Martin was an introverted boy, he lived in a parallel world very distant from reality. At school this way of being Martin brought him many misunderstandings with his teachers and classmates. Classmates, because he never made a friend, he lived alone with his parents until they died in an accident. His parents' family took care of everything but Martin was of age and could take care of himself.
One of Martin's passions was to look out of his window and watch people pass by, and in the evenings he would look out the windows for unusual images.
Years have passed and he is now in his 40s, but he only allows himself to leave the house to go for groceries or shopping and for the rest of the time he is always at home?
Mery is 35 years old and a single mother, she raises her two children by herself, there is no male figure at home. Together with her mother, they dedicate themselves to giving their children and grandchildren everything they need to get ahead.
Mery is a nurse and works in a psychiatric hospital, she has been there for many years and with her savings she was able to buy a small house for sale. The house met the conditions she needed to continue her children's education and it’s also not far from her work, she is a very kind woman. With a very nice smile, wherever she goes she gives smiles to everyone. But there is something that is bothering her and that is the house across the street, she thinks there is someone watching her, she never sees anyone outside, no one goes outside the house... while she is there.
Mery's work routine is always the same. She works six days a week and has one day off, it's Tuesday, when she goes shopping with her two children and her mother. There she thinks she recognizes the same car she sees in the house across the street, she looks at that car... but she doesn't see the driver, she just can’t find him.
"…Is it a coincidence, or is it just me?" she said to herself... "It seems to me that I see his car parked here every Tuesday, farther away from mine but very close at the same time… But I don't see the driver".
And so the days, the weeks, the months went by....
...
Mery attended to the patients who came to consult with the psychiatrist. She took the hospitalized patients from their rooms in the wheelchair to the consultation room and then brought them back, she saw the patients who came from the private practice in an orderly fashion and Martin was always there. He never missed his appointment, she greeted him with her best smile but he was a very shy patient. He hardly ever spoke, he just looks at her and lately he brings her some flowers, Mery always thanks him with that beautiful and charming smile of hers.
Martin is a patient who has an excessive imagination disorder. He has an introverted personality and does not like people, he always wants to be alone.
But Mery is a special woman, since he met her he goes to see her in Dr. Pietri's office, he felt that she offered him her friendship and more than that. He feels that he wants very much to have a life together with her. Now he brings her beautiful flowers and she, as he suspects, accepts them with all her love. He thinks that she also wants to formalize that relationship… He can tell by that beautiful smile she gives him every time he goes to the doctor's office, he thought with much joy in his heart... Now he had to keep looking for ways to please her more and more. He asks the doctor to have more frequent consultations, he feels the need to be able to discuss with him the things he thinks and the doctor accepts his request.
The doctor understands his life, he encourages him to continue with the treatment and tells him that he should try to socialize more and more. He assures him that people are eager to get to know other people, as long as they are kind and respectful, so he should do his best to make the people around him feel that he is a kind and caring person who wants to get to know them. He has told Martin that the most important things you have in your mind must be materialized by ourselves and so, he must have thoughts that he can carry out in society and that will take him away from his isolation.
Mery comes home from work, there is the green car. The lights in the house are off, no one seems to live there, but she feels that someone is watching her.
She comments to her mother. She asks if she has seen anyone in the house across the street, to which her mother replies that since they have lived there she has never seen anyone peek out, she doesn't even know who is driving the vehicle and when she doesn't see the vehicle she knows they have left. It usually happens in the afternoons, she goes out to throw out the garbage and the green corsa is not there and just as she doesn't see it leave, she doesn't see it arrive either.
Mery thinks it's strange, but she thought that maybe they work the same way she does in the afternoons and with a more flexible schedule.
It’s Tuesday, Mery goes with her mother and children to the supermarket and sees the vehicle, it’s behind her. In the parking lot she tries to see who is driving, but the person is gone, she doesn't know how he disappears, but he does. She is a little afraid but doesn't say anything to her mother so as not to seem paranoid.
Mery is already back at work. There are several patients and Martin is there again, she sees him more often now but the same way he arrives he leaves. The strange thing is that now at each consultation he brings her more gifts and she doesn’t despise or reject them because she is nice.
Martin is sure that she is in love with him too, he brings her a ring and gives it to her in a nicely wrapped gift box. She with her beautiful smile receives it and opens it. Mery looks at the inside of the gift and looks at it strangely and asks Martin…
"…What is this?"
To which Martin tells her…
"It's my engagement present, will you be my girlfriend? I know you like me too and I would like to be together."
To which Mery incredulously and giving him back the ring in its box, with her beautiful smile answers:
"No Martin! I have no interest in you. Aside from being another patient. I'm sorry, have your gift and I thank you not to bring any other gift for me on the day of your consultation, please".
Martin felt bad. He took the little box with the gift she placed in his hand and he walked out, he walked out of the office and left. He was confused. What was it, she didn't like the ring? It was too small.
Mery then ran out and couldn't find him, he got into his car… And it’s then that Mery sees him, she's stunned!
"It's him... it's the green corsa that always follows me. It's my neighbor's car!” Martin is her neighbor and her stalker! She can’t help but say “Jesus what do I do!? …What am I going to do?” She goes into the office and thinks about what has happened.
...
Meanwhile Martin is stunned, disoriented, thinking about what happened. It was his mother's ring and his mother always liked it. Why didn't Mery like her gift? He would be careful from now on to see what things please her.
...
Mery goes out again on Tuesday, with her son and her mother as usual. She doesn't see the green corsa when she arrived at the supermarket but when she comes out, she sees it, there it was. Parked in the other row behind her, but she can't see the driver. The vehicle drives off and she is left with her questions… It can't be that many coincidences, something is going on!
She tells a friend about this car, about the neighbor and patient. She seems to be paranoid, and her friend smilingly invites her to forget these things and to try to be happy as always… But be on the lookout for any other of those coincidences.
Martin does not attend the consultation, he is disoriented and does not know what to do. He has already known his beloved Mery for a year and does not know how to communicate with her and now she doesn't want any more gifts. How can he see her up close? He will have to keep seeing her on the sly, he will follow her while going to the supermarket.
Mery is scared, when she leaves the house she knows he is there. She already knows it's Martin but she has no proof to go to the police… She will have to fend for herself until she gets proof of his harassment.
She goes to the police and tells them everything that is happening to her. The police tell her what she feared, she has no proof that this is true, there are no pictures and no more complaints to the proper authorities, it could all be coincidence, they refute her, she leaves without any certainty that they will help her.
The police, after several days, decide to go to check Mrs. Mery's claim, they arrive at the house at the address Mrs. Mery left them. There is no car outside, they knock on the door and nobody comes out… They leave a note for her to come to the police station for an interview.
But that same day Martin was parked outside the doctor's office at the psychiatric office. He was waiting for Mery to arrive and when she arrived he leaned his seat back so she wouldn't see him sitting there.
Mery arrived and saw the green corsa, she was startled, but thought…
"There's Martin and he came for his consultation. I'll talk to him."
She didn't see him inside the car and she thought he was inside the office and kept walking… But just as she opened the glass door to go inside, someone pushed her.
Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into the office. There as Mery spoke softly to him, Martin confessed that he didn't know what to do to get her to accept him and in so long he didn't get it, the only way he thought was to die together.
Scared, Mery tries to plea with him...
"No Martin wait, we can talk. We can start by being friends, get to know each other, don't do it please" Mery tells him, crying and begging. Seeing how Martin wielded the gun towards her.
Martin doesn't listen to her, approaches her and seeing her tears, he doesn't know what to do, he shoots himself in the head and falls.
It was the only way he found in his sick mind to be with his beloved Mery. That after having more than two years behind her, he never got how to be near her, unless it was on consultation days and she didn’t accept that either. Now they would be together in death... or not.
Martin grazed the shot to the head but fell and lost consciousness.
Mery runs out, there are already many people outside. The police responded to the call of a stranger with violence, the ambulance was also able to carry Martin's still alive body, the bullet hasn’t killed him.
Martin after a few days wakes up, he does not know who he is, he does not know what has happened. Nobody tells him what happened, they just wait for him to recover his memory.
Martin never recovered his memory, he was left with part of his body immobile. The distant family helps him.
Now Martin looks through his window at the flowers in the garden. He can't look at anything else, he likes the plants and the colors. He no longer looks at the house in front, he has no memory of that house.
Mery has moved. Now she is in another city and lives with her children and her mother. She forgets that fateful day when she almost died.
Now, after many therapies, she works as a nurse in a clinic for elderly people with disabilities... nothing more.
Maybe one day she will forgive that patient named Martin.
On the other hand, Martin is still young, and he has disabilities. Maybe someday he will need help as an elder...
The photographs are of my property.
Thank you all for reading. This is one of my stories that I am happy to share. Not all my stories are of this genre but I do enjoy writing about the pathological human mind. Until the next story!
Wow! What an intriguing piece!! Keep this up !!!