Reunion (A Psychological Suspense with Murder, Mystery and the Paranormal) (31 page)

Nick dove under the bed, grabbed the power chord to the respirator and ripped it out of the wall socket, causing David’s lungs to wheeze, desperately seeking oxygen. He pulled David violently under the gurney, grabbed his neck and began choking him. Larry slid to the floor and grabbed Nick’s feet, frantically shuffling his body around to get a grip as Nick kicked at him.

Nick’s eyes were filled with pure hatred as he squeezed the life out of the glassy-eyed monster. He lifted David’s head up and pounded it back on the floor. Larry got a firm grip and pulled hard on Nick’s legs. Nick started sliding backward, losing his equilibrium. His right hand slipped off David’s neck, but his left hand gripped tighter and pounded the head one more time before Larry completely pulled him from under the gurney.

Larry continued sliding Nick away from David for several feet and then climbed on top on him, subduing Nick momentarily. Dr. Mueller knelt down beside his patient and examined the damage. A nurse ran into the room to assist the doctor. They inspected David’s body for damage and checked his vital signs.

Nick screamed profanities at David, twisting his arms and kicking his legs to escape from Larry’s grasp. He almost succeeded. However, two orderlies ran into the room amidst the commotion and immediately grabbed Nick’s arms. Trained to deal with violent patients, they pushed Larry aside, and flipped Nick onto his belly, and then one of the orderlies pressed his knee tight into Nick’s back. The other pressed down on Nick’s head, restricting his ability to get up. Within seconds, the doctor fitted a syringe with a vial of 0.5 mg triazolam and injected it into Nick’s arm. Nick immediately relaxed and slumped back on the floor.

When he was fully sedated, Larry put the handcuffs back on Nick. The nurse assisted the doctor as he reconnected David’s life support and the orderlies looked on.

“Handcuffs? What’s wrong with that guy?” asked the doctor. “He almost killed my patient!”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Mueller.” Larry looked down at Nick, shaking his head. “I should’ve known better. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have brought him here.”

“Why did he do that?”

Red-faced, Larry responded, “He’s…um…he’s one of the kids from David’s high school. David killed his brother.” Larry looked up. The doctor exhaled from frustration.

“Why would you bring him here?”

Larry said nothing.

“Did you think this was a good idea? No one was to ever know about this arrangement, and here you are bringing one of his victims! I don’t understand.”

Larry slowly lifted his head and responded.

“Nick suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and he thought he was seeing David’s ghost. So when I found out that David was still alive, I thought it would help Nick to cope with his panic attacks if he knew the truth. And…you said you’ve had strange things going on here. Well, we have too. Back at the school, a teenager was recently murdered, and we had strong evidence that David Ray was somehow involved.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. He’s been in this bed for two decades!”

“I understand. And that’s why I had to see him. Most folks back at Crescent Falls think he’s been dead for twenty years. I did too. Nothing was making sense. That’s why we came.”

“Well, you’d better get that maniac out of here, right away!”

Larry nodded in agreement.

The orderlies put Nick into a wheelchair and wheeled him out of the facility. They plopped him into the passenger seat of the sheriff’s vehicle. Larry buckled him in and headed back to Crescent Falls raging mad.

• • •

Bryan rolled on the floor, screaming in agony. Tanner ran over to try and help, but there was nothing he could do. He helplessly looked on as Bryan’s face burned red and blistered from the hot steam.

“Help! Someone help me here!”

Bryan rolled back and forth on the floor, holding his face, screaming. Tanner turned toward the doorway and shouted, hoping the others would hear. “Somebody help! Bryan’s hurt! Hurry!”

Noah and Kate ran through the dark hallway until they came to the boiler room. Lana trailed behind, briskly limping with her cane. They came to an abrupt stop when, in the faint red light, they witnessed what appeared to be David’s ghost hovering above Bryan and Tanner. The apparition peered at the group with its sinister eyes. Lana stumbled into the room behind Kate and Tanner. Then the door slammed shut behind her. The pipe that Tanner had grabbed earlier flew across the room and crashed into the wall nearby. A gust of wind followed, stirring up dust and other small objects that flipped and spun through the air. Tanner reacted by putting his hand over his face. The others crouched down and screamed in horror at the sight of the apparition. Lana’s and Kate’s hair began to flutter and whip across their cheeks. They covered their faces to shield their eyes from the flying debris.

The red exit light flickered, throwing sparks over their bodies, revealing the spirit’s complete form. Kate locked eyes with the misty figure. From across the room, the menacing spirit transferred its depraved energy into her body. She stumbled backward against the wall. Her face whipped from side to side while the entity slapped her. Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! She screamed into the blowing wind for help. Noah heard her cry, stumbled toward her thrashing body and covered her with his arms. The beating stopped and Kate’s limp body slumped to the floor.

Noah then pulled Lana close as well. The spirit seemed to retreat as the mist and dark eyes faded into the shadows.

Lana pleaded, “Do something, Noah! We’ve got to stop it! And we’ve got to get Bryan out of here!”

Noah nodded his head and looked around the room to locate the spirit. The wind blew hard against his face. The red light gleamed and the apparition once again appeared, rising from the steam and moving in Noah’s direction. Noah stepped toward the entity, glaring and silently praying for protection. As his prayerful thoughts rose to heaven, Noah’s arms flew up like a ribbon in a twister and his body lifted off the floor, rising, spinning.

Lana screamed, “Oh, no! Noah!”

“Grab him!” yelled Kate.

The women attempted to hold Noah down, but the force overpowered them. Noah slipped out of their hands and flew across the room. He landed in a heap with Bryan and Tanner.

Bryan spoke a few unintelligible words and finished with, “…Ca…arry!”

Tanner and Noah could barely hear his voice over the screams and whistling of the wind.

“What?” Tanner shouted back.

Bryan repeated himself with great effort through burnt and swollen lips. “Call…Larry!”

“I think he said to call Larry,” said Noah. “But how? I don’t know who that is.”

“He’s the sheriff!” responded Tanner.

Tanner suddenly spotted that the two-way radio was still on Bryan’s belt. Dust and debris continued to swirl about, while the entity hovered over its victims. Tanner fiddled with the radio, trying to make it work.

Bryan muttered, “…side button…talk.”

“Okay!” Tanner pushed the button. “Sheriff Richards! Sheriff Larry Richards are you there?”

Driving through the pouring rain, Larry heard a noise. He looked at Nick. He still seemed to be unconscious.

“Sheriff Richards are you out there? Please answer!” The voice sounded desperate. Larry realized that the voice was coming from his multi-channel radio. He reached for it. It wasn’t on his belt.

“Sheriff Larry Richards are you out there? We need your help urgently! Please answer!”

Nothing.

Tanner looked at Noah and shook his head. The only sound coming from the radio was static. Noah’s shoulders slumped; his body ached from the fall. He cocked his neck up toward the spirit and asked, “What do you want?”

The spirit descended toward Noah. Tanner crawled backward, watching as the entity came within inches of Noah’s face. Noah held his hands in front of his face guarding himself from the force and shouted, “We want to help! Tell us what’s troubling you.”

• • •

Larry looked down at Nick’s feet. In all the excitement, the radio had fallen to the floor. He looked ahead. The road appeared to be clear. With one hand on the wheel he reached toward Nick’s feet, his eyes barely viewing the road. At that moment, Nick’s foot moved ever so slightly, causing the radio to slide farther from Larry’s grasp. Larry stretched in response and the steering wheel pulled to the right. The car veered to the side of the slick road and started to fishtail. Nick’s head jarred, bumping against the plastic framework near the window. Startled, Larry shot up to regain control of the vehicle, whose wheels swerved across the wet pavement, finally straightening as Larry brought the car to a standstill. His heart raced. Nick moaned in pain from the jolt to his head.

• • •

Noah’s body stiffened when the apparition levitated directly in front of him, peering deep into his soul. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer just before he fell into a trance. Without a sound, the hovering spirit transferred its longings into Noah’s mind. His brain absorbed the apparition’s streaming mental images, filling him with a spiritual angst previously unknown to him. While in a half-conscious state, Noah watched David’s current bodily form take shape. Emaciated, bruised and hunched over, the figure walked closer, revealing his beard and nakedness under the hospital gown.

The spirit continued toward Noah, leading him into another dimension. In his mind, the boiler room transformed into a white hallway littered with wheelchairs and mental patients. Leading the way, David pointed his bony finger and looked to the right. With sadness in his eyes, he peered into a room covered with worms, maggots and flies. The insects crawled and slithered on an obese patient tied to a wooden chair. Little white pills flowed from his mouth, forming a pile of medication that fed the insects. The sight and smells of the vision were so real that Noah began to feel sick. David led him farther down the hall.

The others watched the entity stand nose to nose with Noah. They couldn’t see what Noah was witnessing. He was motionless, staring into the figure’s eyes, digesting the illusion.

David turned to the left, revealing another patient vomiting blood all over her bulimic body. Her weak hand lifted and pointed to a gurney inhabited by a hollow-cheeked man. Noah continued the mental journey moving faster and faster as he approached the scrawny male. Standing next to the patient, he surveyed the shriveled flesh that wrapped its bones. Its darkened eyes and sunken cheeks appeared nearly dead. A tube filled with liquid feces wrapped around his legs exiting into a milky plastic bag. Worms crawled in and out of the patient’s orifices. Noah continued to look upon the half-living body when a deep, muffled voice spoke to him. Although he recognized the words in his mind, the tone of the voice indicated its lack of humanity. The deep, dark, gravelly voice pervaded Noah’s brain.

“This…is…flesh. It…lives. It…lives! David Ray is ours…” The voice stopped to breathe, its exhalations gurgled. “You were summoned…to give him to us… Hurry! He waits!” The deep voice let out an appalling shriek. The wind in the boiler room accelerated and Noah fell to his knees, still in a trance, his eyes rolling backward in his head.

• • •

The others covered their faces, protecting their eyes from the whipping debris. Tanner crawled across the floor and pulled Bryan away to a corner. Inch by inch he towed him closer to where the two women huddled together. He tried to radio Larry again, but Larry did not reply.

• • •

The spirit continued filling Noah’s mind with a vision of a much younger David Ray. He appeared to be around nine years old. The boy lay tied to a table made of stone. Noah watched as a man with a black cloak tied the boy’s ankles and wrists to cast-iron loops with zip ties. Torches lit the otherwise dark room. The young boy lay sedated and barely conscious. His head rolled from side to side on the stone, unable to comprehend what was happening to him. A crowd of cloaked men and women surrounded the boy, shouting incantations and singing dark mystical chants, commanding the spirits who hovered above to enter his soul. Noah began to convulse, desperately trying to regain consciousness to escape the maddening dream.

The dark spirit growled, “He was given to us. And we want him now! You must kill him!”

• • •

Lana watched Noah’s eyes roll back into his head although he remained tied to the spirit in his mind. She called out to him, hoping to wake him from the trance, but he didn’t move. She took a step forward to help him but the spirit took notice. With an invisible punch to her gut, it caused Lana to hunch over and vomit helplessly. She couldn’t move again. Tanner and Kate likewise remained motionless and terrified.

• • •

In Noah’s mind, the chanting from the cult grew louder and louder as the young David Ray began to rise above the table. The zip ties stretched, tugging on David’s wrists and ankles. Dark shadows swirled above, funneling themselves into David’s flesh, possessing his soul. The boy’s chest swelled to accommodate the evil that took residence.

Understanding now, Noah found the strength to pull back, waking from his trance. The devilish forces were satisfied that he knew the answer to his question and released him. The vision faded and he tumbled to the floor.

• • •

Larry managed to grab the radio at last and replied, “Go for Larry!” shouting above the sound of the rain pounding on the roof.

Tanner picked up and answered, “H…hello?”

“Go ahead, caller. This is Sheriff Larry Richards. What’s going on there?”

“Oh, thank God! We need your help! Please hurry! It’s David Ra—”

Larry interrupted. “Whoa…whoa…slow down! Who is this?” Larry wrinkled his forehead, concerned that the call was a prank.

“It’s Tanner Khan. I’m with Deputy Jacobs and the others at the old school! You have to help us! Bryan and Kate are hurt and Maria is dead! Please help us! David Ray is trying to kill us all!”

“What? Th…that can’t be. I just saw him!”

Bryan moaned as he watched Tanner grow frustrated with the sheriff. The spirit hovered above him.