The Cornelius Saga Boxed Set

by Tanya R. Taylor

  “What do you mean?” Mira sat up straight.

  “I’m no psychic like you and I don’t have telekinetic abilities like Matilda did, but I have a religion where justice reigns and the supernatural becomes readily available to me to enforce such justice.”

  “You’re into Black Magic,” Mira said, evenly.

  “The house in Newport, as I indicated, is cloned in various locations one at a time. It exists, apart from the main source in Newport, long enough for the inhabitants to be terrorized and ultimately die an untimely death, then the house disappears from sight and re-appears nice and neat, and void of anything belonging to the former residents, in a new location. For instance, if you return to 25 North Pinewood Drive, you’ll no longer see the house the Sylvesters lived in. It’s completely gone. The residents also disappear along with it — they become one with the main source.”

  Mira was stunned.

  “The cloned house is now at another location here in Mizpah, ready and willing to be occupied.” There was a shrewd smile across Latina’s face as she announced it. “The new owners will find a deed in the public registry tracing it to me, as required by law, regardless of the location it’s in. Don’t ask me how it works, it just works! I sign off on the sale, they think they’ve become the new owners and on and on it goes. Initially, the whole thing started in Newport before any cloning came in to play. No one who lived in that house since Stephen and Matilda occupied that space has survived. Their souls were swallowed up into the bowels of the house, although their bodies were always discovered. Then, I realized the residents of Mizpah needed to pay for practically running my cousin and his girlfriend out of town.”

  “They didn’t run them out of town,” Mira interjected.

  “By applying the pressure, I’d say they did! If they never had to leave because of the religious hypocrites in this town, Stephen and Matilda could’ve stayed right here. They could’ve gotten married, had babies - had a future. All of that was stripped away from them because they knew they had to flee. And when they fled, their lives were snuffed out of them.” Her natural blue eyes were now black with rage.

  “How long will you allow this to go on, Latina? How long will you allow innocent people to suffer for something that happened so long ago and can’t be undone?”

  Latina walked over to her. “How long, you ask? Here’s your answer: until I die. I’m the one who’s going to give my family and Matilda justice, Latina Cosgrove style! There’s nothing you can say or do to dissuade me from that and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

  Mira stood up and looked her in the eyes. “I see it doesn’t bother you to have innocent blood on your hands. Matilda would’ve never wanted it this way. The curse she put on Newport didn’t last forever, although it did a long time. She never cursed Mizpah — the town she and Stephen were from. How could you?”

  Mira turned to leave, then in the doorway appeared a tall, bright light and inside that light Matilda’s spirit emerged. With profound sadness in her eyes, she looked at Latina and Mira knew Latina could see her too.

  “It’s time for peace,” Matilda said. “Justice has long been served.”

  Though awestruck and honored by Matilda’s presence, Latina shook her head passionately. “No, Matilda. You’re wrong. There’s much more justice to dish out! You didn’t deserve what happened to you.”

  “End it now Latina, for the forces you rely on will turn on you.”

  “I never will — not until the day I die,” Latina replied. “I’ve done all this for both of you. My family loved Stephen, but they also loved you and I love you.” Tears were brimming in her eyes.

  “It’s time for peace,” Matilda repeated. “We have found it here. It’s now time for you to find it.” After a long pause and intense stare at the woman who sought revenge on her behalf, Matilda soon went away, leaving Latina standing there in tears.

  Mira was moved. For Latina, she knew it all started initially out of a twisted sense of love, but then darkness completely took over.

  “I can’t believe she came to me. After all this time, she just now appeared to me.”

  “I think you should listen to her,” Mira said softly. “She never used her power for evil, other than for defending her own life.”

  Mira walked out and closed the door behind her. She knew what she had to do to make sure the disappearing house never again appeared anywhere to wreak havoc on anyone’s life.

  Her cell phone rang moments later. It was the police. They did not find anything except vacant land at what she described was 25 North Pinewood Drive.

  “I don’t know what to say, officer,” she replied. “I loaned someone my cell and they must’ve played a prank on you. I apologize for that.”

  She couldn’t think of any other logical explanation to give them, as she was certain they would not, for a second, believe the truth.

  With heightened curiosity, she drove straight over there to see this eerily amazing thing for herself. In short order, she could not deny the truth — the house was no longer there and neither were the bodies. Dreading the real possibility that the house was now located somewhere else to inflict irreversible harm, Mira wasted no time in putting together her plan.

  14

  _________________

  Mira was able to convince Bobby to join her on the drive and they left out around seven o’clock Wednesday night. She dreaded having to return to that place, but now Bobby was with her, so she felt she’d be safe.

  As she didn’t want to upset Sara about the trip again, she mentioned nothing to her about Newport. Sara already had to contend with the little sleep she’d been getting and endless nightmares whenever she did happen to doze off at night. Mira wanted to get back as soon as possible, for Rosie’s sake, as this was certainly no mission they could take her on.

  She sighed deeply, as she lowered the seat to a horizontal position, then crossed her feet on the dashboard.

  “What’s up? Nervous?” Bobby asked, behind the wheel.

  “More worried than nervous,” she answered.

  “It has to be done, right?”

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Well, just don’t worry about it then. Focus on the bigger picture.”

  “You’re right.”

  A few hours later, they approached the sign: Welcome To Newport, and instantly, Mira had a sickening feeling. The anxiety she’d felt all along now shot up a thousand notches.

  Bobby glanced her way. “Are you all right?”

  Her chest was heaving slightly. “Yeah. I guess. Let’s just do this and get out of here as quickly as possible.”

  He could see the worry all over her face. It would be the first time she’d ever done anything so drastic and… illegal, but he knew based on what she’s told him that innocent lives depended on their actions that night.

  They arrived in town shortly after midnight, just as they’d anticipated. The streets were eerily quiet, but this wasn’t unexpected, considering the time of night.

  “It’s this next turn coming up on the right,” Mira said.

  Bobby stopped the car a few feet ahead of the turn. “Are you ready?” he asked. He wanted to make sure she was good to go, as once they sprang into action, it had to be quick and there was no turning back.

  “As ready as can be.” She removed her feet from the dashboard and raised the seat to an upright position.

  Bobby pulled into the long, narrow driveway and parked about midway through. He switched off the engine and they both got out of the car. He went to the trunk and retrieved two five-gallon jerry cans filled with gasoline and Mira grabbed a large box of matches from the glove compartment.

  “Be very quiet,” he whispered. “We don’t want to alert the neighbors.”

  The house immediately to the left of Stephen and Matilda’s old house was also vacant and there was at least forty feet of free space in between Matilda’s house and the nearest one on the right. Street lamps shared a little light, but not nearly enough
to light up the house, since the driveway from the road was roughly fifty feet long.

  He carefully, but hastily went over to the house. Mira opened the fence and let him into the back yard. Something near the window, just above her, caused her to look up.

  Bobby quickly made his way around the house, splashing gasoline onto the walls and around the foundation. Mira mounted the porch and eased the front door open. Reluctantly, she entered the house. The smell of gasoline was strong and she knew what was about to happen in just a few minutes.

  She had to make sure it was really them she’d seen at the window when she went to the fence to let Bobby in. Bryant and Lucille Sylvester were standing across the living room near the eastern window where she’d first spotted them. With faces sulky and drawn, they were holding hands. Lucille looked the worst as blood covered her entirely and Mira could see the deep gash her husband had inflicted to her neck. The long dress she wore reeked of stale blood intermixed with feces and urine. Bryant was not so disheveled, but his hand was still stained with blood from having cut his own wrist.

  “I’m sorry,” Mira said to them, feeling somehow like she’d failed them.

  “It’s not your fault,” Bryant said. “You tried, but we just couldn’t listen.”

  They were not the only ones there. Many more souls inhabited the house just as Mira had seen before.

  “Do what you have to do!” Lucille yelled at the top of her lungs; glaring at her. “Release us from this hell!”

  “What’re you doing?” Bobby whispered loudly to Mira from the doorway, after making his way around to the front again.

  “Nothing.” She headed out to meet him. “Let’s do this.”

  She took the empty jug from him and handed him the matches. “Be careful,” she said, before hurrying off to the car.

  Entering the house only slightly, Bobby splashed the gasoline around and was sure to empty the container. He put the can on the porch, then went back to the doorway, struck a long match and tossed it inside. He knew it wouldn’t take long for flames to engulf the mostly wooden structure.

  As the fire ignited and followed the trail of the spilled gasoline, Bobby picked up the jerry can from the porch and ran out to the car. Mira was standing on the passenger side, watching.

  “Get in!” he said.

  They both jumped in the vehicle and Bobby started the ignition. They could see that already flames were rising inside the house. Mira observed the black shadows sliding in and out of the walls, off the trees on the property and they all soon headed inside the house. She could hear the shrilling screams and cries of agony. Through the front windows, she could see the lost souls gradually moving away and in her mind’s eye, she also saw the portal inside the house, slowly closing as the intensity of the fire destroyed the cursed habitat board by board and brick by brick.

  Bobby sped out of the yard and they held each other’s hand firmly while they made their way as quickly as possible out of town. Mira felt a sense of relief that her last sight of the house was it being melted down by the flames.

  “You did well.” She squeezed Bobby’s hand. “Thanks for helping me out.”

  “Anything for you, lovely.” He kissed her hand. Then he thought of something. “You mean… thanks for helping them out, don’t you?”

  “Right.” She smiled. “At least, those who had become victims of the house are now released from its grip. They’ve gone on now.”

  He gave her a long glance. “You’re really amazing, you know?”

  “I am?”

  “You surely are.”

  They managed to drive out of Newport without incident.

  That same night…

  Latina Cosgrove had just placed a book she was reading on the nightstand and stretched out in her king-sized, solid oak bed.

  Yawning, she turned to her side and just as she was on the verge of drifting off to sleep, she felt a jabbing sensation beneath the mattress, as if someone had punched their fist straight through it from the bottom.

  She turned over onto her back again, wondering if she’d drifted off to sleep in that split second and what she thought she felt was only a dream. A harder jab soon traveled up through the mattress and hit her directly in the back.

  “Ow!” she shrieked.

  Then there were multiple punches — heavier ones, and the bed began to shake violently. She suffered the brunt of each violent blow and could not, as much as she tried, get up from the horizontal position.

  “What’s going on here?” she yelled. “Stop it! Stop!”

  The bed continued to shake, then tilted from side to side. However, lying on her back, she still couldn’t move. Fear wiggled its way up her throat and she felt she could hardly breathe. Now in a full-blown panic, she had no idea what to do to escape. Then, she saw them – the shadow figures — sliding across the four walls and in and out of her bed; she even felt them slide in and out of her body. Soon, the bed began to rise and rise, and looking up at the tall ceiling, she shuddered to think that it might take her all the way up there. Her fear was realized when she was a little more than thirty feet off the floor and just a few feet away from the ceiling. She seemed to hover there for at least a full minute or two before the king-sized bed flipped over and she was looking directly down at the marble floor below; still pinned to the bed by a cruel, invisible force, with her arms stretched out on each side.

  It was at that moment she recalled Matilda’s words: “The forces you rely on will turn on you”. And before she had a chance to say a final prayer that for a moment, she hoped would save her, she, as if one with the bed, came crashing down at rapid speed and slammed face-down into the marble tiles. Her body was crushed beneath the giant bed and indented into the floor.

  15

  _________________

  Sara was up cooking breakfast when Mira arrived home with Bobby a little after 6:00 a.m.

  Daniel greeted them at the door, wagging his tail eagerly and licking Bobby’s shoes.

  “Mom, what are you doing up so early?” Mira asked, as Bobby patted Daniel’s head.

  “What on earth do you mean, honey? I always get up early. Okay, not recently, but last night was the first time I’ve had a full night’s sleep in months.”

  Mira loved the sound of that. “No nightmares?”

  “No nightmares. I slept like a baby.” She smiled.

  Mira and Bobby glanced at each other with a glint of satisfaction in their eyes.

  “You two are here pretty early.” Sara was under the impression that Mira had spent the night with Bobby, although it’s not something she’d known her daughter to do before. When Bobby came by to pick her up the previous night, Mira had said she’d be spending some quality time with him and will be back in the morning. She figured it was all her mother needed to know.

  “Yes, we are.” Mira kissed her on the cheek.

  “What’s that for?” Sara asked, holding the pot spoon.

  “Just because I love you.”

  Smiling, Mira headed down the hallway.

  “Whatever you did to her, Bobby, keep doing!” Sara winked at him.

  He couldn’t restrain his laughter. “Mrs. Cullen, you’re too much!”

  As Mira proceeded to the bathroom, Rosie stepped out of her bedroom.

  “Hi, honey. Just woke up?” Mira put her arm around her.

  “Was up for a little while. I hate having to get ready for school this early.” Her pout never changed, since she was a toddler. Mira thought it was still the cutest thing.

  “Aww, don’t worry. Soon you’ll be much older like me and have to get up just as early or even earlier to go to work and earn a living.” She giggled. “Moral of the story… get used to it!”

  Mira went into the bathroom, but before she managed to close the door, Rosie said: “So, it’s all over now, right?”

  Mira knew what she was talking about. “Yes, honey. It’s over now.”

  Gratified, Rosie closed the door and headed into the kitchen.

 
Mira leaned over the basin and washed her face. She felt like she was removing all the darkness that had surrounded her in recent months. As she dabbed her face dry with a towel and looked into the mirror, behind her stood a familiar face. Mira kept looking forward through the glass and into the brown eyes of the woman branded a witch when she was alive.

  “Matilda…”

  Matilda gently placed her hand on Mira’s hair and began smoothing it back with her fingers.

  “You’ve closed the gateway,” she uttered softly. “And ended the suffering of so many.”

  Mira forced a smile although instead, she felt like crying.

  “You remind me so much of myself,” Matilda went on. “My beloved Stephen held me in such high esteem despite my faults and endless indecision. When I finally agreed that we should wed, further procrastination on my part, sealed our fate forever. Time is of the essence.”

  Just then, Mira remembered the death angel that had lingered around Bobby two years ago when he’d come to visit her in hospital. She also remembered how afraid she was. “I understand,” she quietly said.

  She turned around and as silently as Matilda appeared, she was gone.

  Mira headed back out front where the others were eating breakfast and cracking jokes.

  “Latina! Latina! We all fall down!” Esther, the parakeet, blurted.

  At first, the strange exclamation caught them all by surprise, but Mira and Rosie knew it was a message of finality spoken through the bird.

  “Crash and burn! Crash and burn!” the parakeet went again.

  “What on earth?” Sara was staring at the bird as if the animal was possessed.

  “It’s all right, Mom,” Mira said, joining Bobby at the counter. “Parakeets say all sorts of weird things.”

  Moments later, she reached for Bobby’s hand and said, “Mom, Rosie, we have an announcement to make.”