by Mary May
Everyone comes up to the cave later that day. We go over our plan and the roles that everyone will play in it. “It’s pretty simple really. Bruce will play demented dead Robert, while ghostly Jesse will play the ghost of Christmas future.” He looks at the living Jesse and Martha. “Being that we don’t know what will happen, we are keeping you two out of this and will use your ghostly counterparts, okay? Ghostly Jesse will appear to Robert as he is getting ready to leave for the dance. Bruce has already told us that he is on the dance council, or whatever you call it, and will be leaving early. Now once Jesse has Robert, he will lead him to the area behind the mill where we will be set up with Bruce all dressed up like the dead, demented Robert. Hopefully once Robert is shown exactly what his future will look like, he will change or at least won’t feel the need to hang Jesse anymore.”
Martha raises her hand. “I’m not saying that this isn’t a good plan, but if it doesn’t work, do you have a back-up plan?”
Eli and Bruce both nod. “Yes, if we feel like the plan fails, then Bruce is taking Jesse on a camping trip far away from here.”
I raise my hand like Martha did. “Ummm…won’t that leave Martha kinda unprotected?”
Jesse looks at Eli. “Shelby is right. If I leave, who will protect her?”
Bruce holds his hand out. “Hold on, there won’t be anything to protect her from. Everyone knows she is engaged to you and her family can keep her safe. I really think she will be just fine.”
“Can’t I stay with her?” I offer.
Eli shakes his head. “Shelby, we have no way of knowing how long we will be here in this time. I think Bruce is right. Robert isn’t going to kidnap her or anything.”
Once more I speak up. “You can’t say that. If he will kill to get Martha, then he will kidnap. You have to remember the very reason he kills Jesse is because she chose him over Robert. Do you really think he won’t try something really underhanded while he is away?”
Jesse now looks worried. “If something happens to me, I need to know that Martha will not end up married to that man. There is only one way that I can think of. Bruce, promise me you will marry her if I die. You are a decent man and I know you will treat her well.”
Martha gasps as she looks at Jesse like he has lost his mind. “No offence, Bruce, but I don’t like being handed over like…like some well-loved pet! I think I should have a say in who I spend the rest of my life with!”
Wrapping his arms around her, Jesse tries to comfort her. “Sweetheart, you are with child. You must marry someone soon or everyone will be talking. I don’t like the idea of you marrying anyone but me, but we have to think of Jackson. He deserves to carry a good name and not be labeled. I doubt that anything will happen to me. Chances are this plan will work and we can wed on Sunday and live happily ever after, but it doesn’t hurt to have a plan in place just in case.” Once more he looks to Bruce, who looks a little shocked himself. I don’t think he has ever given much thought to marriage. “Bruce, I know I’m asking a lot of you. To take on my family and to care for them, but I don’t have anyone else that I trust with them. Please…if I am to die, at least let me die knowing they will be cared for.”
Bruce looks over at Martha, who can’t even look at him. “All right, Jesse, I give you my word that should something happen, your family will never want for anything. I will give both of them my name and I will care for them. If Martha wants the marriage to be in name only, I have no problem with that. I realize she is a good bit younger than me. I would never force anything on her. I swear.” Standing up, Jesse holds out his hand and Bruce clamps it firmly in his own.
CHAPTER 12
The day we chose to “show” Robert his future dawns with heavy overcast skies. Eli and I quickly gather up our stuff, dressing in layers as we put our personal clothing back on under the borrowed clothing. I am pretty sure that I am going to have a nuclear meltdown. It is so flipping hot! “Tell me again why we can’t just stash our clothes somewhere?” I whine as we walk toward the place of Robert’s surprise.
“Because we don’t know where we will be if the tornado snatches us up or if the borrowed clothing will even make the leap back with us. Do you want to show up naked in a field somewhere?”
I stare at him in amazement for a moment. “How in the world do you think of this stuff?”
He shrugs. “I watch a lot of TV. I guess that’s where I get it. I probably saw it in a show I saw once. It makes sense to be prepared just in case.”
I can’t exactly argue his logic, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. It is stupid hot and now with the low-hanging clouds muggy as crap! I can actually feel my hair frizzing on my head. Wiping sweat off my forehead, I duck to avoid a low-hanging branch. “I wish it would either rain or clear off. This is stupid. Just making everything hot and miserable. It’s like trying to breathe through a wet blanket.” I continue to grumble and fuss until we reach the small clearing. I sit down on a fallen log and glare at Eli.
“Why are you mad at me? I don’t control the weather.”
I glare at him. “I don’t know. I guess you are the only one I can take it out on. Don’t you feel lucky?” He doesn’t get a chance to answer my question because Jesse and Martha shimmer into view.
“I hope this weather holds off,” Martha comments. “It looks like it could get really bad.”
Eli smirks at me before speaking. “Well, I think Shelby loves it. Why, she was just saying how she wished it was like this all the time!”
I glower at him. “Eli, you, sir, are a big fat liar!” As if to agree with my statement, a clap of thunder shakes the ground, making me squeal and duck under a nearby tree. A bolt of lightning zigzags across the sky, lighting up the world with an eerie glow for a moment. The really weird part is it makes Jesse and Martha glow as well! They look like space aliens.
“Whoa…that was close,” Eli says. He is huddled under the same tree that I am. I am not sure if being under a tree in a lightning storm is a good idea or not, but I am not moving.
“No joke. How long do we have until we need to get ready for Robert? Maybe two hours?”
Eli nods, looking up at the ever-darkening sky. “If that long, so I hope this blows over pretty fast.” Glancing over at Jesse, he asks if he has a plan for what he will say to Robert.
Grinning ear to ear he nods. “Boo?”
I crack up while Martha smacks his arm. “Jesse! This is serious!”
He hugs her briefly. “Hey, you think I don’t know that? It’s my life on the line here.” Cupping his face in her hands, she looks up at him seriously.
“Jesse, it’s all of us. You, me and Jackson. It’s our lives on the line. Bruce is a nice man and I appreciate his promise to take care of us if the unthinkable happens, but you’re the one I want to take care of us and help me raise our son and whoever else comes along; so please don’t be fooling around tonight.” Pulling her close once more, he whispers something in her ear that I can’t hear then he kisses her. I turn away to give them a moment of privacy.
A few minutes later the rain starts to fall and I don’t mean a little bit! It falls in biblical proportions! Like grab a hammer and build an Ark proportions. “Oh, come on…this isn’t good at all,” I moan as Eli and I huddle under our tree while Jesse and Martha stand there dry as a bone in Casper mode. Never thought I would be envious of the dead but I am at the moment. For thirty minutes or longer it rains so hard we can’t see ten feet beyond our shelter. I’m now totally soaked. I feel the cold rain penetrate all the way through my outer clothes and into my sweater and jeans, making me shiver. Putting his arms around me, Eli tries to keep me warm, but he is as wet and cold as I am.
Jesse walks over to us. “Let me try something.” He wraps his arms around us and instantly we can tell that the rain isn’t falling on us as hard. “Martha, come stand close to them as well.” Once she gets her arms around my shoulders, the rain seems to pass through us. It isn’t any warmer, but at least I am not getting any wetter!
/> Eli grins at Jesse. “Cool ghost trick, Casper.”
Jesse shrugs, “I try.”
We all stand huddled under the tree for a while until the deluge slows down to a sprinkle. Once it has slowed down enough that we can at least see, we know we have to get started. Jesse disappears to go get Robert right before Bruce shows up. Martha and I have the job of transforming him from good-looking, charming Bruce Mitchell to dead, demented, insane, ghoulish Robert Mitchell. An hour later we have done all we can do. I stand back and study our handiwork.
“It’s not just the look; you have to act like him and give off that crazy vibe.”
Staggering toward me, Bruce cocks his head at a weird angle then, dragging his left leg, he fixes his eyes on me in a blank stare. He stops right in front of me. Drool is leaking out of his mouth as he reaches his hand out for me.
“Ewww…yeah, okay, you got the idea! Now stop it.”
The next step is to get everyone positioned. Ghostly Martha and Bruce will wait in the tree line until ghostly Jesse shows up with Robert. Eli and I just get to stand back and watch the whole play and pray that it works. We all take our positions. Eli stands on one side of the small clearing and I wait next to a large cedar tree on the other. The rain has finally stopped and now the air is muggy and steamy. I decide to slip off my wet jeans while I am waiting. I can’t stand wet denim. I quickly lift my skirt and pull, yank, and drag the wet material down my legs. They don’t exactly come off easily when dry; they are a beast when soaking wet. I finally get them off. Then rolling them into a ball, I toss them next to the trunk. Sighing in relief, I poke my head back out to see if anything is happening. Nope…nothing. I wonder how long it will take ghostly Jesse to get Robert here. Hearing some rustling behind me, I turn, expecting to see Eli or maybe even a squirrel. Instead it is Bruce.
“What are you doing over here? You need to be over there with Martha! Jesse will be bringing Robert any second.” As he steps closer, I feel the blood drain from my face. Standing in front of me isn’t Bruce made up to look like dead, demented Robert. It is dead, demented Robert! I open my mouth to scream bloody murder but I never get the chance. Lunging at me, he clamps his nasty hand over my mouth and my world goes black…
The next thing I’m aware of is the rotting putrid smell of dead flesh. Gagging, I roll over, trying not to throw up. Holding my nose, I look around to see where the heck I am. It’s so dark I can’t make out much. I can tell I’m in a cave by feeling of the walls. I’m too scared to move too much. I have no way of knowing if there is a drop- off or something. I sit still for maybe ten minutes before I know I can’t just sit here and wait for whatever Robert may have planned for me. I shouldn’t be surprised that he got sucked up, too. It really just figures. “All right, let’s get out of here,” I whisper to myself. I decide to crawl on my hands and knees so I can feel the ground in front of me. I pull my skirt up, tucking it into the waist band so I can crawl easier. Inch by inch I make my way around the cave. It’s not very large and there is an opening. I have to assume that is the way he brought me in. So, I start crawling toward freedom. Minutes later I’m right back where I started. The opening I have found leads to another small room! How did he get me in here? Was his plan to leave me here to die? Pulling my knees up, I wrap my arms tightly around them. “Okay, Jesse will find you. Don’t freak out…don’t freak out!” I concentrate with all I have on Jesse, screaming his name in my mind. He has to find me! I can’t die down here alone in the dark! Seemingly hours later, I hear a scraping sound from above me. A faint beam of light illuminates my surroundings. Blinking, I hold my hand over my eyes as I look up at the small opening about nine feet above my head.
Gross dead Robert leans over the hole. “I do hope you are enjoying your accommodations? I searched for quite a while to find the perfect room for you.”
I glare up at the face that I had hoped with all my heart to never see again. “You know Jesse will find me. I don’t know what your plan is, but it won’t happen. I promise you that!”
Sneering down at me, he laughs. “I really don’t think you are in any position to be promising me anything, dear girl. Besides, if Jesse could find you, don’t you think he would have gotten you out already? No, I think you know that your life, or what’s left of it, is in my hands. He starts to cackle once more as he slides the rock back over the hole. “Jesse!” I scream as loud as I can even after the hole is sealed up once more. I scream and scream until I’m hoarse. Falling to my knees, I start to pray.
I wake up with my stomach burning from hunger. My lips are cracking and I can feel my tongue swelling from lack of water. I have no idea how long I have been down here. It feels like days but surely that isn’t right. I get up feeling my head spin slightly. Once more I walk around my small prison. Slamming my foot into a large rock, I fall flat on my face. Rolling over, I lie there debating if dying would be easier than trying to survive. I wonder if I would become a ghost like Jesse and Martha. They seem to be okay. I could vanish and poof here and there. It had its perks. But on the other hand, what if I didn’t become a ghost like Jesse and Martha? What if I become like Robert?
“Oh, hell, no! Not gonna happen! Get up, Shelby Scott!” I roll to my knees, placing my hands on the same rock that I tripped over. Wait…there is a rock. There is a rock! I pat the rock, trying to find out the size and shape. It’s big, but not so big that I can’t move it. Of course, I have no way of knowing just how heavy the rock covering the hole is, but I figure if a dead decaying skanky ghost can move it, a relatively healthy ticked off teenage girl can. Plus, you have to figure in motivation. The desire not to die in this hole is some pretty major motivation. Shoving hard against the rock, I feel it start to slide on the dirt floor. Inch by inch, I move it until it’s directly under the hole. I rest for just a minute before I look for more rocks. I find five more, but two are too large for me to move. I finally get the last rock stacked into position. Now for the really risky part, to climb up them without falling and breaking my neck! I step up onto the first rock, holding on to the wall for balance. Then carefully I step up onto the second rock then the third. I take a deep breath and step up on the last rock. Yes! I’m at the top and can easily reach the only thing that is between me and freedom! I give the rock a push, testing its weight. It doesn’t budge. I shake out my arms, rolling my shoulders, then I shove with all might against it. It scoots just a little bit! Okay, keep pushing! I work at the rock until I have about a six-inch gap, just enough to stick my arm up through. I start screaming my head off, waving my arm like a crazy person. Minutes later I hear heavy thuds then a pair of large nostrils shove their way into my gap sniffing and snorting. “Mabel! Oh, my gosh, Mabel! Go get help! Go find Eddie!”
“I’m right here…who is that?” Mabel’s nose is replaced by Eddie’s concerned face. “Why, Miss Cher! What in the world are you doing down in that hole?” He leans against the rock, scooting it over enough that I can climb out. I lie sprawled out on the grass, so grateful to be out of that hole.
Eddie kneels down beside me. “Miss Cher? No offence, but you look bad…real bad.”
I would laugh but I’m sure he is right. “Water? Do you have water?” I rasp.
“Oh! Sure, hang on!” He disappears then returns holding a canteen. He helps me to sit up; then I grab the canteen, holding it up, chugging down the water in huge swallows. “Careful… you gonna make yourself sick,” he cautions.
I pant, trying to catch my breath before turning the canteen up again. I finally hand it back to Eddie, not because I am satisfied but because it is empty. I don’t think I will ever be satisfied again.
“Miss Cher, why was you in that hole?”
I shake my head. “I was put in there by a bad person, Eddie.” I can’t very well tell him the true truth. He might shove me back in there! “Hey, I need a favor. Can you give me a ride to Jesse Barrows’ place? Please?”
“Sure thing! Here, let me help you up on old Mabel.” With Eddie’s help I manage to get to my fee
t. I hold on to Mabel’s mane for just a minute as I wait for the world to stop spinning.
“Are you okay?” Eddie asks with a concerned look.
I try to smile, but I don’t think I quite make it. “I’m just tired and really stupid hungry.” He seems satisfied with my answer. Cupping his hand, he boosts me high up onto Mabel’s broad warm back. Then he takes up the reins and starts leading her toward Jesse’s. We haven’t gone more than fifty feet when he asks where Eli is. I say that I am not exactly sure but that I hope he is with Jesse. “Jesse is gonna marry Martha. She is real pretty,” he comments.
I just nod in agreement with Eddie’s comment. I am not exactly surprised to hear of another male that is smitten with that girl. “My uncle Robert was supposed to marry her. But I reckon he isn’t now.”
That brings my head up in interest. “Did you say that Robert was supposed to marry Martha? Why is that? There is a pretty big age difference.”
Eddie shrugs his shoulders as he continues to lead Mabel. “I think it had something to do with an agreement with Robert’s kinfolks and Martha’s from a long time ago. It’s a pretty wild story actually.”
I reach down and grab his shoulder. “I would love to hear it.”
“Well, I’m not saying that I believe any of this, but this is how the story goes. A real long time ago the Mitchells and Martha’s daddy’s kin were fighting over land. The very land that the Mitchells live on today. They say that the Mitchells stole it from the Spencers. Now this is where things get real strange. According to legend, one of the sisters on the Spencer’s side dabbled in witchcraft. She put a curse on the Mitchell land that could only be broken through the birth of a Spencer-Mitchell child. That’s supposedly why Robert and Martha were supposed to be married, to break the curse.”
