As they jogged along, Mira felt a profound appreciation for having been raised in such a nice neighborhood with friendly, sociable people who also minded their own business, at least for the most part. And they always came together when necessary. Yet, she knew – just as they all lived in that small community going through the motions of life, watching kids grow up and grandkids being born – that someday each and every one of them will meet that unwelcomed and unwanted angel of death. They would each stare him in the face – while some of them would go out pulling and screaming. Mira shook the thought from the forefront of her mind and instead re-focused on the beautiful scenery around them.
As they walked part of the way back home, Rosie heard Mira’s tummy rumbling.
“You’re hungry, Mom!” She laughed.
“I surely am. So glad we’re almost back so I can dig in to Mom's omelets. You hungry?”
“Daniel and I both are.”
* * * *
Sara warmed the food and dished everyone up a plate of good, old-fashioned yellow grits and omelets. Daniel had his fair share too in his doggie bowl outside.
“You got through reading the letter last night?” Sara asked Mira.
Mira glanced at Rosie, then secretly winked at her mother.
“What letter, Nana?” Rosie inquired.
“It’s nothing, dear. Eat all your food, okay?”
At their earliest convenience, Mira shared with Sara some of the details found in Josephine's letter. Again, she was selective.
“This is all so coincidental. Should Mrs. Brussels be concerned?” Sara asked. “She really was a wreck on T.V. the other day.”
“All I can say is she’s taken measures for their protection,” Mira said.
9
_________________
Saturday, July 25th
That 5:00 a.m. call had jolted him right out of his sleep. He switched on the side lamp and reached over for his eyeglasses. He could barely see anything without them.
“Yes, what is it?” He answered tiredly.
“Doctor Barns, there’s been a tragedy,” someone started on the other line.
“Your friend, Stefanie Brussels, has gone missing.”
Barns sat up. “What? Who is this?” He hoped it was a stupid kid playing a practical joke on him.
“This is Elsie. I live next door to Stefanie. You gave me your number to call if there’s ever an emergency while she was alone. Well, Fritz is gone – disappeared and never came back, and now she’s gone. The cops are over there at her house as we speak.” The person's voice was breaking.
“My goodness. Wait… Elsie, why’d you call her being missing a tragedy?” Barns was always the analytical type.
“I heard her screaming and pleading early hours of this morning. I looked outside, but didn’t see a thing. I live alone, you see, and was frightened to go over there by myself, so I called the cops and hoped to God she’d be all right. But she’s not, Doctor Barns! When the cops came, I went over there with them and the place looked like a hurricane passed through it. And that back steel door’s caved in like you won’t believe; those logs of hers all tumbled on the floor. Someone came straight through, but not actually through.”
“What do you mean?”
“To be completely honest, it looks as if a heavy-metal tool was used to cave in that door, but the opening is only about the size of a basketball. Don’t see how anyone could fit through there. Someone’s taken her and probably disposed of her like they did all the others! That's why they never came back,” Elsie proposed.
“Elsie, I really appreciate you calling me. Let’s pray Stefanie’s all right.”
Barns suddenly came down with a queasy stomach. Without properly hanging up the telephone, he rushed to the bathroom.
10
_________________
After peeping in at Rosie and finding her still asleep, Mira headed to her mother’s room. Sara was sitting on a lounge chair with a partially knitted quilt spread haphazardly across her knees; her focus primarily on the television straight ahead.
“Mom...”
“Shhh! Watch!” Sara told Mira.
Mira sat at the foot of her mother’s bed and listened as the Chief Liaison Officer explained what might have occurred on the scene.
Cameramen were able to render shots of the scene from front and rear angles of the yard. The extent of damage that back door suffered could be seen, to a large degree, from the outside; all the while, Stefanie’s picture was displayed prominently at the top right corner of the screen.
“My God!” Mira quietly exclaimed. “I just got off the phone with Doctor Barns. He's so upset.”
“What a shame,” Sara replied sadly. “What's next?”
There was a moment of silence.
“What do you think happened to her?” Sara asked.
“Don't know.” Mira gathered that events leading up to Stefanie's disappearance were far more dramatic than that of the others who seemingly vanished into thin air. No longer feeling justified in withholding the truth since things had obviously escalated, she turned and looked at her mother. “Ever heard of anyone making a pact with the devil and then it backfired?”
Sara was taken aback. “Are you saying...”
“Mrs. Brussels did just that – not meaning anything by it, but it backfired,” Mira told her. “She said she was betrayed.”
“What? How?”
Mira went on to further explain.
“This is really very odd.” Sara shook her head in disbelief. “Do you think she’s...dead?”
“In a way. Yes, I think she is – at least dead in the context that most of us know of anyway.”
“I understand.”
For a while, both ladies privately considered what it all might mean. Mira was tackling a myriad of emotions from agitation and bewilderment to sorrow.”
“Well, maybe all the craziness that's been going on stops with Mrs. Brussels,” Sara suggested.
“Maybe so.” Mira tried to also convince herself. “Um… the community picnic is what time again?” She opted to change the topic.
“At noon,” Sara replied, listlessly.
Mira glanced at the wall clock. “It’s nine-twenty now. Whenever you like, you and Sara can go ahead of me. I’ll meet you there, okay?”
“Oh, okay.” Sara was unsure of what was going through her daughter’s mind at that point, but she'd seen that exact look of concern on her face several times and it usually didn’t involve just the living, but the dead. “I’ll get Rosie started with her bath in a while and we’ll head out around eleven-thirty.”
“Great.” Mira got up. “I’m gonna make some coffee. Want some?”
“That’ll be great, dear. Thanks.”
11
_________________
11:41 a.m.…
“Why aren’t you coming with us?”
Holding pink, inflatable arm floats, Rosie was wearing her favorite turquoise swim suit underneath a pink and white short set. On her little feet were turquoise rubber slippers to match.
Mira caressed Rosie’s face. “I’ll be right along, honey. Enjoy yourself with Mom until I get there, okay?”
“You're not gonna be long, right? Nana doesn’t like me to splash her because she doesn’t want her hair getting wet. I’ll have to wait for you before I can go in the water.”
“You won’t have to wait, Pumpkin.” Sara smiled. “See here. I’ll wear my new swim cap today. I bought one just for the occasion.”
“Ooh, goody! Bye, Mom. See ya later then!” She went outside on the porch with Daniel.
“Are you all right, Sweet Pea?” Sara asked before leaving.
“I’m fine, Mom. You and Rosie go and have a good time. See you in a while.”
A horn honked outside.
“That’s Bobby now,” Sara said.
“Tell him I’ll take my car,” Mira replied.
Rosie pressed her face against the screen door. “Bobby’s here! Bye, Mom!”
&nbs
p; “Bye, honey.”
* * * *
After they left, Mira headed back to her bedroom and retrieved Josephine’s letter from the drawer of her nightstand. Seated on the bed within the solitude of the house, she read it all the way through again.
Is it all over now that Stefanie’s gone? She wondered. A lump of anxiety settled in her throat. The thought of the unknown was nerve-racking.
Shoving the letter back into the drawer, she disrobed, then headed into the bathroom. Turning on the shower, she said, “Maybe I’m just overthinking. I do tend to overthink sometimes.”
The cascade of warm water on her skin managed to relieve some of the anxiety she had felt. She figured maybe the outing in the sun amidst so many affable, good-natured people would relieve the rest.
Ten minutes later, she stepped out of the shower and reached for her bathrobe. As she walked to her bedroom, she thought she heard drips of water – loud drips of water.
Maybe there’s a leak somewhere in the ceiling was a fleeting thought until she arrived at the door of her room. At the northern side of the wall near the head of her bed stood a young girl about twenty, head slightly lowered; her jet-black hair and thin white garments dripping wet. Mira was startled. Each drip sounded heavier than the one before. As the girl raised her head slightly, the look of anger and craze inhabiting her dark eyes could not be denied, and Mira instantly noticed the crimson-red pupils resembling what was described in Josephine’s letter. In that very moment, sheer panic reinvented itself within the fiber of her being.
“Who are you? What do you want?” Mira demanded. Her heart was racing, yet she dared not show her fear.
Calmly twisting her head from side to side, she released an ear-piercing scream which forced Mira to quickly press her fists against her ears, using all of her might. The high-pitched blast lasted about a full minute, but felt way longer. And just as Mira was sure her eardrums were about to burst due to the intense pressure, the girl suddenly vanished.
Mira’s hands dangled to the side as Mira stood there staring for several moments at the place the ghastly figure had stood. She no longer considered the possibility that all that was happening had ended with Stefanie.
After fighting against her will to just sit down outside under the magnolia tree and collect her thoughts, she managed to get dressed for the picnic and went to make her bed. Fluffing the pillow, she spotted something underneath. She lifted it again and what she saw caused her heart to sink. That damned artifact! It was right there under the pillow she slept on, glowing more brightly than she had seen it glow before. The teeth marks were vibrating within the metal as if they were miniature beating hearts. A formidable ache ravaged Mira’s being to the extent she wanted to vomit. She crouched over as if in pain, but nothing would be expelled through her throat. Then while struggling to collect herself at the foot of the bed, a menacing thought sailed through:
“...they seem to have passed the baton on to you and yours,” Stefanie said the last day Mira had seen her.
“Oh, no!” Mira sprung up as quickly as she could. She went over and grabbed the artifact, then snatched her car keys from the bureau and rushed out of the house.
As she sped down the street with the object glowing on the passenger seat with even more intensity, Stefanie’s words were on auto-play in her mind. She was beginning to understand now that the artifact’s appearing and re-appearing was no mere coincidence.
She almost drove up onto the sand if she hadn’t restrained herself. Dashing out of the car and onto the beach where scores of people had already gathered – young and old – she violently waved her hands in the air and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Everyone, get away from the water! Get away from the water!” She was clutching the artifact with her right hand so tightly it was slightly cutting her skin.
“Mira, what’s wrong?” Sara rushed up to her.
“Mom, help me get them out of the water now!”
People were looking in bewilderment, but gradually heeding Mira’s request.
“Why should we leave the water?” Tony Dawkins from across the street queried.
“Just listen to her!” Sara told him.
There were eight little tents set about ten feet apart. Most people were there collecting food and cold drinks; others were stretched out on beach towels in the sand and nearly a dozen more were in the water. Rosie was at the water’s edge about to get in when she heard her mother’s cries. “Rosie, go as far away from the water as possible!”
“Why, Mom?” she asked.
“Just do it!”
Mira called out to everyone still in the sea. Mr. Farquharson was quite a distance out and was heading to shore when suddenly, something sprung up like a dolphin – a head full of jet-black hair and arms that were longer than the length of Mr. Farquharson’s entire body, and pushed his head under water in the blink of an eye.
Little Susie Farquharson who had just stepped out of the water screamed as she witnessed her father’s watery assault. Sara pulled her close and held her. The girl sobbed uncontrollably as she repeatedly called for her daddy. Four other men dove into the water, against Mira's warnings, to try and rescue their neighbor. And one by one, they went under with a massive splash as that dreadful head came up. Terror-stricken, people attempted to run off the beach until there was a humming sound that started out subtly and within moments grew stronger and stronger. Immediately, they all turned back and looked out at the water as if something about it suddenly became appealing. They slowly began walking toward the water’s edge. Stunned, Mira tried to convince them to turn around and run; even attempted to physically stop them, but they overpowered her and continued on. A little ways in the distance she noticed her mother, Sara, was among them. It was as if they had all lost their senses and had been stripped of their will. Rosie, standing next to Mira, was not influenced as the others were and Mira soon realized they were the only two out of approximately a hundred people who weren’t.
Mira and Rosie ran toward Sara, loudly calling her name, urging her to wake up, but she didn’t seem to hear them. Soon, Mira heard Rosie speaking near the water’s edge.
“Please... you don’t have to do this.” She was tearfully addressing the same entity Mira had seen in her room that day. The girl was standing more than two hundred feet away on top of the sea. About a thousand others, mostly children, occasionally peeped up from beneath, but hadn’t ventured to the top. Directly behind the mysterious female was who Rosie identified as the dark man. He stood there quietly, yet prominently. Mira recognized then that although the angry girl was apparently doing the misdeeds, the dark man was the one pulling her strings.
“I do understand!” Rosie blurted as the girl spoke telepathically to her. Mira realized their communication was beyond her scope of consciousness. Somehow, Rosie had connected.
“Please let them go! I can’t lose my Nana! I already lost my Pops when I was younger. I love them both so very much.” Tears were streaming down her face.
As all the people, including Sara, were approaching the water’s edge, a rage rose up inside of Rosie like never before. “You don’t have to listen to that bully anymore! Don’t you wanna be like you were before he tricked you and had you do all those terrible things?”
Mira was blown away by her daughter’s sudden knowledge of events she herself had recently become privy to – events which she hadn’t shared with Rosie. “Remember your parents, your family, your loved ones – all of you, try to remember!”
The others in the sea were popping up more often; the heads of some remained above water for the first time. Mira looked on, inwardly praying that she won’t lose her mother that day, and in such a horrific way.
“He told you he loved you, didn’t he?”
The girl’s stare was fixated on little Rosie. Mira could see something breaking within the confines of those crimsonly dark, hate-filled, lonely eyes.
“Well, he lied!” Rosie yelled.
The dark man stood motionless; a grimace
gradually forming on his slender, deathly face.
Rosie looked into the crowd behind her, then turned toward the girl in the sea again. “Who?”
She again turned around, then made her way through the crowd until she came upon Mrs. Jameson. She took her by the hand and they walked toward the water. Mrs. Jameson was as compliant as could be. In fact, she had no reaction whatsoever.
“Honey, what’re you doing?” Mira asked.
“This is Mrs. Jameson.” Rosie said to the mysterious girl.
Mira noticed that the young woman’s facial expression suddenly softened and a single tear drop rolled down her right cheek.
“You don’t have to worry. I will make sure she knows what to do. Instantly, one by one, the phantoms of the sea ascended to the top of the water, literal scales simultaneously falling from their eyes. Rosie and Mira saw children as young as around ten-years-old among them. Looking back, they noticed that the crowd behind them were also beginning to wake up, but behind the girl in the water, the dark man had become fidgety and visibly agitated. With mountainous fury, he firmly gripped her shoulders and pushed her down into the ocean. He then swiftly glided on top of the water heading straight for the shoreline when Rosie yelled: “Mom, toss that thing into the water!” Mira, without hesitation, and with all her might, tossed the artifact into the depths of the sea. The instant it hit the water, the dark man sunk along with all the others.
Mira and Rosie grabbed Sara and they hugged warmly. Everyone had come to their senses and tried to understand what had just occurred. Little Susie Farquharson had resumed her crying until she spotted her father and the four men who dove in to save him swimming to shore. Her eyes were lit with joy and excitement as she ran to the water’s edge eagerly anticipating her father’s arrival. As soon as he got out of the water, they embraced tightly.
The Cornelius Saga Boxed Set Page 40