The Forbidden Script (15 page)

The house was quiet as Tony slammed the front door behind him. The sudden noise got Bruce barking from the rear of the house. Things were not going as planned, and time was running out. According to the Mayan text, the calling of the underworld gods is best performed when the moon is at its brightest and fullest. Tony knew the magnetic force of the moon has always been associated with the spirit world. He missed the last full moon three nights ago but did not intend to miss the next. He thoroughly researched and found out that tonight an event will take place when the moon will be at its brightest and fullest. The last event like this took place about three years ago. Tony had to act quickly, knowing he would not get another shot at this. The only person who can get things moving fast was Travis. Taking out his cell phone, he speed dials Travis. After a few seconds, he answers his phone.

“Hello Tony! What a coincidence. I was thinking of giving you a call.”

“Listen Travis! I need your help!” Said Tony.

Travis looked around to make sure he was alone.

“What is it? Is something wrong?”

“I need you to bring that friend of yours with us tomorrow night for another gathering, what’s her name? Sally is it?” Tony said.

Travis was not getting the picture.

“I thought you took Helen!”

Tony was getting impatient and raised his voice.

“Helen is dead! Carlos shot her three nights ago. He ran into trouble with some FBI agents when we were on our way to the gathering. He had no choice but to shoot her and then the big idiot got himself killed trying to make a run for it. I was lucky to get away unnoticed. Now this FBI agent is starting to ask questions.”

Travis took a while trying to take it all in at once.

“My god Tony! Things are getting out of hand. They’re onto us!”

“Tonight is the only chance we will get at succeeding with the Mayan ritual, and then we can stop for a while until things cool over. I promised you great things if you come along with me. You have seen the past like no one else has. It’s like we traveled through time together. You’re a top student in anthropology, and now you’re on to your master’s degree. With my help from the spirit world, you managed to achieve high grades. If it weren’t for me, you would be living on the streets. You owe me Travis!”

Tony’s words had power over Travis, manipulating him in any way he could.

“Okay! Okay! I will bring her to your place after school. She wants to reconnect with her mother again anyway, and I was going to call you about it, but you called me first,” said Travis.

“Okay, great, then I will see you here later. Make sure it’s just you and Sally and the usual three girls,” said Tony, before hanging up.

Jason drove home after his encounter with Tony. He thought about Helen and how she ended up dead. He had a gut feeling that Danny was right about this guy Tony. Both cases point in the same direction. It was too much of a coincidence for Helen to be seen with the same person who had abducted her from Mexico and also with the person who seemed to be performing these spiritual meetings.

If only Jason knew that his daughter Sally was about to become involved in the middle of all of this.

As he arrived home, he called out to see if Sally was in. He got no reply and thought she must still be at school. He thought about calling her on her cell, but then changed his mind thinking she might be in the middle of a class, so he called Kate instead.

“It’s me, Jason.”

“Jason, did you go to see this Dr. Barrette?”

Jason said, “he wasn’t at home when I got there, so I waited for him until he came back. The guy is slick and stinking rich also.”

Kate pictured him as some old guy preying on young girls.

“What’s he like? Was he cooperative?”

“Well, he’s about my age, has blond hair, seems to workout, and has the coldest looking eyes I have ever seen. He didn’t want to answer my questions at first, but admitted to his whereabouts that night. He said he just went out for a drive. I’m surprised he told the truth. Oh! And he works at the same hospital where Danny is,” said Jason.

“You think Danny could be in danger?” inquired Kate.

“I don’t think so. He has an officer on watch outside his door, and Patricia is with him most of the time,” Jason said.

As school came to an end that afternoon, Sally and Jackie walked out together ready to head on home, when Jackie spotted Travis’s car on the opposite side of the road.

“Hey, look who’s here!” She said teasing her friend.

“Hi ladies. How was school?” Travis said.

Sally answered, “it was okay, thanks.”

She noticed something strange about him, the tone in his voice seemed different.

“What do you say we go for a drive,” he asked Sally.

“Hope you don’t mind Jackie. I will see you tomorrow in class,” Sally said with a smile.

Jackie smiled back, taking the hint.

“Go ahead. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Said Jackie with a wink.

They gave each other a hug and Jackie said, “see you Travis, and you take care of her.”

They drove off, waving goodbye.

After a few minutes on the road, Sally asked, “is everything alright? You seem a little strange.”

Travis slowed down and stopped the car.

“I’m fine. I just want to be alone with you. I didn’t want to tell you in front of Jackie.”

“Tell me what?” She asked.

“I’ve arranged for us to meet with Tony again.”

“Really! When can we go?” Said Sally getting excited.

“He said we can go tonight, but to bring you only. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you in front of Jackie.” 

“Tonight! I don’t think so Travis. What will I tell my dad? He will never let me, and I can’t lie to him again.”

Travis looked puzzled.

“Sally! You’re nineteen years old. I don’t think your father can stop you.”

Sally said, “yes, I know that, but he’s so over protective with me lately since he’s been working on this case.”

“Case! What do you mean case? You’re saying he’s a cop?” Asked Travis.

Sally continued. “He’s with the FBI! Travis I thought I told you that!”

Travis was looking nervous now.

“No, Sally! You never mentioned he’s an FBI agent. You said he was working a lot lately, but I thought he’s just doing overtime or has two jobs.”

Sally drew back in her seat.

“Why are you so jumpy Travis? I didn’t think it mattered to you what he did. Are you hiding something from me? Are you in trouble?”

Without saying a word Travis started the car and continued to drive. Both were quiet for a couple of miles when Sally asked, “where are we going?”

Travis didn’t answer her. He just kept on driving, picking up speed as he drove.

She then reached for her cell phone.

“Who are you calling Sally?”

“You’re scaring me Travis. Tell me where we’re going, or I will call my father.”

Her eyes were swelling with tears as Travis reached over taking her cell phone and placed it in his jeans pocket.

“Where do you think we’re going? Tony said we had to come tonight, and that’s what we’re going to do. Now sit back and shut up.”

It was passed school hours, and Sally had not returned home. Jason was getting worried. He tried to reach her by phone, but failed to get through to her. It wasn’t like her not to say where she was going. He knew his daughter well and was sure something was wrong.

Arriving just after six in the evening, Travis pulled over outside Tony’s house. He opened the car door for Sally to step out. She protested at first but finally gave in to him.

“Sally, this won’t take long and you’ll be home in no time. Just tell your father you stayed at school studying.”

She got out of the car and followed him into the house when a thought passed her mind as they walked into the hallway.

“How come you have a key to the front door?” She asked.

Travis turned towards her. “I live here, that’s why. I spend a lot of time at the university, but this is my home.”

“You never mentioned it to me Travis! What’s going on? Why did you really bring me here?” Said Sally, taking a step backward.

Tony was downstairs in the meditation room preparing things for later when he heard Travis and Sally. He made his way up the basement stairs coming face to face with Sally. As soon as she saw him she bolted for the front door.

Tony quickly shouted out to Travis.

“Stop her for god’s sake!”

Sally made it to the front door, opening it, but did not make it outside. Travis was on her in a flash, taking hold of her wrists pulling her back inside. Sally screamed out as she was dragged back in, but Bruce’s barking drowned her screams. The animal felt the tension inside the house, and sensed the fear also, just like a wolf would sense the fear of a deer being stalked for the kill.

“Take her downstairs before somebody hears her, while I go and get my medical kit,” said Tony.

Sally hysterically flared out with both hands striking Travis across the face.

“Why are you doing this?” She cried out.

The next instant the whole room went black as she felt the anesthetic doing its job.

While Sally is sedated and bound to a chair in the basement of the house, Travis and Tony prepare things for the night. He wants to perform the ritual tonight while the moon is at its fullest and brightest. Tony then encourages Travis on summoning the other three girls to his house.

As Sally is under the full effect of the anesthetic, she starts to hear her mother’s voice beckoning her to wake up.

“Sally! You have to wake up. I beg you to fight it. Please Sally wake up and get out of there!”

Out of nowhere Sally lets out a loud scream startling Tony, who was packing items into a bag. He immediately felt the energy in the room, knowing it was a spiritual attempt to interact with the unconscious Sally.

As Tony walks over to her, he notices rapid eye movement behind her closed eyes. He places his hand upon her cheek, feeling the energy flowing in her veins. All of a sudden Sally opens her eyes, staring Tony in the face. Startled, he falls backward onto the floor.

“Impossible! The effect of the drug should last at least another couple of hours. Yet you’re fully awake,” said Tony.

She continues to look directly at him, but then after a few seconds she closes her eyes once more.

The others arrive and are quickly informed about the urgency. Tonight will be the only chance for Tony to pass over into the spiritual world and see what’s on the other side of death.

They waste no time and help walk Sally into Tony’s closed van. They sit her in the rear, close the doors and drive off into the night. After a while, she begins to gain consciousness with her mother’s voice still calling out to her. She manages to open her eyes, focusing on the things around her when she feels someone grasping her by the arm. Barely visible she recognizes Travis sitting next to her.

In a low drowsy voice Sally says, “where are we? Where are you taking me Travis? Help me, please!”

He continues to look the other way as she blacks out again.

Jason is at home pacing around the kitchen after failing to make contact with Sally on her cell phone. He decides to give Jackie a call.

“Jackie! It’s Jason, Sally’s father!”

Jackie takes a deep breath before answering,

“Hi! Mr. Mallock, what’s up?”

“Have you seen Sally? She hasn’t come home, and she isn’t answering her cell phone.”

“She must be with Travis, Mr. Mallock. I haven’t seen her since this afternoon.”

Jason runs his hand through his hair with frustration.

“Travis! Who is Travis?”

“Travis Malone. We met him when we had that overnight stay at the Miami university. I’m sorry Mr. Mallock. I thought you knew!”

Jason heard the tremor in Jackie’s voice.

“Yes, I remember her mentioning his name. You let me know if she gives you a call.”

Jackie rolled her eyes back. She knew Jason was always over protective towards Sally.

“Okay, Mr. Mallock I will,” she said goodbye and hung up.

Jackie then dialed Sally’s cell phone, and after three or four attempts, she finally manages to get through.

Sally’s phone starts to ring after Tony took possession of it. He picks it up to see who is calling her. Jackie’s name is flashing on the screen.

“What do you want honey?” He says sarcastically.

Jackie on the other end is surprised to hear a mans voice.

“Who is this? You’re not Travis. Where’s Sally?”

“She’s behind me sitting next to Travis. We’re all going on a little journey together, and tell her father to stop calling and keep his distance. Sorry, you can’t bid your friend farewell, you’ll be lucky if you see her again,” said Tony.

The line went dead. Jackie could not believe what she just heard. Tears rolled down her face as she tried frantically to phone Jason, but his cell phone is engaged. She sat down and burst into tears.

Jason was on the phone with Kate, who is busy at the lab researching on mediums and the paranormal. She asks Jason to come over, sure she has found something interesting to show him.

“Jason, I think you should come over to the lab. I think I found out some interesting stuff.”

He grabs his car keys.

“Okay, I will be right there.”

While driving as fast as he can to the forensic lab, he informs Kate about Sally’s disappearance, hoping she might know of her whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Jackie has stopped crying and is now feeling guilty for pushing her friend into a relationship with Travis. She decides to drive over to Tony’s place, hoping to find out where he has taken her best friend.

It takes nearly an hour when she arrives at the house. Jackie stops right in front of the gate and waits a while, looking for any sign of movement from inside. The house is large and scary giving her the shivers as the hairs on her neck start to rise. She courageously steps out of the car and slowly opens the unlocked gate. A small breeze picks up twirling fallen leaves in a spiral formation, making the place even more creepy than it already is. Jackie speeds up her pace and heads over to the living room window. She looks inside the dark room not able to see anything. She then applies pressure on the window, and it slowly opens a few inches.

“This guy can’t be bothered to lock up. I bet the front door is unlocked also. I just hope he doesn’t have a burglar alarm.”

Jackie climbs through the window and walks around the living room. She notices things she failed to see the last time. The furniture is old fashioned medieval. She looks at the portraits on the wall and the family photos on the mantle piece. She soon realizes this place must have been his parent’s house that he inherited from them.

Jackie enters the hallway, and to her left, she sees a door leading down to the basement. She descends the flight of stairs to face another door. She turns the handle, and it slowly opens making a squeaky sound as it reveals the room inside. The light is still on, and one of the chairs has been knocked over. It seems someone was in a hurry to leave. The room is quite large with wooden paneling covering the walls. A large table stands in the middle of the room, and in the corner sits a leather couch. To the right stands a bookcase, with a large collection of titles about the supernatural and the afterlife. Jackie knows where she is and what this room is used for. She is inside Tony’s private meditation room, where he would lay on the leather couch as he connects with the spiritual world.

Jackie notices something under the table. She bends down to retrieve a jacket that she immediately recognizes. Tears swell in her eyes as she holds onto Sally’s jacket, picturing her friend being taken away in a hurry.

She begins to search through the drawers, scattering its contents onto the table in a desperate frenzy to find something that might lead her to where Sally is. Next she begins to remove books from their shelves, not caring about the noise as they land with a thud on the floor. Jackie opened the last of the drawers when she noticed it somewhat different than the others. It wasn’t as deep, but still has the same length. At the back of the drawer, she felt a small latch and slowly unclasps it. Immediately the bottom of the drawer lifts up. Jackie removes the false bottom to discover photographs of young girls about her age with dates written on the back. Beneath the pile of pictures are notes, documents, birth certificates and an old notebook that she takes and slides in her jeans pocket.

Jackie makes a move to leave; afraid someone might come back. She turns towards the door when she suddenly stops frozen in her tracks. Goosebumps emerge all over her body as she hears a deep growling sound coming from the top of the basement stairs. The stair lights are off, and all she can see is a pair of bright eyes staring at her. She wonders if her mind is playing tricks on her, or maybe what she is seeing is just reflections from the lights in the room. Jackie closes her eyes for a few seconds, but the sound gets louder. She then looks up again to see the pair of eyes descending slowly towards her. She realizes that this is for real and something very large is making its way down the stairs approaching her closer and closer.

Just a few paces from the door, Jackie tries to make a run in an attempt to close it, but can’t seem to get herself to move. She is frozen with fear, and not able to move her legs. It smells the fear inside her, and the heavy pounding of feet is heard on the wooden stairs as it rushes down towards Jackie. It’s half way down, racing towards her. She screams out with tremendous fear, but pulls out of it. She races for the door, slamming it shut just in time to hear a loud thud against the wood. Trembling, Jackie falls to her knees. Her heart is racing, pounding in her chest as she sits with her back against the door. She can hear the animal scratching from the other side as if trying to find a way in.

Jackie screams out in frustration.

“Leave me alone! Go away!”

The growling only gets deeper and louder. She begins to pound with her fists on the door, screaming and shouting at the same time hoping to scare the thing away.

After five minutes of her efforts, she stops to listen. Then there is complete silence, no growling, no scratching at the door. Has she managed to scare the thing away, or is it waiting for her to open, ready to attack at the slightest chance.

Not risking opening the door, she looks for another way out. Without making a sound, Jackie backs away very slowly. She stops to think. She’s in a basement, and every room must have a window.

Orientating herself, she moves to the opposite wall of the room, quite certain it being an outside wall. Jackie feels the wooden paneling hoping to feel a draft between the cracks. Midway from the wall, she moves her hand upwards. She then takes a chair and stands on it, reaching up as high as she can. In the upper right-hand corner she finds what she is looking for, a ventilation hole.

“There has to be a window here behind the paneling!”

She looks around for something heavy and spots a paper weight on the table. She takes it and begins to pound with it against the wall above her head, trying to find a weak point. Just to the left of the wall the paper weight manages to split open a panel large enough for her hand to pass through. About a foot inside Jackie can feel the smoothness of glass.

“Found it!” She says with relief.

Jackie stops to listen. She can hear that deep animal sound again. Slowly she turns around and to her amazement the door handle begins to turn.

“Shit! What is that thing? It’s opening the damn door now!”

Jackie has to move fast, any moment it will be inside the room. She quickly pulled out her hand from the crack in the wall, tearing out a piece of her flesh, causing a deep gash in her arm. Jackie continues to pound the wall with the paper weight as blood drips from her wound. After making a large enough opening for her to pass through, she pulls away pieces of wood until the window is revealed. The door starts to creak open, but she races to it slamming it shut again.

Jackie is out of breath panting heavily. She takes a look through the keyhole seeing only darkness on the other side. She was about to turn away when suddenly the animals large eyes are looking straight at her. Screaming with fright she gets up and rushes to the window. She grabs and twists the handle and pushes it open. Jackie steps up onto the window sill, when suddenly the door bursts open as she is about half way out. The sound of the animal can be heard racing across the room towards her. Looking back, she sees the massive head of the huge Rottweiler. She manages to scramble out of the window just in time, but her left foot gets caught between the window frame and the wooden panel. The pain Jackie felt was horrendous as the animal sank its large teeth into her flesh. Lashing out with her other foot, she delivers a hard blow to the devil dog’s sensitive nose. It yelps out in pain, releasing her ankle. Jackie is on her feet limping as fast as the pain will allow her. Finally, she reaches the safety of the gate. The taste of fresh blood drives the animal insane, its howling is terrifying.

Luckily, Jackie has managed to escape certain death.