Hazy View: Souls of the Vanished (29 page)

Andrew had to hurry. The screaming’s
closer, just through a few more bushes and up a small hill. A sharp
shard of light moved quickly from side to side. It lit up the area
rapidly and blindly before dropping it into total darkness, Andrew
tripped blinded by the sudden sharp light.

He fell hard.

His breath almost knocked out of
him.

He recovered quickly and ran up the
hill like a dog. He kicked with his feet and pulled himself upward
with his arms. Brat huffed and puffed close behind him. Clearly
this was more exercise than he‘s used to.

Andrew reached the top of the
hill.

An ear deafening scream burst into the
air.

Mist covered the top of the hill like
a blanket as thick as a cloud.

Andrew screamed, calling out to
Janet.

Janet turned, screamed at him and
turned back to Martin.

Andrew exploded forward Mel and Martin
just ahead of him. He could see Martin sitting on the ground
frightened like a little rat, but where was Mel?

Brat disappeared behind him, either he
was hiding from Janet or he’s drained and couldn’t keep up anymore.
Brat’s too young and the chance that he’d ever experienced anything
that’s the slightest weird was slim. He was out of his element and
didn’t know what to expect. It was better if he stayed out of the
fight then he won’t end up in hospital or worse a body bag. That’s
just about the only thing Janet could do well.

Janet slashed at Andrew but
missed.

Andrew threw himself between Martin
and Janet.

Janet slashed at him again. This time
she drew blood.

Andrew’s forced to the ground just by
the blow she issued, screaming in pain.

Janet moved over him. She darted
forward towards Martin. She was on top of him slashing and ripping
at him. She issued a loud humming almost singing kind of noise. She
threw her head backwards and her laughter ripped through the
air.

Andrew pulled himself into a sitting
position and called to Janet again.

She turned to him. Her face malformed
but she was calming. Her eyes started to focus on him. She moved
off Martin.

She stood in front of Andrew. She was
silent, calm and her ghostly appearance restored.

“
Look at him you have your
revenge. He’s beaten and dying. A score’s settled. You got him back
for what he did to you and Christopher.” Andrew said pointing to
Martin’s lifeless body lying at the roots of a large yellow wood
tree. “Is this what you wanted?” He asked.

“
You’re the only person
who stood up and fought for us even though I’m sure everyone
thought you were crazy. I’m eternally grateful to you for that.
Your people on the water had already found us and now we can rest.”
Janet said reaching out to Andrew.

A giggle filled the air as a small
face peeped from behind Janet.

“
You’re free now my boy.
You don’t have to fear the darkness anymore. I’m so sorry I wasn’t
there to protect you.”

“
We’re free now. Thank you
Uncle Andrew. I love you.” Christopher said and stood in front of
him.

He stretched his arms out in front of
him. He wanted to embrace Andrew and then smiled.

Andrew reached for him with one
arm.

“
We’ll see you again.
We’ll be together again at another time, now we must go.” Janet
said taking Christopher by the hand. “Thank you.” She echoed as
their light faded and they vanished.

Nobody moved. The area fell silent as
if in mourning. Finally Mel crept out from under the bush he was
hiding and attended to Andrew. Brat appeared from the bottom of the
hill almost crying. Andrew pulled himself up with his good arm the
left injured at the shoulder showing deep lacerations where Janet
had slashed him. He wasn’t angry, just glad that he had done all he
had set out to do. Janet and Christopher now had moved on as Mr.
Craft suggested. Martin was still alive even after used as a
punching bag. It would take time to heal the physical and mental
wounds that had satisfied Janet.

Andrew’s radio cracked to life. With a
little effort and a lot more pain he managed to free the radio from
his belt almost getting tangled in his anchor rope still tied
around his waist. He could only manage a whisper.

“
We had found them. We had
found them, heading back to the pier.” Tom’s overexcited voice
called over the radio. It wasn’t clear whether he‘s more relieved
than excited.

“
It’s over. We need an
ambulance. Janet has attacked Martin and me. We‘ll be at Helen’s
house in a few.” Andrew informed standing up with a struggle. Mel
had wrapped his belt around Andrew’s arm to slow the blood
flow.

Brat aided Andrew for a while and then
took Martin’s arm over his shoulder with Mel taking the other.
Slowly they move through the forest to where Andrew had parked. The
trip back felt like hours. Martin’s swaying in and out of
consciousness while Andrew moved more freely.

Once they reached the vehicle Mel
drove back to Helen’s house where the two ambulances were
waiting.

Tom emerged from the crowd and helped
Brat and Mel to place Martin on a stretcher. Paramedics jumped to
treat Andrew and stabilize Martin who has slipped into a worsened
condition.

Tom walked to Andrew once Martin’s in
the ambulance and rushed to the hospital.

“
Is it really over?” Tom
asked.

“
Janet and Christopher
have gone. The lake’s safe again.” Andrew said surrendering to the
paramedic’s treatment.

“
That’s good, what
happened up there?” He asked.

“
Janet attacked Martin and
tried to slice and dice him, I just happened to get in the way.
Don’t worry I’ll be alright, just a little scratch.” Andrew joked.
“At least I’ll be getting those days off the mayor wanted me to
take.” He added laughing painfully.

“
Well it wasn’t so lucky
for one of the divers. We had our own battles to fight, a diver’s
killed.” Tom admitted and sunk his head while fidgeting with his
cap in his hands.

“
Jesus.” Andrew said
almost going numb, his laughing ended abruptly. “Sorry Tom I was
just trying to lighten the mood.” Andrew added knowing how
sensitive Tom got around bad news.

“
We need to get going.”
The paramedics said and lifted Andrew into the
ambulance.

*~*~*

Chapter Nine

*I*

Andrew’s wheeled into the emergency
department and into a cubicle where doctors and nurses were
scrambling to attend to him. Phillip walked as and the nurse
carefully injected him with painkillers into his drip. Phillip
lifted his arm to inspect the injuries Janet had caused.

“
Well it doesn’t look that
bad. Can you move your fingers?” He asked.

Andrew looked at his hand and moved
his fingers without pain or difficulties. He lifted his arm on his
own and bent it at the elbow.

“
Well it looks good. You
didn’t rip through any of the nerves or arteries. I think you just
need a stich or two and you’ll be fine.”

“
Thanks doctor. Where’s
Martin?”

“
I‘ve already sent him to
the operating room. He is a little worse for wear I’m afraid. You
didn’t go in the water did you?” Phillip asked already aware of the
events around the lake.

“
No. I was above the rock
face.” Andrew assured.

“
Well I’m going to put you
on a course of antibiotics just to be sure, but you should be
leaving in a day or two.” Phillip said smiling.

A nurse walked into the cubicle
carrying a silver sterilized try with an assortment of swabs,
bandages and stitching needles.

“
You know, when I told you
not to send more people my why I didn’t mean that you had to come
personally.” Phillip said laughing.

“
I didn’t mean to, but
with all the time spend in this case I thought it would be nice to
take some time off. Now that the people around here saw what I can
do I figured they would expect it from me all the time.” Andrew
said not feeling the nurse pricking the needle into his
flesh.

“
There’s better ways to
get leave you know. This could’ve cost you your arm.” Phillip
assured starting with the stitches.

“
I know I was just trying
to get Janet away from Martin.”

“
I guess she didn’t want
to hear none of it.”

“
She did make that point
clear.”

“
Like crystal.” Phillip
added. “I hope you’ve learned your lesson now?” He said looking
sharply at Andrew pulling the thread through the wound and cutting
off the excess.

“
What lesson was that
be?”

“
Don’t fight with ghosts.”
Phillip said and turned his attention to the nurse. “When you’re
done here you can send him to the ward, I’d like to keep an eye on
him to make sure he doesn’t get any infections.” He turned back to
Andrew. “Just to be sure I hope you don’t mind.” Phillip added
remembering the infection Dillon had picked up because of Janet’s
attack.

“
No not at all.” Andrew
said and felt slightly drowsy from the injection administered. He
turned and looked at the nurse and smiled. “Be gentle with me I’m
an injured man, I’d hate to die now.” He turned his attention back
to Phillip who was deep in thought writing in his chart and
adjusting the medication, that’s administered in the ward. “How is
Martin doing? Will he make it I mean?”

“
He should, your ghost did
a real number on him, but we have the best surgeons here. I’m sure
they’ll do their best. The worst of his injuries seemed mentally.
The physical injuries will heal but I don’t think he would recover
as quickly from the mental once. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Phillip said.

“
Thanks for taking care of
me.” Andrew said as a strong feeling of sleep overwhelmed
him.

“
You should sleep now,
leave the rest to us. I’ll see you later, some more patients to see
I’m afraid.” Phillip said tapping Andrew on the chest.

Andrew nodded and closed his eyes
while the nurse works diligently administering disinfectant cream
to the long lacerations on his shoulder. She carefully applied
plasters and strapped it down with bandages.

*~*~*

*II*

Eleven hours after arriving at the
hospital Martin’s wheeled out of surgery. The surgery’s halted
after Martin suffered a stroke on the operation table. His face was
covered with bandages from where Janet had slashed him. She took
away his looks and leaving him scarred for life with only one eye,
the surgeon couldn’t save the other. His cheekbone’s crushed and
had to rebuild as well as his chin and forehead. His head’s cleaved
open and the skin missing, leaving only the skull exposed. Skin’s
taken from his back to fill in the gap although no hair will ever
grow on the affected area. His chest and arm’s repaired but because
of the stroke the surgeon couldn’t complete all the injuries. He’s
bandaged until he returned to the operation room at a rescheduled
time.

The first matter to attend to was to
dissolve blood clots and stabilize him first. He’s wheeled to the
intensive care unit where he’s kept under observation until he was
fit for surgery the following day.

Eight days in intensive care and three
surgeries later Martin‘s transferred to the ward to gain strength
for his trail set to start as soon as he’s able. Three weeks later
he’s wheeled into the courtroom cuffed to a wheelchair and able to
at least hear his fate. He’s robbed of his speech and use of the
left side of his body. Unable to walk it was unnecessary for the
cuffs but the escorting officer felt it was a good joke.

Martin received two life sentences to
run concurrently. He would remain in the physic ward at the
hospital until or if he’s fit for transference to a maximum
security prison. He would never be eligible for parole because of
the nature of his crimes.

The orderlies at the ward didn’t take
kindly to Martin. Confined to the wheelchair they left him day in
and day out in front of one of the large reinforced windows
overlooking the lake. When they enter the room they would make
ghostly noises and joke all the time. No one had taken any pity on
him. He’s denied any visitors and so he sat day in and day out
looking through the window to the lake where his memories kept him
in the past wondering when Janet would return.

Scarred for life he looked like the
kind of person people would shield their children from. He’s unable
to speak, move on his own, leaving him with only the lake in his
vision and his memories to haunt him.

Time passed and Martin wasn’t
improving. As a daily routine the orderly would push him into
position in front of the large window and watch his reaction from
time to time. Martin reacted fearfully to the window and the lake
beyond. On a trip back from the office the orderly returned
whispering in Martin’s ear. One of the doctors had recommended that
they gave Martin speech therapy. The orderly couldn’t pass up on
this chance to torment Martin even more than he did every day. He
walked up to Martin and bent down to whisper into his
ear.