Four Corners Dark: Horror Stories (11 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

T
he morning sunlight poured into the great room and Ima woke with a start. She looked at her watch and saw it had stopped. Her uncle had given her the watch when she was a child. He had warned her it had brought him bad luck but for Ima, gifts and luck were both hard to come by. She wound the watch and it began to tick loudly. Climbing off the couch, she walked into the kitchen and found Donald pouring coffee, dressed in the same clothes as the night before.

“Find anything?” Ima asked while looking in the cupboard for a cup.

“Cups are over there,” Donald said quickly. “Yes, I did find quite a bit, actually. Piecing it together is another story,” he said. “Once everyone is up, I would like to discuss what I found.”

“Joseph is out back,” Ima said. “I can see him along the river.”

Donald looked out and saw Joseph sitting on a stone bench.

“Great,” Donald said. “I need to speak with him.”

He stepped into the crisp morning air, sunlight streamed through oak trees and the field behind the lodge teemed with birds. He walked down from the stone veranda and followed a worn path in the grass to the spot where Joseph sat.

“Joseph,” he called out.

Joseph turned and waved him over.

“Good, you are up. There are some things I must show you,” Joseph said.

“Never actually slept,” Donald replied. “There was a lot to go over.”

Joseph stood, put his hand on Donald’s shoulder and pointed towards the river.

“Look at the two sides of the water,” he said.

The river had a blue aura and the current appeared to run in two directions.

“Wow,” Donald said. “That’s an interesting illusion.”

It’s no illusion,” Joseph answered. “Follow me.”

Joseph grabbed a handful of grass and walked out to the middle of the bridge where they both looked down at the river. He sprinkled grass on one side, which headed south then sprinkled grass on the other and that headed north.

“That’s impossible,” Donald said.

“Yes it is,” Joseph answered. “Yet it just happened.”

The two men walked over the bridge to the edge of the forest where Donald became suddenly confused as feelings of panic took hold of him. Joseph put a reassuring hand on his arm.

“Easy, Donald,” he said. “Let’s go back.”

They stepped back onto the bridge and Donald experienced a rush of senses. The sounds of the birds, and the water and the wind returned to him.

“What just happened?”

“That was the power of the other side. It can take some getting used to.”

Joseph led him back to the lodge where Ima and Brenda were consoling Abby. She sat in a daze with an untouched cup of tea in front of her.

“It’s time we talked,” Joseph announced to the group. “I think we all realize that the deputy cannot report what actually happened last night. We need to get our stories together so we are on the same page.”

Joseph nodded to Ima, who handed out revised statements with any reference to the Raven Mocker omitted.

“But that isn’t true,” Abby shrieked. “The police will not help us if we don’t tell them what happened.”

Brenda moved in to calm her.

“Abby, they will not believe the truth,” Brenda said.

Abby swept the statement onto the floor.

“I will not sign this,” she screamed. “Terry is dead and that thing killed him.”

Abby broke down into a fit of sobbing. Brenda helped her up and walked her towards the stairs.

“I will get her back up in bed,” she said.

Abby’s cries echoed through the great room.

“We’ll be fine without her statement. I will tell the Sheriff she was too upset to give an interview,” Ima said.

“What about you,” Donald asked Ima.

“I’ll be looking at a suspension for accidentally discharging my weapon, could be a couple of weeks,” Ima answered.

“Ima, once you file your report you should come back here,” Joseph said. “We all need to stay together in a safe place and this is the only safe place right now.”

“Agreed,” said Ima. She put on her jacket and took out her keys. “I’ll be back before dark.”

Joseph walked her out, bolted the door and then walked back to the kitchen. Brenda returned and sat at the kitchen table in front of a cold cup of coffee.

“Last night I saw something unusual. My visions are repeating loops playing scenes over and over again,” Brenda said.

Donald and Joseph listened intently.

“I saw a man … he looked like a settler, dressed in boots and clothing from years past and he was searching for something. I watched him over and over again,” Ima finished.

“What was he looking for? Donald asked.

“I don’t know,” Brenda answered. “But it was very important to him.”

“Can you describe the man, Brenda?” Joseph asked.

“Yes, he was tall and lanky, with pale, pock-marked skin and black hair. He wore a worn frock coat.”

Donald stood up from the table and left without saying a word, then came back a few minutes later with a framed portrait covered in dust.

He held it up so Brenda could see it and said, “Is this the man?”

She hesitated. “Yes … but who is it?”

“This is Calvin Smith,” he answered. “A distant relation of yours.”

“May I?” she asked.

Donald handed her the painting. She stared closely at the image before saying anything.

“This is definitely the man from the vision,” she said. “The man who was searching for something lost.”

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

A
grim-faced Ima returned late in the afternoon carrying a suitcase and wearing street clothes. Donald, Brenda and Joseph were reading through archives at the kitchen table while Abby stared vacantly at a fire in the great room.

“They bought it,” Ima announced. “And I bought a two-week suspension.”

They sat in silence for a few moments.

Joseph finally spoke. “Ima, we have something we need your help with.

“Brenda had a vision and we need every detail documented,” Donald added. “We think it may help us with a plan.”

“You got it,” Ima said. “At least I can still act like a cop.”

She sat across from Brenda on the couch in the great room alcove.

“Okay,” Ima started. “Let’s take it from the top.”

Brenda recounted her vision while Ima took notes.

“How many times did this repeat?” Ima asked.

“A dozen times, maybe more. It’s hard to say for sure. When it happens, I lose track of time and my surroundings.”

“How did it end?” Ima asked.

“I fell asleep. I always fall asleep,” Brenda answered. “When I was a child, the doctors believed I was suffering from bad dreams. But my visions were real, so I began researching them and found out that what I saw really happened in the past.”

“Like a movie reel,” Ima said.

“Yes,” Brenda agreed.

Ima and Brenda joined Joseph and Donald in the kitchen as the light in the windows faded. They sat down at the table and Ima went through the details.

“Here is what we have so far,” she said. “According to Brenda’s description and Donald’s research, it appears that the man in the vision is Calvin Smith. We know that Mr. Smith is related to Brenda, as well as Terry James and Ted James. Both deceased,” Ima paused. “Based on Donald’s research into the Silverton archives, we know that Calvin James was paid the sum of five hundred dollars to organize a group of vigilantes and was involved in the stoning death of an unnamed woman in 1823.”

“But he never got to spend it,” Donald jumped in. “His partner, Edmund, shot him in the back during an argument a week later. Edmund was hung soon after. In fact every man involved in the stoning was dead within the month. Many from unknown causes, they simply dropped dead.”

“Like Terry,” Brenda interjected. “And Ted.”

“Joseph, what can you tell us about Ted’s death? Ima asked.

“Heart attack is what the police report indicated,” Joseph answered. “But that’s not what happened. Towards the end of his life, Ted spent all of his time in the woods and sometimes even slept out there. He refused to let me accompany him.”

“Did he say why?” Ima asked.

Joseph shook his head and said, “No, Ted never explained anything.”

Joseph smiled as he remembered his friend.

“One night he left and didn’t return. The next morning I found his body across the stone bridge. It looked like he had been running from something.”

Joseph brushed a hand through his long grey hair and closed his eyes for a moment.

“I will never forget the look on his face,” Joseph finished.

“Why didn’t you warn us”? Abby’s shriek filled the air. No one had noticed her in the door way.

“Abby, I tried to explain,” Joseph started.

“You explained nothing,” she screamed.

Brenda jumped up to calm her but Abby pushed her into the wall.

“Abby,” Donald said jumping to his feet to restrain her.

Ima bent beside Brenda and examined the back of her head. She had a small gash on the back of her scalp.

“I’m okay,” Brenda said.

She stood up and put her arm around Abby.

“Help me get her upstairs and back into bed,” Brenda said looking at Donald.

“Sure,” Donald said.

Brenda helped Abby into bed and gave her a glass of water to wash down a sedative. Donald stood nearby and studied the hieroglyphics like engravings on the walls. The symbols, a mix of animal and elemental shapes, appeared to be carved over varying time periods with the darkest and oldest lower on the wall.

“She’s asleep,” Brenda said closing the bedroom door behind them.

“Good. Poor thing must be out of her mind with grief,” Donald said.

Brenda and Donald walked downstairs and into the kitchen.

“Is Abby okay?” Joseph asked.

“Yes,” Brenda answered. “We gave her something to help her sleep.”

“How about you, Brenda?” Ima asked. “How’s your head?”

“I’m fine. Nothing an aspirin and a good night’s sleep won’t fix,” Brenda answered.

“Brenda, with your permission, let’s continue to review what we know,” Joseph said.

“Yes, please Joseph,” Brenda said.

“That thing that killed Terry may be after us,” Ima started.

“The Raven Mocker,” Joseph corrected, “is after us all. It feeds on revenge and hatred and my guess is Calvin Smith and the men who attacked the beast were tricked into antagonizing it. The tribe would never have allowed their sacred lands to be desecrated, even if it meant killing this witch. The tribe knew the townspeople could never set foot on the land once the Raven Mocker was disturbed.”

“But what about the tribe?” Donald asked. “Weren’t they afraid?”

“Yes, but they were willing to sacrifice the use of their lands in order to protect them from outsiders,” Joseph answered. “The plan worked. Not a single tree has been felled since that day and the power of this place has grown in magnitudes ever since.”

“How can we kill this thing?” Ima asked. “I shot it at least twice and it didn’t even flinch.”

Joseph stood and looked out the kitchen window, it had grown dark and raindrops made a pinging sound as they hit the metal roof.

“It can’t be killed,” he answered without turning around. “It will not stop until its thirst for revenge and hunger for hearts has been satisfied.”

He sat at the table and cupped his hands together in front of him. “However, it can be trapped.”

He turned to Donald and said, “I will need your help with something later tonight. But now, I need you to find out every detail about the stoning and to figure out what Calvin Smith was searching for.”

“Sure,” Donald replied.

Donald rose and left for the study. “Goodnight, it’s time for me to get some rest,” Joseph said.

Ima stood and stretched her arms over her head. “I’m going to go get some sleep as well.”

“Goodnight,” Brenda said. “Doubt I will be able to sleep much tonight. I think I’ll go down and help Donald.”

“Goodnight,” Ima replied and padded over to the alcove couch.

After a few hours of restless sleep, Joseph woke. A trunk sat in the corner of his room, an ornate dome top with brass hinges and polished wood slats. He slid it to the side and revealed an opening in the floor, then climbed down a circular staircase to an unfinished hallway which ran unseen behind the walls of the lodge. He navigated the unlit hallway and slipped through a hidden panel into the closet of the study. Donald was slumped over the desk and Brenda was wrapped in a quilt asleep on a brown leather couch. He walked over to Donald and shook his shoulder.

Donald awoke with a start. Joseph put his hand to his mouth and whispered, “Quiet.”