CALL LOGS

No seriously, I just puked up half of my lunch. Again. I’ve been feeling queasy for days now and it’s not getting any better. In fact, I’m quite sure I’ve come down with something horrendous.

It started a day or so after I arrived on the bus charter with a few other select employees from the Emerald Bay branch of the Brighter Futures Suicide Hotline.

As soon as we arrived at the Retreat, I could see things would be different here. No phone calls, no offices. Just peace and quiet.

That changed after we got into the mess hall. I was in line, waiting to get a fresh meal when the man in front of me started to wobble back and forth. He turned toward me, his face looking green; and then suddenly threw up right on me.

Then he passed out on the floor. A few of the staff rushed to help him, while I was taken over to the nurse’s cabin to get checked out myself.

“Did you take your vaccinations before you came here?” she asked with a smirk as she prepared a few sponges and syringes. I didn’t want to admit that I hadn’t, so I just nodded dumbly and let her dose me up with a few antibiotics.

“There’s all kinds of things out here that can be detrimental to your health. I’m sure Mister McDougal is likely not used to this climate. That’s all,” she reassured me.

“Yeah. Must be it,” I told her with a nod. After she gave me a clean bill of health, I found myself joining the others back in the main building to find out where my accommodations would be.

“Please bring your invite up with you when your name is called,” a voice said over the intercom. It also sounded sickly. But sweet too. Infectious.

I imagined the person who was talking to be some kind of creepy callous psychopath, just to pass the time. And when it was my turn to get a cabin, I met the person behind the voice and it was every bit as creepy as I had thought. No… no actually it was much worse.

This woman was every bit the definition of a fiend. She looked like she was sick herself, with pale and unsightly blemishes all over her body; along with strange tattoos that marked her skin. Her perfume was also foul, making me immediate want to duck and cover. She was as toxic as they came.

“Hi! I’m Peggy Lee Stenson and Peggy is soooo glad that you made it here to the Eden Retreat,” she told me as she passed me my cabin key. I couldn’t get away from her fast enough. And when I got to my cabin, that was when the hurling began. I spent the first night just dry heaving over and over and over again into an empty metal can. It hurt to breathe. And I’m pretty sure Peggy was the cause of it.

It got worse the next day. Because one of the Rangers actually partnered me with the bitch. Told us to set up some stupid flags for a team building exercise we’ll have in a few days.

Peggy seemed all too happy to be with me, trotting along in a dark leather outfit that screamed of goth and hard rock.

I tried to use the opportunity to get to know her better. But she was an enigma.

“Peggy doesn’t like talking to strangers,” she giggled as she planted a flag near a tree.

“Peggy thinks that keeping secrets is wrong,” she added as we got further and further away from camp.

It was obnoxious, the way she talked. In fact everything about her was just downright putrid. I claimed I was sick again just to try and get a different task. Anything, she was that vile to me.

Peggy seemed disappointed when I told her this. In fact, she even seemed sad. On the other hand though, she was vindictive. Angry. Especially cause now she had no one working with her.

“You’ll be sorry….” she whispered in a hushed voice as I passed her by the next day.

And I was. And I still am. Because something happened that fourth night that changed everything.

I came into the mess hall as usual, greeting the coworkers I knew from Emerald Bay and the few others I had become friendly with over the past few days; when suddenly Peggy’s voice came over the loudspeaker again.

“Hi! Peggy Pestilence speaking. I wanted to take this time to thank each and every one of you for helping me to see what my reason for being here is,” she said in a creepy sing-song voice.

“And now that Peggy has figured that out, Peggy is going to make you all pay for all the nasty things you said about her,” she added.

When the speaker crackled, all of us looked at each other nervously; wondering what she might have done. Then I felt my stomach twist. My muscles spasm. It was worse than any pain I had felt in years. I toppled over on the side of the mess hall and clenched into a ball. All around me, my coworkers did the same. I started convulsing and vomiting as I saw Peggy walk into the mess hall, looking every bit like a bat out of Hell itself as she came closer.

With every step she took, my symptoms got worse. I literally felt like worms were eating away at my skin.

Then she stood overtop Brianna, smiling sweetly to him. “You were never supposed to survive this long sweetie. Bye bye,” she cackled as she bent over and choked him.

Brianna is a strong chick. I remember her constantly carrying supplies back in Emerald Bay. But when Peggy held her lithe hand around her throat it was like all life drained from her body. Not just her body though, her spirit was gone too. Then I watched as maggots and all sorts of skittering insects emerged from her skin and began to swarm Brianna.

She screamed and cried in multiple languages as the insects started to take over her body. Peggy just watched. She stood up and she waved bye bye in a strange cute sort of way. The way a doll does. It was unnerving to watch.

I lay completely still as she passed by me again the strange horde of bugs crawling after her like obedient soldiers.

As she stood in the doorway again, she paused and let the creatures quickly crawl up her leg and hide in the cracks of her brittle skin. She was looking like a broken porcelain doll now, creepy but with that beautiful glow that only heaven itself could cast. She looked like was going out to settle the score with others who had done her wrong.

It’s been a few hours now, and Peggy hasn’t come back to our camp. I think she has moved on.

I have a feeling she isn’t done yet though. Not by a long shot.

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