The Childe (31 page)

“Geez mom! It’s a horse pill! Look how red it is! Ugh, it smells terrible! How am I supposed to swallow this?” Cat complained as she showed the pill to her mom.

“Just do it Cat. Hold your nose, quickly put it in your mouth and wash it down with the water.”

“Yuck! Seriously disgusting! I can still taste it, even holding my nose,” she whined taking another gulp of water.

“Oh, we have to get you to school! I can’t believe it’s almost eleven!” Rachel exclaimed, pulling the car carefully into the flow of traffic.

By the time Cat reached school, lunch had just begun. Kissing her mom on the cheek, Cat hurried to the office and presented her doctor’s note. Making her way to the cafeteria, she felt more positive than she had been recently. Sitting at the table surrounded by her friends, she listened as they gave her a play by play of the events she had missed. By the afternoon Cat was feeling wonderfully energized with no sign of a headache. She had lost weight over the last few weeks due to her constant nausea which had her avoiding food altogether. Everyone at lunch noticed her returned appetite as she gobbled down the huge tray of food that sat in front of her. The reassurance that she would be her old self soon brought smiles to their faces.

“Mom? Aren’t blood disorders hereditary? Does this run in our family?” Cat asked later that night.

“Umm…well…I believe when your father was younger he had problems with his blood, I can’t remember exactly what it was though,” Rachel said hoping Cat didn’t notice her hesitation.

“Oh, well then at least maybe that explains it. I was beginning to think I was a freak or something that just developed this out of nowhere,” she said with a chuckle.

“Cat this is a very serious matter, you shouldn’t laugh at it,” Rachel said sternly.

“Mom, if I don’t make light of it, then I would get depressed. So I’ve got to joke about it for my own sanity. Especially since I can’t talk to any of my friends about it. You’re the only one I can joke with.”

“I’m sorry Cat. I guess I’m still very sensitive to all this. It worries me to think that something could happen to you and take you away from me,” Rachel said beginning to sob.

Cat hugged her. “I’ll be all right! I’m a tough chick! This will go away eventually. Remember what Dr. Bane said, we only need to wait it out and follow his instructions.”

“I know, I know,” she said patting Cat’s arm that was wrapped around her.

Each day Cat waited for her symptoms to return but they stayed away as the medicine seemed to be working its magic. Ryan even noticed. He was amazed at the change in her from the last few weeks.

Miss Amaya picked up the phone and dialed with shaking fingers. She hoped that Gretchen would answer. Before the second ring she heard her strained hello. “You saw it too? It was awful,” Miss Amaya asked, her head bent, her hand covering her eyes.

“Yes it was horrible. Those eyes, those awful evil jet black eyes,” Gretchen replied reliving the vision she had just witnessed.

“What can we do?” Miss Amaya’s desperate plea came over the phone line.

“I’m going to have a meeting in the village. We need as much power as we can get to stop this monster. Those poor girls! We have to make him cease. I’ll call you this evening when the ladies and I are together so you can join by speaker phone. The roads are too treacherous for you to physically come here. It will just have to suffice. Blessed be Amaya.” Sitting at her breakfast table, Miss Amaya knew she had to get up and ready herself for school. She was glad that Gretchen had shared her vision, as she didn’t think she could verbalize the horror she had just witnessed.

Sitting in her first period class in the last week of February, Miss Amaya wasn’t surprised when a somber Principal Landers announced that yet another girl had gone missing.

Cat closed her locker and made her way to the gym. Her group was standing quietly by the door waiting for her. “It’s just terrible! Who’s doing this?” Amanda asked quietly. Cat nodded in agreement and then opened the double doors leading into the gym. A man sat behind a table with stacks of large envelopes containing copies of the pictures that were taken at the homecoming dance. A line formed and the group waited patiently near the back of it.

“I can’t believe what’s happening. I’ve always felt safe in Astoria. Things like this only happen in big cities, not little towns like ours. My mom has started locking every door and window since the other girl’s disappearance. I can’t imagine what she’ll do now? We’ve never had to lock our doors before!” Elle rambled on.

Cat put her arm around her, “don’t worry Elle. They’ll catch this monster. I only hope it’s sooner than later.”

“Yeah and you guys have me to protect you. So what’s your worry?” Matt interjected. He flinched readying himself for the punch he knew would be coming from Amanda. They all stared in disbelief as she just stood there staring into space. He turned to Amanda, realizing a punch was not forth coming. Seeing the somber look on her face, Matt placed his arm around her, hugging her close. Everyone looked on in amazement at him, most of all Amanda.

“Name?” the man behind the table asked.

Cat gave him her receipt, “Catherine Colvin.” The man quickly flipped through the envelopes looking for hers.

“Here they are, let’s take a look,” he said pulling out the numerous photos. “Well, I don’t know what happened with this one here. There seems to be some kind of black shadow standing in front of you,” he stated placing the photo off to the side. “The others here look okay, see?” He laid the rest of the photos on the table in front of her. Ignoring the other photos Cat asked to see the one with the shadow. “See, this one’s a little messed up,” he explained pointing to the black shadow framing Cat’s head and shoulders. “In fact, it kind of looks like a person. That’s creepy. Hope he wasn’t your date!” he joked chuckling to himself. She peered at the photo.
It does look like a person.
She felt a chill staring at the black mass, sensing it was real and that it looked very familiar.

“I’ll take them all,” Cat said sliding the photos back into the envelope and leaving the table. While her friends weren’t looking, Cat placed the odd photo in her coat pocket to examine it later.

Later that night, up in her room, Cat pulled the photo from her coat pocket. Placing it on her desk under the lamp, she scanned the photo looking for the shadow. The shadow had disappeared. “Of course it’s gone. Why would there be any evidence proving that I’m not going insane. Great Cat! Just another creepy imaginary thing to add to your long list of creepy imaginary things!”

15

Troubled Waters

A stones throw away from Astoria, near the mouth of the Covington River, violent dark waves crashed forcefully on the rocks in Oldes Bay. A solitary object lay on the sand. On closer inspection Astoria’s Sheriff, Barry Stokes, confirmed what his deputy Kim Burkins had reported. It was a body. Though ravaged by the elements, he had a gut feeling that it was one of the missing girls. He watched as the waves hit the shore, the howling wind ripped through him, but he barely felt it. “Sheriff Stokes, could you please move out of my light. I need to take a closer look before we move the body,” a voice called out bringing his attention back to the scene.

“Sorry Doc, let’s move out of this man’s way Kim so he can do his job.” They watched for a couple of seconds as the short, stocky, balding man carefully examined the body with his bright green gloves. An ambulance stood silently by the sheriff’s cruiser, its lights flashing. Barry nodded to the two attendants waiting patiently to transport the body back to the morgue. He motioned for Kim to get into his cruiser. Feeling the air from the car’s heater blasting over them, they sat in silence.

“Barry, Barry, you there?” Bethany Watkins, the night dispatcher, came through loud and clear, making him jump a little.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Barry answered wearily picking up the hand radio.

“You need backup?”

“No, we’ve got enough, over and out.” He released the button and sighed. “I’m not looking forward to the next couple of days, no sir,” he said rubbing his eyes. Kim glanced at her boss, realizing that this must have hit close to home with him being the father of two young teenage girls. Several minutes later they watched as the body was loaded into the back of the ambulance. “This son of a bitch made a mistake, bringing this to our county!” Barry muttered under his breath as he started the vehicle.

“Cat, Taylor, we’ve got a town hall meeting tonight!” Rachel called out frantically, shuffling around in the kitchen. “Dinner’s in the oven…so please remember to take it out when the timer goes off! The last thing we need is for the house to burn down!”

“I’m right here mom.” Cat’s voice behind Rachel made her jump.

“Oh Cat, honey, you startled me.”

“Is the meeting about the young girl they found today?” Her worried eyes met her mom’s. Rachel nodded.

“Rachel, honey, hurry up! We’re going to be late!” Sam’s voice carried into the kitchen. Cat walked with her mom to the foyer where Sam stood with her coat in hand. Rachel grabbed it as Sam bent down and gave Cat a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead. “Taylor we’re leaving!” he called up the stairs. Taylor’s head poked over the banister.