The Curse of the Old Woods

by Elizabeth Andre

  “All right, goddamnit. I’m here.” She waited for a reply. Nothing.

  “Is Katie all right? We only wanted to find answers for her sister who has missed her so much for so many years. You don’t need to hurt anyone else.”

  Still no response. She pushed open the barn door and stepped over the threshold. She knew about the interior of the barn from the information she’d gotten from Julie and the others. It looked much as they had described. She advanced farther inside cautiously as the barn door slammed shut behind her. Once again, she felt some discomfort around her torso. It felt like it had on the previous visit to the woods when Katie had used Maya to anchor herself to this world. It felt like Katie.

  “I’m sorry, Maya.” It was Katie, but she wasn’t coming through clearly.

  “Katie? Katie, where are you? What happened?”

  “I can’t…” Katie started to say but didn’t finish.

  Maya felt her insides lurch and then there was an emptiness. She fell to her knees. It was cold. Very cold. Fog filled the barn. Her vision blurred. She thought she saw a figure standing over her. Everything went black.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Looking for Maya

  At least now no one will have a shred of doubt about the vines that tripped me up a couple of nights ago, thought Julie as they disappeared, and she tried to catch her breath.

  “Hey, everyone okay?” Julie asked as she sat up. She stretched experimentally. Nothing hurt.

  Steve was on the ground nearby, rubbing his nose.

  “You’re bleeding, sweetheart,” said Eddie, trying to pass him a tissue.

  Steve waved his free hand. “It’s not so bad.”

  Jason rolled over onto his back. He rubbed his stomach gingerly before moving his hand up to his nose, touching it with equal care. “I don’t know about that. She punches really hard.”

  Julie peeled Jason’s hand away from his nose. She shone a flashlight at his face. “There’s some swelling. You’ll be black and blue tomorrow.”

  Penny was about to talk, but she was cut off by a shriek from Mrs. Forcier.

  “Maya’s gone!” Mrs. Forcier said. “Where is she? What happened?”

  Julie pulled herself off the ground. She brushed herself off and walked over to Mrs. Forcier. She helped the older woman stand. She fell into Julie’s arms and sobbed.

  “I know this is hard,” said Julie, “but we’re going to find Maya and help your sister.”

  Mrs. Forcier was still agitated. “But Katie disappeared for decades. How long will it take for us to find Maya and perhaps Katie again?”

  Julie said, “This may not be as bleak as you think.” She wasn’t sure if she actually believed that, but it sounded like something she should say right now.

  Steve came over to Julie and Mrs. Forcier. “She’s right, Mrs. F. We’ve already made a lot of progress in a short amount of time. We can’t give up now or give in to despair. We’re with you all the way.”

  Mrs. Forcier gave Steve some side eye at being called “Mrs. F” but seemed to otherwise calm down and returned to the composure that was her hallmark. “I’m okay,” she whispered.

  Julie removed her hand from Mrs. Forcier’s arm and took hold of one of the woman’s hands.

  This got a weary smile from Mrs. Forcier.

  “We’ll find her again. We’ll find them both.” Julie hoped she sounded less fearful than she actually was. She’d never before dealt with a spirit this malevolent.

  “We’ve gotta get moving if we’re gonna get Maya before something really bad happens to her,” Penny said, her voice full of worry.

  “Come on. We gotta get to the barn!” Steve said.

  The gang gathered themselves and their equipment and walked as fast as they could along the trail. A deep silence had fallen onto the woods. The air was still. Neither bugs nor birds made a sound. Only the sound of their footsteps on uneven ground covered with rocks and twigs filled the air. A faint breeze brushed Julie’s cheeks. It was warm and intermittent. Everything felt like an echo, like an awful scream had been made but gone unheard. There was a smell that was so subtle Julie could barely sense it. She suspected it was death from long ago.

  She stepped alongside Jason who was limping a little.

  “You’re not all right, are you?” she said.

  “She clipped my knee real good. Felt like a hammer banging on my kneecap. Now I know why loan sharks always threaten to bust people’s kneecaps. It hurts.” Jason tried to grin and just about managed it. “I’ll walk it off.”

  She could hear Steve and Eddie chatting. Eddie was also expressing concern over Steve’s well-being after his encounter with Maya.

  “Yep. She might have broken it. Not the first time my nose got broken, though,” Steve said. His voice sounded stifled, like the swelling was narrowing his nasal passages.

  “I remember, hothead,” Eddie said affectionately.

  Julie made a mental note to ask her brother about his experience with loan sharks and Steve about the other times his nose had been broken.

  She knew that much of the time, the things that went bump in the night were often in people’s heads. People tended to project their fears on inanimate and even intangible objects, like darkness and the trees in a dark forest, but something about the night made Julie shudder. Something had gotten to Maya this evening and spirited her away. It had made her lash out at friends. Fearing for Maya’s safety, she picked up the pace.

  “C’mon. Let’s get moving,” she said.

  No one grumbled. Everyone walked faster. Julie hoped they wouldn’t be too late.

  ****

  When they got to the barn, the entire exterior was encased in frost. It looked like it would hurt to touch unless you were wearing gloves. The moonless night made the structure all the spookier. Before anyone could stop her, Penny marched up to the door, placed her hand on the metal handle to pull it open and screamed. The others ran to her side. Her hand was frozen to the door.

  “Help me!” she shouted. Her long black hair flailed back and forth as she struggled to free herself.

  “Hold on. Hold on,” Steve said.

  “I am holding on. I don’t want to be holding on. It fucking hurts!” She struggled and squirmed as she tried to pull free.

  Julie touched Penny’s hand with one finger, but quickly pulled away to reduce the risk that she would get stuck, too. Penny’s skin was cold and rapidly turning alabaster white. Her lips were turning blue. Julie put her hand on Penny’s back. Her body temperature was dropping.

  “We’ve got to get her unstuck,” Julie said, trying to stay calm so as not to alarm Penny more.

  Penny said, “No kidding, but I swear if anyone pees on me, I am never talking to you again. Figure something out. Help me.”

  Julie hurriedly rummaged through her bag for anything that could free Penny. The others also appeared to be searching for solutions. It was Eddie who actually came up with one.

  He pulled a silver flask from his backpack, unscrewed the top, and poured a clear liquid on Penny’s hand. “Count to ten before taking your hand away.”

  Penny started counting.

  “So, what special potion is this?” Julie asked.

  Penny winced as she carefully removed her hand from the barn door handle. Julie looked at her hand, being careful not to touch it. It looked red, inflamed, but it appeared that she hadn’t left any skin behind.

  “Vodka,” Eddie said as he emptied the last of it into his mouth and gave Steve a kiss.

  “We don’t have time for this, guys,” Julie said.

  “Feels like a bunch of bees stung it,” said Penny. “Ow!” She flexed her fingers slowly.

  “Someone should take you to the hospital, get that seen to,” said Mrs. Forcier.

  “No! I wanna stay here and help get Maya back!” Penny held her injured hand with her other hand. “I won’t leave her.”

  Eddie pulled a sock and a couple of bandanas out of his backpack and presented them to Penny.
r />   “That’s my man. Always prepared,” said Steve with pride.

  Penny whimpered a bit as she allowed Eddie to wrap up her hand in the bandanas, although she declined the sock.

  “That thing’s probably been on your stinky feet,” she observed.

  Eddie smirked and placed a kiss on Penny’s now wrapped hand. “Suit yourself, sweetie.”

  “Okay, let’s get to work,” said Julie. “What’s our next step after randomly grabbing a frozen metal door handle?”

  Penny grumbled but was too focused on her hand to offer a snarky response.

  Julie walked up and down in front of the barn, peering at the frost that covered the building. Icicles hung off the roof. The quiet night seemed frozen as well.

  “Do you think there’s more to this defense other than it being really, really cold?” Julie directed her question to Steve and Eddie.

  “Some sort of binding, I’d guess,” Steve said.

  Julie nodded. “Whoever’s got Maya and did this must know that cold would not be enough to keep us from coming and getting her so they’d need something else to keep us out.”

  Eddie walked up to the barn. He got close enough to touch it but didn’t. His hands moved carefully a couple of inches away from the exterior. In any other context, Julie would have giggled. He reminded her of a mime pretending to be trapped in a box, but his face wasn’t whimsical. It was deadly serious.

  “What are you doing?” asked Mrs. Forcier.

  “Definitely a binding,” he said, ignoring her question. “It’s not one I’m familiar with, but I think I can at least lift it temporarily. Long enough for us to get in. If it’s what I think it is, we’ll be sealed inside until I can figure out how to get us back out. It’s not as simple as reverse engineering the spell or until we can get the entity or whatever’s holding Maya to loosen its grip.”

  Julie turned to Steve. “So, this is what you meant when you said Eddie had special skills and had to come with us.”

  “Yeah. It’s a skill that a lot of Eddie’s family have. I don’t like him using it too often,” said Steve. “It’s too rough on the body.”

  Mrs. Forcier walked right up to Eddie and got close to his face. Her panic was palpable. “What about my Katie?”

  “Maya’s the key. We get Maya back, we can get Katie,” he said, unruffled.

  “Well, hurry up, then,” Mrs. Forcier said.

  Eddie’s serious face broke briefly into a crooked grin. “Yes, ma’am.” He took his backpack off and rifled through one of the compartments, quickly coming up with a brown leather pouch cinched tight. He loosened the straps that kept the pouch closed and dipped his hand inside. When he brought his hand out again, he held a few green and purple crystals and a thick piece of tree bark in his palm.

  “Crystals? I thought those were only good for balancing your chakras or something,” Penny said.

  “I use them for spell casting. I think I can make a doorway to get us into the barn.” Eddie closed his fingers around the crystals and the bark. He replaced the leather pouch in the backpack and began walking around the perimeter of the barn.

  Julie followed about four feet behind him. She didn’t want to throw off his spell casting, but she was curious. He walked like he was on a tightrope even though he was on solid ground. She wondered if she should do the same. Then she realized he was walking with his eyes shut. He walked without faltering, perfectly circling the barn on an uneven, muddy, icy path. And then he started to hum softly.

  After circling the barn three times, Eddie stood before the front door, his arms by his sides. His humming got louder and emanated from deep within his chest. He crouched down and opened one of his hands, releasing the crystals and bark to the ground directly in front of the door. He straightened up and turned his arms so that his palms faced skyward. The humming gave way to chanting, although it wasn’t English. She didn’t know what he was saying, but one of the crystals lit up. The purple light, in defiance of the laws of physics, emerged from the crystal and then zigzagged to the barn door.

  Julie, mesmerized by Eddie’s behavior, hadn’t realized how close she had been standing to him until Steve grabbed her arm and pulled her away, back to where Jason, Penny, and Mrs. Forcier were standing.

  “We need to give him space,” Steve whispered. “Trust me on this one.” His eyes, filled with concern, were on Eddie.

  “How many times have you seen him do this?” she asked.

  “A few,” Steve said.

  “So, what exactly is he doing?” asked Mrs. Forcier.

  A second crystal lit up with an amber light. It, too, curved its way to the barn door.

  “I’m not entirely sure,” said Steve. “But he’s going to get us in there.”

  Eddie clapped several times. He was loud, like thunder if the storm was right overhead. He began to sway, and the barn door changed. It wasn’t that it opened. The frost had not melted, but a pinpoint of darkness in the door’s center expanded outward. The blackness grew, until it was a large oval. It looked big enough for a human being to pass through.

  “So, we just step through there and we’re in the barn?” Mrs. Forcier sounded skeptical and a little apprehensive.

  Eddie kept his back to the group. He said in an even tone, “I’m ninety-nine percent sure you’ll end up in that barn.”

  Penny peered over his shoulder. “But there’s a one percent chance we won’t?”

  “Exactly,” Eddie said. His arms moved up and down like he was trying to brace the opening.

  “Those are good odds, babe.” Steve gave Eddie a gentle kiss on the cheek. “Much better than last time.”

  Julie’s heart fell into her stomach.

  “Let’s not talk about the past,” said Eddie. “I can keep it open long enough for you all to go through before it closes so hurry up.”

  “What about when we need to get back out?” Mrs. Forcier asked.

  Beads of sweat appeared on Eddie’s brow. His left hand started to tremble.

  “We won’t be able to communicate with each other through the binding,” he said. “It’s way too strong. I’ll stay here. An hour from now, I’m going to make another opening. I can only do this twice in one night. Too exhausting. Be ready in an hour. Go!”

  His right arm started to spasm. He winced.

  Jason was the first one through, sprinting into the darkness and disappearing. Penny, Steve, and Mrs. Forcier followed. Julie nodded at Eddie just before she entered as well.

  Outside was quiet and dark. Inside the barn, the dark and silence weighed on Julie. She had to remind herself to breathe. She jumped when a hand grasped her hand.

  “Way spooky, right?” It was Penny’s voice. Julie hoped it was Penny’s hand tightening its grip on hers. She felt dragged forward. The musty smell of the barn hit Julie. The blackness dropped away, and Julie was in the middle of the barn, along with the others. It looked much like the last time they were there. Even the bucket that Penny had knocked over was still there, unmoved.

  Penny gave Julie’s hand a quick squeeze before letting go. “Thanks for letting me hold your hand. It was way spooky back there. Right?”

  “Indeed, it was.” Mrs. Forcier looked relieved.

  Steve and Jason started getting readings on their meters. They yelled out Maya’s name and then Katie’s. No response. Julie walked over to a spot at the base of the ladder to the loft. The barn was the center of the paranormal activity, but this spot near the ladder, at least according to the EDI readings, was the center’s heart. They had less than one hour to figure out where to go from here.

  “Up or down?” said Jason

  “Well, I’ve already been up.”

  She squatted and began patting the floorboards near where she tripped after getting down from the ladder the last time. She had a theory as to why that board had been loose, and it wasn’t just because the barn was old. She listened closely. Around the back of the ladder, her taps made a hollow sound. She straightened up. “Help me get these floorboa
rds up.”

  Penny rummaged around in her messenger bag, coming up with a claw hammer. “We’ve got 54 minutes left. Tempus fugit.”

  With Penny’s hammer and a crowbar that Steve pulled out of his bag, they managed to pry up a couple of the floorboards. Jason shone a flashlight down into the empty space below.

  “Looks like a three, maybe four-foot drop,” Jason said.

  “I’m going down,” said Julie.

  One by one, they dropped into the crawl space with Steve and Jason lending Mrs. Forcier a hand. The space was cold and damp. The ground was hard packed.

  Julie whispered, “We’re coming to get you, Maya.” She hoped she was right and that they would find her soon.

  Chapter Twenty

  Maya underground

  When Maya awoke, she found herself in a cave. It seemed like a cave anyway. It was dark, dank, and musty. She sniffed and thought she could smell water. The ground seemed to be dirt. She stretched out before trying to stand up. She wasn’t achy so much as stiff. How long was I out? she thought.

  The first time she tried to stand, she lost her balance and fell back down to her knees. She made it up the second time. The ground was smooth but uneven. In the dark, there was nothing for her to focus on to get her bearings.

  Once upright, she stuck her hand up in the air. It met the ceiling of the cave or wherever she was. The ceiling felt jagged and rough. She felt around in her pocket. Her phone was still there with 62 percent power, but there was no signal. She turned on the phone’s flashlight function. In the beam of light, she saw that she wasn’t in a self-contained cave. Rather, she was in a sort of junction, a spot from where two tunnels fanned out.

  “Hello?”

  No response. Her voice didn’t even echo.

  Both tunnels looked the same. After a little eeny-meeny-miny-moe, she decided to take the tunnel to the right. She took her first hesitant step into the tunnel, letting the flashlight show her the way. She rapidly began to feel more grounded. The post-possession hangover—was that a thing?—was fading, but she knew she had to find her way out before the entity took hold of her again.