by Cyle James
“It’s one thing not to believe that there’s some sort of gigantic-headed being looking down on you from above. But it’s another thing entirely to not understand that there has to be more out in the world than just this. This world is filled with so much magic, so much improbability that it’s nearly impossible to pretend that there isn’t more to it than we can put into textbooks”.
Riley inched forward in his seat, accidentally elbowing his wife in the process, “Alright. Now, let’s say words have power. What does that have to do with Sourmouth?”
Anna seemed to cringe at the name, as if she had begun to realize what she was telling them, and that the more they said it the more damage could be done.
“As far as I am aware, that word is a name. It’s the English translation for an old Squamish designation or phrase that’s long been lost to their people. At least that was the tale told when I was younger. Likely, the book you found is the genuine article, some sort of old journal of whoever lived there. But the fact that there was written English suggests that it was someone recently who thought it would be a good practical joke to write it in based on the old tales and freak out the rubes, like yourselves, who came across it,” said Anna.
Violet sat back a bit deflated, her head trying to process the idea that they might have been getting all excited for nothing. And that what they had thought they had seen had been nothing more than their minds playing tricks on them just like some moron wanted. She didn’t like that what she saw might have just been influenced by the creepy house she was staying in and the nightmare that she had right before it. It was almost absurd to think that what her husband had seen too was merely the power of suggestion and influence. Despite the unlikelihood of what they encountered, she was still sure she had seen something and that it was as real as the book that sat in the attic.
“What if it wasn’t written by somebody with too much time on their hands? What if it was some sort of warning? Someone who came across it and needed to communicate what it was? You say that the word itself has some sort of power, right? The power to do what?” she asked impatiently, sure that her insistence would get her solid answers.
“Somebody whether intentionally or not, I think screwed you two over. Just knowing the word, speaking it aloud, you’ve given its owner just a bit more strength than it had before. And according to the legend, the more you know about it, the more that you put yourself at risk to the owner turning its gaze upon you,” Anna explained.
Riley guffawed, perhaps a bit out of nerves.
“And what if we don’t believe in words having powers? If we don’t care about the legends and this so-called owner? What if we just want to know about the thing that’s in our damned mirror?” Riley asked.
Violet took a second to pause. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure that she did not believe in such things as magic. But she didn’t quite believe in it either. To her it seemed silly to dictate her life on a small inkling of doubt in the back of her head.
Anna exhaled deeply, sweeping her hair from the sides of her face.
“The being you speak of, Sourmouth...it’s said that it’s a spirit from old Squamish legend. Their history tells of how our world was created, about how the spirits of the stars came together to bring us into existence in a giant storm that swept the land. But there was one star that was left out from the discussion, one who got no input in our creation...and that was the Wolf Star. The Wolf Star was always known amongst the other stars as being incredibly intelligent and cunning. Why he was omitted wasn’t known, but the reason wouldn’t have made his exclusion any less of a great insult. In retaliation for this slight, he sent a wolf down to Earth to steal the bag that contained the storm to create life from the spirits, so that he might include what he wished in this new world. But what the Wolf Star wasn’t expecting was that the human race had already seeped out from the bag and would prevent the wolf from accomplishing its mission. That the humans would slaughter the emissary and leave the Wolf Star embarrassed yet again. It’s said that to this day the spirit of the Wolf Star delights in wreaking havoc on us humans in revenge. While I can’t say where the name came from, it’s said that Sourmouth is the modern day agent of the Wolf Star, tasked with destroying humans as it sees fit. Of course...all just a fireside legend”.
The Tylers took a moment to stare at each other in silence as they thought about what they were just told. Neither believed in things like spirits and gods, not since they were children and they learned that Santa was just a fat Asian man in a cheap suit and a shellfish-stained beard at the local mall. But the fact of the situation was that they were facing something that they weren’t even close to being able to understand. They were facing off with an entity that didn’t seem to be a part of their world at all, so their previous concepts of how the world worked were slowly becoming null and void. Whether the creature’s origin story was true or not, they didn’t have much else to base their next moves on.
“Let’s pretend that this is all real. That whatever it is that we saw, that might be related to the book and the word and ancient stars, is actually more than fiction. What do we do about it?”
Violet asked her question frantically as if the idea was suddenly hitting her, an urgency brought on by the notion that her world might not be as simple as she thought it was.
Anna laughed in a way that made her nose twitch like a rabbit’s, “Do about it? There’s not much you can do, hun. If there is a spirit and it wants to reach out to you, it’s going to reach out to you. There’s nothing you can do to stop it. The sun will rise and the sun will fall no matter how hard you wish one way or the other. All I can suggest is that if the legend is real, and that is a big if, then you stop so much as thinking about it and get as far away from here as you can”.
Riley shook his head, “I’m sorry. But we’re on vacation. We’re not running away from a mirror and a campfire story”.
Violet continued on like she hadn’t even heard her husband, “Is it really something dangerous? You say ‘spirit’, but what does that even mean? Like a poltergeist? Should we actually be worried about it at all?”
Anna’s smile slowly descended into her thin lips, “I can’t say for sure what it is or what it could do. I’m certainly not an expert on these things; I just like the history. And even if I could be an expert on this kind of stuff, I wouldn’t be. My weary heart isn’t made for the supernatural. But if you have stumbled onto what I hope that you haven’t, I really do wish you the best of luck”.
Chapter 6
The ride back to Killarney Lake was a sombre one. Neither of the Tylers could quite put a finger on the emotions that they were feeling. Violet in particular felt uncomfortable with the whole situation, with the odd sensation like someone was watching her that made the hairs on her neck stand on end. She was aware of the irony that it was her goading her husband into opening the book and now it seemed like she was the one regretting it the most. Riley on the other hand was caught between being annoyed for having wasted his day searching for answers that he didn’t find and still being excited by the minute possibility of having contact with the paranormal.
Having said their goodbyes to Anna the Museum-Woman and promised that they would return with the book in the future, they stopped into a small supermarket to grab some bottles of water and groceries for the cabin figuring that it would be cheaper and easier than visiting the Red Wolf every day. The sugar rush they got from the Canada-exclusive coffee-flavoured chocolate bars and ketchup-flavoured chips also helped mitigate the tensions they were feeling.
It was still early in the afternoon when the pair returned to their rented abode, which seemed illogically more ominous than it had before. Nothing at all had changed since they left it. But suddenly having heard more about the fabled origins of ‘Sourmouth’ it took an otherworldly presence in the otherwise docile landscape.
It took some goading from Riley before he could get his wife to step into the front door, which she did with as much caution as one w
ould step into a minefield. But other than it being brighter than the night before, it was entirely the same. There weren’t any household objects floating in the air, nor were there any spooky voices ringing in their ears. It seemed like for the time being Poyam’s house was nothing but a house.
“How did you want to spend our evening?” Riley asked as he plopped down on the couch.
“That seems like a weird question under the circumstances. Maybe we should call a medium and hold a séance?”
“The scary thing is that I’m not sure if you’re joking or not”.
“I’m kind of joking. I want to find out more about what’s happening so I can shut my eyes without half expecting to open them and watch myself getting stabbed in the throat”.
“We tried to find out more, didn’t we? What else is there for us to do? I’d like to be able to cross my arms and nod my head and make something appear that just tells us all that we need to know about this ‘Sourmouth’. But unfortunately I can’t and we don’t exactly have access to the internet right now, do we? Though I doubt it would make a difference if the legends are passed through story anyway,” Riley ranted.
Violet sat idly as she thought. What were their next steps? Helen had given them Anna as a lead, but Anna was only able to give them information. It seemed that without more to go on they had come to a dead end.
“We need to find some clues,” she said abruptly.
“What clues? What are we, the Scooby gang?”
“Seriously. We need to find out more about this house and why that book is here and who might have written it. The only way I can think of doing that is to turn this place upside down and search for more clues”.
“Search? The only places we haven’t looked are the basement and oh my god you want to look in the basement...” he groaned as he realized her poorly thought out intentions.
“Yeah, in the basement and we can look more in the attic. If it’ll make you feel better you can pretend that it’s some sort of hide and seek game”.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better. And why are you willing to go ghost hunting in a spooky basement when the entire point of searching is because you’re scared? If you’re brave enough to try and find whatever it is you think is down there, then why not just not be afraid of some fairy tale so we can skip out on the haunted tour?”
“I’m not afraid. I’m cautious. I want to know that being in this house is safe. And the chances of finding something dangerous hidden in the dank basement aren’t likely. However staying here for an indefinite amount of time while something is out to get us sounds like the far worse plan. Besides, what harm could it do?” she tried to rationalize, as much for her as it was for him.
“I’ve got the sinking feeling that those words are ones that you’re going to regret. There’s no outcome here where you get to say something like ‘what harm’ or ‘what’s the worst that could happen’ and something terrible not materialize out of the ether”.
Violet huffed and put her hands on her hips in the same way that his mother used to when he’d come home after staying out too late.
“I’ll take your ramblings as a reluctant yes?” she asked.
Riley simply rolled his eyes into the back of his skull and nodded.
His wife leaned forward and planted a big wet kiss on his lips while making an excited squeak. On the surface she was calm and even a little bit happy about his decision to help her look around. But on the inside she was trembling apprehensively to say the least. She had an ulterior motive in trying to convince her husband to play along further than just having an extra pair of eyes. Quite frankly she was scared, far too scared to go wandering around the house on her lonesome. Her husband might not have been some sort of warrior ripped through the annals of time but he’d certainly be more of a force to be reckoned with than she would should something unfortunate happen during their expedition.
With as much zeal as the duo could rally they left the safety of the couch and headed off to search the basement, when they realized that they didn’t actually know how to get to it. There wasn’t a way down as far as they had seen. It took a moment of searching behind the nooks and crannies of the main floor before they discovered a small door no taller than four feet built into the side of the staircase that was cleverly hidden behind a small unused bookcase. A door that size logically must have been some sort of closet to store junk in. However since they couldn’t find an alternative route to the area below, they hoped that perhaps it was more than just another small room.
The wood frame looked to have had bloated in its years and tightened its grip on the door which made it more difficult to open than it probably was when the house was first built.
Riley pushed the bookcase out of the way with little effort before pulling open the door with a strained tug. As the Tylers had hoped, the staircase hid a descending pathway to the basement, clouded in darkness as was much in Poyam’s house.
“Run upstairs and grab one of the candles,” Riley ordered.
His wife barely had time to acknowledge her husband’s sudden assertiveness before she took off upstairs to the room leading to the attic to grab their supplies. She wasn’t sure if she liked or disliked the pushier side of her partner, but oddly couldn’t help but be slightly turned on by it.
It was far too dark for Riley to get a sense of what was down the steps or how far the stairs went. All he could see from his perch was a wall of pure blackness pushing back at him to try and drive him towards the world of light. He knew it was irrational as soon as his head began playing tricks on him, making him imagine that somewhere down below stood the lanky behemoth Sourmouth and his faceless terror just waiting for them to come down. Riley huffed as he pushed his right leg out and placed it on the first step, testing its strength. He didn’t know much about construction but he did know that after all these years of neglect it was a distinct possibility that the wood had worn through. It would either be from the natural dampness of the Canadian winters or from the termites and other nasty critters that might have called the place home.
As far as his uninformed opinion went the first step at least seemed safe to put his weight on. With another deep breath he took another step downwards, his body causing the step to creak under him. Another breath and another step went by as he slowly made his way downwards. It was only as he got further down could he sense the differences between the basement and the rest of the house. The air in the basement was cold and dry like a freezer which made it harder for him to breathe, which he was trying to do in an increasingly faster rate. If it wouldn’t have been incredibly out of place, Riley could have sworn that it smelled somewhat like rust and chemical cleaners, like an abandoned hospital might. And it was with a few moments of nervousness that he contemplated what might be in the darkness below him.
“Where the hell are you?” Violet called from above as she strolled up to the doorway with her lit candle.
“Down here,” he called out.
“Why the hell are you going down there without a light?”
“I figured you’d only be a minute and I wanted to make sure the steps were safe”.
“You were going to test them by tossing yourself through them? You can’t even see anything,” she said as she followed down the steps, lighting the way slightly.
“Be careful when you step,” he said as he walked further, his path lit just enough for him to see a step in front of him.
“If they can support your fat ass I’m sure that they can support mine,” she replied with a chuckle as she followed her husband’s direction.
“You’re a funny girl, you are. I’m going to miss you when you get eaten,” he said as another step groaned under him.
“I’m going to get eaten, am I? Can you stop flirting with me for a moment while we’re nonchalantly tumbling into hell?”
Riley’s feet finally touched a solid surface as he made it to the basement floor.
Violet bumped softly into the back of her husband who she ha
dn’t been paying attention to as she walked behind him. Even in the soft light she could see the annoyance on his face as he took the candle from her hands.
Riley pressed forward into the basement with his wife’s hand held gently on his elbow for guidance. Even with the illumination they were struggling to make out anything unless it was a foot or two in front of their faces. So like that they went, foot by foot examining what was within reach. Riley found it easiest to locate the nearest wall from the stairs and keep it within sight, walking along it like a giant directional arrow with the intent of being able to circle back eventually as he encountered the other walls.
It didn’t take long before he was able to make a discovery. The Tylers came along a tripod with an old 8 millimeter camcorder perched on top. It was leaning against the wall rather perilously, almost falling over when they walked into it.
“Think we could make ourselves a naughty blue home movie later?” he asked with a laugh.
Even though she couldn’t see his face from behind, she could tell he was grinning ear to ear.
Violet reached out and flicked up the side of the camera, showing that it was empty and unusable.
“I’d be up for it if we had a tape to record. But I think you’re out of luck”.
He placed the camera gently back into place like he was afraid of its owner coming along and catching him playing where he shouldn’t. And when he felt it was secure enough to leave alone he continued along the wall. It was a few feet before he encountered more junk. This time it was a small plastic table about four feet long with two lawn chairs setup beside it. If it hadn’t been for the ashtray and the empty beer cans sitting on top of the table, it would have looked perfectly normal sitting on someone’s front lawn for a garage sale. Or pending where the person lived, perhaps the beer and the cigarettes would have looked normal too.
She didn’t mention it but Violet thought it was noticeable that there were things on the table as if it had been used while in the basement. That meant that somewhere there was a light that could be activated so that it was possible to do more than stumble blindly.