5:9
Stacey heard the door open when Jack walked in. She pulled the shower curtain back and peeked out.
“Hi honey, you must’ve got up early.”
He was shivering. His clothes were still wet from melted snow and mud. His fingers were crusted with blood and dirt. The shaking wasn’t from the cold. It was from the strongest fear he’d ever felt. His mind was swimming with images of Hell and the woman who’d died in the monster’s grasp. His grasp. Jack had been completely helpless to stop it and he felt responsible for everything that had happened. Tears ran down his face as he looked into Stacey’s eyes. She could see the terror on him. When they embraced she felt his body shaking.
“God Jack, what’s wrong?”
“I couldn’t make it stop. It was too strong.”
“I don’t understand.”
He pulled his face up from her shoulder, “Something terrible has happened,” he paused rubbing the tears out of his eyes, “I’m so afraid. Please Stacey, don’t hate me.”
Her naked body was dripping water into the pink rug.
“I could never hate you. Please tell me what’s wrong.”
“Something took over my body last night, possessed me.” It was too strong. I couldn’t do anything.”
The newsman had come back from commercial. He was talking about the murder again. Stacey looked down at her husband’s hands. The blood was dry and dark.
“Oh my God, Jack. Oh God.”
She pulled away from him, “What are you saying? Jesus. Tell me you didn’t…”
“I couldn’t stop it. I tried but it wouldn’t stop.”
Stacey’s breath was short and fast. Her face turned pale.
“The thing that took over my body…It...it killed someone.”
She knew it had not been a dream. He hadn’t imagined it. He wasn’t lying. The magical necklace had shown her its power in the hospital. It was real.
The news on the radio had moved on to weather.
The storm was upon them now. It would last for two days. But long after it was gone it would stay with them. It would be the bitter storm that lived in their minds forever.
5:10
Stacey was staring at her husband. She was dripping wet and cold. Her eyes never left him as she pulled a towel off of the shelf.
“How did it happen? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. I wish I knew, but I don’t.”
“Who was it?”
His frustration was building, “I don’t know.”
She put her arms around his neck, “I’m sorry honey.”
The shower was still running. She turned to shut it off.
“What do we do now?”
“I don’t know what to do, but I do know that I can’t be here. It’s coming back. I’m sure of it.”
“Do you think you can hide from it?”
“I doubt it, but I won’t put you or Chris in danger. When it comes again I’ll be far away from here, or…” Jack had an idea.
He remembered watching an old movie. Lon Chaney played the wolf man; the scene where they locked him up before the full moon. He couldn’t recall if they put him in a cage or chained him. It had been years since he’d seen it. But nevertheless, it was something that might work.
He’d have to act quickly. He imagined that the evil spirit was probably about to reach the other side of the core by now.
Stacey wanted to know what he was thinking, “Jack?”
“Give me your cell phone. I have to go now.”
“Please. I think we should…”
“There’s no time. I’ll call you. I promise.”
They walked out to the living room. Christopher was playing with is Legos on the floor in front of the television. Jack kneeled down to him.
“Chris?”
“Yeah daddy?”
“I love you. I just wanted you to know that, okay?”
“I love you too daddy.”
He hugged his father tight. Tears rolled down Jack’s face.
“Do what your mother tells you. Be good.”
“Okay dad,” he said with a smile.
He quickly got back to work on the colored blocks. Jack held his hand against the side of his son’s head and thought about how much alike they looked. At that age he’d had the same straight brown hair, the same faint freckles. The same smile, dimples and all.
He had a feeling that might be the last time he’d see him. He hoped to God he was wrong, but the emotion was so strong. The fear was so strong. He forced himself away and stood up. Stacey was waiting with a black phone she’d dug out of her purse.
“Call me the second you get in the car. You got me? The very second.”
“I will babe, I will,” He looked around, “do we have any rope?”
“Rope? Um, I don’t know…wait. In with the camping stuff, I think.”
He opened the closet and started searching. He found it. Fifty feet of yellow nylon rope neatly rolled up. And, on the floor next to the flashlight, duct tape. He grabbed that too. Stacey followed him out to the car. He closed the door and rolled down the window. She leaned in and kissed him.
“I’m afraid, Jack. What if the police think it was you? What if…”
“It was me. My body anyway.”
He paused, taking time to study the shape of her face, the color of her eyes.
He forced a smile, “I’m scared too, but I’ll figure this all out. I promise.”
She stood freezing in her pink robe and her bare feet on the driveway as he backed out. She didn’t go inside until he had made the corner at the end of the block. When he reached the highway, he dialed the number. Stacey picked up in half a ring.
“Jack?”
“Yeah. It’s me.”
“Tell me what happened. All of it.”
He talked all the way to town. She sat in the kitchen, horrified at what she was hearing. By the time he reached Canon City it was snowing. A big gust of wind pushed against the little car. He turned on the windshield wipers to clear the collecting mass. The air’s temperature was dropping fast. Even with the defroster on full blast, the ice was forming at the edges of the front glass. The freeze was moving in slowly toward the center. He knew he should’ve had the heater fixed months ago. But it was not something he thought about when he didn’t need it. He couldn’t go back and change things now. What was done was done.
As he sped toward his destination his fear grew, and his vision got smaller and smaller.
copyright ©2002 Brian Holtz
All rights reserved