Black Water Tales: The Secret Keepers (27 page)

“Who is it?” she yelled, blowing out all of the air in her chest so that her voice would sound strong.

Silence
.

“Natalie!” the voice yelled. “Open the door. Please hurry!”

Regina’s breathing slowed.

Natalie? What the hell was she doing here?

Though Regina had kept company with Natalie only once in the past six years she knew that she hardly sounded like herself. Her voice was different; higher.

“Natalie,” she confirmed as she released a relieved exhale. Regina unchained the door and turned the lock. Yanking open the door, she was dumbfounded by the shadowy figure that floated on the porch a few feet from the door. It stood limp and dangling, its head hanging low.

“Natalie,” Regina spoke as her fingers felt along the wall until they found what they needed. Regina’s fingers flipped the porch light switch and she gasped. Natalie was battered and disheveled,
some of her hair hung out of her ponytail, her lip was bleeding, and she had a colorful bruise on the side of her forehead.

Natalie began to walk toward Regina. Regina raised her hand to cover her mouth. Natalie reeled back at the sight of Regina’s fierce weapon. Regina realized that she was still holding the knife that hung clumsily in her hand.

“What is that?” Natalie asked.

“I’m sorry, but you didn’t answer when I asked who it was.”

“I didn’t hear you. I didn’t hear anything.”

“Sorry” Regina apologized for greeting Natalie with a knife.

Natalie moved quickly, snatching the blade and brushing by Regina into the house, she slammed and locked the door behind her.

“It was Lola!” Natalie stated. “Lola tried to kill me.”

“What? When?” Regina blurted.

“Not long ago, about an hour. I was outside in my garage storing some things and I had the garage door open. She just walked right in! We fought and I managed to get away and get into the house and she ran. She never said a word. I waited to make sure that she was gone; then I came here.”

“How do you know it was Lola? Did you see her? Did you see Lola?” Regina asked like a detective arriving at the clincher of an interrogation.

“I didn’t actually see her. She was wearing this sort of cape thing, but I know it was her.”

A cape? The monk
.

All of the evening’s events came flooding back to Regina; the monk had attacked Natalie too. Regina’s eyes lit up as her brain fired off rapid thoughts that began to connect, she noticed the large bruise on Natalie’s forehead getting darker by the moment.

“What is going on?” Natalie said now pointing with the knife. Natalie’s fear was disintegrating rapidly into anger.

Regina could feel a nerve in her thigh begin to twitch as she realized that Natalie’s bruise was in the same place that she had hit the monk with the crucifix earlier in Clark’s that night. Natalie’s eyes burned into Regina.

“What?” Natalie gasped. Regina was trembling. She was locked in a house with someone who may be the person that wanted to hurt her. Regina backed away from the frantic girl.

“Don’t you believe me?” Natalie pleaded, the blade of the knife moving wildly in accordance with her animated words. Regina jumped as the point of the knife was now inches from her chest.

“I believe you, Natalie, I do.”

Natalie’s eyes glazed over in a brief moment of rage and then turned to a haughty smile as if she knew something that Regina did not.

“You don’t believe me, do you? You think it was me, don’t you? You think I cut her up, buried her.” She used the point of the knife to conduct her story only inches from Regina’s face. Natalie moved closer, the point of the knife so close now that its gleaming tip was almost a blur. “You blame me for everything, don’t you?” Natalie asked.

Both girls screamed at the sound of incessant rings through the house.

The doorbells rang again almost immediately after the first round. Regina felt relief flood her quaking body. Natalie looked back toward the door nervously still not moving the knife.

“I gotta get the door, Natalie.” she insisted.

“REGINA!” She heard Nikki’s strained voice through the door.

Both girls recognized the voice. The tension drained from Natalie’s stiff posture and she moved aside to give her friend a path to the door. Natalie went into the kitchen to put the knife away. Regina scrambled to the door and flung it open to reveal a battered Nikki, she had a thick red bruise around her neck and her eyes were bloodshot. Regina could see Barron jogging up the walkway behind her.

“He attacked me!” She blurted out throwing herself upon Regina. Confused, Regina embraced her friend. She looked over the shaking girl’s shoulder at Barron who shrugged.

“It wasn’t me. I just saw Natalie come in, and when I saw Nikki I figured I should find out what the hell’s going on.” Barron told her.

Nikki turned and was shocked to see Barron.

“Natalie’s here too?” Nikki said unlocking herself from her friend. Natalie appeared in the foyer once again and Nikki then threw herself upon Natalie who had no time to react and barely knew how to respond considering she made it a point to avoid public displays of affection.

“What’s wrong?” Natalie asked.

“Someone attacked me,” Nikki told her. Natalie’s eyes immediately went to Regina’s in an expression of anxiety.

“Everyone come in, go into the living room. Barron, lock the door. I’ll be right there.” Regina said as she slipped into the kitchen. She opened one of the cabinets and took down a small bottle. She winced and rubbed one of her temples before opening the bottle and popping two pills with nothing to drink.

In the living room, the three were locked in uncontrollable chatter. Barron and Natalie sat on the couch and Nikki was propped on the piano bench.

“When were you attacked, Nikki?” Regina asked trying to avert the stare that was now upon her from Natalie.

“Just now! At the festival, I came straight here. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Are you happy now, Regina? I know what you were thinking. I was not lying.” Natalie boasted. Regina shot her a quick look, but said nothing because Natalie was right about what Regina had been thinking.

“What are you talking about?” Barron asked. “Nothing.” Regina answered.

“All right, so we were all attacked.”

“You were attacked too?” Nikki asked.

“Yes” Regina said with a sigh.

“And you thought I did it?” Natalie accused; she looked hurt.

“No, not at first, but then I saw the bruise on your head and I thought…maybe …” Regina explained.

Natalie shook her head. “Un-fucking-believable.”

What happened to you, Nikki?” Regina asked with a sigh.

Nikki used her shaking hands to pull her wild hair back into a tight ponytail before speaking.

“I went to the festival looking for you. There were so many people there and I didn’t see you so, after a while, I crossed over to the park to have a drink. I was just sitting on the swing when I heard someone behind me, but before I could turn around, they had something around my neck.” Her voice began to shake as she lifted her hand to massage the red bruise that marked her throat. Her story was choking on the sorrowful cries that were now flowing from her.

“They dragged me off of the swing and pulled me behind this tree. I was kicking and I was, I was trying to scream, but I couldn’t get anything out. There was no air. I couldn’t breathe and everything was starting to go black, I was gasping and then he just let me go. The rope slid from around my neck and he ran away. I just laid there for a while because I couldn’t move. I was so scared; I thought I was going to die. When my head started to clear and I started breathing normally again, I don’t why but I came straight here. It was someone in like a priest costume or something,” she reported while using her hand to illustrate the flow of the gown. Tears streamed down her face.

Regina, Natalie, and Barron sat speechless.

“And you think it was Lola?” Regina finally asked.

“Lola?” Nikki asked looking startled. “What do you mean it was Lola? I never said it was Lola.”

“Lola?” Barron questioned, a mystified glaze transforming the features of his face. “So you
do
think that it was Lola that attacked you?”

“Lola attacked you?” Nikki shrieked her mouth gaping in horror.

“She attacked me,” Natalie inserted.

“Lola attacked you?” Nikki asked Natalie, becoming more hysterical with every word spoken.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Barron put his hands up to halt the girls, as he could see that this meeting was rapidly dissolving into a summit of frenzy.

“Regina, you said that
someone
attacked you, not Lola,” Barron said.

Regina looked to Natalie and hated to tell the truth, but had no choice. If she couldn’t trust the people who sat in this room right now, there was no one to trust.

“It looked like her.” An ashamed Regina admitted.

“You said you didn’t see their face.” Barron insisted.

“I didn’t!” Regina spit, aggravated by the mentions of her own potential delusions.

“I didn’t see her face, but it looked like her,” she confirmed.

“The eyes.” Natalie said. “I didn’t get a good look at her either, but it was her eyes.”

“Are you saying that it was Lola that attacked me?” Nikki spoke almost in a daze as she grabbed at her skin that was now crawling with thousands of worms slithering just beneath the surface. She got up and went to the window, drew back the drape a couple of inches and stared into the dark night, the omnipresent silver eye just behind black tree branches floated between two bodies of midnight blue clouds and stared directly back down at Nikki.

“Lola is dead!” Barron stated firmly.

“How do we know that?” Natalie asked. Six eyes simultaneously stabbed her with bewilderment. “They think those bones were Lola’s, but have they confirmed it?”

Nikki turned from the window sheer dread raging in her eyes, like a wild animal trapped in a net.

“I don’t think that they have,” Nikki realized.

“Of course they have.” Regina interjected hopefully.

“Is there an official confirmation yet? Natalie asked.

Barron could see the gears in all of the flighty girls’ heads spinning like a hamster wheel and rolled his eyes with a sigh.

“Is everyone here on their period or just crazy for no reason at all?” His voice boomed.

“The corpse is the same age as Lola was, they found her clothes. I don’t care if there is an official confirmation or not. That bag of bones out there is Lola. Lola is dead!” He persisted.

“Well, if she’s dead who in the hell is trying to hurt us?” Regina asked.

“It’s her.” Natalie was not swayed by Barron’s sound reasoning.

“It isn’t!” Barron declared forcefully. “It’s impossible.”

“Well how do we find out?” Regina asked.

“Oh my God” Barron sighed.

Silence fell on the room.

“A séance.” Nikki’s voice broke the fragile quiet in the room.

“What?” Barron spit.

“A séance?” Natalie spoke appearing slightly interested.

“No. If Lola is dead …” Regina saw the look that Barron was giving her and amended her sentence. “… And I am not saying that she isn’t, but if she is…I sure as hell don’t want to bring her here.” Regina finished.

“She makes a very good point,” Natalie agreed.

“Are you guys serious! We are not kids anymore. What sane adults have séances trying to conjure the spirits of old high school friends?” Barron chuckled, giving up almost all attempts at reasoning at this point.

All of the girls looked to one another. “We do.” Natalie answered. “Besides, if we have a séance and her spirit comes she can’t hurt us as long as we don’t break the circle.” Nikki informed them.

“Uh, another good reason why she can’t hurt us…. SHE’S DEAD!” Barron reminded them.

“Barron, please.” Regina reached out and touched him; the tension immediately emptied from his face and within seconds was washed completely away.

“Well if she’s so dead
little Bear
what are you so afraid of?” Natalie teased him in her best baby voice with a nickname that she had given him in high school, a sweet and fuzzy play on his actual name, which Barron hated.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Barron said as he lowered himself to the floor from the couch; he crossed his legs Indian style and held out his hands. All of the girls just stared. “So how do you do this thing?” he asked. Regina and Natalie followed Barron’s lead and waited for Nikki’s guidance.

Thank you
. Regina mouthed the words to him.

“I have only done this one time before, but I saw my mother do it all the time,” Nikki said as she lowered herself to the floor with everyone else.

“I feel like I’m at a Boy Scout camp-out.” Barron grumped.

“Please save it ‘cause that doesn’t really make me want to hold your hand, if you know what I mean,” Natalie fussed.

“What?” Regina said in complete confusion.

“Well, we all know the number one activity of boys that age, Regina,” Natalie told her.

“Regina, get your friend,” Barron instructed.

“Gross,” Nikki added.

“Can you both just stop, please?” Regina interjected feeling as if she was in high school again having to break up the sometimes not so playful banter between her best friend and boyfriend.

“We all just hold hands.” Nikki spoke loudly and Regina was grateful for her interruption. “Everyone must meditate on the subject and I will call upon her, but in order for this to work everyone has to believe.”

“Believe what?” Regina asked.

“That she will come,” Nikki told her. Attentions immediately focused upon Barron.

“I’ll do my best,” he said in response to their dull stares.

The group formed a chain with their hands all folded into one another.

“Close your eyes,” Nikki told them. “Wait!” she said. Everyone’s eyes popped open once again. “I forgot; the most important thing to remember is not to break the circle. The barrier that we have created by connecting our souls through our physical bodies is the only protection that we have, the physical against the spiritual. It’s what keeps them out.”