the ground. The ground accumulated a dune of dust, dirt and dead leaves that moved in the rhythm of the wind. Somewhere there must be another open window to let the air flow.

  - "Why it's weird?" -Kevin wanted to know looking into his eyes.

  Riley shrugged.

  - "All windows are supposed to have bars, right?" -Gianna suggested as her fingers tangled in her long blond hair. It seemed that she had not realized the structural differences between Murcia and Florida.

  Kevin looked at her sideways and shook his head.

  Where was that written?

  - "That, why does not have bars?" -Chase jumped like an oil stain on the water. Kevin illuminated him with his flashlight. Thousands of dark dots danced within their orbits. He had said railings and no bars.

  - "And what the fuck I know! In Florida, we put wooden boards to abandoned buildings. Riley who is the smartest one should know why there is no fence here. But he does not know, so ..."

  A simple nonsense, which would not be later, became the main subject of the conversation, while they walked in front of the facade of the sanatorium, following their long sketchy shadows.

  But Riley insisted.

  - "Here in the abandoned buildings or the houses, it is custom to put railings in the windows, set up by bars, and these can be of very different forms. Wood is our thing.

  And the others responded with one; UH-HUH!

  They arrived almost at the end of the building. There, where the wall was cut to continue in another direction. The edge of it was probably eroded by the wind rubbing against it for years, Kevin thought, and his flashlight illuminated on that corner as if he was suddenly worried about this. His fingers or rather, the tips of his fingers touched the soft grit that was still hidden in the furrows of the brick.

  - "This building is at least over thirty years old," -Kevin suddenly said.

  - "You know it because I said the date it was built," -Riley reminded him.

  - "Ah! Of course!" -Kevin grumbled and let his fingers escape from the furrows of that wore corner.

  Alaina drew a smile on her huge black lips on the outside and red on the inside. Her teeth shone for a moment, and the moon witnessed it.

  They returned along the same path, again towards the door, but during the return, their lanterns illuminated the forest and the tops of the trees, which looked like giants with their arms raised to the point of stalking them. A bird flew away, producing a harsh noise while it flapped in the darkness of the sky and got lost in the distance.

  - "I do not think it's a grebe," -Riley said. - "Here there is another kind of fauna."

  - "What is it then?" -Chase asked as his left shoulder rubbed against the wall.

  Riley shrugged one more time.

  - "We've reached the starting point," -Kevin said, holding up his flashlight. - "We will get inside."

  And everyone looked at him incredulously.

  14

  Squatting, as if he were making his needs under the radiance of the moon, Carlos had the lower limbs with cramps and a continuous tingling that reached his ass. The crossbow was on the ground, but the shotgun was firmly attached to his body. He had no intention to shoot because he had not seen anything. However, it was easy that at any moment, within his field's vision they interposed or above all, her. The line between reality and fantasy was now blurred, but he knew that those unfortunates, they were just a bunch of tourists who had been trapped in the middle of the night because they did not understand what they were talking about. It was another language. His eyes, which looked whitish under the grey light of the moon, perverse that night, looked at their tight bodies and all their movements. Although he did not understand them, something inside him, told him that they were only young people who did not know what really was going to happen that night. And he had to restrain his brotherly instinct, not to stand up and scare them away with a shot, but another part of him insinuated that those anxious bodies could be them. Those who lamented at night and during the day.

  Those who were abandoned to their fate when closing the Sanatorium in 1962. Or simply her. The one that stood out above the others. He needed to take the pills and drink water. He was dry like the desert and lips were beginning to be sticky. The bushes half a meter high covered him up to the neck and for the moment, had gone unnoticed by everyone.

  At least for the moment.

  Then he observed that those young people stopped at what they should have seen from the beginning. Something they had overlooked, maybe because before it was not there.

  He needed those fucking medications.

  15

  - "Fuck! I had not seen it before," -Riley said, lighting up with his flashlight. That was just before making the big jump through the window opening. Something that forced them to retreat to all under a bustle of sneakers on the chick.

  - "But what the fuck is that?" -Chase asked in a tremulous voice. His eyes widened and his cheeks seemed deflated by the sudden impression. - " Were they so deeply religious here?"

  He referred to him.

  To the Christ who stood on the door of the fence, as big as a tree, with his arms extended on both sides of the wall, threatening to collapse from one moment to another. The lights of the lanterns light up on the sculpture that was cracked and dark. The Christ had his eyes fixed on the moon at night and in the sun, during the day. At least it would weigh a ton of pure solid stone. And its height would exceed two and a half meters. The vision of the sculpture impressed.

  - "Damn! could not they have built it bigger?" -Kevin admitted with a grin on his lips.

  - "It looks like the Liberty Statue," -Gianna said. Everyone looked at her. She felt minimized to a shit and could not think of anything else but to say: - "I say it because of the size."

  A sudden burst of laughter filled the emptiness of the night and drowned out the laments that began to be heard inside the Sanatorium. They did not realize it. No, at least for the moment.

  - "Like your boyfriend's cock," -Kevin said, looking up as the lantern flashlight did as well.

  - "At least he's smarter than you," -Gianna replied as her eyes looked at the sculpture of that giant Christ.

  - "I do not doubt that," -Kevin said.

  - "I had not remembered this little detail. -The index and thumb fingers merged into one. - "The structure of this building, if I'm not mistaken, is formed by three wings of two heights and the basement. This was the foundation in its early years. Already, over the years they add up to this construction the janitor's house, the morgue, the wakes and an aqueduct to collect water from the thawing, among other things ..."

  - "Like this piece of Christ." -Luke smiled, touching his glasses infinitely. Chase smiled.

  - "The roof is gabled, and in the center, there is a typical tower of the constructions of the time. In front of the main façade stands the sculpture of Christ." -Riley's flashlight illuminated on the sculpture again and added. - "This, which you see here. His face was all poetry."

  - "Enough! And have you memorized all that or are you a beatified of the communion bread?" -Kevin asked, glancing at him. An inquisitive look rested on his face.

  - " I Do not. I have studied it. Like the history of the castle of Lorca and the one of Águilas ..."

  - "Hey! Hold it! Nob
ody here has wound you up!" -Kevin cut off moving his left hand.

  - "Bloody hell!" -Jackson reacted late. Alaina punched him in the shoulder, causing him to stumble like a dock, with a return trip.

  - "And I think I've read that the construction of this building was done by the neighbours of this area," -explained Riley as a colophon.

  Everyone was stunned.

  The backpacks were already heavy behind their back, and others were thirsty and hungry. The idea, above all else, was to spend the night in that building. Something that none of them doubted. Now and after the expectation raised by the discovery of the great Christ, which reminded them of an old movie, the lanterns drew bright circles inside one of the rooms or bedrooms that could be seen through the window openings.

  There was still dirt and, forgotten, that was the exact word. Forgotten. But it lacked hooligan graffiti, food scraps or garbage. If not, on the contrary, there was intact furniture for many years in each room, even though these were covered with dust and cobwebs and once again, forgottens.

  - "Looks like they left this building abruptly," -Kevin objected as the light of his flashlight go over every corner of the room or bedroom. He did not know for sure what it was. But he had already decided.

  He leaned against the edge of the hollow window, discovering that there were no crystals, like affiliated teeth, on the borders of the window and he raised his right leg, pushing himself with both hands. The flashlight was resting on the windowsill.

  Once he climbed on the sill like a cat with his nails out, he let himself fall to the other side, with all the weight of the backpack. There was a dull thud, and a hand took back the flashlight that lights up now, all the forgotten furniture.

  - "How's everything in there Kevin?" -Riley asked.

  - "How will it be? Abandoned, moron."

  Riley was the second to get up on the windowsill, and after doing so, he remembered that Chase had a few kilos more. His lips stretched from side to side. Then Jackson followed.