HEX

by Stacy Charasidis

  Town Circle

  “So far so good for a Friday night,” Deputy Johnson said to the Sheriff as they patrolled around Town Circle, listening to the revelers at The Rotunda as they raised the proverbial roof. They didn’t bother patrolling through the quiet pathways of Town Circle Park anymore. With only two armed law enforcement officers in Barrington, it wasn’t worth dealing with people’s anger at their perceived invasion of privacy.

  “Whatever happened to renting a cheap motel?” the deputy asked irritably.

  “There aren’t any motels in Barrington, Johnson.”

  “Okay, but there are motels in Limerick. It’s only a short drive away. Sheesh.”

  “Yeah, seeing someone else’s ‘Johnson’ is not my idea of a good time either,” the Sheriff said with a straight face.

  “Oh, good one, Chief. Funny. Like I haven’t heard that one a million times before,” the deputy said dryly.

  Funny or not, that’s the way it was.

  “When are reinforcements coming from Limerick?” the deputy asked.

  “They’ve come and gone,” the Sheriff said shortly.

  “What are you talking about, Chief? I haven’t seen any of the Limerick boys lately.”

  “That’s because they didn’t stop,” the Sheriff replied. He had seen the Limerick police cars. Two squads. They drove right through town and didn’t stop. Blank faces. That was what had scared the Sheriff. Their blank faces. He had tried to call Limerick after that but only got static. He gave up. There was no help coming.

  “Johnson, we are on our own this year.”

  “Dang,” he said worriedly, fingering his gun strap.

  “You got that right.”

  Monday, September 9

  Barrington School Grounds

  The following week was tough. Sadie sat with Luke, Nathalie, and Dean that first lunch and chatted with them, but kept it friendly only. They did not talk about what was happening in Barrington or about the hex. For everyone’s safety, they kept it light and neutral. Luke was in hell. He was having a hard time adjusting to their separation and stared at Sadie with great longing.

  Sadie refused to acknowledge him, and Nathalie gave him shit.

  “Do you think this is easy for her? Stop making it harder than it already is.”

  She didn’t sit with them again.

  The news of their breakup spread like wildfire. Everyone whispered and speculated. Hannah was ecstatic. She was sure her writing was having the intended effect and that Danner was making good on his promise. Kids were shunning Sadie, and Hannah fueled the fire.

  “How dare she hurt a great guy like Luke!” she said to all the girls.

  They agreed wholeheartedly.

  “It’s because he’s a Barrington and they’re arch enemies.”

  “He’s better off without her!”

  “She’s stupid if she didn’t realize how lucky she was.”

  Luke tried to take the blame and told everyone that he broke up with her because he was embarrassed by all the negative press on Sadie in the newspaper. He told everyone that dating her was bad for the Barrington family image, so he’d had to dump her. Unfortunately, nobody was buying it. They wanted to hate Sadie. It was easy to do. Hate Luke? Impossible.

  Sadie just tilted her chin higher. Great, back to square one, she thought with a bit of despair, but then stiffened her resolve. But not for long. She hissed at the next person who muttered under their breath about her. The girl jumped in fright and Sadie laughed. Time to have a little fun for once in her life.

  Hannah approached Luke in a friendly manner for the first time since he started dating Sadie in the summer. Now that Nathalie had clarified things (she told him about her conversation with Hannah in June), he could see clearly that Hannah had a serious crush on him. She apologized for her behavior and asked if he would go to Joe’s Java and have a coffee with her after school.

  Luke wanted to say no. He wanted to hurt Hannah like she hurt Sadie. She had lied when she said she didn’t know who the author of the hate mail was. But Sadie was right; it was not time for emotion or revenge. This girl had information, and he had every intention of getting it out of her. With his classic goofy smile, Luke said sure and made a date. Hannah smirked at Sadie as she walked by her, but Sadie was reassured when Luke winked at her. They knew what they were doing. They may have “broken up,” but they were inextricably and irrevocably linked by love. He squeezed her hand briefly in passing, and she squeezed his back without thinking.

  “No,” Nathalie said quietly but firmly, coming between them and slapping Sadie’s hand.

  “Girls, no hitting,” Dean said sternly as he walked into the school.

  Sadie found an unexpected ally in Reg Baker, who sidled up to her after classes mid week.

  “I heard you were flying solo now,” Reg said suavely. Sadie looked at him coldly. “Such a pretty bird, to be all alone.”

  My gosh, can you get more pathetic than that? she wondered, staring at him.

  “I’ve cut loose the girl I was seeing, so I’m a free man. Any chance you’d like to go on a date? Say Friday? The music and action at The Rotunda is just awesome.” Beth had dumped him for some huge biker dude, and when he was about to protest and confront him, he thought better of it when the guy flexed his muscles and bared his pointy teeth.

  Sadie looked at Reg with distaste, like he was a squirming bug under a microscope. He actually started to squirm a little at her silence, but then she decided to be polite. “Why, thank you Reg, for your kind offer. However, I’m very recently…single…and need a bit more than three days before going on a date. You understand, I hope.”

  “Absolutely, and with all the scandal with the newspaper and all, I guess you wouldn’t want to tarnish my image either.”

  What an idiot. “Absolutely my first consideration,” Sadie said sweetly.

  Thursday, September 12

  Barrington School Grounds

  Thursday arrived with an altercation between two teachers. They had barricaded themselves in a classroom to engage in a shouting match, or screeching match, as Dean put it. Despite the closed door, the shouting could be heard along the whole second floor.

  The principal was beside himself. “Let’s all calm down, ladies, please. I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding,” he said from outside the door. There was a crash and the sound of glass shattering. He looked wildly down the hall at the interested students milling about.

  “Begone,” he yelled at them irritably, flicking his fingers at them in a shooing motion. “Schools out for the day. LEAVE!”

  Most kids didn’t need to be told twice and bolted. Anyway, the classroom window was open, so the fight could still be heard from the yard outside, and even observed at times when the hair pulling passed in front of the windows, which was where the dismissed students congregated to continue listening to the show.

  Everyone heard the gist of the conversation.

  “Ewww…he’s sleeping with both of them? That’s vile!” Tess said loudly.

  “Er, isn’t our esteemed principal married?” Dean asked Nathalie.

  “Yes,” she said with disgust.

  Eventually the Sheriff was called and asked to keep the situation quiet.

  “Wouldn’t want to upset the parents,” Principal Green said with a straight face.

  “Or your wife,” the Sheriff said easily.

  THE BARRINGTON BUGLE – FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

  Special Morning Edition

  Barrington Principal Murdered During “Wild Hunt!”

  By X. Agerate

  Early this morning, Mr. Linus Green, principal of Barrington High School, was found murdered near Crystal Falls. According to a witness, he saw Principal Green being pursued through the forest by leather-clad men on horseback.

  “Their eyes were glowing red and they were laughing while Green screamed in terror. I saw them. I heard him.”

  Unfortunately, the witness had already imbibed over a dozen beers. According to the S
heriff, his testimony is not reliable.

  “I don’t know what ‘imb…imbribed’ means, but I wasn’t so drunk that I don’t know when men are out hunting. A wild hunt by monsters is what it was. That man was fleeing in terror like an animal. T’weren’t normal.”

  Unfortunately, the sot was the only witness who has come forward. A wild hunt? It sounds like a tale of terror in the early morning hours of a very unlucky Friday the 13th, but the sad fact remains. Linus Green’s body will be transported to Limerick and buried in the Barrington cemetery. Information on the funeral arrangements will come in tomorrow’s paper.

  Anyone with information on Mrs. Green’s whereabouts should notify the Sheriff.

  Saturday, September 14

  The Parker Residence

  Nathalie woke up on Saturday with a start. Her brother Nick was standing by her bed, staring at her. She rubbed her eyes and stared back at him. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

  “Why? You’re pretty when you sleep.”

  Nathalie loved her little brother. She tossed him on her bed and tickled him until he was screaming with laughter and tears were coming out of his eyes. She finally noticed the white envelope clenched in his little fist.

  “What’s this?” she asked, taking the letter from him.

  “From Rainy,” Nick said promptly. “It arrived yesterday but you didn’t see it. I know you’re waiting for a letter from her, so I brought it up.”

  Nathalie tousled his hair affectionately. “Thanks buddy.”

  “No problem,” Nick said. “I’d better go eat my waffles.” He padded out of the room and Nathalie ripped open the letter.

  Superstition County

  September 10

  Dear Nathalie,

  I got your letter and I wanted to come home right away. You scared the shit out of me! However, Gabe convinced me that helping you from here would be the best thing, especially since we found one of the books you are looking for. (I wanted to steal the book and bring it home, but the librarian here pats us down as we leave!) Gabe and I have been digging around Superstition’s archives and found some interesting stuff. We found a book in a text we couldn’t read. It didn’t have a title on it, which is why I ignored it the first time. But after you sent me that strange coin, I realized that the book I discarded had the exact same symbol, a scythe with a stick of wood crossing it. The book is really old.

  However, I think you might find this interesting. We took the book and Gabe scanned it onto his laptop and we ran it through a language translator we found on the Internet. It turns out that a crazy settler wrote this book in archaic German in the 1590’s. If this book is true, Superstition was not a town then. It was actually a very remote place in the middle of nowhere where he and a group of settlers were given the sacred task of guarding a very special prison. He calls it the daemon’s prison. Apparently a nearby town was plagued by bad luck and insanity. (We believe the town he’s referring to is Limerick.) When the town’s leaders figured out the source of the problem, they banished it here. He goes on to complain about “the new way of life” and warns about power constantly…but we’re not sure of the context of that yet. The book was very worn, so that’s all we’ve been able to translate so far. Surprisingly, Gabe is a good code cracker, and even though he doesn’t know any German, he’s been rather resourceful translating this thing on the computer.

  This town is strange. At first I thought it was neat, but now I’m finding it a bit creepy. Any superstition you can think of happens here. The inhabitants knock on wood all the time saying, “Saints preserve us.” They have rules about salt, they’re careful of each other’s shadows, they hang long coloured ribbon on their ladders so you don’t walk under them, and they have no black cats, not one. Black cats are destroyed immediately when they’re born.

  This is so freaky—especially if it’s happening in Barrington now. Please be careful, and keep an eye on Nick!

  Love,

  Rain

  Monday, September 16

  Barrington Police Station

  The following week the school was closed for two days while the town mourned the principal’s death. Rumour had it that the principal’s wife had been having an affair with one of the leather clad hunters. When word got around to her of his affairs, she asked her lover to kill him. The papers cited it as a “crime of passion.” Not surprisingly, Mrs. Green was nowhere to be found.

  A string of animal deaths occurred during the week as well. Their carcasses were left at the church door. “Blasphemers!” Father MacGunne was quoted as yelling.

  Nathalie tried to get a cup of Beth’s “special drink,” but Beth wouldn’t allow it.

  “Why do you want to try it now?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Because I want to try it…now,” Nathalie said lamely.

  “No.”

  “But it’s free!” Nathalie said, exasperated.

  Beth smiled slyly. “Not to you.”

  Nathalie tried the other two stands at The Rotunda, but Beth’s sycophant friends weren’t buying it either. “No means NO Nathalie,” they sneered.

  In the end, Nathalie just took a cup from a man who put his down for a second to light a cigarette. She called Luke.

  “I have a sample. Can your dad get it analyzed?”

  “Sure, bring it over. I think the Sheriff can do it. He has some equipment in a small lab at the station.

  In the end they had to enlist Dr. Peabody’s help. “Of course I know how to use a mass spectrometer. What the hell do they teach you kids in school these days, anyway?”

  Nathalie, Dean, and Luke looked at each other, but they had no answer to that.

  “Shame on you, Sheriff. We learned this in grade three.”

  “Been a long time since grade three, Doc,” the Sheriff said dryly.

  “Hmmmph,” he grumbled as he fiddled with the machine. Eventually they had some results, and the doctor whistled. “Well, well, well. It’s really no wonder why everyone loves that hot cocktail.”

  “Why?” Nathalie crowded around to see. She was burning with curiosity.

  “Because it’s laced with narcotics and some sort of hallucinogen, although it’s not a compound I’ve ever seen before.”

  Luke was stunned. “You mean to say that Beth has been drugging people for the last month and a half?”

  The Sheriff cleared his throat. “Now hold on Luke. Innocent until proven guilty. There’s no guarantee that she’s aware of the contamination. After all, this is supposed to be Shaemus’ contribution to the fair, and the man has been gone since July. She could be a victim in all this.”

  Nathalie didn’t think that was likely, but she shook her head at Luke and Dean. Leave it, her expression said.

  “So, what do we do now? She’s giving away free drugs!” Luke said in outrage.

  “Now that’s a quandary,” Dr. Peabody said, “and likely the reason she has regulars. They need a hit, a daily dose to keep going. Probably crave the stuff.”

  “There’s always a huge lineup,” Luke said.

  “We’ll shut it down,” the Sheriff said, radioing his deputy.

  “Whoa, now, hold on Sheriff,” the doc warned. “Thing is about substance abuse, addiction involves painful withdrawal.”

  “Surely no one’s that addicted…” Luke started.

  “Narcotics are extremely addictive, and fast. I’m quite sure there are many people out there with a dependency now, all to varying degrees, of course.”

  “That would certainly explain the town’s wild behavior,” Nathalie said.

  “They’re all on drugs,” Dean said with wonder.

  “It certainly does explain the town’s behaviour, proving my point. They’ve been feeling good, and rather uninhibited, for some time now.”

  “Spit it out, Doc,” said the Sheriff. “What are we looking at here?”

  “We can’t just cut them off. We don’t have the meds or the resources in Barrington to handle mass withdrawal from narcotics and whatever this hallu
cinogen is. People will become crazed, and there are a lot of people in Barrington right now.”

  “Crazier than they are now?” Dean asked with a laugh, remembering the sounds in Town Circle Park’s bushes at night.

  “Right now it’s friendly crazy. Withdrawal is ugly crazy,” the Doc said matter of factly.

  “So, we have to keep the people of the town drugged until we can organize a town rehab clinic?” Nathalie asked, aghast.

  “That pretty much sums it up,” Dr. Peabody said with a grin.

  “How long if my dad can pull some strings?”

  “I’ll need at least two weeks to get an outpatient clinic organized and some staff in from Limerick,” the Doc said, getting ready to leave.

  Oh my God, that’s the end of September, Nathalie thought to herself.

  “How long is rehab?” Dean asked curiously.

  “About a month. It is not going to be pretty here for a while. Luke, I’m going to need to see your father.”

  “Get in line, we’re all waiting to see him.” Luke was frustrated. His father was so busy he’d been almost impossible to talk to all week. He wanted Jacob’s diary!

  “Wow, could timing for Danner and Willow be more perfect?” Dean whispered to Luke and Nathalie while the Sheriff and Dr. Peabody discussed next steps.

  “Most adults out of commission. It’s brilliant,” Nathalie said with grudging admiration.

  “Foiled by withdrawal. How unlucky can you get?” Luke muttered.

  Nathalie frowned. “Their evil plan is unfolding perfectly. Nothing stands in their way. Who could have predicted this?”

  Thursday, September 19

  Barrington School Grounds

  By the end of the week the tension in the air at the school was palpable.

  “What the hell is going on with this town? It used to be the most boring place to live. Now, every day we have a death, human or animal, violence, murder, and betrayal. It’s like a soap opera!” Dean complained.

  The anonymous contributor to The Bugle pretty much blamed the troubles in the town on Sadie Kellar, claiming she used the blood from the murdered animals in rituals to curse the town.

  The town certainly seemed cursed.

  One student went so far as to throw a stone at Sadie as she arrived at school. It drew blood as it flew by and grazed her cheek. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at her tormentor. What they couldn’t see, but what Luke clearly could as he bolted across the yard, was the roll of purple power along Sadie’s skin as she prepared to retaliate. Luke beat her to the punch. He slammed into the kid and punched his lights out before Sadie could do anything incriminating. The girls hung back but the boys gathered around, their eyes filled with blood lust. Luckily, the other kid was out cold. A teacher appeared and the mob dispersed.