The Beige Robes

    Angie Charleston anxiously paced throughout the massive kitchen, anticipating the arrival of her ex husband. 

    Silver platters of exquisite food were scattered across the cold marble counter, and a bottle of the finest red wine Angie could find was in the center of the huge wooden table, two cheap glasses neighboring it on both sides- almost like a multimillion dollar mansion surrounded by two dingy houses. The older woman decided to replace them with her most prized crystalline glasses she acquired from her trip to Europe the year before. She hadn’t even taken them out of the box yet, and she was devastated to do so, but that night her number one priority was impressing Silas, and trying to prove to him that giving her full custody of Caroline and Jason was the right thing to do.

    A cold sweat beaded her forehead as she watched Silas’s jet black Porsche pull up into the long gravel driveway. Angie took one final glance at herself in the mirror before stepping behind the front door and waiting for him to knock. When he did, she made sure to wait another 10 seconds before opening the door to make it seem like she wasn’t in a rush to welcome him to her home.

    Silas stood formally, with his hands neatly tucked behind his back and his feet pointed in the same forward direction (something he had learned to do throughout his many years in the military.)

    “Hello Angie.” He initiated eye contact with her in a way that was indescribable-like how a snake looks at a mouse before devouring it. It made Angie feel uncomfortable. She didn’t expect any different however. After all, she did divorce him and leave him nearly penniless. 

    “Hi. You can come on in. I made chicken with green beans and gravy, your favorite.”

                                                        —

    Around 10 minutes had passed since Silas arrived, and the duo had been discussing custody agreements, where Caroline was going to college, and so on. Things had been going well.

    “I think she should go to NYU. I mean, she loves New York. When we took our family vacation, I remember she-” Silas’s sentence was abruptly interrupted when his breath hitched and he started gasping and heaving, sending Angie into pure panic. His face turned cold with sweat and his ice blue eyes widened and became locked into place as he fell onto the floor. 

    “Silas!” Angie screamed. She hurried over to him, kneeling beside him and pumping his chest. She fished her phone out of her back pocket and dialed 911. She waited anxiously, still trying to recall the CPR lessons she had years ago.

    “911, what’s your emergency?” 

    “It‘s my husband, he- I don‘t know, I think he had a heart attack, please send help!” 

                                                    —

    The hospital was freezing and discomforting. Angie was nothing but a bundle of nerves, becoming more agitated with every second that went by. As much as she and Silas didn’t get along, she was worried about him. She didn’t want her children to grow up without a father. 

“Mrs. Charleston?” A short nurse holding a clipboard looked around the waiting room, waiting for Angie to stand up. 

“It’s Ms.” Angie sighed. 

“Of course, may I speak with you privately?”

The nurse took Angie to a secluded room and closed the heavy door carefully. 

“Your ex- husband is in critical condition.”

“What? N-no, I’d like to hear it from a doctor.” She stammered. The nurse plastered a painful looking fake smile on her face and said yes through her teeth. 

A few moments later, a professional looking doctor entered the room and caught Angie pacing back and forth.

“Tell me it’s not true.” Angie’s eyes burned and she felt her face go hot.

“I’m sorry.” 

—

Angie stayed a couple more hours at the hospital, but eventually she went to Silas’s house to bring him a change of clothes.

She stepped into the tiny house and immediately felt a chill wash over her. The house was a mess, and smelled like rotting wood. She held her breath and walked across the freezing wooden floor into his bedroom. It was quiet- too quiet. Not even a gentle breeze or a tweeting bird was in hearing range. 

She creaked the closet door open and chose a pair of gray comfortable shorts and a black t -shirt. The rest of the closet was filled with designer tuxedos and formal clothes. I’d better bring him some shoes, too. Angie thought. She reached behind the clothes and found a plastic shoe organizer, and accidentally knocked it over, a huge crash immediately making her jump. Crap. She muttered softly, arranging the shoes carefully back where they belong. 

Barely in sight, she saw a slight outline of some type of door at the back of the closet. She used her index finger to lightly trace over it. It’s none of my business. She told herself. But her curiosity got the best of her. She tried to pry it open with her fingers, but when it wouldn’t work, she used a military boot she found to bulldoze into the door. It quickly fell and slammed against the concrete on the other side. Angie crouched down and crawled through the opening. 

It was a huge concrete room, underground, Angie assumed since she had to go down a couple stairs in order to enter. There was a giant poster of a globe pressed up against the wall with a big red “X” covering the photo. As she moved closer, she discovered that the paint used to draw the “X” was dripping- it was fresh. How could he have painted this if he’s in the hospital? But then Angie realized- he couldn’t have. Someone else did.

A chill ran down her neck and she breathed shakily, slowly backing away from the poster until she almost tripped over the stairs. She sprinted up and dove through the opening, snatching the clothes off of the floor and left the house. She balanced her hands on her knees as she stood outside and felt faint. 

When she got back to the hospital, she debated whether she should confront Silas about the room or just simply bring him the clothes. She was still shaking when she noticed that she forgot to bring the shoes. Half of her actually wanted to go back, Angie had always been inquisitive, but the other half knew that it was risky and possibly dangerous. 

The doctor allowed her to visit Silas for the first time. She entered his room through the hospital curtain, dreading having to talk to him- he was obviously keeping a secret. 

“I brought your clothes.” Angie tried to talk normally without shaking or seeming nervous, but it clearly failed when Silas asked her if she was alright.

“You look out of breath.” He raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not.” She lied. “I completely forgot to bring your shoes.” 

“It’s fine. Doc says I have 3 more weeks here, then I can go home.” He smiled weakly. “I probably will need those shoes sooner or later though.” 

“You uh, you can’t use your shoes that you wore to my house that night?” 

“I guess I could. They’re just not the most comfortable shoes in the world.” 

“Ok.” Angie breathed. “I’ll get them tomorrow.” 

—

Angie sat in her car outside of Silas’s house and dialed Jason’s phone number.

“Hey. Are you busy right now?”

“Kind of, I’m about to go bowling with Lily. Why?” Lily was Jason’s girlfriend that Angie didn’t approve of, but in all fairness she didn’t approve of any girl that wanted to date her son. Angie wanted him to go into the house with her, but she realized it was slightly ridiculous for her 18 year old son to help her, (a grown woman who was probably being irrational) go into a house. 

“Never mind, it’s okay. Call me later.”

“Alright. Bye.” And just like that, he hung up. 

Angie stepped into the chilly house once again and made her way back into the bedroom. It seemed even more quiet than last time, but that was because she kept expecting someone to come up behind her. She reminded herself to take deep breaths and to be brave. 

“Hello?” She bellowed. “Is anyone there?” I probably look like a mediocre horror movie character. She thought. On the nightstand, she saw a bright orange bottle that she didn’t notice last time. She picked it up and examined the label. Antipsychotics. Prolixin. He’s schizophrenic? Angie’s jaw dropped and she absentmindedly dropped the bottle on the floor. She backed onto the bed, covering her mouth with one hand. How could he keep this from me? She picked the bottle back up and saw a phone number written in sharpie- probably the doctor that prescribed it. Then it all made sense. She remembered his random anger breakouts that she ignored for so long, and the night that he sat up in bed talking. Not sleep talking, not talking to himself, but having an entire conversation with someone who wasn’t there. 

She dialed the number on the phone and waited for the doctor to pick up.

“Silas?” 

“No, this is actually his ex-wife.”

“Oh, hi Angie, what can I do for you?” 

“Can you tell me more about Silas’s antipsychotic prescription? When was it prescribed?” 

“I’m afraid I can’t release any information about that.” 

“Please. He’s in the hospital.” Angie faked a sob. The doctor sighed and finally agreed.

“1984. After his injury.”

“Injury? What injury?” 

“Really, that’s all I can tell you. Have a nice rest of your day Angie.” And he hung up, leaving Angie’s face reddened with frustration. Then I’ll just find out for myself. She decided to go back into the room, but before she crawled through the hole, she grabbed a lamp for protection.

The “X” was still there, plastered over the globe. She hated looking at it, so she ripped it off the wall. She wished she hadn’t. Huge red letters printed the words “Judgement Day- December 21, 2012.” One day away. Angie let out a light gasp as previous news footage of people protesting, believing the world would end on December 21 ran through her mind. 

Silas is a doomsday cult leader. 

—

As she was anxiously driving back home, she received a call from an unknown number. 

“Hello?”

“Angie, you said Silas was in the hospital right?”

“Yes, why?”

“And his pills are at his house?” 

“Yeah…”

“Please bring them back to him immediately. He’ll become unstable if he goes more than a couple days without them, and I have no way of knowing how he’ll react.” He explained, but mid sentence another call interrupted. 

“Oh my god, the hospital is calling me right now, I’ll call you back.”

“Ms. Charleston, we wanted to inform you that your husband has been taken into an isolated room for erratic behavior.” The doctor sounded alarmed. 

“It’s his antipsychotics, he hasn’t taken them since he’s been there. I’m on my way.” 

—

Angie sprinted into the hospital and immediately gave the nurse his pills.

“I need to go somewhere, but call me if anything happens.” Angie shouted as she ran out of the door. She drove to the local police station and hopped out of her car. “I need to talk to somebody, please.” She told the lady at the front desk. “I think my husband might be a cult leader, I know it sounds crazy but I have reason to believe that something terrible is going to happen tomorrow.”

“Um, I will have someone to come speak to you shortly.” Angie knew the woman at the desk thought she was out of her mind, and that the police might not even believe her. But she had to do something. 

After anxiously waiting for a few minutes, a police officer came and took her into an interrogation room. 

“Listen, I think my husband is leading a doomsday cult. I went to his house today and found all these crazy messages painted red in a secret room under the house.”

“Uh…huh.” The officer nodded unsurely. “And, what do you believe is going to happen tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. That’s the problem. Please, don’t you guys do stakeouts or something?”

“What makes you so sure about this, Mrs. Charleston?”

“Because I know what Silas is like. He is completely capable of this, and he’s mentally ill.” 

“Alright.” The officer sighed. “I’ll give you a call.” But Angie knew he was lying. He wouldn’t call her, she could almost guarantee it. She still scribbled her number on a piece of paper and pushed it across the table to him anyway. 

—

It was the next day, and just as Angie suspected, the officer hadn’t reached out to her. They’re making a mistake. 

She decided to take matters into her own hands. She hopped into her car and drove to the house. That day, it was snowing and the beautiful tall pine trees were powdered with white flakes. She pulled her black hat over her wavy red hair and stepped out of the car, listening as the snow under her feet made gentle crunching noises. As she neared the door, she heard a slight rhythmic noise coming from the house- she couldn’t tell what, but she decided it was just the refrigerator or heating system. 

She opened the door and heard a slight click as it shut. She reached behind her peacoat into her back pocket and made sure the gun was still there. Carefully taking it out, she pointed it in front of her as she padded across the floor. Getting closer to Silas’s room, she heard the noise again. Only this time, it wasn’t inaudible- it was a group of people chanting “Judgement Day, Is To-day.” 

Angie exhaled shakily and felt her eyes sting with fear. She had a plan. That was the hard part. Now was the execution. She broke through the door, into the closet and slid down the stairs.

A group of 12 people stood in a circle, hand in hand, eyes closed, chanting. The lights were off but there were candles all around the perimeter of the circle, and in the middle was the globe that once hung on the wall, covered in blood. They were all dressed in beige robes. 

“Stop!” Angie screamed, pointing her gun at them. Two of them turned around slowly as the rest of them continued the chant. Simultaneously, they pushed the hood of their robe off revealing their faces. It was Jason and Caroline. 

—

Angie woke up gasping for air. Thank god. It was a dream. She turned over and saw Silas sleeping peacefully- they weren’t divorced. It wasn’t snowing. It was beautiful outside, the warm sun radiating a peaceful glow in their bedroom.

Angie got up and walked into the bathroom to wash her face. But something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. She lifted her head up slowly and noticed an orange bottle on the sink. Prolixin. She shifted her glance onto the mirror. Maybe she was hallucinating. Maybe it was just the water that somehow seeped into her eyes, and she shook her head, then looked back into the mirror. It was there. It was real. It was Silas, dressed in a beige robe.