Geraldo by Abby Moran (best historical fiction books of all time .txt) 📖

didn’t kill anybody. “You have the wrong guy!”

I couldn’t watch this any longer, I had to stop him before he shot an innocent man.

“Stop Mike!”

Mike turned with an angry look in his eyes.

“Jim go home. This doesn’t concern you.”

“I miss him too Mike, and your my brother this does concern me.”

I put my arms in the air to show innocence and slowly walked closer to him.

“He didn’t deserve to die Jim!”

“I know Mike, I know. We don’t even know if this guy did it or not. You might make a huge mistake.”

He was silent so I continued

“Just give me the gun Mike.”

“No!”

He stepped away from me.

“You don’t understand Jim! I have to do this for Geraldo!”

“Mike this man is innocent.”

Mike started heavily breathing, he was running out of breath. He started to sink to the ground letting go of the gun as he did so. His other hand clutched his heart and I raced to him. “Mike!” he didn’t reply he just looked at him and gasped for air. “Mike!” His eyes started to shut and I called the ambulance for help. I knew this would blow his cover for hiding from the murder but I couldn’t let him die out here either. Chapter 5

Mike was fine but in a coma. He was admitted into the hospital as soon as he got there. I have been to the hospital everyday now and keep him up to date on the Mae Bunsen case. I told him the answer to his riddle was the man was dead and read to him old stories our father read to us as kids. They say people can hear others around them when they are in a coma so I pretended as if he were still awake. I talked about sport scores I saw, old memories and just about anything. I even bought him a get well card and as a present framed a picture of Geraldo for his hospital room.

I kept talking to him and giving him cards (since nobody else knew he was here). Then I started to remember about the lay down freezer stench. I told Mike more stories and told him I had to leave early. Now with Mike in a coma at the hospital, he obviously could not stop me from opening it. I wondered what it could be all the way home. A bomb? Maybe some fireworks? An animal? To really be honest with this new Mike it could be just about anything. I got home and went straight for my crowbar to open it up. Why I thought of a crowbar? To be quite honest something inside me thought a crowbar can be used to open things or knock things out. I ended not having to use it as Mike just left it thinking I’d never go try to open it again.

I took a deep breath while I opened it. I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t look until it was completely open. As I opened it more and more, the stench became more and more prominent. I opened one eye after another to find the rotting corpse of Mae Bunsen. What moved when I touched it were a swarm of maggots attacking at every piece of flesh, bone, and muscle. I couldn’t breath for a long time. I picked up my cell phone, It was Mike’s doctor, Dr. Huntington. “Jim you might want to come back to the hospital, your brother is starting to wake up. He’s at a stable stage where we think you can come and visit him.” I just listened. “Jim?” I forgot to answer. “I’m sorry for the pause, I’ll be down there as soon as I can. Thank you for calling.” I blinked my eyes realizing I just told a doctor I would go back to the hospital again. Setting my cell phone securely in my pocket, I rode back to the hospital.
Mike was blinking viciously trying to wake up more and his voice was weary but he held up a conversation very well. I understood what he was saying and he understood what I was saying.

“Little Drummer Boy was my favorite.”

I asked him what he meant

“You read to me Little Drummer Boy from when we were kids. It was my favorite.”

“Mike you could hear me?”

“Yes. You told me about the Mae Bunsen case, how they still haven’t gotten the killer.”

“Yea bud, they haven’t.”

“I hope they catch him.”

“What?”

“Whoever killed my wife. I hope they catch him.”

I looked around the room and shut his hospital door.

“Mike do you know who killed your wife?”

“Of course not Jim.”

“Mike……you killed Mae.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Me?” His voice was the old Mike I knew. “Yeah Mike…you killed her.” He shook his head sobbing terribly. “I can’t believe it Jim. Mae is gone and-and I killed her…….Where is Geraldo?” I couldn’t stand to see him like this but I had to tell him since he obviously hadn’t a clue. “Geraldo was murdered, Mike.” Mike shook his head more and sobbed heavily. “My whole family….dead. Except for you. Oh god Jim what am I going to do?” I shook my head. “I really don’t know. It seems your mind didn’t want to remember so when you woke up you just didn’t.” Mike gulped and I started pacing trying to figure out what else could be done.

“Jim, if its true….what you say about me, I don’t want to run from the police.” I noticed he was still sobbing while he talked. “No Mike, you can’t do that. I mean I know it’s the right thing to do and all but you’ll be put on death row for sure. “Yes I will. But I’ll die knowing I turned myself in. I’ll die knowing I did what was right. I’ll die with honor. That’s all I want.” He was sniffing but wasn’t crying as hard as before. Maybe he didn’t want me to hide him in the first place….maybe he wanted to turn himself in and not hide. I admitted to myself it was kind of cowardly for him to hide anyway.

“Jim I know they’ll put me to death. But you must know that I loved you as my brother. You’ve always been there for me and I will never forget that. I heard the doctors say that since I’m awake, any day now the police will come to arrest me. When that happens, I want you to have all of my things and keep them close to you. There should be a video tape and a cassette. Please listen to both of them, they have my voice on them for you to replay while you’re missing me.” I plain out sobbed because I knew this had to be the end for Mike. “Oh Mike don’t do it man! I love you too as my brother and all. I don’t know if I can live without you.” We sobbed together for a while until a doctor came in

“Just checking in, I saw a door closed….is everything all right in here?” We nodded and he went to get us a box of tissues. When he came back he sat on the other side of Mike. “Folks I have some bad news. They found out that you murdered your wife…the police say they are on the way to explain to you what is going to happen and get your side of the story. They said they should be here any moment. So just try to stay calm as they ask you some standard questions.” Mike nodded and I watched the doctor walk away.

“So you are really going to turn yourself in Mike?” He nodded again as a hot tear rolled down his cheek. “Yes it’s not like I have another choice anyway but yes it is something I have to do for Mae.” I gave him a hug and tried to calm him down more before the police arrived. It didn’t take long before the nurse hung up her phone and came in to tell us the police had just entered the building. I bit my fingernails and made sure one final time that Mike was going to go through with this. He said yes confidently this time which made me feel a little bit more comfortable. I heard elevator doors open and shut and then loud stomping footsteps coming closer to the door. They bellowed at the doctor in strict voices as they asked for the room number of Mike Bunsen. I saw the doctor point at our door and the policeman look at us and whipped his sunglasses off his face.

I thought to myself “What did I get myself into?”

Chapter 6

I started biting my nails again as I watched the policeman slowly walk into the room. The one with sunglasses had a giant stomach which he puffed out neatly as he stood. The other which I assume was his partner was very slender with not a single facial hair on his little face. His arms and hands were very tiny and as he jotted down some notes I wondered if they would one day fall off from being so tiny. I tried to ask what kind of notes he was taking but he told me it wasn’t for my concern. The bigger policeman spoke in a voice, stern but not in any way violent or harsh.

“Sir under the word of the law, you have killed another person. By such as you are in a hospital condition, after you are released you are to be arrested immediately. You will have a court date on June 25th of this year. An officer will always be at your door to guard. You cannot have any visitors for while you are healing. Do you understand? Nobody goes into this room except for nurses and doctors.”

Mike nodded. “Who are you?” he turned his gaze on me and I said while stuttering that I was his brother Jim and asked if I was an exception for being family.

He sighed and rubbed his rubbed his forehead. “Jim he