The Clearing

by Tom Deady

  “I went through a small maze of thick bushes, mostly feeling my way. At some point, I realized there was light ahead, torches, and I saw other people dressed in the same robes. I wanted to go back but also, I didn’t. I was calm, but it was a peculiar calm. I know that doesn’t make sense. Looking back, I definitely think she’d put something in my tea. She was no different than Dr. Maxwell.”

  Susan paused, steeling herself to tell the rest of the story. Hannah waited, still unable to believe all this had happened within a stone’s throw of her house.

  Scout joined them on the porch and curled up at Hannah’s feet. She noticed he was watching the woods, though, and wondered if there was someone out there after all.

  “I wandered over to the middle of the clearing to where the others were standing. When I got there, they kind of parted to make room for me, and that’s when I saw the altar, and the girl. She was tied down, covered with a sheet.”

  Susan finally broke down. Her body shook uncontrollably, the sobs threatening to rip her apart. Hannah jumped up and ran into the house to grab a box of tissues. She handed Susan the box and put a hand on her arm, unsure of what else to do or say. Susan blew her nose and took a deep breath. She gave Hannah a nod, took another deep breath, exhaled shakily, and finished the story.

  “She was still alive. The night was warm, but the poor girl was shaking so much it almost looked like a seizure. Then everyone turned and another figure entered the clearing. She wore similar robes, but black instead of red. Instead of a pointy mask, she wore what looked like the head of some animal. It had antlers, or horns, I’m not really sure. I knew she had to have put something in my tea, otherwise I would have lost my mind right there. As it was, I felt like I was in shock, kind of half asleep, dreamy-like.

  “Mama Bayole began to pray, or chant. It wasn’t English, I don’t know what it was. The group responded—I responded, even though I’d never been told what to say, I just knew. We all kneeled while she continued chanting. Then she asked for the gifts.” Susan took in a long slow breath, her eyes closed. “The gifts were symbolic, I guess. A knife and a chalice, carried to Bayole by two of the others. It was like a mockery of a Catholic mass. You know, how someone brings the wine and communion up to the priest? She kept praying, or chanting, and it was like the buzz of the flies in her house...”

  Susan couldn’t go on, she was sobbing, gasping for breath, reliving a nightmare. Hannah rubbed her back and handed her more tissues, but there was no comfort she could offer. She waited for Susan to settle down.

  “Mama Bayole finished. I think she was sort of blessing the knife and the chalice. She walked up to the altar, the followers parting and making a circle around it. She pulled the sheet off and...” Susan slammed a fist down on the step, either in anger or anguish. Scout had moved to the grass at the bottom of the steps, and at the sound of fist hitting wood scrambled to his feet. Seeing no danger, he loped up the steps and sat next to Susan. She reached out and stroked his fur.

  “She was awake, Hannah. That poor girl was awake. Her eyes were open and I’m sure she was drugged, I pray she was, but there was awareness in those eyes. She knew what was happening. She began to scream and thrash, desperate to escape. I’ve never seen anyone so afraid in my life. Mama Bayole was still speaking, but in a very low tone that I couldn’t make out. The girl stopped struggling and went silent, either from resignation or because Mama Bayole was hypnotizing her or something.”

  Susan turned to face Hannah, still absently patting Scout.

  “The girl went completely still and tilted her head back.”

  Hannah gasped, and Scout rumbled a low, throaty growl. She knew what was coming and didn’t want to hear it.

  “Mama Bayole leaned over and stared into the girl’s eyes. She placed the knife and the chalice on the altar, as she whispered something. A prayer, I guess. Then she placed one hand on the girl’s forehead and the other on her belly. She raised her head and began chanting louder.” Susan paused, her eyes faraway, face grim. “The air grew still. I’ll never forget the eeriness I felt.” She grabbed her elbows, hugging herself to suppress a shiver. “Then the girl tensed. So did Mama Bayole’s. And I saw...”

  Hannah placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder, causing her to start. “It’s okay, you don’t have to—”

  “Yes,” Susan cut her off, “I do. I saw that poor girl grow old before my eyes. And Mama Bayole began to look younger. It was like she was stealing her vitality. I could almost see it flowing through Mama Bayole’s arms. Within a few minutes, the girl was just a dried-up husk and Mama Bayole looked twenty years younger. It wasn’t the girl’s vitality. It was her childhood she stole—her youth.”

  Susan’s final words came out in a whisper, sending a shudder rippling through Hannah like a cold wind. The vision of Ashley suffering the same fate was too much. Hannah’s throat squeezed shut. She tried to draw in a breath. The air whistled in her lungs like a tea kettle at full boil. She watched flocks of strange, black birds fill the woods in front of her. Then Susan was shaking her, holding the cold can of soda against her neck. Scout was bouncing in crazy circles around them. The birds disappeared and Hannah gulped in air.

  “I’m okay,” she croaked.

  Hannah sat in stunned silence. She’d known the ritual involved sacrifice, but what Susan had described? Somehow that part hit her harder than the actual killing. It was so much more... unnatural. Hannah was used to seeing reports of violence and murder every night on the evening news, but this was Supernatural territory. Suddenly Susan’s screen name made sense.

  Susan took up the story. “After the ceremony, people started drifting around the clearing. I made my way over to the edge, outside the reach of the torchlight, and snuck into the heavy brush. I ditched the robe and tried to find my way out of the woods, but I think I just kept going in circles. I’m not sure if they came after me, not sure if they even knew I was gone.” Susan’s eyes were wide and bright, her fingers restlessly twirling her long hair. “Eventually I was too tired to keep walking. I found this weird rock formation that had a small gap that I squeezed into and slept there. Or tried to. The night got cold and I wished I’d kept the robe. Every time I heard a twig snap or a branch rustle, I was sure they’d found me.

  “As soon as the sun came up, I tried to get my bearings. I began to think I was never going to get out of there. Then I heard a sound, not a normal woods sound. I was about to call out, but something, some instinct, made me stop. I crept closer and realized it was someone digging. I watched them bury that poor girl. It was awful. Her skin was so white it looked fake, like it was an Egyptian mummy, not a real person.

  “I was so scared hiding behind that tree. I waited for them to finish, certain they were going to find me. It seemed like forever before they left. I saw the direction they went and finally found my way out. My car was still at Mama Bayole’s. Everything was. I left it there and never went back. The only thing I wanted, the only thing I cared about was a locket my grandmother gave me. It had an old picture of her and my mom. I was wearing it when I went into the woods that night but when I reached for it, it was gone. I lost everything that night.”

  Hannah waited for several moments, a horrible vast silence between them, before realizing Susan was done. The whole thing was surreal.

  “I have to call my dad. He was going to meet Officer Benson at the hospital. They’ll know what to do.”

  Susan nodded. She seemed out of it, drained from the exertion of reliving that night, in shock. The sound of a car approaching caught Hannah’s attention.

  “Oh, that must be them now.”

  She was about to go meet them when Scout uttered a guttural snarl. The fur on his back was up and he was baring his teeth, looking more vicious than a lab should. Susan snapped back to reality.

  “What’s up with him?”

  Hannah listened to the rumbling of the car’s engine. She recognized its animal-like growl. Its menace.

  She motioned to Susan, pointing to the
woods. “We have to run.”

  Hannah grabbed Scout’s collar and pushed him toward the tree line, pulling Susan along by her shirt. She ran straight toward the woods, trying to keep the house between them and whoever was in the car out front. The three plunged into the woods, and Hannah guided Susan and Scout up a small, tree-lined rise. Shafts of sunlight pierced the shadows in the woods, and the sound of something scampering through the brush caused Hannah a split-second of panic. They ducked behind a tangled patch of bushes that offered a decent view of the house. Hannah held Scout’s collar in a death-grip, rubbing his ears to keep him quiet.

  Two men circled around the house. They walked up onto the back porch and knocked, calling out. Hannah watched in shock as they looked around, then opened the door and stepped inside. Despite everything she knew about how dangerous these people were, she stood and moved toward the house, caught up in a dangerous fury.

  They can’t just do that. They can’t just go in my house. She felt violated.

  Susan grabbed her and yanked her roughly to the ground. “No,” she said through clenched teeth, “I know how you feel but you can’t do anything.”

  Hannah nodded, fighting back tears of rage, or outrage. Her jaw was tight, teeth grinding. Susan let her up and they watched in silence, occasionally seeing silhouettes pass by the windows as the men went through the house. Hannah cursed, knowing they would find the laptop and her cell phone. After a long while, the sound of an engine roaring to life broke the quiet calm of the woods and the car sped off. Hannah caught a glimpse of dark paint as it disappeared up the road.

  She stood but Susan grabbed her again. “What if only one of them left?”

  Hannah pulled free and started toward the house. “We can’t just stay out here forever,” she called back. She didn’t turn to see if Susan followed. She didn’t care. Hannah entered through the back door, hearing Susan’s tentative footfalls on the steps behind her.

  Surprisingly, the house was not trashed. In fact, everything looked exactly as she’d left it.

  Not everything, she corrected. Benson’s laptop was snapped in half, the monitor part dangling from the base by a few tenuous wires. The cell phone was smashed, and the landline’s cord had been cut.

  “We have to go, Susan. Can you drive me to County Memorial?”

  “Of course,” Susan said quickly.

  Susan looked a good many steps beyond afraid; she looked paralyzed with fear. She was fading, retreating to some safe place in her head.

  Hannah took the woman’s arm and led her toward the door, telling Scout to stay. They jogged to Susan’s car, Hannah looking up and down the road for any sign of the intruders. She got in the passenger side while Susan dug out her keys. Susan’s hands shook as she tried to put them in the ignition. Hannah jerked her head back and forth, convinced the men would come back. Finally, Susan got the key in and turned it. Nothing but an ominous click.

  “Oh no.”

  They must have cut the cables to the battery. Susan was losing it. Had lost it. She was trembling so badly Hannah felt the car shaking. Hannah jumped out and ran around to the driver’s side, opened the door, and tried to ease Susan out. Hannah guided her, but Susan’s legs collapsed, and she fell to the ground in a limp pile.

  “Susan, please. Get up.”

  Hannah tried to grab Susan under her arms and pull her to her feet, but she wasn’t strong enough. Tears of frustration leaked from her eyes. Everything that had happened, that was happening, boiled inside of her. Instead of breaking her, it fueled her, strengthened her.

  “Susan, get up, I need your help!”

  Hannah raised an open palm, thinking of all the times she’d seen a slap to the face bring somebody out of a stupor on television. She couldn’t do it. Instead, she knelt and took Susan’s face in her hands, forcing the woman to look at her.

  “Susan, I know you can hear me. I know you’re afraid. You’ve been through such terrible things. Giving up isn’t going to make those things go away. It’s only going to let them keep happening to other people. To me.”

  Hannah let her hands slip from Susan’s face. She stood and looked up and down the road. The sun had already sunk low, dipping below the tree line in the west. Hannah shivered.

  It will be dark soon.

  She finally coaxed Susan to her feet, but the woman was listless, not speaking, like she was Hannah’s puppet. Hannah led the near-catatonic woman into the house and sat her on the couch.

  She had two options. One was to walk toward town and use the nearest phone to track down Dad and Officer Benson.

  She chose the other one.

  Hannah tried the phone one last time, hoping that maybe it was just a glitch. It was no glitch, of course. The phone was dead, the silence maddening. She slammed it down, then grabbed her backpack and threw in the few items she could think of to bring: a flashlight, a coil of rope, a large kitchen knife, and a souvenir Red Sox bat she’d won at a Sea Dogs game. It was the only weapon besides the knife she had.

  She scribbled a note to Dad explaining as much as possible, and stepped out onto the back porch, aware of the gathering darkness. This was normally Hannah’s favorite time of the evening. The sky still clinging to bluish brightness while shadows lengthened and encroached. The peepers and crickets coming to life, beginning their evening symphony.

  Tonight, the shadows held danger, not wonder, and the dying light in the sky was like sand running through an hourglass. Even the sounds of the night were threatening instead of melodic.

  “I’m going with you.”

  Hannah jumped at the sound of Susan’s voice behind her.

  “You scared me,” Hannah breathed, her heart kicking in her chest. “Are you okay?”

  Susan made a choked sound that was probably supposed to be a laugh. “No, I’m nowhere near okay, but I heard you. I tried not to listen, but I heard you. I’m done hiding, done running, done with everything but trying to put an end to this.”

  Hannah wore a grim smile, relieved she wouldn’t have to do this alone. “I’m going to get Ashley. I think I know where they have her. I have to get her before the ceremony.”

  Susan nodded. “Let’s go, before I lose my nerve.”

  They stepped out into the twilight. Hannah glanced back and her heart ached at the sight of Scout watching her through the screen door.

  You might never see him again.

  The thought came unbidden and threatened to break Hannah’s resolve. She whispered a choked goodbye and turned off into the night.

  She led the way across the yard and into the woods. Beneath the trees, the darkness was complete. The faint glow left in the sky was taunting them, offering no resistance to the shadows. Hannah moved cautiously, stealthily, in case any of Mama Bayole’s people were out looking for her or simply heading to the clearing.

  She had considered asking Susan to help her find the clearing so they could try to save Ashley there, but it was too risky. They would be vastly outnumbered and in the middle of nowhere. Getting Ashley out of the cellar before Mama Bayole realized she was gone was their best bet.

  Hannah had never taken the woods to Mama Bayole’s but thought she would find it easy enough. The forest seemed thicker, more threatening the closer they got to the farmhouse. Mosquitoes feasted on them, making the trip feel endless. Finally, Hannah spied lights through the trees well before they were in any danger of being spotted by anyone at the farm.

  They stopped behind a thicket of bushes to make a plan.

  “I’m pretty sure she’s in the cellar. The bulkhead is blocked up and I don’t know where the entrance is from inside the house, which means we have to go in through the window. Or rather, I have to go in through the window. You stay outside and run like hell if anything happens.”

  “I’m not leaving you there, Hannah.”

  Hannah smiled in the darkness. Susan talked tough but her trembling voice betrayed her. Hannah didn’t think, after what the woman had already lived through, that she had it in her to back
her words up.

  “No, you’re not leaving me. You’re going to get help.”

  “Hannah—” Susan started.

  “Never mind.” Hannah cut her off. They could stand here arguing about it until it was too late, or just get on with it. “Nobody’s going to catch me. I’ll go in with the rope in case I need help getting her out, like if she’s already been drugged. As soon as you have her, you get her to the woods. I’ll be right behind you. Got it?”

  “Okay, yeah. Got it.” Susan’s voice was stronger.

  “Good. Once we start toward the house, no talking. Ready?”

  “No... Yes... Okay, let’s just go.”

  They made their way closer to the farmhouse, staying in the cover of the trees. Lights shone in several of the windows, but Hannah saw no movement inside. There were a few cars parked in front of the house, but it was too dark to see if the car that had followed her the other day was among them. The tree line ended about thirty yards from the house, but the mangy grass was high enough that if they crawled, they would be able to get to the side of the farmhouse unseen. The darkness was their friend now.

  Hannah got down on all fours and began crawling toward the target: the small cellar window on the side of the house. She felt vulnerable even though the grass made her harder to see. She knew the extra time it would take to get to her feet and run might be the difference between getting caught or not. Between living or dying.

  Thirty yards seemed like thirty miles. The combination of crawling, trying to stay quiet, and the constant fear of being discovered were all weights. It was like one of those dreams in which you’re trying to run but you’re moving in slow motion. A nervous breakdown was a strong possibility.

  The sound of an engine silenced the crickets, growing louder as it approached. Headlights cut through the night like twin laser beams. Hannah dropped flat to the ground and heard an “oomph” behind her as Susan did the same.