Echoes of the Past

by Evan Bond

  "No, nothing like that at all. If he had enemies, I didn't know about them."

  "This just seems too surreal. Why would someone here go to great lengths to scare you off? They're that afraid of an outsider they resort to this?"

  "Why's that so hard to believe?"

  "It's too well thought out."

  "Thought out? A handful of random murders seems thought out to you?"

  "These aren't random murders."

  "What?"

  "Come on, get your things together. I'll explain at the station."

  Disappointed, Sasha ushered Tara to her room and told her to get her things together. She packed herself a bag as well. It was killing her, not knowing what Harrison meant by his last statement. These had to be random killings. Harrison had to be wrong. She could see nothing that linked them. Doing her best not to dwell, she packed her things and followed Harrison to his truck.

  He had to wipe the shards of glass off her seat before letting her inside. The rioters had smashed the passenger window in order to get in. They're lucky Harrison hadn't shot any of them. She supposed it was the difference between a small town and big city cop. Back home, an officer would have shot a suspect for breaking into his car. But here, he knew everyone. He knew they weren't bad people, merely misguided.

  Sasha envied him. He had the advantage of seeing these people as friends and family. He could remember the cookouts and barbecues. He could remember town hall meetings and holidays. When he saw these people, he saw a flock of scared people only wanting answers. Sasha could only see monsters.

  The ride to the station seemed to drone on longer than it should have. The awkward silence between Harrison and Sasha seemed to be creating a tension that might snap like a spring at any moment. Sasha couldn’t help but shake with anticipation. Finally, they pulled up to the police station and Harrison killed the engine. He sat still for a moment as if he were preparing to speak but then said nothing. Instead, he climbed out of his truck and helped his passengers inside.

  "Of course, you won't be locked up like criminals. I'll have you sleep in a cell but more as a precaution and because there really isn't anywhere else to sleep" he explained. “Let me show you around before you sleep.”

  It wasn't an impressive building. It was mostly a wide-open space with a few smaller rooms built in. Clearly, it was not designed to hold a vast amount of people. Half a dozen people could fit in the cells, maybe. Even fewer officers would be able to work at once. Only a few brown desks sat in the center of the main room.

  "I'll sleep here," Harrison said. "The holding cells are beyond this room which means no one gets to you without going through me."

  "Do you really think someone will try?"

  Harrison shook his head.

  "It's the mob mentality. Everyone is scared and they're acting out at once. But no one person will try anything. Trust me, I know these people."

  "How well? I mean, one of them is a killer, right?"

  Harrison frowned. She almost felt bad for making the statement but decided she had meant it. Clearly, he didn't know his town as well as he thought he did. When he didn't say another word and led them on to the holding cells, she felt bad. It was clear he was upset. What wasn’t clear was what he was upset about. It may have been the situation or it could have been Sasha’s statement. She wasn’t quite sure.

  After opening a cell door with a key, he produced from his pocket, he said, "Your room, Madame." He forced a smile and she returned it with fake enthusiasm. Placing her bag down on the cot, she turned back to Harrison.

  "Can you please explain what you meant earlier?" She was dying to know.

  "Follow me to my desk."

  She told Tara to stay in the cell and play with whatever toys she had brought for herself. Without any further delay, she followed closely behind Harrison to his desk. There, he sat down and put his feet up, offering her the chair next to him.

  "Did you need something at your desk?"

  "No. Just wanted to be comfortable."

  She suppressed a moment of anger with him and sat down. Now he seemed to be toying with her and it wasn’t right. There was too much at stake to turn the situation into a game. If he wasn’t going to take things seriously, she would have to take matters into her own hands and flee town with Tara.

  "All right, here's the deal. It seems random and at first, I thought it was too. I'll admit, the people killed are randomly chosen but there’s a clear message here.”

  “And what is that?”

  “You.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes. The first death seemed entirely random, I guess most serial killings start out that way. It's impossible to pick up on a pattern or a signature with the first body. Unfortunately, the best way to catch a serial killer is for a few bodies to turn up. More bodies, more clues. But I'm getting off track here."

  He cleared his throat.

  "The first murder this town has ever seen shows up the same day you move in. Coincidence? Maybe. But the black candle left behind at the scene and the one stolen from your home is not. The Second body found behind your home and something left in your backyard for you to find; I like to think, once is a questionable, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern. The third body is found with your name carved into another candle. I don't think I need to point out the obvious here."

  "Ok, but what does any of it have to do with me?"

  "Clearly, someone wants you out. It's a clear message to you. Leave town."

  "Who would do something so horrible? Why not leave bags of shit on my doorstep like a normal asshole?"

  "Here's the thing, I don't think it started out as merely a message for you to leave. I think someone was attempting to frame you. The third body seemed rushed, almost angry. The poor woman was beaten and raped before she was killed. Then your name was carved into a candle? Almost as if to say 'You're next'. Whoever is doing this lost their temper. The question is, why?"

  Sasha's blood ran cold. Thoughts of her husband ran through her mind. But it couldn't be, he was dead. That she was sure of. No one could have survived the poison she had fed him. There had been no pulse. She had buried him. It was an impossibility.

  "I gotta ask again, Sasha. Is there anyone who would want to hurt you?"

  She shook her head and fought back the tears stinging behind her eyes. And it was the truth. She could think of no living person who would want to do her harm. The only person who ever hurt her was slowly decaying with a mouth full of maggots and worms in his veins.

  "What about this witchcraft crap? Why leave black candles and upside-down crosses on the bodies?" She asked.

  "Simple. Fear. Look what it's done to this town. They've lost their minds. None of them has ever been this close to a murder and there's a hint of the occult with it? They're panicking. Fear spreads like a plague. Even the most rational of people can catch it and do things they wouldn't normally do. One or two people would scoff at the idea of witchcraft but get a whole mob scared enough, well, they'll about believe anything. Mob mentality."

  Harrison sat up at his desk and pressed a finger to his lips. He cocked his head to the side like a dog hearing the jingle of the leash. "Shit," he said as the dull roar of voices became clearer. As he stood up, he heard the sound of glass shattering. Pulling his pistol from its holster, he said, "You and Tara get in the cell. I'll handle this."

  Fear coursed through her veins and she did as she was told. As she had feared, the mob mentality was winning.

  Chapter Sixteen

  "Everyone, get back to your homes now or I will start arresting people." Harrison could barely hear himself over the roar of the crowd. He knew the threat wouldn't deter anyone but he had to try. It was worlds above threatening to shoot anyone. It was the last thing he wanted to do, let alone threaten. The town was going through enough. They didn’t need to be worried their sheriff would kill them too. However, things were escalating quickly in Carlisle and he barely recognized it anymore.

  He heard scre
ams from the crowd demanding he give up the witch. The looks of twisted anger and hatred on their faces was utterly terrifying. Harrison didn't want to admit it but he was scared. Nearly everyone in town had lost their minds and those who hadn’t were keeping to themselves. Carlisle was seemingly changing forever. Sasha was going to leave town and Harrison was planning to go with her. There was nothing left for him here. The town he once loved was a shell of its former self. Paranoia and fear had ripped through the streets and nothing could ever be normal again.

  More pressing issues were at hand, however. Once the angry mob had dispersed, he would load Sasha and Tara in his truck and drive until they hit the next town over. It sounded simple enough but Harrison knew it would be no easy task. The town was in a frenzy.

  "Listen, everyone, I have Sasha and her daughter locked in a cell. She couldn't hurt anyone even if she wanted to."

  "You'll just let her out." A voice cried out.

  "Yeah, she has you under her spell." Another said.

  "Jesus fucking Christ, listen to yourselves. Spells? Witches? Have you all gone mad? Did we take a step back in time to the god damned days of the Puritans?"

  This did nothing to calm the crowd down. They screamed and yelled as loud as ever. Harrison could feel his patience slipping away from him. What was there left to do? Reasoning with them was out of the question. There seemed to be nothing left for him to do. His only idea would surely be a bust.

  At that moment, another brick flew through the air and crashed against the wall to his left. His decision had been ultimately decided for him. Drawing his pistol, he pointed it at the crowd. There were a few gasps and most people quieted down.

  "One more thing is thrown and I will shoot. Do you all understand?"

  For a moment, he thought it had worked. Perhaps the mob would start to disperse. Instead, everyone in the crowd stood still, waiting for one another to make the next move. Finally, another brick sailed through the air, missing Harrison by mere inches. He tried to squeeze the trigger but found he couldn’t. Instead, he turned and bolted back inside, locking the door behind him. The glass was smashed but it would buy him the precious seconds he knew he needed.

  "Quick," he yelled as he turned the corner. "We need to get you out of the building." The sound of the front door bursting open echoed through the corridor. "Now!" he yelled.

  Sasha pushed the door open and grabbed her daughter by the hand. Yanking her from the cell, they ran to Harrison's side. Without saying a word, Harrison led the duo towards a different room. He spotted the back door and darted towards it. The mob of people flooded behind them like a pack of zombies, hungry for flesh.

  Harrison splintered the door open with his foot and pushed the two of them outside but the mob had already caught up. He was shoved violently over the threshold and toppled to the dirt below. Sasha and Tara were quickly surrounded.

  Hands grabbed at them from all over, pulling their clothes and hair. When Tara began to cry, Harrison leapt to his feet and charged at the mob. He threw his weight into the crowd and managed to knock Sasha free. She turned to help Harrison free her daughter but Harrison pushed her away.

  "Run!" He screamed. "I'll save Tara." Before Sasha could resist his command, several members of the mob charged at her. She had no choice but to flee. While she ran into the open air, Harrison jumped into the middle of the angry swarm and covered Tara with his body. People scratched, spit, kicked, and punched. Someone was going to die tonight if he didn't do something.

  Once again removing his pistol from the holster, Harrison fired it into the air. Almost instantly the group scattered in a blind panic, eventually leaving a heaving Harrison alone with Tara. "Should have done that sooner," he muttered.

  "Where'd my mommy go?" Tara asked, looking up at Harrison. He could see the sheer terror in her eyes.

  "Don't worry, sweetheart. She's going to be fine. We'll find her." He grabbed her by the hand and led her to his truck. When she was safely buckled in the back seat, Harrison climbed behind the wheel and slammed the door.

  Out of breath and scared out of her mind, Sasha ran through the town. A few members of the mob still followed after her. After hearing the gunshots, some had vanished. It seemed a few were still determined. Breaking line of sight, she was able to hide behind a tree while her pursuers ran past. For two whole minutes, she remained perfectly still. There was a real fear they would double back and find her but she did her best not to think about it. There was no telling what they would do if they did. Her imagination ran wild.

  Under the cover of darkness, she dared to leave her hiding spot. Everything seemed to be clear but looks could be deceptive. She knew that better than most. Playing it safe, Sasha crouched down low and kept herself out of view. She weaved through the streets of the small town, which now seemed more like a large prison.

  She hardly cared about her own safety. Her thoughts were on nothing but finding her daughter and getting her out of this town. It was killing her not knowing what had happened to her and Harrison. She felt like a coward for running but there had been no choice. She trusted Harrison to do his best to protect her but he could have been easily overpowered. Sasha prayed someone was watching over her daughter.

  Alone in the streets of this foreign town, she finally had a calm moment to think. Someone had worked hard to turn the town against her. But who could it be? She didn't know the town anywhere near as well as Harrison. There was little chance she would figure out who the killer was on her own.

  Ducking behind a wall, Sasha checked the road ahead. Everything seemed clear. She waited another moment before moving out to the road. She wasn't entirely sure where she was headed but moving forward kept her relaxed. It was like having a goal, even if she didn’t know what that goal was. Regrouping with her daughter was priority but she had to find safety first.

  The sound of an engine in the distance sent a shiver of panic down her spine and she bolted to the side of the road. Hiding just beyond the tree line, she waited. To her dismay, Harrison's truck zoomed by before she could leap out and flag him down. However, she had noticed a small figure in the back seat and let out a sigh of relief. Tara was safe. Hopefully, he was taking her out of town.

  Once her eyes had adjusted, Sasha recognized the road she was on. Up ahead would be a right turn which would lead her straight back to her home. It wasn't the best of options but at least she could find something useful like her cell phone. She hated not having the little device at the ready. She would be able to call Harrison and have him turn around to get her. Then they would all be on their way out of this wretched town.

  Keeping in the shadow of the trees, she walked towards her home. A smell singed her nostrils and filled her lungs. She coughed for a moment but tried to stay silent. It smelled like burning wood and soot. The closer she came to home, the stronger it became. Of course, she feared the worst but curiosity kept her moving forward.

  As she feared, she found her little cottage on fire. The flames licked towards the heavens with an almost hypnotic glow. But it wasn't the most disturbing scene in view. No, that title belonged to the mangled body draped in her front yard. The blood-drenched body was nearly unrecognizable as a human and the head had been completely severed. When she spotted the decapitated head on the grass below, she nearly vomited. Upside down crosses had been carved on the cheeks and a solitary black candle lay only inches away. The wick burned peacefully.

  Sasha had had enough. This town was full of psychopaths and killers. None of them was any better than the monster secretly roaming the streets. A terrible thought crossed her mind and chilled her to the bone. What if there was more than one killer? Maybe several townspeople had come together to share in the dirty work to run her away. It seemed possible. Hell, it seemed highly likely. The witch rumor would have been started by them, no doubt. The thought should have seemed a ridiculous one but considering the circumstances, she thought they sounded sane.

  The fire would draw nearly everyone in town to her current locatio
n and she wanted to be nowhere near when it did. Hearing a car engine in the distance, she bolted past the burning house and into the woods behind. Once there, she found an area to hide which still gave her a clear line of sight. For some unknown reason, she wanted to know who would show up and what they would do. Curiosity had gripped her. Perhaps a little bit of fear as well.

  It didn’t take long for a posse to grow around the smoldering fire. Some averted their eyes at the grotesque scene in front of them. Others were merely enraged by it. A couple of brave men approached the mutilated remains and cut it free. Gently, they laid the body in the dirt and covered it with spare articles of clothing. Sasha would have found the whole scene sweet if the town wasn’t full of bloodthirsty savages.

  One of the men standing next to the body turned and faced the crowd. Sasha could only see the back of his head but his posture said enough. Clenched fists at his side, he began to speak.

  “This has gone far enough,” he yelled. The crowd clapped. “This woman thinks she can come into our town and kill us off one by one? Witch or not, this woman is going to pay for her sins. If Sheriff Harrison doesn’t want to protect this town then it’s up to us.”

  There was more cheering.

  “We’re going to split into groups and scour this town until she’s found.”

  They began to break into groups of four or five and crowded around their new fearless leader like a pack of determined hyenas. Orders were barked out at each group concerning their search area. She saw one group point in the direction of the woods where she hid and she knew it was time to move. Her hiding place would only conceal her from the street. Surely, she would be spotted in a matter of seconds by anyone who entered the tree line.

  As the group moved closer to the tree line, Sasha slowly crept away from her hiding place and moved deeper into the woods. Her heart raced and she desperately searched for a new place to hide. Every option she came up with seemed to be shot down by her own thoughts. Nothing was good enough and everything would get her caught.