by Mac Flynn
He tried to guide me onto my bed, but I brushed away his hands. "N-no, I'm fine. It's just-it's just terrible. I can't believe it."
"It's true, and we're going to need your statement about the last time you saw him. Brent's already given his."
I straightened and whirled my head around to look at the officer. "Then Brent's okay?"
"He has a nasty bump on the head, but other than that he's just fine," the policeman was glad to tell me. "Now we'd better get you to the station for that statement."
"Oh, yes, of course."
I grabbed my coat and he led me outside to his car. We drove down to the station and I was glad to see Brent's familiar face in the lobby. "Brent!" I called out in glee. At the sound of his name he jerked his head up. When his eyes fell on me, rather than the look of joy I expected he stared at me with one of shock and fear. I pulled away from the officer and went over to him. When I reached out to him, he cringed back. "What's wrong? It's me, Jessie, remember?" I was afraid his memory was gone.
He pulled his legs up to his chest and shrank back from me. "S-stay away from me! Don't hurt me!" he shrieked.
The officer strode over to us and roughly caught me by the arm. All his sweetness was gone. "Come on, this way," he ordered.
"Hey, let go of me! I didn't do anything wrong!" I protested.
"Not according to this young gentleman, but you'll learn about that soon enough," he replied.
The policeman dragged me away from Brent and into the back. I was put into a small, enclosed room with only one door and a large mirror on one side. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was a one-way mirror. That's when I realized they didn't want a written statement, they wanted an interrogation. The man shoved me into a chair in front of a table and left the room. He made sure to lock the door behind himself.
I was left alone, or so I could only surmise with that stupid mirror on the wall. With the mirror there I would've picked my nose to gross out any watchers, but the situation was too serious. My mind rang out with questions about Brent and Rob. Had somebody killed Rob or was it an accident? Why was Brent so afraid of me now? I hadn't done anything to him. He'd been the one to leave me all alone at the cemetery. After a few minutes the door opened and in stepped the officer I'd met before, Perkins. He smiled at me but I couldn't manage a smile back.
"What the hell's going on?" I bluntly asked him.
He took a seat at the table opposite me. "I'm afraid we have some very serious questions to ask you," he replied.
"No shit. Your buddy dragged me in here and locked the door behind him," I snapped back.
He leaned over the table, and I leaned back. "It's only a precaution to keep people from wandering back here. We do it to everyone we want to talk to."
"And why do you want to talk to me so bad? I already told him I'd give a statement with the story I told you yesterday, so why'd he have to toss me in here?" I countered.
Officer Perkins sighed. "Well, I'm afraid with the discovery of Robert's body and Brent's story we had to take those precautions."
I clenched my fists in my lap. I was scared and nervous, and that made me mad. "What's that got to do with me? How'd that knife get in Rob? Why's Brent afraid of me?"
"I was hoping you'd be able to help answer those questions," the officer admitted.
"Me?" I squeaked out. "How the hell would I know? The last time I saw Rob he was chasing me with the knife, and Brent was the ass to leave me in that cemetery."
"According to Brent you knocked him over the head and closed the mausoleum door on him," Perkins revealed.
I tilted my head and my mouth twisted open in shock. "You're joking, right? Why the hell would I do that to him?"
"I don't know, maybe because he was getting close to Rob's body. Brent also told us you didn't want to get us involved. Any particular reason why?"
I gestured to the dreary room around us. "Probably because of this. You guys always make things worse for anybody involved and you sure as hell are proving that now."
"It's just precautions-"
"I don't give a shit about your precautions!" I yelled back. I felt like I was going around in circles with this ass. "All I want to know is what the hell you want from me so I can get out of here."
He was quiet for a moment, assessing my tense body language and smoldering eyes. Then he leaned back and entwined his fingers between each other on the table. "We suspect foul play in the death of your boyfriend, Robert. As you know he was found with a knife in him, but what you need to know is that it was stuck in his back at an angle we think is impossible for anyone to do on their own. His body had also been placed in the same mausoleum where we found Brent this morning. We heard him yelling and a few of us managed to get the door open wide enough so he could get out. He'd been hit on the head pretty bad but was just stunned by the blow."
My mind worked through his delicate words and came to one conclusion. "Murder. You think he was murdered," I spoke up. Officer Perkins nodded. "And you think I did it, don't you? What you were saying about me keeping Brent away from there or hitting him or whatever. You think I was trying to hide Rob's body."
"That's one theory," he admitted.
A barking laugh escaped my mouth. "I think it's a little more than a theory. If you guys didn't believe it so much then you've got a funny way of showing it by putting me in this place."
He wryly smiled. "Yes, I'm afraid a lot of us think it might be a little more than a theory, but we're ready to hear your part of the story."
I stood up so fast my chair went tumbling backwards. This ass wasn't listening to me! "I told you my part of the story yesterday! I didn't see Rob after I lost him in the graveyard and I went back to the car when Brent wanted to go looking at the mausoleum!"
"Easy there," he replied in a calm, strained voice. He held out his hands and stood up. "We don't want to accuse you of anything-"
"-yet, and that's what you're trying to do! You're trying to get me to say something stupid so I'll look guilty when I'm really not!" I countered. I felt like a trapped animal in that small, sterile room. It was made even worse when he circled around the table toward me, but I went around the other side away from him. My mind worked furiously with the information he'd given me, desperately trying to find some evidence that would prove my innocence.
Meanwhile he was trying to catch me and calm me down, both of which he was failing miserably at doing. "Come on, Jessica, everybody known by the deceased is under suspicion until proven otherwise. After all, anybody could have pulled his body into the crypt."
That's when it hit me, the trouble with his story. My eyes lit up and I smirked at the officer as I folded my arms across my chest. "You forgot something obvious," I pointed out to him.
He stopped his pursuit of me and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What's that?"
"Anybody could've pulled Rob's body into the crypt and closed the door on Brent, but it took how many of you guys to open that mausoleum door?"
The officer paused and blinked. I'd hit upon the big problem they had with my conviction. Hell, with any one person's conviction. No average human being could've closed that heavy stone door. That got me thinking about who exactly could have pulled off such an unnatural feat by themselves, and I had only one guess. The phantom.
Perkins brought my attention back to the world of the living. "You have a point there. That door was really hard for three of us to get open. I'm not sure how any single person, much less a girl, could get the job done," he admitted. There was disappointment in his voice. He'd hoped for an open-and-shut case.
At this point I didn't care what he wanted. I was sick to my stomach at my suggestion that maybe Eric had killed Rob and harmed Brent. From the stories I'd heard about people disappearing around the place, such a scenario wasn't impossible. "Could I go now? I don't think I'm feeling well," I pleaded with him.
"What? Oh, certainly. I just need you to write down what you told me yesterday and I'll have one of the boys drive you back to your dorm."
I quickly wrote out the statement, not a hard feat since I'd retold the story so many times, and then an officer drove me back as promised. It was only late morning when I got back to my dorm and the weak autumn sunlight shone into my dreary room. I stepped up to the window and glanced out on the campus, wondering about Rob's death and the attack on Brent. Only the phantom had been present for both, he never left the cemetery except to see me. He must have killed Rob and dragged him into the mausoleum, and enticed Brent into there with that cracking noise, but why do any of that? What were his motives in hurting them?
It was to protect you, and to be with you.
I jumped at the voice and spun around. The room was empty but for my shadow that fell across the floor, but I was positive I'd heard Eric's voice. The hairs on the back of my neck raised and that strange feeling inside of me sprang up. "Hello? Eric?" I called out to the air. There was a tug inside of myself. My eyes widened when from my shadow arose another, darker shadow. This was a sliver of a man, and Eric's eyes peered out of those deep, black depths.
"The first man meant to do you harm, and I couldn't allow that," Eric explained to me. "The second was too curious, and I couldn't have him see us together. Our secret would have been revealed and the cemetery would have been shut off to you by those who reside in this town. They fear me, and they would fear those whom I favor."
I was mad. I felt betrayed because he hadn't told me about any of this earlier. I had to learn about it from a hostile cop at a police station. "So you had to kill Rob? You just had to hurt Brent?" I challenged him. "All of this to protect me or just to protect you and what you wanted to do to me?"
The standing shadow swayed and the eyes closed. "I see you no longer trust me. Perhaps when you've had time to think about it-"
"-I'll be thinking the same thing. You're paranoid and you hurt them because of it. How many other people have you hurt? How many of those stories about people disappearing are true?"
The figure flickered and the eyes shot open. They looked as mad as I felt. "I have only protected myself. If a fool sought to intrude on my resting place then I dealt with him accordingly."
"Then you did kill other people! How many? A dozen? Three dozen?"
His voice quivered with anger and disgust. "You wouldn't need more than a hand to count them, including this friend you were so fond of who attempted to murder you."
"He was drunk! He didn't know what he was doing!" I countered.
"Then he would have attempted it again when he partook of drink at another time," Eric growled back. I shrank back from his hard, cold voice. That was the first hint of his tempter that I'd ever seen or heard. Evidently he didn't like losing it any more than I liked hearing it, because his shoulders slumped down. "I see I really have frightened you. I'm sorry for that, and will leave you to your own thoughts." The shadow shrank down toward the floor, and then paused. "There is one more item we should discuss. I wish to have your answer concerning tonight. Will you come to me in the graveyard and join with me, or will you stay here and break our connection?"
I wasn't up for answering that question. "Can we wait on that some other night? I don't really feel up to it," I pleaded.
"If the matter is not performed tonight then our connection will be broken. I don't know if it can ever return," he solemnly replied.
I turned away and shook my head. My voice was hushed but firm. "Maybe I don't want it to come back."
There was silence between us for a long, agonizing minute. Then he sighed. "If my love cannot be returned, then perhaps I may have revenge."
My eyes widened. When I swirled around and glanced over to where he'd stood the shadow was gone. There was only me in that room, though I still felt that strange weight inside of me. He was still there, and yet I had a feeling a large part of him had left. I hoped he'd gone back to the cemetery to rest and think things over. I know I needed to do both myself.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me, and it involved more men in suits. I'd just sat down on my bed for a long nap when my phone rang. I picked up the phone and put it to my ear. "Hello?"
"Is this Jessica?" a male voice asked me.
My stomach sank when I recognized Perkins' voice, and I cursed myself for giving the number to him. "Yes, is there something else I can do for you, officer?"
"I was just going over your statement and was wondering if you'd be willing to come over to the cemetery and retrace that night and yesterday morning. It would give me a better idea of what happened than just words."
Going to the cemetery sounded like a very bad idea right then. I didn't want to sic Eric on any other men who would be with me. "I don't think I'm really up-"
"It would really help with the investigation, and I'd be sure to put your willingness to help in my report," he insisted.
I didn't like the way he phrased that. It sounded like a threat if I didn't help him. It looked like if I wanted to make a good impression then I'd have to agree to his blackmail. "Alright, when do you want to go?"
"Can you be ready in a few minutes?"
"Yeah, I'll be outside my dorm building."
"Good. See you in a few minutes." He hung up the phone and I slumped down to the floor. I couldn't imagine this day getting any worse, but I'm sure it would try.
As promised, Officer Perkins arrived a few minutes later. I got into the car, conscious of the curious stares of my peers around me, and we drove off down the road. I at least had a question on my mind that we could talk about. "Does Brent still believe I knocked him in the back of the head and shut that door on him?"
"I told him about your statement regarding the door and he agreed with you, but he still decided to go in a separate car," he replied.
I blinked. "Separate car? Where's he going?"
"To the same place as us. He's the only other witness at both the events, so we thought it would be best to put your heads together and see what you can remember."
I stared incredulously at this officer. He'd dragged poor Brent all the way to that terrible cemetery just to see if he could pump us for more info, and he'd also blackmailed me into coming along. Their motto should have changed from Protect and Serve to Use and Abuse. We didn't say any more to each other and soon arrived at the cemetery entrance. For the first time I saw the gate open, and a strange dread came over me. It didn't feel right that the gate would be left open like that, not without being shut behind us, but there wasn't anybody around to close it and we drove right through into the cemetery.
We soon parked behind another police car not far from the top of the hill. The unfriendly officer from before stepped out along with Brent. He nervously glanced around, and then at me. I was glad to see he didn't flinch away, but neither did he approach me until the officer moved forward.
"Jessica, I believe you met Officer Sandoval," Officer Perkins introduced us.
I scowled at the guy. "Yeah, I met him."
Officer Perkins looked around us. "Alright, since I know you both want to get this over with we'll start here. You two rushed over the gate with Robert chasing you, Jessica?"
This was all so stupid. Everything was in my report. "Yeah. I don't know where I went, but I ran off the road pretty quick," I replied.
"Could you follow that rough path and show us where you lost Robert?" Officer Perkins requested.
I rolled my eyes but led the way as best I could. The fearful fright wasn't exactly clear in my mind, but I knew when I'd noticed I'd lost Rob so I headed straight for the mausoleum. Butterflies flew around in my stomach and got even worse when I sighted the short building. Everything was just like that night, what with the tree standing by the entrance and the leaves underfoot. The only difference was the door to the crypt was open.
My eyes were glued to the open entrance, but I told the officers what they wanted to hear. "I noticed around here that he was gone."
Officer Sandoval glanced around. "You didn't notice he wasn't behind you until all the way over here?" he incredulously asked.
&nbs
p; I shrugged. I wasn't too interested in his suspicions. "I was a little too worried he'd catch me so I couldn't exactly look back," I pointed out.
Officer Perkins turned his attention on Brent. "And when did you lose sight of Jessica and followed Robert?"
"Rob stumbled around a lot and I guess he thought she turned up the hill," Brent explained.
The rest of his explanation was drowned out by my fascination with the open door. The cops had only managed to get it pried open about two feet in a four foot doorway, and the weak autumn sunlight didn't shine very far into the mausoleum. A soft breeze swept by me and into the crypt, almost like it was pulling me in. I took a step toward it, then another one. Before I knew what I was doing I was standing in the open entrance of the crypt. I looked upon dark shadows that hung at the back of the small room, and a space devoid of life. There wasn't even a single spider's web in any of the corners, only dead leaves and dust. The floor had the footprints of the officers and Brent, and one corner was devoid of its leaves. I guessed that's where they'd found Rob. No wonder Brent was so traumatized, what with being trapped in there with a corpse.
My eyes focused on the only singular object in the room. In the center of the floor lay a short platform, and on that platform was a large stone sarcophagus. The cover itself was four inches thick with a layer of dust almost as deep. I stepped over and slid my hand through the thick, light dust. The dirt rose up like a thick mist and floated through the air around me. I felt like I was being surrounded and hidden from view, and indeed I could hardly see any light from the door behind me.
I froze. The light was fading. I swirled around to see the door slowly shutting behind me. I scrambled for the opening at the same time I heard the men yelling outside.
"What the hell!" Officer Perkins cried out.
The cops rushed the entrance and Perkins grabbed my arm. He yanked me out of there just before the door closed too far for me to squeeze through. I lost my balance and fell onto the ground. The creepy thing was that the moment I fell outside, the door stopped moving. I rolled onto my butt, breathing hard and fast, and stared at the possessed door. My hands shook and it felt like all the color had drained from my face.
Perkins knelt down beside me and looked me over. Seeing nothing was wrong except for my fear, he turned to his partner. "Sandoval, check that door," Perkins ordered.
