by H. Caswell
Lynn tells Kate “You may not want to watch the films” ‘her stomach twists knowing Lynn is right’ Kate says “I amstaying” while Melissa closes the curtains, Joe, setting the recorder up to play on the dark closed curtains. The first one begins. As they watch the horrific crimes done to these girls on every film, a powerful surge comes over all of them. Johnathan disgusted says “The monster has played out his sick twisted ways over and over” Soon picture of girls Johnathan recognized, from the descriptions of a woman, all missing from home. Just as he knew it to be true, now his evidence is there, right in front of him. The last of the reels, is of Kate. The shower and the room. Joe becomes sick to his stomach and throws up on the Oriental rug. Tears pour from Kate, embarrassed and humiliated she runs from the room. She cannot believe this man Alfred, had done all these thing and recorded every minute of it. Joe runs after Kate and wraps her in his arms. He tells her“Shhh … it will all … be all right” as she weeps harder into him. Lynn tells Melissa, “Kate is going to need medical care without question” Melissa shaking her head agrees. They all head downstairs, Johnathan wonders where all the girls are. Joe tells him“That is what the old man was saying in his sleep.” The guys decide that are going to walk around the island to see if they can find any graves. The women stay behind with a few armed officers.
Joe and Johnathan start walking around the back, where no one was allowed to go. The two enter the crematorium and look inside the door. It had been cleared out. They leave and walk more. Joe watches the ground, suddenly he finds something that look to be odd. He bends down and picking it up “It is a tooth!” As he opens his hand and presents it to Johnathan, the two men ‘shake their heads with disgust’ Joe shouts“BASTARD”They continue, finding a path they follow the trail that leads them to the swamp. They begin to walk around this big wet and stinky place. Johnathan begins to follow footprints as Joe walks around the opposite end. Suddenly Johnathan whistles, to Joe. Quickly, Joe running to him as Johnathan bends over the water; trying to reach for something. Joe‘out of breath’ gets there just as Johnathan falls into the murky, dark muddy water, his body consumed, by a thick mud, that sucks him inside.“Jesus are you Alright,” yells Joe as Johnathan tries to stand, ‘slipping’ he feels something against his leg. Joe watches asking him “what is it?” Johnathan screamsout “I do not know!” Suddenly Johnathan takes hold of something slimy and cold ‘his face squeamish’ as he slowly pulls it from the water; the sound of suction permeates Johnathan’s ears. Joe sees it first, “It is A GOD DAMN arm … is it from a woman!” he hollers, Johnathan jumps up ‘splashing the stentch’ and trying despreatly to run out of the water; but, the mud is so thick ‘suction’ it holds onto Johnathan tightly, he trips; falling face first into the water again. As he looks down onto what it is, he has landed on, he sees a‘horrified’ decayed woman’s face staring at him. He starts screaming to Joe to help him.“Get me the hell out of here ‘splashing’ Joe Help me, Christ‘mud smearing across his face’ please help me!” Joe reaching out to Johnathan, trying not to become another stuck in the hell grips of the mud. He pulls hard, and Johnathan‘suction’ plunges out of the muddy water. They both sit breathless upon a big rock in shock, soaked with the stenches of the water.
Inside the woman are talking. Lynn asks Kate again “Are you sure you do not know Thomas” Kate shakes her head “I donot recall such a man.” Kate confesses“Honestly, I do not remember anything …other than waking up here.” Lynn with all her experience, has never run across anything like this before. They begin talking about the women that were here and the horrible thing that have happened. Kate begins to cry again, as Lynn consoles her.
Johnathan and Joe rush back covered in the stench and mud, to the officers outside the front door. They the last two left. Johnathan orders them to go to the inland and get help. “There are dead girls‘breathlessly’ in the water!” Quickly the two run off and head back inland. Johnathan pulls Lynn aside and with his soaking wet clothes and stench he tells her what they have found.
Chapter 20
The Mayor now notified from the officers of the findings about the bodies, in the swamp. He runs into the jail, standing at her cell asking “Claire who… are the ladies in the swamp?” Claire grins and says nothing. Hittingthe bars with his cane,‘making a loud clang sound’ his eyes … wide with Anger, begins to holler requesting she say the names. “GOD DAMN IT … CLAIRE, WHO ARE THOSE LADIES!” she sits quietly ‘he smirks at her’ Alright Claire … You fat BITCH …we can play this game. I will make sure YOU receive the death penalty as well as that … Sick Son of a Bitch you worked for, soon asthey find him”. Claire laughs “You think you are guilt free My Mayor … you gave Alfred that Sarah … you sat on your own Fat ass … collecting money. In fact … this whole GOD DAMN City … is Guilty. The Death penalty sounds good for EVERYONE,” spitting at him, between the bars. Quickly the Mayor orders‘as the words seep into his heart of what Claire has said could be true’ every available man to the island to help.
The examiner concludes with Sarah, as he meets with the Mayor to head back to the island. They discuss the horrific end to the girl, and wonder what kind of monster can be so cruel. Neither man has ever seen such a crime of this nature. Even the murders of Sarah’s parent did not come close now. The Mayor, feeling sorry for ever involving Alfred with Sarah. The examiner reminds him,“No one suspected Alfred … of thesething.” The mayor confesses, “No, you are wrong, Detective Stevenson did, and I wouldnot listen. Claire is right … many of us are guilty … I …the most”
The docks fill with every able man in the city as they load onto Alfred’s ship. It being the only vessel far big enough to carry equipment and the manpower. It takes a few hours to get the ship ready. Wright comes down to see what the commotion is about. Mayor begins painting the horrific painting of the life upon the island. Wright stands in disbelief of the circumstances and volunteers his services, as well. Even though the place freaked him out. He now feels responsible, as well. Every last help, is now aboard the boat. The ship sails back to the island.
Joe did not want to tell Kate of their finding, but Lynn said the story would come out eventually. Joe decided he would be the one to explain the site. Lynn asks Joe “why are you taking onto Kate so much; I have not seen you this fond of a girl before” Joe himself does not know, but there is something he just feels for her.
Lynn warns him“be careful” Reminding Joe “She is a girl who has suffered far greater things that even you will never fully understand.” He asks her “What it is I would not get” Lynn explains“That procedure that Claire and Randle preformed on Kate will leave so much scar tissue that she will never have a child.” She tells him“I have not told this to Kate. For now,is not the … time” Joe agrees. The other thing Lynn says“I worry aboutKate’s inability to recall life before here.” She explains “Something has happened to Kate that I have not seen beforehand. Eventually once,things calm she will need therapy.” Joe does not care what needs to be done. Something about Kate has sealed his fate, He feels for her. Lynn understands, and she will do what she can to help Kate. They both head in to find Kate has fallen asleep, and Melissa is standing guard. Joe says he will stay with her.
The ship has arrived, and the men pour out of the ship. Johnathan is taken back by the sight. The Mayor apologizes to him, explaining “I should have listens to you, the past winter.” They shake hands as Johnathan explains “It matters not anymore. We just need to take care of the matter and find the sick son of a bitch as well and make him pay.”
As the men are led to the swamp, they are explained in detail of the horror they will be handling. As each lady is pulled up, if an Id, can be made, than it need to be done, so her name can taken off the list. Men line up at the side of the swamp as a few go into the murky stench waters following Johnathan. Slowly, they begin to pull the first girl up. She is tied down, by a heavy rock along her waist. As others begin to help, a man cries out, “That it is mywife.” The examiner stands by with a
body bag and the two men drag her mud, covered, decaying remains, to the side away from the crowd. The bawling man, writes his wife’s name on a tag and zips the bag. Soon another comes to the surface, again she is placed in a bag and brought to the side. Men gather and look her decayed body over, suddenly from the back a man calls out “She is my wife.” He writes her name on the tag while screaming out to Alfred “I WILL FIND YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
The bellows of tears and sadness take over the area. The process becomes a pain, stricken event, for hours as they slowly remove, one body at a time to the surface, the women of the night emerges. Soon men begin to call the names of the gals as they have spent time with them, a few argue briefly to who she is. But finally things calm and truth comes out. The men in the water, become fatigued, from fighting the thickness of the mud beneath them. Their bodies, bruised from the unseen objects, below. They are changed up, with new men. Eventually, eleven girls, have been removed from the water. Johnathan refuses to stop, until the last girl, is found. He dives in over and over again. Others join him in the madness, until finally a call cries out of finding her. The men have been in the swamp for ten hours; they are cold and wet, but they are delighted with themselves in the hard and most disturbing work. The men begin to carry one girl at a time back to the ship. Each one laid upon the floor as others are brought inside. A somber scene, it has been all day.
Kate has slept through it all. Her mind has again taken her to the place she does not want to be.
She watches as, the blonde woman lights candles upon a small coffee table. The two children, are kneeling on the floor. There is music, playing in the background. A cigarette hangs, from the boy’s mouth. There are two glasses of champagne, poured in front of them. The boy dressed in a suit that looks to be too big, for him. He smiles, at the lady. The girl is dressed wearing a dress that is far too big for, her. The woman begins to dance rubbing herself, and making things look sexy. She reaches for the boy, who takes her hand. The dance together, as the girl sits, watching. Suddenly the woman and boy disappear, into a dark room. The girl waits a while, but they do not return. Kate finds herself following the girl, as she makes her way into the darkness. In a dark room, the girl watches for a few moments, as the movement is under sheets. The girl builds her courage and grabs the little boy out from the covers. The woman furious grabs the girl. She begins to beat her profusely. Suddenly a man enters the house. Kate thinks he will help. As the woman drags the girl by her hair, out into the living room. The woman tells a lie, claiming she woke to the brat smoking, and drinking. The man calls the girl, to him. From the side of his chair, he pulls out a stick and begins beating the girl. The marks he leaves, appear fast. He tells the girl to stand, as he hits her legs. The girl now lays on the floor; he tells her to get to her room. She can hardly walk, as she does as she told. The girl climbs upon her bed, there, the little boy lays beside her. She keeps guard of him, throughout the night.
Kate wakes, screaming to the girl.“Please TELL ME HOW TO HELP YOU!” Joe grabs her and holds her tight. He asks her what she was dreaming about. Kate does not remember “This happens to me all the time, Joe. I do not remember, I feel like …I loose time.” Lynn rushes into Kate’s screams, as well as Joe holding Kate, telling Lynn “She does not know what she had been dreaming.” Lynn decides that maybe if she hypnotizes Kate she will begin to remember. Kate agrees but is hesitant. Lynn has Kate lay down on the couch as Joe sits in a chair, and Melissa takes notes. Lynn counts back to ten as she does, so she tells Kate to relax. Suddenly, Kate’s breath becomes slow. Lynn asks Kate to go back to when she was a child. An image begins to play out as Kate tells the story. “I am so hungry; I have had nothing to eat.Mother sent me to bed again with no dinner. She does this a lot to me when she is mad.Kate continues, Mother is a blonde woman with blue eyes. She locks us out, so she can watch her shows, and comfort, her male friend. Many times I have had to go to the bathroom, but she wont let me inside. It just starts to come out, as I try to hold it in. Sometimes she does my hair. It burns, like the hair curler touches my skin. Many times she pulls my hair and leaves welts, on my head. Once she was giving me a bath. I was so dirty; she began to scrub me, so hard my skin was bleeding. I started to cry, she took me by my hair and pulled my head under the water, I could not breathe. She banged my head upon the tub side, slapping my face so hard. She beat me a lot. I do not know why,she does not love me.”Lynn stops her briefly “Okay,Kate now can you go ahead in your life. I want to know who Thomas is.” Kate is silent for a moment; then begins again,“Thomas, oh he is a good friend of mine. I met him in class. He is my teacher. We are studying, psychology. Thomas has asked me to assist him, in our class teachings. I am euphoric to be doing so. Thomas, is so intelligent. We discuss in class, about the unbreakable genes and our upbringing. Thomas says, that he believes that we are all born with genetic markers, of our family’s psychological make-up, as well as other things to create who we are. The theory is that, those genes cannot be erased. He says that is why some people are, dangerous. It is in their genes to be bad,and he wants to find a way to break, the chains. He claims as well that a child’s early years of development, will also heighten the reaction, of the genes. The class does reports, on their family’s history. So, if a child is brought up as an abuser, they will be abusers, in their life. He has even told me about his son, Alfred. His mother, was a very mean woman to him. Alfred, soon hated, every dark haired girl. His mother would tell Alfred, he would never satisfy a woman, that he was a worthless, thin, and unattractive. If she caught Alfred looking at girls, she would drag him down to the basement, and beat him. Thomas, would go down and rip the leather whip, from her. She would turn on Thomas punching and biting him, as he drugged her and carried Mildred, to their room. Alfred could not do much without her, slapping him around and treat him poorly. Thomas, tried to stop his wife, but Thomas says it is in her, genes. Thomas says Mildred’s parents, were very abusive to her. They would punish her severely. They were very religious, and become a part of the cult. The treatments, they were taught to keep their children in line, outrageous, Thomas implied. He never gave me details; he says things were so sad, and too disgusting, to talk about.He said she was the reason for his wanting to discover a way to destroy the genes, his theory. Thomas tried to keep Alfred with him,as much as he could. He took Alfred under his wing. Thomas became anxious sometimes, while talking about, Alfred. I do not think they see each other. Thomas and I started having private meetings, at his place. I trust Thomas. He would put me under hypnosis. At first it was once, or twice a week, but then every day. I suddenly started not feeling very well, during the sessions. I think Thomas gives something, to me. I am tired now; I want to sleep.”
The situation for Lynn became more understandable. She believes Thomas has drugged Kate, but with what? Lynn, does not know. She tells Joe “When we get back inland, Kate should go back with us.” Joe agrees.
It has been an hour, as the three packed up, Joe tries to wake Kate. She does not wake. He calls Lynn in. They all try to wake her. They rush to the boat; Joe is carrying Kate. When they reach inland, Kate is taken to a local hospital. As they wait in the hall, Lynn says “Joe it will be all right.” The doctor comes to them “I am uncertain, what has caused this, but Kate is in some sort of coma or trance.I have not seen this before”Lynn explains that Kate was fine. “We had done hypnosis, and now she will not wake up. Nothing is making sense.” The doctor asks“Did you giveKate any meds.” Lynn says “no the doctor tells“I will be running blood work and more tests in the morning.” Joe decides he will sit with Kate while the others go to Johnathan’s to get some rest.
Days go by and still they have not found what is actually wrong with Kate. The Dr. comes in beforehis sift ends for the weekend“I have received some results back, from the lab I sent Kate’s blood work to. I wanted to use all avenues, to find the reason for her coma. The lab has found, a high dose of some enzyme,in her blood work”. He is unsure of what it is.
