Echoes of the Past

by Evan Bond

  "He was my ex-husband. He was an abusive drunk and one night I took my daughter and left," she lied. “I didn't think he would ever find me but he did. He's the one who murdered your friends. Not me. Clearly, he wanted to turn you all against me. It worked, brilliantly. Don't be fooled by him. If anyone here is the devil, it was that man."

  She saw some faces in the mob grow sympathetic and understanding. Others remained stoic. This was the moment of truth. If she were to change any hearts and minds, it would be in this moment. Her life was in her own hands. No one would be coming for her.

  "I'm begging you. Don't do this. I have a little girl out there by herself. She's scared and alone. Tara needs her mother. There's no one left for her. I'm all she has."

  That was it, she knew it. The last few words would save her life. Already, she could see people in the audience coming out of whatever fear driven trance had ensnared them. Now, she saw all of them for what they truly were. A community of sheltered individuals who had never experienced pure tragedy in their lives. Sasha actually pitied them. They weren't evil. They were lost and misguided. She knew better than most what fear could do.

  "No!" A scream from the bottom of the pile pierced the air. Carol Leighter stood there with a torch and lighter. She pointed the unlit torch at Sasha and sneered. "She must be punished for her crimes. Don't let this witch cast her spell on you. She is deceiving you all, just as she did our sheriff. Her ex-husband was probably another pawn of her black magic. Don't fall for the lies of a wicked woman who sold her soul to the devil."

  Looks changed from sympathetic to angry, though not all of them. Clearly, those who wanted to let her go were the minority. There would be little chance of talking the rest of the group down. There was only one other option Sasha had and she had been hoping to not have to use it.

  Carol held up the lit torch and motioned to throw it. The majority of the crowd cheered. Sasha let out one more scream for attention and nearly fainted when it worked. A dead silence fell over the crowd. All eyes were glued on the woman on the pile. The next words from her mouth were risky and she hardly wanted to say them but it was all she had left. "You all need to let me go," she started. "If you don't, I shall curse this town and everyone in it."

  The flaming torch danced in the night as she spoke. Sasha could hear it crackle as she took a breath. "Test me, and you all shall die an unnatural and terrible death. Do not test my powers." Her voice was deep and menacing, scaring even herself. Some stared at her in bewilderment. Others merely shifted their eyes away. Carol, however, stood strong.

  "Do not fear the ramblings of a condemned soul. No curse can live after the witch is dead."

  Some of the town's folk had been convinced. Whether it had been the fear of a curse or common sense finally kicking in, Sasha could not know. Several members of the crowd stepped forward in an attempt to stop Carol from tossing the torch and lighting Sasha ablaze. There was a feeling of relief unlike any Sasha had felt before. To her horror, however, it was too late. Carol heaved the torch onto the pile and it lit almost instantly.

  The heat was intense and immediate. At first, the flames only licked at her heels. Sasha tried desperately to kick herself away from the heat to no avail. Some townspeople ran to her aid, looking for a way to extinguish the flames. It was no use. The fire was too hot and too high.

  Carol raised her hands with the rising flames as if she could control them. Someone in town tackled her to the ground, clearly misunderstanding what was happening. Sasha’s pants melted to her skin and she felt a heat, unlike anything she had ever experienced. Before long, the flames had spread to her torso and singed at the strands of hair dangling above her shoulders. Shortly after, they too caught.

  Sasha let out an ear-piercing scream as the flames consumed her head. The smell of burning hair and flesh was pungent, though Sasha could no longer smell anything. From the ground, Carol averted her eyes as the thrashing body of Sasha burned and charred to a crisp. Her screams finally came to an end as the fire consumed her completely. The last thought she ever had was of her daughter, and hoping she had found safety. For Sasha, the pain and torture were finally over. But, for the town of Carlisle, it had just begun.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  It was well into the following morning when Tara found herself in the backseat of a police cruiser heading off down the road. She had wandered for hours the night before and barely reached the police station before passing out. Exhaustion had finally got the better of her. When she awoke, she was in the police station. A nice man in a uniform looked at her with a smile, handing her a bottle of water.

  "By the looks of those shoes, I'd say you walked all night." Tara paid little attention.

  "I need help. My mom is in trouble."

  "Oh? Where's she at?"

  "A different town." She pointed over her shoulder, hoping it was the correct direction. She had no clue which way the town she had come from was. There was little chance she would be able to tell from outside either.

  "Closest town is Carlisle. Is that where your mother is?"

  Tara thought about it for a moment. The sign she had seen as they drove in had said something about the past. She closed her eyes tight and did her best to picture it. The world Carlisle materialized in her mind's eye. Finally, she nodded.

  "What kind of trouble is she in?" The officer pulled out a small notebook and prepared to write notes.

  "There's no time. The town is trying to hurt her."

  "The whole town? Did something happen?"

  Tara shrugged. She didn't really understand why the town was trying to hurt her mother, she only understood they were. There had been talk of murders but she knew her mother had nothing to do with them.

  "Please, we have to hurry."

  "Alright, let's take a drive down there and see if we can't figure out what's going on, OK?"

  Tara nodded.

  Once they were in the police cruiser and headed down the road, Tara wished they would go faster. She had already let her mother down once. She couldn't bear to be away from her any longer. Her foot nervously tapped and she stared out the window. The familiar sign of Carlisle zipped past and she knew it would only be a matter of minutes before they arrived.

  The officer was immediately drawn to a group of people gathered around a large pile of ashes. Slowing to a stop, he rolled down the window and called for someone's attention. An older woman walked over with a somber expression on her face. Tara recognized her right away.

  "What happened here?" The officer asked.

  "A house burned down in the middle of the night."

  "Everyone OK?"

  The woman hung her head.

  "Unfortunately, no. Someone was killed."

  "Sorry to hear that. Where's the sheriff? Harrison, right?"

  "He was killed last night. A car accident while racing to the scene of the fire. He was a brave man."

  "Jesus Christ, that's awful."

  "What can we do for you, officer?"

  "I have a little girl here," he pointed over his shoulder. "She said her mom was here and she was in trouble. Know anything about it?"

  The woman peeked through the back window and gave Tara a smile. Tara sunk down in her chair, terrified of the woman she knew as Carol. She had been the last person Tara saw her mother with. If something had happened to her, it was because of her.

  Carol pulled away from the window and looked back at the officer. "Sorry," she said. "Never seen her before in my life."

  Tara started to cry. The woman was lying but there was nothing she could do. The officer thanked her for her time and started to drive away. After getting back to the station, he sat her down at his desk and calmed her down.

  "Look, honey. It's a pretty big area around here. Maybe you're thinking of the wrong town."

  Tara shook her head.

  "Well, we'll get an official investigation going and see if we can find out what happened to your mother, OK?"

  Tara wiped tears from her eyes and n
odded. But she knew it wouldn't be okay. Deep down in her heart, she could feel her mother was gone. The evil woman who had lied to the officer had killed her mom. A feeling of pure hatred coursed through her veins.

  "In the meantime, do you have any relatives you can stay with?"

  Tara told the man about her grandmother and he went about looking her up and getting an address and phone number. Within the hour, the police officer was driving her towards her grandmother's house. Every mile they traveled, Tara felt farther from her mother. She wanted to hug her again. She wanted to hear her voice. Knowing she never would again tore her up inside. She would never truly be the same.

  Her grandmother took her in with open arms. The officer did his best to explain the situation, though he wasn’t quite sure what it was. "There's an ongoing investigation to find your daughter, ma'am." He said. "If anything turns up you'll be the first to know." She had nodded and watched the officer walk back to his car.

  Tara told her grandmother everything she could remember. How the town had turned against them and wanted to hurt her. Of course, she had told the same story to the police but they seemed to think it was merely a story developed by a confused child. Tara knew different. Something awful had happened in Carlisle and justice might not ever prevail.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  "I'm telling you, something was off." Officer Brown stated to his partner. "The little girl was really frightened. I can't believe she would make the whole story up."

  "Well," his partner started. "A kid's imagination can really run wild when faced with hard realities. Her mother dumped her in the middle of nowhere and took off. It's been well over a week and no one has seen or heard a thing? It makes no sense."

  Officer Brown shrugged but couldn't let the matter go. He remembered the looks on the faces of the people of Carlisle. It had seemed more than mere sorrow. He thought he had seen guilty looks among them. Many had averted their eyes.

  "The girl said she was with Sheriff Harrison when he crashed his truck. She told me the people pulled her out and tried to hurt her."

  "She was probably scared and not thinking clearly. They were trying to help her and she thought they were trying to hurt her."

  "But that woman said she had never seen her before. How could that be if they pulled her from the wreck? Wouldn't she remember that?"

  "Maybe she wasn't there."

  "Tara was clear she had been."

  "I think you're focusing too much on what the little girl said. Her story can't be trusted. Two major traumatic experiences around the same time have her confused. You're overthinking it."

  Officer Brown started to wonder if his partner was right. After all, it did make sense. Tara had been through a lot. Her mother was missing and she had nearly died in a car accident. The accident alone would have been enough to mix up her thoughts. But the two experiences together may have impacted her more than Brown thought. Still, he couldn't shake the odd feeling about the town. His gut feeling told him to not let it go.

  "Come on, Elton." He said to his partner. "Let's take a drive to Carlisle. At least put my mind at ease."

  "Whatever will shut you up," Elton said.

  The two of them laughed and headed out for Carlisle. Neither said a word for the entire drive. Brown continued to brood over Tara's story, knowing it had to be more truth than fantasy. He knew his partner did not feel the same. Something told him Elton would believe him before the night was over.

  They passed the familiar sign welcoming them to Carlisle. Up ahead, things seemed unusually dark. Instinctively, officer Brown let off the gas. The street lights weren’t on and no lights came from the end of the road where the town would have been. It seemed rather unusual.

  The patrol car came to a stop out front of the town center. Its headlights bathed the front of the building in a white glow from the LED headlights. The entire scene looked like something out of an apocalypse movie. The town was just quiet and empty. Officer Brown shifted into park and stared out the windshield.

  "Alright, Jon," Elton said. "I'll admit it. This is weird. Power's out and no one seems to be here."

  "Yeah."

  It was all Officer Brown could think to say. Too many thoughts raced through his mind. There was definitely something wrong. He opened his door and stepped out into the silent night air. His partner, Elton, stayed in the car for a moment, not sure what to think. Finally, he stepped out and followed his partner.

  There seemed to be nothing in the immediate area that indicated trouble. Officer Brown pulled out his cell phone and switched on the flashlight app. Walking towards the town center, he noticed something off. The parking area in front of the building had several marks. He got down on one knee to take a closer look. Brown wiped at the mark with a finger. The black residue spread under his finger and stuck under his nail.

  He sniffed the substance and shook his head. “Soot.”

  “There was a fire that night, remember? You said one of the houses burned down.”

  “Yes, but across town. Not here.”

  “Maybe they brought some of the pieces here?”

  “Seems like a long way to transport garbage.”

  Brown walked towards the town hall and peered into the window. It was too dark inside to see anything so he sidestepped to the door. Finding it unlocked, he let himself inside. He held the cell phone out in front of him and swept the light across the room. The open space looked like an auditorium. Wooden stadium seats lined the floor facing a stage. He noticed something in the center of the stage and shifted his focus there. Outside, his partner scanned the road for any signs of life.

  “There’s someone in here, I think,” Brown said. Elton didn’t respond. Instead, he walked inside and pulled out his cell phone. Much like Jon, he scanned the auditorium with his cell phone. In the distance, Jon was approaching the stage. His cellphone pointed down at the floor.

  “Ma’am, are you OK?” Officer Jon Brown called out, receiving no response. Now he was sure it was a person. An older woman lay in the center of the stage with her head facing away. A microphone lay a few feet away from her. “Excuse me,” he said as he climbed up on the stage. He approached slowly, not sure what to expect.

  Bending down, Officer Jon Brown reached out and rocked the woman’s shoulder. It barely moved and he knew exactly what it meant. Rigor mortis had set in. The poor woman was dead. Wondering if it were the little girl’s mother, Brown stood up and stepped over the body.

  “Oh fuck.” It was the woman he had talked to the night he had found Tara. She had leaned in the window and said she didn’t recognize her. Now, she lay on the stage in a dead heap. But it wasn’t merely a dead body that had made Brown feel uneasy. No, he had seen several dead bodies in his time. It came with the job. But he had never seen one quite like this. The poor woman had clearly suffered.

  Her eyes were bulging from her skull like she had seen some terrible nightmare in her last moments of life. A mixture of drool, blood, and vomit covered her face and chest. Nearby stood a small, dry puddle of the same substance. Her teeth were loose in her mouth but not because she wore dentures. Her actual teeth had come loose. Scratch marks littered the floor like she had dug her nails into it to find relief. Brown also found blood and splinters under her nails. The most disturbing sight, however, was her tongue. It was swollen and caught in her throat. Her mouth was gaping wide as if to show off the horrid sight.

  “Elton, we have a body here. Looks like this woman really suffered.”

  “Um,” His partner stammered. “We have a lot more than just one body.”

  Officer Brown turned to face his partner. Before he could ask what he had meant, he saw the sea of bodies sitting in the stadium chairs. He had missed them all. The body on the stage had diverted his attention enough to pass every single citizen in Carlisle. Each had the same horror-stricken expression glued to their faces. Drool, blood, and vomit caked every single face in the crowd.

  “What…in…the…unholy…fuck?” Brown stepped dow
n off the stage and scanned the audience with his phone. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Some of the citizens held hands, forever bonding their deceased bodies. Many held rosary beads and bibles. But the worst was the women, clutching their children. It was a scene Brown would never forget until his dying day.

  “We have to call this in,” Brown said. Elton nodded and dialed a few numbers on his phone. A few hours later, the FBI crawled over the city of Carlisle. Bodies were bagged, evidence was taken, and photos were snapped. Meanwhile, Elton and Jon stood by their cruiser and watched the controlled chaos. Both men had already given their statements.

  “We found a lot of cars a few blocks away with all their batteries missing. Not sure what to make of that.”

  Jon shrugged. The FBI agent walked away and continued to converse with the other agents. As they did, Jon looked up the street and spotted the water tower looming over the town. It stood over like a dark tower in the sky. He stared at it for several long minutes before realizing something.

  “Holy shit.” He said aloud.

  “What?” His partner asked.

  “There.” Officer Jon Brown pointed at the water tower. “They’ll find their missing car batteries in there. I’d bet my career on it.”

  “Who would have done something so disturbing like that?”

  Jon waved his hands and flagged down the agent in charge. “Hey, we need to comb this town for a body. A woman by the name of Sasha Hall. I think the people of Carlisle murdered her.”

  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost, let me thank you for picking up this book and reading it. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do if not for the readers. So, sincerely, thank you. I hope you enjoyed this book and if you did, please tell your friends and consider leaving a review on your favorite reading platform or on Goodreads. It’s the best way to promote your favorite authors.

  Next, I’d like to thank Roxie Prince who has been a patron of mine over on Patreon for about a year now. Your support has been super helpful, and I always appreciate it. Even just having someone to read the short stories or flash fiction pieces I write. Roxie has also been a great supporter of mine over on Instagram and an even better friend. Thanks for sticking around with me!