The Mark (Weeping Willow Book 2)

by Steven Evans

  This caught me by surprise. Poor James, after ignoring me all those months, finally he gets up the nerve to say something and he loses his job because of it. What was Mr. Allen’s issue? Wow, I couldn’t believe this!

  I said, “Look, I wasn’t trying to get him fired. I…”

  “But you did!”

  “Mr. Allen, I just asked about the storms. That’s it. Nothing serious enough to get him fired. You should rethink your reaction, because you’re making this out to be more than it is.”

  “But still, it was more than he was qualified to speak of.”

  “Is that right?” I asked, “If he wasn’t qualified, would you care to answer a few questions then?”

  “Unlike some…” he sneered, “I don’t fall prey to a kid’s overactive imagination, an imagination that makes him prone to flights of fancy!”

  “It seemed like more than that to me. James believed what he was saying, and since it got under your skin, would you care to elaborate on his flight of fancy?”

  He said, “Mister, that’s all it is-- a story! There’s nothing to elaborate on. Don’t become a fool in a kid’s fantasy world.” He rolled his eyes. “Look, things happen! Sad things happen sometimes with no explanation. You just have to be the bigger person, the smarter person, and decide for your own self if it’s make believe. If I was you, I wouldn’t go putting too much faith in the mad ramblings of a kid! I will be notifying Mr. Harte of your meddling and incessant intrusions. Be sure of that!”

  With that, the curtains fanned as he disappeared through them, leaving me to wonder what the Hell just went on.

  I snatched my bags up and headed for the door. I regretted it every time I came into this God forsaken town; these people were forgotten by the world for a damn good reason. No wonder they were run out of every place from one coast to the other!

  Lost in my thoughts and not paying much attention, I started feeling little pebbles hitting my feet. I turned to look, but there was no one there. Still more stones. As they pelted my pants leg, they were getting bigger and coming faster. With no clue where they were raining down from, I just stopped and waited, hoping that the culprit would reveal who they were before too long.

  Suddenly, the streetlight I was standing under shattered, and sparks showered down around me! Shaking my body and brushing embers from my clothes, I noticed that James was walking towards me.

  “What the hell is going on, James?”

  He just kept walking like I had said nothing, almost like I wasn’t standing there at all. When he was close enough for me to grab, I jerked him around until we were staring into each other’s faces.

  “James…James, snap out of it!”

  He just stood there with a blank, colorless expression and looked as if he wasn’t even conscious. I steadily shook him, trying to arouse some small measure of awareness and just waited for him to wake up.

  “Wha…what are you doing?” James asked as he tried to focus on my face. “Why are we in the street? Why are the lights off? Ho…wait, how did I even get here?”

  “James, you were following me just like you did before, and this time you were throwing rocks at me and playing your little games. When you started toward me, the light burst, and you… well, you were like this.”

  James looked confused and lost, but as he scratched his head, he said, “I don’t know why I was following you or why I was throwing rocks, but I know what I have to tell you.”

  “Well don’t leave me waiting. The suspense is killing me, man.”

  “Here it is.” He was wearing a ‘matter of fact,’ or ‘sit down, and brace yourself look’ as he started to speak. “I know you probably think I’m just some half-brained kid living in some fantasy world, but I know more than I let on. The people in this town have no clue as to the real situation we’ve been doomed to live in!”

  I tried to speak, but he quickly held his hand up, as if to say, just let me finish before you blow me off as crazy, so I swallowed my words and let him continue.

  “I told you that the whole town knew your story before you even showed up, but I didn’t get a chance to say how we knew it. The danger of these storms gets so exaggerated. In reality, yes, they can get bad, but they’re not the true danger. People don’t talk about it, because they’ve blocked it from their minds or, at least, she’s hidden it from them. Yes, I mean Katherine! She has control over everything you see around you. This place is a mirage. We are just her puppets and are only allowed to react how she wants us to. All the people go about their daily mundane tasks as if they’re accomplishing something great, but every day they wake up and do the same shit they did just the day before, and they’re oblivious to that fact. They have hidden for so long from the truth of our reality that they no longer care about how we all ended up here in the first place.”

  “James, what the hell are you talking about? How do you know about Katherine? That monster only lives in my nightmares.”

  He bit his lip a little as he grumbled, “Just shut up and listen! You are a wild card, because you’re not fully a part of this existence yet, and that’s why everyone hates you. That’s why no one wants to do a damn thing to help you. Can’t you see? She is the storms! They announce her arrival. She’s convinced everyone that it’s just weather, but it’s her! She comes every year around the same time, and once she gets here, she picks and chooses her victims at will. These people just continue to chalk it up as coincidence, but it’s her! Their selective ignorance is shameful, but they’ve lived this way for centuries.”

  “Wait! You said she picks and chooses her victims. What exactly does she pick them for?”

  His impatience was glaring at me through bloodshot eyes and flushed cheeks as he looked me up and down before he started again.

  “Fine, you should already know, though! She feeds off our energy! It’s how she’s lived so long and why she’s so powerful! Now, I have to go. I’m only allowed to be out so late.”

  “What do you mean? You have a curfew or something?”

  He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “No, not exactly…but yes. We all sort of have a curfew. We’re only allowed to do the same things from one day to the next, and never can we veer from those guidelines, unless of course, we’re going to the town meeting. By the way, you had better get ready for it. Some folks aren’t very pleased you’re here.”

  This kid infuriated me! First, he hadn’t said a thing, and at this point, I was certain that he had completely lost his ever-loving mind! Should I believe him?

  The winds quickened, and a dense fog moved in, obscuring everything from sight. When it rolled out, James was gone, and I was alone. The night air had grown heavy, and a sudden despair now overwhelmed me.

  Chapter Eight

  Round Two

  I was restless all night, and sleep was hiding from me. I felt almost like a prisoner laying there in my bed, being held down by my thoughts. The answers to my endless stream of questions only seemed to bring more confusion. This town is a mirage. That’s what James had said. It made no sense. She hides in the storms. What did it mean?

  Suddenly, from somewhere outside, I heard that low muffled sound again. The moaning and whining that had driven me nuts during the first phase of the storms had returned, and this time it was stronger and more persistent. It must be close!

  Wrestling to get my pants on as I hobbled out of the door, I looked up to see the winds raging and the clouds cascading across the sky. I was frantically scanning the yard for this pitiful animal lost in the night when rain began to pour down, hindering my senses. The creepy sound usually subsided when I came outside, but now it was louder. The sad little cries, breaking through the noise of thunder and limbs waving vigorously to the heavens, were now calling to me.

  I could only make out the weeping willow tree, whose every branch had turned straight up so that they were pointing directly at the moon. As I made my way to it, the sounds became clearer, and I knew that, this time, whatever had been playing hide and seek
for so long was now ready to be found. But would I be ready for what was revealed?

  There, sitting on the bench beside the tree, was the vision of a beautiful woman. She was dressed in a plain handmade dress, and her eyes were filled with tears. My heart immediately went out to her, but she didn’t seem to notice that I was there. I tried to talk to her, but my words went unheard. She never moved. Her face was hidden by her palms as she peered out through interwoven fingers. Her gaze was fixed ominously on the little spring that seemed uninterested in the storm brewing above it.

  I kept trying to get her attention. I just wanted to help. She never looked up or gave any signs that she knew I was there. Suddenly, she lunged to her feet and darted toward the spring. I reached out for her arm, but my hand moved right through it like it wasn’t even there. The air distorted around her for a brief second, colors mixing unnaturally with the rain, wind, and fog now besieging us and instantly reformed in her perfect image. The horrible wailing that was streaming from her mouth surged within my ears and ricocheted in my head. The sound just kept increasing, and the intensity was numbing. But it was also so piercing that it drowned out the storm now throwing a major tantrum.

  The more I attempted to impede her progress, the more she ignored my presence. She was standing in the water with both feet covered up to her ankles. The gentle ripples, blissfully unaware of the torrential downfall assaulting the ground around it, were caressing her legs, trying to entice her to wade out further. I was screaming, but the winds muted the words before they left my mouth. I grabbed for her dress, hoping that I could persuade her to stop, but her movements persisted, and my hand just aimlessly floated through the air. She was there…wasn’t she? I could see her! No matter what I did, she never acknowledged me in any way. She was focused only on the spring.

  Her motion was never interrupted by my useless attempts. She just continued to walk slowly into the water. She was up to her waist now, and she started to lower her body down. As the water reached her throat, she turned, and I swear she looked at me as she said…

  “You can’t save me!”

  As the spring swallowed her up, and the last remaining air bubbles floated to the surface and popped, the storm eased up, and all was quiet and calm. I turned to face the house, but instantly I was lying in bed with only the sound of my erratic breathing resonating within the stale air of the room.

  I was trying to figure it out. Could this really be happening, or was it just more stress brought about from the insane people living in this town? I went to the door and looked out at the tree and the spring, hoping it would clear something up, but nothing was there. Is this what James meant by ‘She hides in the storm?’

  The spring was nearly overflowing its banks, and there were no signs that anyone was ever there. But those words still lingered in my ears: “You can’t save me!” Was she talking to me, or was she just playing out the last scene captured in her memory? If she wasn’t talking to me, then who was she talking to?

  ***

  The same events happened every night for two weeks. As the intensity of the storms picked up, so did the wailing and moaning. She never showed any signs that she knew I was there watching her, and I was never able to keep her from sinking beneath the cold waters of the spring. Yet every time, right before her head disappeared, she always said those same words: “You can’t save me!”

  Last night, I even stood in a different place and watched as the bubbles burst, but it still seemed like she looked straight into my eyes as she spoke that damning statement and accepted her final fate. She must have known I was there. She knew where to look and always spoke to me, but why couldn’t I stop her? She was looking at me, but it was more like she was looking through me to something or someone else. Nothing made sense, and yet every night it happened over and over again without fail. Each time she stared into my eyes as she said, “You can’t save me!” Was she talking to me?

  James had said that she chose her victim during these storms. Is that what she’s doing? Am I to be her next target? Why has she chosen me? If only I could remember! I know my daughter had demanded that I find the secret to the mark, but when the memories are hidden from you, it’s hard to trust anything. If she had picked me, why was she taking her time to make her intentions known? Why doesn’t she just do it already? Why must she play these games? Adder had told me that the second round of storms would last for about a month, and if that was so, then they should be winding down pretty soon. There should only be another day or two remaining before they ended.

  The winds picked up, the driving rain pounded against the roof of my small cabin, and the thunder and lightning serenaded the ominous night sky. I ran outside, because I knew she’d be there soon. I just sat on the bench beside the weeping willow tree and waited.

  She entered the water, and, like every time before, she looked at me as it surrounded her neck. I knew what she was going to say, but it felt like a new message every time I heard it.

  “You can’t save me!”

  Knowing it wouldn’t make a difference, I said, “So why do this every night if I can’t save you?”

  I was almost laughing, and I was sure that she’d just vanish beneath the waters again, but this time her face remained on the surface, and she just stared at me.

  “You can’t save me! You couldn’t save your family! You won’t be able to save yourself!”

  My heart was nearly pounding out of my chest as I fell over backwards and hid behind the bench. I peered out with my chin glued to the wet concrete and hoped she had already sunk. I knew she was talking to me now!

  Her dead blank eyes were still staring at me as the bubbles began to appear.

  “Why now? Why would you speak to me now?”

  “You can’t save me!”

  “Why do you think I want to save you? I mean, you just appear out of the storm and think you know me. Why would I ever save you?”

  She was a broken record as she repeated, “You can’t save me!”

  I sprang to my feet and ripped my shirt open. “This… this is your handiwork! This is what trying to help you gets me! Why in the ever-loving Hell would I ever want to save you?”

  I started to say something, but the bubbles started to pop, and her head lowered, hiding underneath the rippling waters of the spring, and she was gone.

  Instantly, I was back in my bed with the air so thick and stiffening that it nearly choked me. I just laid there thinking of the things she had said. It must’ve been hours before I moved.

  ***

  I hadn’t noticed my eyes closing, but I knew I was no longer in my bed. I had returned to the road down from my old house. Leaves swirling, skies billowing, and lightning flashing across the sky, she was standing over me, and her counterpart was lurking in the shadows. That sick nauseous feeling returned as the memories slapped me in the face. The demented look that was sparkling in her eyes told me that she was enjoying the game. Her glare never wavered. I was raised off the ground and promptly dropped on my ass at her feet.

  She smirked and said, “You may not remember today or tomorrow, but one day you will. One day, all will be revealed!”

  “I do remember!” I shouted. “I know everything you have put me through! My mind is clear on the brutality you have shown me, and that’s all I need to know!”

  She looked unimpressed by my words as she proclaimed, “You know nothing! You remember only what I allow you to remember! You are not ready for the truth of your memories!”

  I tried to speak, but she disappeared, and once again I was lying flat on my back in bed.

  Are Willow and the woman at the spring the same? How are they connected? Why is she playing this game and why am I a part of it? Why do I miss her? These feelings I have can’t be real. Who in their right mind would ever miss a creature like her? This constant aching and yearning is driving me mad. Hate her! Love her! Want her! Need her! I would strangle the life out of her if it relieved this pain and broke the connection she had over me.

&n
bsp; I wondered if, when the storms arrived tonight, the woman at the spring would go into more details, or at least say something more. I was getting excited, and the waiting was nearly painful, but nothing happened. No winds, no rain, no thunder, no lightning. Nothing! Round two had come to an end, and while I barely noticed the intense power driving it, the strange energy that had been trapped within it was hard to forget.

  I rolled over and closed my eyes. I knew sleep would elude me for another night, but my unfulfilled expectations had left me feeling empty inside, and now my pillow was once again soaked from tears that I didn’t fully understand.

  I was confused as to why I felt so lost now after seeing her. Why did she have that effect on me? My chest was hurting, and there was an ache beginning to pulse with every heartbeat. The storms had just stopped, and I already missed her. Even the small interaction we’d had left me wanting more.

  I could feel an intense stinging over my heart. The more the blood surged in and out, the more it burned. The memories, though still foggy, were starting to come back. As I fell asleep, I knew the connection had been reestablished, and I could only imagine the trials that awaited me now.

  When will she return? Will she keep pretending to not notice me, or will she announce her intentions? Either way, I needed more answers, answers that could only be given by those who thought of me as an outsider and hated me for reasons I couldn’t understand. It was time to demand that my questions be answered no matter how I made it happen.

  Chapter Nine

  People Watching

  I woke early, anxious to get started. I was gonna put James’ wild theory to the test. He had said that people were unaware of their existence and went about their lives blissfully ignorant. I was going to watch and take notes and see just what happened from day to day with these people.

  I set up shop in the little alley next to Mr. Harte’s. I was determined to see just what everyone did each day. There were only four days until the big town meeting they had threatened me with, and I wanted some kind of leverage when I walked through the door.