by Gary Lewis
#Sarah#
Sarah's eyes blurred into focus on the bright red digits of her alarm clock. It was 8:36 PM. She squirmed around her sofa, realizing she was sprawled haphazardly on top of a snoring David. She jumped to sit up. Memories of him falling asleep as they sat together talking flooded back into her recollection.
The flickering porchlight projected shadows from the blinds across the clean, white walls that wrapped around Sarah's neatly arranged furniture, resting upon the well vacuumed, deep red carpet. The pristine interior converged to the dining area, still littered with empty cans, maps and papers. The one mess she kept inside still stood out. It was enough to make her entire place a disaster.
As she rose to her aching feet, she noticed how stiff her legs were. Last night was a hell of a hike.
"Sleeping beauty!" she shouted, kicking at David's shoulder as he mumbled curses at her in his sleep. "Wake up."
David's head sprung from the armrest as he mumbled. "When did I fall asleep?"
The tension in Sarah's chest loosened when she realized that he never woke up and noticed. "We're going to be late for that meeting with the others and we still have to see if they cleared the road to get your car."
"Alright. I'm up already," David said as he slowly arose from the dead.
"Any word on Tony yet?" she asked while David searched on his phone.
"Latest updates say they're both still missing," David said after sliding his thumb down his screen to refresh an article.
Memories of her morning conversation with David flooded Sarah's thoughts. His voice replayed in her mind. It's a good thing we didn't run into Tony out there. I still have a few words for him. She looked over at him for a moment while he scrolled on his phone for answers. His heated words might turn out to be another thing for him to regret. But I know if it turns out that way, it’ll be a valuable life lesson for him. Her eyes lowered heavily to the crimson carpet.
"Jan says her mom is dropping her off here on her way to work," David said as he looked up from his phone.
"Seriously?" Sarah said. "With all this going on, that's what you’re busy doing on your phone?" It seemed David still had a one-track mind.
"What are you looking at me like that for?" His voice snapped her from her thoughts.
"Why at my place?" Sarah narrowed her eyes at him. "Couldn't Vance go pick her up on the way?"
"I think they broke up," David said. "Besides, it's the only way she could convince her mom she'll be inside tonight, with the curfew and all.”
Sarah blew out a frustrated huff. "She's eighteen now. You'd think maybe she could make her own decisions for once." Sarah's rant was cut short by a soft knock at the door.
"That must be her," David said, jumping to his feet.
"It's my place, you know," Sarah said, rising to cut him off at the door.
"Who is it?"
"Sarah?" A meek, familiar voice came from the outside the heavy wooden door. "I told Mom I was staying the night at your place. I hope you don't mind," Janice said.
Sarah shot one more look in David's direction as she held the handle and attempted to dig out a smile.
"Hey, girl! It's good to see you," Sarah said after swinging open the door to hug her with a huge smile. Janice seemed to hesitate before finally stepping inside. Sarah wondered what David might have said to her. "I know. The place is still a mess. I haven't had time to straighten things up since we had our last monster meeting." Sarah air quoted the last words.
"I understand," Janice said. "Cleaning house has been the story of my life for a while. It sure feels good to get out." Sarah watched Janice's eyes wander to a far corner of the room as her words grew quiet. "But now I'm afraid to even be at home."
"I'm going to step out a minute," David said as he drifted out the front door with his phone pressed to his face. "I'll try Terry and see what's going on." His voice faded from the open front door as he stepped off the porch.
Sarah sat in her recliner as she watched Janice find a place in the center of her sofa. Her light brown hair draped over her shoulders. "I think it's some kind of curse," Janice said.
Sarah pressed her eyebrows inquisitively as she leaned forward. "What do you mean?"
After a moment devoid of any sound aside from the crickets outside, Janice spoke again. "Why did you and David break up last spring?"
"Just how it goes," Sarah said, looking toward the open doorway, beyond the bright porchlight, into the dark void between the stars.
"We've all been so distant since then,” Janice continued. “You even dropped out of college."
Sarah's heart beat faster as she glanced around the doorway for any sign of David.
"It was right after my dad died," Janice said, now speaking up.
Sarah returned her eyes to where Janice sat up, leaning slightly forward on the couch. “Well, Jan, it was a tough year for all of us.”
"I'm sorry about Brad," Janice said softly with eyes as big as the moon that hung in the sky outside.
A pool of guilt filled Sarah's vision and she quickly glanced away toward the kitchen. "It's nothing compared to what you've been through. I've been closed off, trying not to think about it."
"Well, I missed you," Janice said. "After dad died, I tried to reach out, but that was about the time you had your problems."
Janice glanced toward the floor as she spoke with a light laugh. "At first I thought you were mad at me or something." Her voice stopped as Sarah watched her turn her head to the side and stare away out the open doorway.
"All that happened not long before the fire at the old rec and now all this," Janice said, slowing her voice to her usual quiet tone.
"What are you trying to say, Jan?" Sarah held her breath as she awaited an answer. Just say it already and get it over with.
Janice stared back. "Just what I said. It’s some kind of curse," she said, breaking the eye contact that seemed to have lasted forever. “You asked what I meant. I was just trying to explain.”
"Yeah... A curse," Sarah said, taking a huge sigh as she walked over to drag down a section of the blinds. "Sure seems more plausible than anything we've come up with."
There was still no sign of David as she watched the front yard for movement. The occasional headlights of a car rolled down the street, sweeping shadows from the wildly shaped bushes to slide across the overgrown grass of her yard.
A loud clank came from outside. Sarah's heart took a jump that landed it into her stomach as Janice leapt to her feet and stared toward the wall with wide eyes.
In a slow whisper, Janice began to speak. "Should we call someone?"
"I don't know," Sarah said in matching tone.
Janice turned her head toward the doorway. "It seems like it stopped. I'll go check it out."
Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Not alone, you're not." She reached under her couch and pulled out a machete and a taser. "Make sure I'm finished before you start chopping," Sarah said, turning the plastic machete handle toward Janice. "Fifty thousand volts." She pointed the taser skyward.
After snatching a banded headlamp dangling from the key hook on the wall, Sarah cautiously opened the front door. Janice walked ahead and Sarah noticed how high her grass was around Janice’s waist as she stood firmly planted with the machete in both hands.
"I'm scared," Janice said as she pressed the tall, wet grass down with every step she took. The long blade she wielded glinted with the light from her front porch as she pointed it out in front of her into the darkness.
"Not too far," Sarah said as she quickly stepped ahead at Janice’s side. Their backs closed in together as they turned in a slow circle through the thick vegetation.
A deep, distant bark caught their ears. "Do werewolves bark?" Janice whispered.
"I think it's the pit-bull down the road," Sarah whispered.
A loud thud sounded from the direction of the back yard. Sarah took aim, pacing methodically toward its source.
"Wait," Janice whispered. "Please don
't."
Sarah could understand Janice's fear of losing someone else, but that was precisely what drove her steps. "Don't worry, Jan. I'm going to keep you safe."
Sarah finally mustered up the courage to find her loud voice. "David!" She shouted while Janice's back jolted against hers. "Sorry," Sarah said a bit quieter.
"What is it?" David's voice sounded from the side of the house as Sarah lowered her weapon with reluctant relief reached up to turn her headlamp on. "What the hell, David?"
"I was just cooling off," he said. He slung a small, wooden handled axe into the ground beside an old tire rim where she remembered leaving it about a week ago.
"Chopping wood alone in the dark?" Sarah asked. "That’s not very smart," she said as her and Janice lowered their guard and walked back toward the porch. David gained quickly from behind.
Sarah took a quick glance at her wrist watch. "It's getting close to nine thirty. Did you ever hear from Terry about the church meeting?"
"Oh yeah." David rubbed the back of his head. "He said any time is good. He's already there, Blane stayed home and nobody has heard from Vance yet."
"You ready, Jan?" Sarah said, eager to get it over with.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"Okay. Let me run inside and get our notes and maps."
"Be sure to keep it under fifty-five,” David said. “We don't want to get pulled over." He lifted out his hand. "Curfew and all."
"We're fine,” Sarah said. “I'm nineteen, remember?"
David rushed over to Sarah’s car and held open the passenger door for Janice before he climbed in the back. Sarah glanced in the rearview mirror.
“Can’t you sit behind Jan?”
David huffed and scooted to the middle of the backseat.
As Sarah sped down the backroads toward the highway, dimly lit streetlights zipped by to alter the shadows on their faces, transforming them into scary looking shapes.
#Janice#
The roads suddenly brightened as two lanes became four and they approached the city limits. Janice studied Sarah closely, noticing her expression of discomfort. She must really hate churches. As Sarah stopped at a red light and looked to the left and right, her eyes never met Janice's face. Or maybe it's something else.
The sound of David clearing his throat distracted Janice from her thoughts. "The meeting got posted in the group chat, so maybe if Tony is okay..." David abruptly paused and the backseat temporarily illuminated. "Nevermind. He hasn't been active since yesterday." His denial of the situation was evident in his voice.
"I'm sure he's just fine, David," Sarah said. "As calm and gentle as he is, Tony is one tough guy and he knows his way." It seemed she also had trouble accepting the grim truth.
Janice spoke softly with a half turn of her head toward the backseat. "I'm really sorry about Tony, David."
Sarah's eyes finally glanced in her direction. "Jan," she quietly snapped.
"What?" Janice asked as Sarah pressed her lips and shook her head, returning her face to the street ahead. "You're the one giving David false hope," Janice said.
"Excuse me?" Sarah pressed the brake, slowing the car abruptly enough to shift their weight forward. Sarah's angry eyes glared through the shadows cast across her face in the street lights as Janice opened her mouth to speak.
"Calm down," David's voice came from the backseat. "It's okay, Jan." His comforting voice spoke slowly. "I know what you were thinking about. I'm really sorry about what happened to your dad."
Sarah pressed her lips and eyebrows as she silently turned onto Willow Street and the church steeple rose above the surrounding buildings.
The orange glow from the poorly lit parking lot surrounded the dark church and faint lights flickered from a window as they pulled in.
"I guess I park around back?" Sarah asked, pulling around inquisitively.
"Right over there," David said.
###
Inside, rising shadows from the chestnut pews rose to dance along the beige walls to the flickering orange glow of candles as they walked down the central isle of the nave. Terry stood in front of the blood red, velvet lining that draped the pulpit beneath a large cross that hung atop huge, stained glass windows. As Janice followed David and Sarah, she gazed around the room, entranced by how spooky it looked.
"Looks like this is everyone," Terry said. "Shall we begin?" Terry carefully set a small cardboard box upon a fold up metal chair situated on the platform. A loud boom drew everyone's attention to the screech of the large main entrance door swinging open with force. Janice's thoughts turned to images of getting caught trespassing in the church at night. "I'm not even supposed to be out this late," she whispered.
"Don't wait up on account of me. By all means," Vance shouted across the nave of the church, his deep voice carrying a reverberating echo through the large room.
"Nobody heard from your dumbass," David said. "So we figured you forgot about it like everything else."
"Watch it, pal." Vance's finger pointed firmly across the room toward David, baring a huge forearm to assert his testosterone filled stature to the everyone.
"Can we get started?" Terry said once again. Janice stood beside Sarah as she watched everyone nod and mumble in agreement. Terry turned to Sarah who had all her papers stacked tightly in her grasp, prepared for presentation.
"This is a timeline of what we have so far." Sarah's professional tone silenced the quiet bickering that filled the ambience of the church. "On the first night, we had the barn fire and the mutilated cattle. Ms. Tanner said she saw a monster running from the area of the fire. Everyone laughed at her." Sarah’s words were interrupted by a quiet snicker.
"Sorry," David said, to which even Vance shot a slight smile.
Sarah paused for a moment, looking in Vance's direction, before speaking at a faster pace. "Officer Benning seemed to suspect Vance of the fire." Sarah's voice broke with hesitation before she continued. "There was a similar fire last year that killed a few people at the old rec center. Brad's dad was one of them.”
Janice's throat went dry as she stared intensely across their circle at Vance. For a moment, he stared right back.
"Hold on just a minute." Vance's interruption flushed Janice's skin with a cold rush as she awaited his next words. "I had nothing to do with setting fire to the rec and I sure as hell wasn't running around with hair and fangs to burn down the barn." The suspense fell from Janice's stomach into her feet as she took a deep breath.
"Nobody is going to turn anyone in for anything," Terry said, sweeping his hands outward. "We just need to get to the bottom of this." His words did little to dissipate the waves of nausea in Janice's stomach.
"Something wasn't right at the barn that night and the cattle were making a lot of noise from a ways off," Vance said slowly. "I thought the fire spooked them is all." Vance crossed his arms and leaned back. Janice didn't like the way his eyes darted aside when he spoke, but her stomach was finally calm.
Sarah cleared her voice to continue. "The next night, we have Brad's death... supposedly an animal attack."
"Vance scrapped with Brad a few days before that," David said.
Vance nodded his head to the side where Sarah stood. "Yeah, and he was with your ex at the time." With narrowed eyes, he took a sideways shot at David.
"Oh, please." David's exaggerated denial made him look even more suspicious as Janice saw Terry rubbing his chin and Sarah continued.
"Then Danny was killed in his truck," Sarah said, her hands gesturing in a large square. "It literally ripped his whole fucking truck apart."
"From what we've heard," said Vance with a casual sway of his hand.
"It was." Terry said with a calm but firm tone of certainty. "I saw his truck at the wrecker's."
"Alright." Sarah flipped through pages. "Tony wrote a partial note, saying that he did something awful."
"What the hell, Sarah?" David spoke up as everyone's eyebrows raised.
"Tony?" Janice laughed. "Something awful?
" As the others turned to look at her with wide eyes, Janice brought her fist to cover the smile that she squeezed tightly shut. "I'm sorry,” she said quietly. “It's just ridiculous."
David swept his hand aside "It was completely unrelated."
For the next half hour, Sarah walked in circles as she discussed the paw prints, the killing spree at the lumber yard, killings that the security guard blamed on a monster. She pointed out how close it was to the area where Randy had gone missing during his early morning jog just hours after the lumber yard incident. Then she finally told of the storm that stranded them at the cliffs where both Jake and Tony were still missing.
As Sarah spoke, Janice studied everyone's faces, analyzing each one’s level of surprise. Momentary glances of eye contact told her that the others were doing the same.
"I want to ask something," Terry said, turning to Sarah's inquisitively silent stare. "Why exactly do you guys think it's one of y'all?" It was a question that sucked Janice's attention away from the others.
"Yeah, Sarah." Vance's loud voice echoed in the large room as many sources of faint, flickering orange light glowed from the candles, causing their shadows to shutter across the pews.
Sarah nodded at David for a second before clearing her throat. "Some of us already had our suspicions. Brad, Danny, the cliffs, the moonlight camera David set up near his property. But it was all so loosely connected." Her eyes drifted downward for a moment.
"But, then?" Terry asked.
Sarah returned her gaze upward to face the entire group as she spoke more loudly. "During our first meeting, David pointed out where the Perkins lock up their cattle at night."
"The Summer pen," Terry said. "I know it."
"Thank you!" David said loudly as he rose his outstretched arm in Terry's direction amidst Sarah's menacing glance. "Told y'all."
"Anyway," Sarah said loudly while Janice listened with the others. "We decided on a plan to catch the son of a bitch on camera with David's old trail cams."
"Tony set them up," David added from the dancing candlelight glow that swept across his face.
Sarah continued. "Tony was supposed to set up the camera trap and Vance mentioned using his bear traps."
