13 December 2012
Part 4....contains swear words
I am nervous approaching the second tank as the woman is clearly emaciated, her shoulder blades are just beginning to show and her spine is clearly visible. I approach her and gently speak to her, telling her that I am going to help her. As I place my hands upon her hand she actually flinches. Again I tell her that I'm going to help her. I can hear muffled sobbing and her whole body is shaking. I remove both drips from each hand, I do exactly the same as I did with the man and remove the chair so she drops out of the tank. Her body is dirty, bruised and very thin. She is crying and clinging weakly onto my legs. I bend down and softly tell her that two other people have been rescued also and are in the other room. I place a towel around her weak frame and using every muscle in my body I help her through to the other room. The man and woman are quietly holding each other, obviously in distress but in a trance like state. When they see me with the weak woman, the man manages to get up to help me. I place her next to the first woman, who protectively embraces her. The man is shaken but coherent. I explain to him that I need to save the other two and quickly as they are the worst by far. I tell him that he must phone the police and ambulance, so that they can be here as soon as possible. He nods and disappears into the lounge.
I realise that towels are probably not going to be warm enough for the two poor souls that are left. I rush into the lounge and with relief I hear the man talking to someone on the phone. I scan the room and on the sofa there is a throw and another one folded neatly on a side table. I grab them both and run into the tank room.
I feel sick as I approach the third tank, this female is devastatingly thin, I clearly can see her bones, her veins are protruding through her skin. Her skin is discoloured in places and her hair is falling out.
I gently hold her hand and talk to her explaining what I'm about to do. Very slowly I remove the drips from her bony hands. I place the throw around the chair as I want to try and cushion her fall when I remove the chair. She falls quickly but she is so emaciated, there is no weight to create a thud as she drops.
She is motionless. I watch her for a second and can see she is still breathing, but she is shaking and I'm scared that because of the shock she may not survive. I drape over part of the throw around her weak body and then drag her on the other part of the throw as there is no way I would be able to lift her by myself.
I take her to the other women who are huddled up. The man then comes in and says help is on it's way. I ask him to come and help me with the final person in the tank.
The thought of helping this man scares the shit out of me as he is barely alive, how can he be?, he is so very emaciated he literally is just skin and bone. From the back I can count every single bone as they are clearly showing. His skin is almost transparent. Every vein I can see, his skin is discoloured over most of his body and there is a strange, sickening odour around him.
As I touch his delicate hand , his skin is transparent, like tracing paper but it's dry and scaly. I gently speak to him and once again explain that I am going to help him. I put the throw around the floor, by the chair. I ask the man I previously rescued to help me. He has tears in his eyes as the sight of this frail soul in front of him has clearly moved him. I ask him to pull the chair so that I can hold the man as he falls for fear of breaking his bones. As the chair is pulled away, I cradle the man in my arms, I gasp as my hands feel his wretched frame. His bones stick into my hands and I am frightened that I am doing more harm than good by touching him. His lips are purple and his eyes are dark and hollow. I begin to cry as the man I am holding is so close to death it is a pitiful and traumatic sight. I stroke his face, hoping at last he will feel a tender touch, that maybe, just maybe will give him the strength to fight. I feel breathless as saving these people was done so on pure adrenaline, the exhaustion, shock and utter disbelief give way to the anger. What kind of a sick bastard would do such a thing?
I could feel his evil presence before I saw the figure standing in the doorway.
Mr Elphinstone is mid forties, with short dark hair, with a longer fringe that flops over his eyes. Although well dressed, he looks unkempt, strange almost. His eyes are small and beady and his face is defined, with a prominent chin and a pointy nose.
The man from the first tank stands up to try to protect us, but I know he is too weak to fight Elphinstone, who although is not a large man, he almost looks sickly in fact and that's exactly what he is, only it's his mind that is sick as fuck.
I tell the man to stay with the other man who is barely breathing.
I stand up and never before have I felt such terror. Elphinstone just stares at me. I see he is holding something in his hand, I squint, trying to focus. I realise it's a syringe. So that's what the bastard has planned for me is it?. As if reading my mind, he lunges forward and before I have had time to think, I am in a surreal yet violent struggle with this man who I had only ever had any contact with via email.
I don't look anywhere but his hand that is holding the syringe. He is trying to subdue me but little did he know about the self defence classes that I had taken a few months back. Instinctively they kick in and before I know it I'm telling myself 'hurt or be hurt'. I gouge at his left eye with steely determination, he drops the syringe. I then kick him in the leg, and then kick him in his head as he bends over in pain. I want this bastard on his knees. He falls to the floor and is groaning. I stand over him, looking down at this pathetic excuse for a human being. Behind me I see the man I rescued, in his hand he has the syringe. He steps forward and kneels beside his tormentor, he pushes the syringe hard into the side of Elphinstone's neck.
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The police and ambulance arrived about an hour later as they had to come by helicopter and boat.
After a few days I was told by the police that Elphinstone had been luring people to his home to carry out his own grisly and sick experiment. He had a fascination with the different stages of starvation. He had become obsessed with body farms and decided to create his own, only he kept his victims alive and would slowly starve them to death whilst heavily sedated. He was a professor who worked in London and was one of the leading professors on eating disorders.
His victims that I saved are all doing well, except for the man who was in the fourth tank. He died 6 hours after being rescued. His starvation was too much for him to recover. His name was Daniel Gardiner and he was 34. When the police showed me a picture of this healthy, handsome man, I couldn't believe it. I still have his dying face in my head. I get a tiny bit of comfort from the fact that he took his dying breath with his mother, father and brother by his side.
What will become of Sea Stone House?....who knows?
The police think there are many more victims but only Elphinstone and the sea knows where they now lie.
©Kim Brown 13th December 2012
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Sea Stone House • Opuss № I