NeverEnding Maddness: A Girl Lost to the World (Frost & Flame Book 3)

by Rick Kueber

  It was on a Friday night of unusual winter weather, a phenomenon that had been recently labeled as 'Thunder Snow', that a new urge to solve the case and help all of those distraught souls presented itself to me. I had opened the blinds in my bedroom, and with the lights off, I laid in my bed and watched the large and fluffy flakes drifting down from the night sky, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

  The fog cleared and I found myself standing in a quarter acre of open grass, fenced in with wrought iron. It was twilight and in the far corner of the gated area, near a line of leafless trees stood two small children, a girl in a short dress and a younger boy in loose pants and a white shirt that was also too big for him. Without a word, and no gesturing, the children beckoned to me. I drifted towards them effortlessly. Closer now, I could make out the features of their faces and unique distinctions. The young boy was unfamiliar to me, but the girl...

  “It is now time.” The little blonde girl spoke. “You must act now.” “Ash...” My words hung heavy in my throat. “How? What do we do?” “Introduce the pasts.” Her hollow voice puzzled me. “Pasts?” I was confounded by what she could mean.

  “Each of you have a connection to our pasts...” As her words filled my ears, I felt the presence of others surrounding me. Looking left and right, I found myself surrounded by ghostly images of my teammates.

  “But, I don't know this boy, or his past.” My heart sunk, feeling I would not be able to help the poor souls of the haunted Infirmary.

  “Cordially introduce the pasts. NOW!” Her final word seemed a combination of fury and urgency. “But, how do we do that?” I felt that the entire team was asking this question. As the words left my mouth, the two spectral children became motionless, more transparent, and seemed frozen in time. In fact, their forms appeared to transform into pure ice, like a sculpture of the two where they stood. I started to move closer when the 'ice sculptured' children burst into flames. My background in science and physics told me this was empirically impossible, yet as the two melted away, the flames grew more intense. I felt that I was being pulled away from this mysterious scene when Ashley's voice haunted my dream one last time.

  “Act quickly, act now.” her voice echoed in my head. “Strangers will soon threaten them... expose them... Introduce the pasts.” With that the dream ended and I awoke to several inches of newly fallen snow blanketing the world outside. I knew I had to do something quickly, but I did not really know what. All I could think of, was to plan our return visit to the Infirmary as soon as possible, as soon as the roads were clear enough to travel with as many of my team that could accompany me. First step... call the team together. Second step... call Hilary.

  I actually called my three amigos instead of texting them and we agreed that if the roads were clear enough, we would meet up on Sunday around noon at the Starbucks inside the local Barnes & Nobles as we had always done in the past. I sent Hilary a social media message asking if she would be available for a Skype call at noon on Sunday. It was hours later when my phone lit up with her response. I logged into the social media app on my iphone and checked the message.

  “Sorry, I was working at the spa today. Yeah, I’ll be around Sunday. Just call, and I’ll answer, or call you right back.” - Hil “Great. Talk to you then.” - Rick Saturday proved to be a decent winter day; cold and snow covered, but sunny. The high reached into the twenties, which was warmer that it had been in days. By this time of year, mid-March, it was usually averaging temperatures well above freezing. The sun, the temps above twenty and the solution that had been sprayed on the streets helped to melt away most of the snow that covered the roads, leaving only a few slick spots. So, as it turned out, we were all able to meet up as planned.

  I awoke early on Sunday morning, got my shower, and prepared for my day. I donned a set of lightweight thermal underwear, just in case the roads were worse than expected, I became stranded and had to walk to the book store, or home. I snacked on a microwave ready sausage biscuit from the freezer and gathered up a notebook, pen, my laptop and a digital recorder. I paused in the living room where my son had fallen asleep on the couch watching television the night before. I stood next to him, looking on while he lay there in peaceful slumber. I gently rubbed his shoulder and he opened one eye, looking up at me.

  “I'm going up to the bookstore for coffee with Theo, Jenn and Katie. I won't be gone long.” I whispered. “You want anything while I'm out?”

  “Cappuccino...” His voice was hoarse from sleep. He only uttered the one word before closing his eye to dose back off. “Okay buddy. I'll bring you one back.” I said softly not knowing if he was awake enough to even hear me. “Love you buddy.” I muttered with a smile as I closed the front door and locked it behind me.

  I had to scrape the snow and ice off of my driver's side window before I could unlock it and start it up. While the car warmed up, with the defroster on high, I brushed the snow off of the entire car and scraped the windows as clean as I could get them. I went back into the apartment foyer and grabbed my laptop bag and the notebook. A few minutes later I was pulling into the store parking lot. The roads were better than expected, the parking lot- worse. I struggled on the slippery spots to keep my footing, trying to keep my balance with my hands full. A kind elderly gentleman who was exiting the store held the door for me. Once inside, I shook off the cold and headed to my right, and straight into the Starbucks for a cup of steaming heaven on earth.

  I stood at the counter and placed my usual order. I always opted for either a French vanilla cappuccino or latte... today I chose the cappuccino. It may have been a subconscious suggestion from my sleepy headed son. Whatever the case, I chose it without thinking. While the barista finished making my drink, I turned to find an open table. I was pleasantly surprised to be waved over by all three of my teammates who had already secured a booth in the corner, away from almost everyone else. I walked over to the table and emptied my hands, just as they called out that my drink was ready. I took the cup in both hands and felt its warmth penetrate into my still icy fingers. I took the open seat at the booth next to Theo.

  “I'm sure you are all wondering why I gathered you here today.” I spouted a line I had used at seminars in the past but today I only received blank looks from my friends. “That was supposed to be funny.”

  “Why did you get us all out in this nasty weather?” Jenn asked, half serious, half sarcastically. “Well, this is going to sound weird...” I began. “Uh... we're all weird, so go head.” Katie teased.

  “Okay... the other night, I had this freaky dream, and you were all in it, but like ghosts.” I waited for the raised eye brow looks. Instead I saw looks of surprise on everyone's faces.

  “Uh, me too.” Theo said curiously. “Really. So did I, and Ash was there with a little boy.” Jenn added.

  “Right?” Katie put her hand on her forehead. “What the heck is going on here? I mean, we all had the same dream kinda.” “Let me get Hilary on Skype, and we'll talk to her about it, but what I got from the dream was that we had to get back to the Infirmary ASAP.” I fired up the laptop and connected to the store's free wi-fi. Once connected, I double-clicked the Skype icon, logged in and placed the video call to Hilary.

  “Well, it's about damn time!” She laughed through her smart-assed opening line.

  “Well, hello to you too.” I snapped back at her, pushing the laptop to the far end of the booth, against the wall. “We all made it.” “How's the weather up there?” Theo leaned over in front of the screen to speak to Hilary. When he said the words 'up there' it dawned on me why Hilary said what she opened up the conversation with. We were in different time zones, and noon here was 1 pm there, so we had kept her waiting for an hour.

  “Sorry Hil... I forgot about the time change. I told you noon, but it's noon here, not there.” I quickly apologized. “That's alright Rick... and Theo, it's northern Ohio... so it's freakin' cold as hell.” She said in her usual tone, not realizing the irony of her statement. “So, tell me what's going
on... Why the special meeting?” “Hey Hilary, it's Jenn.” She leaned in and waved to the screen.

  “It seems we all had the same dream Friday night.”

  “Well, that's just creepy.” She responded. “I don't remember dreaming anything the past few nights.” “And, in the dream our friend, Ashley told us we needed to hurry up and get back to the Infirmary to help the spirits there.” Katie added leaning onto her elbow.

  “Okay. You guys are welcome to come up anytime, but it's about zero freakin' degrees here, for a high.” Hilary was being cordial and brutally honest at the same time. “...and who's your friend Ashley?”

  “Ashley is a little girl, a ghost, we helped a while back, and now she tries to help us sometimes.” Theo explained. “There was a real urgency in what she said, and she was holding the hand of a little boy. Any idea who that might be?”

  “Not really. There weren't any records of kids dying here, but I guess there might have been.” Hilary thought for a minute, but got sidetracked. “Hey! I have a new piece for you to check out, I haven't showed anybody yet, not even Mike. If you're coming up soon, I'll just show you then.”

  “Alright, I'm guessing it's something really good, huh?” I finally managed to get the words out.

  “Oh yeah. It's creepy as hell, and it's about Maddie.” She smiled, knowing how much I wanted her to just tell me what it was. “Okay... so, when can everyone find time to take a day and a half, or two to go to the Infirmary?” I posed the question to everyone. “I can make time whenever.” Theo answered first. “Um, not next weekend, but maybe the one after that.” Katie gave her answer. “I could do that weekend, but I have a Delegate meeting in Indianapolis the weekend after that, so...yeah.” I left it at that and waited to hear what Jenn had to say.

  “I make the schedules out at work, and this is our slow time, so I can take that weekend off, no problem.” Jenn said happily. I leaned in to look directly at Hilary. “How about two weeks from yesterday? That'd be....” I looked at the calendar on my phone. “...April 3rd.”

  “Sure. I'm always off on Sundays, and if I work on Saturday, we close at 4, so I'd be home by 5 at the latest.” Hilary confirmed our plan.

  “Alright then... we have a road trip to plan!” Jenn interjected. “Woot Woot!” Katie cheered pumping her fists into the air in celebration.

  “Okay... Guess I'll see you in a couple weeks. See you all later.” Hilary waved good-bye as she ended the video call.

  “Well, we have a date.” I was thrilled.

  “Again...” Said Jenn, remembering how poorly our last planned road trip worked out. “Well, I'm going to have to be at death's door to miss this trip.” Katie joked. “And, if the boys are sick, they can just go stay with Nana.”

  “So, what your saying is, if you aren't on death's door step, you are coming with us to death's door step... and right on in to death's house.” Theo was being sarcastic, not his usual trait, but we all picked up on how true his statement was.

  “We all know how hard it is to get an investigation planned this far out of town. We need to figure out what we are going to do to try to bring these souls peace while we are there.” I tossed the thought out and waited for the feedback.

  “Sage, sweet grass and cedar smudging, for sure.” Jenn said, and I nodded, winked and pointed at her.

  “Holy water and white candle blessings.” Katie added. “Great ideas.” I agreed with them all. “We should probably bring sea salts and some lavender too.” “I can prepare some blessing prayers and rituals, and of course we could connect with the spirits and encourage them to crossover into the light.” Theo knew how important verbally explaining the process and saying the right ritualistic prayers out loud could be, being the team psychic and ordained minister.

  “Again, great ideas. I have one other suggestion... Ashley.” I looked around the table, but no one wanted to respond or even make eye contact with me. “I mean, she helped us before, and she came to all of us in our dreams this time... maybe she is supposed to help.”

  “You're probably right, it's just a little frightening to think of the powers at the infirmary and her powers in the same place...” Theo's words trailed off with his thoughts.

  “No doubt.” Katie agreed. “That little girl scares the hell outta me!” “Well then, if she could just scare the hell out of that place, maybe we'd have a better chance.” Theo once again jested and was serious at the same time.

  “What about trying to find out where Maddie is buried and mark her grave somehow... say a blessing over her remains?” Jenn thought out loud.

  “So many unmarked graves, and we don't even know where some of them are. That may be impossible, but it's definitely worth giving it every effort.” I thought she had a brilliant idea.

  “I have one other suggestion. I'm going to send you all a calendar spreadsheet. Try to fill in everything you remember about the investigation, newspaper clippings, dreams, conversations... whatever is relevant, under the date that it belongs, or as close as you can guess. Then email them back to me a few days before we go to Ohio, like Thursday. I'll merge the data together. I'll send it to Hilary and have her and Mike do the same thing. Maybe if we go over the whole time line before we head to the Infirmary, it might help.” I had homework for everyone, but no one seemed to mind.

  “You know we are all going to have a lot of the same stuff, so when you merge them, it’s going to be pretty repetitive.” Jenn pointed out.

  “That's true, but that's why I want it by Thursday. I can go through it Friday night and hopefully delete all of the identical info. If that isn't enough, I would really like for you all to put in your personal opinions about things, and...” I looked to Theo. “...any psychic impressions would be greatly appreciated.”

  Everyone agreed and soon we were headed our separate ways. We had been at Barnes & Noble just long enough that my car was completely cold again. I turned the key, and the cold air blasted out of the defroster, which I had accidentally left on high. “Holy crap!” I shouted out to myself as I shivered and quickly switched the fan to its lowest setting. I pulled out of the parking lot and made a bee-line for the nearest gas station where I could get my son a French vanilla cappuccino. He preferred the gas station version over the pricey coffee shop cappuccinos. I completely understood. From a young person's point of view, the gas station ones were much sweeter and had more vanilla flavor. I left the car running while I ran in to get his drink. I was pleasantly surprised to return to find my car warming up nicely.

  When I walked in the front door, Daniel dropped his game remote in the middle of playing and reached out with both hands, licking his lips.

  “I didn't think you'd ever get home.” He took the cup from my hand before I could even get my keys back in my pocket. “I was only gone an hour, and you were sleeping when I left.” I smiled at him. He was growing up so fast, but somewhere inside, he was still my little boy.

  “Nu uh.. you woke me up before you left.” He corrected me. “Yeah, but I thought you went back to sleep.” I said honestly.

  “I did try, but I kept thinking about you bringing me a cappuccino, and I just couldn’t fall back asleep, so I've been gaming and waiting for you to get home.” He finally stopped sipping at the hot drink and picked his game controller up again, and was soon lost in his cyberworld, shooting Nazi zombies.

  I retreated to my room and quickly created the spread sheet. Once I had emailed it out to everyone, I sent Hilary a text explaining what I needed. She quickly responded with a 'sure thing'. When I had that behind me, I sat down to start filling out my own time line. I worked on it in between doing the weekend chores and cooking dinner. I was nearly finished by the end of the night, and knew I could wrap it up in the next evening or two. The upcoming trip already had me excited and nervous, and honestly a bit terrified. I knew the next two weeks would drag by, but it would not be nearly as long as it had been.

  Photo by Rick Kueber

  Chapter 11 As We See It

  Over the
next two weeks I had been able to make arrangements for my son for the weekend and managed to prepare for the road trip to Ohio. I had merged and edited all of the data from everyone's spread sheets and printed out enough copies for everyone. I had not read every word of the time line, but had a good idea of its contents. I was surprised by some of the input that I was unaware of, and impressed by the overall story it told.

  When Friday evening came, I took my son over to stay with his friend for the weekend, returned home and packed up my things for my weekend trip. By process of elimination, we had decided to take Theo's car back to Ohio. Jenntraded her Camry for a newer convertible and it would have been a tight squeeze, Katie's truck would only fit three people, and I wasn't sure if my car would make it without a breakdown. My apartment had been chosen as a meeting point. It had plenty of open parking and lots of neighbors to keep an eye on the cars while we were away. As it worked out, Theo

  arrived first around 9 am, much to my astonishment. While I loaded my cases into his trunk, Katie zipped in next to Theo's Subaru. She popped out of her truck and hastily grabbed her things out of the passenger side of the truck cab.

  “Hang on! I'll be right there.” She yelled over to us.

  “No biggie.” I laughed. “Jenn isn't even here yet.”

  “Surprise, surprise.” Theo grinned.

  Still in a rush, she tossed her case into the trunk and a shoulder bag into the back seat. Katie let out an audible sigh as if she had been stressed about being on time and was now relieved that all she had to do was climb in the car and relax for the long drive. She looked up to the clear sky as she walked over and locked up her truck.