by Alexie Aaron
“William Blackwell, Morris Steele, Alfred Brentwood, William Davidson, Alexander Sprigs, Robert Winfield, David Munroe Esquire, Abraham Whitney.” Whit paused and looked over the last deed. “I may just be related to Abraham, funny that.”
“I bet if you did a title search, you may find out that your mother may still own the burnt-out lot,” Mia voiced.
“Not that I’d want it. Hey. Sprigs. That’s familiar, isn’t it?”
“Alexander Sprigs, I wonder if he was a father or husband of Daisy?”
Whit sat down next to Mia. “Let’s draw a map and fill in where we think these houses may have been.”
“How do we do that?”
“They have property descriptions using the church as a constant. For example, the Sprigs property was adjacent to the church. Give me a pencil and paper, and I’ll work on it.”
Mia handed over the supplies and reached for the next stack of papers.
~
Burt had grabbed a stack of towels and headed out the front door to be met by a dripping wet Mike.
“Thanks, bro,” he said, grabbing one.
“What happened to you?”
“Fell in a well.” Mike looked at the stack of towels, puzzled.
“Beth threw a bucket of water on Amber,” he explained.
“Why?”
“She was possessed.”
“Water worked?” Mike asked, rubbing his hair dry.
“Seems to,” Burt said. “Caught it on tape.”
“That’s freaking awesome!”
“Fell in a well, huh,” Burt continued the conversation as they walked to the van.
“You know that whole thing about you scouting things out first?”
“Yeah.”
“Good idea. I stepped off the ladder and fell through a rotted well cover.”
“Funny place for a well,” Burt commented as he handed up the stack of towels to Amber.
“I thought so,” Mike agreed. “Hey, Amber, how’d it feel?”
“What?”
“Being possessed. I think you’re our first.” Mike looked at Burt and he nodded.
“Don’t remember. Look, I’m on camera,” Amber encouraged the men to join the others to watch the spectacle.
They watched Amber come through the front door and walk past the camera.
“I had to pee, so I went to the ladies room,” she narrated.
She returned a few minutes later, and it was like she hit an invisible wall. She actually staggered backward.
The team read her lips. “Fuck this,” they chorused.
“It hurt, and then I woke up all wet.”
Amber proceeded to walk to the front door. She turned the knob and pulled the door open. The camera refocused to take in the porch lighting.
“This is when we saw her,” Beth said.
The camera gave the team the rear view of Amber running her hands up and down her body. She moved her hands under her shirt and then began pushing down her sweats. Beth ran around her and past the camera and reemerged with a bucket of water that she threw over her. Amber collapsed into Burt’s arms.
The group was silent until Ted whistled, and everyone started talking at once.
~
“These are just household accounts for Sprigs and Steele. Unless we want to know how much potatoes and carrots the household used, these aren’t important,” Mia said, bundling the stack of papers up.
“Two down, two to go,” Whit said as he proudly displayed his rough-up of Cold Creek Hollow.
“Pretty cool.”
“I thought so. I’m a natural.”
Whit’s phone rang, and he looked at the number. “I got to take this.”
Mia nodded.
“Hi, Mom,” he said into the receiver. “Sherry’s parents asked that I bring her body home to New Jersey... They released her body this morning... I’m going to fly out with her on Wednesday... The showing is on Thursday, funeral on Friday... I’d appreciate it... Do you have... Yes, that’s the same one I have... A Holiday Inn by the airport... That’s the one... See you Tuesday... I will. Bye.”
Mia sat still and waited for Whit to put his phone down. He looked at the cell for a moment and closed it.
“When is it going to get easier?”
“I don’t know. The only death I’ve experienced is my grandmother’s, and she was failing for a long time. It was almost a release.”
“Sherry had so much ahead of her. When her parents first asked me to bring her home, I was outraged. She is... was, my wife, but then I thought about what you said about the local graveyard. I didn’t want her anywhere near here. I’m afraid.”
Mia turned and looked at him, concern in her eyes. “Afraid?” she asked.
Whit sighed before he said, “I’m afraid I will forget her. How can I mourn her when she’s in New fucking Jersey.”
“Well, right now she’s here,” Mia said simply.
“Yes, but she shouldn’t be.”
“Yep. If we are able to release her, she can reside in your memories, and in the paintings she did before the house.”
“You’re very generous considering she attacked you.”
“She was making a point. She wants to be free of all of this.”
“Back to work then,” Whit said and pointed to what looked like a stack of journals.
Chapter Thirty
The team - minus Mike and Amber who had gone back to the B&B - assembled at the entrance to the cellar. “We need to make this less of a hazard to work in,” Burt instructed as he climbed down the ladder, making sure to step in the opposite direction that Mike went. Next, Ted lowered a standing spotlight. As soon as Burt had it in position, Ted plugged it into the extension.
It took a moment until Burt’s eyes grew accustomed to the glare of the light. There were blue dots everywhere. “Teach me to look into the bloody light,” he scolded himself. Soon the blue lights disappeared, the dust motes, cobwebs and other foul, hanging rot took their place.
He walked over to the well opening and estimated its size. He called up to Ted. “Tell Beth we need to cover a hole six feet in diameter.”
“Copy that.”
Burt heard him move away from the opening and relay the information to Beth who was raiding April’s garage for supplies.
Burt paced off the cellar and found it to be twelve feet by twenty with a dugout at the north end. He suspected from the rotted smell that this may have been used as a root cellar. The well probably was dug before the house, and Murphy probably had piped his water directly into the kitchen, which was very impressive for the time of this construction. The stairs that Mike spoke about were opposite the well and over a few feet. He tested the first riser, and it snapped with only the slightest pressure. He picked up one of the broken pieces and brought it to the light. “Wood rot.”
Burt knew that they would have to procure some materials before trying to ascend the staircase.
“Burt, heads up,” Ted called before handing down two rolled lengths of rabbit fence. Behind them came Beth with a bevy of tools hanging out of her back pockets. Ted handed Beth a coil of wire.
Beth looked around a bit before explaining the idea. “We unroll this fencing. I know one roll isn’t wide enough so we overlap it here, bend back the wire along here, thread the wire through and muscle it tight. It should fit like a cap. The well digger lined it with stone but supported the top edge with a concrete rim. Smart fella.”
They both heard a crack in the distance.
“That would be Murphy,” Burt explained and shook his head. “Beth, did you ever think we would be communicating with ghosts via axe?”
“No, can’t say that entered my mind,” she said as she unrolled the first length of fence.
~
Whit rubbed his eyes and complained, “This faded ink is murder on the eyes. I sure wish we were smart enough to have brought a thermos of coffee.”
Mia nodded, engrossed.
“Who are you reading?”
&nbs
p; She looked up. “Abraham Whitney, you?”
“A Miss Alice May Blackwell. She is very fascinated with the wildflowers of the area.”
“Well, your great grandfather was the pastor of Cold Creek Hollow Church.”
“Geepa was a minister, imagine that.”
“Oh, he was much more than that. He was a deacon of his sect in a wealthy area of Chicago. He came out here for his health. He mentions Cold Creek Hollow as a select community of his parishioners. These may have been summer places for some of the residents. Can’t see them commuting, can you?”
“Not by horse and buggy.” Whit picked up Miss Blackwell’s journal and began to read again.
Mia looked at him from the corner of her eye. He was squinting, and his eyebrows knitted together. “Look, Whit, I think we can call it a night. There is no way we’re going to be able to get through all of this tonight.” Mia stood up and repacked the two packets they had already gone through in the bottom of the box. After them, she put the last packet and on top of them, the journals. She closed the lid and pulled down the clasp.
She thought a moment and dug into her pocket and brought out a silver cross on a bead and silver chain. She put the long end of the cross through the ring and wrapped the chain around the whole assembly.
Whit helped her center the heavy box, and she recovered it with the cloth and secured it with the rope.
They made sure they had their cell phones before stepping over the salt ring. Mia inspected the line and added another circle.
“You go through a lot of salt,” Whit observed.
“It’s either this or...”
“You don’t have to say.” Whit looked outside at the blackness. “Do you think Benny Evert is going to miss his row boat?”
“I think he’s in Florida until May Day,” Mia said as she stretched the kinks out of her back.
“That should give me some time to get it back to him. I’m starved.” He walked into the kitchen.
“You’re out of luck there. I was going to go shopping, but you rowed your high ass to shore...”
“Oh yeah, about that, sorry.” Whit looked down at her. “Sorry for my high ass, sorry for my vengeful ghost wife, and sorry for not having your back in high school.”
“Apology accepted. Now let’s head out to get some food, find your car and...”
“Toilet paper the graveyard?” Whit asked.
Mia couldn’t help but laugh.
They left the house with all the lights on, salt doubled, and looking into every corner of the yard with suspicion.
~
Beth left the boys to clean up. They were going to meet up with Mike and Amber at the sub shop for a late supper. She drove into the lot and was pleased to see Mia’s truck parked there. As she pulled into a space, she saw Mia and Whit standing in line through the window. They made a handsome couple. “No wonder Burt was in such a bad mood,” she said to herself.
The bell over the door sounded, and one of the sandwich making staff called out, “Welcome to Sam’s Subs.”
Mia turned to see Beth. She gave her a friendly wave and nudged Whit.
“Hello Beth,” he said. “Rob any libraries lately?”
Beth gasped.
“Calm down, I did that, and he knows it,” Mia said to Beth.
She turned to Whit and said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” Whit said with courtesy, but his eyes had escape on his mind. The line moved forward, and he was rescued by the sandwich maker’s questions.
Mia and Whit had chosen to eat in and sat across from each other at a central table. The door opened again, and Mia noticed Mike and Amber enter.
“Seems like it’s PEEPs central tonight,” Whit pointed out.
“They get to eat free here for the week, some advertising agreement Rose brokered,” Mia said, wishing she hadn’t mentioned Rose.
Whit looked across at her. “God, this has been one bitch of a week, hasn’t it?”
Mia nodded. She took a big bite of her sub, and the sauce dripped onto her shirt. “Crap. I’d better spot this before it stains,” she said, excusing herself and swiftly walking to the ladies room.
Whit watched her leave and was conscious that Amber was watching him watch Mia. She made him feel like a bait fish in a pike pond.
Mia looked in the mirror as she was washing her hands after taking care of the stain. She looked tired, but the bruise on her forehead was fading. Amber walked into the restroom and nodded at Mia as she headed for a cubicle.
There was something unfocused about Amber. She didn’t have her usual sweet beauty-queen looks. Mia couldn’t pinpoint it, but it looked as if she wore a transparent overlay of hardship. Mia moved over to the dryer and hit it with her elbow and gently rubbed her hands under the warm air.
Mia heard a flush, and Amber exited the cubical. The dryer cut out, and Mia wiped the remaining moisture on her jeans.
“Those things never work,” Amber commented. “I miss the towels, but we must be green.”
“I guess so but...” Mia stopped in midsentence. There were definitely two images, just out of sync, standing in front of her.
“Amber, are you alright?” she asked as she scrutinized the young woman.
“I’m a bit off, but I may have gotten a chill earlier. And of course there’s what happened at the farm and...”
The thing that was piggy-backing Amber had reached out its hands and was moving towards her. To Mia, the multi-armed woman looked like Kali. She backed away from Amber. Amber looked at her oddly and continued to head for the dryer.
The woman within Amber moved with such speed that it jolted Amber along like a puppet. Soon there was no more Amber, only this thing intent on hurting Mia. She wrapped her hands around Mia’s throat and squeezed.
Mia twisted and jerked her body, sending both of them crashing into the open stall, both women narrowly missing cracking their skulls on the toilet. Mia scrambled under the stall and was almost on her feet when Amber threw herself on her.
With every touch of the entity, its memories flooded into Mia’s mind. Beauty mixed with horror punched at her psyche. She fought it off, but Amber had thirty pounds on her, and soon the hands were once again on Mia’s throat squeezing the life out of her.
The door to the bathroom opened, and the entity stopped as Beth walked in.
Mia used this time to cry out to a stunned Beth, “Not Amber, not Amber!” before the hands once again squeezed.
Beth screamed into the sub shop for help before she launched herself at Amber, knocking the woman off Mia.
Amber, for a brief moment, seemed to wonder, “What the hell is going on?” before she scrambled back to a still Mia and started to bang her head on the floor. Beth grabbed her and pulled, but Amber held on tight.
Mike was the first to the scene and with Beth’s help managed to pull a kicking and screaming wild woman off of Mia.
Whit scooped Mia up and ran out of the room. He laid her on the floor and proceeded to breathe life into her.
Her chest rose with each respiration of Whit’s. In between each breath he barked orders at all in the room. Cells snapped open, emergency services was called.
Mia coughed and wheezed before opening her eyes. Whit looked down at her and smiled. “Welcome back,” he said quietly.
“It’s not Amber,” she said, her eyes wild.
She moaned, and because of her apparent injuries, Whit had to resist taking her into his arms to comfort her.
In the bathroom, Amber would not be quieted. Mike had her in a vise-grip, and still she spat and snarled. Mia’s words shouted in Beth’s brain, “Not Amber, not Amber!” She reached behind her and undid her cross and held it out in front of Amber. Amber’s eyes opened up wide before they rolled back in her head and she passed out.
Beth crawled forward with the cross dangling in front of her. She reached around the still woman and clasped the necklace together and let it fall against the slowly rising chest.
“It�
��s silver?” Mike asked, loosening the hold on Amber’s unconscious form.
“Don’t think so, gold maybe.” Beth straightened the necklace so the cross sat on Amber’s heart.
“I thought that silver was the power metal,” Mike commented as he took Amber’s pulse.
“In this case, the power came from Rome,” Beth said and got to her feet.
~
The PEEPs van arrived as Mia was being rolled out on a stretcher. The EMTs had put a collar around her neck as a precaution.
Burt jumped out of the van and strode over to where they were preparing to lift her into the back of the ambulance. “What happened?”
“Excuse me, sir, let the lady be,” ordered one of the EMTs.
“It’s fine, I know him.” Mia looked over at him. “Amber attacked me in the bathroom. You left her alone, didn’t you?” she accused.
He was going to explain, but Whit came out of the restaurant and asked him, “Could you please step out of the way, sir, and let the professionals do their work?”
“But... I,” Burt stammered.
Whit turned off his deputy persona in a split second. “Listen, she was without air for over a minute. You get your fucking people out of this town before someone else gets hurt.”
Burt turned red but managed to control his temper. Ted was at his elbow. “Come on, boss, let’s go in and get the whole story.”
He allowed himself to be led into the shop. He couldn’t get those world-weary sad eyes of Mia’s out of his head. The moss green orbs expressed helplessness and betrayal.
Chapter Thirty-one
“Miss Cooper, now you will have to be really still. There will be loud banging noises as the MRI captures the data. It will take a while. Are you ready?” the technician asked.
“Yes,” Mia said.
She was moved mechanically into the tunnel. The assault on her eardrums started with a rapid staccato banging. Mia moved into herself as far as she could go. She found herself viewing the memories of the entity that had tried to kill her.
