Tales of Chills and Thrills: The Mystery Thriller Horror Box Set (7 Mystery Thriller Horror Novels) (143 page)

He took a breath and winked at me as he sang,
“Mee-hawl Conner is me name, and keeping
you from being a Teller is me game.”
He laughed at me like I was silly for even asking him that but seeming to respect the fact that I did.

Kate was really rattled now. “You two need to quit kibitzing and get serious about what just happened. What should we be doing now? Is there no place we can go where we can get a decent night’s sleep? This is beyond ridiculous; it makes me want to join the Witness Protection Program.”

“That won’t do you a bit of good, Kate. What is chasing you two cannot be stopped by what stops things, in this life anyway.” Mee-hawl replied. Then looking at me he said, “you are holding the one card in the eternal deck of the major game which has been played since the beginning of time… and here it is playing out in this time and place to this degree.”

“Who
are
you, Mee-hawl?” I asked again.

“Mee-hawl Conner. And do you want me to sing me chantey again, lad?”

“I know who you are,” blurted Kate, as she pointed her finger at him. “I know who you are.” She walked right up to him as she began wagging her finger and laughing a knowing laugh as she did.

“Let that be just between us, lass,” he said as he went out the door and jumped into the night.

“Who is he, Kate?” I asked, really surprised by her actions.

She looked after him in the darkness and then turned back toward me as she slammed the door and said shaking her head, “I’ll bet… I’ll just bet that Mee-hawl is Irish for someone who has been kicking around Judeo-Christianity since the writing of the Bible.”

“You… you’re saying that Mee-hawl is Biblical?” I stumbled with confusion in my words, getting that out.

I’m saying that Mee-hawl Conner is Michael… he’s none other than Michael, the Archangel, himself.”

“Michael the Archangel, himself,” I mimicked her statement and then continued, “That can’t be… he doesn’t have wings. Angels always have wings.” Then I thought ‘what a childish thing to say… he doesn’t have wings… shit that was so dumb.’

She turned to me with fire in her eyes, unlike anything I had ever seen there before and said, “Jeremy Storyteller, if you never believed anything, believe this… he is a powerful ally who might just have been sent by God Himself to protect us. It all falls into place.”

Kate sat down and went onto a scholarly website. She studied it for a second before handing it to me, pointing her finger at the man named Mee-Hawl, there on the screen. She and I both said the name “Michael,” and, after a mutual breath, “Mee-Hawl… in Gaelic.”

We looked at each other in budding bewilderment and she said, “What did I tell you?” She smiled very pleased with herself and her deductive prowess.

“I still need to see some wings.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

The next morning Kate and I sat across from each other trying to figure where to go next and what to do when we got there. I was on my second cup of coffee and Kate was on her third. She was on fire with her theory about the true identity of Mee-hawl Conner. She was paging through our copy of the Bible, tracing the times the name of Michael arose. “Do you think Mee-hawl will still be here now that we know who he is?”

“Who
you think
he is,” I corrected. “And why wouldn’t he still be around? He’s the campgrounds manager.”

“He’s got another job, Jeremy Storyteller, and his boss is the biggest boss there is.” She said softly as she sipped her coffee from the coffee mug given her by me on Valentine’s Day the previous year. It was touching to see her take that with us wherever we traveled. “I have a feeling that Mee-hawl is gone.”

“Back to Heaven? I think Mee-hawl may be gone alright, but to the nearest pub. After last night, I wouldn’t blame him for having just a taste of Jameson’s.”

“Teller, this is coming to a head. Whatever is going on with you seems to be constant and quickening. Mee-hawl is talking about things of wonderment and we need to find a way to stay safe, somehow. Mee-hawl is here to help you. I have no doubt about that.” Kate’s words were coming more rapidly.

“And you know this for a fact,” I stated.

“I know it in my soul. Yes, in my soul,” she said, staring off into space for a brief moment.

We decided to stay another night in Glory Campgrounds and do some more talking with Mee-hawl. It was when we walked up to the reception center we found another person there, a man who introduced himself as Aaron and said he was filling in for Mr. Conner who had been called away for a few days.

“Can he be reached where he is?” I asked.

“No, but I can reach the campground owners, if necessary,” he assured me. “Do you need me to do that?”

“That’s okay, thanks. — but if Mee-hawl should call in, would you give him my number and tell him it is very important that I speak with him ASAP.” I handed him my card and we left walking out to the highway and the diner located right outside the campground. We had breakfast and read the newspaper as we did.

“There’s an article here on the meteor showers we missed last night,” Kate said without looking up from the paper she was reading. “It says that there’ll be another shower tonight at around eleven.”

“Let’s try to watch it and maybe I can use Kevin’s camera, too. He said that I might capture some things in the camera that can’t be seen with the naked eye.

We finished breakfast and then took a walk in the woods, trying to find the place I’d heard the music of God. I couldn’t find it for sure but it seemed that there was a resonance I felt when I approached a big oak tree in a small clearance in the back of the campgrounds. We searched the ground for any indication of what had occurred the night before. There wasn’t anything unusual until I found a silver coin about the size of a half dollar laying on the ground. It appeared to be foreign with Latin inscriptions and a bust of what looked like Caesar on one side. On the other side was a series of seven small circles.

“What do you make of this, Kate?” I asked while handing the coin to my wife.

“I don’t know, Tell. Looks like a Roman coin. Caesar and all. Hey, what’s with the circles?” She studied the coin closely.

“It’s in excellent condition, for what could be an ancient artifact. But it probably isn’t any such thing. Could it be a souvenir from Vegas? Like maybe, Caesar’s Palace? You think?” I asked when Kate handed it back to me.

There was a feeling of comfort around the tree but struggle though I might, I could not establish if this was the place of the music. We poked around for a while and then started back to the rig. As we walked it was obvious that these woods were thick and there was little definition which could help an area to ‘stand out.’

That night we sat outside again and could see the meteor shower which began on the projected time and motivated me to use the camera Kevin had so graciously loaned us. It was digital, of high quality and easy to use, even for me. I started snapping as the stars began falling. The view was better on the lower horizon and I took over fifty pictures and, at times, was even able to use the video camera feature without a problem.

“Pretty spectacular, Kate,” I said as the ‘shootin’ stars,’ as they were known in Brooklyn back in the day, were flying profusely through the sky like sparks from a fire. She nodded in agreement not taking her eyes from the spectacle in the dark night sky.

It was the most impressive thing I had ever seen in the sky, better than the most elaborate fireworks display. It came in flurries and fast and flowing, like a heavenly river. I heard several notes of music coming from somewhere above us. It was faint… but there, just the same. It was the song I’d heard the night before; but as soon as it began, it faded.

“Did you hear anything?” I asked Kate.

“No. What was it?” She looked at me.

“The song I heard last night.”

“Are you sure?”

“There’s nothing like it. I want to hear it again, Kate.” I struggled to listen but it was no longer there, after the initial notes. What a fitting score for the lightshow we were witnessing.

The meteor shower slowed and then ended and so did my picture-taking session. Looking around us in the darkness I thought that there was a possibility of the reappearance of Mee-hawl. Didn’t happen, but what did was our noticing several things moving around us, in the trees not too far off. I nodded toward the motor home and she was right there and was right in front of me walking quickly to it. We entered and closed and locked the doors.

There were several heavy thuds against the door, similar to those I heard in Arizona during the scientific project study on the effects of the moon on dream patterns. Kate flinched when they hit and said, “What the hell is that?” she said, eyeing the door.

I looked out the window at where the thuds were originating and I was relieved to see Mee-hawl standing there with his hands on hips obviously waiting for us to open the door and I went to the door; opening it, I greeted him with an extended hand which he shook as he practically jumped up the steps and on in. “I’m here to tell you that you need to leave this place immediately. I’ll help you ready the rig for travel but you must leave now.”

“Why? What’s happened?” I asked.

“Never ye’ mind right now. Let’s unhook the lines and then we can talk,” he advised as he nodded to me, silently indicating we needed to talk but not within earshot of Kate.

I looked at Kate who was standing with her mouth opened, obviously stunned by being told of our need to leave so suddenly.

Once outside, Mee-hawl walked by my side as I started disconnecting the electric power feed and then on to the water connection and finally the sewer line.

“Let’s set to getting you out of here,” said the big Irishman.

“Mee-hawl, who are you really? And what is going on here… we’re freaked out and confused, and we have a right to know whatever it is that
you
know. Last night I heard the greatest music I have ever heard and then I was chased by something so scary that I thought I wasn’t going to survive the night. Then you rescue me and I have a thousand questions which you ignore. You disappear and we’re told that you won’t be back for several days. Then you come back, pound on the door and order us out of the park.”

Mee-hawl shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as he explained, “There are places on Earth, in this existence, that are portals to another side and they have different levels of power at different times and what has happened at Glory Campgrounds is the portal that is here and has been here for over a hundred years has suddenly shifted and opened to all things good and evil. That’s all I will say now, lad.”

“Why do you call me lad when I’m older than you, by a few years, I’d say?” “No, you’re not, lad. I’m older than you. N’ better looking, too,” he said with a wink in his eye. “Now take that lovely wife of yours and be off. Will ya’ now?”

“Off to where, Mee-hawl? Off to where, man?”

“Off to where they can’t find you for the next week. What you are dealing with here is not omnipotent. It is half human evil and half spiritual warfare. So it is possible to hide from the human evil and the other part can be dealt with by those who have fought the holy war since time began.” Mee-Hawl spoke like someone who had many answers to multiple questions.

Suddenly he stopped and looked me dead in the eye and said with a continuing seriousness of words he had just previously uttered, “You really have no idea what is after you. It’s nothing like anything you ever even dreamed about. I will try to see to you and the Missus but you must listen to what is in the plan. “You have to do exactly as you are told.”

“Told? Told what? Told by whom?” I started waving my hands in frustration and fear.

“Have you not had a moral compass throughout your life, Jeremy? Has there not been that inner voice giving you guidance? It is really nothing more or less than that, man.” He put his hand on my shoulder and I felt a strength that was new to me. How could that be? Was I so coming apart that an encouraging gesture like that could have such an effect on me?

“You are named well, Storyteller,” Mee-hawl said looking at me intently. “There is a story being woven here. One that may indeed live for a long time. It could even affect human and spiritual history. Now listen to me, you have to get through the next few weeks without uttering anything in Latin,” he stated with his usual strength.

“That won’t be difficult,” I said smugly.

“You think so, eh lad?” Mee-hawl smiled at me and gave me his signature wink. “It may be the hardest thing you ever had to do. You have no idea what is trying to influence you, trying to get so far into your head, that your soul is shaken.”

“I don’t like this, Mee-hawl,” Kate interjected. “This is turning even darker than what we’ve been going through.”

“You
don’t
have a choice in this Jeremy; it has begun.” He looked at me intently before continuing, “I’ll follow you out of here and stay behind you for a while to make sure you’re not being followed.”

“Should we call the police?” I asked.

“They can’t help ya’. Listen to what I’m telling you to do and heed it. It’s what you have to do and if you stay low and say nothing in Latin, everything will be fine.” Mee-hawl’s eyes burned through me with continued intensity as he spoke.

“When do we see you again?” I asked, while feeling suddenly very vulnerable and in need of protection.

“Just do what I asked you to do. Lay low and don’t get fooled into saying anything in Latin. Kate, please talk to this man. Guide him with your God-given wisdom,” he said as he left the rig. “I’ll call you.”

“Sure you will,” was my sarcastic comment as I got behind the wheel and started the engine. We were on our way to who knows where.

I realized suddenly how many words in the English language were derivatives of Latin words. Did they all count as Latin?

Mee-Hawl followed us driving southwest for about an hour and then I noticed that the headlights from his SUV were no longer there. Kate was yawning and my eyes were drooping, so we exited the highway and pulled into truck rest stop. “We’ll grab some shut eye here, Honey,” I said as I slipped from behind the wheel and headed for the bedroom, very tired and in dire need of sleep. And sleep we did, awaking at dawn to the din of the truck engines, moving past us on their way to the road leading to the highway entrance.