“That was the first time I ever fired a gun in my life,” Jen said.
“Well, let’s hope your shots weren’t just beginners luck.”
CHAPTER FORTY
“Why won’t you look at it?”
“Henry told me not to.” Phillip hadn’t wanted to use Henry’s name. As soon as it came out, Phillip bit down hard on his tongue to punish himself. Blood drifted out of his mouth then was captured by the slight current. “He said it would destroy you.”
“Destroy me? Is that what your sender, Henry, told you?”
“Yes.”
“Look at it.”
Phillip held his gaze on the ancient one’s eyes. Phillip saw him slowly turning the object in his twisted and deformed hands. From the bottom of his vision, Phillip saw a flash of light, as the light above reflected its beams off the shiny object. “Henry assumed that this would destroy me but what he doesn’t know is that this is what I rejected and why I am here. This is not a weapon against me, only a reminder. Look at it.”
“Henry told me not to,” Phillip stammered. “He said it would destroy me.”
“You are already destroyed, you just don’t realize it yet. Every soul you see here, is destroyed and unaware. Your sender believes, as so many others do, that capturing a human’s soul earns them benefits from me. But tell me, what benefits have you seen that any soul here enjoys?”
Phillip stared into his eyes and felt intense remorse, sorrow and grief. “It’s all a lie?” he asked.
“A lie that no one told. This realm, this world that you claim that I rule, is a lie. There is nothing here.”
“Why do you scream? Why are you still in agony?”
“Tell me,” the ancient one said, “when you first became aware of your situation, were you put through pain?”
“Yes,” Phillip said.
“Who caused that pain?”
“I couldn’t see them. I don’t know who it was.”
“You can’t see what isn’t there. You were the cause of your own pain. You were your tormentor. You caused every ounce of your suffering. And you kept causing it until you couldn’t feel any hope. You burned your soul with regrets, until whatever memory of what you surrendered, was gone. But it’s still there. Still inside you, waiting. And when a glimmer of hope or love or a realization of what you could be emerges, you bury yourself in pain because you have no hope left. Hope, Phillip, and any trace of hope that still remains inside you, is your torturer.”
“If you know all this, if you were the first one here, why do I still hear you scream?”
“My screams are meant as a warning to all. There is no power here. No glory. I made my choice centuries ago but you, all of you, still have hope remaining. Look at the gift you brought me.”
<<<<>>>>
Throughout the morning, Mac heard the whispering voices calling to him several times. Each time, he bolted towards where he thought the voice was originating from, and each time he saw nothing. His face each time was filled with fear and guilt. “Maybe this whole place is haunted, “ he said through his muffled laugh. “I always used to think that when I was a kid.”
Jen said, “You said you knew about this place but you never told me how you knew about it.”
“My Uncle, on my dad’s side, bought some land about three miles from here,” Mac started. “I think it was around a hundred acres, all circling a small lake. My dad told me that for five years of his life, all my Uncle did was work on his land. He probably spent every penny he had clearing the land, cleaning the lake and getting the land ready for development. Once the land was how he wanted it, he split up the land into a hundred plots, each around an acre each, and put them all up for sale. All but one, that is. He built a log cabin on his property. A few years later, and every plot was sold and every plot had a beautiful home built on it. My Uncle made millions.
“My parents used to bring my brother and me up here for two weeks most summers. I found this place,” Mac said, gesturing widely with his arms, “the second summer we came up. It was still a logging area but the Department of Environmental Conservation shut them down after some environmentalist claimed the logging was endangering a protected species of frog in the pond here. My brother and I rode our bikes over the logging roads and found this place. I swear, he and I would spend hours each day trying to find that endangered frog, but never found anything that looked any different or in any more in danger than a plain old frog.
“This is the first place that came to my mind when I was thinking about where you and I could wait for Henry. Starting to wish I thought of another place.”
“Why?” Jen said.
“Those voices I keep hearing, the ones that get me running off like a chicken without a head, those voices sound like two kids I used to know. They were a couple of years younger than I. Their parents owned one of the houses in my Uncle’s development. Justin and Kevin. Justin was probably seven and Kevin was four or five. One day, Justin and Kevin wanted to come with my brother and me to check out the pond. They were pretty annoying kids but our parents told us we had to bring them along. We did our best to lose them on the bike ride over here but the logging roads and trails were pretty tough riding so we couldn’t get enough speed up to leave them in our dust.
“When we got to this pond, Justin and Kevin went off looking for the endangered frog while my brother and I came up with a way to scare those two. They were frogging over around there,” Mac pointed at the left side of the pond, where an outcropping of rocks jutted a few feet into the pond. The outcropping was elevated no more than three feet from the pond’s surface. “Weird thing about this pond, it’s shallow at the shoreline like almost every other pond, except for that side. Except for right around that outcropping. My brother and I snuck up from behind them in the woods and started tossing small rocks into the water. If Justin and Kevin were looking to their right, we’d toss a pebble to their left. Kept at it for a few minutes.
“I don’t know why or what I was thinking, but I picked up a decent sized stick, broke off the little twigs so it kind of looked like a club, then charged out of the woods, screaming at the top of my lungs. I charged right at Justin and Kevin. My brother said he tried to tell me to stop but I didn’t hear. I just ran right at those kids, screaming bloody murder. They must have been pretty spooked because when they heard me screaming and saw me running at them, they didn’t recognize me. They both jumped off the rocks and into the pond where it isn’t shallow at the shoreline. I didn’t know that neither of them could swim.”
“My God, Mac,” Jen said. “Did they both drown?”
“I tried to get them out. I froze at first but when I saw one of their hands sticking out of the water, I grabbed it and tried to pull them out. Then my brother ran up, saw another hand and starting pulling. I used to have this dream that my mother was drowning and I couldn’t pull her out of the water. It was like that dream came true except it wasn’t my mother drowning, it was two kids and I was responsible for them being in the water.
“When the rescue people showed up and found their bodies, they couldn’t explain why my brother and I weren’t able to pull those kids out of the pond. They weren’t big kids at all. I swear, Jen, something was pulling them down, just like something was pulling my mom down into the water in that dream I used to have.”
“And the voices you keep hearing, they’re Justin’s and Kevin’s voices?”
“Yeah,” Mac said. “They start out talking about frogs but their voices are muffled so I can’t really make out what they’re saying. I start running over there when I hear them screaming that they’re drowning and that I killed them.”
Jen said, “Mac, you know it’s Henry, or something evil doing that. You know he’s trying to break you down. They’re trying to break both of us down. That’s his battle plan, he’s the one who’s dividing and conquering.”
“I know,” Mac said. “And it’s working.”
<<<<>>>>
Henry felt a weakness, a warning
coursing through his body. Something was not right or was not going right. His thoughts shot to Phillip. Henry was certain that Phillip should still be seeking the ancient one so he doubted that his troubling feelings were telling him that Phillip was failing.
But it could be, he thought, that Phillip had given up his search or finding the ancient one was proving much more difficult than Henry had thought. Either way, he knew he had to press on. His remote work on the senders was going well. His agents reported that both senders were already feeling the emotional and mental effects of the attack.
“Tonight,” he said aloud, “my work here will be completed.”
His brief visit to the sender’s area had cost him too much energy. He knew it was important and the desired effect was realized, but materializing was draining and dangerous. Flipping from one realm to the other always created the risk of being seen. Of being noticed. Yet the effects on the haunted were undeniable.
He decided to ignore the feelings of weakness and of warning he was feeling and instead focus on what he could control: Killing the senders. Phillip would have to take care of himself and he would have to deliver on his mission. If not, and if Henry faced centuries of torture as a result of his actions, at least he could claim to have killed senders during his mission. Surely, that would shorten, if not completely eliminate, any of his punishments.
The sun was beginning to fall deeply into the western sky.
<<<<>>>>
Thankfully, Mac and Jen were true to their promise to each other and Mac was able to pull Jen away from the swirling, arctic attack this time. The two had just finished eating their dinner of dehydrated beef goulash, dehydrated sweet potatoes and “fresh from the gas station” chocolate brownies when Jen’s face turned instantly sour.
“Not a fan of survivalist’s food?” Mac joked. When Jen’s eyes began to roll back into their sockets, he jumped across the low-flamed fire, grabbed Jen and ran with her towards the pond. He felt how cool her clothing was, much cooler than the mild, late winter air. As he continued to drag her away from her invisible attacker, he felt her body go slack. They both fell to the ground. Mac scrambled back to his feet, picked Jen up into his arms and ran up the small hill.
It wasn’t until he reached the precipice of the hill that Jen snapped back to awareness.
“Put me down!” she screamed.
“Jen,” Mac said, “it’s me, Mac. You’re okay.” The sudden way Jen’s body had gone from slack to snare-drum tense was shocking, terrifying. The attack from the frigid spirit couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds, for he recognized the change in her face and acted immediately. If the evil spirit was now able to cause this amount of emotional stress in a matter of seconds, Jen was in serious trouble.
He felt her muscles relax and heard Jen take a deep breath. She was crying as he put her down.
“Jen, tell me. Talk to me. You know whatever happened wasn’t real. You know that Henry or whatever the hell is was, is trying to destroy you, inside out. Tell me, what happened?”
Jen was sobbing, holding both hands over her face. Her shoulders rising and falling in sync with her tear-saturated breaths. “It tried to rape me.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
The sun had set, darkness stretched across the forest like spreading, black fingers, eager to touch all the earth. Henry began walking along the unused logging road, heading towards the clearing near the pond. His agents were almost finished and were reporting that both senders were exhausted, terrified, confused and would soon turn on each other.
Henry was a mile away.
<<<<>>>>
The whispers were deafening.
Mac covered his ears, screamed to no one, and ran away from Jen and the fire she was sitting next to.
“Mac, stop,” she yelled, charging after him. Mac was running into the woods, towards the area he had charged out of once many years ago. She saw him bend and pick up a felled branch.
His left hand still covering his left ear, he screamed, “Justin, Kevin, I’m coming.” He disappeared into the dark woods.
Jen ran into the woods but lost sight of Mac. Realizing she was alone, she stopped. She turned quickly, ran out of the woods and towards the pond. In the distance, she heard Mac yelling to two small boys that had drowned nearly twenty years ago.
She ran to the pond then followed its shoreline towards the outcropping of rocks where the boys had drowned. Her path was hindered by thick shrubs and low hanging branches. The melting ice and snow made each step a hazard. The sun, which had set just five minutes before Mac began screaming to two dead kids, seemed to have grown tired of casting any of its light on the area and it grew too dark. The sky, partially covered with clouds driven to speed by unfelt winds, occluded the moon’s light, leaving the entire area in semi-darkness.
Again, she heard Mac yell, but this time, his screams were damp with tears. “Mac,” Jen yelled. “I’m coming. Stay where you are.” She pushed through her fears and through the challenging terrain.
The pond was ovular shaped, no wider than a quarter mile at its widest point. The area Jen thought she had to get to was a few hundred yards ahead of her. As she drew closer, the bushes and trees that had made her journey so difficult thinned out, leaving only ice covered rocks to content with. Her eyes darted between the ground directly in front of her and the outcropping. With what the clouds allowed to spill out from the moon’s glow being her only light, the outcropping was little more than a darkened shadow against the pond.
As her eyes moved off the ground and towards her objective, she caught sight of a figure moving quickly away from the pond and into the woods. “Mac!” she screamed. “Is that you?”
There was no reply.
<<<<>>>>
Phillip’s eyes were still locked on the ancient one. Phillip could tell that he was moving the object, making the reflected light dance on and off of Phillip’s face. A few times, the ancient one held the reflection directly into Phillip’s eyes.
“Your sender was not correct, was he? This gift he had you bring me, this object that you won’t even look at, is not for my destruction but for your salvation. Look at it!”
Phillip lowered his eyes, slowly, and saw the gift.
<<<<>>>>
Mac curled himself into a ball, knees tight to his chest, his hands pressed hard against his ears. They were still calling for him, still blaming him for their deaths. He pressed harder against his ears and squeezed his eyes as tightly shut as his muscles would allow. “I didn’t mean it,” he whimpered. “I just wanted to scare you. I’m sorry.”
Mac then felt his legs being pulled and his body dragging across the snow and twig-covered forest floor. Justin and Kevin were still screaming to him but their voices were no longer angry. Their screams of hate, anger and fear had become invitations. “Come into the water, Trevor. We’ll show you the secret in the pond,” Justin said.
“You can help us get free from it,” Kevin pleaded. “The secret is what held us down when you tried to save us. We know that now. We know you tried to save us but the secret had us trapped.”
“Help us, Trevor,” Justin added. “Everything will be okay again.”
Mac felt his body pulled off the forest floor and onto the hard, sharp-edge rocks. Then he heard the shot.
“Mac? Mac, can you hear me?”
Mac lessened his hand’s pressure. He recognized the voice.
“Mac, don’t move. Do you hear me? Do not move.”
It was neither Kevin or Justin calling to him now. It was the voice of a woman. She was close and her voice was dripping with a riddled warning he could not solve. “Rachel?” he mumbled. “Rachel, is that you?” He went to roll onto his side, when the voice, still sounding several feet away, screamed again.
“Do not move, Mac. Stay right where you are. I’m coming. Do not move.”
He felt cold. His legs were burning with pain. There were cuts and deep scratches running from his ankles to his knees. He felt as if his skin had been torn aw
ay from his legs, leaving nothing but muscle and sinew to brace his legs from the cold air. Mac clawed the rocks, searching for a handhold to pull him back towards the woods. He felt the woods would be safer than wherever he was. On rocks? On the outcropping? He didn’t know. All he knew was the pain in his legs, the frigid air blanketing his entire body, and then, the voices calling to him.
“Don’t go into the woods, Trevor. He’s waiting in there for you. Come into the pond. He can’t come in here anymore.” It was Justin, whispering to him. “Hurry, Trevor. He’s coming for you.”
“Get into the pond, Trevor. The secret will save you,” Kevin said, his voice a bit louder than Justin’s and much, much deeper than the voice Mac recalled. “Hurry.”
Mac’s shivering grew intense. His ears filled with whispers, his eyes, still squeezed closed. Slowly, he felt a numbness move down his body, calming him and removing the pains. The whispering stopped.
He was at peace.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Jen stood silently, hiding behind a tree, gun still raised and aimed a few feet away from Mac. Her first shot was errant but it was close enough to send Mac’s attacker into the pond. But she knew he wasn’t gone. She knew Henry wasn’t finished with Mac, and he wasn’t finished with her.
Mac had grown quiet and still. Too still, but he was no longer inches away from falling into the pond. Still, he was too close. Henry could easily emerge from the water, grab Mac’s legs and pull him under the freezing cold water. She risked a step closer to Mac. She had to move him further from the pond. Into the forest. Maybe he would wake up and together, they could get back to the fire. Back to some degree of safety. Another step, then she felt the air turn colder. The now familiar scent of rotting death filled her nose.
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