Gossamer Falls

by European P. Douglas

  Lawrence listened to the air. He had no idea if he was being followed or not and that was probably the worst of it. He really wanted to take the hot scarf from his head, but he couldn’t take the chance in this darkness that one of the mini clouds might connect with his face or head. He’d lost his flashlight in the fall and hadn’t thought to take one from Sheriff Schall. That was probably for the best too, he decided; a light would give any pursuer a direct line on where he was at any given time on the mountainside. He started walking again, confusion reigning in his mind.

  In his panic he’d lost any sense of his bearings and he had no idea if he was anywhere near the road. He could have already passed the police cruiser without ever seeing it by now. He knew he was going downhill but in what direction he was not sure. Peering through the trees he hoped for a glimpse of lights that would show him where Gossamer Falls was, hell, even a brief look at the lake would be enough!

  Something glinted through the treeline and Lawrence stopped dead. His mind went straight to the idea of it being a gun he’d seen. Harry Sander’s gun that had killed everyone earlier. With shaking hands, Lawrence looked at Sheriff Schall’s gun to make sure it was ready to fire. He hadn’t had too much experience with guns before, but he felt he would be able to shoot this one if he had to. He was pressed hard against a tree trunk, and he looked around where the glint had come from. This time he didn’t see anything, and on listening for well over a minute, he didn’t hear anything either. Perhaps it had been in his mind. Mind Spiders - the term Anderson had used, what did it mean? Lawrence shook his head; he didn’t have the time or headspace to be thinking about this right now.

  With his back glued to the tree, he moved around slowly until he was close to the spot he’d been when he saw the glint. It was still there. What were the chances Harry would still be standing in the exact same spot a couple of minutes later? Slim, he’d guess. But there was something there and he had to hope it was something that could help him.

  Moving slowly from tree trunk to tree trunk for cover, Lawrence drew closer to the source of the light and was thrilled beyond measure when he saw it was the wing mirror of the police cruiser parked on the side of the road that had caught his eye.

  In his delight, Lawrence almost started running to the car, but after taking on a couple of steps he stopped. He couldn’t see the full car yet and he had no idea if anyone else had come across it as well as him. It was possible Harry had come this way and was laying in wait for him. The feeling of nausea passed over again and tears came to his eyes.

  Why was all of this so frustrating! Paranoia was eating into him and he stepped from one foot to the other like a child who needed to go to the bathroom. Each moment wavering from going to the car to leaving it be and walking all the way to town in case Harry was watching the cruiser.

  Drawing in a deep breath, Lawrence rubbed his eyes with the back of one sleeve and forced himself to think of Tammy. Each moment he was on this mountain she was in danger. From what exactly he didn’t know, but he could feel it. They had to get away from here, far away. Whatever had happened up in Mercy could be starting to happen in Gossamer Falls right now.

  Tammy, or more accurately his fear for her, gave him the courage he needed to go to the car. Above all else he had to have the car to get back to her quickly, He crept through the trees until he was almost right up on the car and there was no sign of anything or anyone around. Gripping the gun tightly, he stepped out into the open.

  Everything was as it should be, and he opened the driver’s side door and slipped in. Once inside he felt vulnerable and he rushed to get the key into the ignition and the engine started. As soon as it kicked into life, he put it in gear and turned fast in the road and sped off towards town.

  The relief of getting away caused a new flood of emotions, and he for the first time realised how close to being killed he’d been. Four or five men he knew had met their end up there tonight in the most shocking thing Lawrence had ever heard of, let alone seen. He cried hard and it was hard to keep control of the car at times, but he was doing okay he guessed, and it wouldn’t be long before he was back in town.

  When the police radio in the car crackled into life it scared the hell out of Lawrence, and he swerved all over the road and came the closest he had to losing grip on the surface. He’d thought someone had just spoken to him from the back seat and he was about to be shot in the head.

  “Deputy Sanders, this is Garrick at the station, do you read, over,” a voice he didn’t recognise came over the radio again - he’d missed what was said the first time in his fear and panic. He looked at the radio, but he couldn’t tell how to answer it. The town was coming up ahead, though, so there was no need to try. He could answer in person once he got there. He pressed harder on the accelerator and entered town at speed.

  Lawrence had to brake hard to come to a stop outside the Sheriff’s Office and once the car stopped, he wondered why he’d come here when he knew Anderson was dead and Harry was up in the mountains. He saw lights, however, and the shape of two people looking out the window at him. Though he couldn’t see who they were, he recognised one of them by the shape and that was enough for him. He jumped out of the car and ran towards the building.

  “Lawrence!” the joyous voice of Tammy called as she burst out of the Sheriff’s Office followed right on her heels by a Deputy whose name Lawrence couldn’t recall at that moment. He was overjoyed to see Tammy and, though she was hard to make out though his own tears, he was still able to see the change in her face as she stopped suddenly, and the policeman pulled his gun and pointed it at him.

  “Put down the gun!” the Deputy shouted, and Lawrence looked down to see that he was indeed still holding Sheriff Schall’s gun.

  “What happened?” Tammy asked fearfully, tears welling in her eyes.

  “We need to get out of here!” he said to her rapidly, “It’s not safe!”

  “Put down the gun!” the Deputy shouted again, and Lawrence felt fear growing in the man and knew he was ready to fire at Lawrence if he didn’t comply. He let go of the gun and let it fall to the ground with a clatter. He guessed afterwards he was lucky it hadn’t gone off - it had been a very careless move on is part.

  “What have you done?” Tammy asked, crying, and the question made no sense at all to Lawrence as he stood there, his mind blank with exhaustion and his body unwilling to stop the Deputy putting his hands behind his back and handcuffing him. He couldn’t make sense of any of this in the least.

  Chapter 25

  Deputy Garrick came back into the office, his face white and his hand trembling. Tammy had not stopped crying since Lawrence had arrived, and now Garrick had put him in a cell to calm down in the hope of getting some sense out of him. Tammy was striving for sense too.

  Lawrence had arrived with his clothes caked in blood and dirt, driving the sheriff’s car and carrying the sheriff’s gun. It didn’t look good, and when Garrick had asked him where Sheriff Schall was, Lawrence had replied simply that he was dead. “Everyone was dead.” he’d added, and it was the scariest thing she’d ever heard.

  “He’s running a fever back there,” Garrick said, “He claims Deputy Sanders went crazy and started killing everyone.” Tammy looked at him and at once her hopes returned. That had to be the truth! “Don’t put too much faith in what he’s telling us just yet,” Garrick warned, “He could be telling us what he imagined right now, and he wouldn’t know the difference.” Tammy nodded, but she didn’t want to hear this; she knew he had to be innocent and what he was saying must be the truth, fever or no fever.

  “What are you going to do now?” she asked as Garrick took up the phone.

  “I’m calling the mayor. If this doesn’t count as an emergency, nothing does!” Grim determination was coming over Garrick’s face as he began to get over his shock.

  Twenty minutes later, Mayor Allgood came into the station. He was dressed in a suit and clean shaven with his hair styled and looking the same as ever. Tammy had
to wonder at his taking the time to do all this rather than coming down the moment he heard what had happened.

  “What do we know?” Allgood said, standing in the centre of the room with his hands on his hip like someone about to do some serious work.

  “Not much, Lawrence Karrier is in a cell out back. He’s covered in blood, was driving the Sheriff’s car and had the Sheriff’s gun in his hand too.”

  “Do we know for sure Anderson is dead?” Allgood asked Garrick, and Tammy exchanged a glance before the Deputy answered.

  “Not for sure, but it looks like it.”

  “Where did this happen?” Allgood asked, exasperated.

  “Up in the mountains,” Garrick replied.

  “What were they doing up there?” Allgood asked, looking surprised. Tammy couldn’t take this.

  “Lawrence was up there because you sent a team up with Harry Sanders to look for the source of the clouds!” she shouted, standing up. “Sheriff Schall found out and went up there to try stop them from doing something so stupid!”

  “What are you talking about, Miss?” Allgood said with indignation. “Are you a member of the police force here?” he asked her, and then looking to Garrick said, “Should she even be in here?”

  “Sheriff Schall put her to work on the phones and the radio this evening, and right now I need her here if I’m the only officer of the law left in Gossamer Falls,” Garrick replied. Allgood didn’t look best pleased with this answer, but he didn’t have anything to say back to it.

  “Where is Karrier? Can we talk to him and try get to the bottom of this mess?” he said, waving his hands frazzled.

  “He’s back here,” Garrick said leading the way, “But he’s not very coherent. I think we might need to get the Doc over here to have a look at him.”

  “Let’s just see what we can get out of him before we go calling the Doc at this hour of the morning,” Allgood said as they went through to the cells. Tammy wasn’t invited but she snuck up beside them and stopped the door from closing fully; she wanted to hear what was going on back there.

  “Mr Karrier,” Mayor Allgood said in an authoritative but friendly tone, “Tell me what’s happened?”

  “Deputy Sanders killed Chuck and I ran... there were gunshots... I fell off the mountain... Sheriff Schall was crying... mind spiders... killed himself... town is in danger... Tammy in danger!” This last part he shouted, and Tammy felt her heart flutter in her sorrow. He sounded insane.

  “Is Deputy Sanders still alive?” Allgood asked as though Lawrence mightn’t understand English.

  “Shooting everyone,” came the reply, but it sounded so weak to Tammy, and she wished she could go to Lawrence and see him.

  “He needs the doctor,” Garrick said, “I’m going to get Tammy to call him.” Tammy started to move away from the door so she wouldn’t be caught eavesdropping, but Allgood said,

  “He’s probably best left alone in there. He looks to have lost his mind and might be dangerous. I don’t want the doctor getting killed on top of everything else.”

  “No, we need the doctor,” Garrick insisted, and Tammy was proud of him. “He could be two days coming out a fever on his own, and we need to know what happened much sooner than that.”

  “Why don’t you go up and find Anderson,” Allgood said, “That will show you what happened.”

  “And what if Karrier’s telling the truth and Deputy Sanders is up there gone crazy?” Garrick countered.

  “You think it’s possible the man covered in what must be Sheriff Schall’s blood, driving Sheriff Schall's car and holding his gun could be telling the truth!” Allgood sounded incredulous.

  “I don’t believe anything until I have proof,” Garrick said, “and so far, I have none of that!”

  “Well, get some!” Allgood roared. Tammy could hear him pacing then, but neither man (nor Lawrence) was saying anything. “We can’t let any word of this to get out until we know what’s happening,” Allgood said, regaining his composure. “We don’t want a new panic.”

  “We can agree on that,” Garrick said quietly. “Tammy can man the phone here while I go up there and see what’s going on. You got anyone who can come with me? Someone to stay on radio contact from the car?”

  “I’ll send my assistant with you,” Allgood said. “He can be trusted to keep his mouth shut.”

  “Go get him up. It will be daylight soon and the faster we get up there the better,” Garrick said tersely.

  Chapter 26

  It was a chilly morning as Emily Sounding made her way to work at the Clear View Hotel. A mist hung over the lake and penetrated the roads she cycled from town, and it gave the quiet route an eerie feeling, especially after the cloud events a few days ago. She felt nervous cycling in this mist, thinking it would be hard to spot one of those clouds coming at her until it was too late. The scary idea that the mist could be one huge deadly cloud had also held her mind before she came into it. Had it been crazy to risk it, or did she just know it was mist the same as many mornings in the past? Either way, she wasn’t sad when she finally got to the hotel.

  “I wasn't sure you’d come into that mist,” Landy smiled, greeting her at the steps.

  “I nearly turned back,” she said and realised how true this was. “Are you alright, Mr Landy?” she asked, noticing an edge to her boss, though in what way she felt this she couldn't say.

  “Yes, yes,” he said, “Bad night’s sleep.” Then leaning in whispering he said, “Listen, we had a new guest come in last night. Don’t go near room seven without me this morning, alright?” He was afraid of this man; it was fear she’d felt from him.

  “Who is he?” she whispered as they got to the front desk. Landy didn’t answer but instead tapped on the registry book. Emily looked down and read the name. It didn’t mean anything to her. “What does he look like?” she asked.

  “Like he doesn’t belong here,” Landy said ominously. Emily had never seen him react to a guest like this before and it was a little unnerving. She found herself wishing the man would appear right now just so she could see him and get that part out of the way. She was sure she would imagine something a lot worse than he was if left to her imagination.

  “People will probably be nervous about that mist this morning,” Landy said. “So I think breakfast might go on longer than usual as they want to hang around indoors.” He’d been right on this and as a result, Emily only started making up the beds after almost two hours in the hotel.

  The mysterious Edward Dobbins hadn’t shown for breakfast, and so far, neither had the Hendersons in room twelve on the second floor. Though they had only been here a week, it was unusual for them to be so late leaving their room. Emily decided she would check in on them when she was done with the other rooms. Room seven could wait until she knew that man wasn’t in there.

  Landy’s fear had gotten to Emily. At first, she moved about the rooms tidying and making up beds as usual, the door wide open so any returning guest would know she was in there and wouldn’t be startled when they opened the door. Soon, though, she was scared for no good reason, and she closed the doors and locked herself in each room as she went, making sure no one was going to be able to sneak in behind her. No one being Edwards Dobbins - whom she hadn’t even seen yet! Funny how other people’s fears can get under your skin, she thought.

  Most of the guests were on the second floor as it had the best views of the lake and mountains. Emily had intended to leave the Hendersons alone until she finished all the rooms up there, but then she thought she better let them know Landy might be closing the kitchen soon and they wouldn't get a decent breakfast.

  She knocked on the door of room twelve before she noticed it was slightly ajar. Perhaps they’d already gone down and she missed them while in one of the other rooms.

  “Mr and Mrs Henderson?” she called, “I just wanted to let you know that breakfast will be over soon.” There was no answer. When she’d knocked, the door had opened a little more and she could see a strip of
carpet and the window inside. The curtains were still drawn; they didn’t usually leave the room without opening them. No noise came from within the room. Emily waited a moment, fear creeping over her again for no good reason she could discern - damn you Landy! Getting me all worked up at a time like this!

  “Mr and Mrs Henderson, you there?” she asked nudging the door open some more. “Hello?”

  The smell that suddenly assailed her nostrils made her sick to her stomach. She put a hand to her mouth and nose and screwed up her face against it. She didn’t quite know what it was, but it was somehow familiar, and though her head was screaming for her to turn away, not to look through the door, she was already taking the first fatal step inside.

  The scene that greeted her was the most gruesome sight she’d ever seen. On the bed were what must have been the Hendersons, but they were so covered in blood and gore it was hard to tell. Emily screamed in terror, a long, sustaining scream that pierced even her own ears. The bedclothes were to the side of the bed, and they and the carpet too were drenched in blood.

  Emily was aware of her name being called out and the sound of many feet on stairs.

  “Don’t come in here,” she said weakly, staggering back out of the room. Her eyes becoming tunnelled and her hearing was fading. Vomit burned her throat and she thought about getting to a toilet bowl, but she didn’t have any idea where she might find one just then.

  “Emily!” Landy’s voice called, much closer now, though still sounding like it was underwater. She tried to turn her head to look, but then everything went dark and the air was gone and her eyes closed and she felt herself falling.

  Chapter 27

  Light had long broken as Garrick paced the Sheriff's Office waiting. His car was ready to go, and he’d eaten a little bread and had some more coffee while waiting for Derek Gough, the mayor’s assistant, to show up. Allgood had roused him from his bed and told him to prepare for a mountain hike and come down to the station. That had been an hour ago now and when Garrick complained, Allgood told him to be patient, it was a trying time for everyone. Tammy looked on, exhausted, feeling very low, and wishing she was somewhere else. Garrick looked at his watch impatiently.