The Family Bones

The Family Bones

KIMBERLY RAISER

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book. The Family Bones All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2009 Kimberly Raiser Cover art by: Maggie Barra www.MaggieBarra.com V4.0 Cover Photo © 2009 Kimberly Raiser. All rights reserved - used with permission. This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Delvling Press An imprint of Outskirts Press ISBN: 978-0-615-24625-3 Library of Congress Congrol Number: 2008936962 Outskirts Press and the “OP” logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

For Henry Kunicki, my grandfather, for saving all of his Science Fiction books for me to read in the summers. For all the stories he shared of true and bizarre things. For being able to read about the childhood fantasies of space travel he shared with renowned physicist David Bohm long after they have both been gone.

Acknowledgments First and foremost I would like to thank my husband Geoffrey for his devoted and undying support to believe in my dreams and allow me the ability to fulfill them. Without his love and support, and genius, this book would remain as bytes. His insights and brilliance are seen throughout my stories. I would also like to thank Lynn and Victor Raiser (my surrogate parents) for their eternal optimism when it comes to my writing, and everything else in my life . . . and especially for Geoffrey! This story was first published online as a serial under the name “Astral Plains” at www.silverthought.com

Author’s Note This story began as a horror short story and evolved into something quite different. There are elements of science fiction, mystery, a little dabble of horror and even some humor. No animals were injured in the making of this book, which should rest the mind of the reader, because on occasion our playful Pekingese (Mr. Baggins) would attack me for treats while trying to get my writing done. At times it became dreadfully annoying and warranted a fake throw of a treat to send him into an aimless sniffing. That in turn would distract my writing because I had to take pleasure in his wonderful ability to be the most gullible dog around, which would then warrant the all familiar fake meow.

Chapter 1

T

he well on the back of the property always scared me as a child. It was so deep, and so completely absent of any light. The neighborhood kids used to tell me horrible stories about the old man who used to live there before my grandparents did. How he used to drown cats deep in the well and how their bones would rise during a full moon to look for the old man that drowned them. Of course, like all urban legends, he mysteriously disappeared, and was never seen again. Now the cats’ bones would search for a victim to justify their untimely deaths. It was one of those horror stories kids tell each other just to make them freak out in the dark. This was the first time I’d been back here in a long, long time. I didn’t even realize the property was still in the family; I really hadn’t thought about it. Granddad had passed away some years ago, and Grams had gone to a nursing home. A few weeks after her passing I got a call from the estate attorney. The land was mine. Horror stories and all. It really was a nice piece of property. The main house was a little run down since no one had been there in years. Mostly cobwebs and some rotting wood on the front porch. The roof needed patching here and 1

Kimberly Raiser there, but all in all it was a nice place. I brought my wife and kids to see the house. They were all pretty excited about moving to the country. Of course there was lots of room for the kids to run around and play, not like our suburban life with concrete yards. The house was certainly big enough. It had three bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom, a wonderful study downstairs, nice big eat-in kitchen, and a musky basement. My eight year old Charlie just loved the smell of a musky basement, and so did my wife. It was the first place they went. “Hon, you want Charlie’s flashlight before you head down there?” “That’s ok, the lights work!” she yelled. I thought it was strange that the electricity was on, but the attorney knew we were coming out with the kids; he probably had it turned back on for us. After a quick touring of the place, Tara thought it was absolutely charming, even though the house needed some work and a good sweeping. The grounds were beautiful, and the air was as fresh as could be. It would get us away from the outskirts of the city, and the traffic. And, most of all, it was paid for. I did have my own reservations, but who can argue free? It was while strolling around the back of the house, that Tara saw IT. “Steven, look!” It’s a wishing well!” Instantly she ran towards the well and started tearing the vines and weeds away from it. Crickets and grasshoppers were flying everywhere. She didn’t care. She kept tearing until she got through. I just stood there, frozen, watching. “Come on Steven!” she shouted. 2

The Family Bones Whether it was old childhood stories combined with paranoia, or just a really bad feeling, I hesitated. “It’s just an old well!” I shouted. “Come on, help me clear the vines!” Tara yelled. Slowly my feet began to move. Not an ounce of my body wanted anything to do with that well. It was like one of those dreams where you can’t move your feet as fast as you want to, or one leg is longer than the other. I’ve had lots of those. Except, I was awake. As I approached it, Tara had managed to clear a nice spot for herself to hang over the interior of that ring of damnation. Just as I neared, her balance failed and she began to slip quickly towards the abyss of its opening. My heart nearly stopped. I could feel my pores open to release what sweat I had left. I lunged forward to grab her. Suddenly she caught her balance, turned to me, and smiled. “Almost had you.” “Evil woman,” I thought out loud, then I smiled; after my heart started to beat again. Tara grinned. Her face became this frightening glassy eyed cat, with teeth sharp, and dripping with blood. I screamed, and fell backwards. “What is it?!” she screamed in reaction. I looked at my darling wife. She looked --- beautiful. She looked, like Tara. “Nothing,” I hesitated. “Was I going mad?” I shook my head and wiped my face with my hands, as if to cleanse away the fright. I was quaking inside. “Sweetie, are you ok? You scared the crap out of me!” “Yeah, I’m alright. Got you back, didn’t I?” I 3

Kimberly Raiser chuckled nervously as she helped me up from the ground. “You Bastard,” she said with her special bastard voice. We called each other that when one of us did something slightly evil to the other. “Come on; let’s go take a peek at the back porch!” And off Tara ran to the back of the house, her pretty white gauze dress flowing with every step, following her like wisps of smoke from a freshly blown out candle. It was bewitching. I needed to get a grip on myself. This place was already affecting my brain. And my imagination needed no help when it came to creepy. I could write stories about my dreams that would make a person’s skin peel from their bones. When I was a kid my friends would sneak up behind me constantly to scare me. They would peek around corners meowing and rustling leaves. I could hardly sleep at night. I so looked forward to my visits here, but I’d also forgotten how much I hated it, and that damn well. I loved visiting, and yet, the place gave me the willies. “Wow honey, look at this deck, it’s incredible!” The deck did look beautiful. There were benches built all the way around it, and there was a trellis roof filled with confederate jasmine that completely shaded the entire deck. The wood was in pretty good shape, nothing was really rotted, and it smelled like heaven. I took a deep breath, it was wonderful. I almost relaxed. “Meow” I heard it from the field. I snapped my head around to look for the cat. Tara was so busy twirling around in circles on the deck watching her dress twirl 4

The Family Bones in concert with her movement; she couldn’t have noticed anything. “Meow” “Did you hear that?” Tara stopped twirling. “Hear what honey?” “A cat . . . I heard a cat.” “I didn’t hear anything. It’s probably just your imagination.” “No, I heard a cat.” “Well, maybe a neighbor has a cat, and it is out here because it knows how much you hate cats.” “I don’t hate cats.” “Yes you do.” “Come on, I don’t really hate them.” “Oh come on, yes you do. Every time you see one you pick up your pretend shotgun, and you shoot’em.” She mocked me, right down to the exact motion of the shotgun; she mocked me. Ok, she was close to being right. I did have a thing about cats. And I didn’t particularly have a good reason for feeling that way. It was as if it was, innate. Tara on the other hand had this freakish affinity towards them, or should I say, they towards her. It was like she had the fresh scent of salmon that only cats could smell. It was endearing, and a little creepy. “I want to go inside and look around some more!” and off she went into the house. I watched through the porch window as she explored the kitchen. She looked so happy, so content, so beautiful. Her long brown curls swept around her face at every turn. I loved the way she would always get a strand of hair caught just over her nose so she would have to brush it away with her fingers. “Daddy Daddy!” 5

Kimberly Raiser “Daddy Daddy!” Little Sara came running from the back yard. She was the image of her mother, only in a pint. She came running towards me, the front of her dress held up in a ball coveting something. “Whatcha got there sweetie?” “Look Daddy, look!” She slowed to a careful stop just in front of me. Her big blue eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head. Slowly she unfolded her dress. There they were, the bane of my existence. Kittens. Five of them! “Can we keep them Daddy, can we keep them?” “Where did you find them sweetie?” I didn’t want to touch them. I didn’t want to see them, and I knew momma must be somewhere nearby. Tara overheard the commotion and walked over to us. “Oh Steven, they’re so cute. We can’t just leave them outside by themselves.” She was already in love with them. God help me. “Sweetheart, that meow I heard earlier was probably the mother of these little fledglings looking for them. You should probably put them back where you found them.” Tara flashed a “look” at me. It was one of those looks you give to the town idiot. I didn’t like it very much. It made me feel---small. I cowered my head in shame. “Well, we weren’t planning on staying here tonight, we don’t exactly have anything to sleep on, anything clean that is. I wiped some cobwebs off the wall next to me. I guess we could find a box or something and some towels for them.” 6

The Family Bones “Oh Daddy, can’t I bring them home?” “We don’t have room for them sweetheart, and I’m sure their mommy is probably looking for them right now.” (This was something I didn’t really care to think about.) The girls were so enthralled with the cute furry little things in Sara’s lap, that I didn’t think they heard a word I said, or noticed the fact that Charlie was no where to be found. “Where is your brother Sara?” “I don’t know.” She kept coddling the kittens, she and her mother. “He’s probably down in the basement, why don’t you go look for him sweetheart, it’s getting a bit late. I’ll find something to put the kittens in.” Tara said without taking her attention from the kittens. I rolled my eyes and grumbled. I walked through the kitchen to the cellar door. The door was open, but the light was not on. “Charlie!” I called. “Charlie, are you down there?” The smell of the basement crept up my nostrils like water would if I was drowning in a pool. I covered my face and shook my head. A breeze swept in from the kitchen window, it seemed to help a bit. “Charlie!” I tried one more time. Still no answer. I hadn’t been in that basement for a really long time. It had always creeped me out just a bit too much to be playing down there. Besides, Pop forbid me to go down at all, so sneaking down there was not on my agenda. I reached into my pocket for a flashlight. Ordinarily I didn’t carry one, but Charlie had shoved it into my pocket when we got out of the car because he had a hole in his. He wanted me to keep it safe for him. I pulled the flashlight out and flicked it 7

Kimberly Raiser on. The stairs were completely covered in dust and cobwebs, and footprints. I was about halfway down when I found the pull chain for the light. I couldn’t believe the bulb still worked after all of these years. Thank goodness. I reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. I had forgotten how large the basement was. It was the size of the entire first floor, and it was filled with dusty antiques, and odds and ends from all over; most of which I didn’t recognize at all. The air was damp, and cold. It was like walking into a cave, or perhaps a lion’s den. I was about twenty feet from the stairway when the light suddenly went out. It actually made a popping sound when it went out, like it had filled with gas and just exploded outwards. Scared the crap out of me. Fortunately I still had the flashlight on. There must be another light down here somewhere. I fumbled through a few things on a shelf. Spider webs and dust clung to my fingers like chewed up taffy that had fallen in the dirt. My fingers finally found a switch. I flicked it to what I thought was an on position, but nothing happened. I flicked it on and off a few more times, just in case. Still nothing. For a few moments I had forgotten what I was doing down here in the first place. “Charlie? Are you down here?” Still nothing. I seemed to remember an entrance from the outside to the cellar. It was a set of those storm doors that lay almost flat. I didn’t remember seeing it though while walking the property. I’m sure I just missed it. It was probably covered with overgrown weeds. There had to be another staircase down here. I kept shuffling my feet along the floor with 8

The Family Bones Charlie’s flashlight ahead of me. My eyes were curiously fixed on all of the dusty objects on the shelves, and pieces of furniture that crowded the walls. My foot caught on something. At first I thought maybe I stepped on some old debris, or a box. The flashlight was aiming straight ahead, but I hadn’t noticed a staircase, just an emptiness in front of me. I turned the flashlight to the floor, except, there was no floor, it was open. It was a ledge that lead to a staircase, except the staircase went down, not up. I could feel the panic beating in my chest. My nose filled with the muskiness in the air. It felt colder. I flashed my light down to the bottom. I didn’t count, but it looked like at least twenty steps down, and some sort of doorway at the bottom. Ok, now I was officially creeped out, and I really hoped that my son did not find this staircase and go exploring. Half of me just wanted to get the hell out, while the other half could not walk away. That half is the half that always gets me in trouble. That half is the part of me that pushed my feet down those stairs. I closed my eyes for a moment and actually said out loud, “What the hell am I doing?” I kept going. The staircase was very steep. It seemed older than the house itself. The steps were a mix of cobblestone and concrete. Every now and then my feet kicked a loose pebble or clump of dust. I took my time. Of course, it seemed like an eternity by the time I got to the bottom, but I finally did. I was standing there, in the basement, facing a large wooden door with no doorknob. As I looked up and down for a way to open the door I noticed a metal latch at the top. It was a crude iron latch, looked to be made by hand, not machined. I reached up and gave it 9

Kimberly Raiser a shove. The door obviously hadn’t been opened in a while, so there was no way that Charlie got in here. He would have had to have grown at least a foot to reach the levers. My imagination was going wild, and that troublesome part of me didn’t care, it wanted to get in. I fiddled with the latch until it freed itself from years of rest. The door gave way to the pressure that had been forced on it over much time. It was as if the room exhaled, and the door relaxed to an opening about a half inch. A gust of air rushed its way through. At first the smell was of dust, then, it was something else. I can’t say it was terrible, or pleasant. I couldn’t identify it. It was a sort of a metallic smell. Like a rusty penny. “That’s ridiculous,” I thought. I placed my hand at just chest level and pushed the door inwards. The hinges groaned and creaked as the door slowly opened. The sounds of years of stillness made a popping sound as the door freed itself from the doorframe. It was almost deafening in the state I was in. I had only opened the door a few inches. There was no light, except the now dimming and flickering flashlight I held in my free hand. I knew that wouldn’t last much longer. I pushed the door a bit further. It was still stiff, but was willing to move. I directed what light I had left in through the opening and instinctively reached to the interior wall. There was a switch, an actual light-switch. I tried it. A dim light flickered on ahead of me, another followed further away, and another. What the hell is down here? I pushed the door completely open to reveal a corridor that was fairly well lit. The bulbs in the fixtures above looked very old, like antiques. If that was true, that explains why they still worked. That means this place has been here a very long time. The large filament in 10

The Family Bones the light-bulb just ahead reached its maximum brightness and was a glowing swirl of light. It burned its image in my retinas. I had to close my eyes for a moment to readjust. I still had a faint line that blocked part of my vision, but for the most part I could see clear enough. “Hello?” Did I really expect someone to answer me? No. I guess I just wanted to hear something familiar, and to see if my voice echoed. “Hello!” This time I said it a little louder. My voice carried, which indicated to me that this passageway went a lot further than I could see. I reached back around for the doorway, but when I extended my arm I got nothing but air. I turned around to check the door. There was nothing but corridor. “What the hell?” My heart began beating just a little bit faster. I held the flashlight up in both directions, back and forth, but the lights on the ceiling gave me more light at this point than the flashlight did. Corridors in both directions! But how could that be? I just… I slowly turned a complete circle in my place without blinking, just to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind. There was no door. I was standing in the middle of a tunnel. “Hello!” I yelled it in both directions this time. My voice carrying in each direction. “Alright, this is NOT funny.” Who did I think I was saying that to? Did I really expect an answer? 11

Chapter 2

“C

harlie! Steven!” Tara was calling. “Sara, have you seen your brother?” “No Mommy, I’ve been sitting here with the kitties the whole time waiting for you to come back with a box, and some nice soft towels.” “Ok, stay right here sweetheart. I’m going to take a look upstairs to see if your brother is hiding on us. Ok?” “Ok Mommy. I’ll stay here with the kitties,” Sara whispered just loud enough for her mom to hear her. “They’re asleep anyway; I don’t want to wake them.” Tara climbed the staircase while wiping cobwebs from the banister the whole way. They were plentiful, and sticky. She shook her hand when she reached the top to knock off the ones that adhered themselves to her fingers. “Charlie? Steven?” There was only the sound of creaking beneath her feet as she slowly crept through the hallway. Tara entered the large master suite. “Charlie, are you hiding in here?” There was still some furniture left in the place. There was actually a large carved bed in the room where she was standing. She walked up to the bed 12

The Family Bones and wiped away the dust from the massive headboard. She hadn’t really noticed the detail when she was up there earlier. She was too busy running from room to room to really stop and examine everything. There were strange symbols carved in a beautiful pattern. At first it just looked like some sort of vine, or flowers. Tara looked closer and blinked her eyes several times before it registered that this was indeed a pattern of symbols. She didn’t recognize them. The air in the room chilled. A breeze swept over the back of her neck and goose bumps formed over her entire body. She shivered, then looked up at the window. It was closed. Tara shook off her shiver realizing she had probably done that to herself by reading a little more into the carved headboard than was necessary. She had a wild imagination, and sometimes she could fool herself, not unlike Steven. The carvings were definitely real though, and the wood grain on this bed was spectacular. She wanted to look over the entire bed, but knew she had to find Charlie and Steven. Tara squatted to the floor to look under the bed. No eight year old there. She went into the bathroom. “No place to hide in here,” she thought out loud, though the large claw foot tub was just hollering for some company. It was beautiful. The entire bathroom, aside from the dust, was immaculate. Right down to the small black and white mosaic tiles on the floor, it was in perfect condition. Alas, no Charlie. Tara went through every room upstairs and still nothing. 13

Kimberly Raiser She returned to the closet door at the end of the hallway that had been previously locked, and checked it again, just in case. The door opened without a hitch. “Now that’s really weird. This thing wouldn’t budge earlier.” She opened the door slowly. It was not a closet after all. “Oooooo, the attic! Now if I were eight years old, where would I be? Hmmmm, would I be hiding in the secret attic that no one knew about? How very cool.” Slowly Tara crept her way up the squeaky attic stairway. The steps were steep, and very narrow. There was no railing so she kept her hands close to the walls. There hadn’t been a light switch but soon after the fourth step a small chain tapped Tara on the forehead and she stopped to pull on it. The narrow passageway was well lit, and very high. “I don’t remember the roof line looking so high from the outside,” she thought to herself, but that did not slow her down. She reached the top twelfth step and was amazed at the size of the room she had just entered. It was actually quite large, and not quite as dusty as the rest of the house. There was a large wood carved desk with a matching chair, and a tall brass lamp alongside of the desk. It looked more like a lantern hanging from a stand, like perhaps the lantern was carried around and placed there when necessary. There was a small bed on the other side of the room. It was a strange size. Kind of halfway between adult and child size. It looked pretty perfect for one person. The bed was actually still made up with a fluffy white blanket, and a pillow knitted of blue and white checks. There was a little dust on the bed, but not as much as one would 14

The Family Bones expect from an attic. Alongside the bed was a small painted table. It was round, with three perfectly symmetrical legs. There was a small drawer with a little cut glass knob to open it with, and a shelf just below the drawer with a small clay pot. Tara walked over to the bed and sat down. She didn’t stay seated for long when she just had to lay herself down and sprawl out. She closed her eyes for a moment. “Perfect,” she whispered. *** Charlie knew he was in trouble. He had wandered off one too many times, and now he wasn’t really sure where he was, or how to get back. He didn’t have his flashlight, and he was scared. He had yelled for his mother and father until he couldn’t yell any longer. He sat against the cold wall on the ground, pulled his legs close to his chest, and wrapped up in his oversized coat. After long enough, he fell asleep. *** Alright, the door must be here somewhere. I ran my hands across the wall behind me. It was somewhat smooth, with a hairline crack I could feel that ran the length of what I thought was the doorway. “Terrific,” I thought out loud. “The door must be hidden from this side by the wall. It must have closed behind me.” The tunnel seemed to have a curvature to it. Almost a flattened out U shape. That must have been why I got so disoriented when I turned around to look 15

Kimberly Raiser for the door. Well, now all I have to do is decide which way to go. Obviously I can’t go out the same way I got in. I decided to keep to the left side so I could keep my right hand free. There was just enough light in the passageway from the bulbs above that I didn’t need to use what was left of Charlie’s flashlight. The ground was even enough, although every now and then I could feel something crunch beneath my feet. I’d like to believe it was just a rock or two. I couldn’t see the ground very well and I was creeping along at a slow pace. I was about fifty feet into the tunnel now. It had turned slightly two times already. I had no idea where I was. The ground seemed to be descending. I could feel the muscles in my legs straining against the earth like I was walking downhill. “Where the hell is this going?” I couldn't imagine what this was used for. I could hear a faint humming sound. It continued to get louder the further I went. I was still going downhill. A bright light flashed and blinded me. I couldn't see a thing, but I could hear the humming. *** Tara decided it was time to get back downstairs to her daughter. She had found a wonderful secret upstairs, but it didn’t contain her son. She lifted herself from the splendid comfort of the bed, and headed toward the staircase. “Mommy! Where are you?” 16

The Family Bones Tara could hear her daughter calling to her. “I’m coming sweetheart!” Tara reached the bottom of the stairs and opened the door to the hallway. It was dark. The light to the attic was still on, but the entire second floor was pitch black. “Sara?” She stood still at the attic doorway. “Sara, are you up here?” There was nothing but silence. Tara was becoming a little uneasy. The light of the full moon was shining through one of the bedroom windows just enough to cast a small amount of light directly onto the staircase leading down to the first floor. She took advantage of the light, and headed back downstairs. Tara reached the bottom of the stairs and looked over to where Sara had been sitting with the kittens. She wasn’t there. “Sara? Where are you honey?” She began to search the first floor. “Mommy?” “Oh God!!!” Tara jumped and turned. Standing behind her was her Sara. Sara was standing there as innocent as could be, rubbing her eyes and scratching her neck. “You scared the life out of me! Goodness gracious, where were you? I heard you call for me sweetheart, but when I came downstairs I couldn’t find you.” “I was right here Mommy.” “Have you seen Daddy or Charlie yet?” “Nope. I’ve been sitting down here the whole time. I even fell asleep and had a dream about candy canes and dolphins.” 17

Kimberly Raiser Tara patted her quietly on the head and reached down to lift her up. “Where are the kittens sweetheart?” “They went back to their mommy.” Sara rubbed her eyes. “I’m tired. Can we just sleep here tonight mommy?” “We really need to find your brother and daddy. I bet the two of them are hiding on us someplace.” A faint creaking sound could be heard from another room, like a door slowly opening. Tara froze in her spot, listening. She waited. Footsteps could be heard over the deafening silence. They seemed to get closer. Tara stiffened. “Steven?” The word came out of her mouth, but this time it was more of a question than an announcement like it usually sounds. “Charlie?” she tried, but nothing. The footsteps stopped, but the tingle running down her spine would not. Nervously she began to walk with Sara held tight against her body, her head lay resting on her mother’s shoulder. Sara’s body went limp. She couldn’t believe her daughter could fall asleep against such a rigid thing. The sound of thunder could be heard in the distance, and faint flashes of light filled the windows. A storm was coming, and now she didn’t know where her son or husband was. “They had better be together,” was all she could think. She didn’t know whether to be angry, or worried. The feeling running through her entire body was not of anger though, and Tara’s senses were better than anyone she had ever known. And what she sensed… 18

The Family Bones *** The earth seemed to shake. The sound that followed the flash was almost deafening. The humming ceased. I stood there trying to focus my eyes, but the flash was too bright for me to get my bearings just yet. I kept my hand against the wall and moved forward slowly. There wasn’t much choice in the matter. I could just sit here and do nothing, or move on and try to find a way out. I could feel a breeze. I came upon a pretty sharp turn in the tunnel, and after I cleared it I could see light shining on the floor from above. Another flash of light. It was painfully bright, and this time the ground shook at the same time. I could hear the popping and hissing of electricity only feet away it seemed. I was having a lot of trouble getting any kind of bearing, then I heard it. It was rain. It was coming in from an opening very close to me, but from far above. I let out a deep breath, and a deep sigh of relief. It was lightning, and thunder. It wasn’t the end of the world at all. At least I hoped not. I moved to the edge of the light, and the water dropping to my feet. I tried to look up but the rain was coming in too heavily, and the lightning was getting more frequent. “It must be a way out.” I tried to remember exactly where the well was on the property, but I really had no idea where I was in relation to the well. I was so disoriented, and I had no idea how far down I was from the surface at this point, although it sounded like a fairly long drop from the sound of the rainfall and the thunder. That shudder 19

Kimberly Raiser must have been lightning hitting something just above me. And the electricity I heard could possibly have been spidering its way down a grate, or a ladder that came down from the surface. (I hoped.) I tried to remember what the well looked like from above. I hadn’t dared to look down when Tara and I were walking the grounds, though she got a fair look. All I remember as a kid was looking down and seeing metal grating that would have stopped anything that would have fallen in there. I don’t know how old it was, but as a kid I thought it was put there to stop things from coming out. Wow. Now all kinds of thoughts were going through my head, like…I’M THE ONE that needs to GET OUT! It was like a horrible epiphany. The rain was letting up slowly. Enough for me to look at the wet ground below my feet, and just in front of me during the next flash of lightning. My eyes widened, my throat constricted with what I saw. I lifted my foot as if to check to see if there was anything stuck to my shoe. All those things that I have been walking across. The things that have been catching at my feet. I bent down and squinted my eyes. I turned on the flashlight that now had barely a glow to it. Bones. At least; I think they were bones. I picked a piece up and held it up to eye level waiting for another flash of light bright enough to see what it was. Charlie’s flashlight was almost completely dead at this point. I stood under the rain. I was frozen. Out of fear or chilled by the weather, I couldn’t tell. The light flashed like a bulb bursting at a snapshot. Instamatic. 20

The Family Bones The fractured piece of a skull flashed into view. The lightning was quick, and though it was gone, I could still see the skull. It started coming in long bright bursts. I dropped the piece to the ground and as I looked down, a slow motion film ensued. The flashes created this surreal feeling of an old silent film, a macabre of death. There were bone fragments all over the ground. Pebble shaped, dust, pieces that had become part of the path. I almost couldn’t breathe. The rainwater was building up in a puddle, and pieces began to float. My head was floating. “I needed to get out of here.” *** Tara could feel her bones turning almost brittle. The thunder and lightning had become almost unbearable. It was the most violent storm she had ever seen or heard, and yet little Sara slept. She walked to a large chair that was in the living room and pulled the sheet from it so she wouldn’t sit in a pile of dust. She slowly collapsed into the chair and held her daughter tight, while the room filled with flashes of light and sound. It was the only light in the room since the power had now gone out. The clouds had covered any hint of moonlight. Sara was sound asleep in her mother’s arms. Though Tara could not understand how anyone could sleep amidst the thundering, she was thankful that this little person could. Tara was facing the kitchen from where she was sitting. Another flash of lightning lit up the kitchen from every window. 21

Kimberly Raiser There was someone there. Tara froze and stopped breathing. And then, upon the next flash, there was nothing, no one. Her heart jumped into her throat. “STEVEN!!” “This isn’t funny at all!” There was no response. Not even a sound. The storm had suddenly stopped. “God, was I imagining things?” She knew it was possible, considering the odd circumstances. Tara could feel something behind her, in the stillness, in the dark. Her eyes widened as if somehow they could allow more light into them, though it was just the terror approaching. No sooner was her mouth and nose covered, she was out. *** Tara opened her eyes slowly. Her head was pounding. She couldn’t move. She was bound to a table or something. She was tied at the feet, with about two inches between each ankle. The rope was coarse and sliced into her skin as she moved. Her hands were strapped to her sides, and her throat bore a kerchief of leather and sweat that also kept her still. She couldn’t remember anything, and she couldn’t scream because of the gag wrapped around her mouth. She tried to yell for Sara. “God, where is Sara? Where is Steven? And Charlie?” Tears were flowing steady from her eyes. The stinging was terrible. She couldn’t tell where she was. It was dark, and 22

The Family Bones damp. There was only a small amount of light in the room and she couldn’t see where it was coming from. The room didn’t feel very large; there was no air movement. Tara tried to move her head sideways. She could turn from left to right, but could not lift her head. “This cannot be happening.” She closed her eyes. The words kept pounding through her mind. “This cannot be happening,” until she lost consciousness again. *** The rain finally let up. The thunder and the lightning subsided. The clouds cleared within moments, enough to let the moonlight shine down through the opening. I looked up to see how high the actual opening was. It was very very high. I could see the top, the top of the well. It was the grating that gave it away. I couldn’t tell how close to the top it actually was, or what shape it was in after all of these years. There was a ladder, but it didn’t come down far enough for me to have even the slightest chance at it. I had always hated that well. I had to find a way out of here. The humming sound started again. It was coming from further down the tunnel. The lights came back on as well. It must be some kind of generator, but how did it get turned back on? I didn’t know if I really wanted the answer to that question. I pushed myself to go on. My clothes were pretty well saturated at this point. Between the dampness, the rain, and just plain angst, I was wet any way you could cut it. Well at least I could see again. I kept my hand on the left side of the wall like before. The tunnel seemed 23

Kimberly Raiser to have gotten a bit narrower, and the walls were damp, and slippery. They felt almost slimy. Something dropped onto my head. I flailed and waved my hands over my hair like a wild person. “My God, I’ve got to get a grip; it was probably a spider, or a drop of water.” I stopped to compose myself. I took a deep breath, and focused. “I’ve got to get back to the house, there has to be another way. There was no delay in my step now. I moved on, and I went as fast as the light allowed. The tunnel suddenly ended with a sharp right turn. I almost walked flat into the wall ahead of me. I turned and kept following for maybe twenty feet when the tunnel ended. I felt the entirety of the walls with my hands. This part of the tunnel was very dark. I could easily miss something. As I turned to feel behind me something tapped me lightly on the top of my head. I reached up slowly and felt a small metal loop that was hanging from a chain. I pulled carefully on the loop. Slowly the ceiling opened. It was a hatch, a doorway or something. As I pulled harder the doorway came completely down. It was like a pull down attic stairway. Part of me was not pleased that there was another hidden pathway, but most of me was just happy to get out from the dankness of the tunnel. I pulled the ladder down to the floor and stepped on it until it felt firm enough to climb. I could only hope there was light up there. I began to climb. The wood rungs were damp, like the walls, but still I managed to pull a shard from them into my hand. I ignored it. Although it was dark I could feel that I was in another chamber by the stillness of the air, and the 24

The Family Bones smell. I tried to focus my eyes. There was nothing to focus on. I felt around for a switch, or a chain. “This is ridiculous.” I could feel my blood just starting to boil, like when I’d lost my car keys and I knew they were around somewhere close, but I couldn’t find them anyway, and I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. “How could I climb up into whatever is up here, and not see anything? I could hear a scratching sound scurry across the floor in front of me. It was small, must have been a rat, or a mouse. It scurried off about ten feet to my left and suddenly the scurry was met with a squish sound. I did not react well. I reacted so poorly in fact, that I lost my footing and slid back down to the bottom of the ladder. I saw the Milky Way, then nothing.

25

Chapter 3

“I

t’s going to be ok Mommy.” Sara stroked her mother’s cheek with the breath of an angel. “It’s going to be ok.” Tara opened her eyes. She was no longer in restraints, though it felt as though they were still there. Her ankles burned from the gnashing of the rope, and her wrists ached from her struggle. She reached to feel her neck, then suddenly she jumped up and hugged her daughter. “Sara. You’re ok.” “Of course Mommy, why wouldn’t I be?” Sara looked innocently up at her mother. Tara looked around the room they were in. She didn’t recognize anything about it. It seemed like a bedroom. She had woken in a bed. There were no windows though, and it smelled damp like the basement. “Sara, how did you get in here?” “I woke up in here, same as you Mommy. Did you sleep well?” Tara looked at her ankles and her wrists. The marks were still there; she had not imagined it. A tear began to form in each eye, but she did not want to lose composure in front of her daughter. Sara seemed to 26

The Family Bones be fine. “Mommy, you stay here, and I’ll go get you something to drink.” Sara got up, walked across the room, and opened the door. Just as quickly the door closed behind her, and locked. Tara ran to the door grabbing at the handle, turning it to no avail. She shook the door and beat on it, screaming all the while. “Sara! Sara!” She kept banging on the door until her hands were pink and raw. “There’s no point Tara,” a voice said from somewhere behind her. It was so startling that she spun in her spot almost effortlessly. “Who is that?!” she screeched. “Who are you, what do you want from us?! Where is my son? And my daughter!? You bastard! Where is my family?!” “Calm now. Your family will be fine. You will stay here for now.” The voice was cold and distant, and it seemed to be coming from inside the room, but Tara could not see anyone, or anything. “Who are you?!” she screamed. Tara turned back to the door and pounded some more. No one answered her. Her mind was just spinning in a million directions. Her eyes were flitting all over the room, looking, for what, she did not know. Taking a deep breath, Tara composed herself. Her hand slipped over the medallion she wore on a white gold chain. She wrapped her fingers around it. It was a gift from Steven years ago. It was simple, a silver flat sphere, donut shaped, with the words, “strength, power, freedom”, inscribed along the edge in Runes on one side, and the other side was inscribed, ‘freely embraced for eternity.’ This side she kept close to her heart. It gave her strength 27

Kimberly Raiser and eased her mind whenever she needed it. She searched the entire room for someone that might be hiding, but found no one. She sat down on the bed and decided to feel for her family. There was a panic that had been erupting in the pit of her stomach for a little while now. She felt that the children were ok. She just knew this. It was Steven she felt unsure of, worried. She couldn’t place it, or sense what was going on. All she knew was that he was in trouble. The calm she felt for the children eased her mind somewhat. She began searching the walls for a way out, or something that would give her any indication of what was going on. Was she still in the house? She hadn’t really thought of that yet. Alongside the bed was a table. The top was white marble, and the base was a painted wood. It seemed very old, but it was solid. On the table was a lantern, like the one she had seen in the attic. There were matches in a box just to the left of it. She lit a match and lifted the glass up on the lantern to light it. Someone had made sure it was filled with enough oil. She turned the knob on the lantern and adjusted the flame to give her some additional light. The room was a bit more lit up, and seemed almost friendlier. Although the room smelled like a basement, it was actually quite cozy. It was probably the size of a small living room, and was decorated quite particularly. There were several book shelves on one side of the room that had wood hinged doors with glass windows. It was very pretty. The walls were a combination of stone and cement, but it wasn’t cold. There was a small corner fireplace in the room. There were large quartz pieces that encompassed it, and a small mantle 28

The Family Bones above, with a small clay pot resting in the center. It looked like the same pot she had seen in the attic, only a little larger. Tara walked over to the fireplace and rested the lantern on the mantle. She picked up the clay pot and lifted the lid from its rest. Inside the pot were what appeared to be very small beads. They didn’t look like anything she had seen before. Perhaps they were seeds? Tara leaned her nose in closer to the pot and sniffed. There was a scent, but it wasn’t familiar at all. It wasn’t offensive, or particularly sweet. She really wasn’t sure what it was. She placed the lid back onto the pot and rested it back in its place. Tara walked over to the bookshelves and tried to open one of the cabinets. The door wouldn’t open for her. There didn’t seem to be a lock. It didn’t seem like it should be difficult to open at all, but it wasn’t moving. Tara peered closer. She could see through the glass at the markings on the books. A few of them had what she thought might be the same symbols she saw carved in the headboard of the bed in the house. She still could not make out what it was. Maybe a different language or something archaic. Her finger traced one of the symbols through the glass. She tried another cabinet door, this one opened. Inside were several small wooden boxes. They too had symbols carved into them. As she reached for the smallest of the boxes, something stopped her. It wasn’t any thing in particular; it was more like a force. She withdrew and closed her eyes. “There is something here,” she thought to herself. She reached in again, only this time she imagined the box in her hand before she touched it. She opened 29

Kimberly Raiser her eyes and found the box within the grasp of her hand. A tranquility swept over her entire body. The air was now sweet; fear was at rest. The box was a dark wood carved with symbols and vines. There was no latch, no hinge. She lifted the top slowly while grasping the bottom with her other hand. It was slow to come off, almost like it wanted her to experience the anticipation of its contents. Tara felt a wonderful sense of power, and desire. The box opened. Inside was a small round pendant with symbols etched along the edges. The symbols were in Runes. She could read them. They were familiar. Her eyes sharply focused on the letters, on the words. Freedom. Power. Strength. She looked at her own neck and the ring that lay freely from its chain. Her eyes fixed. They were the same, in reverse. Her heart started pounding fiercely, with passion, desire, then fear. She dropped the box to the floor. The pendant bounced from the box and slowly she watched it tumble to the floor only to reveal the other side. I give my soul to thee . . . *** “Charlie. Wake up Charlie.” Charlie opened his eyes to find his little sister crouched down looking at him with her big bright blue eyes. “Sara. How did you find me?” “C’mon Charlie. We have to go. You have to come with me.” Charlie didn’t know what to make of it. He re30

The Family Bones membered falling asleep, but he didn’t fall asleep here. He looked up and around. They seemed to be in a barn, in an actual hay loft. His little sister had already started climbing down the ladder. “C’mon Charlie. We’re going to be late!” “Late, for what? Where’s Mom and Dad?” “C’mon, Mommy is waiting for us, Daddy will be along soon.” *** I woke up with my head pounding, and I wasn’t on a cold, wet floor. “What the hell?!” I sat up and rubbed my head. I rubbed my eyes, then my head again. I looked around. I wasn’t in the tunnel anymore. OK. How the hell did I get out? Did I whack myself so good that I can’t remember how I got from there to here? And where is here? There was daylight streaming in through the window. I was in what looked like a bedroom. The décor looked somewhat familiar. It reminded me of the house, only not as dusty. “Was I in the guest cottage?” We hadn’t even been over there yet. I tried to get up, but my legs felt like I had just gotten off of a lopsided ocean liner. I could barely see straight. I didn’t feel very good either. I felt like I had been drugged. The door to the room opened slightly. Someone was there. “Hello?” The door opened more. “Hi Daddy!” “Sara, how did you…” “How are feeling Daddy? Uncle Ben said you got a 31

Kimberly Raiser big bump on your head when you went looking for Charlie.” “Uncle Ben?” “Yeah, he’s been getting the place ready for us.” The door opened wider and a very tall, friendly looking man stepped in. “Mr. Weaver. You sure knocked your head good while you were down in the basement. Good thing your daughter found you down there.” “I’m sorry. Do we know each other?” “Well I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were all coming out here to see the place. I’m your Uncle Ben, Ben Jenkins. I’ve been living out here for a long time taking care of the place for your Pop and Grams. I was your mom’s half-brother. Remember?” “Wow.” I was seriously scratching my head now. “I had forgotten anybody was out here. I didn’t know you had stayed all these years.” “Yup, been watchin’ over the place until somebody told me different. I figured since I was family it was ok.” “Ben, you said I was found in the basement?” “Yes sir. You were on the floor with a big old bump on your head.” “I was…” I stopped what I was going to say. I wasn’t sure what was going on, better keep that to myself. “Have you seen my wife and my son?” “Oh they’re just fine. Little Charlie got himself lost and fell asleep in the barn. Sara found him.” *** As Tara watched the words fall to the ground, she felt her whole life hitting only the surface of a world 32

The Family Bones she was unfamiliar with. Tears formed in her eyes, and trickled down the sides of her cheeks. She wiped them away. She reached down to the pendent on the floor. She held it in her hand. “Something is wrong here.” Her head shook back and forth as if she was saying “No” to someone. “It cant be…” An image of Steven flashed through her mind. She went over to the bed and sat down with the pendant still in her hand. She reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace and laid it on her lap. She added the pendant to her chain and put the clasp back in place behind her neck. Both pieces lay next to her skin. She coveted both of them. She wasn’t sure where this thing came from, but there had to be something meaningful behind it. Tara felt a wave of lightheadedness take over; she fell asleep on the bed once more. *** “Mommy, wake up. Mommy…” Sara tugged at her mother. “C’mon Mommy, Uncle Ben is here, he found Daddy in the basement with a bump on his head, but he is ok now, and Charlie fell asleep like a Dupa in the barn. We’re going to have something to eat Mommy.” Tara lifted her head from the pillow. She looked around a little bewildered. She was back in the attic lying down on the perfect bed. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “Was I dreaming?” She quickly looked down at her chain. There was only one pendant hanging from it. “It seemed so real. God, it must be this place or something. I hate it when I dream like that.” She felt wet on her cheeks. Her eyes were a lit33

Kimberly Raiser tle teary, but that could have easily happened while she was sleeping. “C’mon Mommy!” Sara yelled, already halfway down the stairs. Tara stood up and walked down the stairs behind Sara. Sara was already running through the house to the kitchen, and out the side door. “Where are you going Sara?” Sara kept running across the field to the guest cottage. Tara ran to catch up. “Where are you going?!” At this point she was just laughing and running after her daughter. Sara came up to the little cottage and threw open the door. “Daddy Daddy, I found Mommy!” Tara didn’t even remember seeing the guest cottage. How could she have missed that? She stood there still for a moment looking around at the structure, then approached the door. From behind her she heard footsteps in the leaves. She quickly turned around and standing there was a very large man in suspenders, with a large shovel in his hand. Just as she was about to scream the door opened from behind her and Ben spoke. “It’s ok, that’s my son Jack. He’s pretty harmless Mrs. Weaver. I’m sorry, (he reached his hand out to shake Tara’s hand.) I’m Ben Jenkins. I’m your husband’s Uncle, by marriage. We didn’t mean to frighten you.” “Oh.” She shook his hand. “Umm…” she turned to look back at Jack, then back at Ben. Meanwhile Sara came running back out the door. “Mommy, you met Uncle Ben!!! And that’s Uncle Jack.” She grabbed Tara’s hand and dragged her into 34

The Family Bones the cottage. Steven jumped from the sofa and quickly got to Tara and hugged her tight. He whispered in her ear, “I’m so glad you are ok.” He kissed her softly behind her ear. Tara’s eyes closed for a second, she looked at him and was about to say something when Steven gave her a wink. “Ben here has been living on the property since I was a little kid. He stayed on to take care of the place all of these years. He didn’t know we were coming by.” “Oh, I think I do remember you mentioning Ben now that I think about it.” Jack was coming through the door when his father stopped him, “Leave the shovel outside Jack, you’ll get dirt all over the floor.” “Yes sir.” He walked back out the door and rested the shovel against the wall. “He’s harmless Mrs. Weaver. A little slow, but harmless. It’s been just the two of us since his mom passed away years ago. She used to help Gram Weaver around the house, and at church socials and things.” Sara walked over to Jack and tugged on his pant leg. She had to almost look straight up at the ceiling to look at his face. “Do you have any ice cream?” “I dunno. We can go look in the icebox though. C’mon into the kitchen Sara.” “Where is Charlie?” Tara was looking around the room. “He’s taking a nap in one of the bedrooms. He was still pretty tired after we found him in the hayloft fast asleep Mrs. Weaver.” 35

Kimberly Raiser “Oh please, call me Tara.” Tara looked across the room to the mantle. There were some family portraits that she hadn’t seen before. She walked over and picked the one up. “Is this Steven’s mother and father?” “Yup it is. That was when they first got married. They used to spend a lot of time out here before the accident.” “Yes, of course. I would imagine they visited quite a bit.” “They lived just down the road a bit. The house was part of this property for the longest time, but then it got sold when Grams went to the nursing home. It had about ten acres to it. Pretty little house. The Marshalls’ own that place now. They’re retired folk. Don’t see them much.” “I didn’t know your parents and your grandparents lived here together?” Tara said as she turned to Steven. “I really didn’t remember that. It must have been when I was really small. I only remember visiting here.” “Little Stevie used take off on the grounds a lot when he was young. Drove his mom crazy. She was always looking for him. That’s probably why they moved. Of course, they only moved down the road a bit, but I guess it was far enough to keep Stevie out of trouble. Didn’t want him fallin’ down a well or something. Would you like some tea Mrs. Weaver, Tara.” Tara sighed. “That sounds wonderful. I’m feeling a little woozy.” “Sure thing. Be right back. Would you like some too Steven?” “Just some water would be great Uncle Ben.” 36

The Family Bones “Comin' right up.” Ben joined Jack and Sara in the kitchen. *** “Steven, are you ok?” Tara rushed to his side on the sofa and looked at his head. “I don’t really know. I remember falling, but it wasn’t in the basement Tara. God, I feel like I’m losing my mind. Maybe we need to just get out of here and go home and get some rest. What time is it anyway?” Steven was now paying close attention to the fact that an entire night had passed. “Was I out that long?” “I don’t know, apparently we all fell asleep at some point.” “Mom? Dad.” Charlie came slowly into the room rubbing his eyes and climbed up onto the sofa wedging himself between the two of them. “This place is weird.” Tara tousled Charlie’s hair, then held him close. “It sure seems strange.” “Did you fall asleep too Mom?” Tara looked a little freaked out by the question. “Ya know, I think we all need to go home and get some rest. Maybe our excitement got the best of us.” Sara came running from the kitchen with a big smile on her face, and a dish of ice cream. “Look Mommy, Vanilla!” She sat contently eating. Tara and Steven looked at each other, as if they were communicating. “Wouldn’t it be nice to be five again?” Tara smiled to Steven. They both laughed nervously. “I think we should be getting back home kids. We 37

Kimberly Raiser could get cleaned up and rested, and come back tomorrow.” “Oh Mommy, I want to stay! Can I? Please, Please? I can stay here with Uncle Ben and Uncle Jack.” “Sara, I really think we have imposed enough for today.” “What does that mean?” Sara’s face twisted. “It means that I’m sure Uncle Ben and Uncle Jack have lots to do, and weren’t planning on having any company. We should be nice guests and say thank you, and go home.” Sara’s face turned cold. She became angry and stomped into the kitchen with her bowl of ice cream. In just a few seconds there was a crashing sound from inside the kitchen. The sound of glass breaking all over the floor. Everyone went running in to see what happened. “Sara!” Tara looked around, looked on the ground at the broken glass, then looked up where it had come from. The kitchen lantern that had been hanging from the ceiling had come completely down and shattered all over the floor. “I’m sorry Mommy,” Sara cried. Tara ran to her and held her. “It wasn’t your fault sweetheart. It’s ok.” Sara sobbed until her nose stuffed. “I think we are ready to go home now sweetie.” “No!” Sara suddenly stopped crying and insisted they stay. “I’m sorry Sara, but we have to go home.” Tara was losing her patience as Sara wriggled in her arms violently. “Sara, you can sleep with me in my room tonight if 38

The Family Bones you want to.” Charlie was trying to be the sweet big brother and comfort his sister. Steven patted him on the head. “C’mon Sara. We’ll be back. We all just need to get some rest.” “Why can’t we rest here?!” she kept screaming. “Sara honey. Me and Uncle Jack will still be here,” said Ben reassuringly. “When you move into the main house you can visit us anytime. That is if it’s ok with Mommy and Daddy?” Tara suddenly felt awkward. Aside from the fact that they seemed to know very little about this place, they would have relatives they hardly knew living on the property. (Were they expecting to stay forever? Surely they knew they would have to leave someday.) (And thanks for putting that suggestion into my kid’s head.) She politely smiled realizing she may have given herself away.

39

Chapter 4

T

he drive back to the city was quiet. Steven wanted to share what happened to him but was reluctant, just as Tara was. They were both deep in thought the entire way home, eye fully watching the children in the rear view mirror. Sara had finally managed to fall asleep next to her brother. Charlie just peered out the window, not saying a word. “Sweetheart, do you mind if we stop to buy some aspirin, I’m getting a terrible headache,” Steven said as he rubbed his temple. “Not at all, I could use some myself. The 7 Eleven should have some. That’s the closest at this point.” Tara was also staring out the window while Steven drove. “Would you like me to drive the rest of the way home after we stop?” “If you don’t mind. It’s getting difficult to concentrate on the road.” Steven pulled into the gas station. “I’ll go in; I’ve got to use the ladies room anyway. Just jump in the passenger seat and rest your head. I’ll be right back.” Tara went into the store and Steven walked around and got into the passenger seat. His head was pounding. Tara found the restroom and went in, flicked the 40

The Family Bones lights on and just slumped against the wall. Her ankles were itching, and she finally acknowledged the fact that they were really bothering her, so she looked under her long gauze skirt. The rope burns on her skin were not imaginary, they were very real. She looked closer, then looked at her wrists. No marks there, but they were tender. She checked her neck for scratches or bruises; nothing. She looked in the mirror, afraid she was losing her mind. As she stared into the mirror she watched as her skin began to melt from her face, blood starting trickling everywhere. She screamed at the top of her lungs. A woman was standing outside patiently waiting to use the restroom and heard her. She ran in to help. “What’s wrong, are you ok?” “My face!!! Oh my God, the blood!!!” “There’s no blood. What are you talking about miss? What’s wrong with your face?” Tara turned and looked into the mirror. She looked fine, tired, but fine. There was no blood, no running flesh. She was seeing things. Tara composed herself. “I’m sorry, there was a spider. I have to go.” She ran out of the restroom and out of the store. She had forgotten the aspirin. She turned, composed herself and walked back into the store to the counter. “Could I have a bottle of aspirin please?” “What kind ma’am?” “It doesn’t matter, that one,” she pointed. She paid the young man and ran to the car. Steven was sound asleep in the passenger seat. “You ok Mom?” asked Charlie. “Fine. I’m just really tired. I just want to get home 41

Kimberly Raiser sweetie.” A bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face. She felt the tickle and slapped at her face as if it were a bug. She realized it was only her own perspiration. She took a deep breath, then exhaled. Sara was still sound asleep against her brother. Tara just wanted to get home, and get into her familiar bed and pass out. In just a short while they pulled into the busy development of townhouses where they lived. This was one time Tara didn’t mind the traffic so much. Too many people around was actually a comfort for now. Steven opened his eyes and rubbed his face. “We’re home. That was faster than I expected.” “How’s your head?” Tara was still shaken but composed enough to ask. Steven didn’t notice either way. “Feels better. I don’t feel very well though.” “C’mon Sara, time to get up. We’re home now.” Charlie was tapping Sara on her leg, and trying to push her dead weight from his body. “Mom, can you get her off of me?” “C’mon sweetie.” Tara got out of the car and walked to the back. She opened the door and reached in for Sara. “C’mon, time to get up, we’re home honey.” Sara moved ever so slightly, and groaned. “I’m tired Mommy.” Tara picked her up and decided to carry her into the house. She was too tired to even try to wake her up. They all dragged themselves inside. Charlie was probably the most unaffected out of all of them. He headed straight for his room and his computer. Steven didn’t even make it to the bedroom. He 42

The Family Bones collapsed on the sofa and pulled up the throw blanket that lay on the arm. He was out. Tara carried Sara to her bedroom and laid her under her covers with her little stuffed doggie. Sara had barely woken during the entire ride, or trip back into the house. Once Sara was settled in, Tara decided to take a nice long hot bath. She dropped all of her clothes at the doorway to the bathroom and filled the tub to its limit. She added some green tea extract to the water to help relax her. The air was warm from the steam of the bath. Once the tub was filled, she stepped in carefully, and submerged her entire body, up to her nose. The bath was already helping. Charlie was busy playing with his computer game, and had the sound effects way up blasting from his speakers. Steven and Sara were still sound asleep. Tara had almost fallen asleep in the tub when she felt a small tug on her feet. Her eyes opened wide and she tried to reach to her feet, but she could not get a bearing on her own body. She slipped under the water, her head completely submerged. Panic claimed her consciousness and she flailed around in the tub trying to surface. Her eyes were wide open, yet she could see nothing else in the room, only the light refracting through the water. She was splashing and kicking violently, down to her last ounce of strength that was keeping the water from filling her lungs. Something crashed in the living room. It woke Steven up, then woke Sara up. Steven could hear something from the bathroom that didn’t sound right, but then it was quiet. He snapped out of his sleep and went into the bedroom. 43

Kimberly Raiser “Tara?” “Daddy?” In came a dreary eyed Sara. “Where is your mother honey?” A thump came from the bathroom. He ran in, and there was Tara slumped over the side of the tub, half conscious. “Oh my God! What happened in here?” She couldn't speak; she could barely lift her head. “Be careful, give me your hand.” Steven grabbed the bathrobe that hung from the back of the door, and helped Tara out of the tub, wrapping her in the robe. She was shivering and gasping. The terror was still in her eyes. “Steven, something was keeping me under the water. I couldn’t get out.” He had never seen a look like this in her eyes; it was unfamiliar, and frightening. “What do you mean? No one else was in here. Honey, there’s nobody else is in the house.” He held her tight. As Tara lay slumped in Steven’s arms Sara stood watching silently at the doorway of the bathroom. No expression showed on her face. Tara wasn’t sure what to make of it; it was such a blank look… “It’s ok Mommy,” Sara stated very simply, then walked off with her little stuffed animal, and went into the living room. “Steven. You believe me don’t you? Please tell me I didn’t imagine that someone was holding my head under the water.” She sat erect, grabbed his arms, “Steven, I could feel hands on my head. Someone was trying to drown me.” “Ok. It’s going to be ok.” Steven put his arms around her and held her head close to his. His eyes 44

The Family Bones stared up at the ceiling. “What is happening to us?” he thought to himself. Steven poured Tara a glass of brandy. “Here honey, maybe this will help.” They were seated on the bed together, Tara wrapped in her robe, still shivering. Tara grabbed the glass and poured it down her throat like a shot of tequila, then grabbed the bottle for another one. “Ok you can choose to ignore all the weird shit that is happening, but Steven, since we have been to that house.” She paused. “It’s like, something came back with us.” Steven stood from the bed and paced around the room for a moment. He stopped and turned to Tara. He told her about what happened in the tunnels, and the bones, and the passageway to another level. Tara shared her horrifying experiences. “I’m telling you, it couldn’t have all been a bad dream.” Tara covered her face with her hands. “Where is the other pendant Tara?” “Steven, look at my ankles. Do you think I did that to myself?” Steven looked at her ankles; he traced the wounds with his hands without touching them. “You know, you could have done this catching a briar around the well.” “Ok. Maybe the place had a weird effect on us, made us dream things. I mean, the kids seemed just fine. Sara even wanted to stay. I mean, for me I have enough bad things in my head about the place from when I was a kid. Drowning cats and an evil old man lurking the grounds. That’s enough to give me bad dreams if I were to fall and bump my head. And 45

Kimberly Raiser honey, you knew all about those stories. You did say that bed was really comfortable. Maybe we just let our imagination get the best of us. Uncle Ben and Jack seemed harmless enough, and he’s been there for years. You didn’t seem to sense anything. Usually I know when you pick up on something, and you seemed just fine.” Tara started to feel the effect of the brandy. “Maybe your right. It did only seem to bother us, and not the kids. Maybe we just need a good night sleep, along with five Benadryl and another shot. I’m not taking any chances.” She looked at Steven. “It seemed so real,” she said quietly and lay down. Steven finally got Sara back to her room and then proceeded to tuck Charlie in after he was already tired of playing his video games. Everyone seemed perfectly willing to climb under familiar covers and pass out. And that they did.

46

Chapter 5

T

he following morning Steven got up to go into the office. “I thought you were off this whole week?” Tara said while she was pouring a bowl of Fruity Pebbles. “I just have a few things I want to check on, and then I’ll be back. Ok sweetie?” Sara came running into the kitchen. “Are we going to go back to the house today Mommy?” She pulled her little stepping stool up to the counter to reach for a bowl, grabbed a spoon from the drawer, then joined Tara at the table and poured herself some cereal. “We’ll see sweetie. We have some paperwork to go over, then we’ll talk about it, ok?” “Ok Mommy.” Sara shoved a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. “I had a dream about Uncle Jack last night.” “You did? What was it about?” “I had a dream that he was in this really dark place, like a cave, and a big monster got him. Then I woke up.” “Didn’t that scare you?” “No, I knew it wasn’t real. It was just a dream silly.” Steven looked over at Tara and grinned, “She’s 47

Kimberly Raiser your daughter.” Tara smirked. “Gotta go! Be back in a little while sweetie.” Steven gave Tara a kiss, then Sara a peck on the top of her head. A few minutes later Charlie came dragging into the kitchen, grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and joined his mother and sister at the table for some cereal. “Hi sweetie, did you sleep good?” Charlie rubbed his eyes. “I guess so.” He shoved some cereal into his mouth. He was already busy figuring out the puzzles on the back of the cereal box. “So Charlie, what did you think about the house?” Tara asked. “Big.” “Big? Anything else?” “Really big.” He opened his arms wide without taking his eyes off of the cereal box. “I love it! I want to go back today.” Sara was as perky as could be. Tara started believing (or hoping) that maybe what they went through was all in their heads. The kids seemed just fine. *** Steven got to his office and looked for the attorney’s number. He didn’t want to call from home and alarm anyone, especially his wife. He had some questions. The phone rang on the other end. “Baily and Church, how may I direct your call?” a young very courteous voice asked. “Hello, this is Steven Weaver. Would it be possible 48

The Family Bones to speak with Mr. Baily?” “Just a moment sir; I'll see if he is available.” The ever familiar hold music began to fill his ears. “Why don’t they at least make this entertaining, put some comedians on or something?” he thought out loud. Steven had been on hold for several minutes, enough time to zone out just a little when a voice came across and caused him to jump in his seat. “Steven! How’s it going? You go take a look at the place over the weekend?” Steven was still climbing back onto his seat. “Yeah Fred, that’s actually why I’m calling. How much can you tell me about the place? You know we have relatives still living out there, and…” he stopped. “Steven?” Fred’s voice sounded concerned. “Steven, you ok?” “Yeah, it’s nothing really. The place just had a strange effect on us. Do you know anything about any mining, or tunnels that might be on the property, or were on the property? “Mining? Tunnels? Steven, did you go to the right house?” Fred chuckled. “I’m serious. The place is really big. Uncle Ben and his son Jack live in the guest cottage. They’ve been there since my grandparents were there. Said nobody ever told them to leave, that they thought it was ok since they were family. It was just a bit of a surprise.” “What’s the fella’s name Steven?” asked the attorney. “Ben Jenkins. His son’s name is Jack. I’m guessing he has the same last name, not sure though.” “Well Steven, I don’t know all that much about the 49

Kimberly Raiser property as far as its history. Let me check into it for you, and I’ll get back to you, ok?” “Alright. Call me on my cell. I’ll be leaving the office soon and heading back home. The kids are on summer break already; we’ll probably head back out there. Sara really seemed to like the place.” “Ok, I’ll call you as soon as I know something.” “Thanks Fred, I really appreciate it. Talk to you later.” “Bye.” Fred hung up. Steven sat there tapping his fingers on his desk. He started thinking about how much his family needed to get out of the Pittsburgh suburbs, the insanity, the traffic, the crime. Tara had been wanting to get back into teaching and what a wonderful place to teach. A beautiful little country town. Pennsylvania really is a beautiful state. Then he started thinking about the coal mines. “That’s ridiculous. There was no trace of mining in those tunnels. That is, if they were real. Yes, this is the part of the story where the reader says, don't go back, but the idiot does anyway.” He laughed at himself just for thinking that. “Ok, suppose what we thought we imagined wasn’t really in our heads. Suppose it really happened. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to find out if we are nuts or not? But, we’d have to bring the kids along. Should we risk that? Then again, the kids didn’t have any bad experiences. They were just fine. Oh, it’s just our overactive imaginations getting the best of us. We watch too many scary movies, that’s our problem.” He continued talking to himself until he forgot what he was actually doing there. “I need to get home.” 50

The Family Bones *** On the way home Steven’s cell phone rang. “Hello, this is Steven.” “Hey Steven, it’s Fred. Just wanted to update you as to what I have found out so far. This is very interesting.” “I’m listening.” Steven was now distracted from his driving. “Well, it seems your grandparents did own a significant amount of property, and that your parents lived in a house that was also on the property. That house was sold, along with acreage. But the main property still has eighty acres! The last survey of the place was so long ago, that all it shows is the parcel of land. It doesn’t show anything else, not the buildings, not the well you have told me about, nothing.” “Ok,” Steven responded. “Well, there is no mention in any will about your relatives living on the land. So, I’m not sure how you want to handle that. You would have to have them evicted if you wanted them off of your property.” Steven rolled his eyes. “Oh terrific. That’s just what I want to do.” “Steven. There is something else.” “What is it Fred?” “Well, it seems there was an investigation prompted by some neighbors about twenty years ago. Just before your parents died.” “What kind of investigation?” “Well, it seems some of the neighbors were accusing your parents of, well, I’m not sure how to put this.” “Just spit it out Fred.” Steven could feel his pulse 51

Kimberly Raiser quickening, and his face flushing. “The neighbors were accusing them of murder.” “What?” Steven started to develop a very bad headache. He had to pull the car over to avoid hitting traffic; he had begun to swerve. “Well, everything was dropped after your parents died. Nobody heard a word after that. Probably why we never heard anything. Anyway, that’s it for now Steven, just thought you needed to know.” Steven sat on the side of the road. Beads of sweat were pulsing from his hairline. The accident. The blood. He remembered how awful it was. The image of his parents’ car sitting there in front of his high school, crushed to the ground. Their bodies lay there lifeless, and bloody. He had just come out of his last class and was waiting on the front step for his parents. He was going home for the summer. That was when he saw their car approaching the corner. The next thing he remembered was the vehicle flipping in midair and bouncing off the ground several times until the car finally landed in a pile of metal and flesh, right in front of his school. He had to have therapy for months. He spent his entire graduating summer in a psychiatric ward of the county hospital. “Steven, are you there?” Fred asked. “Yes, I’m here. I had to pull off the road.” Steven was sitting there stunned by his vivid memories. Memories he had pushed to the back of his mind. “I’ll give you a call later Fred.” “All right Steven. I’ll let you know if anything else comes up. Talk to you later,” and Fred hung up. Steven sat there in a cloud of thought. He hadn’t really thought of those last few years of high school. He had been going to a boarding school because his 52

The Family Bones parents felt the schools in their county were not good enough for their son, so they sent him to Trinity High School, about three hours away. That’s what they told him. He would come home sometimes on the weekends, but for the most part didn’t mind staying at the school. Now his mind was wandering to places he did not want to visit. “Murder?” “Why don’t I remember that?” Steven began to question himself and his mind. Everything that happened, or didn’t happen at the house. The crazy stories as a kid. “Maybe somehow I was shielded from it all being away at school. That kind of makes sense. I just can’t even imagine.” Steven put the car in drive, and checked for traffic. “I need to get home.” *** “Daddy, Daddy! You’re home, can we go back to the house now?” Sara was jumping up and down like she had little springs in her feet. Steven picked her up and put her on his hip and walked to the living room where Tara was sitting with some papers. He put Sara down next to him on the sofa across from Tara. Sara continued to jump. “Sara Catherine, sit down and stop jumping on the sofa,” snipped Tara, like the mother of a den of tiger cubs. Sara sat down. “Hey sweetie, how did it go at the office?” “Ok, caught up on a few things and spoke with Fred.” Tara looked back up from the paper work. “Did you learn anything useful? I’ve been sitting here go53

Kimberly Raiser ing over the will and the deed to the property. It doesn’t mention anything about any other relatives living on the property. It doesn’t even mention the guest cottage, but it does have a blanket statement about all buildings on said property. I can’t tell how much land there is.” “Eighty acres,” Steven replied. Tara looked up shocked. “Eighty acres?” Her eyes were searching around for something. “My God Steven. Where does all that land go? I mean, I knew it was a big piece of property, I thought at the most ten to twenty.” “Nope. We have ourselves a small town darling.” Tara looked up and noticed an odd look on Steven’s face. “Sara honey, would you go see what your brother is doing, and go brush your teeth, just in case we go to the house, ok?” Sara didn’t even say anything, she just ran out of the room skipping and yelling, “Charlie!!!” Tara got up, walked over to the sofa and sat next to Steven. “What are you not telling me?” “Well, it seems that if we do not want Ben and Jack living on the property we would either have to ask them to leave nicely, or have them evicted.” “God, I hadn’t even thought about that.” Tara sunk back into the sofa. Steven rubbed his face. “I don’t know. The whole thing has got my head spinning. Maybe we should go back with clearer heads and plan on spending the night in the house. At least we would be more prepared this time. We could go first thing in the morning, that way we would have lots of daylight to deal with and explore together.” Steven emphasized “together”. 54

The Family Bones “Yeah, I agree. We’ll pack up some pillows and blankets, and one of those blow up beds. We’ll all sleep in the same room together.” Tara paused. “Steven, how the heck are we going to keep track of the kids on that much property, even just for an afternoon? It sure didn’t take much for us to get screwed up the first time.” “I know, but we weren’t at all familiar with the property, and this time we will lay down strict rules for the kids. I think we were all a little too excited going in the first time.” Steven was looking at the paperwork on Tara’s lap. “And this time we will take lots of pictures, and draw a map, and bring fresh batteries for the multiple flashlights we will have on hand.” They both laughed. Steven looked at Tara, “You really are beautiful,” and he kissed her. Their eyes locked for just a second. “I love you.” “I love you,” Tara replied, with the tone of a woman deeply in love with her husband. “Ok, tomorrow it is.” Steven collected himself.

55

Chapter 6

T

HE NEXT MORNING there was no need to go wake Sara. The alarm clock rang and when Tara opened her eyes Sara was sitting there on the foot of the bed with her little stuffed bunny just waiting. “Hi sweetie, you’re up early.” Tara wiped her eyes and sat up to give Sara a kiss. “I went to bed early so today would come faster, and it worked too!” Sara’s eyes lit up and she started jumping on the foot of the bed. “Come on Daddy. Wake up, wake up. Time to go!!” Steven grumbled a little and then was struck by all forty pounds of his curly headed bundle of joy on his belly. He let out an unfamiliar croak, and Tara caught Sara just before the second pounce was about to ensue. “Go get your things together sweetie. Make sure you pack your toothbrush and your favorite blankee, ok?” Tara scooted Sara out of the room. Steven grinned. “Didn’t you already pack that stuff for her?” “I left out the blankee just to give her something to grab. I knew she’d forget the toothbrush,” and Tara jumped on Steven. 56

The Family Bones *** “Everybody ready to go?” yelled Tara. “Make sure you bring something to play with, and your favorite pillows guys.” Charlie grabbed his flashlight, and an extra one just in case. He was headed to the front door with a big duffle bag. “What is that?” Steven asked. “It’s just my tent.” “Your tent? Charlie, we are sleeping inside.” “I know, but you said we were all sleeping in the same room, this way I can still have my own room inside the room. That way I won’t keep you up when I am reading or playing my games.” Steven had a little trouble arguing with that philosophy, so he didn’t. “Ok buddy, we’ll go put it in the car.” Tara came out of the bedroom and saw the duffle. Before she could open her mouth Steven winked at her and said, “So he can have his own space.” “Ahhhh,” she nodded her head and smiled. “He’s your son.” *** The drive was pleasant. They were prepared. The weather was pretty nice for June. The air was dry enough to leave the windows down a bit on the way. The transition from the densely populated Pittsburgh suburb to country fresh air renewed their sense of what home should be. It was like driving into a different world. “This really is beautiful country Steven.” Tara 57

Kimberly Raiser would close her eyes often and simply inhale the fresh air. The occasional scent of Jasmine and fresh cut grass was like an aphrodisiac. Sara had her face out the back window for a while, until a bug hit her in the side of the cheek. “Ouch.” She rubbed her face. “I guess the bugs like the fresh air too Mommy.” Tara laughed, “I think they do sweetie.” Charlie was busy reading a book. “What are you reading Charlie?” asked his mother. “Have Space Suit Will Travel,” he replied. “It’s really good. I was considering being an astronaut when I get older. I’m not sure yet.” “That’s a good book,” she replied. Tara looked at Steven. “How old is he?” They both chuckled. “I read that when I was thirteen,” Tara said. “That’s ok honey. I never read it. What does that make me?” Steven raised an eyebrow at her. “Boring,” Tara snickered. “No, honey, you’re not the least bit boring.” “Where are you sleeping tonight?” “Good one,” she replied. “Not far kids. Just a couple more minutes.” Steven was checking his mileage. “Let’s stop at the little grocery store we passed on the way into town last time and pick up some things. What do you say honey?” “Good idea. We can get some fresh fruit too.” She paused. “Did you notice if there were any pots and pans in the place?” “What, you didn’t open every cabinet in the kitchen?” “Well. I may have missed one.” Tara let out a “tee hee”. 58

The Family Bones “Marshmallows Mommy! We can toast some marshmallows!” Sara was getting more and more excited. “That’s a good idea honey. I love a good char burned marshmallow,” Tara replied. “You’re not supposed to burn them Mommy.” “I like to make meteors with them…” replied Charlie. “like little fireballs shooting through the atmosphere. It’s really cool!” “They taste better burnt,” replied Steven. “There’s the store guys. I can’t believe it’s actually still there after all of these years.” Steven was shaking his head. “Carson’s Corner Market; I used to ride my bike up here for a cherry coke from the fountain once in a while.” The whole family unloaded into the grocery store. It was just what a person would expect from an old town store. The floors were the original wood flooring that creaked as your feet stepped on each plank, but it was sturdy enough. It wasn’t a huge store, but it had everything a person needed, from fresh fruit and vegetables, to home made pies, and “Fruity Pebbles”. Sara went for that right away. There was a section for fishing, with fresh bait in a cooler. There was a big red cooler just next to it with ice pops and ice cream sandwiches. The store even had a small section with various types of knitting supplies. Tara and Steven were having fun just looking around. “Stevie? Stevie Weaver, is that you?” Steven turned around and was facing an old man wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans, with a little name tag that said “Rip Carson, at your service” on it. “Mr. Carson?” Steven replied. 59

Kimberly Raiser “Well I’ll be, as I live and breathe. Hey Martha, it’s little Stevie Weaver!” Tara had overheard all the fuss and was next to Steven in an instant. Steven extended his hand to shake Mr. Carson’s, but Mr. Carson had already moved in for the bear hug. “It’s damn good to see you. It’s been a long long time.” “It sure has Mr. Carson.” Steven turned to Tara. “This is my wife Tara, and my children are exploring the store at the moment.” “Pleasure to meet you M’am.” Rip extended his hand to Tara. “Stevie here used to come up for our famous cherry sodas back in the day. We still have that soda fountain; would you like one for old times sake? Martha! Where the heck is that woman?” “I would love to, but we’re getting together a bunch of things to take over to my grandparents place.” Mr. Carson raised an eyebrow. “I’m real sorry about your grandma.” He paused a moment. His face lost expression. “You movin’ in there Steven?” “Well, we are considering it. We just want to get a feel for the place,” Steven responded. Mr. Carson shook off his expressionless look. “Well Stevie, it would be good to have you back in the neighborhood. We’ll be here if you need anything.” He patted Steven on the back. It was a welcome feeling to Steven. “Thanks Mr. Carson, I’m sure you’ll see us again.” “Very nice meeting you Mr. Carson.” Tara shook his hand and went off to find the children. After everyone had grabbed what they wanted and loaded it up into the car, Tara looked at Steven, “What 60

The Family Bones the heck was that all about?” “What do you mean?” he replied. “That look on his face Steven. I’ve never seen someone’s expression change as fast as that. Gave me the creeps.” “He’s an old man. Who knows? He seemed just fine as we were leaving though.” Steven started up the car and backed out of the parking space. “Steven, did you notice the old lady peeking out from behind the door while we were talking to Mr. Carson?” “No, I didn’t.” “I had a feeling it was Mrs. Carson. It looked like she was hiding, or at least didn’t want to come out. It was really strange.” Tara belted herself and checked to see if the kids were seat belted as well. “I don’t know. You know how little towns can be. These people have been here forever. I’m sure we don’t know what normal behavior is for them.” Steven saw the end of the driveway and turned on the blinker. “We’re here! We’re here!!!” shouted Sara. She could hardly stay in her seat. “Ok now, don’t forget the rules kids. We do everything in pairs. And we always carry our little two way radios with us. You got it?” Steven waited for a response. “Yes Daddy,” replied Sara while she was already out of her seat belt and jumping up and down on the seat. “Charlie?” Tara reaffirmed. “Yes, I heard you. Stay in pairs. Carry a radio. Bla bla. I got it I got it.” Charlie was finishing the last paragraph of Chapter 10 in his book. As he read the 61

Kimberly Raiser last word he closed his book. “You don’t fold the page edges Charlie?” His mother asked inquisitively. “Nope. I always finish a chapter so I don’t have to do that. I don’t like the pages bent,” he replied. Tara smiled and nodded. Steven just shook his head. “Sara is going to burst at the seams unless we let her out of the car sweetheart.” Tara was climbing out of the passenger seat. “I have to go potty!” Sara screeched. “Ok, we’ll go together, Mommy has to go too.” Tara walked Sara to the front door and turned the doorknob. The door was unlocked. “Steven, did you leave this unlocked?” “Honey, I don’t think it has been locked in years. No one ever comes around here. Seems pretty safe. It wasn’t locked when we got here the other day.” Steven was getting the groceries out of the back of the car. “Help me with these Charlie.” “Sure Dad.” Charlie put his own things down and helped his father carry the groceries into the kitchen. Tara walked her daughter to the downstairs bathroom. As they approached the door Sara turned and looked at her. “Mommy, I think I can do this by myself.” Tara hesitated for a moment, then thought, (It’s just a bathroom) “Ok, but I’ll be right outside the door if you need me.” Sara went in and closed the door behind her. Tara could hear Sara singing inside the bathroom with her sweet little voice. It was relaxing to hear, which was just what she needed to start the day off. Her mind began to wander to the fields outside, and 62

The Family Bones the gardens she and Sara could build together. The wonderful spring days and October nights they would all share together in their new home were filling her thoughts with wonder. It didn’t take long for the moments of fantasy to change. Halfway through Sara’s little song she began screaming at the top of her lungs. Tara just about jumped out of her skin. Sara just kept screaming. It was horrible. Tara turned to grab the door handle but when her hand abruptly grabbed the handle, it fell off into pieces. “Sara, what’s wrong!?” Tara tried to compose herself. Meanwhile Steven and Charlie could hear the screaming from the kitchen. They both came running out. Sara just kept screaming. Tara bent down to look through the hole where the door handle had been, she could barely see anything. “Go get some tools!” she screamed to Steven. Sara’s screams were unnerving her mother. Steven was more focused on how to get into the bathroom. “Oh my God Steven. Do something!” Tara couldn’t take the screams; she had never heard her daughter yell like that. It was that type of scream that you would hear from someone who was scared out of their mind. Then suddenly, it stopped. “Sara?” Tara’s voice was trembling, her hands were trembling. She didn’t know whether to be happy that the screams had subsided, or be frightened. Tara lay flat on the ground trying to get a look under the door. She could barely see the floor. “Sara?” Tara could see one foot at a time touch the ground, 63

Kimberly Raiser as if Sara had been standing on the toilet. Sara put her eye to the hole in the door where the door handle was. “Mommy?” Tara jumped up to see her daughter through the hole. “Honey, are you ok?” Tara’s fingers were groping the outside of the hole like she was trying to touch her daughter. “I killed the spider Mommy.” Tara finally exhaled. Then she sat there slumped against the bathroom door while Steven had gotten a crow bar from the car. He came running back in to just the sound of his wife quietly whimpering on the floor, and a sweet little voice from the other side saying, “Daddy, I killed the spider. The door is stuck, can you fix it?” Steven just stood there shocked. Tara looked up at him with tears running down her face, then she burst into laughter. Both Steven and Charlie started laughing too. They were all laughing so hard they almost forgot Sara was still stuck in the bathroom. “Mommy? What’s so funny?” asked Sara. “Well Sara honey. You kind of scared the living daylights out of all of us with that wonderful scream of yours.” Tara was smiling now as she peered through the hole. “We’ll have you out of there in a second or two honey.”

64

Chapter 7

“I

found another pot! Looks like spaghetti is a go!” Tara yelled from the kitchen. “I’ll set the table Mommy,” Sara said while pulling the plates and forks from a box her mother had packed for the day. Steven had gathered enough chairs from around the house and dusted them off for the kitchen. There was an old wooden farm table that had been left there. It still had a wonderful wood scent after all these years. Tara threw a sheet over top and it looked just fine. “I would love to refinish that table Steven. Looks like it’s been around for a long time, but it’s still in good shape,” Tara said while stirring the spaghetti. She seemed pretty relaxed for now. Steven went to the car and brought in the portable stereo to fill the house with a little ambiance. He hooked it up in the kitchen while they were getting ready to have some lunch. “I think that’s the only plug in here, but it sure makes it feel like home doesn’t it?” he said. Tara smiled. She looked pretty happy. The kids were at the table cutting some fresh baked bread they had gotten from the store. It was still warm. They were eating it so fast they stopped cutting and started tearing. 65

Kimberly Raiser “So after lunch I say we go exploring!” Tara said while adding the sauce to the spaghetti. “Yay!!” replied Sara. “I want to go exploring!” Steven nodded. “We’ll see if we can find a trail that goes through the woods on the property. I brought the old survey. It looks like the edge of the property borders the river.” He looked up at Tara. “We must have a lot of woods.” “Got your hiking stick?” she said. “I do I do. And kids, you might want to go put some jeans on. Don’t want to scratch up your legs, there’s probably a lot laying around that will scrape your skin up.” Steven got up to help with lunch. “Are there ticks?” Sara asked with a worried face. “If you wear your jeans they won’t bother you,” Tara said. “I don’t like them either honey. Little blood suckers.” “They are also vectors for disease,” replied Charlie. “What’s a vector?” asked Sara. Both Tara and Steven were nodding their heads. “Where did you learn that?” Tara said to Charlie. “It was in a book I was reading about germs. It was really cool.” He shoved another piece of bread into his already stuffed cheeks. “This is good bread,” he muffled through the chewing. “Is a vector a germ?” asked Sara. “It is an insect that can carry germs by sucking your blood,” replied Charlie. Charlie made a ghoulish face and opened his mouth to display the chewed up food and dripping saliva from the roof of his mouth. “Mommy! I don’t want a vector sucking my blood!” Sara stopped her eating and glared at Charlie. “Sweetheart, you’re brother has been reading a lot of stories. Don’t let that bother you. Here, Mommy 66

The Family Bones brought your favorite apple juice.” Tara poured a glass and sat it next to Sara, then placed a little silver wrapped peppermint chocolate next to it and smiled. “Oooooo,” Sara said quietly, like it was a special secret. She placed the mint on her lap so no one else could get it, then she stuck her tongue out at her brother. *** “Ok, does everybody have what they need?” asked Steven. “You should each have a radio and a bottle of water and a few snacks in your backpacks.” Steven was tightening up Sara’s for her. She looked so cute with her little pink back pack. The bright color was nice and visible. Charlie was over by the side of the house trying to find himself the perfect walking stick. “Ok, I think I’m ready now!” He was just picking off the last few stray twigs on his stick. It had a nice little hook-like end that he could hang things from if he so chose. “Well, according to the survey, if we head that way,” Steven pointed with his finger, “we should end up by the river on the other side of the woods. I brought a little can of orange spray paint that we can paint little arrows along the way so we can find our way back. There’s a lot of forest around these parts. We wouldn’t want to get lost.” “I have my compass,” spouted Charlie. “I don’t!” spouted Sara. They all started walking towards the pointed direction. Rays of light were streaming through the trees. Here and there little flecks of pollen would glisten in the sunlight as they floated around and around. Eve67

Kimberly Raiser ryone seemed to be lost in the magic of the forest. It wasn’t long before they were deep enough into the woods where all they could see… was woods. “It looks like this used to be a path,” Tara said as she was kicking aside the overgrown brush and dead logs. “Doesn’t look like it has been used by people, but it looks like the deer might like it. Maybe we’ll see a few.” “Ticks come from deer,” said Charlie, unfortunately. “Ticks!” said Sara. Steven rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about it; you have your jeans on.” For the most part it was still quite bright where they were walking. The sun was almost overhead and the treetops were far enough from each other to allow enough light. There was lots of undergrowth below the layers of pine needles that had fallen over the years. The local animals had kept a path wide enough in a few places for everyone’s feet to pass through fairly easy. Logically, the paths all lead directly to the river. “Mommy, why is it getting so dark?” asked a worried Sara. Looking up the sun could hardly be seen through the canopy of trees. The summer had allowed for the deciduous trees to create beautiful umbrellas to shade from the bright seasonal light. It also made it very dark. Looking up at the sunlight peeking through, it almost appeared like stars twinkling through a night sky. Steven began to get a tremendous headache. He was hoping they were close to the riverbank. Something flew by Sara’s face. “What was that?” 68

The Family Bones Something flew by Charlie’s face. “Whoa.” Descending from high above in what seemed like no time at all was a swirling cloud of tiny bats. They were everywhere. They all seemed to drop from the tree tops at the same time and swarm the entire family. There was no sound except for the leaves that were tussled from the small breezes their wings made. Everyone huddled to the ground, and as fast as the bats came, they were gone. “Were they….” Charlie was immediately interrupted by his mother. “Butterflies. That was the biggest swarm of butterflies I have ever seen!” Whispering to Tara, “Wow, nice save,” Steven said, but was still a little shaken himself, just from the abruptness of it all. “Where did they go?” Tara whispered. “It’s like they vanished. And I know it’s dark back here, but don’t they usually do that at night?” “Yeah, but butterflies still sounds good to me,” he laughed. “Do you have any aspirin in your bag?” Tara just happened to have some with her. She went into her bag and took some out for Steven. “You’ve been getting a lot of headaches lately.” “Probably just tension. I’m sure it was the butterflies.” He smiled. Daylight was peeking brightly through the trees again, then finally the woods opened to a clearing. They were finally there. “Cool!!!” shouted Charlie. “It’s the river!” The drop into the water was very gradual. Nothing steep. This part of the river was quite narrow and looked fairly shallow. Tara was thankful for this. 69

Kimberly Raiser Steven had crouched down to look at an area by the river that looked as though it may have been used for a boat drop. “Looks like this spot was used a lot. Great for canoes! Nice steady current.” Sara had already started exploring in the other direction. She was picking little wild flowers along the bank. It was a very pretty sight. There was just enough breeze to catch the small wisps of hairs that were not quite caught in Sara’s ponytail. Charlie was busy poking around with his stick. “Hey Dad. What do you think this little hill is? Think it’s a burial mound?” Steven looked over. “I don’t know. That is odd though.” He walked over to where Charlie was to investigate. It wasn’t a huge hill, but it was noticeable. It didn’t look natural, except for the weeds. Charlie was poking his stick into the other side of the little hill when he hit something. He began to dig. “Hey Dad. Come here.” Charlie had moved a bunch of dirt aside. Something was poking out from the mound. Steven walked over and crouched down. “Looks like the end of a canoe.” He paused. ‘That’s odd’. He began to dig a little more. He saw something red. “Another canoe?” Charlie looked at him. “Why would somebody bury a canoe?” A voice from down the river yelled. “Hello!” Steven and Charlie looked up. It was Jack. Somehow he had come through the woods about fifty yards down. He had his fishing pole already in the water. “Uncle Jack!” Sara had already started running in his direction. 70

The Family Bones “Sara! Wait!” Tara tried to stop her, but there was no going on that idea. She turned to Steven. He just shrugged his shoulders. “She’ll be fine. It doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere.” He began to move more dirt. “Honey, come here and look at this.” As Tara approached, Steven’s headache began to grow in severity. “Oh my God,” he said as he clutched his head. “This is unbelievable.” He tried to focus his eyes on Tara, but it seemed his field of vision was off. He abruptly turned from her and vomited. “Steven, we need to get you back to the house. Maybe Jack knows a short-cut. “Charlie, would you run down to Uncle Jack and see if he knows a short cut back to the house?” “Sure mom!” Charlie ran immediately. Steven sat on the ground with his head in his hands. Tara hadn’t even thought about what Steven wanted her to look at. She was only worried about how she was going to get him back to the house. She sat down and tried to comfort him. “Here, drink some water.” She handed him the bottle of water from her backpack. “God, I don’t know where this headache came from.” Steven tried to open his eyes but the sunlight just made it worse. He lay down on the ground with his backpack under his head. The kids both came running back; Jack was not far behind. “What’s wrong with Daddy?” Sara asked. “Daddy’s not feeling well honey. He has a very bad headache.” Tara motioned for Sara to come sit next to her. Jack approached. “Miss Tara, is Mr. Steven ok?” “He’s not feeling well, and his headache is so bad 71

Kimberly Raiser he can barely open his eyes.” Sara looked over at Steven. It was difficult to tell if he was awake or not. “Jack is there a quicker way back to the house?” she asked. “I have a path I use all the time. It’s probably easier to get through.” Jack walked over to Steven and bent down. “He sure doesn’t look well.” Jack reached down and lifted Steven up from the ground and gently placed him over his shoulder. “Wow, you’re really strong,” replied Charlie. Charlie’s eyes were about as big as they could be. Tara wasn’t sure what to say, but she was glad there was someone there to help. “Follow me.” Jack started walking back towards his fishing spot but then took a turn into the woods. His path was well traveled; it was much easier to navigate than the one the family trudged through earlier. Tara took the back of the line so she could keep an eye on the kids. As they were walking over leaves and twigs and still enjoying the fresh air of the country, she noticed something on the ground. At first she thought it was a coin. She stopped to bend down and pick it up. It was not a coin. It was the round pendant she thought she dreamed up. She cleaned it off and just stared at it. “Mommy, come on!” Sara noticed her mother was falling behind. Tara wasn’t sure how to feel. Her hands began to tremble. She had finally accepted the fact that it could all have been a bad dream, and now this. She shoved the pendant into her pocket and caught up with the group. The entire way through the woods Tara’s mind was 72

The Family Bones struggling with what she had discovered. “It was on the same path that Jack uses,” she thought. “He seems so harmless though.” She was trying to talk herself out of suspecting Jack. “We’re almost there,” Jack announced. “Thank goodness. You must be getting very tired Jack,” Tara said loud enough for Jack to hear her. “I’m ok Miss Tara.” The edge of the woods was apparent. They came out close to the cottage. “Do you want me to bring him in to our place Miss Tara? It’s closer.” Jack turned to Tara. “Um…” she hesitated, and already felt guilty having Jack carry him this far. “I guess until he can get up himself.” “It’s no problem M’am. Pop is out running errands so it will be quiet.” They all entered the cottage together and Jack placed Steven on the sofa. It was a comfortable sofa, and it was the closest thing to place him on. “Do you have any ice we might be able to put in a towel or a bag for his head?” Tara asked Jack. “I think so. Sara, do you want to help me get some ice for your father?” Jack asked. “Sure!” Charlie plopped himself on a chair while his sister and Jack went to the kitchen for some ice. He was playing with his walking stick, and thinking about the buried canoes. Steven was sound asleep. Tara couldn’t believe he actually fell asleep amidst the journey through the woods while strung over someone’s shoulder like that. She reached over to caress him and noticed his eyes darting back and forth. 73

Kimberly Raiser “Wow, you sure can go into a dream state pretty quick,” she thought out loud. She was just gazing at him, hoping he would be ok. Steven’s hand suddenly clutched at Tara’s arm. It felt like his fingers were going to bore through her skin. She tried to break free, but could not. His eyes were still closed. He was still sleeping. Steven’s phone was ringing from his pocket. The sound must have startled him somewhat because the grip around Tara’s arm relaxed and she was able to free herself. By the time Tara was able to remove the phone from his pocket she had missed the call. She pushed the button to see who had been calling. It was Fred, their attorney. Steven opened his eyes. “Was that my phone?” “Yes. Fred called. I missed the call before it went to voice mail though. Sorry,” replied Tara. “Let me go see if Jack has the ice ready for your head sweetie.” She went to the kitchen. Steven picked up his phone and dialed his voice mail. “You have one new message. Please enter your password to retrieve this message.” The pleasant voice of his phone said to him. He obeyed the command and entered the password. “Hello Steven, this is Fred Baily. I had some news for you. I don’t know how relevant it is, but I thought you should know. That Jack person you mentioned that was the son of your Uncle Ben. I don’t know who he actually is because Ben’s son died years ago. Seems he drowned in the river. I’m not sure what his relation is to you, but I thought you would want to know. Call me back if you have any questions. Hope it is going well. Bye,” and the message ended. 74

The Family Bones Tara stopped as she was leaving the living room. She reached into her pocket to pull out the charm. All she got was a hand-full of change. “It was in here.” She was pulling her pockets inside out. She looked panicked. “This is ridiculous!” she raised her voice to a pitch that was almost yelling. “I found it Steven. I found it on the way back through the woods. It was right here in my pocket!” “Found what sweetheart? I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Steven had his eyes barely open. Tara sat on the floor in front of Steven, trying to make direct contact with his eyes that were ever trying to close. “Steven. I found the pendant. The one I told you about.” She was clutching the pendant on her chest and holding it up in front of him. “It was just like this one, only like…” she paused. “…like it was the companion to this one. Like they were made at the same time.” Steven was really trying to focus. Poor Charlie was just sitting there watching his mother unglue. “I am not crazy. I know what I saw. I had it in my hand.” Tara stood up. Tara really felt like she was going to lose it. The realization that everything they had been through was not just a bad dream. She could feel her body shaking and her insides begin to quake. “Ok, I have got to maintain myself. I can break down later. Focus. Focus.” Tara was doing her best to pull herself together. She took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. She headed into the kitchen. Only a few seconds went by when she came running back out. “Jack and Sara are not in the kitchen! I don’t 75

Kimberly Raiser know where they are!” Steven sat up on the sofa. He was trying to clear his head. “Steven, did you hear me?”

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Chapter 8

S

teven tried to stand and steady himself. The pain in his head was overwhelming. He sat back down on the sofa. “Maybe they went to the house for something. Maybe he has some ice somewhere else.” Steven made a pathetic attempt to calm his wife. “Maybe there is a secret passageway that they just dropped into,” she came back sarcastically. “Charlie, would you stay here with your dad while I go see where Jack and Sara went?” “Sure mom. I’ll stay right here with him.” Charlie got up and walked over to his mother and placed his hand on her arm. “I’m sure they are fine Mom. Sara probably bugged Uncle Jack to do something. You know how she is.” Tara looked at Charlie, “You are so sweet.” Her lips quivered just slightly, she fought back a tear, and kissed him on the head. “Thank you.” She smiled at him. “Don’t go anywhere without your father, ok?” “Ok Mom.” “Sweetheart, Charlie’s going to stay here with you for a while. I love you.” Tara kissed Steven on the forehead. He was already back to sleep. “Ok, I won’t be long Charlie. Keep your radio on. I’ll have mine on too.” Tara looked over at the pink 77

Kimberly Raiser backpack sitting on the floor next to the front door. She knew Sara did not have her radio with her, wherever she was. She shoved her own radio into her pants pocket and went out through the kitchen back door. “Sara!” Tara called. “Jack! Where are you guys?” Tara decided to walk over to the main house. “Maybe they went there for something,” she thought out loud. All the way over to the house Tara was talking to herself, trying to make sense out of everything. She began to run. “Sara!” she yelled every few seconds. Still nothing. She approached the outside door that lead to the kitchen. The door was already open. “I don’t remember leaving this door open,” she thought. Tara gave the door a push and it slowly swung all the way open into the house. “Sara! Jack!” She stepped into the kitchen. Everything still looked the same. Didn’t look like anyone had been back here. Tara walked through the entire house yelling for Sara. She was about to break into tears. “Sara honey, where are you?” she tried again. Tara suddenly felt something behind her. She froze. She could feel a presence. “Not again,” she thought to herself. Quickly she turned to face whatever it was that was behind her. She screamed and jumped back. “Oh my God!” It was Ben. “You could have said something before you scared the daylights out of me,” she quipped. “I heard you yelling for Sara and Jack. Is everything ok?” he said as he placed his hand on Tara’s 78

The Family Bones shoulder to reassure her. “I’m sure everything is fine.” She tried to relax. “I just came from your place. Steven developed a very bad headache and became ill while we were down by the river. Jack helped us get him back to your cottage. He and Sara had gone into the kitchen to get some ice for Steven’s head, and when I went in to look for them they were gone.” “Well, I’m sure they are fine.” Ben tried to sound calm. “Did you check to see if we were out of ice? They may have walked down to the neighbors to get some if we were out.” “I didn’t even look.” Tara felt embarrassed. “I’m sure that is all it is.” Tara still felt very much on edge. “Let’s go back to the cottage together. I bet that is what happened.” He held his arm out as if to direct them out the door. They walked out together. *** Steven began to feel like bringing up lunch again. He ran to the bathroom and got to the toilet bowl just in time. He sat there on the floor holding his head in his hands, he was shaking. “You ok Dad?” Charlie was standing behind him at the bathroom door. “I’ll be ok. Lucky I made it to the toilet.” He tried to laugh it off to make Charlie feel better. “Want me to get you anything Dad?” Charlie asked. “A glass of water might be good. Thanks Charlie.” Steven slowly got to his feet and stood in front of the sink, hands propped against the white porcelain. The wall seemed to groan at the extra weight. He turned 79

Kimberly Raiser the faucet on and reached his hands under the cold water. He leaned in and cupped his hands to fill them and poured it over his face. It felt good; he did it again. Dripping wet he reached for the towel that hung on a little hook behind him. His reflection in the medicine cabinet was telling him that he did not look well at all. Steven opened the cabinet to see if there were any aspirin or anything that might help him. There were the usual toothpaste and band aids, some allergy medicine and a few prescription bottles. Call it curiosity, but something made him pick up one of the bottles. He was reading the label. The name on the label was “Jack Weaver”. He had to squint his eyes and refocus. “Jack Weaver”, the name stayed the same. He grabbed the other bottles. “Jack Weaver, Jack Weaver, Jack Weaver, Jack Weaver.” It was the same on all of them. He didn’t recognize any of the medications, but he recognized the name for sure. His head was still killing him. Now this time Steven wasn’t going to solely rely on his own eyeballs. Charlie had just come into the bathroom with the glass of water. “Charlie, will you read the name on this bottle for me?” Charlie held the bottle up in front of him. “Weaver, Jack” he said. “That’s cool, Jack has the same last name as us.” “Pretty cool,” Steven replied. *** Jack and Sara had in fact left the house to go get ice, but they did not go to the neighbor’s house. They 80

The Family Bones went to the main house where Jack told Sara there was an extra ice chest in the basement. “Uncle Jack, are you feeling ok?” Sara was trotting along side of Jack as they headed to the house. “Why do you ask that Sara?” he looked down at her. Jack had become quite flushed and was looking very red in the face, and he was sweating. “Your face looks like a tomato!” Sara replied. Jack felt his face. It just felt a little clammy, no fever. “Maybe I was in the sun too long yesterday,” he replied. They arrived at the house and went in through the kitchen door. The door did not close all the way behind them. It was left slightly ajar. “I know where the basement is!” Sara went immediately to the basement door and opened it. “See.” “I’ll go down first; I can reach the light a little bit better than you can Sara.” Jack proceeded down the dark musky stairs. He reached overhead to the chain for the light. The light wouldn't go on. Jack fumbled for the flashlight in his pocket. He was happy to find it. “I don’t remember Mommy saying there was ice in the basement.” Sara was following right behind Jack. *** Tara and Ben walked back into the cottage. Steven was sitting on the sofa with a wet towel against his face. “Well, I found Ben, but no Sara or Jack,” Tara said as she sat next to Steven. “Ben thinks they may have gone to the neighbor’s for some ice.” Tara put her 81

Kimberly Raiser hand on Steven’s leg. “How are you feeling? Any better?” “Well, I saw lunch again.” Steven was trying to compose himself. “Hey Mom, did you know that Jack has the same last name that we do?” Charlie said casually as he was doodling on some paper. As Tara’s eyes were rolling in his direction, so were Ben’s. Tara looked back at Steven, then back at Charlie. Steven exhaled like he had been holding his breath. His mouth opened, but he didn’t get anything out. Tara turned to Ben. “I thought Jack was your son?” “His mother wanted him to carry on the Weaver name, so we gave him her name.” Ben was sharp, but he didn’t realize what Steven already knew. “Oh.” Tara accepted that answer, just as Ben suspected she would. Steven needed not only to find the right time to tell his wife, but why Ben was lying. Right now the pain in his head was just too overwhelming to think about. “You look pretty terrible Steven.” Ben turned to Tara. “I think I have some pain killers that the doctor gave me for a toothache. You want me to go get him one?” “What kind are they?” Tara asked. “They’re those codeine generics. Work just the same,” he replied. “I think that would be ok. He definitely needs something.” Ben went into the kitchen for the pills. Steven was so out of it he didn’t pay much attention to the conversation Tara and Ben were having. 82

The Family Bones Tara checked the pills before she gave them to Steven. “Here honey.” She woke him enough to get him to open his mouth. “Take these and some water; it will help your head.” Steven swallowed the pills and fell back to sleep. *** “Where are we going Uncle Jack?” asked Sara. “I’m taking you to a secret place, but you can’t tell anyone about it, ok?” Jack was leading Sara through the basement. “It smells down here. I don’t know why Mommy likes this smell so much.” Jack went to the part of the basement that Steven had not made it to. There was a wall with shelves and a lever just under the second shelf. It was pretty high, so even if Steven had walked over there, he wouldn’t have noticed it. Jack reached up and pulled the lever down. The wall opened like a door. “Wow! A secret passageway.” Sara was intrigued. The doorway opened to the very room that Tara had been in earlier. Sara recognized it. “How did you do that Uncle Jack? We were in here before, but we came in a different way.” Sara turned to talk to Uncle Jack, but he was gone. “Uncle Jack. Where are you? Uncle Jack!! Mommy!!!” Sara ran around the room to the other side where the actual door was, but it was locked. There were no windows, no phone, no way out. She began to cry. ***

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Kimberly Raiser “We should just let him sleep it off.” Ben motioned that they move into the kitchen. “Would you like some tea or lemonade?” “That’s a good idea. Do you think you can call the neighbor to see if Jack and Sara went over there?” “Sure thing.” Ben picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Hello, It’s Ben here. How are you this wonderful day?” He paused. “By any chance have you seen Jack with a little curly headed girl? We thought perhaps they came to your house for ice . . . They did--oh-we’ll just wait for them--thank you so much.” He hung up the phone. “So they did go over there?” Tara sounded relieved. “They’ll be back soon. They had some cookies while they were there.” Ben gave her a reassuring look. “So how’s about that lemonade now?” *** Charlie was sitting on the floor in front of his father with his little notepad doodling away. Steven was asleep, but was mumbling something. Charlie turned to listen. It was mostly incoherent, but his voice sounded very deep, and unfamiliar. Charlie nudged his father on the arm. Steven stopped his mumbling and rolled over on his side facing Charlie. Charlie went back to his doodling. He was suddenly startled by sounds coming from the kitchen. He heard something that sounded like a glass breaking on the floor, and a chair being dragged several feet. He waited a second before jumping up. He had promised his mother he would stay with his father. 84

The Family Bones “Oh don’t worry about the glass Tara; I’ll go get a dustpan.” Charlie heard Ben say from the kitchen. He went back to his doodling. Steven was snoring now. Charlie turned to him, and nudged him softly again on his arm. *** Down in the secret room, Sara had finally stopped crying. She was lying on the bed clutching a pillow when she had finally sobbed herself to sleep. Little abrupt sniffles came from her nose while she slept. The poor thing was exhausted. About an hour went by when Sara woke up to find her mother lying next to her on the bed. “Mommy,” she said quietly. “Mommy, wake up.” Tara was moving slightly, but having a difficult time waking. She struggled with her eyelids and finally lifted them open. When she realized she was with Sara she snapped awake and grabbed her little girl into her arms. “Sara.” She held her tight. “How did you get in here sweetie?” Sara was still sniffling slightly from crying so hard. “Uncle Jack brought me here and then locked me in.” While panic was reeling through her veins, Tara’s mind was also trying to piece things together. “Mommy, why would he do this? Where is Daddy and Charlie?” “I don’t know sweetheart, but we are safe, right?” she looked Sara in the eye with all of the confidence she could muster. There was a pitcher of water sitting on the table next to the bed with several glasses stacked on top of 85

Kimberly Raiser each other along side of it. Tara got up to pour them some water. She smelled it first, then took a sip. “Seems ok,” she thought to herself. “Here sweetie. Drink some water.” She offered Sara a glass. “Ok,” Tara thought to herself. “We are locked in a room, where I do not know, but we are safe.” She turned to Sara. “Honey, do you remember how you got here?” “We are in the basement. It’s a secret passageway Mommy.” “Well I’m glad you remember. Now all we have to do is figure out how to get out of here.” Tara’s head began to clear. She reached into her pocket where the radio had been. It was still there. She pulled it out and switched it on. She held the radio up to her mouth. She keyed the mike and spoke quietly, “Charlie, can you hear me?” All was quiet. “Charlie, are you there?” she tried again. Unfortunately Charlie not only did not hear her, but he had left his post. Dear old Uncle Ben had come into the living room and convinced Charlie that his mother had gone to the neighbor’s to walk his sister back to the house with Uncle Jack. Charlie was in the kitchen telling stories to Uncle Ben about all the pranks he had pulled on his friends at school. He wasn’t even thinking about his mother or sister, and he knew his dad was sound asleep. *** Tara had begun to search the room once again. 86

The Family Bones “What are you doing Mommy?” “Just looking for clues, maybe a key to get us out of here.” She was under the bed now looking around. She pulled out a large shoe box that was tucked way against the wall just in front of the headboard. It was very dusty, even for being under the bed. Must have been there for a long time. She opened the box. Inside was a stack of pictures and newspaper clippings. The first article read: March 16th, 1988 Couple still missing from canoe trip. Michelle and John Anderson left their home several days prior to venture out on a canoe trip and have not been heard from since. They were avid sports lovers and very well experienced, yet there is no sign of them. Their car was found at a drop off point on the border of Astral, Pennsylvania. “It’s like they just vanished,” stated a neighbor of theirs. “They were such good people.” A photo of the couple was pictured just below the article. Tara pulled the second article out from underneath. This one read: February 12th, 1988 Suspicions remain in the disappearance of a family from Colorado. The family was visiting relatives in the nearby town of Astral Pennsylvania but never returned home. Last seen they were planning a fishing and picnic trip. A photo was below this article as well. The photo 87

Kimberly Raiser showed a family of four. Mom, Dad, and two little girls. Tara became frantic as she shuffled through the box. More articles similar to this one and then some follow-up articles of the previous read. There was nothing more recent than that though, and then she came to the article at the bottom of the stack. December 26th, 1987 In a tragic turn of events, little Brian Jenkins drowned this morning trying to save his dog from the rushing waters of the river. Brian was rushed to Memorial Hospital but never revived. He is survived by his mother and father, Ben and Julia Jenkins. And there it was. The photo below the article that threw Tara’s mind into a whirlpool of fear and panic. She wasn’t sure how to react in front of Sara. She turned away from her daughter and tried to compose herself. “If the parents were the only ones to survive, who was Jack then?” It was all too confusing. None of it made any sense. “Mommy, here’s another box.” Sara had climbed under the bed herself and found another box stashed even further than the one Tara had found. She climbed up on the bed and handed it to her mother. Tara looked at Sara and forced a smile. “This is interesting.” She tried to sound intrigued. “Open it up Mommy!” Sara was forgetting that they were being held captive, and now just wanted to see what was in the box. Tara slowly opened the box. It was filled with pictures and a few dried up flowers, and more articles. She closed her eyes for a mo88

The Family Bones ment, almost wishing it would all just go away. She couldn’t take any more surprises. She pulled the article out of the box. Her eyes widened. Couple suspected in the disappearance of Colorado family. Barbara and Henry Weaver were taken into custody and questioned about the Colorado family disappearance. No new information was gleaned. They were released after questioning. No charges pending at this time. The date on the paper was obscured, but the names and the photos were not. “Oh my God,” she whispered out loud, then folded the article up and shoved it into her pocket while Sara was still looking through some of the old pictures. It wasn’t something she really wanted her daughter seeing. “Is this Daddy when he was little?” Sara asked of one of the pictures. Tara was really trying not to cry. Her head was spinning in more directions than she could count. She tried to focus and looked at the picture. “I think it is honey.” “Is this his mommy and daddy?” she pointed to the couple in the picture. “I think so,” Tara responded. “So that would have been my grandpa and grandma?” “Yes.” Sara was distracted for the moment while looking through the pictures in the box. Tara on the other hand could not escape the panic welling up from within the pit of her stomach. 89

Kimberly Raiser “Sara sweetie. You were here in this room before.” “What Mommy? I was never here before,” she replied while still looking through the box. Tara couldn’t understand it. “I know what happened was real, and yet Sara doesn’t remember coming in here. Was that part a dream and the rest was not?” she was thinking to herself. Tara stood up and walked over to the shelves that she recognized. “Well obviously I was here before. I remember the entire room.” She looked back over at Sara. “I’ve got to get us out of here.”

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Chapter 9

S

teven opened his eyes to find Ben sitting across from him in a chair, just staring at him. He lifted himself into a sitting position and wiped his eyes with his hands. Ben had a shotgun rested on the wall behind him. Steven eyed the shotgun, then looked at Ben. “Worried about intruders?” “You could say that,” he replied. “Where is everyone?” Steven was straightening out his shirt. “Tara and Sara went for a walk, so they could let you rest.” “Where is Charlie?” “He’s fine. He’s with Jack.” “That really doesn’t tell me anything, does it Ben?” Steven’s eyes no longer looked so tired. He was glaring at Ben. Ben reached over to the shotgun and picked it up. He placed it between his legs in front of him. “I said he is fine.” Steven went to stand but was interrupted by a shotgun pointing directly at him. “I think you should stay put for a while,” Ben said suggestively while holding the shotgun in front of him. 91

Kimberly Raiser Steven sat back down. *** Jack found himself wandering through the dark tunnels beneath the property. He stopped suddenly, like he had been sleepwalking. He was carrying Charlie. Charlie opened his eyes and looked at Jack as Jack proceeded to place Charlie on his feet and helped steady him. “Uncle Jack?” Jack was very confused, and a bit frightened. “What are you doing Uncle Jack?” Charlie looked around trying to get his bearings. “Where are we?” He rubbed his eyes. “When did I fall asleep?” “I don’t know Charlie. I don’t even remember how we got here.” “Where is here?” Charlie touched the wall, then he looked down at the ground and kicked a few pebbles. “I don’t know exactly where we are, or how we got here Charlie.” Jack was touching the walls as well. He looked overhead and noticed the light fixtures. They looked somewhat familiar, but he just couldn’t place it. “This looks like some kind of tunnel.” Charlie began to walk. “Let’s see where it goes. Smells like the basement.” “It does smell like the basement.” Jack followed behind Charlie. “Hello!” Charlie yelled. “Hello!” There was no response, not even an echo. They continued walking. Charlie could feel things crunching under his feet but the light wasn’t bright enough to really see what it 92

The Family Bones was, so he knelt down to pick something up. “Looks like some kind of fossil,” he said. He picked up a handful of whatever it was. “These look like pieces of bones.” He looked up at Jack and handed him a piece. “It does look like a bone Charlie. Maybe from animals, rats and mice or something.” “Hmmm, maybe.” Charlie kept walking. “Jack, do you sleepwalk?” “Not that I know of, but I sure don’t know how we got down here. Maybe I do and just didn’t know it.” “That’s a little weird.” Charlie was more curious as to how they got down there than he was afraid. He scrunched up his cute little eight year old face. Jack on the other hand wasn’t really happy about suddenly being someplace different and not remembering how he got there. Although Jack was not the most intellectual person, he was not stupid. He was just quiet. His large frame and dark eyes sometimes gave him a menacing look, but there was a lot within him that he did not share with people. He kept very much to himself, but he was concerned about how he could have traveled to an unfamiliar place, without knowing how. As a young child Jack had a difficult time adjusting to his mother’s death. It had been just the two of them for his first eight years. After her death he came to live with his Uncle Ben. Ben took him in as his own, and let everyone believe that he was his own son. Jack never knew his father. His mother told him that his father had died. He knew Ben as his uncle already and sometimes had called him Pop Ben because he had been the only father figure he knew. After a while he just started calling him Pop. Ben had dearly loved 93

Kimberly Raiser his sister Jacqueline, and had no second thoughts about taking in young Jack, nor did his wife Julia. “Hey, there’s light up ahead!” Charlie saw light shining down on the ground from up ahead. He ran to see where it was coming from. When he got there he looked up. “Looks like the well,” Jack said. Charlie was jumping up to see if he could spy a little closer. It didn’t work. “There’s a grating up there. It’s so nobody can fall in, or get out.” Jack was looking up too. “Well, there has to be a way out if we got in here in the first place. Let’s keep moving.” “Yeah, ok. At least we know where we are now. Sort of,” replied Charlie. *** The girls had only been locked in the room for a short time, but it seemed like an eternity. Tara was getting frustrated. She decided to learn every inch of the room that they were in. Partly to keep them busy, partly to understand what was going on. Unfortunately it didn’t really take long to cover the whole room, but there were some very interesting things on the bookshelf that she remembered from before. Tara walked to it. The door still seemed to be locked. “Maybe it’s just swollen shut from the dampness,” she thought to herself. She was dying to see what was in there. “This is ridiculous!” came out of her mouth with frustration. 94

The Family Bones She startled Sara. “I’m sorry honey.” Tara walked over to her daughter who was now on top of the bed with pictures sprawled all over it. One of the pictures caught her eyes. It was a picture of a little boy crouched down along side of the river bank. He had apparently been drawing in the dirt with a stick. She looked closely at the figures the child had been drawing. She grabbed the picture and went to the bookcase. She held it up glancing back and forth between the picture and the symbols etched on the side of the books. They were very similar. The little boy had his back to the photo, so it was impossible to see who it was. It could have been anyone. At the very edge of the photo it looked like a small cat was sitting watching the little boy, but it was blurry and hard to tell. “What is it Mommy?” Sara had been watching her mother with the picture. Tara brought the picture over to Sara. “Have you seen these symbols anywhere else honey?” Sara looked at the picture and tilted her head as if to study it. “No Mommy. Who is that little boy?” Sara paused and tilted her head. “That looks like the little kitty I was playing with before. He’s so cute.” Tara looked at the picture again and shrugged her shoulders. She began to search through all of the pictures on the bed. They were mostly normal family pictures. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. It was getting more and more difficult for Tara to maintain an appearance of composure. ***

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Kimberly Raiser Steven no longer had a headache, and he didn’t feel quite comfortable with a shotgun pointing straight at him. “Do you really think that is necessary Ben?” “I’ll do what I have to,” he replied. Steven’s eyebrows rose. He looked Ben dead in the eyes. It was a look that was not a familiar look for Steven. But for Ben, he had only wished he would never see that look again. Steven stood up with no fear of being shot. “Where is my wife?” Ben stood. “I told you, she is with Sara.” “Now Ben, you know what I mean, and if I have to come over there and pry that gun out from your fingers I will do it.” “You can just stay right where you are.” Ben nudged the tip of the shotgun towards Steven. “Where is my son?” “What do you mean Ben? Why would I know where Jack is? I’ve been in this room the entire time you have been here.” “I know what you’re capable of Steven. You didn’t think I would forget did you?” A sharp pain suddenly shot through the side of Steven’s head. He grabbed at his head with his hand and dropped back down to the sofa. “Oh God,” came from his lips. Steven refocused his eyes and looked up at Ben. He looked a bit confused to Ben. He was still holding the side of his head trying to figure out why Ben had a shotgun facing him. “Ben. Is everything ok?” he asked. Ben saw it happen right before his eyes, but was confused just the same. He put the gun down against 96

The Family Bones the chair and walked over to Steven. “Steven?” he just looked at him. Steven looked up. The pain was subsiding. “It’s ok. I guess my headache hasn’t gone completely away yet.” Ben realized Steven’s affect had changed. He went along with it. “You startled me there for a second Steven.” Ben turned away from Steven for just a split second, just long enough for Steven to get the upperhand. Steven grabbed the vase that was sitting on the end table and quickly smashed it overtop of Ben’s head. Ben’s legs came buckling out from under him and he fell to the floor. He was out cold. Steven grabbed the shotgun and headed out the kitchen door. He headed straight for the main house. As he approached he walked to the side of the house and began to pull away weeds. He laid the shotgun on the ground while he removed years of overgrowth, then finally the door was exposed. He grabbed the handle to the storm door and lifted. It was heavier than he remembered, but he was able to manage it nonetheless. He grabbed the shotgun and stepped down into the doorway. Steven was all the way down inside the basement now. He went straight for the stairway that lead to the tunnels. Down he went. The latch opened with ease and he was through. The lights were already on, as he expected. He was grumbling to himself with rage. He headed towards Jack and Charlie, shotgun pointed straight out in front of him. It wasn’t long before he caught up to them.

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Kimberly Raiser *** Ben recovered from his whack on the head, but not without a severe headache. He sat upright and felt something warm and wet running down the back of his neck. He reached back. It was blood. Steven had whacked him hard. He knew he had to move. The first thing Ben did was reach for his shotgun. He looked around and realized it was gone. “How long was I out for?” he thought to himself. He got up and went into the kitchen. He looked at the clock. It had only been a few minutes. Ben grabbed the towel from in front of the sink and ran it under cold water. He rang it out and sopped up the blood from the back of his neck and head. It didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore. Ben left through the kitchen, but not without grabbing a shovel that had been leaned up against the outside door. He headed for the main house. As he approached, he noticed the weeds that were laid strewn about the side of the house. He walked over and saw the storm door was left open. His heart began to race. “No time to stand here and fret,” he said aloud. He went down the stairs into the basement. Ben headed for the shelf that held the lever to the room behind it. It didn’t look like anyone had been there, he only hoped. He reached up and pulled the lever. The shelf moved aside and exposed the door. He reached in his pocket for his keys, pulled them out and began fumbling for the right one. Finally, he found it. He inserted the key and turned the lock. Tara and her daughter heard the noise from inside the room. They weren’t sure what to expect. 98

The Family Bones The door opened and there stood Ben with a shovel in his hand. “C’mon. There’s no time to waste. Let’s get you out of here.” He motioned for the two of them to come towards him into the basement. Tara wasted no time at all. She grabbed Sara by the hand and the two of them followed Ben out the door in no time. “We’re in the basement?” Tara said as she walked through the doorway. “What is going on?” Ben was rushing the two of them towards the storm door. “I’ve got to get you out of here. I’ll explain it later.” Tara ran up the steps with Sara in front of her. As soon as they cleared the fresh air Tara stopped and grabbed Ben by the arm. “What is going on?! I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on?” Ben turned to her and looked her in the eyes. “You’re husband is not who you think he is.” “What! What is that supposed to mean?” She looked angry. “C’mon, we have to get out of here.” Ben grabbed her by the arm and tried to pull her away.” “No! You can’t say something like that and just expect me to follow you. What did you mean!?” Tara’s voice was loud and angry. “Look. I don’t know how to tell you this,” he hesitated. Tara could feel her stomach twisting into knots. Sara was pulling at her arm and crying. She tried to fight back her own tears. “What?” she insisted. “Tara. What kind of man is your husband?” Ben was still looking directly into her eyes. She didn’t really know how to respond to that 99

Kimberly Raiser question. “What kind of man is he? What kind of question is that?” she responded. “Just as I said, what kind of man is he? Is he a caring man? Is he brutal? It’s a simple question.” “He’s wonderful . . . he’s sweet and caring.” Tears began to form in her eyes. “He’s a good person,” she insisted. “Then he’s not the person I knew all those years ago,” Ben responded. “The young Steven that I knew was cold, and calculating, and capable of anything.” “But that’s not the Steven I know,” she insisted. “Well, that’s the Steven that did this to my head.” He pointed to the dried up blood on his neck and the cut on the back of his head. “No. You’re lying.” Tara pulled back. “What did you do to him?! She panicked and came towards Ben with her fists in the air. Ben dropped the shovel and caught her arms, his eyes never losing their focus on her. “Young lady, I am not the one you should fear. You need to get yourself together and we need to find your son.” Tara was shaking, and crying. She wiped her eyes and did the best to compose herself. Sara was frightened enough; she didn’t need to see her mother more scared than she was. “Tara, has Steven told you anything about his childhood? Did he tell you why he was sent away to boarding school?” “He doesn’t talk much about his childhood, except a few stories about this place. He said his mother wanted him to go to a better school, and that’s why he went to High School at Trinity.” “Well. . .” Ben paused and relaxed a moment. He 100

The Family Bones was realizing that what he needed to tell Tara was going to be difficult for her to swallow, and apparently what he had suspected of Steven was true. It was all going to sound like some crazy fiction story if he didn’t put it just right. He began, “When Steven’s parents were killed he spent time in a hospital.” “I know about that,” Tara interjected. “Well, while Steven was there I visited with him. There was something very different about him at that point. His entire personality had changed.” Ben took a breath. “The Doctors weren’t really aware of it because they didn’t know him before the accident. I tried to explain to them that the person they were dealing with was not the same person that I knew from a small child. Months had gone by while he was there, and his behavior remained consistent. The doctors agreed that he must have suppressed the personality he had prior to the accident and he was blocking certain things out. Either that or they didn’t believe me and they told me that just to shut me up. And that didn’t really matter, because the Steven they saw seemed to have adjusted as well as they could imagine. They had no reason to keep him there.” “What they didn’t know about Steven were things I couldn’t really share with them. I could only tell them how dangerous he was, and that was a difficult thing to convince them of considering the young man they saw was believably traumatized and willing to cooperate. It was scary as hell.” Tara stood listening to him. It didn’t seem that he was making any of this up. Ben looked to the ground for a moment, then looked up at her. “Tara, Steven is responsible for 101

Kimberly Raiser some terrible things,” he said very quietly. Tara’s face was trembling, her mouth frowning with sadness, painfully fighting off tears. “That’s not the man I married,” she insisted. “That’s not who he is now.” “Tara, the man that did this to me is not the man that you married. The man that did this to me has no regard for human life.” Tara wiped the tears from her face. “Where would he go?” she asked. “I think I know, but you can’t go. It’s not safe for you and your daughter.” Tara looked lost and heartbroken. “Why don’t you and Sara go inside the house and wait for me there.” Ben remembered something. “Doesn’t your son have one of those radios you guys are carrying around?” “He should. I think he had it in his pocket.” “When I get to him, I’ll call you on the radio. Make sure we are on the same channel. Use channel one. That will be easy enough for us to remember. Ok?” Ben looked concerned and sincere. He reached out and placed his hand on Tara’s shoulder. “It’s going to be ok.” Tara reluctantly took her daughter into the house. She locked all of the doors, including the one to the basement. Ben headed back down the stairway. *** Steven was almost caught up to Jack and Charlie. He knew his way around these tunnels very well. “God it is good to be back,” Steven said aloud. 102

The Family Bones “Sniveling weak son of a bitch,” he quipped at himself. “What the hell happened to you all these years Steven?” he was talking to himself outloud. He heard voices not too far from where he was standing. He stopped to listen. It was definitely Jack and Charlie. Steven was able to get right behind Jack without being noticed. He took the shotgun, lifted it butt end in the air, and came down hard on Jack’s head. A cracking sound could be heard through the tunnel. Jack fell to the floor like someone had turned his legs to pure jelly. Charlie turned quickly to see his father standing there with the bloodied shotgun in his hand. “Dad?” Ben heard the assault from the end of the tunnel as he entered the passageway; the door had been left ajar. “God no!” he said out loud. He ran towards the sound with the shovel directly in front of him. He approached Steven. As Steven turned to meet his aggressor the shovel was already catching the side of his head, and he went down. Charlie screamed and went after Ben. “What are you doing!?” he was punching and beating on him. Ben was his doing his best to keep Charlie at arms length while Charlie was swinging at him. “Charlie!” he yelled. “Calm Down! Your father is not well!” As Ben was holding off Charlie, he looked down to see Jack lying in a pool of blood. Charlie noticed the look on Ben’s face, then looked at Jack himself. He stopped swinging. “No. . . not my Jackie.” Ben sat down beside Jack and began to sob. “Hasn’t he taken enough from me? Now he’s done it to his own brother!” He reached up to Jack’s neck and felt for a pulse. It was faint, but 103

Kimberly Raiser there was one. Charlie was standing next to his father who was beginning to come around. “Dad? Are you ok?” Charlie was more concerned about his father, even though Steven had almost killed Jack, he was still his father. Steven let out a groan and slowly opened his eyes. “I think my headache is back,” he said. Ben saw that Steven was awake and turned quickly towards him. Charlie jumped between them. “No! Don’t you go near him!” Ben stopped. “Charlie, you don’t understand.” “I don’t care! You just stay away from him.” Charlie remained between his father and Ben. “Charlie, what is going on?” Steven seemed confused. Ben noticed the look on Steven’s face, and waited. Steven was holding the side of his head trying to get his bearings.

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Chapter 10

“W

hat’s happening Mommy?” Sara was sitting at the kitchen table fiddling around with a spoon she had left there earlier. Sara might has well have been talking to herself. Tara was trying to keep herself composed, but it was getting more and more difficult to do so. She walked over and sat down next to Sara. She pulled her cell-phone from her pocket and checked for a signal. There was a faint one. She put her phone back in her pocket. Tara could hear faint footsteps in the hallway. It sounded like they were coming towards the entrance to the kitchen. She knew she had locked all of the doors so whoever was in the house had to have been there already. Her heart raced. “Maybe it is Steven,” she thought to herself. As Tara turned to yell Steven’s name she was startled by a man that was certainly not Steven. He just stood there quietly in the doorway. He was tall and dressed in brown casual pants with a tan camping shirt and a leather belt. It was one of those shirts with all the pockets, and his sleeves were rolled half-way up his arms. He wore metal framed glasses; bifocals. His hair was short and the color of chestnuts with bits 105

Kimberly Raiser of gray. The man was pleasant looking, and not at all frightening. His affect was almost calming in a strange way. Although Tara was startled by his sudden appearance, she wasn’t afraid. She stood up from her chair. “Who are you?! How did you get in here?” The man made a motion with his hands. “Please don’t be frightened Mrs. Weaver. I can explain.” He held his palms up and towards her away from his own body. He did not want to be intimidating. “May I come in and sit with you?” he said. “Who are you?” Tara replied. “And don’t come any further until you explain yourself.” Tara had already positioned herself between the man and her daughter. “My name is Robert Weston, Dr. Robert Weston. I’m here to see Steven. Mrs. Weaver, I’m only here to help, I assure you.” Robert glanced down at the floor for a moment; he appeared just a little bit sad. He looked back up at Tara. “We were hoping things would turn out better.” He wanted to go on but was interrupted. “Who is “We”, and what the hell are you talking about? Do you expect me to believe some stranger that sneaks into our house in the middle of . . .” She stopped. “In the middle of what?” he replied. His eyebrows lifted just slightly above his glasses, then back down. Tara noticed, she stopped cold and slumped back down into her chair. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what is going on.” Sara reached over to her mother and placed her precious little hand on her mother’s arm. “Mommy, it’s ok. Maybe he can help us.” She looked at her 106

The Family Bones mother like some blue eyed little Buddha. Tara looked up at Sara and smiled. She turned to Robert, “I don’t understand what is happening.” Tears formed in her eyes and slowly trickled down the front of her face. She wiped them and looked at Sara. Something about Robert gave her permission to let go, if only for a moment. “I’m sorry honey; I’m just a little tired.” Tara reached to her daughter and gave her a reassuring grip of her hand. Robert came in and motioned to one of the other chairs. Tara nodded with acknowledgement and he sat. “Tara. May I call you Tara?” he reached his hand over to hers very delicately. She looked up at him. Her eyes looked so lost, so innocent. “Yes,” she replied. “We don’t have much time,” he started. Robert was the kind of person that was always very aware of his surroundings, including the importance of personal interactions. He looked at Sara. “Sara, is that a coloring book I saw out on the table in the living room?” “Yup. Want me to go get it and color you a picture?” she replied. “That would be most perfect,” Robert replied with a warm smile. Sara ran to the other room to gather her coloring things. Not a moment passed and she was back in the kitchen sprawled out on the floor coloring. Robert leaned in to Tara. “Tara, I’m going to try to explain this as best I can.” He paused a moment, took his glasses off, and lay them on the table. “I’ve known Steven for a long time. I worked with him after his parents’ accident.” “In the hospital?” Tara replied. 107

Kimberly Raiser “Yes, it was there that I learned a great deal about Steven.” He paused. Tara looked a bit puzzled. “Were you his doctor?” “Yes I was.” “I thought he was ok after spending time there?” she responded. “We did as well . . .” He hesitated then looked at Tara innocently. “May I ask you a few questions?” “I guess, if it will help.” Tara felt oddly willing to cooperate. “Has Steven been experiencing any severe headaches or exhibiting strange behavior? Have you noticed anything unusual since you’ve been to this house?” Tara got up and walked to the sink to pour herself a glass of water. She wasn’t feeling well. She was reluctant to answer Robert. She took a few sips from the glass and turned to him. “He has been having headaches,” She looked down at the floor. “. . .and there are strange things about this house.” “What do you mean?” “There are strange rooms and symbols,” she said. “Symbols?” Tara turned back to him. “Until I came to this house, I had never seen them before. As a matter of fact, until I came to this house, everything was just fine.” She came back to the table and slammed her glass down. “What is going on, and what does Steven have to do with any of this?” Sara was contently coloring her pictures on the floor. Tara looked over to see if she was paying attention. It didn’t seem so. Robert asked Tara again, “Tara, what other unusual things have you seen?” 108

The Family Bones Tara let out a heavy sigh. “There is a room down in the basement.” She could feel her stomach churning again. “Go on.” Robert leaned in towards her just a little more as she took her seat at the table. “It’s a hidden room. I don’t even know how I got in there the first time.” She was shaking her head and looking down. “It’s like a bedroom. There are bookcases with glass. I couldn’t get into them. Some of the books had strange symbols on the covers. They looked like they had been there a while. And there was this picture . . .” “Picture?” “It was a little boy drawing in the sand. His back was towards whoever had taken the picture, but he was drawing those symbols with a stick. I couldn’t tell who the boy was.” She paused for a moment. “That’s it, that’s all I can think of.” She paused. “No . . .” She pointed upstairs. “... the bed upstairs. It has carvings on it similar to the symbols I saw in the room.” Tara’s mind was reeling with information overload. She thought of the articles she found in the same place as that picture, and the books with the symbols on them. Not to mention the sleeping episodes and moments of disorientation. Tara looked Robert dead in the eyes. “What are you doing here?” “I can tell you that I am here to help Steven,” he replied. “That really doesn’t tell me anything” she responded. “I received a call from Steven’s estate attorney. It was just a routine call to confirm some information, but when I found out you were coming out to the 109

Kimberly Raiser property I became concerned. Steven hadn’t been out here in a long time, and I knew it would dredge up old memories. My motives are pretty simple Mrs. Weaver.” Robert paused a moment. “Is there something else that you want to share with me?” “Why?” she responded. “It seems as though you stopped in mid thought, like you wanted to tell me something else about that room, or something you saw there.” “I saw a lot in that room. What bothers me the most is; I don't know how I got into that room in the first place.” *** Steven sat up while still holding his head. Charlie was hovering over him standing guard. Ben was stroking Jack’s hair and talking to him quietly, “It’s going to be ok Jackie, I promise.” He looked at Steven. “You did this. You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?” Steven looked confused. He looked up at Charlie, “Charlie, what happened?” “You don’t remember?” he replied. “Dad, you hit Jack on the head with the shotgun. Why did you do that?” “I don’t remember anything Charlie. Why would I do that?” Ben looked over at Steven. “You almost killed your brother.” He began to weep. Steven’s face twisted. “What do you mean, my brother?” He stood up and steadied his legs. He walked over and sat beside Jack. “Stay away from him!” Ben exclaimed. “I know 110

The Family Bones what you’re capable of. I don’t care if you can’t remember, just stay away!” “I don’t understand.” Steven looked genuinely puzzled. “I shouldn’t have to explain any of this to you. You should have never come back here.” Ben was trying to remain calm for Charlie’s sake as well as Jack’s. “Steven, your father had another child before he met your mother.” “What? I don’t understand,” Steven replied. “My sister Jacqueline was involved with your father before your mother and father got married. Your father left her and married your mother. He never knew she was pregnant, and she didn’t want him to know. She made me promise not to tell anyone. She made me promise to take care of him if anything were to happen to her.” Ben started sobbing again. “I never even told my own wife the truth. I couldn’t. She would have told your father. You can’t stop the bonds between brother and sister, and I couldn’t ask her to lie to him, so I just never told her. I loved Jacqueline so much.” Steven couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and more importantly couldn’t understand what was happening. He looked at Jack. “Did I really do this?” “You did,” replied Ben. Ben realized Steven really didn’t remember. He had suspected by Steven’s behavior that there was some other aspect of his personality that was hidden even to himself. Steven looked over at his son. “Charlie, I honestly don’t remember doing anything. I wouldn’t have any reason to hurt Jack.” Charlie sat next to Steven. “Maybe something happened when you bumped your head Dad. I’m sure 111

Kimberly Raiser you’ll be ok.” Steven began to realize finally where exactly he was. He looked around the tunnel. “I don’t even remember how I got down here.” “We don’t either Dad. I mean, me and Jack couldn’t remember how we got down here.” “I know the way.” Ben looked up at Charlie. “Right now, we need to get Jack out of here and get him to a hospital. I can’t lose him too.” Ben motioned to Steven. “You’ll have to help me.” *** Robert looked at Tara. “Tara, I can’t explain everything to you right now. We have to make sure your family is safe first. I need to go find your husband, and your son.” “My son?” She hadn’t even thought about Charlie being in danger. “Do you know where he is?” “Tara.” Robert looked at her with some regret. “I am sorry I couldn’t get here until now.” Tara didn’t like the look on his face. He was now filled with a look of regret. “What do you mean?” “Please stay here. I will go find Steven and Charlie.” “The hell if I am going to stay here!” Tara became angry. Robert leaned quietly and whispered in Tara’s ear. “Think of your daughter.” He stood and gently touched Tara’s arm. She felt a soothing energy from him. He started towards the door. Tara was left dumbfounded. She couldn’t just run off and leave Sara behind, but she couldn’t just sit there. 112

The Family Bones “Wait!” she said firmly. “What are you going to do? You don’t even know where they are.” “I’ll find them Tara, don’t worry.” He gave her a reassuring smile and he left. Tara ran to the door to see which direction he was headed, but when she tried to open the door, it wouldn’t budge. She stopped and looked down at the lock. She fiddled with it. It wasn’t actually locked, but the door wouldn’t open. “Stuck? How could this be stuck?” She kept trying, but nothing. “Mommy, come down here and color with me.” Sara looked up at her innocently. Tara thought it was a little strange that Sara didn’t seem to be bothered by anything. “You doing ok sweetheart?” she asked Sara. “Sure Mommy. Don’t worry, Dr. Robert will find everybody, so you can come help me with my coloring.” “Just a minute sweetie.” Tara walked over to the window and looked out. There was no sign of Robert, or anybody. Even more strange, she didn’t see any extra vehicles outside. Tara walked through the entire house quickly looking through all of the windows for something. There was no car, no truck, and no bike. Nothing. She tried the front door. It wouldn’t open either. She wanted to scream and break down the door, but she couldn’t lose control in front of Sara. She had to ask herself. “Ok, how freaked out about this am I really?” She was using her own senses, her intuition. “Do I feel like I need to get out of here?” She took a deep breath. “No,” she thought. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t feel that they were in danger. She 113

Kimberly Raiser walked back to the kitchen and sat on the floor with Sara. Sara looked up at her and smiled. *** Steven helped Ben lift Jack from the ground. The two of them could hardly handle the weight of his body just dragging him. “He’s too heavy for the two of us,” said Steven. “He’s not too heavy. We have to get him out of here. He’s injured badly, and you are not going to let him stay here and die.” Ben had one of Jack’s arms wrapped around him while Steven took the other. They slowly began moving through the tunnel. Ben looked over at Steven and quietly said, “I don’t know if this is an act, but if your son wasn’t here, I would have taken your head off.” “It’s not an act. I don’t remember a thing,” he replied. “Like you don’t remember what you did to Brian?” Ben snapped at him. “What are you talking about?” “I know you’ve been different since the accident with your parents, until now anyway,” Ben started. “I can’t prove it, nobody can, but I know you did it.” “Did what Ben?” Ben stopped. He looked Steven directly in the eyes and as quietly as he could clearly get it through his lips he said, “You killed my son. I know you did, and you are not going to get away with it again.” Steven began sweating profusely. He was afraid to respond to Ben’s accusation. “Could I have done these things and not remember?” he thought to himself. He couldn’t believe it, but there were some things missing 114

The Family Bones from his memory over the past few days. He didn’t know how he got into the tunnel, or how he got out the first time. There were a lot of things he could not put his finger on. A wave of nausea suddenly came over Steven. His head was light, and he felt ill. Everything around him seemed to go quiet. He stood there for a moment. Ben was not moving. Jack was not moving. He turned to look at Charlie. Charlie was stopped dead in his stride. Everything was still, suspended, except for Steven. “What the hell?” Steven moved aside from Jack. Jack’s body remained held in its spot as if some imaginary force were in place. “What is going on? Am I losing my mind?” He turned around and around. “You are not losing your mind Steven,” a voice said from only a few feet away. Robert stepped from the darkness into view. “Who are you?” Steven stammered. He looked from side to side. Nothing had changed. Ben, Jack, and Charlie were still in their suspended state. “What is going on?” Steven exclaimed. “I am sorry. We had hoped things would turn out better Steven. We really did.” Robert paused and walked over to Steven. “It seems you have some, shall we say, defects.” “What! What are you talking about?” Steven was becoming angry. “We had really hoped for the best.” Robert pulled out a pen light and started flashing it into Steven’s eyes. Steven wanted to run, he wanted to scream, but something was holding him back. Some thing or some part of him was not allowing him to leave. 115

Kimberly Raiser Robert pulled out a small silver colored device from his pocket and scanned it over Steven’s eyes. “Everything is still in place. Hmm. I really don’t understand what went wrong.” He just stood there staring into Steven’s eyes. “What do you mean? What are you talking about? Is there something wrong with me?” Steven was becoming more and more ill feeling. “Other than the fact that you are half your father’s son?” Robert laughed. “No, really, that is not the problem. Unfortunately we do have a problem though.” He placed the device back into his pocket. “Steven..,” he started, “. . .I suppose I should explain things to you, though I personally had hoped you could get through this life without us ever having to intervene. But. . . that is not the case, so I will do the best I can in the time provided.” Steven’s stomach settled a little. Robert leaned against the tunnel wall and proceeded. “It all started when your parents were trying to conceive a child. Your father had no problems at all; it was your mother that could not produce viable eggs. Our people decided to help, shall we say.” “What do you mean by “our people”? Steven was trying to keep his focus, periodically glancing over at the still figures of his family members. “The people I work with helped your parents create a family. We merely provided them the child they had always wanted.” “What are you saying?” Steven was becoming angry and still distracted by the suspended animation of his family members. “Well Steven. We were able to give you your father’s DNA, but had to substitute your mother’s.” 116

The Family Bones Robert adjusted his glasses. “Steven, you have had special abilities since you were a child. We had hoped you would get a handle on these gifts. It wasn’t until your parents’ death that we intervened. You gave us no choice.” “My parent’s death? What are you saying?” “Steven, you were responsible for their accident.” “No! You are lying! This is ridiculous. How could I have caused their accident?” Steven was becoming very angry. “Who the hell do you think you are? And what the hell is this?” he pointed to Charlie, Ben and Jack. Robert stayed focused. “Steven, you were mad at them. When you saw them coming around the corner after you had told them not to come, you caused the car to flip. They died because of your anger and your abilities. When we arrived you had already gone into a state of shock. You didn’t remember a thing, or your abilities. Somehow you had lost your development of telekinesis. We watched you for months and made sure that you were safe and that no one suspected you of anything. When we felt things were under control, we left you to complete your life.” “I just can’t believe this. This is insane. None of it makes any sense at all.” Steven was pacing madly in a circle. “Steven, it wasn’t until you came back here that this other side of you reemerged. Only somehow it emerged from your subconscious and you have developed the ability to control others’ actions without them even realizing it. You have become a danger to everyone around you.” Robert held his hand up and had his silver device pointed directly at Steven. Without even a conscious 117

Kimberly Raiser thought Steven forced the object from his hand and it landed on the ground. He surprised Robert, and amazed himself. Steven lunged for the ground to grab the device before Robert could get a hold of it again. By the time he hit the ground the device was already gone, and Robert was once again pointing it at him. “You can manipulate time,” Steven responded. “Interesting.” He tilted his neck until it cracked, then straightened. Robert noticed the sudden change in Steven’s affect. Before he could react to it, his body was thrown across the tunnel and against a wall. He lost consciousness. Steven was now very aware of what was happening. He straightened himself up. Now he had a problem. The very second Robert fell unconscious Ben snapped out of his stasis and dropped Jack. Charlie moved quickly to avoid being crushed. Ben was confused. “What happened? Steven!” Steven turned towards Ben. “You’ll have to deal with him yourself old man.”

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im Vogel’s beeper went off indicating that Robert needed help immediately. He went to his desk and opened a drawer to reveal the GPS docking station for the beeper. He plugged it in. The GPS quickly acquired Robert’s signal and scanned the U.S. maps instantaneously. The location appeared with a street address and case number. “It’s Steven,” Vogel said out loud. Vogel picked up the telephone and made a phone call. A man’s voice answered on the other end. “It’s Robert, he needs our assistance. I’m sending you GPS coordinates now.” Vogel sat listening for a moment. “No. Apparently Robert tripped his TELEK unit,” he responded to the voice on the other end. “Heading out right now. . . I know. . . it will be taken care of.” Seconds later Vogel appeared in the tunnel next to Robert. This time Steven became just as suspended as Charlie, Ben and Jack. Vogel pulled out a small cylindrical device from his pocket and held it up to the side of Robert’s head. Robert slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and looked up at Vogel. “Jim. You made it.” Robert brushed himself off 119

Kimberly Raiser and slowly stood up. Vogel helped him steady his feet. “I thought you said you could control him,” said Vogel. Robert closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. “Something is different with him.” Vogel turned to look at Steven. He noticed that Steven was not in the exact position he had been frozen in a moment ago. Vogel turned back to Robert. “I knew we should have taken care of this years ago.” Vogel glared at Robert. “You knew we couldn’t just eliminate him. We can’t just go around playing almighty creator.” Robert was defensive. “You mean like creating his zygote?” he paused to allow Robert to absorb his remark. “We cannot risk him drawing attention to himself again.” Vogel was looking over some data on a palm device. “He can have an accident.” “No!” Robert knew what Vogel had the authority to do, but he also knew that he must get the consensus of Prime Council to authorize elimination of a subject. “You don’t have that authority granted to you yet. You couldn’t possibly have known the situation until now.” Steven had become free of his stasis but did not want Robert or Vogel to realize it, so he maintained his position and listened closely. “He has a family,” Robert interjected. “There are children involved. We don’t know if it is the father’s DNA that is corrupt or if it’s the Recombinant DNA that we combined with that.” “You know full well the father exhibited signs of psychosis later in life Robert.” “Yes, but we’ve never had a subject develop his abilities. They’ve evolved.” 120

The Family Bones Vogel had been staring at Steven while Robert was rambling. He turned and looked blankly at Robert. “What do you mean they’ve evolved?” Robert was becoming uneasy, but wanted to appear in control. “Not only have his powers of telekinesis returned, he can manipulate other people’s actions. I’m not too sure if he is even aware of this yet. He seems to be doing it from a subconscious level.” “That’s interesting,” replied Vogel. “His personality must have fractured at the time of the accident years ago and coming back to this place has allowed his suppressed personality to emerge.” “And?” “He has emerged…enraged it seems.” Robert adjusted his glasses. Steven was carefully absorbing the conversation. He knew he had to do something. His life was at stake. “There is something else at play here though, and I don’t know what it is. Perhaps we should transport him,” Robert suggested to Vogel. Vogel turned with an angered look. “That’s never been done before. You know we can’t have that. The risks involved are much too great. It would be easier just to get rid of him.” “Well that’s not going to happen.” Robert stood firm in front of Vogel. “Obviously we disagree on how to handle this, but that is irrelevant anyway. I spoke with Ballist about this before I began my journey here.” Robert was surprised to hear this. “Why would you contact him before you knew the situation?” “C’mon Robert. There would only be one reason 121

Kimberly Raiser you would have sent a distress signal in Steven’s case. I only took the most logical next step.” Robert knew he was taking a chance sending the distress signal, but he knew things were unpredictable at this point. Steven was becoming fatigued trying to stand still for so long. His arms were beginning to tremble and his knees were about to buckle from underneath. He knew he would be found out soon enough, he had to think quick. *** Tara was getting anxious. She walked to the side door of the kitchen and tried opening it again. This time it worked. She had already tried to contact Steven on his cell phone several times, and tried the two way radios. She got nothing. She knew she couldn’t go anywhere without Sara. “What the hell am I supposed to do?” she thought to herself. “Mommy, don’t worry so much.” Sara was still coloring in her coloring book. She looked up at her mother. “Charlie is fine Mommy.” Tara looked over at Sara. “I’m sure he and Daddy are just fine sweetheart.” “I like Dr. Robert. He’s a nice man.” Sara was still focused on her drawing. Tara came back over to the table and sat down next to her. She stroked the top of Sara’s head and brushed her hair behind her ears with her fingers. “You are such a wonderful daughter.” Sara stopped her coloring and looked up at Tara. Her face was blank. “Daddy is not coming back Mommy.” The look in her eyes was a look Tara had 122

The Family Bones never seen before. It was a dead look, an unfamiliar look. Tara could actually smell the sweat on her own lip. It took every ounce of her to respond. “Sara honey, why would you say that?” Sara relaxed again. “I just know.” This was about one of those last straws that Tara had always envisioned would tear her sanity from her entire existence. She was ready to just explode. “Why don’t you go take a nap Mommy. That would make you feel better.” Tara couldn’t take it anymore. “Sara! Why would you say that?! How could you say your father is not coming back?” She began to sob uncontrollably. “Mommy, it’s ok.” Sara calmly walked over and hugged her mother. “It’s ok Mommy.” She stroked her mother's back with her innocent little hand. Tara was hysterical. She couldn’t stop crying, her eyes were stinging from her tears. Her nose stuffed up to the point she sounded like a little sick child sniffling through a winter cold. “I’m sorry honey.” She managed to get out of her sobs. “I’m sorry. Mommy will be ok.” She made a feeble attempt to assure her daughter she was ok. She was just shaking her head back and forth trying to calm herself down. Her breaths came short and quick like little spasms. Sara walked over to the sink and poured a glass of water for her mother, and grabbed a towel from the counter. She walked back over to her. “Here Mommy, drink some water.” She began to dab her mother’s face with the towel. Tara was astonished by the composure of her little girl. She looked into her soulful eyes. She just didn’t 123

Kimberly Raiser know what to say. “Mommy, we can go lay down together and take a nap if you want to, or I can read you a story from my book while you lay down.” Sara made this cute little face that no one could have resisted. Tara wanted desperately to go look for Steven and Charlie, but she couldn’t drag her five year old daughter into possible danger. They were safe where they were, and not much time had actually passed, though it seemed like an eternity, and Tara felt this desperate need for sleep. “Mommy, how about we go up to the upstairs room; I like it up there. We can sleep in that really soft bed.” Sara was already pulling her mother out of the room. Tara resisted very little. *** The muscles in Steven’s legs felt like the after shock of a 6.7 magnitude earthquake. Every fiber of every nerve ending was at the end of what it could endure. His legs could bear the stress no longer; they buckled out from beneath him. He barely caught himself before he hit the ground. Vogel and Robert both reacted by trying to capture Steven’s fall before he hit the ground. Steven raised his hand in defense as he fell, and to his own surprise was able to block their influence over time and space. Vogel was shocked. He realized not only did Steven have the power to resist them, but that it was not even premeditated. He simply reacted. “Robert, I think his powers have more than evolved.” Steven dropped to the ground and quickly col124

The Family Bones lected himself. As he stood he brushed the dirt from his legs. He stood perfectly upright and held his right hand high at chest level. He waited for them to make a move. Vogel had not anticipated this much trouble. “Robert” he said quietly. “We aren’t prepared for this.” “No.” Robert paused, then turned his eyes to Vogel. “You’ll have to trust me on this one.” Vogel understood the look, nothing else needed to be said. He was gone in an instant. Robert relaxed his position and calmly looked at Steven. “I’m on your side Steven.” Steven put his hand down and relaxed. Robert seemed to have a positive affect on Steven, which was especially beneficial at this moment. Without much effort, Robert had managed to push the suppressed Steven back in his holding pattern for the moment. Steven put his hands on his face and rubbed them up and down. “What the hell is going on? I feel like I’m losing my mind.” Robert walked slowly towards Steven. “So which one of you am I talking to right now?” He sort of chuckled but gave Steven a leer. “Well, it’s the only ME that I know of, consciously that is.” Steven tried to relax his posture. He looked over at the mess that was his family. “What are we going to do about them?” “I need to get you and Charlie to safety first. I’ll find a way to deal with the rest.” Robert walked over to Charlie and lifted him from his spot without waking him from his stasis. “Let’s get you out of here. I’ll explain everything soon enough.” When the three of them were safely above base125

Kimberly Raiser ment level Robert woke Charlie and vanished just as quick. Charlie was in his father’s arms headed towards the house. “Dad? What happened? How did we get up here?” “You fell down son. I had to carry you all the way back up.” “What do you mean? Where is Uncle Ben? What happened to Jack?” Charlie had squirmed his way out of his father’s arms. “They are ok Charlie. They headed back for the house. We have to go check on your mother and sister; I’m sure they are worried.” Charlie was a bit confused and not totally convinced of what was going on. He followed his father closely.

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s soon as Sara realized her mother was asleep she crept quietly down the stairs. As she was walking through the living room she noticed Steven and Charlie approaching the house. She positioned herself out of her father’s sight. Charlie ran ahead of his father and burst through the front door. He stopped just on the interior side of the door, slammed it shut and took a deep breath. Sara was only a few feet away. Sara looked at her tired and weary-eyed brother slumped against the door. She could almost feel what he had been through. He closed his eyes. Steven reached for the doorknob but was unable to turn it. He tried several times, then with frustration, threw himself against the door. Nothing. The door would not move. He walked to the side of the house to try the kitchen door. He still could not get in. “Tara!” he yelled. “Charlie? The doors won’t open. Will you please come unlock them?” Charlie looked at Sara. “He sounds ok, maybe we should let him in.” “No. That is not Daddy.” Charlie could not understand how his sister knew anything. She wasn’t there in the tunnel with them. 127

Kimberly Raiser She didn’t see what happened to Jack. How could she ... Steven was about to throw himself on the kitchen door when something caught the corner of his eye. Something familiar, something he loathed. It was a small gray cat with bright emerald eyes. It was just sitting there staring at him, flicking its tail. “Where the hell did you come from?” he sneered at the cat. The cat’s eyes sparkled like fire; it lowered its head and stared intensely at Steven. Steven was becoming a bit unnerved. He turned to the door and raised his hand. Sara turned suddenly towards the door as it lifted from its hinges. Charlie reacted in concert with his sister and the door hung there in the middle of the kitchen like a prop suspended by invisible wire. Surprised by the resistance Steven lost concentration and dropped the door. It came down hard and slapped flat on the wood surface of the kitchen floor. The sound was almost deafening. It was loud enough to wake Tara from a sound sleep. For what seemed like an eternity Steven and the children stood very still just staring at one another. Steven knew he had to be careful. It had become quite apparent that his children had inherited certain abilities. “Sara honey, I’m so glad you’re ok.” Steven forced a smile towards his daughter. Sara remained calm, and cold. Charlie was a bit more shaken. He had been witness to much more than his sister could possibly pick up on. Sara became distracted by the sound of her 128

The Family Bones mother’s footsteps running down the staircase. Steven took advantage of the moment and stepped into the kitchen. Tara came running through the house and was just about to enter the kitchen when she slammed into thin air. The sudden stop almost knocked her out. It did knock her to the ground. She sat there shaking her head looking up to see what had stopped her. There was nothing, just Sara standing in the doorway. A second later the door to the kitchen slammed shut with Sara and Charlie on the other side. Tara jumped to her feet and tried to push her way into the kitchen. She started banging on the door. “Sara!!!!” she screamed. Terror began to ring through her entire body. She tried the door one more time. Nothing. She ran to the front door and out of the house to the kitchen entrance on the other side. She heard the door slam back into its socket as she rounded the corner. Tara stopped dead in her tracks. Splinters lined the edge of the door from the trauma of being ripped off its hinges and thrown back into its opening. Tara hadn’t seen it happen, but the air was thick with energy. She could just barely see in through the kitchen window. She lowered herself so she would go unnoticed. There stood Steven with his back to the window, his two children facing him. Sara had a look on her face that was completely unfamiliar to her mother, or anyone for that matter. She didn’t look frightened in any way. That’s probably what scared Tara most of all. Charlie moved over to his sister and quietly reached for her hand. Neither child took his or her eyes from Steven. 129

Kimberly Raiser Steven relaxed his posture. “Kids, it’s ok. We’re all safe.” “What’s happening to you Dad?” Charlie asked. He was torn by his fear and his love for his father. A tear formed in each eye. Steven was fighting to maintain the person that he had known himself to be for the last ten years. He was sweating profusely. He lifted his right hand and turned his palm up towards the ceiling. He looked at his hand and could see how much he was shaking. He looked at his children. “I don’t know how long I can hold him off.” His eyes looked sincere, and concerned. As Sara recognized her father’s plea Steven’s hand stopped shaking and his hand formed a fist. Every chair in the room slid towards the walls with a crashing sound and the groans and splinters of old wood. Steven’s posture became firm, and strong. His eyes were sharp and soulless. He calmly looked at Sara. “Sara darling, I am proud of you.” He smiled. “You are truly gifted my dear.” Sara did not flinch. Charlie was not as strong as Sara. He gripped her hand but still looked at his father with some hope that the man he knew all of these years would fight his way back to the surface. “Daddy, come back,” Charlie pleaded. Steven looked at Charlie with empathy. “Son, I am your father. It is ok.” “No it’s not! You are not my father!! You are a murderer!” Charlie’s emotions were now fixed on this stranger. ***

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The Family Bones Tara was overwhelmed by what she was seeing. Horror coursed through her veins. “This is not happening. This is all just a bad dream,” she thought to herself. “I’ve got to do something.” Tara stood up in front of the window so her children could see her. She banged on the glass and screamed to them. “Sara! Charlie!” The children looked at their mother, causing them to lose focus on Steven. Steven began to lose grip, he started shaking again. His face contorted and his fists began to sweat. A caring voice trembled across his lips. “Children, get out. Go to your mother.” He was fighting back the demon within him with every ounce of strength he had. The children looked at him. Sara now looked like a normal little girl, lost, and confused. “Go now!” Steven yelled. The children ran from the kitchen to the front door of the house. Tara watched and ran around the front to meet them. Both children came running out the front door and without hesitation Tara joined them and they continued to run across the field toward the guest house. The front door remained swung open. Steven remained in the kitchen battling with himself until he was so exhausted he collapsed to the floor. *** Tara had grabbed each of the children’s hands and was running as fast as she could drag them behind 131

Kimberly Raiser her. As they approached the guest house a voice from the side of the house called out to them. “Over here.” Tara stopped dead in her tracks, her heart racing. “What now,” she thought. “Pssst. Over here Ms. Weaver.” Tara looked to the side of the house, and there was Rip Carson and his wife Martha creeping around the edge waiving them over. Tara didn’t think twice. The sight of a friendly face was good enough for her. She dragged the children around the corner of the house. “What are you doing here?” Tara asked while trying to catch her breath. “We have come to help you dear,” replied Martha. The children were out of breath and clinging to their mother. “What do you mean?” Tara was so scattered and frightened that it was hard for her to maintain focus on the Carsons. “This place is not safe for you. It’s never been safe.” Martha was shaking her head and clutching a talisman that was hanging from a silver chain around her neck. “What?” replied Tara. “Please, we don’t have time for this.” “Come on child, let’s get your family to a safe place so we can explain to you what you’re dealing with.” Rip pointed to a truck that was parked behind the house. “Climb on in and we’ll get you a little further away from here.” “But Steven. . .” Tara looked back to the main house. She was scared out of her mind, but she didn’t want to leave her husband behind. 132

The Family Bones “We’ll figure everything out; let’s just get you out of here.” Everyone proceeded to the old pickup that was parked just on the other side of the house. They could just barely fit. It was an old white Ford pick-up that had a small bench seat in the back of the cab. Tara and the kids climbed in. The truck was in good shape for an old thing. It smelled good to Charlie, smelled like a basement. Of course, that smell held new meaning for Tara now. She didn’t like it at all; she would never like it again. Martha turned to Tara from the front seat while Rip was driving. “We just live around the corner. It’ll be ok; we’ll be there soon.” Within just moments the truck pulled into the driveway of Martha and Rip’s home. They all climbed out and headed for the back of the house. Rip lead them to a storm shelter. They climbed down inside behind him. It was a nice storm shelter. It was obvious the Carson’s had planned it out very well in case of such an emergency, or nuclear attack. Rip pointed to the sofa that was against the wall. “Go have a seat and I’ll get us some water.” He walked over to a make-shift kitchen. Tara and the children went over and dropped onto the sofa. Tara was shaking uncontrollably. Sara reached over and held her mother’s hand. “Mommy, it’s ok.” Tara was more than a little uneasy after what she had just witnessed her little girl do. She tried her best to calm down, but was having a difficult time doing so. Martha sat down on the loveseat next to Tara. “There are some things we need to tell you about your 133

Kimberly Raiser family’s property.” She reached down under the sofa and pulled out a little notebook. “Rip and I are some of the few people left around that know the true history of the Weaver estate.” The look in Martha’s eyes was intense and her mind was very focused on what she was explaining. “The land was not always owned by the Weaver family.” she started. “It was home to a very strange group of settlers hundreds of years ago. It is said that the land was cursed by spirits that were unhappy with these evil souls. When the settlers finally disappeared it was years and years before someone lived on that land again, or even visited.” Martha picked up another item from under the sofa. It was wrapped in leather and bound with rope. She held it up to show it to Tara and the children. “This was found buried under the ground that the house was built on. It tells the tale of all of the terrible things these cursed people did, and what would come to anyone else who ever lived on that land.” Tara felt like she was in the middle of a freak show. She sat there shaking her head as if to shake it all off. “Tara dear, your husband isn’t the first to have had this place do terrible things to his mind.” Rip came over with a pitcher of water and some glasses and sat down next to Martha. “She’s right Tara. This started way back before the time of Steven’s grandparents, the first Weavers to own that land. There were terrible stories of secret tunnels and animals disappearing from farms.” He put his hand on Martha’s knee. “People have been known to go missing around these parts, and never found again.” Martha interjected, “Steven’s grandmother tried dabbling in the Wicca for a while to keep away evil do134

The Family Bones ings and evil spirits. She would carve symbols onto objects and perform ritual spells to keep her family safe. She was pretty serious about her craft. Her husband didn’t like it very much though. She thought it actually worked for her for a while.” “The carvings on the bed,” Tara spoke. “There were strange symbols carved on the bed upstairs in the master bedroom. I had never seen them before . . . and there were books down in the basement in a secret room that had the same symbols on them . . .and. . .oh my God. . .” She placed her hand on her pendant. “ . . . my necklace. I found a similar one like this down in the basement, but it disappeared somehow in all the insanity.” Tara clutched at her necklace, almost feeling a bit relieved that it was meant for something good, not terrible as she first suspected. Martha leaned toward Tara. “May I see that?” She carefully lifted the pendant in her fingers. “I remember this pendant.” Martha leaned back in her seat. “Steven’s mother used to wear that same pendant.” She paused and thought a moment. “I believe she had one made for Steven and his father as well, but I never saw it on either one of them.” “Steven gave this to me when we were first dating. He said it meant a lot to him, and that it would protect me whenever he couldn’t. The other one that I found must have been the one that Steven’s mother made for his father. I never made the connection.” Tara made a peculiar face. “It doesn’t seem to be working that well.” The children were listening to every word. “Martha, did you ever notice any of the Weavers exhibit unusual abilities?” Tara was reluctant to ask, but just had to. 135

Kimberly Raiser Rip’s eyebrows went up. “What do you mean?” Tara knew she would open a can of worms with that question. She had to be careful how to answer. Sara and Charlie were watching her carefully. “I’m not sure. It’s just. . . a lot of strange things have happened since we’ve been here. Things I just can’t explain or begin to understand.” Charlie was relieved that his mother didn’t say anything about what had just happened. “Well, aside from strange behavior and missing animals, and people. . .” Rip paused. “There were a few suicides over the years nearby the Weaver’s though.” “I’m sure this all makes for good ghost stories,” Tara said with a roll of her eyes. “I don’t know if I really want to know anymore than I already do.” *** Vogel appeared just outside the kitchen window of the Weaver place. He looked in and saw Steven lying in a pool of sweat on the floor. The place looked like a tornado had hit. He tried to get in through the kitchen door but when he saw the condition of it he decided to walk around front. The front door had swung closed from the wind, but not completely. Vogel walked into the kitchen and knelt down next to Steven. “What are we going to do with you?” he said quietly. He reached for Steven’s neck to check for a pulse. It was strong; he was alive. Moments later Robert came walking into the house. “Did you take care of the others?” Vogel asked. 136

The Family Bones “For now. Jack is ok. I patched him up and stopped the bleeding. He should be fine. At least we avoided them going to the hospital. Ben seems to be fine but he believes Steven is having a psychotic break, and I don’t think Steven’s family suspects anything other than he has psychological problems.” “Look around you Robert. Does this look like nothing else has happened?” Robert surveyed the kitchen. He had been totally unaware of the amount of damage. “What in the world happened here?” He walked over to the kitchen door. It was obvious the door had been ripped out by force, and shoved back in the same way. He touched the splintered edges in disbelief. “You don’t think. . .” Robert paused. “Well. . . what else would explain this?” Vogel stood up and looked down at Steven. “It looks like someone threw a supernatural tantrum, or worse.” “What do mean worse?” “This looks like the results of a fight of some kind. I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling. Have you ever seen the kids exhibit any kind of abilities?” “I haven’t spent much time with them to know that. Sara did seem a bit too in control of her emotions for such a small child though.” Robert bent down and sat next to Steven. “What are we going to do with him?” “Well, we have to see what we are actually dealing with here. We might be able to contain him for a while.” Robert looked up at Vogel. A faint look of regret encompassed him. “Whatever gave us the right to do this?” “Don’t go getting all sentimental on me Robert. 137

Kimberly Raiser You’ve been in this as long as I have. It’s like a family tradition with you.” “It doesn’t make it right,” Robert snapped. “Is it really that important to our people?” “It’s important for our people,” Vogel responded. “We have to make up for our own ancestors past mistakes. They started this hundreds of years ago; at least we have a purpose. We are the good guys.” Steven began to stir on the floor beneath them. Robert and Vogel both stepped back and prepared themselves. They weren’t sure which Steven was going to wake up. *** “Can I take a look at that book Mrs. Carson?” Tara was looking at the leather bound book that Martha had carefully placed on her lap. Martha lifted it and handed it to Tara. “Please call me Martha dear. And remember, it is very old, so do be careful with it. It’s the only record we have.” “Of course.” Tara carefully unknotted the rope. The book creaked and moaned as she opened it, dust flew up into her nostrils. The children were very interested in the book. They were hanging on Tara from either shoulder, getting as close to the book as possible without actually laying directly on top of their mother. Tara was flipping through the pages carefully. A lot of the pages were actually papers that were placed into the book. There were notes, and drawings, and even swatches of fabric here and there. There were pictures that dated back to what looked like the late 1800’s. 138

The Family Bones She came across a small poster that was an advertisement for a missing girl. Lot’s of unusual things like that. Newspaper clippings, articles, even a drawing of what looked like an underground maze of some sort. Every now and then Tara would see a symbol or two sketched within the notes. Nothing that really helped her understand it though. “Miss Martha, do you have any tea?” asked Sara. Sara looked as cute and normal as could be. For a moment it almost comforted her mother. “I most certainly do my dear.” Martha just remembered where they were. “Oh sweetheart, I almost forgot myself. We’ll have to go up to the house.” Martha looked over at Rip. He nodded his head. “Ok!” Sara looked quite content with being a normal little girl once more. “Master Charlie, why don’t you go help your sister. I think Martha has some fresh baked cookies out there in the kitchen too.” Charlie’s eyes lit up at the thought of cookies. He didn’t even hesitate. He jumped from behind his mother and followed Martha and Sara like a little puppy dog. “Thank you.” Tara looked up at Rip. “It’s good to see them acting like kids. They seem almost normal.” Tara slumped back into her seat and took a deep breath. Her eyes closed for just a moment and a tear rolled out from under each lid. Quietly she wiped her eyes and took a steady breath. Rip leaned in towards her. “You have to protect the children.” Tara slowly refocused her eyes then leaned upwards in her seat. She was keenly aware that Rip knew something that she didn’t. 139

Kimberly Raiser “You mustn’t let anyone know about the children,” he continued. Rip glanced around the room as if he was making sure there was no one lurking and listening. “I can’t explain everything to you right now, but believe me when I tell you I’m on your side Tara.” “I can barely deal with any of this myself right now. I feel like it’s all just a bad dream. It doesn’t make any sense. None of it.” Tara was doing her best, once again, to compose herself. Rip could see that she was struggling. “I’ve got to save my family.” She looked into Rip’s eyes. “I love my husband.” She paused and took a breath. “I know I have a duty as a mother, but I also have a duty to Steven. He’s not just the father of my children, he’s my best friend, and I’m not going to desert him.” Rip sat up straight in his seat. It was obvious to Tara that he was about to say or do something significant. “What is it Rip?” Tara sat forward. “What are you not telling me?” “I’m not really sure where to begin,” Rip started. “Tara. You have to keep an open mind for what I’m about to tell you.” Tara didn’t know whether to be frightened or curious, but without much choice in the matter; she was both. She became irritated. “What is it?” “Steven is much more unique than simply being the man you fell in love with.” Rip paused; he was listening to the children laughing in the distance. He waited a few more seconds until the sound of their voices was far enough away, then he got up and closed the door to the shelter. Tara knew her present approach would not work. 140

The Family Bones “Please,” she softened her tone. “ . . . tell me what you know. Whatever it is, I just need to know.” Rip turned back to Tara and tried his best to maintain focus. “You know this place has a history.” His eyes glanced over at the book. “Tara. You can never tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.” Tara was nodding her head. “No one,” he continued. “Not your sister, or brother, or best friend, not even Steven.” While Tara was nodding her head in acknowledgement she also knew she could not hide anything from Steven. “Especially not Steven,” he continued. “His life depends on it if there is any chance for him.” “Please. I just need to know what is going on.” She refocused her eyes after looking away for just a second. “The woman that you have come to know as Steven’s mother was not actually his biological mother. Steven’s parents were having trouble conceiving. The doctor they went to sent them to a specialist that could help them, and he did.” Rip stopped a moment, as if he were listening for company. “Although Steven’s mother did carry him to term, it was not her egg’s genetic makeup that was growing within her womb. It was a donor.” “Ok, so Steven’s mother was not his actual biological mother,” Tara acknowledged. “That’s correct. She didn’t know this though. Neither one of them did. They were under the impression that they had gone through typical in-vitro fertilization.” “How do you know about this?” Tara questioned. 141

Kimberly Raiser “Please, there is a lot more to explain. Are you sure you can keep your promise?” Tara hesitated a moment. “There can be no hesitation in your decision. You either can or you cannot. This must never ever be shared with anyone.” “I don’t understand. What is so significant about this that no one could ever find out? I realize it was a lie, and a malpractice suit…” Rip interrupted Tara. “It is much more significant and unbelievable. Can you, or can you not, be trusted?” “I don’t know whether to think everyone else is crazy, or if it’s just me. The law of averages would tell anyone that majority wins,” she paused nervously. “Look, all I want is the truth.” She mustered a firm voice. “You can trust me.” She was becoming more and more irritated but knew she had to maintain some display of normalcy if he was going to trust her. “Tara, Steven’s actual mother was not from this planet. I mean, she looked like you or I, but she wasn’t human. In fact, technically, his mother was not really his mother; it was more like, another father.” “What? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” She maintained her focus on Rip. “You can’t expect me to believe that. You’re insane.” She paused a moment and the realization slowly came to her. “You’re serious.” “Indeed I am. The genetic material that was combined with Steven’s father was from a male of. . . my kind.” Rip waited for her reaction. Tara was trying to absorb everything she was hearing. She stood up and began to pace around the room. “This…this is insane. How the hell . . .” Tara turned 142

The Family Bones to Rip. “This is a bunch of bull-shit. How do you explain the fact that you look just like us? Is that just a coincidence?” Tara was getting louder and louder and ready to completely lose it. Rip waited for a moment. “It’s true Tara. It’s not as crazy as you think if you just look at the whole picture. What led our race here in the first place was the belief that we may have the same ancestors as the people on this planet. It’s the only reason we can even survive here, or blend in.” “What! Not crazy. Oh know, it’s perfectly rational, perfectly normal. Why didn’t it occur to me?” She started rambling. “Of course, that explains everything! All these years. Oh, that must be why Steven likes to put pepper on his bananas, and peanut butter on his bologna!!!” she paused. “Because he’s an ALIEN!” Rip stood up and walked towards Tara. “Get away from me! You’re insane!” Tara’s mind was trying to put things together, trying to make sense. “So wait a minute. . . how do you know all of this?” (There was a long pause.) “Your kind?” She rolled her eyes. “Oh yes that’s right, because you’re from the same planet of course! You already told me that.” Tara stopped her pacing and looked at Rip. “And Martha?” Tara asked sarcastically. “She’s from Astral,” Rip replied. “Convenient name for a town, don’t ya think?” Tara spouted. “Did you use her as an experiment too, or is Martha the sweet little old alien that everyone has come to grow to love?” Tara turned, now she looked pissed. “This is ridiculous. You need to show me proof.” Rip was afraid of this. “I’m not sure I want to do 143

Kimberly Raiser that. It is not as easy as you might think.” Rip stood. “Martha doesn’t know.” “You have to be kidding.” Tara was getting tired of the stories. “She can’t know Tara. I am trusting you with this information. I’ll explain everything to you if you just calm down and try to believe this. It’s too important for the sake of your children not to listen to everything I am telling you.” Tara dropped back into her chair. “You had to believe I would want some proof didn’t you? You wouldn’t expect anyone to believe this story would you?” “I was hoping it wouldn’t be necessary. I was hoping that Steven had changed for good.” “It’s really a long story, but I came here originally out of concern for your husband, and the fact that the genetic material he was created with came from someone very dear to me.” Rip felt comfortable enough to lean back in his seat. “This really needs to remain a secret.” “But why? Something has obviously gone wrong with this . . . experiment.” She looked a bit more composed. “He has the right to know who he is.” “Tara, it is too dangerous. You don’t understand.” “What do you mean? How can it be anymore dangerous than my husband walking around with a severe personality disorder. Obviously something is wrong!” Tara was becoming impatient once again. “The problem with your husband isn’t his alien DNA. It is his human side that is causing all these psychoses. We didn’t know what they had done when the combination was selected. THEY didn’t even know. They didn’t look deep enough into Steven’s fa144

The Family Bones ther’s history. His father had a history of severe mental disorder; for generations this had gone on. He looked perfectly normal to the uneducated eye, and he acted that way too, but haven’t you heard of Ted Bundy? He looked normal too. Steven’s father was a psychopathic killer with an insatiable appetite. Pairing his DNA with our own was a huge mistake. The only good thing that has emerged is a conscience. And even that is not strong enough to overpower the evil that remains within his blood.” “As for Martha, understand, I do love her, and she really is my wife in every sense of the word.” He paused and looked a little ashamed. “When I came here we were both much younger. Martha’s family owned the corner store. It was just a perfect fit. I was able to be close to Steven during most of his childhood.” He looked back up from his shame. “Martha can never know. She will not understand.” “Who are you people?” Tara began shaking her head. “I feel like someone is going to jump out from behind a sofa and yell “You’re on Candid Camera!” or something. This is just crazy. This whole thing is crazy.” Tara paused. “Seriously, can you tell me, or more importantly, show me more than just the fact that you are from another planet and my husband is half alien.” And then it hit her. “And my children . . . oh my God.” Tara closed her eyes and dropped back to her seat. “What does this mean for my children?” “Tara, you and your children are very special. In so many ways I cannot even begin to tell you. Your children are the first second generation that exist, or ever existed. We can never let anything happen to them. Do you understand?” “Tara…” he paused. 145

Kimberly Raiser “You still haven’t given me any answers. I think I deserve that much.” “You are right. You do deserve some answers. It was no accident that you and Steven ended up together. Granted, nature took its own course, but the two of you were placed strategically together in hopes of what you might call a ‘kismet’.” “My marriage? My whole life is a lie?” “Tara, what you have had was and is very real. We didn’t have to force things. Fortunately for everyone things just worked out naturally between you and Steven. That is very real my dear.” Rip reached under the sofa and pulled out another book. This book was nothing like the one Tara had been looking through. This book opened to reveal an LCD screen and buttons. Rip opened the book and pressed a few of the buttons to reveal a stellar map. He pointed at the screen. “You see this constellation?” “Yes.” “Now follow this marker . . .” The marker stayed in focus while the images on the screen broadened and seemed to travel to several galaxies away from the one he started. “Now, this mark right here, this is where we are from.” Tara looked in disbelief. “So far. How could you make the journey from so far?” “We don’t travel like you do. We have the ability to manipulate time and space. It is something that only a few of us are able to do, and this is kept a secret from even our own people. You can understand why.” “Wait.” Tara got up and began to pace again. She was talking to herself and waving her arms around. “So…why can’t you do something to fix this? You 146

The Family Bones have these unimaginable abilities and science, and yet you can’t fix this?” “It’s not that simple Tara. Ordinarily when a problem like this arises it is simply eliminated. There is no real need to fix it.” Rip’s eyes fixed on Tara. “Do you understand what I am saying to you?” Tara’s eyes welled up. “You would get rid of the problem.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks; she sat back down and just shook her head. “I can’t believe this is happening. I just can’t believe this.” She kept shaking her head back and forth and saying over and over. “This is not happening.” “The only reason Steven hasn’t been eliminated is because of Robert and the fact that we are here to protect what we can.” “Robert? Oh no, not him too?” Tara tried to wipe her eyes. They were beginning to sting, and she couldn’t stop the steady drip that wept from them every minute or so. “I thought Robert was his doctor?” “He was. He has been here since the beginning. Well, he has had contact since the beginning; he doesn’t remain here all the time.” Rip could hear the kids and Martha coming back from the house. He looked at Tara. “The children cannot know just yet.” Tara whispered. “I don’t know if I can do this. How the hell am I supposed to keep this to myself? It’s not honest. It’s not who I am.” The door to the storm shelter opened and the children came running down the steps with hands full of cookies. Martha trailed behind with a tray of tea and some glasses.

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Chapter 13

S

teven opened his eyes and slowly began to focus. He could barely move; his body felt broken. He felt beaten. He looked up at Robert. “Are the children safe?” He could barely get the words out of his mouth. “They are safe Steven.” Robert knelt down by his side. “How do you feel?” “Like a train ran me over. I can barely feel my feet, or the rest of me for that matter.” The light in Steven’s eyes was fading. “He doesn’t look good.” Vogel knelt down next to Robert and Steven. Robert pulled out his shiny little device. He waved it over Steven and held it back in front of him. He pressed a few buttons and looked at the small LCD screen that opened for display. Steven looked up at Robert. The look in his eyes was not that of a killer. It was not that of an insane man. It was a look that Robert had only seen once in his life, and the horror of that moment was being replayed right in front of his own eyes. Robert held Steven’s hand. A tear formed in each eye. Steven watched as the tears slowly made their way down and across each crease in Robert's skin. 148

The Family Bones Steven did not understand the tears. “Get a hold of yourself Robert.” Vogel piped up. “You knew this might happen. You knew what was at risk and you swore you could deal with it.” Robert became angry. He and Vogel both stood and glared into each other’s eyes. Robert was being overpowered by his own emotions. Vogel could see the trouble brewing in Robert’s eyes. He reached into his pocket, and as he did, Robert grabbed his wrist and began struggling with him. “Robert; what are you doing!” Vogel was caught off guard. Their strengths were matched. “I’m not going to let you do it!” Robert was trying to get the upper hand in the struggle. “Get a hold of yourself Robert!” Robert twisted around and got behind Vogel, wrapping his arm around his neck in a headlock. He anchored himself around Vogel’s throat. “I am not going to watch one more person die!” “What are you talking about? You’ve lost your mind.” Vogel was slipping fast. Steven could barely stay conscious himself. “You were the one responsible,” Robert continued. “I won’t let this happen again.” “You’re insane Robert. It’s not the same thing.” Robert tightened his grip around Vogel’s neck until his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body went limp. Vogel was out cold. Robert looked at Steven. “Hold on. I’m going to get you out of here and to a safe spot. My father didn’t give his life for nothing.” In a matter of a second Robert and Vogel disap149

Kimberly Raiser peared. Within what seemed only a second longer Robert reappeared alone. If Steven would have blinked, he would have missed the entire thing. Robert bent down and lifted Steven up and over his shoulder. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” *** “Wow those cookies look good Charlie.” Tara forced an eager smile. “Mom, these are awesome. They’re the best in the world!” Charlie filled his face with more cookies. “Guess I’ll have to get the recipe. You seem to be liking them too Sara.” Tara wiped the crumbs off Sara’s shirt. “They are very good Mommy.” Sara smiled. Martha sat down next to Rip. “Everything ok down here?” “Of course.” Rip smiled and looked as calm as could be. “Everything quiet up at the house?” “Quiet as a mouse.” “What are we going to do?” asked Tara. “We can’t stay down here forever.” “No, you’re right, but you can stay here a little longer. I’m going to take a walk around and check things out.” He was already up from the sofa and on his way to the door. “Martha, why don’t you pull out a movie from the cabinet and the little portable tv? I’m sure that would entertain the kids for a while.” “Oh yes. I forgot we even had that down here.” Martha jumped up and walked to the cabinet. “Rip likes to come down here once and a while for a little 150

The Family Bones peace and quiet. I call it his “Bat Cave.” “I’ll be back before you know it.” Rip climbed out of the storm shelter and shut the door behind him. Martha walked over to the door and pulled the heavy latch to secure it. No one was getting in without her say so. *** Rip jumped into the truck and tore down the driveway. A cloud of dust drifted over the house like an unintentional smoke signal. Rip looked down at his watch; he knew he didn’t have much time. Robert could hear someone pulling into the driveway. The gravel drive was difficult to roll upon quietly. He went to the nearest window. He recognized Rip’s truck. “Looks like something might go right today.” He looked over at Steven with assurance. The door opened. Rip stood there looking down at Steven. “What the hell is going on?” He looked over at Robert. “We’ve got to get him to a safe place Rip.” Robert was becoming more concerned. Rip walked over to Robert, turning his back to Steven. “You know what I told Vogel.” Robert’s face changed. He felt a sickness well up in his chest. The look in his eyes changed from hope, to sadness, and fear. “I can’t do it.” “It’s over Robert. He’s too dangerous. You knew it might come to this.” Rip reached into his pocket. “No.” Robert became angry and reached for Rip’s hand. “I won’t let you do it.” 151

Kimberly Raiser “Get your hand off of me.” Rip leered into Robert’s eyes and leaned slightly towards him. “I will take care of you as well if I have to.” “How will you explain this?” Robert insisted. “Like everything else.” Robert lifted his grip from Rip’s wrist. “You think this is an exception Robert? You think because that man on the floor over there has a genetic link to you makes him special in the whole scheme of things?” Rip’s anger was escalating. “Do you really think we can jeopardize everything for one man? Don’t be ridiculous.” Rip suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. He stiffened and dropped to his knees. He looked up at Robert, his mouth opened but no words formed. The pain was too great. Robert looked over at Steven. “What have you done?” He moved behind Rip. A large knife was sticking out of his back. It was in deep. “Oh my God.” He reached to see if he could remove the knife, but as he did; Rip fell to the ground. “It’s no use,” said Steven. “It’s in too deep. If you pull it out he’ll just bleed to death and you’ll sever his spine.” Steven stood. He was looking stronger. “He’s already dead, just leave him there.” Robert stood frozen as he watched his mentor dying beneath his feet. “How are we going to explain this!?” He turned to Steven. “After everything I have done for you! After all that you have done!” “Robert, he was going to kill me. Can you say that I did any more than anyone else would have done in my situation? I have a family, and a life, and I’m not going to give it up that easily.” Steven walked up to Robert. He suddenly seemed very tall. He looked into 152

The Family Bones Robert’s eyes. “Do you understand?” He didn’t mean to get an answer from Robert, it was more like a demand the way it came across. For the first time, Robert did not have a clue as to what he was going to do. He wasn’t really sure what he was dealing with. He was trying to weigh all of the information in his head. Steven was right about surviving. Anyone that threatened may have done the same thing. But Steven wasn’t just anyone, and he didn’t just do anything. He stabbed a man in the back without ever lifting a finger. And now, the man was dead. “Robert, take me to my family now.” “What? I don’t know where they are.” Robert was rubbing his hands over his face still looking at the body on the floor in front of him. “How am I going to explain this?” “You don’t have to. I’ll take care of it.” Steven said it so matter of fact that the goose-bumps on Roberts neck almost strangled him with fear. Robert developed a new appreciation for Steven’s abilities. “I imagine they are at Rip’s place. If they are not somewhere in the house, that is where I imagine they would be.” Robert turned back to Steven. “I won’t let anything happen to your family.” His tone was firm. Whether he meant he would protect them from Steven, or anyone else, was difficult for Steven to discern. “Let’s go, shall we.” Steven nodded his head towards the door. The two of them walked quietly out of the house and down the path to the street. They could have taken Rip’s truck, but Steven didn’t want anyone to hear him coming. 153

Kimberly Raiser “Smells like a new day.” Steven took a deep breath and exhaled as they approached the house. Robert was watching him closely. “Ok, quietly open the back door and I will follow you in,” Steven instructed. Robert turned to him. He was about to say something. Steven lifted a charismatic eyebrow. “You have something to say Robert?” Robert backed down. Steven’s affect was taking on a dramatic shift. It was self-assured, intelligent, intimidating. It was almost seductive. The two of them entered a very quiet house. “Doesn’t sound like anyone or anything is here,” Steven commented while looking around and carefully listening. He turned to Robert. “Where is the bunker?” “What? What are you talking about?” he responded. He tried to hide the panic in his voice, but to no avail. “I know they have one. I certainly would.” Steven was going through the drawers in the kitchen, looking for something useful. He noticed the worried look on Robert’s face. “Don’t worry Robert, I’m not going to grab a knife and kill you.” His tone was chilling. “I’m not a cold blooded killer.” Robert knew better. He knew all about Steven’s past, whether this Steven remembered it or not. Steven smiled. “I just want to see my family and let them know everything is fine.” Robert hesitated. He knew Steven could kill him instantly. “How do I know you won’t hurt them?” Steven looked him dead in the eyes. “You don’t.” He stepped back. “But I wouldn’t. They are my fam154

The Family Bones ily. I would die before I let anything happen to them.” “Steven…” Robert hesitated. If he pulled the family card, how would Steven react? He was going to have to risk it. “There is something you need to know.” Steven leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed his legs. He looked unusually comfortable with himself. “Are you going to tell me that you and I are related?” Robert wasn’t sure how to respond. Had Steven overheard his conversation with Vogel? “C’mon Robert. I inherited two sets of pretty impressive genetic material. Don’t you think?” Steven tilted his neck to the left until a popping sound was heard. “It’s ok brother. You are as safe as could possibly be. Now let’s go get to that bunker.” Steven smiled and suddenly had a bit of a skip to his step. Robert really didn’t know what to make of it. It was very apparent though that he was dealing with a whole new Steven. Robert headed out the door and across the field. The two of them approached the entrance to the bunker. “You first Robert. We wouldn’t want them to hesitate, now would we?” Robert tried the door; it was obviously locked. From inside the bunker could be heard the sound of the metal door being shifted, as if someone were trying to get in. “Martha?” Tara suddenly had a sound of panic in her voice. She whispered. “Someone is out there.” Martha knew it couldn’t be Rip. He knew that Martha had closed the locking latch from the inside. It would do him no good to try to open it without him knocking and yelling to her. 155

Kimberly Raiser Martha grabbed the shotgun that leaned against the wall beside her. She placed her finger in front of her lips and eyeballed the children as well to be quiet. They waited. Robert knocked on the metal door three times. “Hello! It’s Robert!” He waited for a reply. “Martha, do you know Robert?” Tara asked quietly. “I know several Roberts,” she snipped. “Tara, are you in there?” Robert was specific this time. “It’s Robert. Please let me know if you are in there.” “I know him. He is here to help. Open the door Martha.” Tara was happy to hear Robert’s voice. It was getting awful just sitting around in a hole waiting for something. “I’m not going to open that door until Rip tells me to.” Martha was pretty adamant. “Well then I’ll just do it myself.” Tara walked over to the door and began to lift the handle. “Don’t do it young lady.” Martha had the shotgun pointed directly at her. Tara looked at her. “What are you going to do, shoot me? I’m opening this door.” Martha’s arms suddenly fell to her sides and the gun fell to the floor. Charlie went over and picked it up, he ran to his mother’s side. “What the…” Martha couldn’t understand what happened. She stood there stunned. “Hold on Robert! I’m getting the lock undone!” Tara yelled through the metal door. Charlie was now on the other side of the bunker standing next to his sister, shotgun in hand. He would back his mother up if he had to. 156

The Family Bones Tara lifted the metal bar from its wedges and dropped it on the ground. She pushed up on the door. Robert and Steven grabbed the door simultaneously. As the door opened wide Charlie spotted his father and trained the shotgun straight at him. Steven noticed him, but chose to focus on Tara. “Honey, you are ok!” Tara looked up at Steven and was quickly seduced by his smile and welcoming hand. Robert pushed his way down the stairs first, followed by Steven, his hand already grasping his wife firmly. Tara threw her arms around her husband. He held her snug in his arms, like he had never done before. “I’m so glad you’re ok.” He whispered quietly in her ear. He backed away just several inches from her and placed both of his hands on her cheeks and gently placed his lips on hers. Charlie remained poised. “Where is Rip?” asked Martha. “Rip?” replied Robert. “I thought he was going to find you?” Martha insisted. Steven’s lips left Tara’s. He looked over at Martha and said quietly, “We didn’t see him Martha.” His charms weren’t going to work on her so easily. She gave him a look. Tara was feeling instantly better. She hugged Steven again. “I thought the worst.” “It’s going to be ok,” he responded. Robert walked over to Charlie and placed his hand on Charlie’s shoulder. The boy relaxed and lowered the shotgun. He handed the gun to Robert with a great sigh of relief. 157

Kimberly Raiser Sara ran across the floor to her daddy. She grabbed the side of his leg and hugged it as tight as she could. Charlie remained beside Robert. Steven looked down at his daughter. He patted her on the head and held down his arms to pick her up. Sara reached her arms up without hesitation. “Oh Daddy, I’m so glad to see you.” She hugged him tight and kissed him on the cheek.” Martha wasn’t looking too good. Aside from the fact that she had no idea where Rip was, she was shaken by what had just happened. She was becoming short of breath and began to clutch at her chest. Steven’s thoughts were trained on her. Tara noticed Martha wasn’t well and quickly responded by leading her over to the sofa. “Tell me what’s wrong Martha?” Martha was beginning to have so much trouble breathing that she couldn’t speak. There was a look of terror in her eyes, as if she knew of the impending doom that was being forced upon her. As her eyes shot over to Steven’s direction they immediately rolled into the back of her head and she went limp. Steven quickly put Sara on the ground and rushed to her side. He placed his fingers on her neck. “She has no pulse.” “Quick, get her to the ground.” Without hesitation Tara went into rescue mode. “Lay her flat.” The two of them lifted her to the ground and Steven positioned her neck for Tara to begin CPR. For five minutes Tara attempted to breathe life back into the old woman while Steven handled the compressions over her rib cage. Nothing was working. 158

The Family Bones “Tara…it’s over…she’s gone.” Steven stopped and stroked Tara on the back. Robert and the children were standing back watching the drama unfold.

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he was just fine a few minutes ago,” Tara said while closing Martha’s eyes. “She may have had a heart condition; we didn’t really know her,” Steven replied. Sara walked over to Martha laying there on the floor. She gave her a sweet little kiss on the forehead. “When is she going to wake up Mommy?” “Miss Martha will wake up in heaven sweetheart,” Tara replied. She reached for the blanket that was on the sofa and covered the lifeless body that lay there. “Well, I hope God likes her cookies Mommy.” “I’m sure he will sweetie.” “I think it’s time we got out of here,” Steven said while he brushed the wrinkles out of his jeans and stood. “We can’t just leave her here Steven.” Tara looked down at Martha. “We can call the police when we get out of here; there’s not much we can do if we just stay down here,” Steven replied. Robert wasn’t sure what to make of the whole thing. He suspected what Steven was capable of, but he didn’t really see any evidence of foul play, or motive. She was an old lady after all, and they really did160

The Family Bones n’t know what her medical condition was, if she had any at all. It did make things easier when it came to Rip though. Of course, they had the “Carson Market” to deal with. With that thought Robert threw Steven a look. “We’ll have to find Rip and break the news to him.” Steven wasn’t sure how to respond. He paused a moment. “Robert, will you take the kids and Tara up to the house while I go check back at ours for him? That way if he comes back here, someone will be here to greet him.” Robert was hesitant. “You just got back Steven.” Tara didn’t like the idea of him leaving them again. “Why don’t you let Robert go back to our house and we can all stay here together and wait for Rip. Steven looked over at Robert. “What do you think?” “Sure, I can handle that. If he’s not there I will leave a note for him on the door.” Robert looked down at Charlie and patted him on the shoulder. “It’s ok, you stay here with your family, I won’t be gone long.” *** Robert headed out and over to the Weaver place. He walked in through the front door and proceeded to where Rip’s body was. As he approached he was shocked to find the body gone. Not a drop of blood could be found, not a trace of anything. “Did you think it would be that easy Robert?” A voice said from behind. 161

Kimberly Raiser Robert knew the voice. He would recognize that tone anywhere. Reluctantly he turned to face Vogel. “What did you think could come of this?” Vogel was obviously angry. “Look what he has turned you into.” Robert ordinarily would have defended Steven, but he was having trouble rationalizing the defense in his own mind. “Martha is gone as well,” Robert said. “Steven?” Vogel asked. “She had a heart attack,” Robert responded. “This has got to end. We don’t know how far Steven will go.” Vogel looked Robert dead in the eyes. Robert was remembering the stories that Tara had shared with him. The torture room. The abductions. The room she and her daughter had been locked inside. His mind was swimming. What other explanation was there? “What did you do with Rip?” Robert asked. “What I wish I could do with Steven.” He paused a moment. “Apparently only those of us with pure genetic makeup can travel as we do. I took Rip home.” “So you’ve tried it with Steven?” Robert said. “Yes. I tried it a while ago. Obviously his human DNA interferes with our abilities.” “So it wouldn’t have mattered what I thought, or what I did. Your whole plan was to get rid of him.” Robert wasn’t surprised, but he was still pissed. “I was simply going to remove him from the situation,” Vogel replied. “It is our responsibility.” Robert was looking genuinely concerned. Vogel could see that something had changed; he could see the worry in Robert’s face. “What do you want to tell me Robert?” He asked. 162

The Family Bones Robert took a deep breath. “Something has changed.” “What do you mean?” “Steven, he’s…different.” He paused trying to think of the right thing to say that would describe what he was thinking. “His affect is different. He’s more selfassured, more confident.” “And that is different how?” Vogel responded. Robert looked at Vogel. “He’s seductive.” “What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” “I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s like the wicked temptress you read about in folk lore here on this planet. The beautiful evil woman that can lure any man or woman to her own desires and wishes.” Robert sounded crazy to Vogel. “It’s like: he can bend a person’s will.” Vogel tilted his head slightly. “Do you know what you sound like?” “I felt it Vogel,” Robert said firmly. “I watched it happen. With my own eyes I saw it.” “What did you see?” “I watched a woman that had been shaken and pushed to her limits melt in his arms when he came through the doorway. I saw the little girl that we thought may have been wise to her father embrace him as if nothing had happened. And the only true hope I had was his son. He handed me the gun he had trained and ready to take off his head with, without even a look of doubt.” Robert rubbed his face. “Worst of all, I felt it myself. I even followed his suggestions without question.” ***

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Kimberly Raiser “Let’s get the kids out of here.” Steven motioned to Tara that they regroup. “We don’t need to sit down here with them. We can lock this place up and go wait in the house.” He was talking quietly and smiling for the kids. “That’s a good idea.” Tara was already feeling better with Steven back. She felt like she wasn’t losing everything, like somehow it would all be fine. “C’mon kids, let’s go up to the house and grab something to drink. We can call for someone to take care of Miss Martha.” “Mommy, are we going to go back to our new house?” Sara asked with a big smile on her face. “In a little while sweetheart. Let’s get up to Miss Martha’s first, I bet you have to use the little girls room by now!” Charlie was beginning to relax as well. It seemed the longer Steven had been close to them, the better he felt. He was too young to understand it, and certainly didn’t question the way he was feeling. It was his dad, why should he feel any different? *** “We should go check on Ben and Jack.” Robert had almost forgotten about them. “They shouldn’t be a problem for a while. They’re sleeping it off comfortably in their own beds,” Vogel responded. Robert did not feel reassured. “Well, then what’s next? No one aside from Steven even knows about you.” “And we’re going to keep it that way,” Replied Vogel. “At this point I’m not sure whether we should just 164

The Family Bones let things be for a while . . .” “What, just leave?” “No, obviously we can’t just leave, but if Steven is capable of doing what you say, perhaps things might quiet down enough for us to plan our next move.” It was obvious the wheels were turning in Vogel’s mind. “Steven is not going to let anything happen to his family, or allow anything to jeopardize his new abilities. If we leave him to take care of things on his own he may be able to pull it off. . .” Vogel smiled. “ . . .then we can catch him by surprise.” Robert was considering Vogel’s idea, but still had some concerns, especially when it came to Ben and Jack. They had been innocent victims. “Let’s see how capable he is. Let’s watch him. We still don’t know how far his influence goes. Does he have to be around people to maintain his influence? He probably doesn’t know yet. After all, how do you feel Robert?” “Worried,” Robert replied. “I’m worried. I certainly don’t feel the charm that I did while I was in the room with him, but I wasn’t around him long enough to see how the effect lasts. We can only wait to find out.” *** Steven, Tara, and the children went up to the Carson’s house. The kids were laughing and playing and raced each other to the bowl of cookies in the kitchen. “I think we will wait until Rip gets back to call the police.” Steven kissed Tara on the cheek. “You just sit down and rest a minute. “I’m gonna go steal some of those wonderful cookies before the kids eat them all up.” 165

Kimberly Raiser “Good idea,” Tara responded. She dropped onto the sofa in the living room. It felt so good to just sit and know that everyone was ok. Her children were laughing; Steven seemed better than ever. The whole thing just seemed like a bad dream, a really long one at that. She was beginning to think it was all ridiculous, that these people were insane. She had never seen any indication of anything out of the ordinary with her family until they came here. And here was where she met Robert and the Carsons. It was just crazy. The whole thing was crazy. Certainly no one would ever believe her. Tara stretched out on the sofa and put her head on the pillow that was sharing her seat. There was a sweet crocheted blanket draped over one of the arms that she pulled over her body and she closed her eyes. “Just for a minute,” she thought. Steven went into the kitchen. The kids had already pulled out some glasses for milk, and Sara was pouring a glass for her Daddy. “Here Daddy. I got one for you.” She handed her dad his glass of milk, then shoved a big piece of soggy cookie into her mouth and drank down her whole glass. With a big milk mustache she said, “You think Mommy wants some?” “Well I came in to make sure you didn’t eat them all!” he responded with a laugh. “These are the best cookies in the world.” Charlie was shoving his face full of them as well. The two of them were acting as if nothing had ever happened. Steven was quite pleased with himself. ***

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The Family Bones “I still think I should go check on Ben and Jack,” said Robert. “How are you going to explain who you are?” Vogel said. “I’ll just be looking for Steven. That shouldn’t raise any suspicions. Besides, if they are safe and asleep like you say, I won’t have to worry about a thing.” Robert headed out the door to Ben’s. *** “Hey guys. You stay here a few minutes while I run up to our house, ok?” Steven smiled at the kids. “Sure Daddy, we’ll be here with Mommy. Don’t take too long!” Sara climbed down from the chair she had been sitting in happily dunking her cookies. She walked over to Steven to give him a hug. “I love you Daddy.” She stretched her arms high. Steven bent down to hug her, “I love you too sweetie. Now you be good. I’ll be right back.” Steven had no intention of going back to the house. He was going to look for any clues as to where Ben and Jack were. They were his only problem right now. He had to get to them and smooth things over. Coming from the other direction Steven could see Robert. They both stopped and stared at each other. “What are you doing Steven?” Robert said to himself. “He must have taken care of Rip,” Steven thought. He waved and smiled. Robert waved back and forced a smile. He wasn’t going to let Steven out of his sight. He could tell they were both headed in the same direction. Both men walked with more determination than 167

Kimberly Raiser they started with. It didn’t really matter; they were both going to arrive at the same time. Steven thought to himself. “Robert, don’t make me have to take care of you too.” Robert knew Steven was unpredictable at this point, but as long as he wasn’t caught off guard he thought he would be fine. Being caught off guard was the only thing that did Rip in. Wasn’t much good to have special abilities if you are not ready to use them. He guessed that Steven knew that. They both approached the front door at the same time. “They here?” asked Steven. “As far as I know they are. Just coming to check on them.” Robert reached for the door. “You should let me go in first, since they don’t really know you,” Steven suggested. “I don’t know. You don’t know how they might react when they see you Steven.” Robert could feel Steven trying to influence him. He fought it with every ounce of strength he had. “You’ll be here to back me up,” Steven responded with a warm smile. “Won’t you Robert?” “I’ll follow you in but I’ll keep my distance.” Steven opened the door and walked into the kitchen. The place seemed quiet enough. Steven headed towards the bedrooms. As he was walking through the living room he could hear a faint voice. He couldn’t tell whose it was, but he was only feet away; he would know soon enough. As he approached the bedroom there was no mistaking the voice. It was Ben. He could just barely hear him saying something. It sounded like he was talking to Jack, but he could only hear the one voice. 168

The Family Bones Steven quietly pushed the bedroom door slightly open. He could see Ben sitting on the edge of the bed. He couldn’t really see Jack, but he could tell that Jack was laying there beside Ben. Robert came up from behind Steven. Steven turned to him and pointed into the room and mouthed out, “Ben is in there with Jack.” Steven wasn’t really sure what to expect, but he had to make contact. “No time like the present,” he thought. Slowly Steven pushed the door open. There on the bed was Jack. The pillow his head rested on was soaked in blood. Ben sat there with his back still to Steven. Silence filled the room, but only for a second. Ben turned toward Steven standing in the doorway, his shotgun pointed directly at him. Ben’s voice was trembling with anger. “After all you have done to my family!” He stood from the bed and turned his head towards Jack. He was shaking his head back and forth. “After all these years.” He paused and looked at Steven. “You’re a disease! The kind that sits around in your body for years and then eats away at your insides until there is nothing left.” Ben’s eyes targeted on Steven. Steven’s charms were apparently not working on Ben. They were obviously somehow tied to emotions. Ben wasn’t exactly vulnerable, he was angry. Steven began to back out of the doorway. “Jackie never did anything to anyone. He wouldn’t hurt a soul. You’re just like your father. You have evil in your bones. I always said that.” Ben glanced back at Jack, there was little color left in his face. “How many people will you kill and torture before someone 169

Kimberly Raiser does something about you?” His eyes bored through Steven and he yelled. “How many?” In a decisive move he targeted Steven one last time and pulled the trigger; the gun fired. The scene was like something out of Hollywood. It was a three dimensional snapshot with sound and smell. A beautifully perfect smoke ring hovered inches past the barrel. Just feet past was the interior wad packing of the cartridge, in perfect line with the smoke ring. Suspended halfway between its target and the gun was a cluster of lead pellets that were directly aligned with Steven’s face. Robert knew he couldn’t hold it for too long, but he couldn’t resist walking over and looking at the possibilities from all angles. He held everyone’s fate in a single moment. There in front of him was the solution to the problem with Steven, but at what cost? He couldn’t allow Ben to go to prison for the rest of his life for something he could have handled himself. He also knew the moment Steven realized what happened that Ben’s life would be in jeopardy. He had to think quickly. Robert collected the group of lead pellets and placed them in his pocket. The smell of gunpowder burned the inside of his nostrils. He knocked the wad to the ground and pried the shotgun from Ben’s fingers and stepped aside while he released his grip on time. “Here goes nothing,” he thought out-loud. The sound of the blast rang through the room; it was almost deafening. A subtle wince could be seen on everyone’s face as the sound assaulted their eardrums. The ring of smoke moved gracefully through 170

The Family Bones the air as the percussion slapped Steven in the face with a vengeance. Steven lost his balance momentarily and grabbed at his face. Ben sat dumbfounded staring at the ring of smoke and looking at his empty hands gripping nothing but air. “What…” He looked at Robert holding his gun. “What the hell…” “No time to explain but I’m on your side.” Robert said reassuringly to Ben. Ben, still stunned, watched while Steven’s temple released a bead of sweat that he caught with his hand as it finished its trickle down the side of his face. “I couldn’t let you do it,” Robert said to Ben. Ben was about to speak when he suddenly felt a tightening in his chest; he clutched at it with both hands. The pain was tremendous. The terror in his eyes was not unfamiliar to Steven. “No!” Robert yelled. Ben was beginning to lose consciousness. He struggled to breathe. During all the commotion no one paid attention to the subtle sound of the kitchen door opening behind them, and the faint footsteps that followed. Steven suddenly felt his airway constrict. He clutched his throat and gasped for air, and being so distracted by his own fate; he released Ben from his death grip. Robert was watching the events unfold in front of him, and there would be nothing he could do to change the outcome. The pain in Ben’s chest began to subside. His breathing became easier and slowly the color was returning to his face. 171

Kimberly Raiser Steven on the other hand had dropped to his knees and did not even have the ability to gasp. His faced turned pale, his lips began to turn blue. He did not know where it was coming from but he knew he couldn’t control it. His life was slipping away and he was powerless. Robert stood in shock waiting for something. All that could be heard was the sound of a sweet little voice. “Uncle Ben, are you ok?” Ben looked up and there standing in the corner of the bedroom was little Sara. Quietly she walked over to the bed. She climbed her little self up. A sadness was in her eyes, she crawled over to Jack and hugged him with her entire body. “Don’t die Uncle Jack. I don’t want you to wake up in heaven; I want you to wake up here.” A tear fell from her cheek onto Jack's face. Sara sat and looked soulfully at Jack. She reached over and placed her little hands around his face. “Please wake up Uncle Jack.” Robert and Ben were so stunned at the turn of events that they didn’t really know what to say. An eternal moment passed. Sara was still staring into Jack’s face. Robert watched her, trying to understand the complexity and simplicity of such a little person. He was staring blankly at Jack until finally his eyes began to focus. Jack’s chest had breath again. Robert rubbed his eyes. He walked over to the other side of the bed without taking his eyes from the chest. It was still moving. He knelt down beside the bed and looked at Sara. She was still focused on Jack’s face. Slowly Jack’s eyes began to open. Sara jumped up. “You’re ok!!! Oh Uncle Jack, I knew you wouldn’t leave me.” Sara hugged him as tight as could be. 172

The Family Bones Robert sat in disbelief. “She has the power to heal,” he thought to himself. “She doesn’t even realize it.” As Sara focused on Jack, Steven was regaining his strength and began breathing normally again. He was strong, but his moves were being anticipated. Sara looked up over Jack at her father. As Steven began to move back into the room; the bedroom door slammed in his face. “Sara.” His voice was menacing. Sara concentrated with all her might. Steven had his hand on the doorknob and was beginning to open the door when the massive door came out of its frame and lay Steven down with a loud crushing sound. Sara looked at Jack. “It’s going to be ok Uncle Jack.” Robert bent down and lifted the door from Steven. He stood there looking over the lifeless body that lay on the floor at his feet. He looked at Sara. Knowing what he knew, he weighed the outcome. He checked for a pulse to be sure his eyes were not fooling him; they were not. They could call for emergency help, but that would cause a search. He would have to relocate the body. He could put him in the car and there could be an accident. Stephen’s face was badly crushed. Robert looked up at Ben. “We need to take care of him.” Ben wasn’t going to ask any questions. Whoever this guy was, he was definitely a friend to Ben, and Ben was glad to help. Robert motioned for Ben to come over and away from Sara. “We’ll put him in your truck as a passen173

Kimberly Raiser ger. You’ll be riding to the store with him and on your way a cat will jump out in front of you causing you to hit your brakes. Steven will not be wearing a seatbelt. By the time you get to the store and run in for help, it will be too late.” Ben looked up at Sara who had turned to listen to the men. “Stay with your Uncle Jack, ok sweetie?” “Ok Uncle Ben.” She was happy to do so. Robert looked at Ben. “I’ll go back to Rip’s place and wait for your phone call, then I will drive to the store with Tara and the kids. “You got it.” Ben picked Steven up and threw him over his shoulder. He headed out the door to his truck. “Ben’s going take your Daddy to the hospital.” Robert sat down next to Sara. “I’m just glad Uncle Jack is ok.” She smiled. “Sara?” Jack finally was able to speak. “What happened?” He was very confused. Jack had been unconscious since the tunnels. “You’re ok now Uncle Jack.” Sara smiled. “We’ll take care of you.” She gave Jack a glass of water from the bedside table. “Let’s get back to your mom and Charlie; we’ll let Uncle Jack get some more rest, ok?” Robert put his hand out to help Sara off the bed. “Ok. We’ll be back in a little while, ok Uncle Jack?”

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obert and Sara came walking into Rip’s place. Tara and Charlie were sitting at the kitchen table playing with a deck of cards. Tara looked drained. “Sara, you sure were in the bathroom a long time,” Tara said as her daughter jumped up onto her lap. Sara smiled. “I’m all better now Mommy.” Tara tussled the top of Sara’s hair and kissed her on the head. The telephone rang. Tara couldn’t get to it before Robert. “Carson residence…Yes…Ok, we’ll be right there.” “Who was that?” Tara asked. She thought it odd that Robert would seem to know who was on the other end of the phone. “That was Ben. We need to get to the market right away.” “What’s wrong? Why would Ben call?” Tara didn’t understand. “It’s Steven. It seems they were on the road together and a cat ran out in front of them. Steven hit his face on the dashboard. He just said to get over there.” “What?” Tara pushed Sara off of her lap and 175

Kimberly Raiser grabbed her by the hand and Charlie too. “But the car is all the way back at our house. I don’t understand. Where were they going?” “It doesn’t really matter right now, let’s get going. Isn’t Rip’s truck out back?” Robert inquired. “I don’t know.” “Well let’s go see.” Robert motioned to all of them to follow him out back. Rip’s truck wasn’t there but there was a little blue car parked alongside of the house. “The keys are in the ignition. Must be Martha’s car.” Robert opened the door and climbed into the driver’s seat. Everyone followed. “Where are we going Mom?” Charlie had finally snapped out of oblivion and wanted to know what was going on?” “Something is wrong with your father. We have to get to the market and meet him there,” Tara responded. Sara was sitting contently playing with a rubber band she found on the floor of the car. Charlie looked over at her. “You’re weird.” “You are.” She aimed her rubber band at him. “I’ll shoot your eye out.” “Ha ha, that’s soooofunny,” Charlie remarked. “You’re the weirdo,” Sara piped. “You are.” “Guys…please.” Tara looked back at the kids while they were all pulling out of the driveway. “Sorry Mom. She is a little weird though,” Charlie replied. “I don’t think you want to mess with your sister,” said Robert from the driver’s seat. “She might just 176

The Family Bones whoop your butt someday.” “Yeah yeah.” Charlie just glared out the window. The ride to the store was pretty quiet. It only took a few minutes to get there. They could see the police car lights as they approached Carson’s Market, and Ben’s truck. “Oh God.” Tara put her hands in front of her mouth. Robert pulled in away from the commotion so the kids weren’t exposed to it. Tara was shaking. She was trying really hard not to break down in front of the kids yet. “I’ll take the kids into the store for some ice cream.” Robert put his hand on Tara’s shoulder. “I’ll be here for you.” Tara waited for Robert to get out of the truck with the kids and get to the entrance of the store before she climbed out. She held on to the pendant that was hanging around her neck, and prayed as she walked towards the police car. Robert pushed the door open for the kids to go in ahead of him. Sara immediately ran across the store. “Sara!” Charlie yelled. “It’s ok, she can’t go far,” Robert replied. As they walked in, Robert spied Vogel out of the corner of his eye. Standing just alongside of the store Vogel finished off a cigarette, threw it to the ground, and walked away. “Miss Martha!! Miss Martha!!!” Sara called. Robert stopped dead in his tracks. His thoughts wandered back to Jack, and how Sara had healed him. Was it possible she had done the same to Martha when she kissed her? He turned to look. 177

Kimberly Raiser Charlie had already gone running over to her. Martha had a batch of her wonderful cookies ready for them. Robert walked over to her. “I see you’re feeling better.” “It’s a miracle isn’t it?” She replied with a hint of sarcasm. “Funny thing about those miracles.” a familiar voice said from behind Robert. Robert turned to face Rip. “Why should I be surprised?” He shook his head and let out a deep sigh. “Now Robert, you didn’t think we would let you handle this all on your own did you?” Martha said with a new tone to her voice. “What kind of a people do you think we are?” “Yeah, she knows.” replied Rip. Rip leaned into Robert. “Not only does she know, she’s one of us. Long story my friend. Turns out she’s been keepin’ an eye out for me all these years! Aint that a kicker!” Robert was developing a new understanding of his situation. He had been here all these years watching over Steven, feeling his pains, watching the suffering, while they had been waiting in the shadows all of these years… for the children. “What about Tara?” Robert looked at Martha and Rip. “She’ll be ok Robert.” Martha smiled. “She’ll have you.”

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Other titles by Kimberly Raiser Stranded: Stories from the edge of infinity… Published by Outskirts Press 2008 www.kimberlyraiser.vpweb.com Available through amazon.com and other fine online bookstores.

Coming soon: “Children of Roen” Volume 1

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Special thanks to Maggie Barra for her wonderful artistic talent for the cover of this book. Please visit Maggie at www.artwanted.com for a full display of her incredible work!!! Thank you Maggie!!! I would also like to thank Gary Roen of Midwest Book Review for pulling me into the realm of Conventions! Gary is most inspiring and has been of great support to me and my writings! Thank you Gary! Thank you to my parents for bringing me up around Science Fiction, I will never tire of it. Thank you to my wonderful children and their friends for being such a terrific support through all of my weird stories. Thank you to my sister for reading this book, she hates to read! Thank you to the universe for the wheel!!! Thank goodness for air-conditioning and laptop computers! Although a pen, paper and a log cabin in the cool mountains of North Georgia would suit me just as well!! 181

Thank you to all of the “Monty Python” group for all of the wonderful phrases I shout at my children, and family, and friends. Thank you to Douglas Adams for ever putting his thoughts to paper. Thank you to the person who invented the Air Zooka. Favorite pie: Hershey Pie Favorite soda: Black Cherry Favorite meat: Chicken!!! Favorite Little Debbie Snack: Strawberry Shortcake With ice cold Skim Milk Favorite scent: Christmas Trees! Favorite thing in the whole wide world is to spend time laughing with my husband and my kids!!! There is nothing better… Kimberly

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