The Presence

by Shady Grim

“I told you they were harmless,” I said and Ethan laughed.

  “Yeh must’ve been very sheltered to think we were dangerous.”

  The discussion went on in a similar vein for some time, but it eventually turned from telling funny stories to telling frightening ones. Eventually Ethan asked Shelly if I’d ever told her about what happened here when we were kids.

  “No, I don’t think so,” she replied slowly, looking at me for an answer.

  “No, Ethan, I never told her.”

  “Oh my God, Shell, yeh have to hear this one. It’ll scare the hell outta yeh.” He proceeded to retell the story of how we’d been chased by some unseen demonic force, and how Rachel had never made it out.

  “That’s a horrible story! I can’t believe you want to live here.” She tightly clutched the pillow she took from the couch.

  “I love the house,” I said casually.

  Ethan rolled his eyes. “She always says that, but don’t judge me by her. She’s a freak. The freak gene skipped me.” He grinned and winked at me. “I’m only here ‘cause I’m poor and homeless. This house still scares the crap outta me. And those woods,” he pointed to the outside, “I don’t go in ‘em durin’ the day, and at night I don’t come off the porch.”

  “You must’ve been really scared if you still won’t go back in there.”

  “That ain’t why; that’s in the past.” He tilted his head in my direction as he spoke. “We dealt with Rae’s death years ago.” He leaned forward a little and lowered his voice. “There is somethin’ evil lurkin’ in those woods, and it’s waitin’ for its time to pounce. I’m not givin’ it any opportunity to get me.”

  “Oh, Ethan! There is nothing evil living in the woods, and there’s nothing to be afraid of in here. You should’ve outgrown this stuff by now.”

  “Yeh say that ‘cause nothin’ scares yeh, but I’m not like yeh. I’m normal and shit scares me.”

  “Oh, you are far from normal, my friend,” I teased. “I get scared too sometimes, but there is nothing to be afraid of in those woods. I go for walks in there all the time. It’s full of partying teenagers, hikers and campers, and beautiful wildlife–that’s it.”

  “Okay people, I’m getting really freaked out,” said Shelly still clutching her pillow.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of, Shelly. This is an old house, and it creaks a lot. If there was anything or anyone in here, Thor would get it. He’s a good watch dog.”

  “Bullshit! This is a haunted house. Granted, it’s not a ‘Stay here and yeh’ll die’ kinda house, but it’s still haunted. I don’t care what anybody says, there’s somethin’ out there, and it’s waitin’ for its time.”

  “What does ‘waiting for its time’ mean?” I said.

  “It’s savin’ up energy. It needs somethin’ to give it strength so it can be active. It’s always there, but it needs somethin’ extra.”

  “Like a catalyst?” offered Shelly.

  “Exactly!” he shouted and lurched forward in his chair so violently that it startled Shelly a bit, but it was merely a show of his natural impulsiveness. When Shelly darted her eyes in my direction and saw that I was unfazed, she relaxed again. Ethan was constantly moving, even when seated. I, too, was a fidgeter, but whereas my movements were rhythmic, his were often volatile.

  “That is ridiculous! Shelly, I can’t believe you’re buying into this.” I pointed at Ethan and said, “Now you I expect it from...but it’s still nonsense.”

  “Well, that’s it. I’m sleeping with Jimmy tonight.” She rose from her chair, tossed the pillow back onto the couch, and headed up the stairs to go to bed. When she disappeared, I moved closer to Ethan and lowered my voice to a whisper.

  “Why did you tell her that story about Rachel? You know she’s unstable.”

  “I don’t believe she is, and this’ll prove it,” he whispered back.

  “Neither of us is qualified to make that call, and I don’t like you playing with her head like that. You could push her into a mental breakdown. Not only is that pretty damn cruel, but it’s also medically unethical.”

  “Alright, alright, I wasn’t gonna do anythin’ else anyway.”

  “So how is this going to prove her stability...or lack thereof?”

  “Well, she hasn’t had any nightmares or visions for a while–”

  “I guess not, she’s sedated.”

  “Will yeh let me finish? If this brings anythin’ out of ‘er, then we’ll know by her reaction if she’s okay or not.”

  “I can’t see how that’ll prove anything at all. A frightening story is likely to give anyone nightmares, especially someone who’s as suggestible as she is.”

  “Just trust me.”

  “Oh, how I hate to hear those words,” I grumbled.

  “Did yeh notice that the house smells funny these days?”

  “What do you mean?” I said, happy for the sudden change of subject.

  “It smells musty.”

  “Well, it’s old and it’s mess. What’s your point?”

  “No, this house has never smelled bad. Even after bein’ locked up for a long time and havin’ a foot of dust all over the place. Somethin’s wrong.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

  “Yes, yeh do. This house always smells like lilacs, except for the study. That smells like cigar smoke, which I think is odd since yeh don’t smoke. ”

  “Oh, Ethan, will you let up on the ghost talk?”

  “Don’t ‘Oh, Ethan’ me. I know yeh can see things, yeh always have.”

  “If I can see things, then why have I never seen this evil force that you insist is lurking around the house?” I asked testily.

  “Cause yeh ain’t afraid of it, and it knows it. It knows it can scare me, and that’s why I can see it. But yer strong, and it’s afraid of yeh.”

  “I don’t know where you get your ideas...”

  “Bullshit! Yeh can’t lie to me, I know yeh too well. And I know yeh got a gift ‘cause I got it too, only yeh can see a lot more than I can. Yeh know stuff, Heather. Yeh always knew stuff.”

  “Okay, you win. I used to see things, but it stopped. And the reason it stopped is because I grew up. Whatever gift you think I had was just the product of a juvenile imagination, nothing more.”

  “Who the hell do yeh think yer takin’ to? I know yeh better than anyone else ever has, and I know for a fact that yeh never had an imagination. Either somethin’ was real, or it wasn’t. Remember that time the neighbor’s kid stole my dad’s wallet? There was a whole bunch of people in the house, but yeh picked ‘im out right away.”

  “I was subconsciously reading his body language.”

  “Did his body language tell yeh where he hid the wallet, ‘cause yeh knew that too?”

  I knew what Ethan said was true, but it was so hard to admit it to myself. I’ve always prided myself on my ability to rationalize, and I had no rational explanation for the things I could see. “Whatever it was, I lost it. It’s gone, Ethan.”

  “No, it ain’t. Yeh just won’t let it out, but it’s comin’ back. I can tell.”

  “Whatever...I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I snapped.

  “Why do yeh keep runnin’ away from it? It’s a gift, Heather; a gift from God.”

  “It’s no gift to look into people’s eyes and see blackness. I don’t want to know the terrible things that people think. I don’t want to see apparitions and not be able to tell if they’re living people or not. It’s too much. I can’t handle it.”

  “Yeh can’t run away from yer destiny. It’s who yeh are. If yeh deny it, yeh deny yerself and it ain’t worth the trouble. Believe me, I tried it and it’s pure hell.”

  We sat in silence for some time, lost in our own separate thoughts, until I decided to break it by changing the subject yet again. “I was doing some research at the library, and I think you’ll like what I found.”

  “Tell me...tell me...tell me,” he said as he excitedly rubbed his h
ands together.

  “It seems there’s a history of unusual deaths in Twilight Falls. They were sporadic, and they seemed to occur in groups. It goes back about sixty years, or at least that’s as far back as I researched. It started out with the unexplained deaths of a group of kids who’d been swimming in the old quarry. Then there was a rash of kidnappings, some of the bodies were recovered and some weren’t. None of them were recovered whole.”

  “What do yeh mean by ‘whole?’” he asked tentatively.

  “They were found with parts missing.”

  “That’s what I thought yeh meant. What parts were missin’?”

  “It was different with each body. Some were missing eyes, some their hands, and others their hearts and livers. What I found interesting is that there seemed to be a pattern to the missing parts. If the eyes were gone, then the other organs were intact. Hearts and livers were always a pair, and if the hands were missing, then the rest of the body was complete. The victims were all exsanguinated via a wound to the neck, and all the mutilations were performed anti-mortem.”

  “Yeh mean they were cut up alive?” he said with a hard swallow.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, man, that is sick! Was anyone ever caught?”

  “No, all the deaths occurred during the tourist season. None of the locals were ever harmed, except for one, and most of the deaths occurred roughly every ten years or so. The authorities figured it was just some sickos that came in with all the campers and hikers.”

  “Who was the local that bought it?”

  “One of Mrs. Fitzgerald’s sons, he was a little older than us. I never knew about him until I read the old news clippings.”

  “What kind of a name did that one have?”

  “Royal.”

  “Does that family hate their kids or somethin’?”

  “I like it. I was thinking of naming one of the new dogs after him. When I get them, that is. I’m not sure about it now. Jimmy doesn’t seem to be an animal person, and I was looking for older dogs that would need to be retrained. It’s not likely they’ll be as tolerant of a rotten kid as Thor is.”

  “Oh yeah, I wanted to talk to yeh about that and I forgot. Emmy told me yeh were goin’ to get some more dogs, and I think it’s a great idea. It would be safer for the kids, especially with it bein’ the tourist season. And while you’re at it, get a TV–a big one.” Ethan’s life revolved around video games, television programs, and sugared cereal. It was an ongoing argument that we had. He would complain about not having a television, and I would either tell him to read a book, or remind him that I had a fine stereo system and an extensive collection of music. Eventually, I’ll end up getting a TV.

  “I’ll just put that on the grocery list then. Let’s see, that’s one pack of vicious dogs and one big-screen TV. All we need to do is put on some overalls, knock out some teeth, strap shotguns over our shoulders, and the picture’s complete.”

  “Then we’ll go on down to the ceement pond and barbycue up some road kill,” he teased back.

  “Okay, that’s enough for me,” I said as I rose to go to bed. “Good night, sweet prince.” I climbed the stairs with Thor at my side.

  “G’night,” he replied and finished his beer.

  Chapter Eleven

  As I wasn’t witness to the next day’s events, I must rely entirely on Ethan’s testimonial, which I’m sure is true in essence; but with his flair for the dramatic, I’m unable to say where reality bridges fancy. I received an hysterical phone call early in the afternoon from Ethan as he was enroute to my office. All I was able to understand was “emergency,” and “snake.” There was a great deal of crying in the background, so I assumed that there was possibly more than one emergency on the way. Luckily Dr. Zee had stopped in for a moment and I had an extra, and much more experienced, hand to assist. We met Ethan just as his truck pulled up. He jumped out of the truck and tossed a howling Emmy into Dr. Zee’s arms crying “A snake bit ‘er,” and ran around to the passenger side to assist me. I was attempting to get some information from Shelly before I removed her or Jimmy from Ethan’s truck, but neither of them would give me an answer. They were both covered in blood and screaming wildly. Shelly was clutching at her right ankle, which was covered by Ethan’s wadded up t-shirt, and refused to let me look at it. I pulled Jimmy out to get him into an exam room and Ethan followed carrying Shelly. He dumped her on an examination table for me and ran to check on Emily. I first checked Jimmy for injuries and found that he had none. All of the blood on him apparently came from his mother, as did his present state of hysteria, so I sent him out with Kate, our receptionist. I continued to press Shelly for answers, but all she did was scream and cry. She pushed my hands away every time I attempted to remove her hand from her ankle so I could look at it. I finally yelled at her to behave herself and forced her hand from her ankle. To my amazement, there was a relatively small wound that was just deep enough to require a few stitches. To my further astonishment, there appeared to be no other marks anywhere on her. I asked her repeatedly if there were any other wounds on herself or anyone else. She insisted that it was just her ankle, and that she was unaware of the extent of Emily’s injuries.

  As I stitched and dressed her ankle, she explained how she obtained the injury. She claimed that she had made a pitcher of fresh lemonade shortly after she sent the children out to Ethan in their bathing suits. She claimed that she saw him standing in the middle of the hallway with his back to her, and he appeared to be staring up at the ceiling. She called to him and asked if he would like a glass of lemonade, but he didn’t answer her. It was not unusual for him to be so deep in thought that it was difficult to get his attention, so she decided to bring the lemonade to him. She called to him again as she approached him, but he walked away from her and out onto the front porch. She tried to follow him to the porch, but claimed that she was accosted in the foyer by some unseen force. She asserted that, as she entered the foyer, she was grabbed around the ankle and thrown to the floor, sending the glass of lemonade crashing to the floor as well. She called out for Ethan, but he was no longer there. The door slammed shut behind her of its own volition, and she was turned onto her back by the entity that held her ankle. She kicked and fought, but was unable to break free of its hold. She alleged that she clearly saw and felt a wound being slowly and deliberately opened up on her right ankle, but was unable to see the attacker or the weapon it used. She then heard a man, presumably Ethan, yell from outside and the attack stopped as abruptly as it began. She reached up to open the door that lead to the porch and crawled out, but was unable to see Ethan, so she lay there calling for him and hoping either he or one of the children would hear her. Seconds later Ethan came to her from inside the house and took her to his truck and brought her to me.

  “I know it sounds crazy,” she said, “but you do believe me, right?”

  “Of course I believe you, Shelly.” I left her to relax for a few moments while I had a chat with my cousin. I first went to check on Emily who, as it happens, was only suffering from the bite of a harmless water snake. Dr. Zee had both children calmed to the point where they were both sitting quietly and sucking on candy. I explained Shelly’s present state of mind to him and that, in my opinion, her injury wasn’t sufficient enough to produce the copious amount of blood that soaked her, both children, Ethan, and the interior of his truck. He attempted to glean more information from her while I checked on Ethan, whom I found sitting in my office. I pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. He was slumped over with his head in his hands. I handed him his keys. “Kate parked your truck for you.”

  “Okay.” He had a greyish pallor, and his eyes were red and swollen. “Yeh got anythin’ I can put in it for the ride home? It’s a mess.”

  “Yes, there’s a blanket in my truck. Will you be alright to drive?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You did a great job, Ethan. You held together, did all the right things, and everyone’s going to be just fine.”


  “Yeh sure? Yeh know I ain’t good in a crisis.”

  “You did fine,” I said as I put my arm around his shoulders. “Dr.Zee said you didn’t vomit until after Emmy’s bandage was on. That’s exceptional for you.”

  “Even though I knew it was just a water snake, all I could see in my mind was my baby girl dyin’ in my arms. That’s all I thought about the whole way over here.”

  “You can relax now, she’s fine. Her hand will be sore for a few days, but that’s all. She’ll be out running around and playing in a day or two.” I stood up to close my office door and returned to my seat. “Can you tell me anything about Shelly’s wound?”

  “No, I didn’t see anythin’.”

  “Can you give me a time frame?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” He spoke slowly and stared into space to collect his thoughts. He paused frequently to make sure that he was remembering things correctly. “Um...it was after lunch...no wait, lemme start again. We all ate lunch in the kitchen like usual. It was about eleven thirty. The kids asked me to take ‘em swimmin’. I told ‘em to give me about an hour or so to finish somethin’ I was doin’, and then I would take ‘em. I figured that would be enough time for their stomachs to settle. So I went back to the porch, I cleaned and locked up all my tools, and rolled up the power-tool cords and stuff. They came through the front porch in their bathing suits to tell me that it was one o’clock already, so I went in the house to get my sunblock. I left my boots in my bedroom. That’s why I ain’t got no shoes on.”

  “Okay, I’m following you.”

  “We all walked down to the dock. As I was puttin’ sunblock on Jimmy, he shouted that he saw a snake, and he jumped behind me. Emmy was standin’ next to me. I yelled at ‘er, but she dove so fast to catch it that all I could do was grab ‘er hair, but it was too late. I yanked ‘er back, and she was still holdin’ the thing by the tail. It had its mouth around ‘er hand. The first thing that jumped into my mind was that it was a cottonmouth, so I grabbed a hold of it. But I got a real good look at it, and it was just an old water snake. So I tossed it in the water and it swam away. The next thing I did was rip off some of my t-shirt to wrap around ‘er hand, and then I scooped ‘em both up and ran to my truck. They were both crying and I was already startin’ to feel sick, so I tossed ‘em in the cab real quick and ran into the house for my keys. I ran through the kitchen hollerin’ for Shelly, but I didn’t hear her answer ‘til I got to the hallway table. I picked up my keys and that’s when I heard her yellin’ from the front porch. I went to get ‘er, and that’s when I saw it.”