Fallen Stones

by Thomas M. Malafarina

  H. Mason Armstrong was a skilled manipulator and was equally proficient at hiding his treachery, which currently lurked just below the surface of his amiable facade. Neither Stephanie nor even the normally suspicious Jason had been able to see the truth. However, young Sammy had seen it. The young boy with his special intuition had sensed something was not right with the lawyer. But he was much too young to know what it was, or to explain it in words even if he were able to understand. He simply knew there was something about the man he didn't like.

  As they continued to walk around and study the room, they suddenly heard a frantic cry coming from outside. It was Jeremy shouting. "Mom! Dad! Come out here. Hurry!"

  Reacting with the urgency born of parenthood, the couple raced immediately from the spa. Stephanie looked instinctively in the direction of the meadow while Jason looked back toward the swimming pool. They were expecting to find one of the kids injured or worse as parents always do, but were both surprised to see the three children standing in front of a cluster of low bushes along a wooded area near the back of the property hand in hand, their backs to the couple, resembling three cutout dolls of decreasing size joined in a line.

  By the time Jason and Stephanie reached their children, they were both out of breath. Being an overweight and dangerously out of shape man, Armstrong had chosen to stay behind and was standing on the walkway outside of the spa. He shielded his eyes from the sun to try to see what was going on in the distance, not wanting to risk a heart attack by racing over to the scene. He had considered walking over to meet the group but decided instead to stay right where he was. Better safe than sorry.

  The three kids were still standing holding each other's hands tightly and staring out into a small area of underbrush just outside of the woods. None of them appeared to be injured or in any danger. Jeremy and Cindy stood staring as if transfixed, a mixture of fear and disgust visible on their faces. Sammy however wore a completely different expression than the other two children. Although he too was staring into space, he did not look frightened or upset, he looked contented and at peace. It was as if he were seeing something completely different than his brother and sister were seeing.

  Jason looked at Sammy and saw the boy's slightly smiling lips moving slowly. Although he could not hear what, if anything the boy might be saying, he could almost read the child's small lips. Sammy seemed to be repeating something over and over; a word that started with the letter "b". Jason knew Sammy's young vocabulary was very limited so he began to mentally race through a list of b-words he recalled which Sammy knew. He immediately recalled, "big", "boy", "bad" and a few others but was not sure which he might be saying. Regardless, Jason could not comprehend why Sammy looked so happy while Jeremy and Cindy looked so horrified.

  "Jeremy! What's wrong?" Stephanie demanded, breaking Jason's concentration. He suddenly realized with a start, he had temporarily been in a bit of a trance himself trying to understand what was going on with his youngest son. It was not how Jason should have reacted in such a situation. He was usually great in emergencies, but this time he had dropped the ball. "Ball?" he thought for a moment, "Was Sammy saying 'ball'?" Jason was thankful Stephanie was too preoccupied with the kids to notice his faux pas, or he might have found himself in hot water with his normally understanding wife.

  Stephanie scolded, "We said to call us if you had trouble. You don't look like you are in trouble so why in the world did you call us?"

  The boy just lifted his trembling free hand still holding Sammy's with the other, and shakily pointed toward the woods not taking his eyes off the grassy area. "There's something horrible... out there, Dad... It's ugly and all bones like a skeleton... And there's flies... like... millions of flies around it." Cindy just stood stock-still holding Sammy's other hand, her eyes pleading for Jason to do something to relieve their fears. Sammy remained smiling, wearing his beatific expression, his lips repeating the unknown b-word. "Bones?" Jason wondered silently. "Could Sammy be saying bones? Did he know the word bones? And if so, why the hell would he look so happy?"

  Putting the thought aside, Jason climbed up into the tall grassy area and pushed aside some of the bushes, not certain what he might find hiding behind them.

  Chapter 14

  As Jason made his way into the grassy area, he feared he might find some sick or injured woodland creature such as a rabid possum, frothing and snarling in the underbrush, mad with disease, just waiting to bite him and infect him with its dreaded malady. This thought slowed him down somewhat; making him more careful than he originally had planned and apparently slower than Stephanie had wanted him to be.

  "What do you see?" she called impatiently, wondering how it might be that the kids had been able to see whatever it was from where they stood, yet Jason had to move aside tall grass to try to find it. Then she realized from the children's low vantage point they were likely to be able to see beneath the same clumps of tall grass, which blocked Jason's view and forced him to move them aside.

  "Just give me a second!" Jason said with apparent growing frustration. He knew he was being overly cautious and perhaps a bit short with Stephanie, but he couldn't get the mental picture of the salivating rabid creature from his mind.

  Much to his relief, what he found was not some wild infected beast of the forest, but was instead the skeletal remains of what was once a deer, perhaps only a young fawn. The carcass was no bigger than that of a large dog, and for a moment, Jason thought it might actually be a dog. But when he saw its cloven hooves and the white spots present on what little fur remained on its decaying form, he confirmed it was a fawn. The poor creature had been practically picked clean by scavengers and what little remained was rapidly being transformed into a maggot condominium by thousands of flies eager to find a nesting place for their offspring.

  The stink from the rotting animal was appalling. And the continuous buzzing sounds from the swarm of insects surrounding the remains were hypnotic, so much so that Jason found himself involuntarily losing touch with reality. Within the space of less than a few seconds while Stephanie waited to see what Jason had found, something unimaginable happened to him.

  It was like he was mentally transported to another plane of existence, where reality seemed move at a rate thousands of time faster than in his own world. He was aware of Stephanie and the kids standing still, unmoving as if frozen in place. He could see the hundreds of flies hanging virtually motionless in the air about him. He felt as if he were suddenly encapsulated inside of some sort of bubble in some inconceivable reality. While mere seconds passed in the real world, minutes seemed to crawl by in this place while hundreds of thoughts simultaneously raced through Jason's mind.

  The carcass of the dead deer appeared to be staring up directly at Jason through its blackened hollow eye sockets, the tasty morsels long gone, obviously the meal of some woodland creature. The source of their loss was irrelevant. What mattered was they were gone. Staring back into the hideous empty openings, Jason thought, "The eyes; why do they always take the eyes first?" He became shocked and revolted as he surprisingly found himself thinking, "I wonder what the eyeballs might taste like? Would they taste salty like olives? Or are they sweet like cherries?" The incomprehensible thought was so unexpected and so repellent it made his stomach turn with repugnance.

  He then suddenly began to feel like the world around him was spinning and he sensed an uncomfortable tightening in his chest. He feared he might pass out and drop face first into the putrid carnage, or maybe he would simply drop dead on the spot. He was reminded of something his boss, Walt Wilson, had once said to him about when death came to call. "Jason, my boy," Walt told him, "death always has its own timetable. It comes whenever it is good and ready and there is nothing you, I or anyone could do to stop it." For the briefest of moments, Jason actually thought death might have come for him and was mocking him though the hollowed out eye sockets of the decomposing fawn. Perhaps death had put this creature in the woods simply to lure him into the bushes where the
grim reaper waited patiently with its icy fingers to claim him for one of its own.

  Then he thought about the death of Stephanie's unknown Uncle Emerson. Jason recalled how Stephanie was often fond of saying "Everything happens for a reason." He wondered if that was true after all. His once logical mind, the mind of an engineer appeared to not function in the same manner in this strange place of convoluted thoughts. Jason tried to piece together the complex ideas he was having regarding Stephanie's proclamation that "Everything happens for a reason." He understood her uncle had died, and now because Washburn had died, Jason and Stephanie had the opportunity to live in luxury. He wondered if Washburn's death was not just something that had happened by chance, but perhaps the man had died specifically so they would get the property. It was like the chicken and the egg; which came first? Did they get the property because Washburn died or did he die so they could get the property? Did death set in motion a series of events, simply to get Jason to this particular spot and this particular place in time in order to take him?

  If Jason did suddenly die right there and then, Stephanie would still have everything she could ever want in life, that is, except for her husband. What would possibly be the logic or reason for that? It made no sense, but life didn't always make sense, he understood. To Jason it seemed such an occurrence would be based less on logic and would be more like a sick twist of fate. Maybe that was how life and death worked. Maybe it all made sense to the grim reaper or to the universe, but perhaps it was not meant to be understood by a mere mortal man.

  He recalled a line from his Sunday school days as a young boy, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away". Maybe that was what was happening right now. But maybe in this case, it was "Death giveth and Death taketh away". Within one day, he had learned how a death had brought them riches, and now his own death might very possibly take it all away, at least from him.

  Yesterday, after losing his job, he had no idea what he was going to do to make ends meet financially. Now their lives were as close to perfect as he could have ever imagined. "Everything happens for a reason," he heard his wife say in his mind once again. Then in the warped logic of the strange environment he thought, "The fawn died and now other creatures of nature can live. And Washburn died so we can live in comfort. Which came first the chicken or the egg? Now am I supposed to die so Stephanie and the kids can live?" It was all so perplexing and overwhelming. It made no sense, yet simultaneously it made complete sense. Jason was trying to think logically in a place of complete illogic. It was like trying to communicate sensibly with Lewis Carrol's Mad Hatter.

  Jason suddenly recalled one of the hatter's insane statements from the book he had read as a child or perhaps it was from the movie he had seen on television. He didn't know why he remembered the quote at all not to mention why he thought of it at this most untimely moment. The hatter had said, "You're not the same as you were before. You were much more..."muchier". What did this childhood memory have to do with him and his current situation? He didn't understand, but still he couldn't get that single thought out of his mind. Was it true and he was not the same as he was before? Would he ever be the same as he was before? Could he, Stephanie or the kids ever be the same? Were they all much more...muchier?

  Then he wondered if the dead fawn had sensed it was sick and perhaps knew it was dying. Did it perceive the end was near and as such leave the herd to eventually collapse and die? Maybe the herd sensed there was something wrong with the fawn and drove it away to die for the greater good of the herd. He supposed such things happened all the time in nature.

  Or was it all much more simple than that (much less muchier)? Had Death just chosen to take a perfectly healthy creature and strike it down in the prime of life in order to lure Jason into the tall grass? But surely Death didn't lure anyone anywhere to take their lives or steal their souls. Death just happened, whenever and wherever it happened, and as Walt had said there was nothing any of us could do about it.

  Then, his train of thought shifted gears once again. He contemplated about how little he knew about Emerson Washburn; how the man had lived, how he had died or for that matter, or what had happened to his body after his death. Had he been buried? Had he been cremated? For the briefest of moments, Jason had an image of a body, Washburn's dead rotting body lying in a field similar to the one where he now stood, perhaps the very spot where he now stood, staring up at him through blackened hollow eye sockets as nature's underground creatures slowly stripped the flesh from the dead man's remains and feasted on the salty or sweet tasting eyeballs. "The eyes, they always take the eyes first," he thought once again.

  Jason stared at the remnants of the fawn with its skeletal ribs jutting from fur and flesh, most of which was gone. Ants and other bugs were stopped in their tracks where they had formerly been busy cleaning what residual skin there was off the bones as well. Through his mental haze Jason could see a pinkish collection of organs inside the torso of the creature. He wondered why those particular organs were still there. Weren't they tasty like the eyes? He would have suspected they too might have been the first to go. But maybe they didn't taste as salty or perhaps as sweet as the eyes did.

  Or perhaps it was that the particular creatures, which were fond of those morsels, had not yet found the remains. Jason noted he had not seen any turkey vultures circling above. He knew those birds loved to feast on innards. He had seen two of them once in a tug-of-war over some poor creature’s intestines. Perhaps the vultures would arrive later to dine on those fine specimens.

  The stench of death and decay was thick and soupy in the air around the skeleton. Just when he thought he could take no more, Jason felt the fog, which had enshrouded his mind begin to lift and he sensed as if time was once again returning to normal. Through the renewed buzzing of insects he heard Stephanie call to him.

  "Jason? Honey, are you alright?" Stephanie said to her husband who had been staring down into the grass for several seconds as if in a dream.

  Jason had no understanding of what had just happened to him and no recollection of the many strange thoughts, which had passed through his mind. But he did actually feel as if he had physically gone somewhere else for a time, although he knew that was impossible. It seemed to Jason as if several hours had passed; but he suddenly realized only a few precious seconds and gone by. Slowly coming back to reality, he turned and looked over his shoulders and said to his wife, "Yeah....um yes...yes... I'm fine. This is just a bit upsetting, that's all."

  He noticed Sammy was still staring off into the distance and wearing that strange smile. Jason wanted to have the boy taken as far away from this area as possible. He said with great effort, "Honey...why...why don't you...take the kids to the house... I'll be there in a minute or so."

  "What is it?" she asked with noticeable concern. "What's back there, Jason?"

  "Nothing... nothing really..." He said, "Just a small deer...a fawn I think...looks like it’s been lying here...dead...for quite a while I suspect...not too much left of it." He was making a somewhat disgusted face. "Just take them back by the house... and we'll talk about it later... I'll be right there... I just want to look around here a bit first...just give me a minute."

  Jason didn't turn again to look at his family because he suspected if he did he would see Jeremy and Cindy still wearing their looks of horror and revulsion, while Sammy smiled and stared off into space repeating that mysterious and illusive b-word.

  Stephanie could see Jason was apparently upset by what he had found, and she assumed he needed the minute to regain his composure. Jason liked animals and probably felt bad about the dead fawn. He also likely didn't like the idea of being so close to its decaying remains. She bent down and picked up Sammy and took Cindy's hand leading them both back toward the barn. Jeremy stood for a moment looking at Jason as if unsure of what he should do.

  Jason sensed his son behind him and said, his back still turned away from the boy, "Go ahead, Jeremy... Go on back with them too... I need you to take care of you
r sister and brother... Then I promise I'll be right there... OK?"

  The boy hesitated for a moment, not wanting to leave his father with the horrible dead thing. He also didn't like the strange look in his father's eyes. Something was wrong with his dad, but Jeremy didn't know what it might be. Nevertheless, he obediently turned and followed behind his stepmother and siblings. His father had just given him the task of watching over his family and that was a very important job indeed, which made him feel good and made him feel very important. It was a real grown-up type of job. So, he did what his dad asked him to do. Yet, as he walked away, he ventured a look back at this father, still uncomfortable with the strange way his father stared down into the grass.

  Jason was looking at the rotting carcass realizing an important aspect of their new rural lifestyle; and that was dealing with nature on a daily basis, up close and personal. He had been accustomed to either living in a town or in a subdivision where the roads were always plowed by the township and his electricity, natural gas, water, phone and other such services were all provided for him by utility companies.

  He turned slightly and looked out across the property, their property, and saw nothing but meadows, fields and woods for as far as he could see.

  "Oh my Lord," he said aloud. "What have we gotten ourselves into? This place is huge!" He was starting to doubt if he could take care of such a place.

  Jason was an engineer and liked things to be neat, orderly and in their proper place.

  But nature was never neat and orderly; nature was often the antithesis of order and the epitome of chaos. Nature was not analytical, tame and structured; nature was wild, chaotic and free.

  He thought of how the forces nature didn't particularly care if the dead fawn was rotting in the back part of the property; in fact, the corpse was obviously serving the very needs of nature by feeding many of nature's lesser creatures. But to Jason, the decaying mass was a blight scarring his land, a disease-spreading pestilence to be dealt with and removed from their land as soon as possible.