They Came After Me

by C S Allen

  I didn’t know what to say after that, but a picture in my head of Cindy seeing me nude made me uneasy. “Ha! Look at your face! I got you back, Will!” Cindy yelled, while pointing at me.

  Cindy got me back from messing with her, and it made me smile. It felt like I had a friend.

  “Knock! Knock!” someone stated from the doorway. I looked over, and I was surprised to see Mr. Morin standing there with a smile on his face.

  “Come in here! God, I’m glad to see you, Mr. Morin!” I stated, as I waved him into the room. I introduced Cindy and Mr. Morin like a good kid should, and lucky for me, I was done with therapy.

  Mr. Morin and I talked for a couple of hours about everything, up through my embarrassing bathroom situation to me making a mess eating lunch. While we talked, Mr. Morin told me that my parents had had him draw up a will when they were alive, making him the executor of their estate and stating he was to take care of me when I passed away. My hospital bills were being paid for by the government since I was in their custody when I was poisoned by the spider. My parents had had a five hundred-thousand-dollar life insurance policy, which paid out if both died at the same time. Mr. Morin said that they had been killed almost a year after I went into the coma.

  “I couldn’t believe what was going on with you and your parents, Will. It was the worst luck that I have ever seen in my life,” Mr. Morin stated sadly.

  “So, am I going back to jail after I get better?” I asked.

  “Oh no, no. The charges have been dropped and dismissed. A lot of things were handled improperly, and then you got bitten by of all things a spider. Your record is clean like it was before all of this,” Mr. Morin stated with a grin.

  “What about my friends who were killed at the cabin? Someone needs to answer for all of them. Did anyone go after the government for their murders?” I asked.

  “That’s been a big one that I have been trying to deal with myself, Will. Your friends were murdered by a man named Steven Bishop out of New Hampshire,” Mr. Morin stated.

  I interrupted him. “Killed by a man? They weren’t killed by a friggin’ guy! They were killed by a damn spider! I was there to witness the whole damn thing! Who in the hell said they were killed by a man?” I asked angrily.

  “Will, Steven Bishop was found in the wooded area where you and your friends were at. He was also burned, but the only difference was that he was burned alive. We think he got caught up in the fire while setting the place on fire. He was found with a semi-automatic gun attached to his waistband that matched the bullets in your friends’ bodies. Steven Bishop was wanted in New Hampshire for murder and was hiding out in that cabin before you all got there. His DNA was found on drinking glasses in the cabin also,” Mr. Morin stated.

  “Okay, well what about us calling in for help on the radio? There was a dispatcher who took our calls on the police radio. He sent that helicopter to find us out there at the lake,” I stated.

  “The police dispatcher remembers you and Olivia calling in on the radio, and they did send out a police helicopter. But the investigators believe that you all were being ordered to call on the radio under duress because Steven Bishop had you all scared. What do you think a judge would think? Your story of spiders or a dead murderer with his gun, bullets, and DNA scattered throughout the crime scene? Steven Bishop’s fingerprints were on parts of the helicopter that didn’t burn, Will. He had a half-burned gas can ten feet from his body also. The case is closed, and you’re cleared from any wrongdoing anywhere. Just try and accept what really happened out there, Will, and that Steven Bishop killed them,” Mr. Morin stated.

  “No, I can’t accept that. They were killed by spiders, damn it! Why can’t someone do autopsies on my friends and find the spider’s toxins like what happened to me for Christ sakes?” I stated loudly.

  “Will, everyone was checked, and nothing was in their bloodstream. They were shot and then Steven Bishop tried to burn everything down for some reason,” Mr. Morin stated.

  “What about Olivia? She was still alive three years ago; did anyone check on her?” I asked.

  “We don’t know what happened to her, Will. Her mother didn’t know much about her going on a camping trip or when she was going back home for the summer. Since then Olivia has been missing, and no one knows where she is,” Mr. Morin replied.

  “Well, what about me? How did I escape from the cabin when a killer was on the loose? What did someone come up with on that?” I asked.

  “Will, you were seen being dropped off at your dorm by two students that night. Two students stated that they saw you from a lineup of photos we passed around. They don’t have any reason to lie, especially when they don’t know you,” Mr. Morin replied.

  “Check their bank accounts, I bet you they were paid off like I was,” I replied.

  “Will, why are you trying so hard to say that you were there and that all of the evidence is wrong? You’re a free man!” Mr. Morin stated loudly.

  “What about that government building, hunh? Is it still there? Did you and Paul go looking for the people who I had mentioned? What about going inside to investigate what was being made there?” I asked.

  “Will, I’m sorry, but that place isn’t what you say it is or was. Paul did investigate for a day until you went into a coma, and then we stopped everything all together. Paul’s friend, who works in the FBI, stated that the government facility up there wasn’t a spider-producing plant, but rather a chemical weapons disposal lab. The facility is almost up and running now to dispose military chemical weapons. And as far as the names that you had given us, well, no one works there by those first names. There was no evidence of anything that you stated before except that you breached their security for some reason,” Mr. Morin stated.

  “Yeah right, like I’m going to go to some damn lab and break in for some reason; this is all bull crap,” I replied. Mr. Morin left shortly after that.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Apparently, my aunt had come to visit me many times during my coma, so when she heard I was awake, she came to see me at the hospital. She helped me get up from my bed and walked with me down the hallway. When I was good enough to walk mostly on my own, she brought the wheelchair just in case I needed it. We had many conversations about my parents and what they had thought of my situation back then. I asked my aunt what she thought of everything that had happened, and she didn’t know what to believe. She told me that my parents’ home was paid off and that it belonged to me when I got out. The house had been taken care of by my aunt so the place looking lived in. She had mowed the grass in the summer and had paid a man to plow the driveway every snowstorm for years. She explained that once her sister had died in the car accident, she dealt with her sorrow by taking care of her home. Eventually, her pain subsided, and she didn’t need to visit all that much, and the house had become just a chore. She didn’t ever think I would come out of my coma, and if I did, I would have some kind of a mental disability. The day she heard my voice on her answering machine, she almost fainted.

  I passed two months in the hospital, and I was finally free to go home. I could walk, feed myself, use the bathroom all on my own, and it felt good. I was a bit nervous to leave because I was going back home to my parent’s house, and they weren’t there anymore. My aunt came to pick me up with new clothes for me, and a balloon that made me smile that morning. The balloon had a big, yellow, smiley face on one side and the other had words written on it that read, ‘I made it!’ I said goodbye to everyone who had helped me to literally get back on my feet.

  “Thank you for being quiet and not bothering the other patients for the past three years, Mr. William Reed,” Doctor Lamarre stated with a smile and a handshake.

  Cindy was there also to see me off; she gave me a box of chocolates and a houseplant. “I appreciate your hard work and dedication toward getting better, Will. This will be the last time I get to push you around, I hope. Have a seat in this wheelchair, and I will escort you out,” Cindy stated, smiling.
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  When we got to the front entrance of the hospital and I could see other people walking around in real clothes, I smiled even more, no more seeing medical staff in scrubs or patients in gowns. I could smell the fresh air coming into the entrance of the building as the automatic doors opened and closed.

  “Cindy, would you mind staying with Will while I go out to get my vehicle in the parking lot?” my aunt asked Cindy.

  “No problem, it’ll give me a chance to go over a few instructions with him before he leaves,” Cindy replied.

  My aunt told me that she would be right back and went out to get her car while I stayed inside, listening to Cindy’s instructions on what to do if I felt weak moving around. It was pretty much common-sense stuff, but, according to her, it was doctors’ orders.

  My aunt pulled up to the front doors with her car and got out to open the passenger side door. I stood up, smiled, and thanked Cindy one more time for the well wishes and then got in the vehicle. As my aunt and I left the hospital, snow was still on the ground, but it was still summer in my mind. I had so many things going on in my head, and I felt a bit sick to my stomach about everything. It felt just like yesterday when I had been in jail, and my parents had bailed me out. I couldn’t believe that three years had passed; it felt unreal. My aunt had told me that she was going to stay with me until I could do things on my own. I was glad that she said that because things were about to get real as we pulled into my parents’ driveway.

  My mother’s car was parked in the driveway directly in front of us with snow sitting on its top. I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer, so I sat in the car and cried. My aunt held me as I let loose with so much anguish and pain in my mind.

  “It’s going to be all right, Will, we’ll get through this together,” my aunt stated, as she held me. It was hard to see my mother’s car and know that she wouldn’t be inside waiting for me. My father’s car was always gone about this time in the day, so in my mind, he was still at work. I was afraid to go inside my parents’ house because I didn’t want reality to hit me. I wanted to just stay in my aunt’s car and let the pain out. After a good fifteen minutes of crying on my aunt’s shoulder, I sat up and just stared down at the floormat. My face was burning hot, and my eyes were swollen from all of the crying.

  “Will, do you want to go to my home first and come back at a later time?” my aunt asked me. I wanted to say ‘yes’ at that moment, but she was prepared to stay with me at my parents’ house. I told her ‘no’ because I needed to get things over with as soon as possible inside. I took a deep breath and then opened the car door.

  “Will, don’t get out of the car by yourself, stay there,” my aunt said, as she opened her door to get out. I tried staying focused on my aunt so my mind wouldn’t wander off and make me start crying again. My aunt came around to my side of the car and asked if she could help me get out, but I just smiled and pulled myself out. Thankfully, I didn’t have any problem because I would have been embarrassed.

  I looked at my parents’ house and took a deep breath before closing the car door. My aunt then gave me the new keys to the front door and then said, “It’s going to be okay, I’m right here with you.”

  I tried to smile, but only a half grin came out as I felt sick to my stomach again. We both walked over to the front door and up the three steps before I put the key in the door, and I paused a second before turning it. I’m not sure if I would have turned the key if my aunt hadn’t been there with me. She put her hand on my shoulder, and then we walked inside. The smell of my parents’ house was gone, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. The house had always had the smell of food or my mother’s old lady perfume that my father liked so much. My aunt had put sheets on all of the furniture for some reason, and it made things look eerie. I just stood there at the doorway without closing the door, looking and trying to think, but I couldn’t. I was in a state of shock because no one was there to greet me with a hug or to say, ‘where have you been.’ My parents were dead, and the house felt that way as it was cold and things were missing from the living room.

  “Let’s close the door, Will, so we don’t let more of the heat out,” my aunt said. I moved out of her way so she could close the door.

  “Aunt Kelly, this isn’t my home anymore, I don’t feel welcome here,” I said sadly.

  “Of course, you’re welcome here, this is the place where you grew up, Will,” my aunt stated.

  “It’s no longer a home, it’s just a house now without my parents here. I don’t smell Mom’s perfume or her cooking in the kitchen. Every day when I came home from school, Mom would have something started on the stove; it smelled so good most of the time. I would drop my book bag at the door and go look to see what Mom was cooking and she would greet me with a hug or a kiss on the cheek. If she was cooking my favorite spaghetti sauce or lasagna, I’d get a fork full before my dad came home from work. Dad had his own ritual every time he came home, and it was like clockwork. I would be upstairs in my room most times when he came home, and I would hear him come in the house. He would come in and say ‘Where’s that woman who’s cooking something good?’ or ‘Where’s my favorite bride? She’d better not be hiding from me again.’ And Dad would go looking for Mom if she wasn’t in the living room. Dad was so in love with Mom; sometimes it was sickening to be around,” I said with a half-smile on my face.

  “Will, this is a part of mourning. The sights, sounds, and even the smells of your Mom cooking will always be in your heart. Believe it or not, I’m still in a bit of mourning too because I’m reliving it all again with you. The only way to get over the shock is to not get over it at all, Will. I cried for many days when I heard that your mom and dad had died, and then I became angry. I was angry because the weather had caused them to have an accident and angry at your dad because he sucked at driving,” my aunt said with a grin.

  We stayed in my parents’ house, talking about things we remembered, as I looked around to see everything. I noticed that my parents had put up a new frame on the wall with many photos of me in it, and my graduation photo was sitting next to my dad’s chair. My aunt told me how much they had missed me and that they’d been angry about the charges that had been made up against me. My parents had known something was definitely not right when, all of a sudden, the government dropped its charges against me once I went into the coma. No one would explain anything to my attorney about why they had dropped the charges, and they were told to just accept it and be happy about it. My parents had even consulted with an arachnologist to find out if it was possible for spiders to be large and attack people, but they got nowhere with that.

  I was getting hungry and asked my aunt if she could take me out for an early lunch, and she told me that I could take her out instead. “Your parents left you a large sum of money with their life insurance, Will. We should go to your attorney’s office and get the paperwork taken care of today, if that’s okay,” my aunt suggested. I was happy to know that I had money left for me, but at the same time, it cost my parents their lives, so it wasn’t really fair.

  We went to a good restaurant where I could eat healthy food instead of burgers and fries. I ordered a salad and a seafood platter that wasn’t deep fried. I had to worry about my stomach and eating anything unhealthy. My aunt talked about growing up with my mother before the dinosaurs roamed the earth while I ate. She made me laugh a few times and almost made me choke to death because my food got caught in my windpipe.

  My mother wasn’t the saint I thought she was when my aunt said, “Your mother stole bubble gum one day when we went to the five and dime store. I couldn’t believe that when we left the store, she held out her hand and said, ‘look what I got.’ We were only six and eight years old at that time, and my little sister had become a thief. Mom or I should say your grandmother heard her say ‘look what I got’ and saw that little piece of gum in her hand. Boy, your grandmother was mad as hell and took your mom and me back to the store to return it. After your mom apologized to the store manager, s
he got the biggest spanking when we got home,” Aunt Kelly said and smiled.

  After eating, we went to my attorney’s office to get my funds released from him. When we arrived at Mr. Morin’s office, he wasn’t there, which we kind of figured since we didn’t have an appointment. When we left the office, my aunt told me that my parents’ house belonged to me, my mother’s car, the life insurance, and my dad’s collection of silver and gold coins in the bank. I didn’t have any idea that my father had had a collection of coins so that made me curious. I couldn’t go to the bank to see his collection because I didn’t have the necessary paperwork from Mr. Morin. I asked Aunt Kelly how she had any idea what was in the bank, and she said she knew because my mother had mentioned it a few sometimes. She thought the coins were some old silver dollars and a few gold rings from an auction my father had gone to years earlier.

  Then we decided that it was a good idea to head over to the grocery store to fill the refrigerator and my parents’ pantry for the next week. “Will, you can call your parents’ home your house now, it’s okay to do that,” Aunt Kelly stated.

  “I can’t call my parents’ house my home because it will always be theirs, even though it was given to me. Maybe I should sell it so I don’t have to live there and get one of my own. It’s just that it feels weird being there now without my parents. I miss them so much,” I replied.

  “It’s only been one day, Will. Let’s make the big decisions in a week or two. Right now, let’s think of the small things like pop tarts or pizza to go in the pantry at home, what do you think?” Aunt Kelly asked.

  My aunt picked up where my mother left off, taking care of me by cooking and helping me with the house. We talked a lot about our feelings and how my aunt had dealt with the passing of my parents. I talked for hours about how I was feeling with all that had happened in the past. Unfortunately, Aunt Kelly had never married and didn’t have children. She had only one sibling and that was my mother. When my mother died, Aunt Kelly was the last of our family to survive. She mentioned that she was so happy when I came out of the coma because she wanted to take care of me.