by Dawn Gray
Looking down over the ledge, I could see where my flashlight had hit the rock wall below me and came to rest on the beach below. It took me a few moments to catch my breath, and my heart, as I sat with my lower legs hanging over the edge. I shook my head as I tried to recall the maps that the SPIRIT men had out on the table that morning, and I rubbed my hands together as a chill curled around me. Both maps were the same, right down to the very street names, so why was it that I didn’t remember the fact that my house sat on the edge of a mountainside?
I tried to think back to my childhood, to the part of me that used to move through these woods unafraid, but I couldn’t come up with anything that seemed out of place. Frustrated, I stood and moved back through the woods,
Sam? Zander’s voice trickled over me like honey and I smiled at the sound.
I’m on my way, and I found out some interesting stuff, I answered, finally finding my car in the driveway. I climbed in, letting the feeling of Zander’s pulse wash over me, and I headed back to the hunting shack where the trailer was parked.
Once inside the house, surrounded by the six of them, I explained what had happened, right down to my near fall off the cliffs. I watched as they pondered over it for a few moments.
“There has to be something that you don’t remember, if you didn’t know about the cliffs,” Daniels spoke up.
“Or it could be that I just didn’t venture that far,” I answered and shook my head. “Look, after the lake incident and certainly after my run in with Mr. Creepy, I rarely went anywhere except the main roads. I slept during the day when I could and was gone most nights when I was able. I didn’t want anything to do with that house, let alone the woods behind it.”
“Still,” Zander spoke up. “Our main concern isn’t the cliffs or the woods, it’s the river and the reason that it was diverted. It has to have something to do with where his body went.”
“The river is simple. A rock slide caused the water to follow the easiest path,” Harris spoke up.
“But it doesn’t explain why or how it went back into the same location it was before the slide. Look at this map, there is no way any ordinary river is going to make a perfect arch and then go straight back to the point where the rocks clear it,” Walters added, and I glanced at him. It seemed the first intelligent thing he had said since this whole thing started and I was impressed. “Ok, I decided to look this up myself, after Sam said she might need to go back to the house for it. I found the exact same maps and noticed the change in the water pattern so I took it upon myself to look up some other information about the area. Did you know that this was a hunting ground for Ute Indians? They hunted, fished, lived and died in this region of the state, and one of the most sacred places to honor their dead was up near a strong flowing river.”
“The one on the lake road,” Rodriguez whispered, catching on to what Walters was getting at.
“Great, so they unearthed an Indian burial ground, upset the spirits, and let an evil vengeful spook loose and never bothered to clean up the mess.” Daniels sighed. “That’s easily cleaned up, but what does it have to two with the two lovebirds?”
“Vengeance,” Zander whispered, glancing up at him. “You said it yourself, a vengeful spook, the only way they can harm anyone is taking on a solid form. Whatever demon’s running around decided that Zander was the best soul for the job, took over his spirit and has been running havoc ever since. He just never counted on the two of us showing up to mess up his little plan.”
“It still doesn’t tell us where the guy went.” Harris shrugged and that’s when I looked up at him.
“It does,” I answered, and stood up. Zander watched me as I walked in a circle, shaking my head as my thoughts rambled on until I reached the right one. “Walters, can you look up the lake levels for that year, spring of the next year actually. There was something in the vision that makes me wonder, but I can’t prove anything until I see it for myself.”
Walters clicked away at the laptop, his fingers moving in a blurring motion and then slowly he turned it towards me to see the graph. With interest, I sat down on the floor, pulling the screen closer to me. For a moment, all eyes were on me as I read over the data, and I sighed.
“The water levels were off the charts, the swell of the river alone poured more water into the lake than in any other year,” I spoke quietly as I shook my head. “It doesn’t make sense, the river couldn’t have held its banks with that much liquid flowing through it, yet it never veered off the new course it created.
“He would have come to the surface in the thaw, the water level high enough to carry him downstream without hitting any of the jagged rocks below, but where would it have put him. People would notice a frozen body on the side of the banks on the lower lake road. It only runs six feet off the concrete, and the trees are thin enough to see through, especially in early spring before the buds come out.”
I took a deep breath, the side of my head throbbing from thinking too much. I rolled my neck to pop the tension out, before I glanced up at the men around me.
“Where would I hide if I was a frozen stiff, no pun intended?” I whispered. “Where would I go that no one would ever venture to find me?”
“The lake, maybe he floated out to the middle and sank?” Harris whispered.
“He wouldn’t have sunk,” Zander quietly replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the couch. “There would be no way that after a trip down a river that he would have gotten to the lake and gone belly up.”
“People would have seen him, would have noticed him. We would have had our answer by now if there was anything in the news about him,” I added. “Nope, he’s still hiding somewhere.”
I stood up, moving from the seat I had taken on the floor, and went into the kitchen to grab a soda out of the refrigerator. Outside, in the field where the other soldiers sat and awaited orders from the Captain, I watched the bonfire crackle and the orange flames grew higher.
My memories flashed and I closed my eyes as I watched the ghoul come closer, its voice sending Zander to his knees, and suddenly I dropped the can. It hit the floor with a loud pop, making me jump and turn towards the staring eyes of the men in the other room.
Fire blazed behind my eyes, filling my chest with heat as my heart raced, and my gaze locked on Zander. “I know where he is.”
19
He slipped the coat over my shoulder, shielding me from the fierce wind that had come up in the late hour of the night, and gently he kissed me on the cheek before stepping up beside me.
My hands were wrapped around a hot coffee mug, as I tried to control the tremors that flowed through my body. I didn’t explain what I meant to them when I said I knew where he was, I didn’t even offer anymore than that, but they seemed to accept that.
When I walked out into the night, my mind wandering in different directions, no one stood up to protest, or to tell me how dangerous it would be being out alone at night. I knew the dangers, I lived with what went bump in the night, I had seen the boogieman, and I wasn’t afraid anymore.
I could hear Zander breathing, the shiver in his exhale and I smiled. “You don’t have to watch over me every minute, dear, I’m a big girl.”
“I’m not watching over you,” he said bluntly. “I happen to find walking out the door and being able to stare at your ass quite enjoyable, so I do it any time I can. With that comes the odd silence that makes me have to stand beside you for a minute, before going in and doing it all again.”
I turned, completely stunned that he had come up with such a blatant lie that fast and actually made it sound like a reasonable explanation. I stared at the side of his face, taking in the curves of his profile as he took a sip of the coffee in his hand, then the corner of his lips turned up in a smile. I slapped him with the back of my hand on the arm.
“You are incorrigible!” I announced, letting out a long, deep breath as I turned back to look out at the night.
“I know, but that’s what
you love about me,” he answered. I smiled, watching his face out of the corner of my eye. “Well, if you’re all right, than I think I’m going to go back in and finish the round of cards I was playing.”
He turned and made his way back towards the building, but stopped when he heard me twirl around.
“Zander,” I whispered, and watched him glance over his shoulder in my direction. “When this is over, do you think we could sneak out to the field and ah, explore your outdoorsy side?”
He swung completely around, a wide toothy grin on his face and laughed. “Now, who’s incorrigible?”
I couldn’t help but smile as he went inside the house without another word, but the smile soon faded as I thought of the gruesome task that awaited me the next day. With a sigh, I dumped the coffee on the ground and made my way back into the warmth of the house. I moved passed the men playing around the coffee table, sitting on the old, warn-out and ripped sofa set, up to the short-ceiling loft that I had spent only a few hours in the first night of what could possibly be classified as the biggest drastic change in my life, and curled up on one of the mats.
It didn’t take long for my eyes to close and for the darkness to take over, but the flashes of what I had been through the last week shook me several times from the very much-needed restful sleep. Zander curled up with me sometime during the night and held me as I shook, then cooed me to sleep when I became exhausted from the exertion.
All I wanted was the sun to stay down, as I slept in that next morning, but the smell of pancakes filled the upstairs loft, beckoning me to follow the scent down to the kitchen. I resisted the temptation for a while, until the tang of fresh brewed coffee wafted up to sting my senses. Mumbling under my breath, promising threats of dismemberment to the person whose bright idea it was to cook breakfast that early, I made my way down the ladder and stopped to see the crowd that stuffed the little house.
Okay, now I really wanted to go back to bed as all eyes turned on me and I felt like a cow in a meat packing plant. I shook my head, giving dirty stares to those men closest to me and felt the humor in Zander’s mind as he approached, gathering me up in his arms as I continued to watch the soldiers in the room.
“Why is it that men have to ogle women? Do I look like a piece of meat?” I whispered, my voice pitched with anger. Zander laughed in my ear as he kissed me softly on the lips. “I knew we should have stayed at the hotel last night.”
“Come on, baby.” He smiled, tugging on my hand as he led the way through the testosterone forest before me.
The air outside was chilly and we half jogged to the large red trailer, our breath noticeable in the cold morning air. I was rubbing my arms as he gestured me to step inside and with a dirty look in his direction, scolding him for bringing me out in this climate before my morning coffee, I stepped inside.
In the furthest back corner of the room was a small table, filled with two plates of steaming pancakes and a carafe of coffee, accompanied by two cups. The air inside the large rectangular box was warm, pleasant, and not at all filled with male hormones like the house. I kissed his cheek and scooted over to the table, glancing up at him as I sat down.
“I figured you might have a problem with morning chow.” He chuckled as he sat down across from me, filling my cup with steaming coffee. As soon as the smell hit my nose, I felt more human. “Do you want to wait until the mist clears or would you rather head down to the beach first thing after breakfast?”
“If I decided to wait, I wouldn’t get anything done,” I whispered, the angry tone gone from my voice, knowing that he would have picked up on the whereabouts. “This isn’t a task I’m looking forward too.”
“Neither am I.” He sighed, took a slab of butter and dropped it on the top of his stack of five cakes. “How do you think he got there?”
“The water levels that spring were record breaking, it would only make sense that he would have floated in there, possibly gotten stuck on something in the back and stayed when the tide receded. We won’t know if he’s truly there until we investigate,” I answered, pouring the syrup over my own plate. “I just hope he is so we can give him some peace.”
The wind on the beach whipped furiously as the seven of us stood there, looking up and down the beach. Zander gestured towards his left and slowly we made our way towards the small inlet where he had created an uncontrollable storm.
I stopped as I walked slowly along the very edge of the cliff base, following where the rock and the sand met, and I reached up to put my hand against the stone. The vibration I felt was like nothing I had ever experienced and when I pulled my hand away, it sparkled as if covered in glitter.
“This whole place is pyrite,” I murmured, and looked up at the glimmering cliff, not watching where my foot fell as I stepped. Suddenly I was sitting on my bottom in the soft sand. Zander looked back at me from twelve yards away, curiosity in his eyes. “Oh, you have got to be kidding!”
What is it? His voice crackled at me, as if he were using the transmitter.
I held up the black Maglite flashlight, showing it to him, and then I looked up at the edge of the cliff above, the dark forest looming over the water. I sighed and shook my head.
This just gets better and better! I answered and stood up, walking away from the path I was on and straight towards Zander. He glanced down at the flashlight I held, took it in his hand, and shook it.
“The batteries are dead,” he pointed out the obvious.
“Of course the batteries are dead,” I replied sarcastically. “It was lit when I dropped it, and it was on when it hit the dirt below me.”
“Are you sure someone didn’t pick it up and move it there?” Harris questioned as he approached.
“Yeah, the invisible man, who doesn’t leave footprints in the sand,” I growled, and then shook my head. Zander looked at me oddly, as I crossed my arms over my chest. Why do I feel so angry?
It could be the location, or something trying to separate us, Zander replied, as he wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly to his chest.
I looked at Harris and sighed. “Sorry.”
“No harm, miss,” he said, winking, and then he moved on, the M4A1 Carbine in his hands.
Zander kissed the top of my head and then stepped away, going back to combing the beach as I headed back in the direction that I wanted to follow. The sand changed as we approached the opening to the cave where we had taken refuge from the storm. It was thicker, not so much the light grainy sand of the beach, but a rocky soil dirt that would have been swept down river in the swell.
I stopped, grabbed the flashlight out of my belt and turned it on, taking a deep breath before shining it into the darkness. The feeling inside was cool and damp, but otherwise void of hostel feelings, or menacing creatures, and I stepped foreword into the darkness, with Zander at my side.
The rest of the team spread out, with Everett remaining on the outside incase anyone should happen by, which was highly unlikely, but he had his reasons. Zander and I headed for the spot where the creature had stood, sweeping the lights across the burnt remains of the foliage that covered the floor.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Harris questioned as he looked in dark crevices.
“Any place that a body could get stuck in,” I answered and watched him cringe, knowing that he was thinking about stumbling on to a scull in the dark.
I could feel the pulse before I saw where it was coming from, a faint electric pull in a certain direction, and I glanced up at Zander, who was looking around the cave. At the same moment, we both turned to a dark corner to our right, tucked in the back of the cavern. I breathed in deeply, and took a step towards that direction.
The lightening hit the sand beside me without warning, and the flash lit up the room. I could see the opening from where I stood, and my inner voice screamed at me as I took another step forward. This time I was prepared for the bolt, as it stuck once again to my left.
It’s not a warning, I whispered, feeling Zander b
ack off from my side, and I turned and looked at his face. He was pale white, his eyes glowing with the bright flashes of the storm within him. “Stay.”
“I couldn’t go any further if I tried,” he mumbled, looking down at his feet. I glanced where he was staring and noticed the roots that had climbed up around his calves. I turned to move in his direction but he raised a hand. “Wait.”
“I’m not going to let some overgrowth stop you from doing what you have to,” I said sternly.
“But, I don’t have to do this,” he whispered, which made me stop and look deep into his eyes. “You do, that’s why you were brought here. I couldn’t find him on my own. I would never have been able to receive what he was telling you. You have to find him, you have to bring him home.”
“I can’t do it without you,” I replied quietly, shaking my head.
He tapped on his temple and then on his heart. “I’m right here.”
I drew in as much air as I could, and turned to look at where the beam disappeared into the small hole in the cavern wall. It wasn’t much bigger than I was, but enough to easily let my body slide through. Then I noticed that at my knee level it was much wider. If the tide had come in the right way, he would have slipped though here but never been able to get out.
The small enclosure went on for a few yards before it opened into another small cavern, this one lit by the sun as it shined through a hole in the side of the stonewall. Water cascaded down the pyrite covered rocks, shimmering in the light, and fell into a small pool in the middle of the room. I walked around, able to see everything with my own sight, and found that it was very simple to connect with Zander so he could see just what I was witnessing.
Halfway around the pool, I noticed a spot where the water seemed a different shade of blue, and slowly, I moved closer to the water’s edge. My eyes focused through the clear water and I heard myself gasp. There he was, resting on the bottom of a nearly translucent hole, exactly how I had seen him the night he died in my memories. His clothing was still intact, his hair waved and swirled with the droplets from the fountain above, and he had a soft, peaceful look on his pale face. His eyes were closed and his hands rested beside him.