“Hi back,” said a tall boy who looked extremely familiar. Maeve guessed that there probably weren’t too many boys running around with two foot tall Mohawks and recognized him as the same kid they had seen at the mall earlier that day.
“Well, isn’t this a coincidence. Like the hair,” she said with an approving smile.
Claire, never one to shy away from meeting new people, asked the question that was uppermost in her mind.“How do you get it to stay up like that?”
The young man laughed and ran his hand along the stiff brush of hair.“Elmer’s glue. It’s kind of a pain to wash out but it works really good. See you guys,” he said and walked away with a casual wave.
“He’s cute.” Claire whispered and nudged Torei in the shoulder as they made their way through the deepening shadows. Maeve could just make out in the near dark that Torei’s face had turned a nice pale shade of pink. They had never paid much attention to boys up until now and Maeve made a mental note to herself to keep a close eye on this new development.
It was getting dark earlier in the evening now as fall slowly turned to winter and Maeve wished her car had a security system so she could turn the lights on and unlock the door from twenty feet away. They appeared to be the only people in this part of the lot and Maeve’s uneasiness grew the further they moved away from the lights of the hotel.
They were almost to the car when she noticed the couple coming toward them from the street. She could make out a large man and what appeared to be a young girl walking toward them out of the gloomy twilight. Maeve began to feel anxious at their approach.
The day had remained cloudy and now it was starting to rain. The quarter moon was hidden behind the clouds and offered no light to define their features. As the two approached, Torei reached for Maeve’s hand and pointed.
“Look, Mom, it’s the girl from the pool.”
Before Maeve could stop her, Claire walked just slightly ahead and offered the girl a big smile.
“Hi,” she said.“I saw you down at the pool earlier. My sister thinks you look just like me, or I look just like you, anyway.”
The girl didn’t smile in return or offer any introduction. She just looked at Claire with a wan expression and said, “I know.”
The man, presumably the girl’s father, had been looking around the parking lot as if he were trying to find something. He looked down at her and she asked,.“Do we have to?”
He simply nodded once, and then raised his arm straight out in front of him parallel to the ground.
Sensing danger, Maeve grabbed the girls and made an attempt to shove them behind her, but it was too late. Something hit her hard in the chest that caused her body to jolt as if she were having some kind of seizure. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement and realized that Torei was being pulled back and away from her. As she turned to yell for the girls to run, her knees buckled and she tried desperately to stop herself from falling. Before she made it halfway to the ground the man stepped forward to wrap his free arm around her shoulders and lift her unwillingly to the open passenger door of a vehicle parked a few feet away from her own. Maeve tried desperately to scream, barely managing a small wheezing breath of air before the edges of her vision began to close in and she was engulfed in darkness.
*****
Chapter 6
Benjamin Drake was about as tired as he had ever been. This ‘vacation’ was wearing him out and he figured it would do him good if he took a little time to relax and actually enjoy himself. The past few months had been hard on them all. When he’d first found out about Katherine’s affair it had torn him apart, his emotions swinging dramatically from anger to sorrow to guilt, and back to anger again.
He was willing to shoulder part of the responsibility. It must have been hard for her all those years while he was traveling, leaving her alone for weeks at a time to raise their son, Jason.
Ben’s job as a freelance photographer had taken him away to some of the most beautiful places in the world, and it had also taken him to some of the worst. But damnit, his choice of career had provided her with a good home and the financial security that she claimed to need so desperately. And he was damn good at it.
She apparently felt that love and money were no longer enough for her and she made the decision to end the marriage without even talking it over.
They separated and filed for divorce when Katherine moved in with the new boyfriend for a while. That is until she decided that the grass really wasn’t greener on the other side.
Now she was making an effort to reconcile and Ben was taking some time to sort his feelings out once again. Jason was angry with her and terribly hurt, to the point that Ben feared the consequences of their getting back together more than he did their divorce.
He didn’t want to think about any of it right now, so he changed into baggy swim trunks, shoved his feet into a pair of rubber flip flops, and headed down to the pool with a towel draped over his shoulders. He stepped off the elevator and spied his son standing out in front of the hotels main doors talking with a woman and two young girls. As they walked away Jason turned and came back into the lobby.
Ben cringed just like he always did at the sight of his only off-spring wearing that ridiculous Mohawk, and told himself for the hundredth, or maybe the thousandth time, that kids needed to be able to express themselves in their own way.
“Who was that?” Ben asked.
“Just some people I saw at the mall today. I guess they must be staying here too,” said Jason.
“I suppose that’s part of the charm of being in a small town,” Ben said.“Why don’t you go change and meet me down here at the pool?”
“It’s an indoor pool dad, that’s just lame.”
Jason evidently couldn’t appreciate the fact that it was too cold to swim outdoors in Colorado in November.
“Look Jase, we took this vacation so we could spend some real quality time together. And since you’re too young to go to the bar,” he tried to joke, “that pretty much leaves the pool for something to do tonight.”
“I thought maybe I could go hang out with the guys I met at the mall today.” He had his eyes trained on the floor and Ben could see his fingers fidgeting inside the pocket of his leather jacket.
“Oh yeah, what were they planning on doing for fun?”
“Just hanging out at this guy Mark’s house and playing some pool. He’s got a table in his basement and Kurt’s going over there too. They’re out in the parking lot waiting for me.”
“Jase, I don’t know anything about these guys or even where they live. I can’t just let you take off in a car without knowing where you’re at.” And then at the dejected look on his son’s face he said, “I’ll take you over there and talk to Mark’s parents. Then I’ll pick you up around ten if that’s okay with them.”
“Awesome! I’ll go let Mark know so we can follow him over.” And with that he turned and loped out the front doors, jumping off the curb with a whoop.
Ben shook his head, thinking, I’m such a sucker. But when he’d been sixteen he wouldn’t have wanted to hang out with the old man either.
*****
Chapter 7
Maeve came awake slowly, feeling as if maybe she had been out a little too late and had more than a little too much to drink. She knew her eyes were open but the darkness was so complete that for a moment she wondered if she were dreaming. Ever so slowly she began to feel a dull ache in her arms and chest and the pain of something hard pressing into her spine.
She sat up and swung her legs off the bed. Her feet thudded hard on a floor that felt like it was littered with dirt and maybe gravel, and who knew what else. She gasped and opened her mouth but it was like being caught in a dream. The fright closed up her throat so that she couldn’t make a sound. The silence surrounded her. She found her voice and called out to Claire and Torei but there was no answer and her voice fell close around her, sounding dull and muffled. She began to tremble, terrified for her children and desp
erate to know where they were.
She stood up and walked forward, her arms stretched out in front of her. She reached a wall after six shuffling steps and began to feel her way around the room in an attempt to find a door. After turning at four corners and finding no sign of a way out, confusion and then panic crept over her as she remembered the meeting in the parking lot and the man who had attacked her, and then she began to scream.
*****
Joseph could hear her down below, screaming and carrying on. He hadn’t expected her to have such a temper. She was furious! He was surprised at the un-lady like language and he wondered how long she would continue berating him before she got down to business and got herself out.
He recalled the one time he had met her when he was visiting his grandmother. She must have been twelve or thirteen at the time, he was older, getting ready to have his eighteenth birthday.
She had looked at him then with awareness and more than a little fear, as if she could see into his very soul. He knew she could feel his strange detachment from the world and worried that maybe she could read his mind. What she would find there would scare the life out of her and probably get him into a lot of trouble.
The kids in the neighborhood were playing some stupid hiding game they called kick the can and his grandmother had encouraged him to join in. Of course the younger kids had all told him the game would be more fun if he was it, then everyone ran off to hide in the dark, waiting for him to search them out.
They had all been rousted from their hiding places except for Maeve and he had searched everywhere for her, imagining he could smell her and fantasizing about finding her, alone and frightened in the dark.
Curfew was up and the parents were calling everyone in doors before Maeve stepped out of her hiding place to win the game.
It was odd, he thought at the time, that he had searched that spot in the bushes at least three times and yet somehow he had missed her. He thought mockingly that she must have made herself invisible to him, and then he began to believe that there was something very strange and special about the girl as he watched her closely over the next week. He had been young then, and naive to the ways of the universe.
Now he knew. Now he understood the power that had been given to her. And he knew that it had been given to her for him to use.
*****
“You sick son of a bitch! You stinking bastard! Give me my children! Let me out of here!” After several minutes of venting her anger and fear, some rational sense began to return and she realized that she couldn’t have gotten in here, wherever here was, without some sort of a door.
“Think,” Maeve said out loud. “I’ve got to think.” She walked around the room again, counting her steps this time. It seemed to be about eight feet square with no floor, only bare hard packed earth, no door in the walls. A cellar?
If it was in fact a cellar, then there would surely be a trap door in the ceiling, but there should be some sort of stairs leading out.
There was probably a ladder that could be dropped down from above when the cellar was being used. She squatted down and then jumped, swinging her arms over her head to see if she could touch the ceiling. The backs of her hands cracked painfully against hard rough wood, much closer than she had imagined. Damn that hurt! The ceiling must only be about a foot above her reach.
Scuffing her way across the small cell, shaking her hands to alleviate the pain, she bumped her feet into whatever it was she had been lying on. She reached down and touched a thin old fashioned mattress with metal buttons holding the batting together, then ran her hand along underneath to see what was holding it above the floor. It felt like the seating part of an old metal futon frame with the legs removed, which explained the uncomfortable bar that had been jabbing into her back.
Maeve stepped on top of the mattress, balancing on the bars that were spaced about eight inches apart, and reached up to the ceiling. She ran her hands across every inch that she could reach by stepping from bar to bar so she wouldn’t fall through, but the frame was narrow and she wasn’t able to cover much area before she was forced to move again.
She stepped down from the mattress in frustration and lifted one end of the futon frame, pulling it backward until she was stopped by the wall. She then pulled it to the left until the bed was sitting squarely in the corner. If she kept moving the bed along the wall, she reasoned, she would be able to explore each section of the ceiling without getting disoriented and possibly miss the opening she was searching for. Unfortunately, patience wasn’t one of her virtues. She stepped back up and quickly ran her hands over the wood again, swearing under her breath each time she felt the splinters spearing deep into her fingers. When she didn’t find anything, she stepped back off of the bed and measured the width of it by brushing her leg against the mattress and stepping it off toe to heel. She started then at the edge away from the wall and placed one foot in front of the other until she had measured what she guessed was about three and a half feet. Keeping one foot in place she stepped back toward the bed with the other and reached out, pulling the bed toward her until it reached her planted foot.
Making sure the bed was snug against the wall, she jumped back up and started on the ceiling again.
Suddenly, she heard a scuffling above her head and dropped her hands just as the trap door began to open about a foot to her left. A very dim light filtered down to her and she almost sobbed with relief at being able to establish light from dark again.
A small tray was being lowered on a rope with what appeared to be a candle stub glowing in the darkness. Without any thought Maeve jumped, spurred by reflex, and tried to grab the edge of the opening, but a small tennis shoe kicked her hands away and she fell heavily to the floor.
The voice of a young girl called softly “You shouldn’t have done that, you could have knocked your food over and then you wouldn’t have anything to eat.”
“Who are you?” Maeve cried. “Please tell me what’s going on.”
“My father will tell you soon” the girl said in that same small voice.
“Please tell me where my children are.” Maeve pleaded. “Please, I need to know if they’re okay.
“I’m not supposed to say.” Maeve barely heard the whisper, followed by silence for so long that Maeve thought maybe the child had gone, and then she heard the softly spoken words. “They’re okay.
The door dropped back over the opening and she was alone again.
*****
Chapter 8
The house is always the same, she thinks as she drifts through the beautiful old Victorian with its gleaming wood floors and intricately carved mantels. She runs her hand along the banister, feeling the smooth warmth of the wood as she follows the sound of her name being softly spoken from above.
She opens the door at the top of the stairs and is drawn undeniably into the large master suite. The huge mirror is there, pulling her forward toward the left wall of the room. With halting steps she approaches and looks into the mirror to stare back at the pale young girl reflected there. It was her, but at the same time, not her. Ever so slowly she begins to change as she gazes at her reflection in the time worn glass. The edges of the mirror seem to fog over, blurring the image of the ruffled Victorian gown and buttoned up, low heeled boots she is now wearing.
As always, she begins to sense that she is fading into the glass, only to reappear amidst a small gathering of people on the other side. She never knows who they are or why she is among them, she only knows that in this room there is no sense of malice, only deep concern. She searches the faces of those standing, then moves on to the others seated in delicate brocade chairs arranged around an elaborate fireplace, looking finally into the soft gray-green eyes of the woman sitting nearest to her.
The woman seems strangely familiar as she beckons the young girl forward, her hands held before her in a pleading gesture, attempting to communicate with the intensity of her gaze. She is trying to tell her something, something important. If only she coul
d understand.
The woman takes her hand and guides her through the formal dining room where she stops to peer through the huge floor to ceiling windows and gaze out at the lavender and white lilac bushes lining the drive. She turns then and passes through to the back of the house, entering the large country kitchen that overlooks the backyard.
There, the grass is bordered by tall rose hedges and in the center stands a decorative round gazebo. She longs to go out into the sunshine, but instead turns unwillingly to the doorway that beckons her downward into the darkness.
Suddenly she finds herself back on the stairs, not the beautiful wide curving staircase that leads to the second story, but the dark ones descending to the evil place. She hesitates, and then moves haltingly down the long narrow stairs with a sense of dread, not knowing where the feeling comes from but terrified all the same by what awaits her there. As always when she reaches the bottom stair, it moves toward her, silent and unseen, but undoubtedly malevolent in its intent.
The fear overwhelms her, robbing her of breath, and turns her scream into a silent plea.
Maeve woke feeling frightened and just as confused as she had every morning after the recurring dream, immersed in the memory of a time long ago. A time when her imaginative dreams first began to form into something more – something almost prophetic. It was amazing to her that she could recall it all so clearly. She had woken that morning in the same disoriented state she found herself in now, wondering why the same dream kept coming back to terrorize her night after night. The strange images felt real, like memories, but where they had come from she didn’t know.
“No, no, no!” Maeve’s moaning and whining and talking in her sleep had pissed Darla off again. Her sister rolled over and punched her pillow, then pulled it over her head to block out the frustrating noise.
“O.K. kids, it’s time to rise and shine,” Mom called from the kitchen.“We’ve got a lot to do today and everyone needs to get moving.”
It was time to get up and get ready for the day but she just groaned and rolled over.
The problem was, once Maeve was awake, she was all the way awake. Trying to go back to sleep just never did work for her. She reached her arms above her head and arched her back while she curled her toes, feeling the stretch in every part of her body and enjoying the invigorating sensation. Then she crawled out of bed and headed down the hall, hoping she’d beat everyone else to the only bathroom in the house.