by Tony Martin
The room fell silent again. Joshua felt completely inadequate – an uncomfortable position for any pastor, any man.
Finally, Joshua spoke, very quietly. He surprised himself how steady and reasonable he sounded.
“Jimmy, could Meredith spend a couple of days with y’all?” he asked.
Meredith spoke, vehemently. “I am not going to be run out of my own house!”
“This is just for a couple of days,” said Joshua quickly. “I don’t want you displaced. But I do think that you need a little space for a bit.”
“I guess,” said Meredith.
“That’s fine,” said Jimmy, as Christine gave him a Look.
“Jimmy, let’s you and Christine and me go back to the house and get some of Meredith’s things. Let’s get up with Bernadine and have her meet us there, too.”
“Sounds OK,” said Jimmy, thankful to be taking some kind of action.
“Christine, call your mom and tell her what’s going on. Bethany, what do you want to do?” asked Joshua.
As Christine flipped open her cell phone, Bethany said, “Josh, I think I’ll just go home. What are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure yet,” said Joshua. “I’m actually making this up as I go along. But I’ll give you a holler and let you know what’s happening.”
“What’s happening,” repeated Bethany flatly. “What is happening?”
“What is happening,” said Joshua, “is that we’re going to get to the bottom of this.”
Bethany laughed. “Is this Frank or Joe Hardy I’m talking to?” Everyone else grinned.
“Call me Sherlock,” said Joshua. “No – wait. I’m feeling more like Scooby-Doo.”
Even Meredith laughed. “Brother Josh, are you going to be working for Scooby Snacks?”
“This must be in my job description somewhere,” Joshua said. “Honestly, let’s just get you settled and we’ll go get you some clothes. Then, maybe we can come up with a plan.” He scanned the room. “I can tell you that my initial plan is to see if there’s anyone around that can give me some advice … I’m just a little vague as to where to start.”
“Good luck,” said Jimmy, rising. “How many folks do you know with ghost hunting on their resume?”
“Daddy,” said Christine. “Do you believe us?”
“Like I said, I don’t know what to believe,” said Jimmy. “But we just can’t sit on our thumbs.”
“Nope,” said Joshua. They all rose. “Bethany, take Meredith to the Tracy’s house. I’ll catch up with you later. Jimmy, Christine – why don’t y’all ride with me? Oh, and Meredith – call Bernadine and ask her to meet us at the house. I wouldn’t tell her too much quite yet, other than maybe you felt like you needed to get out for a couple of days.”
“I’ll do that,” said Meredith. She unfastened a key from a ring in her purse. “Here’s a key, so y’all can let yourselves in if you beat Bernadine there.”
“Gotcha,” said Joshua, taking the key. “So I’ll bring Jimmy and Christine back to the church, and they’ll head on to their house.”
“That’s fine,” said Bethany. “But after I drop Meredith off, I’m going on home.”
Joshua thought her voice was a little icy. “You OK with all this?” he asked.
“Sure. Whatever.”
Joshua thought he might respond, thought better of it, and said, “Let’s go, folks.”
On the way out to the parking lot, Joshua spoke to Gretchen, who regarded him narrowly. “Gretchen – I’ll get you caught up on what’s happening later. In the meantime, don’t look for me back in until later this afternoon.”
Gretchen looked at the group with frank curiosity. “That’s fine, Preacher. We’ll hold the fort.”
“If there’s anything anyone needs, just sent ‘em to Al.”
“Will do.” She studied his face. “Anything else I can do?”
Joshua knew that Gretchen’s little mental engine was puttering right along. “Not yet. Sit tight.”
“I’m sittin’.”
“Good.” Joshua wondered what Gretchen was thinking, then shrugged it off. Explanations would have to wait. “I’ll check in later.”
Not waiting for a response, the group split – Bethany and Meredith climbed in Bethany’s Camry, the rest boarded Joshua’s car.
Chapter Seven - Bernadine
No one spoke as Joshua rounded the courthouse square and headed northwest. Eventually Christine, in the back seat, leaned forward and propped her head on her father’s shoulder. He reached over absently and stroked her hair, pushing her hair away from her forehead. Joshua pretended not to pay any attention.
“Daddy, this is sort of scary,” she said, sighing.
“I know, princess,” Jimmy said, his voice calm, reassuring. “It scares me, too, because I’m scared for you.”
“About what?” asked Christine, perplexed.
Jimmy struggled for the right words. “I know you and Meredith are close, best friends,” he said.
“And?”
“And … I just don’t want her, or whatever’s happening to her, to upset you too much.”
Christine fell back in her seat, her arms folded. “Dad,” she said, “I think I can manage to keep my wits about me.”
Jimmy – caught in that no-win misunderstanding that so often happened between fathers and teenage daughters – backpedaled. “Princess, I’m pretty well convinced you can handle most anything life throws your way. But part of my assignment as dad is to protect you from harm, as long as you’re my responsibility.”
“So,” said Christine, bristling, “do you not want me to have anything to do with Meredith?”
“Not what I meant.” Jimmy steeled a bit. “But you need to understand that as much as you’d like to ‘fix’ this situation, there’s more going on here than I think any of us realize. You don’t need to get hurt.”
“It won’t happen,” said Christine, eyes flashing.
Joshua, uncomfortable, tried to nudge the discussion in another direction. “Hey, Jimmy,” he said, “like I said earlier, I’m open to suggestions. Got any?
“If we were balancing books, I could sure help you,” Jimmy said. “This is not my area.” He snorted. “God Almighty. Whose area would this be?”
“I’m not too happy with any of my ideas,” said Joshua.
“There may be just a couple of steps we can take,” said Jimmy, as the road unfolded before them. “We need to make sure this isn’t some hoax, some prank.”
“Daddy, geez, how could anyone fake this? Wh-what I saw happening to Meredith?” asked Christine, aghast.
“Yeah,” said Jimmy, defeated. “Well, here’s what I can do. I can let Meredith stay with us for a while, at least as long as she will allow it. I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to feel like I’d been run out of my own house by … whatever.”
“That’s great,” said Joshua. “And, I’ve just about decided that my first step is going to call an old seminary professor of mine, just ask him some questions. Dr. Peterson has been around forever and seen a lot. He spent some time on the mission field, and in a couple of my missions courses, he talked about what he believed were cases of demonic possession in Asia – India, I believe.”
“Possession?” Christine blurted. “You mean, like in The Exorcist?”
“Not necessarily,” said Joshua. “See, we’re so trapped in our cultural references, we let our beliefs become shaped by what we see in the movies. You yourself said that when you went creeping down the hall, looking for the source of the voices you heard, you felt like you were in a movie.”
Jimmy shook his head wearily. “Possession. I know that’s biblical, but what makes you think that’s what’s going on? I mean, we don’t hear about that anymore, do we?”
“I’m stretching,” said Joshua, as they passed through the Pleasant Hill community. “What Christine saw and Meredith described sure does have an eerie plausibility about it. But what Meredith says she saw – the man in her room and t
he woman by the gazebo – I can’t get that to match up. Even my sweet wife says she saw something. Nor can I explain the voices three of you have heard. Christine … what did you say you heard the woman’s voice say?”
“Something about an ‘abomination,’” Christine said, grimacing. “And something about their family being forsaken.”
“I can’t make that fit anything else – I can’t make all this make sense,” said Joshua helplessly.
The three fell silent again, as Joshua came up on the turn to the Dubose mansion. No one spoke as the car passed down the gravel drive, through the bluffs, and into the open expanse in front of the house itself. The house glowed in the morning sunlight, dappled shadows on the lane beneath the oaks. Bernadine’s Taurus was in front of the house.
“Good, she’s here,” said Joshua. “I think we need to explain what’s happening. She’s basically family, after all.”
Joshua pulled to a stop behind Bernadine’s car. The three climbed out and went to the front door; Jimmy nudged it open. It wasn’t locked.
“Hey, Bernadine!” cried Christine as they entered the great hall. “We’re here to get some of Meredith’s things!”
Silence.
“Bernadine!” Christine shouted again. Then, her voice rising in pitch, Christine said, “Bernadine?”
Jimmy and Joshua both took up the cry. Their voices reverberated in the hall.
The three stood frozen for a moment, then exchanged grim glances. Jimmy spoke first.
“Something’s not right.”
“Daddy?” said Christine, as she moved to his side, suddenly a little girl.
“Joshua,” Jimmy said tersely, “look upstairs. We’ll look downstairs. Something’s not right,” he repeated.
With that, Jimmy – and Christine, wide-eyed, right at his side – went into the library. Joshua, mentally planning a route as he ran, rushed up the stairs to the second floor landing. He remembered his earlier tour, knew that he had four bedrooms, bathrooms, and sitting rooms to explore.
Joshua moved briskly from room to room, calling Bernadine’s name as he went. His palms were sweating; blood was rushing in his ears. Wanting to find her, yet cringing from the thought of confronting some tragedy, he pushed down his fear and continued searching.
He found nothing. Joshua heard Jimmy and Christine in the great hall, and hurried down the stairs to meet them.
“We haven’t found her,” said Jimmy. “Unless she’s hiding in a closet or something – we didn’t open every door --”
“Outside,” said Christine. “We need to look outside.”
Without waiting for the men – and showing an infusion of courage - Christine went into the parlor, through the French doors, and out onto the veranda. She rounded the corner of the house, and just as Joshua and Jimmy made their way outside, they heard her scream.
“Daddy!”
A wave of panic hit Joshua as, he, too, circled the back of the house. Jimmy sprinted ahead of him.
Christine was kneeling before the prostrate body of Bernadine, lying on her back at the edge of the wrought iron fence enclosing the family cemetery. Joshua and Jimmy knelt beside Christine, her face flushed, breathing fast.
“Is – is she -” Christine began.
“No,” said Jimmy, feeling her neck for a pulse. “She’s alive.” Bernadine was breathing as a dog would pant, a bubble of saliva at one corner of her mouth. Her eyes were partially open. He pried open one eyelid, and the pupil responded.
“Got your cell phone?” he asked Christine. “Call 911.”
Christine dialed, then wordlessly handed the phone to Joshua.
“This is Joshua Nix, at the Dubose mansion, off 187,” he began, then, “What’s the street number?”
Before Jimmy or Christine could answer, the dispatcher said, “I’ve got it. What is the nature of the problem?”
“We’ve got an unconscious woman here,” Joshua said. “She’s breathing, she’s sort of responsive, but we need some help.”
The dispatcher asked another couple of questions, then said, “I’ve got an ambulance on the way. Stay with her.”
Jimmy, still kneeling, said, “I don’t know much, but it seems she’s just unconscious – she doesn’t seem injured.”
“I’ll call Meredith,” said Christine, taking the phone.
“Wait,” said Joshua. “Let’s get her on the ambulance first and get some idea of what’s going on. There’s no need of upsetting Meredith yet.”
“OK,” said Christine. “But I do need to call Miss Bernadine’s sister.”
“Do it,” said Jimmy, still watching Bernadine.
Joshua went back through the house to the front, awaiting the ambulance.
Within moments, the ambulance arrived. Joshua directed the ambulance to the back of the house, and EMT’s took Bernadine’s vital signs before loading her in the vehicle.
“Well?” asked Jimmy.
“Her vitals are good,” said the attendant, climbing into the ambulance. “EKG’s fine, blood pressure’s a little low – there’s no immediate evidence of neurological damage. Let’s go,” he said, and slammed the door. The ambulance sped off, siren keening.
The three stood there silently, rooted in place, watching the ambulance disappear around the bend in the drive.
“I guess we need to get back to our house,” Jimmy said. “Anyone else we need to call?”
“Miss Bernadine’s sister is meeting her at the hospital, and she was going to call their pastor after she got there,” said Christine.
Joshua seemed unable to piece together the events of the last few minutes. “Before we leave … we need to get Meredith some things,” he said finally.
“I can do that,” said Christine, then, plaintively, “Daddy, will you go with me?”
“Sure, princess,” Jimmy said. “Joshua?”
“I’ll meet y’all around front,” Joshua said.
Jimmy and Christine entered the house. Joshua walked around the side of the house to the front. As he rounded the corner, he froze as Jimmy’s voice called from the great hall:
“Josh – come take a look at this.”
Joshua went through the front door to see Jimmy and Christine staring at something on the floor. Christine was ashen. “What do you make of this?” asked Jimmy, pointing.
There on the floor was a small puddle of water – then another, and another. Footprints, Joshua noted, and tasted bile in the back of his throat. The prints made parallel tracks, as though someone with wet feet or clothing had come in the back door, into the great hall, paused, and then returned the way they had come.
“I’m not sure,” said Joshua, collecting his thoughts. “Jimmy – Christine – did you see these earlier? Because I sure didn’t.”
“No, I didn’t,” said Jimmy, his lips drawn tight. Christine shook her head.
“It looks like someone came in here from the back, walked through the house, and left the way they came,” said Joshua. “But it had to have happened while we were out back with Bernadine, and …” his voice trailed away at his unspoken thought.
“No one came in here,” said Jimmy, his face showing some internal conflict. “There’s no way. We would’ve seen them go in.”
Christine said, “Can we get Meredith’s clothes and get out of here? Please?” She looked as though she might cry.
Jimmy and Christine went upstairs to Meredith’s room, leaving Joshua to ponder the impossible. He knelt by the evenly-spaced puddles, ran his finger through one damp patch. He shuddered as though he’d touched a slug. He rose and walked to the back door onto the patio and looked back toward the rest of the property.
Joshua noted the dry earth behind the house. While it had rained a few days earlier, there was no standing water anywhere. Not only could no one have passed by them while they were with Bernadine, there was no water to cause tracks.
In a few moments, Jimmy and Christine came clattering down the stairs. Joshua met them in the great hall. Jimmy’s face was a rio
t of emotion – Joshua couldn’t tell if he were angry, upset, afraid, or just perplexed. He and Christine carried two large Old Navy bags full of clothes.
Joshua told them what he’d discovered about the footprints – that was all they could be. “There is just no standing water anywhere,” he concluded helplessly.
“I’m adding two and two together, and I’m not coming up with four,” said Jimmy. He seemed to have trouble speaking. Christine looked more distraught than ever.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Christine said, looking around, apprehensive.
“Absolutely,” said Joshua. They exited the house. Jimmy locked the front door before climbing in Joshua’s Altima.
Joshua cranked his car and threw gravel as he sped off. Jimmy chuckled a bit as Joshua scratched off. “In a hurry, Preacher?” he said sardonically.
“I’d run away about now if I knew where to run,” said Joshua, rounding the curve in the drive and heading through the bluffs. He turned onto the main road. “Right now, though, I think y’all have got to talk to Meredith and tell her what’s happened.”
“We will,” said Jimmy. He looked at Joshua for a moment. “Then what?”
Joshua sighed. “Got a question for you,” he countered.
“What’s that?”
“Humor me. Based on what you’ve seen this morning – and couple that with what Christine, Meredith, and Bethany have all claimed to see or hear – do you think there’s some sort of, uh … outside influence working in the Dubose mansion?”
Jimmy didn’t answer. Again, his face contorted. “Well,” he said slowly, “something is going on, but I sure don’t know what to call it.”
Joshua spoke as though he were negotiating a minefield. “OK, Jimmy,” he said. “So … would you classify this as supernatural activity?”
Jimmy dropped his head. He then looked up at Joshua, at Christine in the back seat – she was visibly shaken – then said, quietly, “Yeah.”
Joshua wasn’t sure if he considered this a victory or not. If anything, it drove a spike of fear even deeper into his heart. To have a skeptic verify what he’d been thinking was almost too chilling to consider.