The Curse of the Old Woods

by Elizabeth Andre

  “Look! Look!” she said, panicked. “The ice looks like those vine things that attacked me the other night, the ones you said you couldn’t see!” She ran toward the barn door as fast as she could. It got farther away. The arms started to emerge from the ice. She kept moving. The growing distance felt impassable until, all of a sudden, she was outside panting and trying to catch her breath. The heat of the June night felt hot against her frozen skin. Sweat beaded on her forehead and trickled down the sides of her face. Steve, Penny, and Jason shouted and suddenly they were beside her, too.

  Penny patted Jason on the back. “It’s okay. We’re safe. Dude, I can’t wait to look at my footage.”

  “It got down to 23 degrees in there right before we left.” Jason said, sounding awed and disbelieving.

  “And no sign of Caretaker Mike,” Steve said.

  Still gasping, Julie said, “That was him. It was all him. The drop in temperature, the vines the other night. It’s all him. I know it.”

  Penny offered a bottle of water to Julie. She gulped the water down. The cold had made her thirsty.

  “Wonder where he is?” Steve asked.

  “He’s here. I know he’s here. Even if we can’t see him, he’s here.” Julie was feeling better, still scared but oddly exhilarated.

  “So, what do we do now?” said Penny.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here. We’ve seen enough tonight. We’ll be back tomorrow. We may even be able to set Katie free,” said Steve. He started walking to the parking lot. The others followed silently.

  Julie took one last look back at the cottage. For a moment, she swore she saw Mike peering out the window at them, looking grim and cold. Then he was gone.

  They piled into Steve’s Land Rover, and, as he drove them away from the woods, Julie realized she was more afraid for Maya than for herself.

  “Do you think we could free Katie without Maya being there?” Julie asked.

  “What’s wrong, Jules?” Jason looked worried.

  Julie gazed out the window. “She seemed really worn out after the last time Katie used her. I’m just concerned that helping Katie in the way we want to could really mess Maya up.”

  “Mrs. Forcier would never forgive us if Maya backed out now,” Jason said.

  “Maya would never forgive us if we even hinted that maybe she shouldn’t come to the woods tomorrow night,” Penny said. “She’d be impossible and then she’d show up anyway. There’s no way she’s going to be cut from this investigation. No matter what the reason.”

  Penny gave Julie a look that reminded her that they were still competitors in many ways, but Julie’s competitive feelings had faded. Now, all she felt was concern for her fellow ghost hunter.

  Jason put his arm around his sister and squeezed. His hand felt hot through the thin fabric of her shirt. Her shoulders were still cold. “Besides, she won’t be alone. We won’t let go of her.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Maya is taken

  Maya was hoping tonight would be the last time they’d need to go to the woods. Her peaceful evening yesterday of puttering about had turned into a fitful night of not much sleep. She had made the mistake of letting herself think too much about what Katie had done to materialize to them and the notion that Katie was not as alone as she’d initially seemed.

  Sometimes she could still feel Katie holding onto her.

  After hours of tossing and turning, Maya woke up for good at around 4 a.m. She checked her phone and saw that Julie, Steve, Penny, and Jason had sent her several texts and emails about the previous night’s escapade in the woods. Only Julie claimed to have seen Mike, and only Julie left a voicemail message for her.

  It was too early to call Julie, so Maya texted her, thanking her for the information she had sent. Then she got out of bed, went to the bathroom, and decided to fix herself some breakfast. Penny was asleep, and the house was quiet.

  Since Maya was awake so early and she wasn’t due at Zaxy-Mart for a few hours, she figured she’d have time to actually cook breakfast, like scramble some eggs, make some toast, the works. She bustled around her little kitchen feeling happy but tired, yet still wondering what tonight would be like for her.

  She had never really talked to her parents about her ability to sense spirits, although she didn’t much care for the word “ability.” She preferred to say that she had an affinity for spirits. Calling it an ability made it sound like she’d actually worked on it, practiced it like someone would practice the piano or figure skating until they got really good at it. Her affinity had just happened to her, much the way some people were double jointed or had a way with animals. She sometimes wondered if she could practice and get better at talking to ghosts, but she wasn’t sure how to do that. It wasn’t like there was a school for that kind of thing. Or maybe it was just something that, as time went on, she’d learn more about how it worked, like with Katie?

  As she beat two eggs and added them to the hot skillet, she wondered why, if the Promontory Woods was so haunted, Katie was the only ghost to have availed herself of Maya’s affinity. Maya had been in the woods several times now. She’d been there before she met Mrs. Forcier, and Katie was the first and, so far, only ghost to use her as a host to help anchor her to the real world. Maybe Katie has told her ghost friends about me. Maybe they’ll want to give me a try too. Yikes. She was shaking her head as though to rid herself of such thoughts when the phone rang.

  She quickly and deftly slid the scrambled eggs onto a plate before picking up her phone. She didn’t even notice who the caller was. It was still so early. The sun wasn’t even up yet.

  “Hey, there. It’s me. Julie.”

  Maya felt a dip in her stomach, the sort she felt every time she’d been on a roller coaster at the point just before the coaster plunged downward. It was that same sense of excitement and anticipation. Maybe it was because she was tired. Maybe she was just hungry, but she didn’t tamp down those feelings as she probably would have done if she were more alert.

  “Hi, Julie.” She yawned. “Sorry.”

  “I didn’t wake you, did I? I got your text a few minutes ago, so I thought you were up.”

  “No, it’s all right. I’ve been up for a while now, but I’m still a bit tired.”

  “Okay. I won’t keep you on the phone long, then.”

  “Oh, no worries. Thanks for the texts and for your voicemail, by the way. I’m putting you on speaker. Okay?” Maya set down her phone and got a mug out of the cupboard.

  “That’s fine, and you’re welcome,” Julie said.

  Maya poured coffee into the mug, followed by a little half and half, and breathed in deeply. She loved the smell of coffee in the morning. It didn’t take away her sleepiness, but it did make her smile.

  “So, what’s up?” she asked.

  Julie went into more detail about their travails at the cottage. Maya was glad she was only on speaker phone and not Skype or FaceTime. She didn’t want Julie to see how alarmed she was, especially the part about the sudden drop in temperature in the barn.

  “And you said you’re the only one who saw Mike?”

  “He was there and then he wasn’t,” said Julie. “The whole situation at the cottage and then the barn was bizarre.”

  “Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you have an affinity for ghosts, too.”

  Maya had never met anyone with her quirk, but she wanted to. It would have been nice to know someone who understood what it was like to have someone else in your head. Julie pooh-poohed the idea and ran out of things to tell her. Maya wasn’t sure how to keep the conversation going. She was tired. Plus, her eggs were getting cold. She decided she needed to say something before the awkward pause stretched on for much longer.

  “Well, I guess I’ll see you later then,” Maya said.

  “Definitely. Of course. Yes.”

  Maya laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Julie asked. “I wanna laugh, too.”

  “When you answered just now I wonder if you were m
entally going through a thesaurus for all the ways you could say yes.”

  “Oh, ha-ha. As a matter of fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Julie paused for what Maya gathered was dramatic effect. “I’m a thesaurus nerd.”

  “Really? What do you mean?”

  “When I was a little girl, I said I wanted a thesaurus for my eighth birthday. I didn’t really know what a thesaurus was, but I thought the word thesaurus just sounded cool. My parents humored me and got me one. I was a little disappointed when I actually got it. It was a book! A book! I wasn’t the bookish type, you know. Fortunately, they also got me a pair of ice skates, so my eighth birthday wasn’t a total loss. Since then, my dad, ever the jokester, has given me half a dozen thesauri over the years.”

  “Thesauri? Impressive.”

  “I am indeed impressive. Stunning. Imposing. Grand. Spectacular.” Julie laughed.

  “Sounds like you cracked open at least one of those thesauri.” Maya liked the sound of Julie’s laugh. For the first time, since they had started this investigation she wished they could just hang out sometime, maybe even go on a date. But then she remembered Charlie and how they were going out next weekend and how Julie didn’t feel available even though she was single.

  “I did, even if I had my thesaurus nerdery thrust upon me.”

  And then Maya remembered that she was not the only one who’d had a rough time in the woods a couple of nights ago.

  “So, have you recovered? Not just from last night but the night before as well? Those vines sounded so creepy.”

  Julie was silent for a few moments.

  “Look, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay,” said Maya. “My eggs are getting cold anyway.”

  “No, it’s not that. I’ve recovered, but I had sex with my ex in order to do it.”

  “So ... is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  Julie broke into laughter. Maya giggled and heard her stomach grumble. She looked hungrily at the scrambled eggs on her plate, no longer steaming.

  “I’ll let you go now,” Julie said. “See you tonight.”

  After ending the call, Maya stuck her plate in the microwave for reheating. She doused the once again steaming eggs with a garlicky hot sauce and sat down to eat. She almost drifted into pleasant day dreams about Julie but reminded herself that Julie was a business partner and clearly still hooked on her ex. Maya really did have to figure out a way to stop thinking about kissing her.

  ****

  Everything had gone smoothly so far. Maya, Julie, and others helping with the ghost hunt had unloaded various tools and equipment from their vehicles and headed for the clearing with the disused well. Eddie had joined them, as Steve had thought they could use another brain as well as another pair of eyes and hands that night. He added that Eddie’s special skills that would be useful, although he still wouldn’t say what they were. Maya was sure of nothing except how she felt. Striding toward the clearing, she felt a mixture of elation, anxiety, and unbridled fear. She knew there would be something different about this meeting with Katie. It would hopefully be the last time they would speak, and that made Maya a bit sad, something she didn’t expect. She’d become fond of the ghostly teenager whose life was cut short by an accident. Maya also felt incredibly honored to help Katie reconnect with her sister and set them both free in their own ways.

  “Are you ready for this?” It was Mrs. Forcier. Even in the dark that enveloped them, Maya could see the brightness of her smile.

  Maya returned her smile. “Yes, I am.”

  “For so many years, I wished I could see Katie just one more time,” said Mrs. Forcier, her voice full of the pain of great loss. “I didn’t know what had happened to her, but I resented the fact that she was taken from me before I got to spend more time with her. Mother was never the same again. Our family had a gaping hole that no one could see from the outside.”

  She paused, but not for dramatic effect. The pain she’d been carrying around for years had come to the surface, and it was too much. Maya put her hand on Mrs. Forcier’s shoulder.

  “I’ve seen her again, but I know I’ll have to let her go,” Mrs. Forcier continued. “It isn’t fair.”

  It never is, Maya thought.

  “Do you believe in heaven, Maya?”

  The question took Maya aback. Of course, she’d thought about the concepts of heaven and hell, especially during the moodier parts of her adolescence, but at the moment, they were just that to her—concepts.

  “I used to,” Maya said.

  Before Mrs. Forcier could ask her to explain, especially in light of Maya’s affinity for communicating with ghosts and spirits, they arrived at the clearing. It didn’t look any different. There was an odd smell in the air, but Maya ascribed that to a brief rain earlier that day. Steve and Jason immediately began roving the perimeter of the clearing with their EDI meters while Eddie unpacked a cassette tape recorder from his backpack. Steve was always convinced tape picked up more than digital. Penny fiddled with her video camera. Julie came over to Maya and touched her arm, a touch filled with concern.

  “You ready for this?”

  Maya nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”

  “She’s going to be fine,” Mrs. Forcier said and gave Maya’s shoulder a squeeze.

  Maya had survived her encounters with Katie so far. She didn’t see why this time should be any different. Like the other times, she felt it first, the sense that the atmosphere was changing. The air felt charged with electricity, hot and cold at the same time, old and new all at once, but something she couldn’t describe was different.

  “Katie?” Maya asked, puzzled.

  “Is she here?” Mrs. Forcier peered at Maya. “Katie? Come along now. I miss you.”

  Steve and Jason said the readings they were getting were similar to those they’d seen when Katie had shown up before. Eddie and Penny moved in closer with their camera and audio equipment while Mrs. Forcier and Julie stood on either side of Maya. They both seemed braced for something.

  “Is it getting colder?” Maya asked. She bit her lip nervously.

  “Yeah. It is,” Jason said. “Like last night at the barn.”

  But not like our other encounters with Katie, thought Maya.

  Katie had been so polite. She’d asked Maya’s permission to be her anchor. Maya waited to hear Katie’s voice, but there was nothing, just a feeling of internal heat while the air around her got colder. She felt something take hold of her. She gasped.

  “Something’s wrong,” said Maya. She grabbed onto Julie’s and Mrs. Forcier’s arms. Katie had reassured her that her presence wouldn’t hurt. This, whatever this was, hurt. The pressure on her torso was tight and getting tighter. She had the sensation of dozens of fingers crawling up her legs and digging into her flesh.

  “Is it Katie?” Mrs. Forcier sounded panicked.

  A startled Maya could only blurt out, “No.”

  “Maya. Look at me,” Julie said, grabbing Maya’s face and turning it toward her. “Can you tell us what’s going on? What’s happening?”

  Suddenly, she pushed Julie away. She shoved Mrs. Forcier, sending the older woman sprawling on the ground.

  “Hey!” Julie shouted. She tried to grab hold of Maya, who squirmed away and ran in the direction of the well.

  Maya wanted to stop, but she couldn’t. Steve stepped in front of her and tried to block her path.

  “Stop! Calm down. Maya, get a hold of yourself.” He gripped Maya’s shoulders firmly.

  “I can’t.” Maya kicked one of Steve’s shins hard. He lost his grip on her and bent down. She then bashed his nose with the heel of her right hand, sending him to the ground. “I’m sorry.”

  She turned and bumped into Jason who wrapped his free arm around her. “Hang on, Maya.” She was breathing heavily and rapidly as if she was in the middle of running a four-minute mile. Her heart felt like it was trying to leap out of her body. Her stomach felt like it had formed a solid block of cement.

 
“Let go, Jason. Don’t make me hit you.” Maya struggled against him.

  Julie, Penny, Mrs. Forcier, and Eddie moved closer, forming a circle around her. She didn’t want to hurt anyone else, but she also felt, perhaps for the first time in her life, the sort of unshakeable confidence she had only ever dreamed of possessing. It was frightening and exhilarating.

  She broke free of Jason’s grasp, and Maya gut punched him. With him doubled over, she whacked his nose the same way she had done Steve’s.

  Penny and Eddie tried to block Maya from moving forward while Julie and Mrs. Forcier started to grab her from behind. Maya crouched down low like a running back and sprung forward, plowing through Penny and Eddie like they were a scrawny defensive line. She sent them sprawling and kept running.

  She looked over her shoulder and yelled, “I’m sorry. Don’t follow me!” She could hear them screaming behind her.

  When she looked over her shoulder. Penny was on the ground. Then Eddie fell, too, tripped up by vines coming up from the ground. The vines were wrapping around Penny’s and Eddie’s legs. As Maya watched with dread, she saw the vines begin to creep up toward their torsos.

  The vines then trapped Penny, Steve, Julie, and Mrs. Forcier. Seeing Mrs. Forcier struggling on the ground brought a tear to Maya’s eye. The older woman wasn’t as healthy as the others.

  “Please don’t hurt them. Leave them alone,” yelled Maya. “You can have me. Just don’t hurt them.”

  A moment later, she saw the vines retract rapidly. Her friends lay on the ground gasping for air.

  Maya ran, but she didn’t feel tired. She barely had control over her own limbs, and she was terrified, which made her happy. The fact that she could feel terror meant that the entity or whatever it was hadn’t taken her over completely. Or at least that’s what she hoped it meant. She’d no idea where she was going, where the entity was taking her. She wondered if her friends were truly all right. Shortly, she found herself standing in front of the barn behind the caretaker’s cottage.