by Ron Ripley
“No,” William snapped. “You won’t.”
She frowned. “I can help your pain there.”
“I don’t care,” William said. “I want to leave this damned place. Do you understand? I want to be able to open the door and walk, well, hop out to the truck.”
He stopped and shook his head. He let out a bitter laugh. “Great. I can’t even drive the hell away. All the tires are flat.”
“Come with me to the garrison,” Kathleen said in a gentle voice. “There, by the fire, I can tend your wound. You will be safe from the dune walkers. I can protect you from them within those strong walls, but I cannot here. Nor can I keep you forever caged in this place. The Abenaki seek your scalp. The thing that tasted your flesh wants more. It is the way of the dunes.”
William looked at her. He felt afraid and uncomfortable, and not merely from the pain crashing over him in gut churning waves.
“Why?” he asked in a whisper. “What the hell are the dunes?”
“A purgatory of sorts,” Kathleen said, glancing at the window over the sink. “Some of us move through them. Others, remain within them. They choose not to move on. Some love the thrill of the hunt, like the Abenaki. They wait for the newly dead, and for those adrift on the Atlantic, to reach the shore. And then there are others, such as the one who took your leg.”
“But I’m safe in here,” William said. “Right?”
Kathleen paused, and then she shook her head. “Only so long as I am here, William. Should you leave again, they will be waiting. Unless you come to the garrison.”
“How am I going to get out?” he asked.
“You must come home.”
The last word stabbed at him painfully.
William had never had a home. Foster homes. The orphanage. Never a home of his own. The beach house, the comfort and security of it had served as the only true refuge he had known.
“This has been my only home,” he whispered.
Kathleen nodded. “And this, this is merely an extension of the garrison, William. Come, then, into your home.”
She held out her hand to him, and William took it.
He found himself on a bed placed near the large fireplace in the center of the garrison. Light streamed in through the open windows and doors. Sarah and the twin boys played nearby. Behind him, William heard voices, and he twisted to see. He grimaced at the pain, and a black Great Dane came up and snuffled his ear.
“William,” Jack said cheerfully. “How are you, my friend?”
“I hurt,” William answered.
Kathleen came over and sat down on a stool by his side. She took a warm cloth from a bucket set on the hearth and washed his face.
The water was refreshing and did much to push back the pain.
Jeduthan came in through the front door, followed by Obadiah. Both of the men had braces of partridges. They waved a greeting and William returned it.
“Captain,” Jeremiah said. “It is a pleasure to see you, sir.”
William looked around for the captain, but he saw no one.
Yet all eyes were on him.
Kathleen returned the cloth to the bucket. She looked at Jeremiah. “He is still adjusting. Give him time.”
William blinked, confused. “Kathleen?”
“You’ll be fine shortly, my love,” she said, gently caressing the side of his face. “All will be well.”
“What will be well?” William asked. He ignored the pain and forced himself to sit up. He looked around the large room.
“Not too loudly,” Kathleen said. “You will scare the children.”
William lowered his voice as he repeated, “What will be well?”
“You will be,” Kathleen answered.
“Charles doesn’t know any better, Tom...William,” Jack said, blushing slightly. “He doesn’t remember certain things.”
Sarah came in and stood shyly behind Kathleen to peer around the woman’s shoulder.
“And you are as handsome as ever,” Sarah said softly.
“Hush, Sarah,” Kathleen said in a gentle tone. “Mind the boys, please.”
“Kathleen,” William said. “What’s going on?”
“A reunion of sorts,” she answered. “It will go easier later on. Rest now.”
“No,” William said, his body starting to shake uncontrollably. “Tell me what’s going on now.”
Kathleen frowned. “William --”
“Woman!” William yelled. “As I am your husband, you will tell me!”
And he stopped.
He was her husband.
The world spun, and he closed his eyes.
Married in York before the long journey from England. The Abenaki had killed Kathleen and abducted his sister in 1675.
When he came back the first time after death, he was Sarah’s close friend. In 1757, before the Battle on Snowshoes, he had been sixteen and killed by the French and Indians.
He had died of tuberculosis in 1814 as the British burned Washington.
He was the twins’ grandfather, and he remembered the agony when he learned they had drowned in the Atlantic in 1898.
The captain of the Darling Jane, the ocean claiming them all in 1921.
A German machine gun nest in the Hürtgen Forest, the bullets spilling his guts across the trampled earth in 1944.
Dead from cancer in 1973.
The pain vanished from his leg, and when William looked down, he saw he was whole.
“Who am I?” William whispered, looking at Kathleen.
“You are my love,” she answered with a smile. Tears fell freely from her face. “And yes, you are home.”
“How?” William asked. “How can this all be? I remember so many things, Kathleen. So many lives. Is it possible?”
“All things are possible,” Kathleen said in a low, comforting tone. She traced the curve of his cheek and chin. “You have traveled long and far. I’ve watched you for centuries. I have loved you all of this time. You were cursed or blessed by powers beyond my knowing. I am not wise enough to know which. When you lost me, you threw yourself forward, again and again. You defied death. You sought me out in the years ahead.”
“You never knew I was here,” she whispered. “You never knew I had not left. I waited for you, and yet you moved past me. So many times. Only now, my love. Only now you gave permission to bring you here. Only now were you ready for us to be together again.”
“Am I done?” William asked, and he heard the hope in his own voice. “Have I finished with my travels? May I stay now with you?”
“Of course,” she said, bending down to kiss him swiftly. “Of course. I would have it no other way, my husband. My love.”
William pulled her down into his arms, crushed her close to him and wept.
He was home.
Chapter 56: A Rude Awakening
Brian awoke to the sound of screaming.
He clawed his way out of a haze of Vicodin and saw Jenny and a nurse struggling.
No, the nurse was helping Jenny.
Something was dragging Jenny across the floor and towards the door.
It was the nurse who was screaming, yelling for help.
Another nurse ran in, followed closely by a young woman doctor. And then, behind her, Jeannette.
The first nurse was lifted by an unseen force and hurled against a wall. Her head cracked loudly, and she fell limp like a tossed ragdoll to the floor.
“Hold her!” Jeannette yelled. The tone of command in her voice demanded instant obedience and both the second nurse and the doctor complied. They latched onto Jenny, who still struggled against the unseen abductor.
“Florence!” Jeannette yelled as she pulled something small from a pocket. She held the object before her and started the same chant Brian had heard in the shed.
As he watched, Brian saw a shadow flicker in and out of existence over Jenny. The doctor held Jenny’s left arm, the nurse her right, and Jenny could not strike at the ghost of Leo’s grandmother with her iron rings.
Br
ian tried to move but found he had been secured to the bed. Vague memories of accidentally tearing the IV out flashed through his mind.
He was trapped.
Behind Jeannette, an old nun appeared. An ancient, tiny woman within a large and frightening habit. She looked into the room with cold, hard eyes and quickly assessed the situation. She stepped up to stand beside Jeannette and she added her surprisingly strong voice to the cacophony.
The words the nun spoke were Latin, and the response they evoked from Florence was magnificent.
Florence fully formed and let out a scream which hit with the force of a sledgehammer. She stumbled back and the scream increased in pitch.
The doctor let go of Jenny’s arm and hurried to the unconscious nurse by the bathroom. The second nurse started to drag Jenny towards the relative safety of the bathroom.
Florence howled, and Jeannette staggered back. The nun quickly put out a hand and steadied the other woman.
A shriek ripped out of Leo’s grandmother’s mouth, and the air rippled.
Blood exploded from the old sister’s nose to splash down on the white of her habit. The woman remained firm, though, her voice strong and true.
Florence collapsed to her knees and tilted her head back, mouth open wide as a high pitched squeal raced out. The windows exploded, the lights imploded, and Brian’s IV bag burst.
A moment later his heart stopped. Again.
Chapter 57: Still Breathing
“How are you doing, Babe?”
Brian opened his eyes and looked at Jenny. Her face was swollen, and her left eye was black and blue.
“Like hell,” Brian answered. His voice sounded like tires on gravel.
“Two heart attacks in two days will do that,” Jenny said. “Luckily you were already in the hospital.”
“Mmph,” he muttered, struggling to remain awake. “How are you?”
“Better. Especially knowing that witch is locked away.”
“Florence?” he managed to query.
Jenny nodded. She took a plastic pink pitcher off of a tray and poured water into a matching cup. She held it to his lips, and he drank slowly. The liquid eased the pain in his throat.
“Thank you,” he said.
“You’re welcome.” She kissed his forehead, careful to avoid the bandage.
“What happened with Florence?” he asked.
“Jeannette managed to bind her to a small locket. Evidently it had been Florence’s, and she gave it to Jeannette. But Sister Marjorie, though,” Jenny said, shaking her head, “well, without her keeping Florence pinned in the room we’d still be looking over our shoulder.”
“How did she manage it?” Brian asked.
“Her faith. According to Jeannette, it’s a rare thing these days. But Sister Marjorie is old school Catholic. I guess pre-Vatican II. The woman’s 98, Babe. From what I gathered, Florence wasn’t the first angry spirit she had dealt with.”
“Where is Florence now?”
“With the Gottesmans,” Jenny said. “Locked up with Paul and whatever other sociopathic ghosts those two keep imprisoned.”
“Better them than us,” Brian said with a sigh. “Any word from William?”
Jenny shook her head.
“I need to see him,” Brian said.
“I know, Babe,” she said. “A few more days and you should be okay. I’ve called him a few times from the ghost phone, but there hasn’t been any answer.”
“Okay. Okay. A few more days,” he said with a sigh. “And you’ll keep trying?”
“I will.”
Chapter 58: Visiting the Beach House
When they pulled up to 11 Coast Road, a yellow Volkswagen was parked in the driveway. A path was shoveled through the fresh snow from the car to the front door, which was open.
“Hello?” Brian called as he and Jenny walked up towards the house.
A short woman, bundled up against the cold, stepped into view from within the house.
“May I help you?” she asked.
“Yes,” Brian said. “I stopped by to see a friend of mine, William Engberg.”
The woman stiffened. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but William passed away.”
“Jesus,” Jenny said softly.
“When?” Brian asked.
“Several days ago, we think,” the woman replied. “We’re not sure. The cold made it difficult for the authorities to determine.”
“May I ask how?” Brian said.
“They don’t know yet. I...found him. He was laying on the couch. It will be a few weeks, they said, before the autopsy results are returned,” she said. “He was a good boy.”
“I liked him,” Brian said sadly. He pulled out his wallet, removed a business card and handed it to the woman. “Could you please call or email me when you find out the cause? Do you know when the funeral will be?”
“I will call, and we cremated him yesterday,” she said. Tears suddenly spilled down the woman’s cheeks. “My husband and I were the only ones who knew him here. He didn’t have an address book. We couldn’t get his phone or his laptop to work. We were the only ones. I’m sorry,” she said, forcing a smile and wiping away the tears. “I need to go back to cleaning.”
“Yes,” Brian said. “Of course.”
The woman closed the door, and he and Jenny turned away from the house. Jenny took hold of his arm, and they walked together down the driveway. Brian paused and looked out at the dunes.
A man crested the rise of one, his collar turned up against the cold. He was backlit by the sun until a bank of clouds obscured it.
“Woah,” Brian whispered.
“What?” Jenny asked.
Brian pointed to the young man.
William waved once, and then he disappeared into the dune.
“Do you know who he is?” Jenny asked.
“He does,” William said, suddenly beside them.
“Jesus Christ,” Brian hissed, stumbling back. Jenny’s firm grip on his arm kept him from falling.
William’s eyes bore an ancient stamp to them. He looked and carried himself differently. He wore an old and battered pea coat, a wool cap pulled low, and his hands stuffed deep into his pockets.
“Brian,” William said with a smile. “This must be Jenny?”
Brian and Jenny both nodded.
William chuckled. “A pleasure, Mrs. Roy.”
“Same,” Jenny managed to say.
“What happened, William?” Brian asked.
“I came home, Brian,” William answered. “A place beyond the beach house. Kathleen was waiting for me.”
“Kathleen had you trapped,” Brian said, confused.
“Her love for me did so, yes,” William said with a nod. “It shows her love for me. Could a man ever have a wife such as she?”
Brian blinked in surprise. “Wait. What? Wife?”
“Kathleen was your wife?” Jenny asked.
“Was and is,” William said. “She has waited here for me since she was butchered on the beach. I have moved past her through lives and deaths. No more, though. She has found me, and I am home.”
“The dunes?” Brian asked.
“Aye,” William said. “We’ll walk the dunes and search for the wandering dead. Come back if you wish, Brian. And you as well, Jenny, but I must return to Kathleen. I’ve been away from her for far too long.”
Before Brian could answer, William vanished.
Brian stood with Jenny, felt the chill of the Atlantic wind on his face, and listened to it move through the dune grass.
* * *
Brian and Jenny Roy will be back in another adventure in April 2015: Middlebury Sanitarium.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Squatter
Chapter 2: William Moves In
Chapter 3: In Leo’s Library
Chapter 4: Leo’s Journal: September, 20th, 1998
Chapter 5: Brian Takes a Trip
Chapter 6: William Engberg’s Place
Chapter 7: Leo Goes Looking, October 1st, 1998
Chapter 8: Discoveries
Chapter 9: The Dog Walker
Chapter 10: Chaos on the Beach
Chapter 11: Reviewing the Film
Chapter 12: Waiting to Hear from Brian
Chapter 13: Leo visits Mrs. Marseille, October 4th, 1998
Chapter 14: The Calm before the Storm
Chapter 15: The Phone Call
Chapter 16: An Old Friend
Chapter 17: Leo’s Journal: October 10th, 1998
Chapter 18: The Girls
Chapter 19: More Guests
Chapter 20: Leo, October 20th, 1998
Chapter 21: Whodoo Voodoo
Chapter 22: Morning Tea
Chapter 23: Leo and His Grandmother, October 20th, 1998
Chapter 24: The Morning
Chapter 25: Leo, October 31st, 1998.
Chapter 26: Déjà Vu?
Chapter 27: Day Release
Chapter 28: Leo, November 4th, 1998