The Closet

Chapter 22

The ambulance carrying Jarom and Lacy arrived at the military hospital in Heidelberg, and by the time he had been taken into the Emergency Room, he had been on oxygen for 30 minutes. His breathing had slowed and his heart rate was trending toward normal. He was still groggy, but conscious. Major Quentin, an Army doctor, examined him and judging by the signs and symptoms he saw, concluded that Jarom was suffering from a poison, possibly cyanide.  He took blood and urine for testing, and wondered aloud where he might have been exposed.  Cyanide had been stockpiled for use as a chemical agent on the battlefield many years in the past, but was a poor agent because of its volatility and was never used. In any case, the lab results supported his diagnosis and he began treating him with a standard battery of antidotes.

He explained his diagnosis and treatment of Jarom, and his parents were grateful that he was quickly improving. The doctor wanted to keep him for at least another day in the hospital, so Lacy decided she would stay the night with him while Frank went home to be with the other children and prepare for the big meeting the next day.

Frank arrived home and shared Jarom’s prognosis with his siblings. They were happy that he was recovering, but still had their own stories to share. Frank listened as his amazing children told him of their day. 

John began:  “On our way to school, Jarom said he had forgotten his homework and would run home to get it, so Jason and I kept walking and Jarom turned back. When I got to school, I went by the office at the middle school to let them know he would be late and then went to class. I went back at lunch to find him and see if he had gotten into trouble but he hadn’t shown up. I knew he had gone back to open the door of the last chamber, and I left to find him. He must have made straight for the cemetery and gone down from there, and I did the same. I had my headlamp in my backpack so I had everything I needed, but when I got to the door of the chamber, it was still locked. All the tools were there but there was no sign of Jarom. I must have made a noise because suddenly he started banging on the door.  We tapped back and forth, but his taps got weaker and then disappeared. I was afraid he was sick or had gotten hurt and I had the idea to use one of the old hand grenades to blow the lock off.  I stuck it under the lock and pulled the ball and ran around the corner and it worked! The hand grenade blew the lock clear off. “

“I got the door open using the crowbar and the sledge hammer, and then I went inside.  Dad, you’ve never seen anything so terrible in your life! There were dead bodies lying everywhere. They were shriveled up and their eyes were gone and they smelled really bad; like dead. They were all dressed in striped clothes and there were hundreds of them. At first I couldn’t find Jarom, but I finally saw him by one wall. He was unconscious, so I dragged him out into the main tunnel and that’s when you showed up.”

Shaking his head, Frank looked amazed.  He hadn’t seen any corpses, but he hadn’t gone into the room.  He said, “Hundreds of corpses?”

Jason interrupted, “Yeah Dad, we saw them too,”  and he continued with their part of the day. “Allie and I came down the ladder with you and Mom, but when you picked up Jarom and Mom left to call the ambulance, we were sort of left behind. We hadn’t seen what was behind the third door, so we thought we’d take a look before we came out. We walked into the room, and it was just like John said. There were hundreds of bodies lying everywhere; on the floor and against the wall and in piles all around the room. We were scared and we ran out of there fast, but when we got back to the round room, a scary old German man with a gun was standing in the entrance to the northwest tunnel. He yelled and we ran out the tunnel on the other side of the room from him, to the east. He followed us!  We could see his flashlight coming, so when we got to the end, I found the short ladder hidden behind the rock ledge like in the other tunnels, and we climbed up to the top. I pushed the trap door open and knocked over a glass cabinet that was standing on the door, and we stuck our heads up.”

Not to be overlooked, Allie took over the telling: “And there were people looking at us all over the room.  It looked like a room that the soldiers use when they are off-duty.  There were two MPs there in uniform, and they came over. We told them about the scary old German man with a gun, but no one believed us at first. Finally the MPs went down the shaft and found the old man. They brought him back up to the top and all he wanted to know was if Jarom was OK.  He said he was worried and that he’d brought the gun to shoot the lock off the door.  Anyway, some more MPs showed up and they brought us home.”

Frank paused, looking at his children in turn. To John he said, “If I hadn’t been so worried about Jarom, you and he would have been grounded for the rest of your lives. As it is , I guess I can understand why you went after him, and as it turned out, I’m glad you did.” 

And to Allie and Jarom, he continued, “And you two!  I can’t leave you alone for a second.  Going back in that room after Jarom had come out unconscious? What were you thinking? “They looked at each other sheepishly, and he said, “I know.  You weren’t thinking.  You just wanted to see what was in the chamber. Well, you three have had quite the day!  And the MPs brought you two home?”

Allie and Jarom nodded their heads. Jarom asked, “So who were all the dead people, Dad?”

Frank replied, “Until you three told me about them, I didn’t know there were any dead people. It sounds like the chamber might have been used by the Nazis to kill them. The doctor said that Jarom had cyanide poisoning. I suppose the Nazis could have used the room like a gas chamber, but I really don’t know any more than you do.”

Frank called Colonel Taylor and told him of the evening’s events, making sure he knew of the involvement of the MPs and the German police. Frank and Colonel Taylor were both scheduled to attend the meeting with General Sheldon in the morning, so they agreed to meet at the Garrison Commander’s office at 10:30 the following day.

They had all had such a long day that they were grateful to slip under the covers for a few hours’ sleep.