Fallen Stones (47 page)

Then the two boys turned slowly together and looked directly at Stephanie. Their dead eyes, now gray with the film of lifelessness seemed to stare a hole in her. The larger of the boys, Matthew on the left raised his hand and pointed in a direction away from their present location and opened his mouth as if to shout. Stephanie felt a vibration building inside of her head and a howl steadily increasing in volume. It seemed to build as if reaching a crescendo and Stephanie feared her eardrums might shatter from the unearthly cry. The banshee shriek was unlike anything she had ever heard uttered from any living creature. Then again, she knew these two entities floating before here were anything but alive. Matthew's gaping maw surrounded by purple-blue colored lips continued to howl until Stephanie thought she might lose her mind.

Then suddenly the noise stopped and Stephanie was no longer standing in the family graveyard but was in another plot of unmarked ground where she could see two other fresh graves with carved headstones. She looked back in the direction where she assumed she had come from. The spa building was now off to her right in the distance and she could no longer see the small graveyard with its low stone wall as it had been engulfed by the morning fog. Fortunately she could likewise neither see nor hear the two dead boys. Then Stephanie's concentration was interrupted by more of Amelia's thoughts.

"I ordered special gravestones for them," Amelia thought. Stephanie was surprised to find that not only had she been transported miraculously to this new location, but so had Amelia and Sarah.  Amelia was rambling and apparently speaking to no one in particular. "I have to admit I was a bit generous with Dwight's inscription by having it say 'Devoted Husband, Loving Father, Tragically Taken In The Prime Of Life'. I know he was anything but a devoted husband; however he was a loving father and was also my brother so I chose to be kind and forgiving on his final message.

"But in the case of that murdering witch, Marie's grave, I wanted to make sure the world would know exactly what type of horrid creature she was. That's why I had her inscription read, ‘May Her Wretched Soul Rot In The Bowels Of Hell For Eternity'

"And believe me, I pray by all that is holy, to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, that Marie's soul does just that. In fact if I could have but one wish it would be that both Marie and Dwight Livingston are forced to share eternity in damnation together, miserable in each other's company until the end of time. I would ask that Dwight be given dominion over her and she would spend her time as his slave. I know that's not the Christian thing to wish but those two lovely little boys are dead because of the sins of both of their parents. They deserve some type of retribution for their suffering."

Looking down at the graves, Stephanie saw something she couldn't at first quite comprehend. Something appeared to be slowly rising up from each of the freshly dug graves. She looked over at Sarah and saw she too was staring down at the earth, mouth agape with a look of terror on her face. As before, Amelia did not seem to see anything.

Before their shocked eyes, images of Dwight and Marie Livingston slowly began to rise up from the mounds of dirt covering the graves. They were dressed exactly as they had been on the night of the murder-suicide, Marie with her blood stained white night gown and Dwight with his rumpled business suit soaked with gore. Marie held her head at an odd angle as if something was not quite right with her neck and the front of Dwight's dress shirt was saturated with blood which seemed to still occasionally trickle from the gaping wound in his neck.

Stephanie was so shocked by what she had just seen and heard she suddenly found herself once again awake in her loft workspace, feeling as if she had just risen from a disturbing dream. Although she could not recall all of the details of what she had just experienced, she remembered the majority of what she learned. Dwight Livingston had fathered a child out of wedlock, a child that would grow up to be Jason's grandmother. Marie had learned of Dwight's indiscretion and had lost her mind, killing her two sons, but for some reason sending her daughter, Stephanie's grandmother away in order that she could survive. Then Dwight had killed Marie and in a fit of anger and then had taken his own life. And it was quite possible the family had actually been buried somewhere on her property.

This was her family's tragic secret and their shame. And she realized this past was not just her family's history but Jason's as well. Both of their families had directly or indirectly played a part in this tragedy. It was a shared disgrace, a shared transgression. And now almost a century later, she and Jason, had come together, both the products of dishonored families; related families. When they met, they had believed themselves to be strangers but that had not exactly been the case. True, they had not known each other and had been strangers in that sense of the word, but they did share a common ancestry. And perhaps at the base level, the primitive animal level, it was possible this shared DNA may have allowed them to feel comfortable with each other from the beginning and might have been what brought them together.
 

And as such, their union now completed the family circle of blood. But for what reason had they come to meet and eventually become married? Had it truly been by chance or had it somehow been orchestrated? Had whatever unnamed force of the universe, which had caused so many coincidences over the past months, also been responsible for bringing them together.

And why had they been brought to this home? This was the very same home where everything apparently had started. She suddenly believed more than ever, there was some force, some unseen element, which was directing her destiny. And she believed she could do nothing to stop it.   

Stephanie had felt from the beginning something was wrong with all of what seemed like apparent good fortune. She always had to work hard for anything she had ever gotten in her life. She should have realized if something seemed too good to be true, it probably was. And now her family members were all here together, forced to live on the very same property where her great-grandparents and family had died so violently.

She had to go and wait for Jason to come home. She had to let him know what she had discovered. She had no idea what they would do next but she knew the bodies of her ancestors were buried somewhere on the property and she needed to find out where. She was sure when Jason learned the whole story, he would think of some way to deal with it. He always had been able to think of some solution in the past; she only hoped he could now.

Stephanie finally began to feel as if she was returning to normal, as if she had awoken from some strange dream or hypnosis. However, she was not actually as normal as she had believed. She took the blank sheet of typing paper in her hands but she nonetheless still saw the hand-written letter from Marie. Likewise, the newspaper article from a recent local newspaper also looked to Stephanie to be the aged story from the Ashton Daily News. Stephanie placed them both back into what to her, appeared to be an old and tattered envelope. Then she tucked the envelope delicately under her arm and walked over to where Sammy sat staring at the blank television screen. Apparently, the DVD had run out some time earlier, but Sammy didn't seem to notice.

Stephanie bent down and picked up her son and began cleaning him up in preparation for heading back to the main house. As she did so, she caught a glimpse of Sammy in the wall mirror and was shocked at just how much he was beginning to look just like Jason, as he grew older. He always had looked like his father, but now as he was beginning to lose his baby looks and take on more of a "big boy" appearance, the resemblance to Jason was becoming more obvious and more pronounced. Although Stephanie could not recall the two boys from her earlier daydream, she thought about the picture of the two Livingston boys she had found earlier and decided to check sometime to see just how closely they might actually resemble her little Sammy. She suspected the similarity would be amazing.

"Oh, Sammy," she said with an odd tone, not quite sounding like herself and as if noticing Sammy's resemblance to Jason for the first time, "You are so much like your father." Then she walked back toward the main part of the house.

Inside the mirror, there was a hideous rumble of merriment as the creatures from the world of the damned, cheered over what they had accomplished; understanding their time of being trapped between worlds would soon end. They would finally find their way out, and in their place, Stephanie and Jason Wright would remain to serve out their sentence.

Chapter 33

 

Jason looked at Stephanie as if he were trying to make sense of the ramblings of a crazy woman. He had just returned home from work and was hanging up his jacket in the foyer closet seeing the kids playing in the family room. He gave them his customary greeting and could see Connie Franks in the kitchen preparing dinner.

He assumed Stephanie was still in her loft working on her infernal project as usual, but was surprised to see her sitting at the dining room table, paging through a thin document, which she held in trembling hands. She fidgeted in her seat, looking as if she was unable to get comfortable, like she was extremely anxious. She briefly looked up from her page and catching his eye, she frantically signaled him with her gesturing hand to come into the dining room. He sat on the chair next to her, which she had pulled out for him and he could see by her disheveled condition and her less than desirable aroma that yet another day had passed without her benefiting from proper hygiene.

"Jason! Jason!" she said in a whispered voice fraught with agitation, much more so than he had ever seen her before. "Jason! You have to see this... it's unbelievable! ... Just wait 'till you see this!" Her eyes were bulging wide with excitement, perhaps appearing worse by her gaunt and haggard looking face. She seemed to have aged five or more years, the sight of her made Jason think of photos he had seen of World War II death camp survivors. This entire situation was getting way out of control and he knew he would have to take some drastic action very soon.

Several months ago, Jason might have become caught up in her excitement. In fact, he had been very supportive and enthusiastic in the beginning, before things got so strange. But after seeing her in her current mental and physical condition, he was far too concerned about her health and well-being to share in her fervor.

"Steph?" he asked with apprehension. "What in the world is going on with you? Didn't you get a shower again today? You look as if you didn't bother to clean up in days. What's wrong, Steph? Please tell me. I want to help you."

"Nothing's wrong, yet in a way everything's wrong. Don't you see, Jason?" Stephanie replied with a frantic dismissive quality to her voice. "I don't need any help. Not from you. Not from anybody. You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine. In fact, I am better than I have been in a long time. But that doesn't matter...all that matters is this...look...look at this."

Stephanie showed Jason the printed copy of the family tree she had developed. Jason had to lean back a bit to escape the rank smell of Stephanie's foul breath. He wondered with great displeasure when she had last brushed her teeth. Trying desperately to maintain his focus, he reluctantly looked at the document she passed to him.

It appeared to be the very same copy, which she had asked him to look at almost every night for the past several weeks. Each time she showed it to him he had done his best to be supportive. Whenever she would add a name or a date or some other insignificant tidbit of information she would show it to him acting as if she had discovered some rare and priceless treasure. He always tried to react with feigned enthusiasm, although he was honestly sick and tired of hearing about it. What had started out as a harmless little past-time project, had somehow evolved into a full-fledged obsession bordering on mania.  

Jason glanced briefly at the document, not actually paying any attention to it, and with unplanned sarcasm born of his months of frustration, he asked sardonically, "Ok, honey. What new incredible historical fact did you discover that has gotten you so excited? Leave me guess...your grandfather was once a physician's assistant...no...no... Your great-grandmother had a long lost cousin named Bertha who knew someone who knew someone who once knew Abe Lincoln. I can hardly wait to hear the news." He hated hearing the cynicism in his own voice but it had been an exhausting week both at work and at home and he was stressed to the point of breaking. The last thing he wanted to do was to sit and listen to the wild ramblings of his fixated wife.

Stephanie's reaction to Jason's sarcasm was not what he had expected. He had assumed she was so caught up in her own world the comment would pass right by her unnoticed. Fortunately, the kids were too engrossed in the blaring television to pay attention to them. But Connie Franks was keeping an eye on the escalating situation with furtive glances from the kitchen. Stephanie noticed the woman paying what she felt was far too much attention to them so she stood abruptly, grabbing Jason by the wrist.

"Jason, come with me!" she said in a commanding tone, which caught him so by surprise there was little he could think to do but to follow her. She led him out into the hallway, past the family room and finally up the stairs and down the hall to the master bedroom. Once inside, Stephanie shut the door and directed Jason to sit on the edge of the bed.

He sat quietly, looking attentively holding the family tree document while Stephanie paced back and forth impatiently. He could see something building up inside of her. She held a manila envelope in her left hand while repeatedly opening and closing her right hand in a fist. A change seemed to have come over Stephanie almost as if she were neither her normal self, nor her maniacal self, but another person entirely.  

Her response came in the form of a concise and coherent tirade directed angrily at Jason through clenched teeth. "Don't you dare speak to me in such a condescending manner, acting as if you are trying to humor a rambling mad woman. I may be a bit involved in this research project, but I am most certainly not insane. In case you haven't noticed, I've been working myself ragged trying to find the final piece of this historical puzzle and I finally found it today. And for your information, Mr. Condescension, the missing link, the thing that has been causing me so much frustration, ended up coming from your side of the family tree...not mine.  So why don't you keep your snide sarcastic comments to yourself and shut up for a minute, listen to what I have to tell you."