Reunion (A Psychological Suspense with Murder, Mystery and the Paranormal)

by Jeff Bennington

  The spirit continued toward Noah, leading him into another dimension. In his mind, the boiler room transformed into a white hallway littered with wheelchairs and mental patients. Leading the way, David pointed his bony finger and looked to the right. With sadness in his eyes, he peered into a room covered with worms, maggots and flies. The insects crawled and slithered on an obese patient tied to a wooden chair. Little white pills flowed from his mouth, forming a pile of medication that fed the insects. The sight and smells of the vision were so real that Noah began to feel sick. David led him farther down the hall.

  The others watched the entity stand nose to nose with Noah. They couldn’t see what Noah was witnessing. He was motionless, staring into the figure’s eyes, digesting the illusion.

  David turned to the left, revealing another patient vomiting blood all over her bulimic body. Her weak hand lifted and pointed to a gurney inhabited by a hollow-cheeked man. Noah continued the mental journey moving faster and faster as he approached the scrawny male. Standing next to the patient, he surveyed the shriveled flesh that wrapped its bones. Its darkened eyes and sunken cheeks appeared nearly dead. A tube filled with liquid feces wrapped around his legs exiting into a milky plastic bag. Worms crawled in and out of the patient’s orifices. Noah continued to look upon the half-living body when a deep, muffled voice spoke to him. Although he recognized the words in his mind, the tone of the voice indicated its lack of humanity. The deep, dark, gravelly voice pervaded Noah’s brain.

  “This…is…flesh. It…lives. It…lives! David Ray is ours…” The voice stopped to breathe, its exhalations gurgled. “You were summoned…to give him to us… Hurry! He waits!” The deep voice let out an appalling shriek. The wind in the boiler room accelerated and Noah fell to his knees, still in a trance, his eyes rolling backward in his head.

  • • •

  The others covered their faces, protecting their eyes from the whipping debris. Tanner crawled across the floor and pulled Bryan away to a corner. Inch by inch he towed him closer to where the two women huddled together. He tried to radio Larry again, but Larry did not reply.

  • • •

  The spirit continued filling Noah’s mind with a vision of a much younger David Ray. He appeared to be around nine years old. The boy lay tied to a table made of stone. Noah watched as a man with a black cloak tied the boy’s ankles and wrists to cast-iron loops with zip ties. Torches lit the otherwise dark room. The young boy lay sedated and barely conscious. His head rolled from side to side on the stone, unable to comprehend what was happening to him. A crowd of cloaked men and women surrounded the boy, shouting incantations and singing dark mystical chants, commanding the spirits who hovered above to enter his soul. Noah began to convulse, desperately trying to regain consciousness to escape the maddening dream.

  The dark spirit growled, “He was given to us. And we want him now! You must kill him!”

  • • •

  Lana watched Noah’s eyes roll back into his head although he remained tied to the spirit in his mind. She called out to him, hoping to wake him from the trance, but he didn’t move. She took a step forward to help him but the spirit took notice. With an invisible punch to her gut, it caused Lana to hunch over and vomit helplessly. She couldn’t move again. Tanner and Kate likewise remained motionless and terrified.

  • • •

  In Noah’s mind, the chanting from the cult grew louder and louder as the young David Ray began to rise above the table. The zip ties stretched, tugging on David’s wrists and ankles. Dark shadows swirled above, funneling themselves into David’s flesh, possessing his soul. The boy’s chest swelled to accommodate the evil that took residence.

  Understanding now, Noah found the strength to pull back, waking from his trance. The devilish forces were satisfied that he knew the answer to his question and released him. The vision faded and he tumbled to the floor.

  • • •

  Larry managed to grab the radio at last and replied, “Go for Larry!” shouting above the sound of the rain pounding on the roof.

  Tanner picked up and answered, “H…hello?”

  “Go ahead, caller. This is Sheriff Larry Richards. What’s going on there?”

  “Oh, thank God! We need your help! Please hurry! It’s David Ra—”

  Larry interrupted. “Whoa…whoa…slow down! Who is this?” Larry wrinkled his forehead, concerned that the call was a prank.

  “It’s Tanner Khan. I’m with Deputy Jacobs and the others at the old school! You have to help us! Bryan and Kate are hurt and Maria is dead! Please help us! David Ray is trying to kill us all!”

  “What? Th…that can’t be. I just saw him!”

  Bryan moaned as he watched Tanner grow frustrated with the sheriff. The spirit hovered above him.

  Tanner interrupted Larry. “Sheriff! Listen to me! We’re locked in the school! We can’t get out and Bryan needs to get to a hospital! It doesn’t matter if it’s David or not, but there’s something in here trying to kill us! Hurry! You have to get here as fast as you can! Please, I’m begging you. There’s not much time left!”

  “Someone’s trying to kill you?”

  “Yes! I’ll explain later. Just get here as fast as you can!”

  “Roger that. I’m heading your way!” Larry hit the gas pedal and turned on the siren. After seeing David alive, he knew whatever was in there with them must also be related to the murder of Chris Haden. He accelerated into the rain and headed back to Crescent Falls as fast as he could. Nick bumped his head again when Larry accelerated. He had been regaining consciousness from the light sedative and he heard the conversation. Larry called for an ambulance and backup, and then called Tanner again.

  “Okay, Tanner! What’s going on now?”

  “It’s David Ray…or his spirit or something! We’re trapped in the boiler room and he’s trying to communicate with us!” Tanner knew the apparition was watching him and somehow knew what was being said.

  “Larry, we think he wants us to kill David Ray.”

  “Listen to me, Tanner. We’re going to get you out of there. You just have to hang on. You hear me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “First of all, I want you to know that David Ray is alive. So whatever it is, it’s not David! It’s something else—something worse!”

  “What?” Tanner heard the spirit growl. “How can tha—”

  “It’s true. I just left Mount Carmel and I saw David Ray myself. He’s alive. He’s a vegetable. He died twenty years ago, but only for a short time. He’s on life support as we speak.”

  • • •

  Nick was now listening, fully alert, but still pretending to be comatose. He peered out of the corner of his eye, watching Larry drive and talk to Tanner.

  “I don’t understand, Larry. Whatever it is, it looks like David Ray…and he…he’s telling us to kill him.” Tanner grew flustered. “This doesn’t make any sense. But if what you are saying is true…”

  Noah had been listening, too weak from the session with the spirit to speak. But he half sat up and shouted to Larry, finishing Tanner’s sentence.

  “…Then you have to kill him Larry!”

  The hot wind stirred again. The spirit glided over Noah, breathing.

  “Tanner, who said that?” asked Larry.

  “It’s Noah Berkley,” said Tanner.

  “Let me talk to him!” insisted Larry. Tanner slid the radio across the floor to Noah.

  “Hey…ah… What are you saying, Noah?”

  “I’m saying we have to kill David!”

  “How are you supposed to kill a spirit?” Larry sounded angry and frustrated.

  “We’re not. You have to kill David’s physical body!” The spirit flew around the boiler room with a loud shriek as if Tanner had given the right answer.

  “What? I can’t do that!”

  “You have to! If David’s alive, the only way to end this is to kill him. I think there are demons attached to his soul and those spirits want him dead. And I think I
know why.”

  “Why?”

  “I believe David’s trapped in what is called a hell on earth.” Noah looked at the women, still clinging to each other and looking terrified.

  “What?” asked Tanner.

  Noah glanced to see Tanner’s confusion.

  “The spirit has been communicating to all of us. If David’s alive, he’s trapped between hell and earth…he can’t cross over. He’s being kept alive by a machine, so the spirits that possess his soul cannot take him and continue to torment him. Part of the deal of their possession is that they cannot kill him, even though they own his soul. So it’s up to us. Only we can set him free from the hell he’s in and let him go.” Noah stopped talking for a moment and then clarified. “It’s up to you, Larry, we can’t get to him.”

  “I can’t do that! Come on! You don’t believe in all that heaven and hell crap do you?” Larry asked anxiously, still driving at top speed and watching the road ahead.

  “Yes, I do. David’s spirit is caught up in a battle that was lost long ago. It wasn’t his choice, but there’s only one way out for him now and that is his death. His soul is in limbo, waiting for his body to catch up. If you don’t do this, it won’t be long before all of us here will be dead too!”

  “Why? I don’t understand.” Larry strained to see the road through the pouring rain.

  “It’s simple: the suffering David’s going through wasn’t meant for a mortal soul. Hell has already claimed him and his body cannot bear the weight of God’s judgment. The demons inhabiting him are demanding his presence at the gates of hell. He’s long overdue!”

  “Can’t he turn to God now? Should we have some kind of séance or exorcism or something?”

  “No! It’s far too late for that. He’s already died once and the demons that harvested his soul are not willing to release him now. They’ve waited twenty years and now David’s time is up. He no longer has any strength to fight his eternal damnation. You must liberate him!”

  “You mean kill him?”

  “Yes!”

  “No!” Larry shook his head. “I can’t do that. There’s got to be another way. I’m the sheriff!”

  “There is no other way!”

  The spirit reacted violently to the sheriff’s reply. The wind started blowing again, stirring up the debris, and whirling it about in the flickering light. The malevolent spirit swooped down to the ground, shoving Tanner and Bryan against the wall with a huge force. Bryan lost consciousness again.

  “Sheriff! You have to go back to Mount Carmel! You have to kill David! If you don’t, the spirit will kill us! It’s listening and getting angrier by the minute!”

  The others pleaded along with Noah.

  “Please!”

  “Help us!”

  “Larry, you have to end this!”

  “No!” Larry insisted. “Not like that. I’m a man of the law. I can’t go around killing people.”

  • • •

  Still disguising his wakeful state, Nick listened to the conversation. Noah confirmed what he had been saying all along. Nick knew he had to respond, especially when he heard Kate pleading for her life. Larry remained unaware that Nick was listening. With his eyes focused on the wet road, he didn’t expect what happened next.

  25th

  Nick tightened his fists and tensed his handcuffed wrists. Desperate to save Kate, Nick swung his clenched hands with all his strength, straight into the side of Larry’s face. Taken completely off guard, Larry’s head slammed into the driver’s-side window and he was knocked out cold.

  Nick grabbed the steering wheel and shoved Larry’s legs out of the way so he could reach the brakes. He took control of the vehicle and pulled over. When the car came to a complete stop he paused for a brief moment to consider his next step. He knew he had no choice in the matter. It was a spiritual battle, whether Larry wanted to believe it or not. Nick decided that the price for David’s soul was well worth paying, if it meant saving Kate’s life.

  After he put the gear in park, Nick tumbled out of the passenger seat, ran around the outside of the car and pulled Larry out by his coat. He dragged him safely under a tree on the side of the road, protected from the worst of the rain. He stole Larry’s gun from his holster and, without wasting another second, ran back to the car. He unlocked the handcuffs with the key on Larry’s key chain and drove back to Mount Carmel.

  • • •

  Larry didn’t regain consciousness for several minutes. When he awoke, dazed, on the side of the road, in the pouring rain, he realized what must have happened. The pain in his jaw and his location could only mean one thing: Nick was on his way back to kill David Ray. He stood up, wiped the rainwater out of his eyes and reached for his radio. It wasn’t on his belt. Neither was his gun. He ripped off his hat, threw it on the ground and cursed Nick as he saw the taillights of his vehicle, driving away into the distance.

  • • •

  “Sheriff, are you there?” Noah was shocked by Larry’s sudden verbal disappearance.

  “He’s gone,” Noah answered, watching the bewildered looks on the faces of the others. He tried again.

  “Sheriff Richards, are you out there?”

  Nick reached for the radio on the seat and answered, “This is Nick, go ahead.”

  Kate’s eyes widened. “Nick?” she whispered.

  “Hey, Nick! What are you doing there? What’s happened to Larry?” Noah asked.

  Nick looked in his rearview mirror and watched Larry’s silhouette shrink into the distance.

  “He’s fine.” He paused. “I’m going back to the nuthouse and Larry isn’t coming with me.”

  “You’re going back to the institution? Now?”

  “Yes!”

  Nick pressed down on the gas pedal.

  Tanner made a fist and pulled his elbow to his gut saying, “Yes!” and looked at the others in the room.

  The apparition faded into the swelling mist.

  Lana, Kate and Tanner let out sighs of relief. Their bodies looked wilted, exhausted from the trauma and soaked from the condensation. Bryan was shivering, still crumpled on the floor, developing a fever from his burns and going into shock.

  Noah pressed the switch on the radio. “Hurry, Nick! Please hurry!”

  • • •

  When Nick returned to Mount Carmel, he parked the sheriff’s vehicle directly in front of the entry doors, grabbed Larry’s gun and ran inside. He burst into the building and saw Meredith sitting in her booth chewing gum and reading a magazine.

  Meredith shrieked when she caught a glimpse of him.

  “Oh, my goodness!” she said, throwing her hands to her chest. Her eyes glared at Nick with distrust. “Well, I’m certainly surprised to see you back here.” She reached for the phone and called security.

  “Security, 8-1-1, please. Security, 8-1—”

  Nick slammed his fist against the Plexiglas window and pointed the gun directly at Meredith.

  “Open the door! No one’s gonna get hurt if you just open the door…fast. Do you understand?”

  Meredith nodded. She buzzed the door open. Nick ran to the nearest stairwell and headed for the third floor.

  • • •

  Meredith’s phone rang in response to her call.

  “Front desk!”

  “Hey, Meredith. What’s up?” asked one of the orderlies.

  “He’s back!”

  “Who’s back?”

  “The crazy guy who came here with that sheriff! And he’s got a gun!”

  “Where is he now?”

  “I don’t know. He ran inside; he’s probably going after Mr. Ray!”

  “Gotcha! Thanks Meredith!” Click. The orderly redialed the phone and called over the PA system, “Code Three to the third floor! Code Three to the third floor! Stat!” He hung up and ran toward the elevator.

  • • •

  Nick ran up the stairs as fast as he could. When he reached the third floor, he stopped to catch his breath. He rested for a brief mom
ent on the railing and then continued. When he entered the main hallway he saw the nurses and doctors scurrying about, asking where the emergency was.

  Winded from climbing the stairs, Nick stumbled down the hallway, toward where David lay waiting. A nurse popped out of one of the rooms and screamed when she saw him. Nick pointed the gun at her and put his index finger to his lips, signaling her to remain silent. She obeyed, still cowering in the doorway.

  Dr. Mueller strode out of David’s room to see what the commotion was all about. He immediately saw Nick and shouted, “Security! Security! He’s up here!”

  Dr. Mueller stood in front of David’s door, while Nick marched down the hallway pointing the gun at him. The doctor raised his arms and dropped his clipboard. Nick squinted his eyes, taking aim at the doctor, indicating that he should get out of the way. Each step brought Nick closer to the moment of resolution he had dreamed about for twenty years. I hope that doctor doesn’t think he’s gonna stop me now, he thought.

  No one in the hospital had near the passion or resolve as Nick in that moment. Adrenaline raced through his body, filling him with an extreme sense of power. I’m so close, he thought, I can almost taste it. His arms stiffened. He lifted the gun up, pointing it at the doctor’s face.

  “Get away from the door, Dr. Mueller!” Nick jiggled the gun toward another room, indicating where he desired the doctor to go.

  Dr. Mueller silently shook his head, holding his ground. His eyes were filled with both bravery and fear.

  “No?” said Nick. “Fine.” His eyes were dead, drooping with callousness like David’s had twenty years earlier.

  The doctor said, “You won’t get away with this!”

  Nick stopped directly in front of Dr. Mueller. “I don’t care!” He pressed the gun against the doctor’s forehead and continued. “They can kill me if they want. I don’t give a shit! No one’s going to miss me.”