Puppet
Page 7
Chloe replies in a gloomy tone, “No, Anna. I was scared. I was more scared than I have ever been in my life! Let me tell you why. When I viewed the videotape, I saw Bre standing in the cafeteria serving line. She was talking to someone to her right as she pointed to the strawberry ice cream cup on her tray. That was when I had briefly turned around and had seen them talking, and then I had looked away.
“Nevertheless, Anna, there was no one standing next to Bre on the videotape. The boy that I had seen, admittedly only briefly, had disappeared! He wasn’t on the videotape!
“Finally, and this is the craziest thing, Anna. The videotape showed a clump of spaghetti and meatballs collected from the boy’s tray to Diana Jane’s left. No hand was visible, and nothing propelled the food as it sailed through the air like magic! Finally, I almost fainted as I watched a squeeze bottle of ketchup rise from the serving counter all by itself. It jumped over the serving line rail, and then it floated in midair squirting ketchup everywhere! Next, trays of food were dumped on students’ heads and the food tossed here and there! Like the spaghetti and meatballs and the ketchup bottle, nothing observable had lifted the trays or propelled the food! Whoever or whatever did it was invisible!”
“My goodness, Chloe! That is insane! Have you spoken to either Bre or Diana Jane about what you saw?”
Chloe replies, “No, I cannot talk to either one of them. Missus Davenhill made me swear that I would not talk to anyone including them. She wants to have Bre, Diana Jane, and the boy to Diana Jane’s left – I do not know his name – view the videotape themselves. I am not supposed to be telling you either, but you are my best friend. I have to tell someone, or I will go crazy. Besides, I trust you.”
Anna says, “Did anything else happen, you know, anything weird? Did you tell the principal about the vice principal, that he, according to Bre and Diana Jane, seemed to watch the whole thing and did nothing?”
“Anna, as I had said, the vice principal was in Dansville attending a conference on behalf of the principal! There is no way I was going to tell Missus Davenhill that Bre and Diana Jane saw him and that Bre talked to him. All I know is that I didn’t see or hear him.”
Anna exclaims, “Goodness! What a mess. Everything that happened is strange too. Then again, and once more, I must ask. What does all of this weirdness have to do with your nightmare about puppets?”
Chloe whispers, “Later, when I was in the cafeteria with the principal – the cafeteria crew almost had the place looking like new when we arrived – I saw some things that freaked me out. The crew had left the trays on the serving line undisturbed so that Missus Davenhill could see them for herself.”
Anna whispers, “What did you see, Chloe?”
“I saw strands of twine on the tray that belonged to Spaghetti Kid. That is what I am calling the invisible kid on the videotape, the one that started the food fight. I saw strands of twine on the floor beneath Spaghetti Kid’s tray. I saw strands of twine in the ice cream freezer. I saw strands of twine on the counter where the ketchup bottle was. I saw strands of twine where Spaghetti Kid ran hither and yon throughout the cafeteria. All the strands of twine were frayed like they were falling apart.
“Everything I saw today, in person, on the video, and as it relates to the strands of twine, and my nightmare, are somehow related! I am certain of it! Also, all of it, absolutely all of it, has something to do with Puppet and his escape from the Buford County Jail! I am one-hundred percent positive!”
“I am very sorry this is happening to you,” Anna says. “What do you intend to do?”
Chloe replies, “I do not know. I cannot tell anyone what happened, what I saw, what I know. They would think I was going crazy. Besides, I promised Missus Davenhill I wouldn’t tell anyone. Fortunately, at least from a sanity and credibility standpoint, Missus Davenhill made a copy of the videotape. It’s a good thing too. Otherwise, others will think Missus Bell, Missus Davenhill, and I are completely nuts.
“Missus Davenhill said she would put the copy of the tape in her safe deposit box at her bank for safekeeping just in case. The original is inside her office desk drawer. She is a nice, gentle, understanding, and brilliant woman. I like her a lot as do most of the other students in school. I have to trust her instincts.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Anna says. “Call me if you can think of anything else, okay? I have to finish this chemistry homework. Then English. Yuck. The homework never goes away. You know how it is.”
“Yes, I do,” Chloe says. “Thanks again for listening, Anna. Please do not tell anyone what I told you, okay?”
“I promise,” Anna says. “I will talk to you later, Chloe. Try to get some rest and clear your mind. It will do you good.”
“Okay dokie. Good night, Anna. I will text you in the morning.”
Anna says, “Good night. Sleep tight.”
Chloe is still trembling as she goes into the bathroom to freshen up. She feels much better now that she has told Anna everything about today’s madness.
Goodness! What would I do without Anna? She is the best friend in the world. She is a good listener too. I feel much better getting all of this off my chest. I know I can trust her as well. As far as that coil of twine given to me by Puppet a while back, I am glad I do not have it anymore. I should get it from Jim and destroy it as soon as I can. I am sure that it is evil, paranormal evil!
After ending her conversation with Chloe, Anna begins to listen to music on her headphones. A few minutes afterward, her eyes widen into gawking spheres. She impassively stares in a straight line and nods her head over and over. She begins to mumble.
“Yes, I will. I will; I will…”
She suddenly seizes her iPhone off her desk, and then she brusquely slips from her chair and stumbles onto her hands and knees. She crawls to the bedroom closet slowly. She is clutching her phone in her right hand. Without looking, she reaches up and turns the handle of the closet door. She opens the door. She crawls into the closet and pulls the door shut. She lies on her side. It is pitch-black inside the closet. She begins to search the closet floor as she stares straight ahead. The look on her face remains expressionless, and she is all fingers and thumbs.
She says in a nearly uneven, detached tone, “I hope it’s still here. Please be here. I want you to be here. You must be here.” She lifts her head and says with a whisper, “Yes, I will. I must obey.”
A hideous, wicked-looking grin appears on her face the instant she locates the item for which she has been searching. She pulls it from beneath two heavy storage boxes. She begins to tremble.
She slowly tears open the plastic bag that contains the coil of twine given to her by Puppet over two years ago. Puppet had tossed it into the grocery bag she was carrying as she exited Walmart. He hadn’t spoken a word to her at the time. Until Chloe told her the strange story this evening, she had forgotten that she had tossed the coil of twine into her closet.
She snaps off a couple of strands of the twine and wraps them around the index and middle fingers of her left hand. She shoves the coil of twine beneath boxes.
She dials a number on her iPhone. It is a random number she has committed to memory. The other end of the line does not ring. Instead, Anna hears a voice message.
“Thank you for calling. Please leave a message after the beep.”
Anna begins to speak into the phone. Her words are slow, purposeful, monotone, detached. It is as if she is speaking in a strange language, a forgotten tongue of a distant land of the supernatural, a magical land overlooked by the millennium.
“My name is Anna. According to Chloe Brown, the original of the videotape is in Missus Davenhill’s desk drawer at Claymore High School. Missus Davenhill is the school principal. According to Chloe Brown, the copy of the videotape is in Missus Davenhill’s safe deposit box. Chloe Brown also mentioned our beloved Puppet along with strands of twine found in the cafeteria. Please be careful.”
Anna hangs up.
CHAPTER THREE
&n
bsp; BEYOND IMPOSSIBLE
“Do not go into the light!”
Part I: Into the Light
“Hello there, Chloe,” the high-pitched, tiny voice cries out in the grim darkness. “It is very nice for you to join us.”
Chloe recognizes the voice from somewhere in her recent past. However, she cannot place it. She whispers, “Who in the world are you? who is us? where the heck am I? why am I here? It is scary in here. I want out. I want out right now!”
Now, what is going on? One minute I am bored as my social studies teacher drones on and on about ancient Greek culture, and the next minute I am in here! How is this possible?
Chloe turns in a complete circle with her arms held out wide to keep from striking something surreal in the pitch-black darkness. There is nothing close by, no walls, cabinets, bookshelves.
Chloe shouts, “Let me out of here! Let me out now!”
“Oh, I will let you out after you tell me what you know,” the grim voice whispers along with a disgusting, evil snicker.
“Know what?” Chloe says. “Know what about what? What are you talking about when you ask me to tell you what I know?”
The owner of the scary voice hisses, “What you said does not make any sense, Chloe!”
Chloe says in an annoyed tone, “What doesn’t make any sense?”
The voice replies sarcastically, “I hope you realize you used the word what five times in three sentences, in various grammatical forms. You call yourself a gifted English major high school freshman? I do not think so. You are not as intelligent as you think you are!”
Chloe typically is a very calm, controlled person. She seldom gets angry at others. She knows that anger doesn’t unravel a problem. On the other hand, she is hungry for normalcy, especially after the nightmare she had of puppets chasing her and the bizarreness of the cafeteria food fight.
What is happening to me? Here I am suffering further weirdness yet again! This time I am in a dismal place with someone or something that is insulting me. Whoever it may be is starting to tick me off!
Chloe screams rudely, “I could care less if I used the word what ten times in one sentence or what you think about my being a freshman! I have a whole lot more intelligence than you or others may think! Tell me what you were talking about when you asked me what I know so that you can let me out of here. If you do not, I will scream bloody murder, and then I will have you arrested!”
The unseen originator of the voice snaps, “Have me arrested? That will never happen, Chloe. I promise you!”
After a few moments of dreadful silence, the voice continues speaking in a much calmer tone.
“What else did that detestable woman say to you, Chloe? What did you see on the screen when you and that woman reviewed the tapes from the cafeteria food fight? Did you see strange things? I need to know. Furthermore, tell me this. Why did that woman make a copy of the tape and place it in her safe deposit box?”
Chloe gasps as a sudden cold shiver creeps across her shoulders. “How do you know about the copy of the tape and what Missus Davenhill and I discussed?”
“Your friend told me, your friend Anna. She said the tape is in the woman’s safe deposit box. I already have the original copy of the recording. I took it from the woman’s desk this morning. I used my magic touch. It is just a matter of time before I obtain the copy from the woman’s safe deposit box. I have my ways of doing such things, although getting past the bank’s alarm system may be tricky even for one as talented as me. I will manage it. I always do. Besides, I have important friends who can accomplish just about anything in this miserable town of yours.”
Chloe says, “What? How?” She pauses briefly to consider what she is going to say next.
She barks, “That woman, as you so unkindly refer to her, has a name. Her name is Missus Davenhill, or you may refer to her as the principal. She is the principal of my school, Claymore High School. What's more, I know you are lying. Anna would never tell you what I said to her, what I saw during the food fight. She is my best friend. I trust her. I would trust her with my life.”
“Ah, so you do admit you told Anna some things about what you saw on the video with that woman, don’t you, Chloe? Well done, child, nicely well done. You have compromised yourself. From this day going forward, I shall focus all of my attention on you and your friends, to include ones you haven’t even met. You may be intelligent, cunning, and devious, but you also are naïve.”
Goodness no! He tricked me into admitting I told Anna about what I saw, what the principal and I discussed. How could I be so darned stupid?
Chloe says, “Okay, I have to admit I told Anna a few things. However, I told her nothing significant.”
The voice shrieks in an earsplitting, high-pitched tone, “You are a liar, Chloe Alexandria Brown! Tell me the truth now, or you will have unfortunate things happen to you. You may not be under my control right now, but I will even the score!”
What? Under his control? Many friends? Even the score? Why?
Despite her terror of being alone in the darkness while an unseen life form is threatening her, Chloe decides to go on the offensive.
After all, it is my only chance to escape this madness!
She yells angrily, “How dare you to insult me! I demand that you show yourself right now, or I will scream as loudly as I can. I know I am in school, so I am certain someone will come to rescue me. I can hear the orchestra practicing. I can hear the chorus singing. The music rooms are on the first floor. The sounds are coming from above us, so we are in the basement. Now, show yourself! Then again, are you too cowardly to do so?”
The high-pitched voice answers threateningly, “Too cowardly, Chloe? Too cowardly! I will show you who is cowardly!”
Morose music suddenly begins to harp on like a requiem’s funeral procession from somewhere close by in the darkness. Despite the music’s gloominess, it is surprisingly beautiful, masterful, and soothing to Chloe’s ears. A figure standing behind the hammered dulcimer that is creating the music begins to light up like a beautiful yard display on Christmas Eve. An eerie light that seems to come from nowhere completely encircles the figure. The light reminds Chloe of a halo being born of an angel in a mystical Christmas movie.
The lovely, full-sized, human figure is a female teenager dressed in loose-fitting, medieval clothing. She has two translucent wings, a pair of well-defined, long legs, gorgeously smooth, soft brown hair, and pointed fairy ears. Chloe is confident the figure she is seeing represents the gorgeous fairy Tinker Bell from the upcoming school play Peter Pan.
I know who she is! She is the new high school senior at our school, Colette! She is Colette the Minstrel of the Hammered Dulcimer. I have heard others refer to her by that name. Up until now, I have never seen the instrument she is playing, but I guess it must be her hammered dulcimer.
Nevertheless, I have to wonder what in the world is wrong with her? Her movements are sluggish, unnatural. What is this? Oh, my goodness! What I am seeing cannot be happening! It is like my puppet nightmare has come to haunt me yet again!
As Colette’s figure starts to become more visible, Chloe notices that Colette’s feet aren’t touching the floor! She is dangling like a marionette puppet from at least a half-dozen strands of twine that seem to vanish into the obscure darkness of the tiled ceiling! The twine is controlling the movements of her hands as the dulcimer hammers strike the strings!
Chloe takes a few tentative steps toward the figure. She abruptly stops. She does not want to get too close. What she is seeing may not be real or worse. She whispers to the figure in a muted voice.
“Colette? Is that you? Your music is lovely but very sad. Also, what is with all those strands of twine? Is this your idea of a joke? Are you and the other seniors trying to goad me on? Because I am a freshman? So that you know, I do not find these antics amusing. Colette, to tell you the truth, I am scared out of my wits!”
Colette slowly turns her head to look at Chloe. Because of what she sees, Chloe immedia
tely steps back and almost trips over her own two feet. Colette’s unblinking eyes are cloudy, pitch-black, seemingly unseeing, opaque black orbs. The pupils of her eyes unhurriedly turn into mysterious, dark blue slits that resemble those of a serpent. Her expression is passive, almost deferential. Her twine-controlled limbs are limp like there is no muscle in them. She slowly tilts her head to one side, opens her mouth wide, and gawks.
Abruptly, the music becomes more eerie and discordant than ever. Colette continues to glare at Chloe with her frightening, muddy eyes. She snaps her mouth closed, and then her lips begin to chomp up and down to the drumming beats of the hammers. She suddenly starts to chant in a high-pitched, tiny voice. It is at that moment Chloe recognizes the voice. It is the same vocal sound she heard in Cheaply’s Food Shop!
I play this song – for you, my dear
because for you – the end is near
the end of life – as you know it now
unless to him – you swear the vow
to join our ranks – to consent to thread
or soon you’ll be – FOREVER DEAD!
To Chloe’s alarm, Colette’s entire body begins to shudder violently as the twine that suspends her from the ceiling jerks her up and down brutally. Colette starts to laugh raucously, her rigid lips loudly crunching up and down like those of a stolid Christmastime nutcracker knickknack.
“Clank – chomp – hahaha! Clank – chomp – hahaha! Clank – chomp – hahaha!”
The mocking laughter continues for at least a minute until, at last, and to Chloe’s relief, it abruptly ceases. Colette’s dangling body suddenly goes limp, and the hammered dulcimer music concludes. The haloed light that was surrounding Colette switches off. The dim room is encased in near pitch-black, terrifying darkness once more.
Without warning, ear-piercing, high-pitched, contemptuous, screeching laughter begins to echo cruelly from every corner of the jet-black room! Chloe is forced to cover her ears with her hands. Her instinctive reaction, to lessen the powerful sounds pounding inside her ears, is futile. The echoing laughter intensifies until it breaches the innermost parts of her throbbing head! Chloe begins to feel dizzy, and she is afraid she is going to pass out! She bends over at the waist and places her hands on her knees to keep her balance.