Earth Angel (The Kamlyn Paige Novels)

by Alex Apostol

  “When Adoette and the others returned, they found their reservation was gone. Their homes and families had been washed away with everything they had ever known. Having to start new, Adoette built a small cabin in the woods next to her former home, which is now Roosevelt Lake, and remained there alone.”

  There was a hole in the story I thought as I stood up from the bed and paced the room. Why would Adoette’s ghost be taking revenge now, after seventy years?

  “Do you know who the city planners were?” Cara asked, knowing full well I had no clue. “Three men by the names of Richard Baker, Daniel Jones, and Jonathan Weston Sr. Richard Baker was the man you saw in the old picture at the Baker’s home and Daniel Jones was the man who died last night.”

  The pieces were starting to fall into place. I still wasn’t sure why the spirit had returned so late for her revenge, but there was one thing I was sure about and that was how to get rid of her. I stopped pacing the room and stared at a dark stain on the carpet, looking past it rather than at it as I realized I had more to do than find Adoette, and I had to hurry.

  “John Weston is the name of the guy who sat with me in the diner,” I said, more to myself than to Cara.

  Without hesitation, I hung up the phone and rushed to my truck.

  3

  “I am a visitor here. I am not permanent.”

  - Postal Service

  Speeding down the dark winding road, I screeched to a halt in front of a rundown ranch style house next to the diner. I burst into the unlocked home and saw John in the kitchen…across from him stood Adoette. She had her hand placed over his chest as he gasped for air, water pouring from his mouth. Hearing my entrance, she turned to look at me. Her piercing silver eyes were filled with rage and pure hatred. She smiled and cocked her head to the side, like a coyote spotting new prey to rip apart. On instinct, I pulled the gun from inside my jacket and fired a shot straight through her head, causing her to disappear and John to fall to his knees. He coughed up the last bit of water he was choking on as he tried to catch his breath.

  “What the hell was that?” he gasped as I helped him stand up.

  “I don’t have time to explain. She’ll be back.” I grabbed a giant box of salt from one of the shelves and shoved it at him. “Take this, form a circle around yourself and don’t move. She can’t cross it.”

  I turned quickly and ran from the house, leaving John in fear and utter confusion. I drove as fast as my old, beat up truck could to the lakefront where I first saw Adoette. When I came to a squealing stop, I jumped out and grabbed the gallon of gasoline I always kept in the bed of my truck. Luckily, I had just used some of it on a previous case so the can wasn’t too heavy. I ran to the lake bridges and looked around for a clue to which direction I should go when I noticed a small dirt trail leading back into the woods. Somehow sure that the trail would lead me to Adoette’s remains, I followed it.

  After what seemed like miles of running, I came upon a small one room log cabin. It was hidden among the tall moss covered trees, overtaken with the green parasites as well. I walked up to one of the glassless windows to take a look inside with my flashlight. It was very simple; a fireplace in one corner for cooking, some old pots for storage and on the wall across from me was a cot. Lying on the cot was an old woman. I flashed my light across her face to see if she was sleeping, but the woman lay there still and unresponsive. I walked over to the warped, rotted door and pushed it open slowly. The floor was covered in dirt and leaves instead of floorboards. Damp like the outside forest, it gave slightly when I walked on it.

  “Hello?” I asked loudly, trying one last time to see if the woman was still alive, but she was silent.

  I nudged her a couple times as a final attempt, but there was no doubt about it; the woman was dead. I used the rest of my gasoline carrier and my entire pouch of salt to cover her body. Normally when I burned remains they were bones or a possession of the deceased. I had never burned a body that was still intact before. It made me feel uneasy. This woman couldn’t have died more than a few days ago, which explained why her spirit returned to seek revenge then. It saddened me to think about the fact that she would never receive a proper burial. There would be no tombstone for loved ones to visit and mourn, nothing left behind for proof of her existence. But as unnerved as I was, I knew it had to be done. John’s life depended on it.

  Just as I lit the match to throw onto the old woman’s corpse, I heard the door behind me slowly creak open. I spun around to see Adoette’s ghost standing there, rage pouring from her unearthly eyes. I could hear a faint growling sound as she huffed. Without warning, she let out a shrill warrior cry as she rushed forward. I dropped the match without hesitation and saw the orange and red flames engulf the physical body in front of me. Stopping in her tracks, the young spirit of the woman stared at me, her face stricken with fear. As she looked down at her body, she let out a horrifying scream and burst into flames as well. The heat from the flames rushed past me, warming my cheeks and turning them bright red. Just as quickly as she caught fire, she was gone. The job was done. I ran from the cabin sparing no time before my only exit was blocked. The cabin was swallowed quickly in a blaze of fire behind me as I rushed back to the truck.

  Immediately when I got back to the motel, I gathered my belongings so I could leave town as soon as possible. I had called the fire department while driving to report smoke rising in the woods. I was sure there would be an investigation and it was better to be safe than sorry. It was always the antisocial stranger passing through who was the first to be questioned and in my case, their suspicions would be right. While tossing my belongings into my duffel bag I heard a rhythmic knock on my door. I cracked it open without undoing the chain to see who was coming to see me at such a late hour…fully prepared to see a swarm of FBI agents on the other side.

  “Hello there, mystery woman,” John said, giving me a cocky grin as he leaned against the door frame.

  Even though I had just seen him not more than an hour ago, he looked different to me. He was wearing a dark green button-down shirt which he had left open to show the fitted t-shirt he wore underneath. His jeans were clean and they hugged his body in all the right places. Instead of wearing his usual worn out ball cap, his short brown hair was styled with mouse.

  “You caught me. Did you get all dressed up just to stalk me in the middle of the night?” I asked, smiling back as I undid the chain and stepped aside to invite him in.

  I took a deep breath as he walked past me to sit on the windowsill. He smelled of rugged, outdoorsy cologne that made me weak in the knees. I remembered from biology class that scent was known to trigger memories better than any of our other senses and right then I was taken back to high school with Rob. Suddenly, I was very aware of how frumpy I looked. My long hair was in dire need of a brushing. I was positive I felt twigs stuck in it as I ran my fingers through, trying to smooth out the tangles. I had on a plain t-shirt and my favorite jeans, and while they did show off my figure, the rips and fading were anything but intentional.

  “So, what the hell happened?” he asked, still smiling at me and folding his arms.

  I knew I should have gone back to John’s after putting Adoette’s spirit to rest, but I had never been good at saying goodbye. I was glad he wasn’t mad at me for trying to skip town without explaining. Something told me this wasn’t the first time someone had done that to him. We didn’t know each other all that well, but saying goodbye to him felt like I would be saying goodbye to any possibility of having a normal life with someone. As I continued to pack, I asked him how he knew when to leave the circle of salt I’d told him to make.

  “Well, one minute she was sitting across from me, dangerously close and smiling like a madwoman, and then the next she was gone. Shortly after she left, the lights came back on. I figured if she came back, the lights flickering again would tip me off.”

  I was very impressed by how well he was handling the whole situation. Most people were complete basket cases after the
ir first ghost encounter. John filled me in on the details of what happened at the house after I left and I explained, in very little detail, what I do and the story behind Adoette and his grandfather. Normally, when I tried to explain the paranormal to people they looked at me as if I were crazy no matter what horror they had just witnessed. John just gazed at me, continuing to give me his crooked grin.

  “So, you’re like some badass ghost hunter?”

  “Uh, sure. Something like that,” I chuckled in response.

  No one had ever described my job so perfectly before. I looked at John, unable to stop myself from blushing as I smiled. He was different from all the other victims I’d helped over the past year. He knew about my job and didn’t run away screaming. That had to count for something.

  “I guess I really came to say thanks, then,” he said, looking into my eyes as he stood up from the windowsill.

  He walked over to me slowly and put his hands on my waist. Gently, he rested his forehead against mine.

  “Are you sure you have to go?” he whispered while closing his eyes and holding onto me tighter.

  I wished desperately I could stay and live a simple life with John. We had just met, but he reminded me so much of the life I could have had; a quiet life in a small town with a nice guy and a white picket fence. As much as I wanted to, though, I couldn’t give up the hunt now.

  “I have to find something that took someone very special from me, but maybe when I’m done…” I trailed off, averting my gaze down to my feet.

  I wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence. John raised my face with the light touch of his finger to look into his eyes.

  “I knew there was something special about you the minute we met. You’ll always have evil to hunt and people to save because that’s what you do…you save lives.”

  He smiled at me and gave me a small, soft kiss on my cheek. I closed my eyes and savored the moment. I knew it would be a long time before I had another one like that again.

  “Bye, Miss Page,” he said under his breath, looking at the ground instead of me.

  Without another word, he left the room and got into his truck. It was the first time I was sorry to leave somewhere in a long time. My eyes stung with tears. I blinked a few times to fight them back, but one escaped and rolled down my cheek. I gave a deep sigh as I closed the motel door behind me. Tossing my duffel bag and backpack into the bed of my truck, I watched John pull out of the parking lot and drive out of sight. As I put the key in the ignition and heard the engine roar to life, I decided to just drive wherever the roads took me while I waited for Cara to call with my next job. After all, everyone needed a vacation once in a while.

  4

  “It’s strange how I’m taken and guided where I end up right where I’m needed to be. Quiet your mind.”

  – Zac Brown Band

  I drove for seventeen hours before I felt the need to find a motel. I hadn’t slept the night before so I made sure to keep the cooler on my passenger seat stocked with energy drinks. Ironically, my favorite flavor was ‘Blue Demon’. As I gulped down my last can, I stopped in the middle of Highway 2. Contrary to most highways, which are jam packed with cars, this particular stretch of road was deserted. I stared forward for a moment, mesmerized by the Nebraskan sand hills. The land was golden all over from the unique shade of grass, rising and falling in every direction I looked. I could see a family of foxes hopping through the tall blades of flowing grass as they played. The sudden bursts of red from the little critters jumping into view reminded me of fish emerging from the water to swim upstream. They didn’t have a care in the world at that moment but to enjoy life and play. The loud sound of my stomach growling broke me away from my trance. Desperate to find some food for dinner, I continued to drive.

  After twenty minutes without seeing so much as a tree stump, I checked the map beside me to see which town I would be coming up to eventually. I spotted a small place called Whitman that shouldn’t have been more than a few minutes down the road. Not sure why, but when I saw the name of the little town, my stomach tightened from excitement as if I’d been looking for the place all along. I’d never had the urge to spend time in Nebraska and yet here I was, starving and buzzed from all the caffeine I’d had. I felt as if something pulled me in the direction ahead. I chocked the whole incident up to being overly hungry. After what seemed like miles and miles of nothing, I noticed civilization starting to form around me. It started with a car passing by and then trees lining the street. Finally, I saw a small sign which read ‘Whitman population 190’. I’d had more kids than that packed into my high school cafeteria for lunch.

  Once I arrived in the heart of the mini town, I pulled up to the only gas station in sight for directions to the nearest motel. When I entered the run-down store, a little bell attached to the door gave a high ring, signaling the cashier to a customer’s arrival. A middle aged man glanced up from the book he was reading briefly to ask if I needed any help.

  “Yea, where can I get a room around here?” I asked while scanning the shelves for something healthy enough to be considered dinner.

  The hunched over cashier blinked slowly as he stared off in my direction.

  “Continue down the road,” was all he said before he turned back to his book again.

  I stared for a moment in disbelief. Usually people were more helpful when someone wanted to stay in their town. I realized that a place this small probably wasn’t used to having anybody pass through, let alone wanting to stay the night, but he could have shown a little enthusiasm or at least faked politeness. With nothing more than chips and cookies to eat in the store, I headed out to find real food. I spotted an old fashioned saloon style building down the road with the words ‘Bar and Grill’ glowing overhead. Pulling into the lot, I figured the only bar in town would be the hot spot for the locals. What else did these people have to do besides socialize and get drunk off their asses?

  I walked inside and sat down on one of the bar stools. As I looked around at the people sitting at the crudely crafted wooden tables all around, I noticed everyone in the place looked tired. They took a sip of their beers and then went back to staring into their glasses before the next sip. Taking a quick look around the bar, I realized why it wasn’t full of fun and crazy drunks. The place was very dark and drab. Everything was poorly assembled from cheap wood and the only source of entertainment was an old jukebox playing outdated country music softly in the corner.

  “Hi, can I get you something?” the young bartender asked me with a smile on her face.

  “Yea, I’ll have a beer and a burger with chili cheese fries.”

  My mouth watered at the thought of eating. I grabbed a handful of peanuts from a bowl on the counter. I cracked them open and tossed them back one right after another as if I hadn’t eaten for days.

  “So, what’s up with everyone in here?” I couldn’t help asking.

  The bartender laughed as she poured a Coors Light from the tap into a freshly cleaned glass and set it in front of me. I tossed the empty shells of the nuts I’d eaten onto the floor, as I saw many of the customers had done before me. I’d been to places where people disposed of their shells on the floor before, but usually someone swept them up after closing. This place looked as if they did this only once a month.

  “Well, this is a farm town, city girl. Most of these people are up before the sun is, so they get tired fairly early,” she said with a hint of sarcasm as she picked up another glass and dried it with a rag.

  Even though I had always lived only an hour drive from Chicago, I never actually thought of myself as a city girl. Compared to everyone in the bar, though, I guess I was. Most of the men had on dirty coveralls and baseball caps. The women wore loose clothing and no makeup with their messy hair pulled back into buns and ponytails. I was never one to pile on the makeup, but my face didn’t look like a leather handbag either. Everyone looked about ten years older than I suspected they actually were.

  “My name’s Alli, by the way
,” the bartended added, smiling still.

  I noticed as she put the glass she had been drying down and picked up another that she didn’t really fit into the town of Whitman either. She had on tight designer straight leg jeans and a small white tank top. Instead of having her hair pulled back for work, she let her perfectly straight dark hair fall, barely grazing her shoulders in a fashionable bob style. She seemed to exude energy and cheer as she performed her monotonous job of serving drinks. I was glad to find someone I could be social around without the threat of attachment; someone to have a few laughs with before I head out and never see them again.

  “So, what brings you to our little town?” she asked me, resting her elbows on the countertop. “Just curious since we don’t get many tourists through these parts,” she added, raising her eyebrows in anticipation.

  As I explained where I was from and lied about how I was taking a cross country road trip, she stopped working and gave me her full attention. Her dark brown eyes focused solely on me, lighting up when she smiled. I realized how easy it was for me to talk to this girl. She was funny and refreshing and in no immediate need of saving like most of the people I’d met this past year.

  Alli set my dinner down in front of me and I dove right to devouring it. In that moment, nothing I had ever eaten tasted as good as that burger. Just as I was polishing off my last fry, the door opened and a younger guy strolled in. Next to the rest of the bar’s patrons, he stuck out like a sore thumb in a fitted black button-down shirt and expensive looking jeans. To my disbelief, he locked eyes with me and walked right over. He towered over me as I sat there.

  “Hello,” he said as he leaned one elbow on the counter and gave me a perfect smile.

  Before I had a chance to respond, Alli cut in with an overpowering look of hatred.