“Thank you to everyone who helped get our Adam back to us. We really appreciate it.” That was Carter’s only statement before ducking his head down and into his car, but he knew he would be seeing himself making that statement on all of the news channels for days to come. That’s all he needed was a few days for this story to go away. Then when everything died down, they could follow up with the professionals to get Adam all the help that he needed. He just wanted to return to his normal life. However, when he thought about that a bit more, he realized that he never really had a normal life.
He reflected on all of the bizarre behavior that he wished would one day disappear into the atmosphere. Now his hand was forced, and they could no longer ignore it. He just did not want the media to get wind of Adam’s past, nor did he wish for the real story about his disappearance to get out to the public. Unfortunately, such a high-profile case would unlikely remain a mystery. The truth will get out, and the world will know that Adam not only has mental health issues, but mental health issues that have gone untreated.
When they returned home, it surprised them to find that the story had developed so fast that the press didn’t have time to set up camp at their home site. However, they knew that they did not have a lot of time to play with. The story of Adam was still spreading, and the reporters who did get wind proactively headed over to the hospital. Not one of them thought about setting up at the home. They probably figured that Adam’s condition would be severe enough that he would be in the hospital for a few days. They couldn’t believe that he was alive. That was the most amazing part of this whole story.
By the time they had made it to the hospital, met with the officers and received their discharge papers, most of the morning was wiped out. Carter had to call into his office to inform them of his absence, and his boss again told him that it was not necessary for him to call in and to just let him know about his return date some time down the road. They had a mutual respect for each other.
Carter opened the front door and led his family back into the safety of their own home. They put their stuff down in the living room and made their way into the kitchen.
“Oh my God!” Brenda blurted out as she was the first to round the corner.
“Evan, what are you doing here?” Carter asked after running to catch up with his wife.
“Thought you would want somebody to watch the house. If so, then I’m your man,” said Evan. His dog, Skippy, sat politely by his feet, looking up at the homeowners.
“Who’s that man?” asked Adam, coming into the room behind them. He then stopped in his tracks and stared at Evan as a glossy look came over his face. He appeared to be lost in thought, but only for a moment.
“That’s Evan,” Brenda replied. “He helped look for you. He’s the neighbor we didn’t know we ha…”
“I wanna pet the dog,” Adam said, running over to Skippy and petting his head. “Can we have him?”
“I’m afraid not,” said Evan with a chuckle. “He’s a trained police dog, and he listens to nobody but his master…me.”
Adam turned his head and made a face at his parents, then moved into the other room and turned the TV on. Something clearly overcame Adam when he first set eyes on the new visitor, but not for long.
“How’d you get in here?” Carter asked Evan.
“The back way…you left the door open.”
“We appreciate you looking after the place and all,” said Brenda, “but it’s a little off-putting that you broke into our house without our permission.”
“I got the news about the boy on my scanner. I knew you guys were likely going to leave and I just wanted to make sure nothin’ happened while you were gone. The last thing you need is for that guy to come back when he knows you’re at the hospital. I was just keeping an eye on things…and you’re welcome for that…you’re quite welcome.”
Carter and Brenda began to feel ungrateful to the man who had done so much for them in their time of need. Sure, he overstepped his boundary on this one, but it was just this once. He was just looking out for their best interest after everything that had happened, and he was just a neighbor trying to do a neighborly thing. After all, he had dedicated his whole life to protecting and serving the community in law enforcement. Maybe they didn’t know him that well, but he was more congenial than he was strange.
Carter was a little more forgiving than Brenda. She pretty much had a what the hell are you doing in my God damn house? kind of attitude. Sure he was helpful, but that was then and this is now. You don’t just break into our home and make it your own. We hardly know you. You have not earned the right.
Evan stayed put. He had neither seen nor heard enough to indicate that he had overstayed his welcome.
“So I heard a feller found yer boy up in the graveyard,” he said.
“That’s right,” said Carter. “That’s where they found him all right. I’m not sure why he was there or anything like that, but he only told the police that somebody told him to go there.”
“Strange,” Evan mustered.
Carter eyed Evan. “I don’t suppose that you said anything to him about going to a graveyard or maybe made a statement…a general statement…about graveyards?”
“Now that’s craziness talking,” said Evan. “I just met your boy now. How could that have happened?”
Brenda was wandering in and out of the room half-listening as Carter discussed their son with Evan.
“The only thing I know is from what I heard on my scanner. Poor kid must’ve really missed his grandparents. They must have been really close.”
Carter froze when he said this, and Brenda did too, right in her tracks. She had been walking and then could no longer walk.
“Wait…what?” Carter asked.
Evan looked around nervously as though he had no idea of what was so surprising about what he had just said. Sure, the disappearance was shocking, to say the least, but what about Evan’s last statement?
“Why would you say that about his grandparents?” Brenda asked, quicker on the trigger than was Carter.
Evan was a bit startled and more than a bit confused. “Was he not close to his grandparents?”
Carter felt like he was getting a constant barrage of jabs to the face. He had to put an end to it now because all the pain from his past that he had been working so hard to put behind him was suddenly rising to the surface. “Why are you talking about grandparents?” he asked. “What does this have to do with Adam’s grandparents?”
Evan’s mouth remained open just a bit to convey shock. He spoke slowly, enunciating each word to avoid confusion, knowing fully that each and every word this morning would be evaluated. “The scanner said that he was leaning against a grave stone.”
“Okay,” said Carter. “I understand. It’s a graveyard. He’s only six.”
“And I understand,” said Evan, “but the last name on the stone was Spence. That’s your last name, so I assumed there was a relation.”
Carter slowly said, “This is the first I’ve heard.”
“Yeah, when I was following it on my scanner, I decided to go down there myself. When I got there, I saw your boy talking to an officer.”
“Was he leaning on the tombstone?” Brenda asked.
“No, not when I got there.”
“After?” Carter asked.
“Before.”
Brenda was not buying into his story. “Then how did you know he was leaning against a tombstone, and for that matter, how did you know that he was leaning against his grandparent’s tombstone?”
“Certainly,” said Evan. “There was a guy there…the one who called the police…and it was that guy who pointed out where Adam
was sitting. Got right down on the ground in front of the tombstone and reenacted the entire skit for the police. He was leaning against the tombstone for Sydney Spence, and right next to him was the stone for Patricia Spence. I don’t see that name very often, and I knew that was your name, so I just put two and two together. I also took the liberty to find out that Sydney and Patricia Spence once lived in this very house.”
“Fair enough,” said Carter, “and your deduction is correct, but there’s one problem with that story.”
“Problem with that story? What do you mean problem with that story? That’s what happened,” Evan insisted.
“Oh, I’m not doubting your story,” Carter replied, “but what strikes me is the fact that not only did Adam never get to meet his grandparents due to the fact that they were never alive at the same time, but he never even knew where they were buried. He’s six years old. We never had that conversation with him or around him, and I’m certain of that.”
Evan was dumbfounded. His jaw remained open and he was at a loss for words when he heard that Adam did not know his grandparents. There were questions that needed to be answered, and the only one who really knew the truth about what happened was only six years old. Getting any information out of Adam was like pulling teeth.
. . .
It was time for questions, and it was time for answers. The interviewee was six-year-old Adam Spence. The venue was his own bedroom, which was the scene of a crime just days earlier, but the story turned out well. Adam was lying on his bed with his hands intertwined behind his head as his parents entered his room before bed. This was the room where Adam was growing up, and thankfully it was still the room where he was still growing up.
The spot where his twin bed rested was the same spot where his crib rested six years earlier. The crib also did not have very good memories for Carter and Brenda. It was a strange time in the life of baby Adam. This baby would always look past them as if staring at something behind them, and at first they were concerned that the baby was blind, or had some vision problems. However, the pediatrician always encouraged them to follow up with a neurologist, which they never did. They figured their baby was too young to show signs of anything significant, and the doctor didn’t seem too concerned.
As the baby got to the crawling and walking stage, all he wanted to do was crawl and walk to what appeared to be someone. Just the look on his face gave them the feeling that he was walking with the goal of reaching someone on the other side of the room, and it was strange to see.
The worst of Adam surfaced when he began speaking. It was the way that he said things, the things that he said, and the fact that he had an all-around old soul, which threw his parents for a loop. It seemed that the older Adam got, the stranger he became, but that was not for Carter or Brenda to say. He was their child and would always be their child. They would always love Adam, through all of his trials and tribulations.
Whenever something strange occurred with Adam, Brenda always reflected back to the time when they were leaving Colorado and she called to tell their tenants to get the hell out of the house before the evil spirit of Martin did something very harmful to them. Martin made it his top priority to rule Brenda, who was the reincarnation of his wife, Shirley. Brenda did nothing wrong. She was just born with the spirit of a woman Martin needed, and he did not seem to want to go away until he got what he wanted.
It was one thing to hear that about your baby. It’s gonna be an evil baby. However, the source of that message was an evil spirit. They were screwed from that point forward. Children are hard enough when they are not evil, but knowing that your child is gonna make your life suck with certainty set at 100% is not welcomed news. This was news coming from a bastard spirit, however, so they didn’t really pay much mind to it. Every time something happened, it was chalked up to coincidence.
Coincidences mounted, and they started to take notice. However, that was all they did. After all, how bad can a six year old be? Every action was explained away and excused. Every action was just the action of a cute little six-year-old boy. Every action was just Adam being Adam. It was all good. It was all well and fine. There wasn’t much of a problem at all…until he started to walk amongst the tombstones.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Adam sat up in bed with his back to the headboard, comforted by a stiff cotton pillow. He had been waiting for this little chat for a while now, and the time had come. Carter grabbed the two wooden chairs that were against the wall and put them aside the bed. They were there for a reason as this was not the first time they had to have a chat with their son. It began to be almost a nightly event, so instead of lugging chairs in and out of Adam’s room every night, the conference room was ready-made.
“Adam, it’s so great to have you back. You have no idea how worried we were,” said Brenda, reaching over and squeezing him around the shoulders.
“I’ll say,” said Carter. “The whole neighborhood was out looking for you. Everybody at my work kept calling me asking for updates. Adam, everybody loves you and they were so worried about you. Please don’t take off like that ever again.”
“Okay daddy,” he said.
Every time, and without fail, this was the reply they got. They were so used to it, but they knew that the promise would not hold water.
“I knew you’d agree with us,” said Brenda, leaning forward and kissing Adam on the forehead.
Carter then came in close. “Hey little buddy. You really had us worried. You were gone and the window was open and your sheet was on the ground.” He then paused to see if Adam had a response, which he did not. He was now lying there on his back, fidgeting with the blankets, which were pulled up to his chin.
“We really thought that someone had taken you when I came into your bedroom and saw that you were gone and the window had been opened,” said Carter. “There were no signs of anyone being in the house, unless both of you escaped through the window.”
Brenda could no longer control her emotions and belted out a hard cry as she needed to move closer to her son and squeeze him tight, never wanting to let go again. This outburst got to Carter, who began to burst at the eyes as he moved in for a group hug. He squeezed his family tight, hoping to bind it together even more after this near tragedy. They almost lost their son, and the not knowing was almost as bad as news of his death. Adam cried too because of his impact on them and their impact on him.
After everybody regained their composure enough to carry on, the separation was complete. Carter leaned back in his chair and pushed his hair back with both hands, trying to figure out where to go with this and how it should be delicately stated. “You said, Adam, that someone told you to do it, and that it was someone we could not see…invisible or imaginary…you know what I mean. We’ve heard it before, many times, but you never did anything like this. You never ran away when this imaginary friend was speaking to you. Why did you run away this time?”
“He wanted to show me something.”
Carter looked at Brenda and she was staring at Adam with her mouth open. He could see the fear in her eyes as she heard how her son was being manipulated by an evil force and there wasn’t a thing they could do about it. Carter felt the helplessness that was shooting through his wife. They didn’t have to say anything to each other. They wanted answers and they were beginning to get them, but at the same time they were afraid of the truth. As hard as it was for them to hear more, they needed to press on.
“Wanted to show you what?” asked Carter.
“He said the poster…or pausters.”
“Pausters?” Brenda asked. “What do you mean pausters? Imposters?”
“I don’t know. It’s just what he said.” Adam looked up at them with fear in his eyes. He knew he had done something very bad, but was not yet able to convey
the details to his parents.
Brenda scooted her chair closer to the bed and said, “Honey, we want to help you, but we can’t help you without your help…” The tone of Brenda’s last word went very high as she fought back her emotions. She won the battle this time by pulling her eyes away from Adam.
Carter could see his son trying to think. He was looking in the air for the exact message his friend was trying to convey. However, it soon became apparent that Adam was not looking into the air in thought, after all. He was looking in the air at his friend.
“Okay, I won’t say anything,” whispered Adam.
Carter and Brenda froze. It used to be an innocent little game they used to play, but little did they know that it was never really a game for Adam. He was fully in it, and apparently not by choice. The officer was right about the need for an intervention right away. Adam was communicating with a ghost, or a spirit, but surely not someone in this physical world.
It may have been their imagination, or it may not have been, but Brenda thought there was a little bit of a sudden chill in the air. They had always heard the stories and actually been through a lot of extraordinary situations, but they had never really experienced a chill like the one within Adam’s room. It wasn’t just the chill in the air for Carter. He felt goosebumps on his arms because of the heaviness of the air. It seemed to him that the three of them were not the only ones in the room. He sensed there was another set of eyes; eyes seven and eight. The eeriness of the moment was shooting through his veins from top to bottom and back again.
Brenda reached out for Adam as he continued to stare past his father. She put her hand on the side of his face and his skin was cold and clammy. There was solidness to it, and their concern for Adam reached new heights. They wanted to bring him back to reality, but they didn’t know how, and they did not even feel safe themselves. However, their son’s life was at stake, and they would both give their lives for that.
Desert Son Trilogy: Desert Son, Wayward Soul, Spiritual Intervention (Books 1-3) Page 52