"Really?"
"Yes." He glanced over at her with his sparkling grayish-blue eyes. "I mean, I tried, but no girl, no matter how gorgeous or smart she was, could ever compare to you. After a semester of failed dates, I focused on school and promised myself I'd get you back as soon as you graduated. I even tried calling you up a few times beforehand, but I could never bring myself to speak to you."
"You were behind all those prank calls?"
"Yup, I was a fool, I know. If I spoke to you sooner, maybe I would have known about my son a long time ago, and maybe I would have had you in my life. But by the time I got the courage to speak, you had moved on, and I was left alone. Guess that's part of the reason I worked so hard to become famous. I wanted you to notice me again."
"Oh, Zack... I wish I knew..."
Taking hold of Zack's hand, Charlotte felt conflicted by the surge of emotions she was experiencing: guilt, love, pain, and fear. She never knew the whole time he was hurting as much as she was, and it overcame her with compassion for him, and with a longing of wanting to be with him again. At the same time, she was afraid of getting close to him. She was afraid of losing him, not to another person, but to death, and on this island, something evil was looking to take him away from her. Leaning in to kiss him, a thunderous sound of twisting metal and shattering glass pulled her back, interrupting the mood between them. Jumping in their seat, they turned their heads to see a car wrapped around a telephone pole with a body lying motionless across what remained of the hood. There was no sound of breaks squealing beforehand to warn them of the tragedy, and Charlotte knew the driver didn't try to stop. He drove into that pole head-on, on purpose.
"What the hell?"
"Go inside and call an ambulance, then go grab my bag. I left it by the chair in my room."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm a medic, I have to go offer aid before the ambulance arrives." Charlotte jumped off the bench and headed for the stairs. "Now go, hurry, there may still be time to save them."
Scattering the murder of seven crows which had gathered on the front lawn, Charlotte dashed across the street to the mangled car. The acrid scent of gasoline filled the air and as she looked over the body, she knew the man it belonged to was dead. A lifeless heap of flesh lay sprawled over the curled white metal of the hood. Blood dripped from the car, pooling by her feet as she attempted to figure what was what in the malformed blob of human tissue and glass. She found a piece of the face with the eyeball still attached a few feet away from her, next to what remained of the man's brain, at least she thought it was a man, but it was hard to tell from what little of him remained intact. Swallowing the bile coming up, she leaned inside the car and let out a sigh of relief as there was no one else with him. She was thinking of running inside the house to grab a sheet to cover the body up when the sound of bones cracking and snapping grabbed her attention. Turning around, she saw the mangled flesh twitching and turning until a crushed skull looked at her with a skeletal grin and one remaining eye.
"A deal was made," it gurgled, "now someone has to pay. Will you pay, Charlotte?"
Screaming, Charlotte leaped back onto the curb as the body collapse again, showing no further signs of life. Disturbed, she turned to run back to the house but stopped dead in her tracks when she collided with Zack's broad chest. Still shaking, she glanced up at him and noticed he was frowning and holding up her med bag. Seeing her distraught expression, his face softened, and he put his free arm around her, drawing her in for a hug and melting her fears away.
"Everything all right?"
"No."
"Is he going to make it?"
"No, he's dead, he died from the impact." She glanced back over her shoulder, trying to guess how fast he was going when he hit, knowing he had to more than triple the speed limit to sustain those injuries. "Did you call the ambulance?"
"Yeah, they are on their way. Should be here in a minute. Are you okay Cherry, you look like you have just seen a ghost?"
"No, I'm terrified." She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest, hoping desperately to block out the memory of the corpse's face. "I want to get out of here, go back inside, but we have to stay here until the guys arrive."
"All right, well, we can back away from the body and wait by the flower shop if it's bothering you."
"It's not the body," Charlotte cocked her head to the wreck behind her, feeling a sinister presence nearby, "it's something else."
"Like what?"
"I don't know, I can't begin to explain it to you."
"Hey, it's okay." Zack rubbed her back while backing away from the car. "Take your time. You can tell me whenever you are ready. I'm always here to listen, and I'm not going anywhere this time, I promise."
"I know." She wrapped her arms tighter around him. "That's what scares me."
They stood on the corner of the street for what seemed like an eternity until the night shift paramedics arrived. The two men from the original crew did not seem phased by what happened as they bagged up the remains and got their statements. One of the men, a stout guy in his late forties with salt and pepper hair, kept glancing in their direction glaring. Thinking how peculiar this was, Charlotte was sure to steal a glance at his tag with J. Jones written on it. Thanking them, she walked away with Zack, back to the house, thinking how she would ask Chuck or Iris to investigate him further. It may have well been her imagination and frayed nerves, but something about the man did not sit right with her. Zack had offered to reheat their tea, but she declined the offer, opting to take a hot shower instead.
Standing in her room, dressed in her pink pajamas, she pulled back the curtain and glanced out the window. A tow truck was loading what was left of the car onto its flatbed, and a firetruck was washing away the glass and blood into a nearby drain. Thinking how strange it was that everyone seemed so calm despite the circumstances, she shook her head and caught sight of something in the trees. Looking closer, she spotted the pigman in the front yard, looking up at her with his finger pointed towards the old hospital.
Once again, the voice of a young man spoke to her in her head, it was the creature communicating telepathically. Beware the Feast of Shadows. Spooked by the warning, she yelped and let the curtain drop. When she regained her composure long enough to steal another glance out the window, the mysterious being was gone, and so was the car wreck. Unsettled by how the night played out, she crawled into bed, pulling the covers up over her head and forced herself to fall asleep while images of the man's grotesque skeletal smile continued to permeate her thoughts.
Chapter Thirty
“Your nightmares follow you like a shadow, forever.”—Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project
W ondering through a dense fog, darkness blinfolded Charlotte like a damp rag. She felt something cold and wet under her bare feet; leaves still drenched from the rain. She realized she was lost in the forest, still dressed in her pajamas. Thinking how strange it was that she could have wandered out this far, she remembered it had not rained on the island since she got there. The ground should not be wet. Wondering what was happening to her, she continued to explore the area when someone's crying coming from deeper in the forest glued her feet to the soggy soil. Straining her ears, her heart grew ice-cold as the sounds of crying turned to screaming and wailing, which turned into blood-curdling shrieks of agony. It sounded like a man was being tortured and torn apart. She thought of going for help when the sounds suddenly stopped.
Paralyzed by fear, she took an uneasy step forward, heading in the direction the screams came from. A light flickered from somewhere in the dense foliage and once again she was cemented in place, but this time by another horrifying sound. Squealing saturated the dark space around her. All she could hear in her bones were the horrible, agonizing howls of an animal in distress. Tears stung the corners of her eyes. She loved animals, especially pigs, and knowing one was suffering nearby caused her gut-wrenching pain. Moving for the light, she hoped to save i
t from its fate, but the screaming stopped, and the air grew thin and frigid.
She did not know how long she stood there, a minute, maybe more, when a bleat pierced the silence followed by a woman's scream. Glancing about her, a rustling in the nearby bush drew her attention. Squinting her eyes in the noise's direction, she spotted shadows moving in the distance and something rushed past her, knocking her off her feet. Wet soil broke her fall, and as she stood up, she caught sight of a cloaked figure chasing after whatever had taken her down. The robed person stopped and turned to look at her. This stranger bore a striking resemblance to Victoria, except this woman was wrinkled with a crooked nose, a hairy mole on her chin, and long white hair tangled in knots.
"You," the woman sneered, "you're not supposed to be here."
Reaching for her belt, she yanked something out, and as the sharp edge of the knife glistened in the blood-red light of the moon above, Charlotte knew her life was in danger. The woman swiped the blade for her neck, and she fell back, feeling the razor edge nick the skin of her throat. Falling to the soggy ground once more, she scurried away from another blow, backing herself up against a tree. Her attacker approached, holding the weapon up, ready to strike her down. Charlotte thought that was the end of her when the sound of her name in the distance pulled her back to her own time, and the world around her started to disintegrate.
"Cherry." Someone was shaking her shoulders, and she opened her eyes to see Zack kneeling by her bed, his face full of worry. "Cherry, are you all right? I heard you screaming all the way in my room and rushed in."
"Just a bad dream, I guess."
"You want to talk about it?"
"I was lost in a forest, and I heard a man and an animal being tortured. I wanted to see what it was when something knocked me over. Then this crazy woman attacked me. She had a knife, and she..." instinctively Charlotte reached for her throat and gasped at the stinging of her raw skin and the fresh blood on her fingertips, "... oh god, this can't be?"
"What's wrong?"
"Zack," she stuttered, "turn on the light."
"Okay." Reaching over, he pulled the chain on the bedside lamp and drew a sharp breath. Looking over at his ashen, wide-eyed face, Charlotte knew she hadn't imagined things, even before he spoke to confirm her fears. "What... what on earth happened to you? You are bleeding and covered in mud!"
"I don't know how to tell you this without making myself sound crazy."
"I would never think you to be crazy." Zack sat down on the bed beside her and wrapped his warm arms around her fidget, wet body. "Just tell me what is happening to you, Cherry."
"The woman, she cut my neck, and now I'm bleeding where she cut. And I'm wet and dirty from falling onto the forest floor. I can't begin to understand how this is possible, but I think I was somehow transported into my dream, and what happened to me there, happened to my physical body here." She looked up at him still holding her, and he gave her a nod to go on. "And that's not even the strangest thing that happened to me here. I've been noticing all sorts of odd things on this island."
"Like what?"
"Well, for one, have you noticed the crows on this island? They only sit in flocks of six or seven."
"Yeah, like that old nursery rhyme. I guess it makes sense considering my informer told the natives believed a demonic being lived on this rock."
"Cyrus, my driver, told me the same thing."
"I was also told that no other birds dare come here."
"You know, Chuck pointed that out too. And the seagulls circling my ferry turned back when we got close."
"I noticed that too. So, what else have you seen?"
"Promise you won't think I'm nuts?"
"I promise." Zack pressed his lips on her forehead. "After all, you are talking to the guy who was terrorized by a dead woman in his apartment and wrote several books on ghosts, goblins, and UFOs."
"Well," she snuggled up against him, "for one, the dead people don't stay dead. They come back to life briefly and talk to me. And not just me, Chuck has witnessed it too once when a dead man caused a ruckus in the back of our ambulance."
"What do they say?"
"Strange things. Mostly warnings to get off the island and that someone has to pay. But it's not just the dead, the injured people do and say strange things too."
"Like?"
"Like they turn into something that isn't human. The first time I saw it, it freaked me out. It was my first patient here. He cut off his foot with a saw. I was tending to him when he grabbed hold of me, his eyes black as coal, and his mouth filled with needle-like teeth. He told me time was running out. And then, a woman who was hit by a car today told me to get off the island, or they will get me like they got her."
"Odd." Zack frowned. "Anything else?"
"I also see this creature around all the time. Chuck has seen it too, at the station the day you got here. It's a figure wearing a black robe with the head of a pig and a body of a man. It appears out of nowhere, and sometimes when I see him, I'm transported to another time, a time I can experience but not interact with. He always points to the old hospital, and he talks to me telepathically. He tells me to find answers there and warns me I will die if I don't."
"Do you know what's there?"
"No. But, I was told by my boss that I should never go to the hospital and to stay away from it. At first, I thought it was because of the dark history surrounding it, but now, I'm not so sure."
"I thought they were hiding something there too, especially given that no one dared talk about the place. It's as if it doesn't exist to these people."
"That's not all. I saw the pigman again outside the window tonight, in your yard. He told me to beware of the Feast of Shadows."
"What the hell is that? Some odd local holiday?"
"I don't know. If it is, it's not one I have heard of. But I know that it has something to do with that old hospital on the hill.
"We will have to explore it then. But I need more information first, I will not put you at risk if I don't have to. I already have one of my guys working on it now, but I will relay to him what you told me, and maybe he can find more answers for us."
Sitting with him in silence, the floorboards creaked above their heads in the attic and dust rain downed on them from the ceiling causing Charlotte to twitch. Someone, or something up there, listened to their plans, and she got a sick filling in the pit of her stomach. Kissing her forehead, Zack got up to leave, but she grabbed hold of his hand, knowing she couldn't let him go back into his room. She knew something was lingering on the top of the stairs, waiting for them to separate so it could hurt him, stop him from finding their secret, and she was not about to let them have him.
"Please don't leave, Zack. I'm still scared to fall asleep again." She looked at him with pleading eyes, tightening her grip on his wrist and pulling him down in bed beside her. "Could you maybe stay with me, for a bit?"
"Of course." He smiled and curled up beside her. "I'll stay with you for as long as you need."
She pressed her body closer to him, scared to let go. Warm memories of better times replayed themselves in her mind, but pure terror continued to replace them. A strange melancholy washed over her, and she was afraid for her son sleeping in another room. The thing breathing heavily outside her room didn't care for the boy though, not tonight. It wanted Zack, but it would not be long before Kevin's life was in danger too. Somehow, deep in her bones, she felt the island wanted her, and it wanted her son, and that the man next to her stood in the way. Zack was not supposed to be there, he was not part of the plan, and his arrival had thrown a wrench into things. Pressing herself closer, she hoped she could figure out the island's secret before it was too late for all of them, and waited for Zack to fall asleep.
Chapter Thirty-One
“If we were always conscious of the fact that people precious to us are frighteningly mortal, hanging not even by a thread, but by a wisp of gossamer, perhaps we would be kinder to them and more grateful for the love an
d friendship they give to us.”—Dean Koontz, Seize the Night
W aking up to the warm rays of sun caressing her skin, Charlotte found herself still wrapped around Zack. During the night she had waited for him to fall asleep before she allowed herself to doze off. The thing that was sitting on the landing at night continued to snarl and pace around the hall, as if it dared not show itself to her, for the moment. She also knew that if she let Zack go, he would meet with an unfortunate accident, like so many other people on the island, and she did not want to risk losing him. Stirring in bed, she turned to see Kevin leaning on the door jamb with crossed arms and a mischievous smirk on his face.
"So... what are you guys doing?"
"Nothing." Charlotte sat up and stretched out. "I had a bad dream and I guess we just fell asleep together. Nothing more."
"Uh huh." Kevin rolled his eyes; he knew she was lying. "Well, as much as I'd love for you and dad to work things out, you're going to be late for work if you don't get going in the next five minutes. It's sort of becoming a thing for you here."
"Shit." Charlotte jumped out of bed and ran for the bathroom. "Wake your dad up."
Throwing on her uniform, she ran out of the bathroom and was instantly hit in the face by a wall of oppressive air in the hallway. She felt something in there with her, watching, waiting. For what, she could not say. A knot twisted itself in her stomach, her palms started to sweat, and she got short of breath. A sudden premonition told her something was going to happen to Kevin, not that day, but at some point, in the near future. Taking a quick, shallow breath, she watched Zack walk out of her room, smile, put his hands in his pockets, and lean on the door frame.
"So, Kevin tells me we fell asleep together." He winked. "I could get used to this, Cherry."
"We did, and we can talk about it later. I got to get to work. Think you can drive Kevin to school? I don't want him walking today."
"Sure. I'll even pick him up to make you feel better."
"That would be great. Thank you, Zack." She came over to him and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you guys later. Stay safe."
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