by S A Jacobs
An hour later, I was still on the patio. The bottle was empty. I pulled out my phone, as I had a thousand times that night, hoping to see a text from her. As usual, there was none. I typed out the only message I could think to send, “Worried about you. Call me!”
I grabbed the empty bottle and threw it as far as I could. I could hear the explosion of glass hitting the parking lot when it landed. I stood up, a bit wobbly from the alcohol. I made it over to my couch where I lay down and closed my eyes.
I opened my eyes to find myself standing on the garden terrace of the Villa. The sky was dark, and there was a cold wind that cut right through me. A light fog blanketed the ground. It looked as if the fog was battling the lights on the terrace. The fog forced the light to be constrained into a small area, like glowing orbs in the distance.
Without a thought, I started to walk. My destination was unknown to me. Yet, I walked with purpose as if following a command. I walked down the steps and through the center of the garden. The loose gravel crunching under my foot was the only sound. I continued walking until I reached the path towards the lily pond. As I turned to enter the lush park surrounded by hedges, the rain began to fall.
The rain was overwhelming. Sheets of water poured from the sky. Still, I continued forward. Driven by an inexplicable force, I approached the pond. The entire garden was lit only by the lights under the water, creating an eerie glow with the surrounding fog. I reached the far end of the pond and stopped. The angelic statue in the center of the pond cast wild shadows across the pond. I felt like the statue was moving. I could feel it coming closer to me. I stood paralyzed by fear.
That statue looked as if it was within only a couple feet from me when the lightning struck. A single strike of lightning with an immediate boom of thunder crashed just behind the pond. The ground shook from the thunder, causing me to wince. Then, for that split second, with the sky illuminated by the lightning, I saw his face. It was not the angel statue. It was Samuel, and he was coming up to me. There was a devilish grin on his face as he approached.
“Master James, did you really think you could win?” he roared.
“I will win.” I yelled back. “Your reign is finished!”
“Is that so? For I would think that if that were the case, I wouldn’t even be here right now.”
He took a step back and raised his arms. As he did so the rain instantly ceased. Now, I could see him clearly from the glow of the pond.
“As you see, I am still very much in control.” He confidently stared me down. I could feel his dark dead eyes sizing me up. “Not just that, but here you are. The one who challenges me, and I feel nothing but fear from you. You are not the worthy adversary I waited for all these years.”
My fists clenched in rage. Yet, I was paralyzed. I was unable to move, unable to speak. He turned his back to me and walked up to the angel statue in the center of the pond. The sound of the water sloshing around his feet, as he waded through the pond, made my stomach turn. In front of the statue now, he turned to face me again.
“Master James, leave here at once! You do not belong here! Should you choose to stay, we both know your fate!”
He immediately turned to the statue and shoved it. As if in slow motion, the statue fell into the pond. It landed with a crash. A plume of water rose around the toppled statue. He was gone. The statue lay broken as a cloud of red surrounded it. The blood-like cloud grew until it swallowed the entire pond. Unmoving, I stared out at the crimson glow of the now blood-soaked pond. In the distance, I saw something.
I turned my head, Kat stood at the far end of the pond. There was a wide smile on her face as she looked at me. It was not a smile of joy at seeing me. It was joy at seeing him torment me.
Another lightning bolt shot through the sky and blinded me for a moment. I closed my eyes.
When I opened them, I was back at my apartment. It was bright and sunny. My head throbbed with pain. My hair and my shirt were drenched in sweat, despite the fact that the apartment was cold enough to make me shiver. I picked up my phone to look at it. There were no messages. That was the moment where the memory of last night overtook me. In my head, I started playing the slow-motion video of her crying again. Then, there was the blood of the pond and her laughing.
I pounded my fists on the coffee table.
After a healthy dose of coffee and ibuprofen, I finally felt alive enough to face the day. I sat for several minutes staring at Kat’s number in my phone. My finger hovered over the call button. I took a deep breath and pressed it, hoping that after sleeping off the day she would talk to me. After two rings, the automated voice of her voicemail came on. Frustrated, I hung up the phone, grabbed my keys and left.
Soon, I was at the hotel picking up David. I didn’t know what to expect today. Really, I didn’t know what to expect when I had planned this with Kat. Now, without her, I was lost. I hadn’t ever even been to the house without her. I sat in the parking lot and sent David a text. Then, despite telling myself not to, I sent Kat a text.
“Heading to the house. Would love to see you there. Meet me if you can.”
A moment later, I saw David walking toward the truck. He looked the same. He was wearing the same poncho, same jeans, and the same worn out Converse All-Stars. He was also carrying a large backpack with him.
I got out of the truck to greet him, and he shot me a look.
“Whoa, looks like the party didn’t end after you left me here last night. You know, if you were holding, you could have shared.”
“Hell, I just had a nice long chat with my friend Jimmy Beam last night,” I admitted.
“Looks more like an all-out barroom brawl with Jimmy if you ask me,” he chided.
We got in the truck, and I started pulling out on the road.
“Where’s Katherine?” he asked.
“Oh, something came up…she couldn’t make it,” I replied weakly.
We drove a few miles in silence.
“You know what is really funny about being in tune with feelings and energy like I am?” he asked looking at me.
“No, what is it?”
“When people feed you a stream of obvious bullshit and expect you to believe it,” he replied. “You don’t have to go telling me all your shit, but have some consideration.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked defensively.
“Really?” he asked with an overly mock surprised look. “C’mon, you want me to pretend that something didn’t blow up between you two last night? That you didn’t go hitting the bottle because it was the best idea you could come up with?” He paused to look at me with intensity. “And you had another dream!”
“So what if you’re right?” I asked.
“Just saying, it is pretty silly to watch you try and act like nothing happened.”
I ignored the comment. I just focused on driving. This day was looking like it was going to be far more frustrating than I had imagined.
“I can’t say I am entirely disappointed to be doing this without her,” he said quietly.
Now I was just pissed. Sure, this guy was annoying but up until now, it was just that, annoying. Now he was crossing the line. I realized that I was either going to turn around and just drop him off, or I was going to keep driving knowing full well he might push me over the edge to the point I hit him.
“Don’t be mad,” he said. “I don’t mean it like that, bro. It’s just that there is some stuff I need to talk to you about without her.”
“Like what?” I asked, still fuming.
“Yesterday, I was trying to be as considerate as I could be with my words, but I have a very bad feeling about her. Like I said, I feel things. I don’t get a vision or anything, just a feeling. But, in getting them all my life, I have become pretty good at interpreting them. With you, there is definitely a super strong light power. But her. It isn’t light. It’s not dark either. It is more she is in the middle, both equally light and dark. Most people don’t stay that way. They either consciously or u
nconsciously find themselves going to one side or the other. As they do, the other fades away.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do with that? Do you ever just speak English?” I was no longer able to hide my irritation.
“That is my point,” he warned. “There’s nothing you can do. At some point, she will move one way or the other. That will be her choice. But if she goes dark, I fear that could be trouble for you.”
“Gee, thanks for the warning,” I said sarcastically.
“You don’t get it, do you?” he asked with concern in his voice.
“No, I don’t get a damn thing about any of this!”
“Look, if there is even a fraction of the residual energy in that house that I think there will be, it will be enough to swallow up the strongest of men. You will be going to war, my friend. A war like you have never even imagined. How well do you think you will fare if the person who consumes your thoughts is fighting on the other side?”
We approached the circle drive in front of the property. I slammed on my brakes and parked the car. “It isn’t a fucking war! It’s a house! Great! There’s the oogie boogie man in the closet. You can come in and toss some holy water on it and we’ll move on!”
“I wish it were that easy. Tell me, you ever just get a bad feeling about something?”
“Yeah, everyone does.”
“Okay, when you get that bad feeling, don’t you typically make decisions based off that feeling?” he continued.
“I ‘spose. Why?” I was now slightly more composed.
“Because that is exactly what this is like. Take a bad feeling or a good feeling, whatever. They affect you by influencing your actions, your thoughts, your perceptions. It happens to everyone everywhere. But now imagine yourself living in this house, surrounded by these feelings of such intensity that it consumes everything. You think you will make good decisions then? We live in a world where one action can affect the rest of our lives. Take the guy who gets pissed off and drinks. He isn’t a typical drunk, but he has a bad night. He then jumps in his car and the next thing you know someone’s poor kid is getting put in the ground. Yeah, he got drunk and drove. He hit the kid. That is what he is punished for. But the reality is, that is the end product of the chain of reaction. It all started with him getting pissed off. That is the energy that led to the end. Because he didn’t have the strength to overcome that one simple energy. The energy, I believe is at this house, will make all of that look like a little pond compared to the Pacific Ocean.”
I sat there for a minute. I didn’t want to admit it. What he was saying kinda made sense. I really didn’t buy into the idea that this house was the bottomless pit of hell thing, or the light and dark, but in concept, I saw what he was saying.
“So, with all your feelings, you know why she isn’t here, don’t you?” I asked.
“No, I really don’t. Why isn’t she here?
“I dunno. She kinda flipped out last night about you saying that she needed to choose sides. That’s all I really could get out of her.”
“Oh! She does know then.”
“She knows what?” I asked.
“She feels it too. She knows she has to choose once and for all. I hope for her sake, and ours, she is staying away to choose the path she knows is right.”
11
“So, how do you want to do this?” I asked. “Do we have to walk from here so you can feel the whole place, or can I drive up to the house?”
“Man, I can take it all in as we go,” David replied. “Let’s roll up there. If I feel something, we can come back to it.”
I drove the truck into the estate. I watched David. He just sat there like a kid amazed at the world around him. When we arrived at the house, he got out, walked up to the front door, and placed his hand on the house. His eyes were closed. Then, he turned around and approached me, setting his backpack down on the ground.
“What is it?” I asked.
“This is absolutely unreal.” He shook his head in awe.
“What?” I asked again.
“This house is just like Katherine in a way. It isn’t dark. It isn’t light. Here outside, I feel the darkness just oozing everywhere to the point it is like the house is just covered in black sludge. But the door… the white light inside is forcing its way out. It is like they are equal powers converging on one another. Deadlocked in a battle for all eternity.”
“Soooo gray? I can live with gray, right?”
“No, it isn’t like a color wheel. They don’t mix. There is light and dark. Out here is the most overpowering darkness I’ve ever felt. But the house itself is protected by what I can only imagine is an equally powerful light power.”
Then he looked up at me.
“Locked in a battle for all eternity until…” He trailed off and started rummaging through his bag.
“Until what?” I asked.
“Until something changes. You own this house now. You change the environment. I need to feel more. Let’s go inside.” He grabbed some electronics from his bag.
We walked inside the house. David walked slowly, holding some sort of a meter with flashing lights. I was curious what he was doing but could not bear to be reprimanded for not knowing. So I let him just do his thing. We walked through the house much in the same way I did with Kat. It was far less enjoyable this time. Instead of laughing and trying to envision the grand house as it had been, we went room by room feeling things and listening for beeps on his machine. The only thing that broke the monotony of it all was when we entered the room with the fountain. He immediately walked up to it and gave it a curious look.
“There’s something here,” he said. “There’s protection here.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“Well, it is better when there is no need for protection. But for now, yes. It is a very good thing.”
Looking at the way he examined the fountain, my mind shot back to that moment with Kat. How she lit up upon seeing that penny. Despite everything, my mind was on her. While I partly understood what he was feeling about her, I felt I needed to stand up for her.
“You know, I am not going to pretend to feel things like you do, but I think you are wrong about Kat. Maybe she is confused right now, sure. But I walked through the house with her. You say that fountain is protected. It’s protected by her great-great-grandfather. I saw her feel that connection.”
David stopped and set his meter down, looking at me with a stare. “Look, I’m not sayin’ she is a bad person or anything. I get it better than you know. I’ve no doubt she could feel something in here. It is one of the main reasons I could feel she was connected, back at the hotel.” He stroked the stubble on his chin. “Hear me out. We have barely begun going through this house. Everything I’ve felt in here has been about protection. Yet outside, I know there is something far darker. Something battling this protection. While she connected with her family in here, how do we know she doesn’t equally connect with the darkness outside?”
I stood there not knowing what to say. Inside, I loathed the fact that he made logical sense to me. I really wanted Kat back regardless of what side she was on.
“I get it,” he said. “You care about her, and you want to fight for her. Just please be open to learning what this house has to say to us and where Katherine fits in. Besides, we don’t have much of a choice today. Just give me a chance.”
As much as I wanted to fight him on this, he was right. We didn’t have a choice today. So, I tried to shrug it off and to see what David had to say when we were done.
We continued our walk through the house, eventually making our way upstairs. We walked through all the rooms and the corridors in silence. When we approached Ida’s parlor, his meter lit up like a Christmas tree. He stopped and slowly ran it along the hall and then the door. The second it would be in front of the door, it would light up again.
“Here! Right here! What’s this room?” His eyes widened.
“I believe it’s the parlor,” I
said.
“Whoa, this is insane. I have never felt this much in one place! This door is… no… there is a sentry guarding this door. For real! You can’t see him, but he is right here guarding the door! I can feel it!”
“That door was locked. It was the only one locked when I first came into the house. Look at the frame. You can see where people tried to get in.”
“But no one could because of the sentry!” he yelled. “This is amazing!”
“Wait ‘till you go in.” His enthusiasm was rubbing off on me.
“It is well…you’ll see,” I said as I put the key in the lock and opened the door.
He slowly stepped into the parlor. When his foot hit the floor inside the room he froze. He didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He just stood there with his eyes wide. He turned to look at me, and I was shocked. He had gone completely pale.
“Shut that door!” he yelled as he backed out. “Lock it and stay out!”
“What’s going on? I’ve been in there. It’s peaceful and smells like flowers.”
“Look again! Don’t stay! Don’t go in! Just look in and then lock that door!”
I rolled my eyes and peered through the door. The room was the same but completely different at the same time. It wasn’t bright and clean as it had been. The inviting smell of flowers was gone, replaced with what smelled like smoke. I closed my eyes and shook my head before looking again. When I did, I saw what David had seen. The far wall of the room, which had been a very pleasant yellow color… was now red. Blood red. It looked wet as if it were sloppily painted only minutes before. I clenched my fists, and I turned to David.
“What the fuck did you do?” I fumed. “You think this is a joke?”
“Me? Just please lock that door! Now!”
I grabbed the front of his shirt. I was enraged.
“Stop!” he yelled. “Just lock the damn door!”
I winced in pain from my head. As if someone had just stabbed my temples. I let go of his shirt. The second I did, he bolted over to the door, slamming it shut. He then grabbed the key from me and locked the door. He grabbed my arm and started pulling me down the hall.