Cades Cove 01 - Cades Cove: A Novel of Terror (16 page)

“
Well, are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”

Just as surprised to find himself out here as she, David tried to remember what took place after he came back to the house last night. The images fleeting and difficult to focus on, he did recall being chased through the house by a dark phantom brandishing a long, sharp scepter of gold with a white tip dripping blood. The cloaked apparition’s size and shape constantly changed, like a misshapen shadow growing taller or shorter depending on a light source’s proximity. The shadow absorbed everything it touched while pursuing him.

He stepped out of the car, where at first his cramped legs objected. Disheveled, his dress shirt had been ripped near the neck with the top two buttons missing.

What in the hell did happen??

For a moment he studied his roughed-up reflection in the windshield before limping to the front of the car where Miriam waited. It appeared he had a bruise above his right eye, but he couldn’t be sure due to the distorted view in the windshield’s curve.

“
I came back here after I couldn’t get in touch with Norm,” he told her. “I didn’t know if I’d stay here or not, but obviously I did. I remember the front door opened on its own…it was almost midnight. The next thing I know, you’re pounding on the car window to wake me.”

“
Someone smacked you pretty hard,” she said, studying his face. She took his arm to help him navigate the steps. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“
Yeah...I’ll live.” He forced a wry smile.

“
Let’s get you cleaned up. Then I’ll tell you about the project you have this morning.”

“
What about the kids?”

“
Jan is taking Jill and Chris to school, and then she’s staying home with Ty today,” she said. “She finished her latest editing assignment last night, a few days ahead of schedule. Her next one doesn’t begin until after she meets with her boss next week.”

David nodded. Miriam unlocked the front door and they stepped inside. The recliner lay on its side and the coffee table had been kicked over. Loose papers and magazines were scattered across the living room floor.

“
It looks like a small war zone in here,” she whispered, sounding more worried than before.

The kitchen table was shoved up against the bay window that faced the backyard. One chair broken, two others leaned up against the dishwasher and oven. Several copper pans from the rack above the kitchen island were missing.

The dining room’s table, chairs, and hutch had been spared. Only one of the chairs pushed aside, the crystal bowl hung precariously over one end of the table. A slight breeze would send it crashing to the floor. She pushed it back to the table’s center.

“
You don’t recall any of this?” she asked when they reached the staircase.

Two of the portraits from the stairway’s wall had fallen. She gasped and ran up the stairs to retrieve the prized oil paintings of their youngest children from three summers ago. Fortunately, only the protective glass panes were broken.

David now recalled running down the stairs, knocking the portraits down.

“
I remember being chased, but only caught a glimpse of who or what pursued me,” he said after he joined her on the staircase.

The images sparse and incoherent, he hoped to get a clearer picture in his mind. But no clarity came to him, only an apprehensive feeling. He looked nervously toward the landing, and she followed his gaze.

“
Come with me, hon’.”

She took his hand in hers. He returned her forgiving smile with a weak grimace and squeezed her hand tight. Together, they moved up to the second floor.

Rather than search for additional damage, she guided him to their bedroom. Nothing in this room had been disturbed since last night. The strange circle remained on the floor next to the dresser, and the leaves’ pungent odor filled the air. The little bag sat on top of the dresser where Miriam carelessly threw it, its leather strap dangling over the dresser’s front edge.

Until now he hadn’t noticed the padded white envelope she carried under her arm. She set it next to the bag on the dresser.

“
Go ahead and get ready for work so we can talk about your project.”

She took a pair of plastic sandwich bags from her coat pocket and moved over to the circle, bending down to carefully lift some of the leaves and twigs from the shrine and put them inside the bags. Then she stood up, grimacing while she rubbed her fingers together and sniffed the leaves’ residue.

“
God, this shit stinks!”

David gingerly gathered his wardrobe and moved into the master bathroom. Once naked, he stepped over to the sink to brush his teeth. The bruise above his eye drew his immediate attention. The skin around it tender to the touch, there would be no way to hide it. He noticed four other bruises above his right shoulder.

Each bruise roughly four inches long and an inch wide, they formed a slight arc beneath the right side of his neck. He leaned in toward the mirror to get a better look. The arc resembled the fingertips of an unusually large hand grabbing him from behind. He couldn’t picture the ghost of some girl doing it.

“
David, we haven’t got all day!” Miriam called from the bedroom. “There’s a lot that needs to be done before either of us go on to work, so get a move on it!”

“
I’m about to step in the shower!”David shouted back to her.

He stepped under the jets before the water warmed up. Gasping from the initial cold spray, he regretted not having time for the eventual heat to soothe his wounded flesh. He hurriedly dressed and rejoined her in the bedroom, his hair still damp.

“
So, what’s this project about?” he asked, approaching the bed where she sat waiting for him.

Holding the envelope, she opened it and pulled out a typed letter from inside.

“
This is our apology to the tourist department of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” she explained, holding the letter out to him.

He quickly scanned its contents, noting it omitted the paranormal experiences they endured. Instead, it positioned the bag as something that inexplicably ended up with their belongings. He handed the letter back to her and she slid it back inside the envelope along with the bag and the kids’ arrowhead and pyrite souvenirs. She then sealed the mailer and stood up from the bed.

“
Why are we sending the other stuff back with the bag?” he asked.

“
It’s actually Jan’s idea, but I think it makes sense. We don’t know for sure what’s causing the problems around here, so sending everything we picked up from the park back to Tennessee will hopefully do the trick,” she explained.

David’s brow furrowed and he started to say something else, but she stopped him, pressing her index fingers against his lips.

“
You’ve got a few minutes to grab a bite downstairs, and then it’s off to the post office for you, Mister.”

Her smile demur, she brushed her hand down his bearded chin and then his neck, allowing it to rest upon his chest. He reached up and gathered her hand in his, kissing it sweetly. He squeezed her hand again and led her out of the bedroom. David glanced behind him a couple of times on the way downstairs, but didn’t notice anything unusual. Like Monday night when he threw the bag in the trash, there were no feelings of being watched or followed. He silently prayed that sending “Allie Mae’s Treasures” back to its rightful home in Tennessee would bring peace to their lives.

“
How did you find out where to send it?” he asked, noticing the Gatlinburg address on the mailer.

“
Jan helped me locate it on the web last night.” She paused to straighten the portraits nearest the bottom of the staircase. “Once you mail it, we can hope and pray Allie finally finds peace. In the meantime, Jan is going to find out what plant or tree these leaves come from, and what they might represent. I told her about the circle upstairs. She immediately called that friend of hers who’s supposed to be good at dealing with this sort of thing. Jan says she’s willing to help.”

More open-minded than before, David assured her he’d do whatever she asked, regardless of where the advice came from.

“
Well, she told Jan whatever it is that followed us home from Tennessee might not be your everyday kind of ghost,” said Miriam. “There could be something else involved as well.”

They had just moved through the dining room on the way to the kitchen, and his stomach growled noticeably.

“
Why don’t you eat something, and I’ll tell you more about what Jan learned later on...maybe tonight.”

“
All right,” he agreed, grabbing a bowl from a cupboard and a box of cereal from the pantry. “I’ll mail the package on the way to the office this morning.”

“
I want you to send it by Priority Mail with a delivery confirmation to ensure it actually gets there, David,” she advised, pouring him a glass of orange juice from the refrigerator and bringing a jug of milk over to the kitchen table.

He picked up two of the chairs for them to sit on.

“
I’ll make sure I do that,” he said, sitting down while motioning for her to join him.

“
If we had more time, I’d make you a cup of coffee. I know how much you hate anything instant,” she said, moving her chair to where she could face him. She watched him while he ate quickly. “I hope to God this works. If you
ever
pull a stunt like that again….”

She didn’t need to finish for him to know there would be no more clemency. Divorce had never been mentioned between them—not even during the most trying times of their marriage a few years back. But it would be a foregone certainty should the malevolent spirit visit further harm on his family because of him.

“
I swear upon my very soul I’ll
never
be dishonest to you again, Miriam,” he told her, pausing to reach over to where she sat and offer his hand. She clasped it within her own and this time she squeezed tightly. “The package will be on its way back to Gatlinburg this morning.”

He finished eating his breakfast just before seven o’clock. His briefcase and laptop already in the car, he put on his coat and took the sealed mailer from her. After resetting the alarm system they exited the house.

“
Please call me when you’re done,” she asked after he walked her over to the minivan, where they kissed and embraced. “Okay?”

Her eyes misty, it seemed to him she had something else say, but wouldn’t…at least not right now.

“
I’m on my way to the post office,” he assured her. “I’ll pick up some hot coffee from ‘Micky-D’s’ and be the first one in line.”

“
Be careful not to spill anything on the envelope,” she said worriedly.

“
So I guess it’s okay if I spill it on my lap, huh? Thanks!” He laughed, hoping this would cheer her up. “I guess we could sue them for a million bucks if that happened!”

“
Just protect the mailer.” Her grin a weak one, she climbed up into the minivan. She started the engine, letting it idle. “As long as it reaches the park service in Gatlinburg, I’ll be happy.”

“
Me, too,” he told her, leaning in the doorway to kiss her one last time. “I’ll call you once the deed is done. That reminds me, I better call Ned and let him know I might be a little late this morning.”

“
Okay. I better get going so you can get all of this taken care of. I love you.”

“
I love you, too, babe.”

He stepped away from the Chrysler, watching her pull the vehicle out of the driveway and back onto their street. He then got in the BMW, letting it warm up while he placed a call on his mobile phone to Ned, who reminded him about a staff meeting he needed to attend at nine o’clock sharp. David prayed he didn’t encounter unforeseen traffic on his way to the local post office in Littleton.

***

“
So, how did it go this morning?”

Janice was on the other end of the line.

“
All in all, it went fine,” Miriam told her. She had just reached the parking lot of Littleton Children’s Clinic. “Hang on a sec while I park the van.”

She pulled around the building to the employee section, pleased to find that her partner Dr. James Phillips hadn’t double-parked his prized Viper in her space, which he had done twice during the past week.

“
Okay, I can talk now.”

“
I know you’ve only got a moment, Mir. Is David all right?”

“
Yeah, he’s fine,” said Miriam. “But something attacked him last night. I found him sleeping in his car, and he was completely disoriented when I woke him. You should have seen him, Jan. He’s got one hell of a bruise above his right eye, and his shirt was torn.”

“
Really?
I truly think what Sara told me on the phone last night fits the stuff that’s going on in your home. Was it still freezing inside?”

“
No, it wasn’t,” said Miriam, her tone solemn. The excitement in Jan’s voice bothered her a little. “The house felt a lot like it used to before all of this started happening. But the place is a wreck right now, with knocked-over furniture everywhere. One of the kitchen chairs is broken. I don’t know if the ghost or David did it. He said something chased him last night….” She started to cry.

“
Mir, I know this is hard for you,” said Janice. Her tone compassionate, tempering her enthusiasm from a moment ago. “Did you remember to pick up the leaves and twigs you told me about last night?”