The Beastly Trees

by Sam Logue

  The driver stopped at the small hospital’s emergency entrance. The paramedics opened the ambulance’s large doors and wheeled Molly’s metal gurney into the building as Katie strode determinedly behind them, unwilling to let Molly out of her sight even for a moment.

  Molly had been born in this hospital. The floors glistened but the hospital still had the same peculiar smell to it – bleach masking the odours of illness. Back when Molly was born, Katie had thought it was the scent of hope.

  Molly was wheeled into a sterile room with white walls. A nurse with rubber-soled shoes changed her into a pale-green hospital gown. Molly seemed to float on the elevated hospital bed with metal railings, and together Katie and Molly tried to peer at the grounds outside from between the closed blind’s slats. Katie made a game out of it, trying to get her to smile.

  The white bed sheet had been tucked firmly under the mattress. Molly formed a fist and smacked it down on the mattress. The bedsprings bounced and Molly giggled. The nurse gave Katie a critical glance. Katie shrugged. “She’s hurting.” Katie wasn’t going to tell Molly not to do something now.

  The nurse grabbed a plastic wand beside the window and twisted it, and the blind opened like many fans at once. “In case she wants to look out.” She left the room.

  Katie and Molly had a large window to gaze through. Above the rooftops half of the moon’s pale edge was visible in the early evening sky. On the dusty moon’s surface, Katie thought she saw Paul’s face. Her brother’s face with the trace of a smile. A boy whose love was spread through moonbeams.

  “What are you looking at?” Molly asked.

  “The moon, it’s …” Katie thought about how much she should tell her then said, “I see someone smiling in it. I think he’s trying to get me to smile too.”

  Molly turned to peer out the window. “Is it daddy?”

  Paul’s face was gone. “No, it wasn’t your daddy, but he’ll be here very soon, and I know he’s going to want to give you a big hug.”

  A priest in a black suit with a white collar stopped by to check in on them. “I came as soon as I saw Molly’s name on the incoming patient list.”

  Katie must have looked puzzled, because he said he was Father Aloysius and, “Your mother and I are acquainted through the college. I was there when Molly was born, you know.” He stayed for a while. Katie hadn’t recognised him. His hair was a little salt-and-pepper coloured now.

  With the priest there and the whiteness of the room, she was comforted with the kind of inner peace she felt walking into a house of worship, and her heartbeat returned to normal.

  Father Aloysius said goodbye to Molly, then a tall and intense young doctor in an unbuttoned white coat came into the room and greeted them, a stethoscope around his neck.

  He gripped a clipboard in one hand. “Molly and Mrs Bloomfield, is it?”

  Katie nodded.

  He offered Molly then Katie his hand. “I’m Dr. Marquez.” He had an aspect of humility in his manner that made Katie feel safe and was darkly handsome with soft green eyes.

  “Is my arm broken?” Molly asked.

  Dr Marquez patted Katie’s hand, and she retracted it, embarrassed she’d kept it in his for too long. His hands were large and gentle and held a sharp scent of a cleanser that she inhaled when she pulled away.

  His stethoscope nudged Molly’s brow when he bent down to examine her. “It appears you only sprained your arm, but we’ll find out soon.” He glanced down at a sheet of paper on his clipboard. “We’re waiting for her records from her primary doctor. When was the last time she had a tetanus shot?” he asked Katie.

  “I don’t remember,” she said, flustered.

  “Let’s be safe.” He slipped his hands into examination gloves.

  He pushed up the sleeve of Molly’s gown and wiped her lower shoulder with an alcohol swab. Katie caressed Molly’s hair while he took a long needle from a stainless steel tray on a rolling table and gave her the injection.

  Julian entered as Dr Marquez attended to Molly’s forehead. “How’s she doing?”

  Katie introduced them.

  “She’s doing great,” Dr Marquez said.

  He had an orderly wheel Molly out of the room to take X-rays of her arms and head. He explained to Katie and Julian that she looked worse than she was. Her X-rays had all turned out fine, and while her right arm was sprained, it was not broken. She had some small lacerations and bruising, which she might find painful at times but that were otherwise harmless. Molly would need to keep her arm bandaged but was more or less unscathed.

  Katie was so relieved Molly would be okay that she thanked Dr Marquez so many times Julian had to joke, “Okay, honey, you can stop now. I think the doctor has other patients to attend to.”

  Dr Marquez smiled at Katie then left. Julian sat down in a chair by Molly’s bed, and the whites of his brown eyes were reddened and his eyes were teary. Katie rubbed his back.

  “Don’t be sad, daddy,” Molly said.

  Dr Marquez re-entered the room to get a signature for Molly’s discharge. Julian and Katie bickered over who would sign the form, before both of them looked at each other and laughed.

  “Either you or your wife can sign the form,” Dr Marquez said.

  Katie put her signature on the paper.

  “Let’s go home, girls,” Julian said.

  Katie changed Molly into her street clothes and helped her into her coat. She hopped down from the bed.

  Dr Marquez tossed Katie an icepack for Molly. “Not bad,” he said, when Katie caught the cold plastic in one hand. He winked.

  It felt like an icy inflatable raft. “Thanks.” She smiled.

  Julian crossed his arms at their exchange. Dr. Marquez pushed his hair back. He smiled at Katie and pointed to the stain on his temple.

  Katie gasped. “You’re a …”

  He was being paged on the PA. “Excuse me,” he said, and rushed out of the room.

  “What’s going on?” Julian asked.

  “Neil, at your country house, told me how it works,” Katie said.

  “How what works?”

  “I asked him to explain Readers and reading to me.”

  Dr Marquez came back into the room. He glanced at Julian and hesitated, but then said to Katie, “I knew you were a Reader the first time I walked into the room.”

  “I don’t read. I can resist it.”

  “You sound pretty confident. Have you ever read?”

  “Yes, but …”

  Julian looked at Katie for an explanation.

  “I’ve never hurt anyone. And I won’t do it again,” she said.

  “You’ll do it again. We all give in to our cravings at some point,” Dr Marquez said.

  It was like Katie had a marble caught at the back of her throat and she was about to swallow it but there was nothing she could do to stop it. She took Molly’s hand, and they got out of there. The elevator button glowed like a nightlight when she pressed it. Julian reached for and held her other hand when the elevator arrived and all throughout the soft hum of its descent.

  Dr Marquez had said, “We all give in to our cravings at some point.” But she could resist them. She had to for her family’s sake.

  “Molly’s never coming back here,” Katie said to Julian.

  “Why can’t I come back?” Molly asked.

  The elevator slowed and stilled, and a nurse got on. “Because you just can’t,” Katie whispered.

  On the ground floor they walked past a crowd of occupied chairs and a table with neatly stacked magazines.

  Julian touched Molly’s mop of loose curls. “We’re so glad you’re all right.”

  Katie let go of Molly’s hand and watched them walking in front of her. She liked watching Molly walking closely by Julian’s side. They strode through the automatic doors to the congested parking lot with Katie right behind them.

  “You two wait here while I get the car,” Julian said.

  It was a warm evening for the time of year. Katie found a
bench and sat with Molly. Two paramedics lingered near the ambulance station, smoking. Molly moved closer to Katie, and Katie gestured for her to slide even farther down. Katie patted her trembling hand. Molly opened her left arm widely, bidding a hug, and Katie indulged her, though it was difficult since Molly’s right arm was bandaged. When Katie held on for too long, Molly pulled away. Little by little, she was growing up, and she was beginning to make her own choices and create her own boundaries. Still, Katie would try to protect her forever, like she had tried to watch out for Paul when they were very young.

  Julian eased the car along the curb, leaving the engine running when he stepped outside. He helped Molly climb into the back seat and put her seat belt on, and he opened the passenger door for Katie. As he drove through the traffic, tapping the brake one second and the accelerator the next, they sat silently, but Katie reached behind and held Molly’s left wrist.

  “Am I going to be okay?” Molly asked once she was tucked in her bed at the house.

  “You are,” Katie said. She turned off the light and left the door to Molly’s room open so that some of the light from the hall entered.

  Katie walked downstairs and found Julian at the counter in the kitchen, pouring a glass of wine for each of them.

  “I have to ask you about what Dr Marquez said. About reading,” he said.

  Katie told him about Neil and starting to read Jacob in the barn.

  “That’s it?” Julian said.

  “That’s about everything. And I also found out I would never do it again.” Katie declined the wine glass he held out to her.

  Julian put the glass on the countertop. “How could you have let Molly run out of the shop? That doesn’t seem like you.” He pulled her in for a hug.

  Katie stilled in his arms and said, “Doesn’t your mother drive a car with a BLIVED license plate?”

  “Why are you asking me this right now?” He kept his gaze off her.

  “I saw the plate of the car that hit Molly. It spelled out BLIVED.” Katie stepped out of Julian’s embrace.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I saw it in the mirror in the shop’s window. And I couldn’t move when I tried to run after Molly. I mean I really couldn’t move. I don’t know how to tell you this. She’s sent me more than one message.”

  “What are you telling me?” He was shouting now.

  “Your mother’s car hit Molly,” she said quickly, not wanting to give him a chance to ask her to stop.

  Katie had hoped he would believe her right away, but he was angry. “How could you ever think she would do that?”

  Katie stepped close to him. “It was her,” she said in a whisper. “I’m so sorry this is happening to you. She does have the Mark, though. She must want to read Molly.”

  “Molly’s her only grandchild. She’d never … Maybe somebody stole her car from her driveway and went joyriding.”

  “No, she probably wants to see if it’s true,” Katie thought aloud.

  “If what’s true?”

  “The more someone reads, the less it works, and for someone like her who’s been reading for a long time – there’s a rumour in some circles that reading a girl relative is more powerful than reading anybody else.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “Neil. If she was desperate enough, I think she might try it.”

  “She took Paul,” Julian said suddenly.

  And Katie was back in the park on that sad, cold day and Julian was reaching for her hand. Her voice softened with controlled rage, and she moved back as he tried to take her hand now. “How do you know that?”

  His face went pale. “I have to sit down.”

  She grabbed his arm. “No. You tell me. Now.”

  Julian swallowed. “She asked me to bring a kid into the forest to see the tree beasts. I didn’t hurt him.”

  “My mother was right. You knew all along, didn’t you?” Katie let go of him.

  Julian started to the hall. “I have to find her.”

  Heat rose to Katie’s face and she ran after him. “Where are you going? You can’t leave now, not like this. You have to tell me …”

  The front door slammed shut.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Julian’s mother’s car wasn’t in her driveway. He parked, got out and walked to the front door. His mother had made some changes to the house after his father’s death from a heart attack a few months ago. A new pair of rocking chairs was on the front porch, and the door in front of him was now painted pale blue. The door was locked, and Julian no longer had a key – just another piece of his childhood that he’d lost.

  She answered after he knocked twice, just as he was getting worried she might not be home. She was fresh-faced and had her hair coiffed in a smooth beauty-parlour style. “Is everything all right? Have you come for a surprise visit?” Her eyes filled with hope.

  He put his hand on the door and pushed it all the way open, shoving past her and into the front hall.

  She gasped. “That was unnecessary.”

  “She said she saw your car.”

  His mother shut the front door.

  “Don’t stall,” he said.

  “Who saw me do what?” she asked.

  “Katie.”

  “Having problems with Katherine? Is that what you’ve come to talk about?”

  “How could you hurt Molly?”

  Julian’s mother looked to the floor then glanced up at him and frowned. “I—”

  “You what?” Julian took a step closer to her.

  She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. “I wasn’t trying to hurt her. You have to believe me. I only wanted to pull her into the car with me.”

  “Why were you trying to take her in the first place?” Julian used his large frame to corner her as he waited for an answer.

  “Listen to me. I saw her in the middle of the road and I was just trying to get her out of there. I wanted to help her. Then that man—”

  “What man?”

  She took her hand off him and turned away. “I don’t know who he was. He was wearing very old clothing. He tried to grab Molly.” She glanced at him over her shoulder. “My habit works less and less the more I do it.”

  “You’re addicted. So you did want to take her. You weren’t trying to save her. You’re a damn liar.” Blood and rage pounded in Julian’s veins.

  “I don’t know what else to do …”

  “You didn’t have to do it. You had a choice.”

  “Did I? She’s the perfect age.”

  Julian’s mouth twisted with rage. “She’s your granddaughter.”

  “It was like I didn’t know what I was really doing while I did it. All I know is someone like Molly is supposed to work better than anything.”

  Even though her hair was polished, the cloth of her shirt was fraying at the hem and her bare face was pale and lined. Julian couldn’t remember exactly when she’d started to seem so tired.

  “I used my own car. Maybe part of me wanted to get caught this time. I tried to stop myself once before, you know,” his mum said.

  He recalled her failed suicide years ago – the bathtub spilling over with water and the red pills on the white marble floor. Back then he’d thought she was drowning. And she had been drowning in her cravings and tried to end them by taking her life.

  She went on. “If I’m willing to harm my grandchild, then I don’t deserve to live, right?” She reached out and clung to Julian and he flinched. She peered up at his eyes and shivered. “I feel so tired.” He felt her whole body slumping against his. “I really need to find someone soon. Help me out?” she whimpered.

  Julian glanced at her worn eyes and pushed her off him.

  “Don’t you want me to love you?” She touched his face and he grabbed her wrist.

  Julian forced his other arm down to keep himself from pushing her again. “You can never love anyone. I know that now. Remember Katie’s brother? You couldn’t have forgotten him. It’s about tim
e I—”

  She twisted her wrist out of his grip. “Don’t. What do you want from me?”

  “I want to know what the hell is going on … has been going on for my whole life.”

  “You really want to know?” She stepped back and breathed out.

  “Why the hell not? You used your own damn car. You’ll be in jail soon anyway. Do you think Mr Hollingsworth’s happy he’s rotting in a cell while all of you are running around free?”

  She avoided looking at Julian and told him the facts as one would read a list out loud. “Fine. The man you know as the doctor buried the first victim in our backyard. It was an … accident.”

  “The guy with the cane? I can’t believe you.”

  His mother glanced at him. “That’s him. He took care of the situation for us. I never asked how. My club tried to be careful. We made some mistakes along the way. There was Paul Gold.”

  “Do you even know how much you’ve hurt Katie?”

  She went on as though she hadn’t heard him. “And there was the boy who escaped when we were trying to read him. We banished Mrs Eastman from our group forever after she helped him get away.”

  Julian felt like he was going to fall down and struggled to steady himself. He pressed his hands against the wall and kept his back to her. “Do you know how much it’s hurt Katie and her family?” He moved away from the wall, on the verge of tears.

  “Why was he alone at the park? Where was his mother?” she whispered. Julian brushed her hand off his shoulder. “We’ve made it a point never to harm a local family since that time. We use a van to make trips. Neil drives it.”

  Julian put his hand on his chest. “I’ve driven that van. I’ve fixed it for Neil. You made me get caught up in this.”

  “You very much were involved. That’s why I trust you won’t say anything. The police will make trouble for you too. Then Katie will never talk to you again, and she’ll keep Molly away from you,” his mum said.

  Julian stared right at her. “Katie would never do that. Besides, I already told her.”

  “You what?”

  He raised his voice. “After Katie said she saw your car, I remembered everything – what you made me do to her brother. It all came back to me, and I told her.” Julian took a step toward her.