by W.J. May
Chapter Eleven
It took a couple of hours to set up all of the cameras. Mom showed up just as we were finishing up.
“What’s all this?” she asked.
Nathan explained that we were setting up surveillance to catch a Peeping Tom.
“I thought we were through with that?” she said. She was wearing dark sunglasses and looked like she was still suffering from her hangover.
I cleared my throat. “Duncan had someone looking in his windows last night, too, mom. It’s not just us.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Really?”
Duncan nodded. “Yeah and it was definitely not an animal.”
Mom yawned. “Then I hope you catch whoever is doing it. It’s probably some pervert or something.”
“Or a killer,” I said.
“What?” she asked, incredulously. She’d obviously heard me but didn’t believe what I was suggesting.
“Nothing.”
She yawned again. “Listen, I’m going to lie down for a while. I’m so wiped out.”
“Do you want me to make dinner?” I asked.
She grimaced. “Actually, I’ve been nauseated all day. I’m going to eat a couple more crackers and then go right to bed.”
“Duncan, would you like to dine with us?” asked Nathan as mom trudged up the stairs and into the cabin. “I make a mean frozen pizza.”
Duncan laughed. “No, I have to head back before my old man starts hounding me again,” he said, raising his cell phone. “He’s already sent me a message, wondering where I am.”
“Okay, thanks for setting all of this up. I kind of hope we see some action tonight,” said Nathan.
“Here’s my number,” he said, holding out a business card. “My dad made these for me to give to customers. Call me if something happens.”
“Will do. Your dad has my number, call me if you catch a prowler.”
“Okay. Good luck with your new job, Nikki,” said Duncan. “I’ll give you a couple of days before I stop in and harass you.”
“Thanks.”
After Duncan left, we walked around the perimeter of the house again to make sure all of the cameras were facing the right way.
“There’s even one by your balcony to make sure some Romeo doesn’t try and steal you away at night.”
I snorted. “If someone shows up on my balcony, I’m going to beat them with my bat while I scream bloody murder.”
He laughed. “That guy has no chance.”
We went into the kitchen where Nathan made a pizza and then joined me on the couch to watch movies.
“So what do you think of mom dating Caleb?” I asked.
“He seems like a good guy.”
“You don’t think it’s too soon for her?”
“I think mom is lonely and wants to feel protected. The town’s sheriff sure fits that bill.”
I shrugged. “I suppose. I’m just worried about her getting hurt.”
“Nobody can hurt her as much as dad did,” said Nathan. “Sad but true.”
That was for certain.
I fell asleep halfway through some horror flick about zombies when several loud thuds from outside woke me up.
“What was that?” I gasped.
Nathan stood up and I could tell he was as freaked out as I was. “I don’t know.”
Something heavy banged against the door, and we both jumped.
“Oh, my God, Nathan, what’s happening?”
He ran into the kitchen and came back out carrying the butcher knife.
“You’re not going out there, are you?” I whispered in horror.
He swallowed. “I was considering it.”
More loud bangs and I grabbed the phone. “I’m calling nine-one-one.”
“Wait, it could be a raccoon or a bear.”
“A bear; like you’d want to tackle that by yourself, anyway.”
He nodded. “True. I’m going to open up the blinds and look outside.”
I followed him over to the window. “Can you see anything?” I asked as he peeked through the gap in the blinds.
“Shit,” he whispered.
“What?”
He turned towards me, his face as white as a ghost. “It’s the cameras. Un… fucking… believable!”
I looked outside and gasped. Even in the dark I could tell that someone had destroyed all of the surveillance equipment we’d set up.
We raced upstairs and woke up mom. She called the police, and a half hour later, one of the deputy sheriffs arrived at the house.
“I don’t know who did this, but they’re gone now,” he said. He was a middle-aged man with a curly black moustache that he kept touching, which creeped me out.
Mom let out a long, ragged sigh. “Why would somebody do this?”
“Oh, I don’t know… so they wouldn’t get caught spying on us?” I muttered sarcastically.
“Can you check for fingerprints or anything?” asked Nathan.
He nodded. “Yeah, I put a call in for a couple of our guys to get out here and do that, so try not to touch anything. They should be arriving any minute.”
“So, where is the sheriff?” I asked.
“Caleb? Oh, it’s his night off,” replied the deputy. “He won’t be back in until late tomorrow night.”
Mom nodded. “He mentioned that he was going out of town today with his daughter.”
“Let me get a statement from you and then I’ll be on my way. There isn’t much we can do without any evidence right now. If we pick up something from the fingerprints, we’ll proceed from there.”
After everyone was gone, mom dragged herself back to bed but Nathan and I were still spooked and unable to sleep.
Nathan shook his head. “Duncan is going to be pissed when he finds out what happened. That was thousands of dollars in video equipment this person destroyed.”
“Let’s call him, it’s only eleven. I’m sure he’s awake.”
A half hour later Duncan pulled up in his white truck. Our eyes met immediately and I had to admit, I was really glad to see him.
“Wow,” he said, “This is amazing. I can’t believe someone trashed all of these cameras. Did you see anything?’
“We heard the crashes but were too freaked out to investigate when it was happening,” I said. “It actually happened pretty quickly.”
“They must have brought their own ladder,” said Nathan. “I locked up the other one we’d used, earlier.”
Duncan walked over to one of the trees and smiled proudly. “They missed one. I hid it pretty good. Let’s go see if it recorded anything interesting.”
Nathan slapped him on the back. “You are the man!”
Fifteen minutes later, we stared in awe at the video screen.
“What in the hell?” asked Nathan.
We watched in disbelief, as two of the other cameras were violently ripped from the house, but there was no sign of whoever was doing it.
“Ghosts?” I gasped incredulously. “I mean, there’s nobody there!”
Duncan and Nathan looked at each other, both obviously stunned as well.
“This is freaking crazy. It doesn’t make sense,” said Nathan.
We rewound the video and watched it again with the same results. It seemed as if an invisible force had destroyed each of the cameras.
“Okay, common sense doesn’t explain this at all,” said Duncan. “Maybe it is some kind of poltergeist?”
“If it is, I’m definitely not staying here any longer,” I said. The thought of the cabin being inhabited by ghosts freaked the crap out of me. I saw the movies Poltergeist and Amityville Horror. I knew when it was time to leave. Not after the ghosts tried killing you, but before.
“We have to show the sheriff,” said Nathan. “Maybe he can make sense of it.”
“Sense? A fucking ghost is messing with our minds, Nathan,” I snapped. “You keep trying to make scientific excuses because you don’t want to believe it. Look at the film! You heard the loud bangs! The came
ras didn’t just fall from the house by themselves! We’ve got to get the hell out of this town!”
He raised his hands. “Okay, calm down. You’re right. Something is happening that is beyond any explanation that I can come up with. We’ll show mom tomorrow and still talk to the sheriff. If it is some kind of ghost, we’ll get the cabin… exorcised or something.”
“Maybe you should talk to the owners of the cabin?” interrupted Duncan. “They might already be aware of these ghosts.”
“What about your house, Duncan?” I asked. “How do you explain the face in the window or shadows flying into the trees?”
He smiled wryly. “Maybe the ghost is roaming the town? I don’t know. None of this shit makes sense to me, either.”
We watched the video one last time and then Duncan turned it off. “I’m going home to check on the cameras I’ve installed there, to see if they’re still in place. I’ll call you if I find anything else odd.”
“Duncan,” I said. “I’m sorry about the damaged equipment. I wish we could somehow replace it for you.”
He waved his hand. “Hell, it’s not your fault. If anything, we may have actual proof that ghosts inhabit Shore Lake,” he said with a sinister smile. “We could all become rich and famous.”