The Hive

by Stephen Jarrett

  Keel was like a daughter to him and he swore to protect her after her father’s death, but he still liked to tease her. “Here’s to you Samuel,” whispered Canopus, “whatever you are up to, I’m sure you are a pain in someone’s ass. Just like your daughter.” He chuckled to himself at the thought.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Keel yawning, “Did I drop off again?”

  “Yes. Vince too. As soon as we are in the car he seems to fall straight to sleep. I believe it’s called Carcolepsy. It’s because a car ride maintains a consistent level of white noise and rocking motion.”

  “Carcolepsy? There is no such term, is there?” asked Keel as she grabbed for her phone and started to search.

  “I just made it up. I’m thinking of writing a book about it,” smirked Canopus.

  “Cute,” said Keel, rolling her eyes.

  Canopus pulled the Pontiac next to a large white sign on the side of the road. In large blue letters were the words, “Welcome to Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Established 1899. Five green pine trees decorated the sign. Under the largest pine tree was the phrase ‘Just Smile. In memory of Vera Burdick.”

  “Well, we are here. Where to first?” asked Canopus.

  Keel tapped an address into the GPS on her phone and held it up, “Where the biggest mysteries always are. We head to the morgue.”

  THREE.

  “Yes. I know I sound crazy, but you have to run the scan today, do you hear me Melissa? Today!”

  Pause.

  “OK, thank you! Thank you! I’m coming right now.” Julia ran down the stairs, glancing at the muddy footprints leading back up. A stranger’s footprints, she thought, but she knew they were hers. She grabbed her jacket and thrust her phone into a pocket.

  She had scrubbed the blood off her face and as a result the skin felt tender. Glancing into the hallway mirror she expected to see raw skin but instead she saw something large, grey and bulbous move across her neck and down her back. She screamed and fell against the wall, frantically running her hands across her body, scared that her fingers may touch the grey creature, but there was nothing there.

  Sobbing, Julia got to her knees and took in deep breaths. Pull yourself together. It’s all in your mind. Get the scan and see what’s wrong, then they can fix it and you will be fine.

  Trembling she stood up, grabbed her car keys and left her home.

  Julia stood staring at the side mirrors of her car. Picking up a rock, she smashed the glass of each mirror and then got into the car. Without looking into the rear-view mirror, she reached up and easily pulled it off the car's windscreen. She stared at her hands, surprised at her own strength. “What the fuck is happening to me?” she whispered.

  Julia started the car and drove towards the hospital, hoping her sister would know what to do. Twins were always there for each other, right? Maybe Melissa was feeling something similar. “We are practically identical!” she shouted out loud.

  Melissa would know what to do, she always did.

  FOUR.

  As Canopus drove through the winding roads of Bonners Ferry, Keel pressed her head against the Pontiac’s window, scanning the grass.

  “There! Stop the car!”

  Canopus skidded the car to a stop. “What the Hell is going on?”

  Keel leapt out of the car and stood before a patch of dandelions growing out of the grassy curb.

  “Vince, Canopus, come here.”

  Vince narrowed his eyes, “Has she gone crazy or does she just really like flowers?”

  “Just get out Vince,” Canopus sighed. He lifted the front seat forward and Vince scrambled out of the car. He stretched his back and yawned.

  Kneeling down, Keel picked up a dandelion and cupped it in her hands. “Vince, come close. I have something to show you.”

  “What’s going on here?” asked Vince peering into Keels hands.

  Keel whispered at the dandelion and then blew the seeds into Vince’s face.

  “What the fuck was that?” said Vince staggering backwards, he felt lightheaded, confused.

  Keel pushed Vince against the car. Canopus grabbed his shoulders.

  “Isn’t this dangerous?” muttered Canopus through gritted teeth “A truth spell? Have we got time for this?”

  “He’s hiding something. I felt it in the diner. Vince, tell me what you see.”

  Vince rubbed his eyes, swirling around him were gusts of air, some had faces of wolves, others of snakes. “What’s happening? What are they?” He tried to swipe at the gusts, but they easily avoided his hands.

  “They are Vrondi, air elementals. And you know what Vince? They cannot stand the emotional reaction caused by telling a lie. They know when you lie and if you do lie, they will eat your face. Understand?”

  “You don’t understand! I just need to see her again,” pleaded Vince, as a snake faced Vrondi floated before his face.

  “Who?”

  “Debbie. I just needed to see Debbie.”

  “Tell me about Debbie?”

  “She’s my girlfriend, was my girlfriend. She died.”

  “How?”

  “She was very emotional, we had an argument as she thought I was cheating on her. The same argument we had every night. I swore to her face I wasn’t, but she kept screaming at me, hitting me, so I pushed her. She fell hard against the floor. Her face just looked at me and I saw in her eyes such disappointment. I looked down at my hands. I had hurt her, physically hurt her. I am a lot of things but I didn't think I would ever hit a woman, but she drove me to it. She shouted at me to get out.”

  Vince couldn’t stop the story unravelling from his mouth and the more he talked the faster the Vrondi swirled around his head.

  “So, I left, I went out to a bar and drank. I drank a lot, I met a girl and we had sex. Debbie was right, I had been cheating on her, but I have a problem, OK? I need help. When I came back, I found her in our bedroom. She had a belt around her neck and had pulled it so tight that she broke her neck. Vince held his hands over his eyes, “It was my fault. I sat there for hours, staring at Debbie and the purple bruises around her neck, I didn't know what to do. It was then, that the Red-girl appeared in the room. She told me how to hide the body and told me if I helped her she could bring Debbie back. I just need to say I’m sorry to Debbie.”

  The Vrondi swirled closer to Vince’s face, making his hair move.

  Keel raised her eyebrows to Canopus and then turned back to Vince, “Tell me more about this Red-girl,” she commanded.

  “She’s ancient, magical,” stammered Vince.

  “Where is she now?”

  “I don’t know. But I can feel her inside me, sitting in the back of my head.”

  “That’s not good, if this red girl can hear us,” exclaimed Canopus.

  Keel waved her hand dismissively, “It’s fine, the Vrondi will protect this conversation.”

  “You sure about that?”

  Keel held her breath and then let it out, “Yes. I am.”

  “Does this red girl know about Lillian Fox?” she asked Vince.

  “Yes, she knows everything, she knows she’s an angel, about the shrouds. She knew Ludvig was the Pied-piper, she knew you were coming to singles night, she knew all about you and Canopus and that you plan to kill the angel. She wants it for herself.”

  “I bet she does. It’s a lot of power. You see, I noticed something Vince, in the diner. You have a curse on you. This Red-girl will not help you.”

  Vince closed his eyes as a large snaked Vrondi bared its fangs and then swooped away. “She’s always watching me, she said she would bring back Debbie if I helped her. I have been helping her for so long now. She’s going to know I’m talking to you, she’s going to kill me.” Vince tried to leave, but Keel pushed him back to the car.

  “Right now, you are shielded by the Vrondi, no one can hear you but me and Canopus. The red girl, what’s her real name Vince?”

  Vince squirmed as he watched the Vrondi soar around his body. “I don't know. I can feel
her inside me, she’s telling me she will send Debbie to Hell.”

  “She will do that anyway if Hell was real and I’m 55% sure it’s not.”

  The Vrondi, moved closer to Vince’s faces, their fangs grazed his cheeks drawing blood.

  “Tell me her name Vince, you know her name, her real name. Think hard, tell me.”

  “Will you protect me?”

  Keel tilted her head, “Of course. What is her name?”

  Trembling, Vince thought hard, it was on the tip of his tongue, he knew it, he just had to remember. He opened his mouth but instead of words a gust of red air blew out, hitting the Vrondi.

  The Vrondi twirled and twisted in front of Keel’s face, quickly forming a series of interlocking shapes, before they disappeared into a cloud of dust.

  Vince’s head fell forward.

  Keel grabbed her grimoire and scribbled the shapes down onto a page.

  “I don’t like this one bit,” spat Canopus, “He’s dangerous and whatever this red girl is, it just pushed away your spell. I say we visit Drexel, get him to lock him up and we do this our way.”

  Keel looked at the shapes on the page, she knew they were important.

  “But now, we have the advantage. If I can find a mention of this red girl in the grimoire and we can find out her name, we can not only take down the angel but her too.”

  Keel looked Canopus squarely in the eyes, ‘I know what I’m doing.”

  Canopus looked away.

  Keel placed her thumb firmly on Vince’s forehead and whispered, “Yinsi, forget.”

  Vince fell to the floor, choking.

  Keel stood next to Vince, hands behind her back. “You OK? You slipped over.”

  Vince shook his head, he felt confused, “Yeah. Thanks.” He got up from the floor, stumbled and placed his hand against the car. “Sorry, I don't know what came over me.”

  “Too much excitement, I’m guessing,” muttered Canopus, helping Vince firmly back into the car.

  Keel picked up another dandelion and placed it in her satchel. Nothing would stop her killing the angel and avenging her father, not even this red girl, whatever she was.

  “I will not let you down, father”, she said to herself, “I promise.”

  FIVE.

  Parked outside the hospital, Julia took a deep breath and looked down at her feet, the mud still covered her white sneakers. The car’s clock read 9:10am. “I will wait until it turns to 9:11, nine plus one, plus one equals eleven. The one and one of eleven equals two, and two is my happy number as Melissa and I are two. We are never alone.

  She sat in the car and waited, her neck felt itchy, was something grabbing her neck? Sliding its bony fingers up and down here skin, probing, trying to penetrate her body. She slapped her neck until it was red raw.

  The clock turned to 9:11am and Julia leapt out of the car. A car swerved around her and slammed on its brakes. For a few seconds, Julia stood motionless, frozen in the street not even breathing. Then with a twitch, she turned and ran between the meandering hospital morning crowds, towards the entrance to Du Brey hospital.

  SIX.

  “Turn left here,” said Keel as Canopus turned the car down Mercy Street.

  “Makes sense this is where Ludvig is from, what a soulless middle-American town.” commented Vince, yet as he looked through the car’s window at the red bricked buildings and narrow twisting roads, there was something very familiar about the town.

  Bonners Ferry looked like your typical American town but was far from it. It had one main street that stretched over the deep Kootenai river, a local paper called the Bonners Ferry Herald, reporting on community events, local sports and local news. Cold snowy winters and dry summers with hot days and cool nights. It was a small town with one long road in and out. A perfect place to raise a family and a perfect place to hide.

  Canopus rolled down the car’s window and took a deep breath, “If there wasn’t a crazed angel living here, spawning out shrouds, then the wife and I may move here.”

  “Watch out!” yelled Keel, grabbing the wheel. The car swerved around a young woman as she leapt from a mud covered yellow car. For a second she stood there in the road, standing motionless in her pyjamas and white muddy sneakers and then turned and sprinted towards the entrance to Du Brey Hospital.

  “What the?” gasped Canopus, slamming his foot on the brakes and skidding the Pontiac to a stop.

  “Does she have one? A shroud?” asked Vince, peering through the window.

  Keel held up her red crystal and stared at the woman as she ran. All she saw was the woman, nothing else. “She’s clear.”

  She scanned the other people walking in and out of the hospital, “Some of these are clear, some aren’t. I can see the shrouds hanging on their bodies, three, no five, at least five I can see. This is the place. Lillian Fox is here, I know it.”

  Canopus nodded, “OK, time is of the essence, I will drop you at the morgue, Vince and I will head to see Sheriff Drexel, see what he makes of all this.”

  “Vince can stay with me and before you meet your old friend, I think I should check him out first.” Keel dangled the crystal in front of Canopus’ face.

  “Don’t mind me or what I want to do,” commented Vince.

  “Cadavers or cops? Your pick.” asked Keel.

  “Well when you put it like that, I chose the stiffs.”

  “Surprise-surprise,” grumbled Canopus under his breath. He glanced at Keel and reassured her with a nod. He would check out Vince with Drexel and see what he could find.

  Keel held up her phone “Looks like the Sheriff’s office is on the same mountain as the morgue, so it’s a win-win” smiled Keel looking at her phone.

  “Maybe for once, everything is going to go our way,” replied Canopus.

  SEVEN.

  Julia stared into the face of her twin Melissa, a familiar face, her own face. Melissa’s dark brown eyes stared with concern. Both sisters had long black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, the same full lips and the tiny twin moles above their left eyebrows. The only difference between them, was that Julia had a small scar across her chin, caused by Melissa hitting Julia with a Chester’s toy metal truck when they were two. It became an easy way for parents, teachers and friends to tell them apart and so they were never able to trick people like other identical twins. To others the scar was a tiny little insignificant mark, to Julia and Melissa it forever separated them. Once, age eight, Julia caught Melissa with a knife, ready to give herself the same scar, so they could look the same again, but Julia talked her out if it.

  She felt Melissa’s hand on her cheek and held it in hers.

  “I don’t know what’s happening to me,” she whispered.

  “Well, we are going to find out.” Melissa smiled warmly and placed her thumb over her sister’s chin scar, a greeting of theirs.

  Julia sobbed and embraced her, “Thank you.”

  “How long has this been happening and why didn't you tell me earlier? I knew something was wrong Jules, I knew it. When we last talked, you seemed distant, tired.”

  “I’m so tired. Always tired. No matter how much I sleep, I can’t seem to think straight,”

  Melissa pulled out a digital thermometer and placed it in Julia’s ear. “I have seen a lot of the same symptoms. Most of the people checking in are complaining of tiredness, waking in strange places, sleepwalking. You are not alone Julia and that’s good. They are saying it's a virus, but - ”

  “But, you are not convinced.”

  The thermometer beeped and Melissa showed the result to Julia, “See, no fever. And yes, you are right, I’m not convinced.” Melissa yawned.

  “You too?” Julia leapt to her feet

  Melissa nodded. “Sometimes, yes. But then it goes away and then I feel great, really great, like when you get better after a virus, but then all of a sudden I get tired again.”

  “Maybe it’s an adjusting strain? Or an accelerated mutation?” asked Julia.

  “Adapting th
at quickly? I doubt it. I’ve been working with a neurologist Doctor, she’s quite amazing.”

  Melissa flicked her eyes to a large ticking clock on the wall, “Actually, she should be here soon, she wanted to check you out for herself.”

  Julia took a deep breath, just talking about all this to Melissa felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her. “Ok, I guess. I still want the MRI though, just to be sure.”

  Melissa squeezed her sister’s shoulders and took a deep breath, “Just to be sure. Ready?”

  Julia nodded.

  Melissa walked into the observing room, while Julia placed her keys and silver bracelet in a wooden bowl, a sign above read, “Please place anything metal here. Fillings can stay in your mouth” Someone had written in black pen, “For now…” followed by a smiling emoji with missing teeth.

  Melissa’s voice crackled in through the rooms speakers, “Can you hear me?”

  Julia nodded.

  “Ok. It's’ going to get cold in there so grab a blanket. Grab some earplugs too. Julia walked over and picked up a frayed white blanket. It felt cheap, starched and used. Wrapped yellow torpedo ear plugs were piled in a block box. She grabbed a pair and tore the plastic with her teeth.

  “Alright Sis. I’m going to ask you to lie on the scanner bed. There are some pads that you can put under the knees.”

  The MRI machine looked old and cold. Julia sat on the rubber mattress, moving the rubber pads in place. She lifted her head and nervously smiled at her sister through the control window. Melissa smiled back.

  “You don’t have to put in the ear plugs until the light goes red. See that button hanging down? hold it. If for any reason, ANY REASON, something doesn’t feel right, you press that and the machine will stop. OK?”

  “Got it. You can hear me, right?” Julia held the chunky button tight in her right hand, in her left she squeezed the ear plugs. Her mouth was once again dry.

  “I can hear you.” Julia tried to smile but her lips were twitching.