Gypsy Spirits (6 page)

It was shortly after midnight when Annamarie returned home. The house was dark and quiet. On nights like that, she always wished they had a dog to greet her, but this was Timmus Woods and nothing much ever happened. She turned on the radio for sound and began to get ready for bed.

***

Annamarie wasn’t exactly sure of the time when she heard the back door open and water running in the kitchen sink, but she knew it was the middle of the night. She wondered whether to call the sheriff or hide. Then she heard Daniel’s frantic voice.

“Annamarie, please
come here.”  

Entering the kitchen she saw her husband standing by the sink covered in blood. The entire front of his white t-shirt and part of his jeans had blood on them. 

“Oh my God, what happened? Are you all right?” Forgetting how his earlier words stung, she hurried to help him.

Daniel, pale and shaking, stared at her and said, “Ben’s dead.” 

“Dead, are you sure?” She gripped the counter to remain on her feet.

“Yes.
This is his blood,” Daniel moaned as he sunk to the floor, and began to cry. 

“I’m going to call the sheriff, you need help. Where are the other guys?” 

He reached up to grab her arm. “We all ran. Don’t call the sheriff. He can’t help. It was the spirits.” 

At this point, she was afraid for her husband’s sanity and her safety.

She knelt down beside him. “I can call your father.”

“No.”

“But Daniel…” 

“I’m going to take a shower and burn my clothes.” 

“Burn your clothes, why? Did you kill Ben?” Annamarie trembled. 

“No,” he screamed. “The spirits did, and we have to get rid of the blood before they come here. They follow blood.” 

“Dear Lord,” she prayed, “Help my husband, please.” 

Not knowing what else to do, she took Daniel’s clothes outside while he showered. He joined
her and lit a fire in the leaf barrel. 

“If you don’t want to call the sheriff, why don’t you call Steve?” 

“No.”

“You and Steve Dunley have been friends for years. Even
though, he’s a deputy now doesn’t mean he wouldn’t help you.” 

“
I said, no!” Daniel was emphatic. She dropped the subject. 

Daniel threw his clothes into the barrel, and they watched them burn. She was thankful it was the middle of the night. She doubted anyone was awake. Someone might wonder what was going on, but then no one would ask a Logan what they were doing regardless of the time of day. They went back into the house without speaking another word.

***  

Daniel’s tossing and turning kept her awake much of the night, although she doubted she would have slept much in any case.

Her mind kept whirling in different directions. Confused as to what possessed Daniel not to tell anyone what happened, she hoped Ben’s death was an accident. Annamarie knew Daniel was terrified that he would be blamed. Garret and Bulk were not exactly the trustworthy type. Given the chance, they would turn in their grandmothers to keep from getting into trouble, and going to jail. 

Still, Daniel could’ve counted on his father to be sure
the authorities treated him fairly. She also knew Daniel wouldn’t hurt Ben intentionally. At least, she didn’t think he was capable of a violent act. If he had anything to do with Ben’s death and dreamed up the spirit story, there had to be a reasonable explanation. They were best friends and would have done anything for each other. They would’ve stood up for each other in any fight, and die for the other if needed. 

Ben was dead. Daniel didn’t have a scratch on him. Daniel would never hurt Ben. Annamarie hoped and prayed she was right and for the first time since she had met Daniel, she was a bit afraid of him and for him.

Chapter Five: Spirits? 

It was sunrise when Annamarie decided she couldn’t stay in bed any longer. The sunlight was peeking around the edges of the window shades beckoning her to go outside and greet it. She tried to get out of bed quietly and not disturb Daniel, but he was already awake. 

“Baby,” he whispered, “I know you think I’m crazy, but it had to be the spirits because nothing else could do that to Ben.” 

“Do what?” she asked not wanting an answer. 

“If I tell you, you have to promise to keep this a secret forever,” Daniel pleaded. 

She agreed to keep his secret. After all, they were married and had taken vows for better or worse. She had a feeling this was going to test her promise of “or worse” in ways she never imagined. Annamarie wished she was wrong. However, not only was she right, but it was going to test her sanity as well.

“Before I tell you, I have to find something,” Daniel said, “I’ll be right back.” 

He disappeared down the hall and into their spare bedroom used for storage. He came back carrying four library books. 

“When did you get those?”  

“My senior year of high school.”

Daniel began to explain why he had library books more than three years overdue. He said, “If you don’t check them out they can’t be overdue.” He continued to tell her about his experience with his mom and the librarian. When his mom had the doctors in Oaklin examine him, they didn’t feel he was emotionally ill, suggesting instead George and Maureen divert his interest from spirits to other subjects.

“For two years, my parents encouraged me to get involved in sports, hobbies and reading anything that didn’t have to do with spirits,” Daniel moaned. “I still wanted to know more about spirits. That’s when the trouble in the library started.”

“What did you do?”

“I needed more information on the town and the subject of spirits, and looked for books in the library. I found two on the town’s history, and two about spirits. One was general information and the other about the possibility of spirits in Oaklin County.”

“I didn’t know there were books about Oaklin County.”

“Me either, but when I took them to the check-out desk, the librarian said I couldn’t check them out. It was near the end of my senior year, and I was eighteen. I couldn’t understand the problem. I was arguing with the librarian when the head librarian wandered over to see why I was making a commotion.”

“They should’ve been used to you after four years.”

“This was different. The two librarians spoke, and I could hear they were discussing my mom and the order she’d given regarding books on the supernatural or town history. She managed to ban my access to those books.”

“Wow, I knew your mom could get her way, but I never thought she could bully that head librarian. She was a
terror,” Annamarie shuddered at the memory.

“I pretended not to hear what they said. The head librarian explained I had to be a high school graduate to check out these books. I acted disappointed, but said thanks and went back to my table.”

“Knowing you, that wasn’t the end of it.”

“Garret was at the table and together we hatched our first real crime. I had the list of books I wanted and a week later, Garret managed to steal them. He hid them in his locker until after classes were over. At home, I removed the book jackets and the page stamped “property of Timmus Woods Public Library,” and set them on fire in my parent’s leaf barrel.” 

“How did you pull that one off?”

“Remember the day Bulk had the huge argument with Carolyn in the library, and punched the fire alarm setting it off? Everyone panicked, running and screaming, providing Garret the opportunity to throw the books in his locker on his way out of the building. Evidently no one noticed or cared the books
disappeared without being checked out. Now they’re mine.” 

“My husband the criminal,” Annamarie rolled her eyes as she lay down on the sofa to hear the rest of the story.

He held up two books about the town’s general history.

“These are useless. So is the book about spirit history in Oaklin County because it only covers some old sightings miles from here where a farmer went mad and killed his family. There’s no mention of other spirits hovering near the cemeteries.”

“I could have told you that. Our local cemetery is a great place for kids to make out. It’s dark, quiet, and no one else goes there at night.”

The last book, though, had information Daniel needed.

“It has general information, but I found stories of spirits that walk around where they died. That gives credence to my seeing my grandmother. Also, several men died in the woods cutting timber, and who knows what else happened here before the town was settled. There are no records. We could have more spirits than anyone knows. Maybe one killed Ben.” 

“Okay,”
her mind trying to absorb it all. “Then tell me why you think spirits killed Ben, and why didn’t you ever tell your parents what you learned from the books?”                

“How could I tell my mom I have them? Now let me tell you what happened at the cabin,” Daniel seemed to grow more anxious with each word.    

He began to speak, and she thought he’d lost his mind.

“It was still light out, so we sat on the porch and had a few beers. Dusk came and so did the mosquitoes. We went inside. That’s when we pulled out the cards and hard liquor.”

“I knew drinking would cause trouble sooner or later, and now you tell me Ben’s dead,” her tears returning when she thought of her friend lying dead at the cabin.    

“I brought out a bottle of scotch I purchased on a recent trip to Oaklin. Garret brought a bottle of cheap whiskey.”

“You drink too much. You have to change before you get into more trouble. I’ll help you any way I can.” She tried to smile at him. He took her hand and nodded. 

“We were drinking and playing cards when Ben said he had to use th
e outhouse. We all knew he would only walk about ten feet from the cabin, and not even attempt to find the outhouse in the dark. It was a good thing he didn't because we heard him yell for help moments after he closed the door.” 

“Then whoever killed Ben must have been right outside the cabin,” her voice quivering. “You might’ve
been killed.”

Daniel said he was the first to see Ben lying on the ground near the corner of the cabin. There was enough moonlight to make out his body curled up in a ball, but not enough to see the blood. Daniel knelt down and pulled Ben up, but he was already dead.

“I saw all the blood and screamed. ‘Not Ben. Make the spirits stop.' I kept screaming. I closed my eyes and fell on top of Ben. Bulk brought out his flashlight, and Garret turned on the Jeep’s spotlight. What we saw sickened and terrified us. Ben was covered in blood, and we could see slash marks on his face and neck.”

“Slash marks,” her words barely audible, “Are you sure that’s what you saw? It was dark.”

“We thought a bear had attacked Ben, but we hadn’t heard any sounds besides Ben’s scream. Bulk pulled me off Ben’s body knowing whatever or whoever killed Ben might still be close. We ran as fast as we could to my Jeep, and drove out of there.” 

“You just left Ben behind?”

“We had to leave.”    

As far as Daniel
was concerned, something horrid as a demon killed Ben. It was one of the spirits that had plagued him since he was a child, and now his best friend had been taken.

“We left Ben’s Jeep behind since we didn’t know where his keys were. Bulk was mumbling something about a bear killing Ben and the bear was after us. We ignored him on the ride down to the lake parking area.”

“We don’t have bears around here.”

“I saw Ben’s wounds up close and thought
a knife might've made them, but kept my thoughts to myself.”

“It must have been horrible to see. Are you sure you’re okay?”

He nodded and continued with his story holding her hand tighter.

“We stopped at the end of the road, briefly discussing keeping quiet about what happened. We planned to go back in the daylight to see what we’d find. We intended to take as much fire power with us as we could carry.”

“If it was an animal it is probably gone, and if it was a person they wouldn’t stick around either. I don’t think you should go back with guns. You could get killed,” her tears returned.

Daniel ignored her remarks
and continued, “Garret parked his Bronco in the lake lot, and he and Bulk got in and took off. I could hear them talking when Garret drove away. I heard Bulk say, “What if it was them?” I drove home wondering what Bulk had meant by “them.”

Daniel continued, “I know guns aren’t going to stop the spirits, and it was spirits and not something in Bulk’s mind that killed Ben. They’ve never killed
before tonight. They are getting stronger, and I know they’re coming after me.”