by Rose Pressey
I took off running around the side of the building, hoping to find the person responsible for this. On the other side of the restaurant was a small alleyway and then a side street. I ran as fast as I could hoping that I would catch up with the thief.
When I rounded the corner, I spotted a dark figure. I took off after the person hoping that I was making the right decision. This could be someone dangerous for all I knew. Maybe I should wait for Brannon to arrive. But by the time he got here this person would be long gone. At least I could follow them and maybe get the identity.
The person still had the decorations in their hand—a shiny star tree topper and long silver ribbons. The Christmas bandit scuffled down the street and I followed, getting farther and farther away from the restaurant now. The thief stopped in front of the small white house, open the gate of the white picket fence, and then headed up the stone path toward the front door. Was this where they lived? The person turned around and looked directly at me. The front porch light lit up the area. I stepped a bit closer and got a good look at the face. Mrs. Sullivan had been the one responsible for stealing the decorations?
I suppose I shouldn’t be too shocked after what she’d done at the library. She was out of control. Should I say something to her? Or maybe just wait and let Brannon handle it? After all, he was the police. She stared at me now, as if daring me to say anything. I suppose now I had to speak up since she knew I’d followed her home.
“Mrs. Sullivan, I know what you did. Why don’t you just take the decorations back? I’m sure everyone will forgive you if you just return them and apologize.”
A chill came over the area. Before Mrs. Sullivan had a chance to respond, a dark shadow appeared from around the corner of her house. Mrs. Sullivan hadn’t noticed until she realized I was staring at the mysterious shadow. When she looked to her right and spotted the thing, she screamed and dropped the tree topper and ribbons.
She took off in a fast shuffle for her front door. I stood there frozen like a dummy with the dark shadow headed my way. I should have run too. For some unknown reason though, I stood there and watched the shadow. Mrs. Sullivan had retreated inside her house. The thing was coming right at me. Finally, I snapped to attention and ran down the street toward the restaurant. Too bad I hadn’t picked up the decoration before I’d left.
After a couple seconds, I checked back over my shoulder. The dark shadow wasn’t back there. Whew. I stopped and peered all around. If that thing appeared again right next to me, I’d probably faint. I tried to calm myself just a bit. What had we seen? I knew Mrs. Sullivan had seen it too.
Now that the dark shadow had disappeared, maybe I could complete my mission. I slowly walked back toward Mrs. Sullivan’s house. Apparently, I was determined to get the decorations back. The lights were still off at Mrs. Sullivan’s house. She’d even turned off the porch light. Maybe she thought that would keep the dark shadow away. I snatched the decorations from the group and darted away from her house.
I hoped Brannon arrived on the scene soon. Right now, I needed to get back to my group. I had abandoned them, and they probably wondered whether I was ever coming back. Maybe they had left already. This had turned out to be a disastrous tour. I hoped the man from the restaurant was all right.
I hurried back down the street, keeping my eye out for that dark shadow. What was going on with that anyway? Was it the same spirit that had pushed me down the steps at the restaurant and that I’d seen at the library earlier today? Was it still following me? Or was it something entirely different that had come after Mrs. Sullivan because she was being a grouch?
Chapter 7
As I rounded the corner, I spotted the blue lights from the police car and an ambulance had arrived in front of the restaurant. To my surprise, the group was still waiting for me.
I hurried back over to them. “I’m so sorry that I left you all.”
“You took off after the person?” the woman asked, eyeing the decorations in my hands. “Obviously you found them.”
“Yes, I found the person and…” I showed them the decoration. “I got the stuff back.”
“Wow, you’re like a superhero,” one of the women said around a laugh.
“I hardly think so,” I said. “How’s the injured man?”
Movement caught my attention. They were bringing him out now. At least he was walking and not on a stretcher. He held a bandage to his head as he walked toward the ambulance. It looked as if he would be just fine. Mrs. Sullivan might be in serious trouble now that someone had been injured. Brannon’s car pulled up with flashing blue lights, but no siren. I hurried over.
He climbed out from behind the wheel. “What happened, Rip?”
I sighed and then preceded to recount the entire story.
“Here are the decorations she took.” I hated the items to him.
“I’ll talk with her,” Brannon said.
“Seeing that dark shadow might have scared her so much that she’ll never try something like this again. Though that leaves me with the question, where did this dark shadow come from and what does it want?” I asked.
“Sometimes the spirits just come out because they can,” Brannon said. “There’s no underlying motive.”
“I suppose,” I said. “Anyway, I should finish the tour. If they still want to do it. I wouldn’t blame them if they were ready to stop.”
“I’ll talk to you soon. Be safe, Rip, okay?” A line of worry furrowed his brow.
“Always,” I said.
I had a Devil’s Moon resident quite clearly against others celebrating Christmas, a dark shadow roaming town, and a cloak-covered person leaving me a threatening message. What next?
Amazingly the group stayed with me. I led them the rest of the way through town. However, I’d thought for sure they would have abandoned me after the incident. Maybe the tour wasn’t so bad after all. The most unsettling part though was that the carolers seemed to be following us.
At first, I thought maybe it was my imagination. After what happened with the note, having them trail me would be understandable, but now I was positive they were actually following us. Was it just to be nice and add charm to my tour or was there some other motive? The one in the dark cloak kept her stare on me. The only way I got away from her scrutiny was when I stepped inside a building. The tour-goers were starting to notice this as well.
“Are the carolers following us?” one of the women asked. “How nice.”
I smiled and tried to act as if nothing was wrong. Something that I’d had to do many times.
“Yes, I guess they are,” I said.
“Something seems off about them though,” one of the men said. “I think it’s the way they’re standing. Their stance seems menacing.”
“Like they’re ready for a fight,” someone else added.
I had noticed that too. They hadn’t seemed that way at the library earlier. Maybe they were mad about Mrs. Sullivan taking their music. Surely they wouldn’t hold that against me. I’d tried to stop her.
We had reached the antique shop now. Mr. Byrd owned the place and he let me take the tour-goers inside, which was extremely nice of him. The outside of his shop was decorated for Christmas with a tree in the window and fake snow decorating the window’s glass. I was pretty sure Mr. Byrd’s niece had decorated the windows for him. There was also a little snowman painted on at the bottom.
I took out the key that Mr. Byrd had given me and opened the door. Before joining the group inside, I glanced over my shoulder at the carolers. The tour-goer was right. Their stance was menacing, and they were glaring at me now. With each passing minute, it seemed as if their hostility grew. Maybe I should go over and ask them what was wrong. An open line of communication was key. I’d let them know that I was sorry for what happened. And if they had a problem, they could come to me and we’d fix it. There was no problem that we couldn’t solve, right?
Chapter 8
For now, I would have to ignore the carolers and take the group inside M
r. Byrd’s place. I had a feeling that the carolers would still be waiting for me when we came outside. After the tour, I would approach them and get this all settled. In the meantime, at least they were still singing, although there was a tinge of hostility in their voices. It was still nice, though.
The group followed me inside the warm and crowded building. All the furniture and other knickknacks in the shop made the place hard to navigate at times. As I closed the door, I peeked back out again. Yep, they were still there. At least they were providing music for the tour. I hadn’t expected that. As I recounted the stories of the hauntings in the building, a cold fell over the room. So much so that we saw our breath as it glided like a fog over a lake.
“Wow, I think the heat stopped working in here,” a woman beside me said as she rubbed her arms.
I pulled my coat up close around my neck. “Yes, I guess it did. I’ll have to tell the owner.”
That the heat had stopped working wasn’t my first thought. My first thought was that ghosts could manipulate the temperatures in a room when they were present. I’d experienced temperature changes but never like this before. This was like being in an icebox.
Suddenly a black mist appeared on the other side of the room. A couple people gasped, which was what had made me turn my attention in that direction. We all stood there speechless as we watched this thing. It grew bigger and bigger. The dark shadow had to be at least seven feet tall. There were no discernible legs or arms, but it was more like a veiled silhouette.
If it started toward us, I wasn’t sure how that chaotic scene would play out it. It was as if we were in a standoff with this dark shadow. Though I wasn’t sure who would make the first move. I kind of wanted it to be us so that we could get out of there. I felt a terrible sense of dread. I suppose if I ran, they would follow my lead. Totally unprofessional, but it might be completely necessary.
“What does it want?” someone beside me whispered.
“I suppose it just wants us to know that it’s here,” I said.
The dark shadow still hadn’t moved. I’d never seen a shadow person stand there for that long without making some kind of movement. It towered tall in the room, dominating the space.
“Maybe we should get out of here,” someone else said in a hushed tone.
The more I thought about it the more I wondered if we made any sudden movements that it might set this thing off and it would come after us. Though it looked as if I would have to make the first move whether I wanted to or not.
“All right, everyone, we’ll go ahead and leave. Just back up toward the door. No sudden movements,” I said.
I wanted to keep my gaze on this spirit so that it wouldn’t come after us without our knowledge. If we knew it was coming, maybe we could prepare ourselves. Then again, was there really any preparing for something like that? If Brannon had been here, he definitely would want to investigate this further, but he wasn’t here, so my instinct was to just get out.
Plus, I was all alone with this tour group. I couldn’t exactly make them stand around and wait while I carried out a paranormal investigation. We took a couple of steps backward and the dark shadow took back a couple of movements forward. My heart beat faster and my breath caught in my throat. This was exactly what I had hoped wouldn’t happen.
A woman beside me screamed. The dark shadow disappeared right before our eyes.
“Oh, thank goodness it’s gone,” someone else said.
Wow, I hadn’t expected that reaction. Was it gone or just waiting to pop up again? I’d never seen a dark shadow like that in this building before. Now I was worried about Mr. Byrd. I hated to even tell him what I’d seen. Had he seen it before or had the dark shadow followed me specifically?
My worries weren’t over, though. Now that the shadow had disappeared, I had to step back outside and deal with the carolers. Nevertheless, the group and I hurried out onto the sidewalk. The carolers had been staring straight ahead at the building like they were in some kind of weird trance. But immediately they turned their attention to us. I locked the door behind us and then peered inside the building to see if the black shadow was there. No sign of the spirit.
I motioned for the group to follow me. “We’ll go back to the graveyard now.”
They walked with me along the sidewalk. The carolers followed right along behind us. I quickened my pace, hoping that the group wouldn’t trail along. We moved quickly down the sidewalk, but the carolers moved just as fast. The quicker we moved, the faster the carolers came after us.
“I think they’re chasing us now,” the woman next to me said breathlessly.
This was getting out of hand. Plus, the faster they walked, the faster they sang.
“I think they want to kill us,” someone else said.
Killed by carolers? I had to do something to protect us. Should I call Brannon? Maybe I would have to call 911 to get the police here as quickly as possible. Brannon was probably still working on a case. He might not be able to get here for quite a while.
“That’s okay. We’re finished with the tour. You don’t have to sing for us anymore,” I called out.
This didn’t stop them at all. They kept singing. I became more frantic now. I felt the urgency to get away from them. I wanted to run but this might cause a bit of panic.
“Okay, this is crazy,” one of the men said.
He stopped on the sidewalk. I looked back to see what would happen. He tried to talk to the carolers. But they walked around him. Now other tour-goers stopped. The carolers walked by them too. The carolers were after me only. Okay, now was time for me to panic. I was going to be taken down by a mob of carolers.
Chapter 9
“Leave me alone,” I yelled as I took off running.
Naturally, they didn’t follow my command. How would I get away from them? I was still a good distance from the tavern. I fumbled with my pocket as I tried to retrieve my phone from inside.
My nerves made my hands shake and retrieving my phone was no easy task. Finally, I managed to pull out my phone. Dialing would be tough. My body bounced as my feet hit the pavement. Touching the screen was next to impossible. One of the downsides to a smartphone with a touch screen. If it had been a button like on one of those old flip phones I would already be saved by now. Darn you, technology.
I glanced over my shoulder to see how close the carolers were to catching me. It wouldn’t be long now. They were right on my heels. What were they going to do with me when they got me? Beat me up for missing sheet music?
“Leave me alone,” I called out again.
How would I get away from them? I had to find a place to hide. All the stores along the main street were closed. My only chance at survival was to reach the tavern. That was still a good distance away though and they were gaining on me quickly. I had to outsmart them somehow. What if I acted as if I was going in one direction and then really went the other? That might buy me a couple of minutes, but they’d just come after me.
“Leave me alone,” I yelled out again. “I’m calling the police.”
Hadn’t anyone else dialed the police for me? Surely they could see that I needed help. A few cars drove down the street, but it seemed as if none of the drivers noticed my distress. Didn’t it look odd to them that a woman was being chased by Christmas carolers? I tried to dial again, but still, I had no luck getting a call out.
Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. A dark silhouette appeared from my left. It raced toward me. Seriously? Now I was being attacked by the dark entity too? What had I done to deserve this? Screams rang out from behind me. I stumbled and fell to the sidewalk. When I looked back, the carolers were running in the opposite direction. The black shadow was chasing them. I watched in stunned silence for several seconds.
The evil entity had saved me? Maybe it wasn’t so evil after all. The thought had barely left my mind when the misty silhouette turned and headed down the sidewalk in my direction again. Uh-oh. I clambered to my feet. The thing moved
quickly. Now I wasn’t sure I would even get started running before it attacked.
Nevertheless, I had to give it my best shot. I ran as fast as I could, headed for the tavern. I didn’t bother to look back to see how close the dark shadow was to me. Did I really want to know? I just kept my eyes focused straight ahead and tried to keep positive thoughts. I was within reach of the tavern door now, and it still hadn’t gotten me. Maybe I was feeling a bit as if I had won this battle. I got up enough nerve to look over my shoulder. The dark shadow wasn’t there. Nevertheless, I didn’t stop.
I ran to the tavern door and burst inside. Tammy turned her attention to me right away. Her eyes widened as she eyed me up and down. I probably looked like I’d just been fighting off Christmas carolers and an evil entity. A few other people around the tavern stared at me too. I didn’t blame them. I hurried over to the bar and plopped down on a stool.
“What in the world happened to you?” Tammy asked.
“Where should I begin? With the Christmas carolers chasing me or the evil entity? It was horrible. They sang Winter Wonderland the entire time they ran after me. I used to love that song.”
Chapter 10
Now I couldn’t get this song out of my head. I’d changed the lyrics though. Spooky ghosts are you haunting? In the lane where I am walking?
“What will you do if the dark spirit comes after you again?” Tammy peered around the bar.
I knew what she was thinking. She didn’t want the dark spirit to follow me into the tavern. Who would blame her feeling that way? I was like a dark cloud raining over everyone’s Christmas parade. I needed to get out of the tavern before I caused anyone harm. If the spirit came after me then it would get only me.
