Dark Realms (15 page)

“They must have brought their own ladder,”
said Nathan. “I locked up the other one we’d used, earlier.”

Duncan walked over to one of the trees and
smiled proudly. “They missed one. I hid it pretty good. Let’s go
see if it recorded anything interesting.”

Nathan slapped him on the back. “You are the
man!”

Fifteen minutes later, we stared in awe at
the video screen.

“What in the hell?” asked Nathan.

We watched in disbelief, as two of the other
cameras were violently ripped from the house, but there was no sign
of whoever was doing it.

“Ghosts?” I gasped incredulously. “I mean,
there’s nobody there!”

Duncan and Nathan looked at each other, both
obviously stunned as well.

“This is freaking crazy. It doesn’t make
sense,” said Nathan.

We rewound the video and watched it again
with the same results. It seemed as if an invisible force had
destroyed each of the cameras.

“Okay, common sense doesn’t explain this at
all,” said Duncan. “Maybe it is some kind of poltergeist?”

“If it is, I’m definitely not staying here
any longer,” I said. The thought of the cabin being inhabited by
ghosts freaked the crap out of me. I saw the movies Poltergeist and
Amityville Horror. I knew when it was time to leave. Not after the
ghosts tried killing you, but before.

“We have to show the sheriff,” said Nathan.
“Maybe he can make sense of it.”

“Sense? A fucking ghost is messing with our
minds, Nathan,” I snapped. “You keep trying to make scientific
excuses because you don’t want to believe it. Look at the film! You
heard the loud bangs! The cameras didn’t just fall from the house
by themselves! We’ve got to get the hell out of this town!”

He raised his hands. “Okay, calm down.
You’re right. Something is happening that is beyond any explanation
that I can come up with. We’ll show mom tomorrow and still talk to
the sheriff. If it is some kind of ghost, we’ll get the cabin…
exorcised or something.”

“Maybe you should talk to the owners of the
cabin?” interrupted Duncan. “They might already be aware of these
ghosts.”

“What about your house, Duncan?” I asked.
“How do you explain the face in the window or shadows flying into
the trees?”

He smiled wryly. “Maybe the ghost is roaming
the town? I don’t know. None of this shit makes sense to me,
either.”

We watched the video one last time and then
Duncan turned it off. “I’m going home to check on the cameras I’ve
installed there, to see if they’re still in place. I’ll call you if
I find anything else odd.”

“Duncan,” I said. “I’m sorry about the
damaged equipment. I wish we could somehow replace it for you.”

He waved his hand. “Hell, it’s not your
fault. If anything, we may have actual proof that ghosts inhabit
Shore Lake,” he said with a sinister smile. “We could all become
rich and famous.”

Chapter Twelve

I woke up around nine-thirty the next
morning and noticed that mom was still sleeping.

“She must be coming down with something,” I
said to Nathan, who was outside sweeping up pieces of the broken
video equipment.

He shrugged. “Could be the fresh air.”

“Maybe. So, did you hear anything from
Duncan yet?”

“Yeah, he said his cameras were fine and
there didn’t appear to be anything unusual going on in the
videos.”

“That’s good, I guess. I had a hard time
sleeping last night. I felt like something was watching me
again.”

He laughed. “Probably me. I checked up on
you a couple of times and you were snoring away.”

“I do not snore.”

“How in the hell do you know?”

I raised my chin. “I just do.”

He snorted. “Whatever. Anyway, as soon as
mom gets up, we’ll show her the video and see what she thinks.”

Just then, an old red pickup drove up the
path and parked next to Nathan’s Mustang.

“It’s our neighbor. I think mom said her
name’s Abigail,” said Nathan.

“Hello!” said the older woman, getting out
of the truck. “I just wanted to stop by and welcome you. Sorry it
took me so long.”

“No problem,” said Nathan. “We should have
come over and introduced ourselves.”

“No worries,” she replied, carrying a large
pie pan. “I hope you like strawberry rhubarb pie; I made it fresh,
early this morning!”

“We love it, thank you,” said Nathan as she
handed it to him. “Wow, it looks awesome.”

“My name is Abigail, by the way. I live at
the next cabin over.”

“I’m Nathan and that’s Nikki,” said
Nathan.

“Hi,” I said.

“Wonderful to meet you both.”

Abigail looked like she was in her seventies
or eighties, had reddish-brown hair and watery green eyes.

“I’ll be right back,” said Nathan. “I’ll put
the pie in the kitchen. Did you want a piece, Abigail?”

She shook her head and smiled. “No, but
thank you. I made it for you folks.”

“Okay, if you change your mind, let me
know,” he called, going into the house.

“Um, our mother’s not feeling well,” I
explained. “Otherwise she’d be out here greeting you, too. I’m sure
she’ll be sad that she missed you.”

She smiled. “That’s all right.”

“I suppose you saw the police here a couple
of times,” I said.

Her smile fell. “Yes I did notice that.”

“We found a body the first night we arrived,
and last night, someone smashed our video equipment. We’ve been
trying to catch the culprit. It’s been pretty crazy.”

“A body?” she said, her eyes widening. “Was
it that young girl they mentioned on the news? Tina Johnson?”

I nodded. “Yes. They think she drowned and
washed up here.”

“They don’t think it’s… foul play?”

“Well,” I said. “Personally, I think it is,
but nobody else seems to believe it.”

She leaned forward. “And why do you think
it’s foul play?”

I sighed. “Because we’ve had someone trying
to scare us every night since we arrived. Then, the waitress who
supposedly killed herself in the woods the other night, Amy? She
gave me a warning the same day she died.”

“What do you mean?”

“She slipped me a note at Ruth’s, warning me
not to go out at night and not to let any strangers into our
home.”

Abigail stared at me for a few seconds and
then let out a long sigh. “Nikki, she gave you some good advice. If
I were you, I’d stay in and not invite anyone into your cabin.
Especially, those you don’t know.”

My heart began to pound. “So, you think it’s
dangerous out here at night?”

Her eyes grew misty. “I know it is. My
husband was killed by something evil,” she said, looking up at
towards trees. “There are things in Shore Lake that you don’t know
about; things you couldn’t even imagine. In fact, I wanted to come
over and warn you myself, before I left town.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, the hair
standing up on the back of my neck.

Just then, Nathan walked out. “Okay, I
couldn’t resist, Abigail; I had a little piece. And let me tell
you, it was the best strawberry rhubarb pie I’d ever tasted.”

She nodded. “Good.”

Noticing her sudden melancholy, he asked,
“Are you okay?”

“Um, Nathan, Abigail was just telling me
it’s dangerous here at night and that her husband was
murdered.”

Nathan’s stared at her in horror. “Your
husband was murdered? Do you know who did it?”

“Vampires,” she stated without
hesitation.

“Excuse me?” choked Nathan.

Her face darkened. “Shore Lake is infested
with vampires.”

He burst out laughing and clapped his hands.
“Okay, very funny, Abigail. Vampires, that’s a good one!”

The look in her eyes was so serious, it made
me start to doubt what was real and what wasn’t.

“Don’t mock me,” she said. “I’m not joking,
young man.”

The porch door opened up and mom stepped
out. She was wearing dark sunglasses and still looked unusually
pale.

“Hey, mom,” said Nathan. “This is
Abigail.”

Mom nodded. “Yes, I remember seeing you
fishing the other day. Nice to meet you, Abigail. I’m Anne.”

“Nice to meet you, too. Say, if you don’t
mind my asking, what’s wrong with your neck?”

The swelling on mom’s neck appeared to be
getting worse. She touched it and winced. “I don’t know. I think I
was bitten by a couple of mosquitos, or maybe even a spider.”

Abigail cleared her throat. “I used to be a
nurse, can I take a look?”

“Sure,” replied mom.

Abigail walked up onto the porch and
examined the bites. After a few seconds she stepped back. “When did
you get those?”

Mom shrugged. “I don’t know, the other night
when the sheriff was over for dinner. I didn’t notice it until the
next morning.”

“Sheriff Caleb?” asked Abigail.

“Yes, the sheriff,” I said. “I guess you
could say they’re dating.”

Abigail backed away from mom and then
hurried down the porch. “I have to go. It was nice meeting you
folks.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked. First her talk
about vampires, and now she appeared to be spooked by the bites on
mom’s neck. Then it hit me. “You’re not thinking that the bites on
mom’s neck are… vampire bites, are you?” I asked with a wry smile.
Even I had a hard time believing her ridiculous talk. Believing in
ghosts was bad enough.

She opened her truck door and turned back to
look at us. “Damn right I do.”

Chapter Thirteen

“What?” chuckled mom, staring at her in
disbelief.

She pointed towards her neck. “You’ve got
the mark and if you don’t get out of town while you still can,
you’ll be a threat to your children and everyone else in town.”

All of us watched her in stunned silence as
she slammed the door and drove away, kicking up dust in her
wake.

“Now
that
was really weird,” I
said.

“What a fruitcake,” said mom as she turned
around and headed back into the house. “Certifiable nutcase.”

I followed her in and we went into the
kitchen.

“So, um… are you feeling, okay?” I
asked.

She removed her sunglasses and smiled. “I
feel like turning into a vampire and sucking your blood!” she
joked.

I snorted. “Yeah, that was one weird old
lady. Maybe she’s the one trying to scare us.”

She sighed. “You know, I never thought of
that. I should mention it to Caleb when he comes over tonight.”

“Are you guys going on a real date this
time, or are you cooking, again?”

“Actually, he’s planning on bringing me to
his place. His daughter is making dinner for both of us, I
guess.”

“Mom,” said Nathan, coming into the kitchen.
“Did Nikki tell you yet?”

“Tell me what?”

Nathan told her about the video and she
followed us into the den to watch it.

“Something must be wrong with the camera,”
said mom. “There’s no way that video equipment fell to the ground
on its own.”

“Or… we have a poltergeist,” I said.

She looked at me and groaned. “You’ve got to
be kidding! First all this talk about vampires, and now, you, with
the ghosts?”

“Then how do you explain what happened on
the film?” said Nathan. “Even I’m having a little trouble with
it.”

She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of
her nose. “Seriously, I don’t know. Maybe Duncan didn’t fasten them
down tight enough and they fell. Or maybe an animal pulled them
down.”

“I think we should show them to the sheriff
and see what he thinks,” said Nathan.

“Okay, he’ll be here after nine o’clock to
pick me up. I’ll show him.”

“You hungry, mom?” asked Nathan. “I can make
you something.”

“Could you? I’m starving,” she said. “I’ll
go take a shower and you can make me whatever you want.”

“Okay, how about a hamburger?” he asked.

She yawned. “Oh, now that sounds good.”

“How do you want it prepared?”

Mom turned to him and smiled wickedly.
“Bloody rare. I’m turning into a vampire, you know.”

~~~

I spent most of the day watching television
and thinking about Duncan. He was coming over tonight when I was
finished at the diner, and all three of us were going to try and
videotape some more ghost activity. Nathan now believed it was
really a poltergeist and was even talking about hiring an expert to
help us.

Nathan dropped me off at the diner just
before four o’clock. It was busy and the waitress who was supposed
to train me, Susan, appeared stressed out.

“Just follow me around for now and when it
slows up, I’ll go over the menus and tickets,” she said, stepping
around me with a tray full of food.

“Okay.”

I followed her to a busy table while other
customers tried getting her attention. She handed out the food and
then I followed her back to the counter, where she handed me a
coffeepot.

“Better idea, why don’t you just go around
and see if any of my tables need coffee or soda refills?” she said,
pointing to her section.

Unfortunately, it never did slow down and I
spent most of my time following her around or refilling beverages.
At the end of the night, my feet were sore, but Susan had shared
some of her tips, so I was happy.

“Sorry the training sucked today,” she said,
removing her apron. “We’ve been so busy ever since Amy…” she looked
away.

I nodded. “I understand.”

She turned back to me and her eyes were
moist. “She was a good friend. It’s going to be hard to replace
her.”

“I doubt I could ever replace her,” I said.
“In fact, she was the one who gave me the application in the first
place.”

“Listen, if you can stay a little later
tomorrow night, I’ll go over everything else with you that we
missed during our shift. Friday evenings are always busy, so plan
on being here, late.”