Reign of Silence

by Tony Martin

  “Wait. Joshua,” said Precious, as the group, huddled, inched its way into the library. “Joshua, pray. Pray for our protection.”

  Joshua was completely unnerved. He had no idea how to pray. Rather than try to compose just the right words, he elected – rightfully – just to open his mouth and see what came out.

  “Almighty God,” he began, squeezing his eyes shut, “we acknowledge Your absolute power and sovereignty over all. We realize that You are the author of our lives, the creator of all that exists. Now, we ask, in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, that you protect us from the Evil One, who seems to hold sway in this place. We beg you --” and then he stopped, hearing a whimper from Meredith.

  Joshua opened his eyes just in time to see the great hall sink into darkness. Bulbs in the overhead chandelier exploded like firecrackers, sending tiny shards of glass flying. From beneath the floor itself, he could feel a vibration, low, pulsing, as though a subterranean dynamo was coming to life.

  “We beg you, our God, to grant us…” Joshua said, as Jimmy tried to herd the group to the front door. But his voice trailed away.

  In the center of the room, steps away from the shattered group, appeared two luminous pale blue spheres, each encased in a faint swirling mist. As they watched, their emotions shattered, each globe elongated, stretching vertically into a rough cylindrical shape, hovering inches from the floor

  “God,” said Jimmy, his girls cowering at his side.

  And as they watched, feeling as though waves of primeval wickedness were emanating from these spectral lights, the illuminated forms pulsed as though alive. They hovered in place, then began drifting toward the huddled group.

  “Jesus, we -” Joshua began, but his voice left him. His mouth hung open in disbelief.

  The vaporous lights seemed to pause, as if waiting. One of the shapes glided toward Meredith, who was rooted to the spot. The light expanded, filling the air before her.

  Meredith dropped to her knees, then fell sideways, hitting the hardwood floor. The apparition hovered above her. Her back arched as the blue glow enveloped her.

  Heedlessly, Joshua rushed to Meredith, clinching her in a violent hug. Her body was twitching, and he heard a phlegmatic rattle in her throat. The air around her was frigid and smelled of electricity.

  “In the name of God, go away!” he cried.

  As Joshua spoke, the house seemed to lurch on its foundation. The subsonic rumble peaked. Someone cried out as a concussion, like an airborne sonic wave, reverberated in the great hall. The two glowing spheres vanished. Meredith stiffened in his arms, wailed piteously, and went limp. Silence.

  “Flashlights,” ordered Precious.

  Three flashlights sprang to life. Meredith stirred, opened her eyes, and looked at Joshua in the flickering beams.

  “I’m all right,” she said, winded. “We need to leave.”

  Nothing else was said. The group rushed from the house, Meredith supported between Joshua and Jimmy.

  “I’m going to take her to the ER,” said Jimmy.

  “No, you’re not,” said Meredith, still sounding as though she were struggling to breathe.

  “Young lady, I’m not giving you a vote. Final word,” said Jimmy.

  Jimmy carefully situated Meredith in the front seat and buckled her in. Lydia and Christine climbed in the back.

  “Joshua,” Jimmy said, “I’ll give you a call on your cell phone as soon as we get Meredith taken care of.”

  “I’m not far behind you,” said Joshua. He and Bethany, Precious, and Al boarded Precious’ SUV and within moments fell behind Jimmy, speeding into the night. Joshua looked back at the Dubose mansion, random lights at several windows, and wondered how he should pray.

  Gretchen Stewart awoke, dimly noting on her bedside clock that it was 3 a.m. Irritated, she rolled over, intending to go back to sleep.

  Startled, she felt her bedcovers being pulled back. She looked up. “Franklin?” she said, unbelieving.

  Her husband Franklin had been dead for four years. Yet, there he was, wearing coveralls, and standing over her, his face split by a sardonic smile.

  She shrieked in terror, and Franklin dissolved before her eyes.

  Katie McRae hadn’t slept well all night. She squirmed, annoyed the sheets were hot and bunched under her. She wondered what was happening with Al and if, indeed, he was safe.

  She heard a faint tapping at the bedroom door. Katie always kept the door locked when Al was away for the night. She knew she hadn’t heard a car, or the front door unlocking.

  Katie turned on her bedside lamp. “Al?” she said hesitantly.

  The tapping stopped momentarily, and then began again. Terror seemed to flow from the door in a torrent.

  Barely daring to breathe, Katie lay motionless while the tapping continued, shifting its rhythm and volume. The sound lasted for perhaps five more minutes before it stopped.

  Katie lay there, shivering, praying that Al would be home soon. She couldn’t bring herself to look outside the door.

  Joel and Michelle Battaglia awoke to see their son, Peter, standing by their bed, trembling.

  “Honey, what’s wrong?” asked Michelle. “Are you and Mark OK?”

  “There’s a little white dog in my room,” said Peter. “He’s sitting on the edge of the bed by Mark.”

  “You were just dreaming, sport,” said Joel.

  “No, Dad. Come see.”

  Joel and Michelle climbed out of bed and tiptoed to Peter’s room. They peeked in. Michelle couldn’t suppress her scream.

  A small white dog, emaciated, ribs protruding, was sitting beside Mark Tracy’s head. The dog looked at them. It had human eyes.

  At Michelle’s scream, the dog vanished, leaving a rapidly fading blue glow.

  One thing about hospital stays, thought Carlisle Banks, is that the medical staff seemed to go out of their way to keep you from getting needed rest. For the last two nights, a nurse had awakened him every two hours to check his vital signs.

  He’d been sleeping so well, and here she was again. Carlisle felt her hand on his shoulder.

  “OK, OK,” he said, extending his arm so that the nurse could take his blood pressure.

  Carlisle opened his eyes. He still felt the hand on his shoulder.

  No one was there.

  Bud Michaels awoke suddenly to the sound of his black Labrador retriever barking and howling. Peewee never barks except at strangers, he thought. Bud threw the covers back and peeked through his bedroom blinds.

  He staggered back, away from the window. Outside his window, inches from the pane, Bud saw a shadowy gray human form, features indistinguishable except for two disembodied yellow eyes.

  The dog continued howling.

  The next day, many members of Calvary Church would recall sleeping fitfully the night before, having dealt with troubling dreams, at the least … and many experienced events far worse. Most never told anyone what they had seen and heard.

  But for those who did talk, and found those who’d had similar experiences, one odd circumstance linked their stories. The occurrences, whatever they were, seemed to happen simultaneously at about 3 a.m.

  “Don’t get us killed,” said Joshua to Precious.

  “I’m just trying to keep up with Jimmy,” said Precious grimly.

  No one spoke for several minutes. Each seemed immersed in thinking through the horrific events of the evening.

  Finally Bethany spoke. “Just another day at the office, huh, Precious?”

  Precious laughed bitterly. “Hardly. I’ve just tossed my operations manual. I’ve never seen – or heard – of anything like this. Ever.”

  “Now what?” asked Joshua. “We can’t go back there.”

  “We’ll have to, at some point,” said Precious. “For one thing, I’ve got thousands of dollars worth of equipment scattered all over the house. Jimmy said he‘d go back with me. And, I want to search the attic again. I’m grasping at straws here, but I’m convinced the entities we’r
e dealing with are Jacob Dubose and his daughter, Margaret. If we could find out some whys, then maybe the situation can be dealt with.”

  “I’m not going through that hell again,” said Al. “I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.”

  “You won’t have to go back,” said Joshua.

  “And, Joshua,” said Precious, “as soon as we get to mid-morning, you need to make a phone call.”

  “To who?”

  “I want you to call Thomas Peterson. I’m out of my league here. I want him to help us.” Precious paused and wiped sweat from his forehead. “I think that – at least, in this case – he may be right. This is no mere haunting.”

  Meredith was in an examining room when Joshua and Bethany arrived. Precious had taken them to get their car at the Tracys, and he and Al had gone home.

  “We look bad,” said Bethany, taking a seat beside Lydia.

  “I can’t look as bad as I feel,” said Christine, hollow-eyed, hair disheveled.

  “What have you heard?” asked Joshua.

  “Not much, so far,” said Jimmy. “Her vital signs were perfect, but they’re running an EKG, blood gases, things like that. They’re aware of her heart condition. So, we wait from a report from the doc.”

  “What did you tell them happened?”

  “Not much,” said Jimmy, scowling. “I just said she was spending the night with us and that she passed out. That’s not the complete truth, but what was I supposed to say?”

  “I think that’s fine,” said Joshua. “If we say too much, they’d cart us all off to the psych ward.”

  “That may be where we all belong,” said Bethany.

  The group exchanged feeble smiles. In minutes, Christine was asleep, her head on her mother’s shoulder.

  “Joshua,” said Jimmy finally, “I don’t think Meredith can go back to her house, at least not anytime soon.”

  “Agreed.”

  “But I think you, Precious, and I need to go back. We need to help Precious get his things – he doesn’t need to go over there by himself. Maybe we need to sow the ground with salt, or nail copies of the Lord’s Prayer up in all the rooms. Maybe we just need to burn the house down – it’s insured.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “I’m kidding about the burning down part,” said Jimmy. “But, God help me, I’m persuaded that the house holds evil incarnate. I can’t deny what I’ve experienced, and we’ve gone way too far for this to be anything as mundane as group hysteria. A hoax? Impossible.”

  “I don’t want you back over there,” said Lydia.

  “We’ll go in the middle of the day,” said Jimmy. “We’ll stay together.”

  “These wicked things haven’t tended to respect the time of day,” said Joshua.

  “Doesn’t matter, Josh,” said Jimmy. “Don’t you see? If we don’t confront, they – it – he wins. Is God God, or not?”

  Joshua looked steadily at Jimmy, then let his head fall back in exhaustion. “God is God,” Joshua said. “You’re right. I just need to remind myself who’s in charge here – and it’s not us.”

  Jimmy nodded. “Josh, you’re the best man to ever serve our church,” he said. “You’ve got passion and drive. You’re good with people. And your sermons aren’t too long.” Bethany snickered.

  “So,” Jimmy continued, “we are going to face this horror, and God will use us.”

  “That sounds real inspirational, Jimmy,” said Lydia, “but I’m still scared.”

  “God’s not the author of fear,” said Joshua. “At least, my head understands that. But I’m scared witless, too.”

  “And that’s OK,” said Jimmy. “Doesn’t God work in the midst of our weaknesses?”

  “That’s what it says,” said Joshua, taken aback by Jimmy’s fervor.

  “That’s enough for me,” Jimmy said, and fell silent.

  Some time later, Dr. Suggs, the physician on call, emerged, asking for Jimmy. Jimmy, who’d been dozing, stood and shook Suggs’ hand.

  “Jimmy, how are you?” Suggs asked.

  “Not too bad. It’s been a long night, George.”

  Everyone else had roused themselves. “How’s Meredith?” asked Christine.

  “Meredith is not in any danger,” Suggs said. “I want a cardiologist to check her in the morning, and I want to keep her at least through the end of the day for observation. I don’t have access to her records, but she did tell me about her arrhythmia. Her EKG was nominal, within the expected parameters of her condition – in other words, she’s no worse. I have her on oxygen, and she has an IV, but those steps are purely precautionary. And, I’ve given her a mild sedative – she’s exhausted, but strung out. What did you say happened?”

  “We’d been up late, just cutting up,” said Christine, “and she fainted dead away. It scared me, so we brought her over here.”

  “Wise of you,” said Suggs. “You can go see her now, but she may be groggy.”

  As Suggs left, Lydia whispered to Christine, “What a cool liar you are, my dear.”

  “I told the truth,” Christine said. “I just didn’t go into details.” She smiled wanly.

  They found Meredith reclined in bed, her blonde hair spread out like a sunburst. “I guess I get to stick around a while,” said Meredith, her words slurred. “They’re moving me to a room.”

  “You need to do what they say,” said Jimmy. “We’ll check in on you in a little while.”

  “That’s good,” said Meredith, struggling to keep her eyes open.

  “Tell you what,” said Christine. “This is my short day at school. I’ve just got two classes, and I’ll be back over here about ten. How’s that sound?”

  “Fine. Yeah.” Meredith was fading fast. Then, she opened her eyes. “Josh,” she said, “would you pray for me?” She lifted her hand.

  Joshua took it. Christine took her other hand, and the rest of the group completed a circle.

  Joshua took a moment to compose himself, and then said, “Again, Lord, we ask You to take care of Meredith in a way only You can. Keep her strong and steadfast. Give her some much-needed rest, and protect her from evil. We pray, Father, that You, out of Your strength and power, might rid Meredith and her home from the influence of wickedness. And, give us all a special measure of wisdom. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.”

  The group responded with “amen” and dropped their hands. Meredith looked frailer than ever, but she managed a smile.

  “Y’all don’t worry about me,” she said. “I’ll be fine. But Joshua … I’m depending on you to beg God to do something about my house.”

  “You can count on it,” Joshua said, wondering what he might do next.

  Meredith closed her eyes, her breathing shallow. “Gonna get a little sleep,” she said thickly, barely able to finish the sentence. In moments, her breath grew uniform, deeper.

  Christine had already teared up. “Let’s go home for a little while,” she told her parents, wiping her eyes. The group returned to the waiting room.

  “Josh,” said Jimmy, “I think we all need to get some sleep. But by this afternoon, you, Precious, and I need to go back to the Dubose place and get Precious’ things. We need to be thinking about what to do next, because this thing is not over.”

  “I know,” said Joshua. “But I’m at a point of total shutdown. I’m going to try to get a couple hours sleep and go to the church. I’ll talk to Precious again, after he’s had some time to rest, and we’ll move on to the next step.”

  “Which is?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Chapter Nineteen – Damage Control

  Katie met Al and Precious as they arrived. She was sitting at the kitchen table, clutching an empty coffee mug in a white-knuckled hand. Her Bible was open before her.

  “Katie,” said Al, “why are you awake?”

  “I need to tell you what happened earlier.” She told Al and Precious of the tapping on her bedroom door, the horror she felt. “I finally had to go look to see what was there. N
othing. And I’ve been waiting up for you ever since, trying to read and pray.”

  “It’s not restricted to the Dubose home anymore,” said Precious, his face taut with fear.

  Joshua and Bethany tumbled into bed. They spoke little. “I’ve got to try for a couple of hours of sleep,” Joshua said, “and then I’m going on into work. I’ve got to call Dr. Peterson, and I need to prepare for prayer meeting tonight.”

  “Good luck,” said Bethany. “You’ll do well if you can connect two coherent thoughts.”

  They both lapsed into fitful sleep.

  Meredith woke soon after sunrise. Medical personnel had been bustling in and out of her room all night, but she was too exhausted to respond to their presence. She realized that she was still plastered with chest leads, and that a portable telemetry device was at her bedside. Guess they want to keep watch on my ticker, she thought.

  Her breakfast tray arrived a bit later, and she nibbled on some bacon and poked at the cold grits. “Yecch,” she said, and pushed the tray to one side.

  Meredith, already bored, opened the top drawer of her nightstand, hoping to find something to read. There was a stack of hospital pamphlets, an ancient People magazine, and a Gideon Bible.

  She took the Bible and opened the front cover. Someone had taken a red pen and wrote, “Steps to peace with God” on the flyleaf, along with a page number.

  Like a scavenger hunt, thought Meredith, and turned to the page referenced. She saw a verse had been highlighted, and beside it, another page number.

  Meredith read, and turned to the next passage.

  Joshua trudged into Gretchen’s office. Gretchen met him with a weary “Hi, Preacher.”

  “Morning, Gretchen. Looks like you didn’t sleep any better than I did,” said Joshua.

  “I didn’t,” said Gretchen. She looked as though she wanted to say something, then, with a little sob, said, “Josh, I need to talk to you before you get too far into your day.”

  “How about right now?” asked Joshua. He felt an ominous chill – something in Gretchen’s tone alarmed him.