Chapter 38

 

 

Julie could never have imagined anything feeling as good to her as the trailer at the camp.

Home, if you could call it that. At least it equated to safety. No bears in a camp now serving some one-hundred-fifty people—and growing. Crowded, a little noisy, but filled with helpful friends. She’d made up her mind not to tell Ben about her encounter with wildlife; so, when he called, she left out the bear part of her afternoon. He was maybe half way finished with an inventory of the million plus dollars-worth of supplies. Work was going quickly. But he was more excited about Zac’s soccer game. They were now first in their league. And Nathan had made the basketball team; first team, not second, and the prize position of center at that. He’d tested into the eighth grade and Raven had celebrated by treating the boys to their choice of dinner and a movie. Congratulatory gifts included a down jacket and snow boots. Ben was thrilled that Nathan was fitting in so well. And, of course, there were several pictures of Romo. Ben missed Julie, wished she was with him in Albuquerque, but thought they were on schedule to load the convoy and take off Monday morning. He’d be home by early afternoon.

She would have asked Trini if bears were ever sighted in this part of the desert but didn’t see her around the office. She couldn’t shake the image of that huge head at the school’s back door. And the breaking glass, was it going to kill her? And why her? What part did pure coincidence play in the fact that it knew where to find her? Or would any human have been acceptable? But the worst question of all? Was it a real bear? And if this was the second time her life had been threatened, would there be a third?

After leaving the Wrangler parked outside the office, what was left of the afternoon Julie devoted to laundry, washing windows across the front of the trailer—those that seemed to collect dirt from the road—and scrubbing and disinfecting both the kitchen and the bathroom. Action seemed to clear her head and force her to not focus on what had happened. By six she was done and headed to the Two Sisters for some carry-out. The special was a 3-cheese pizza with sausage, mushrooms, and black olives. Not the healthy meal she’d promised herself with emphasis on broccoli, but a favorite she couldn’t pass up.

She checked the Netflix App on her computer but nothing caught her eye. Her iPad was loaded with books and that sounded more exciting, as well as relaxing. She was finding it difficult to push the image of the bear from her consciousness again. She’d close her eyes only to ‘see’ the large brown, hairy paw breaking through the glass in the schoolhouse door—shouldn’t that have been reported? Chief Billie was with Ben but maybe she should have said something—had them contact someone here at the camp. She’d make that decision tomorrow. If she felt the same in the morning, that someone needed to know, she’d call Ben. But tonight she just wanted to put some distance between what had happened and have a quiet, undisturbed evening at home.

She changed into t-shirt and yoga pants, ate two slices of pizza, finished a bottle of cherry-flavored water, took the garbage to the outside bin and finally at seven-thirty settled back to enjoy her book. By nine she couldn’t keep her eyes open and had reread the preceding chapter twice, and still couldn’t keep the main characters’ names straight. She needed to go to bed. The camp was quiet this early on a Saturday night. A lot of people were spending some time inside their trailers.

She’d awakened twice—once to go to the bathroom and return to bed—but the second time close to midnight, it was a bad dream that startled her awake. Bears with big bulbous heads were stalking her. She felt clammy and shaky and sat on the edge of the bed until her heart rate returned to normal. This time she took a trip to the kitchen for a glass of water. She got a glass from the cupboard, turned the tap on, then leaning against the sink, she took a couple sips before the noise fully registered. Growling. She whirled around and the glass of water flew from her grasp drenching her bare feet. She was staring at the bear as it moved silently toward her shuffling out of the front bedroom, into the living room, waving its paws, clawing at the air in front of it. She opened her mouth, but the scream was more of a whimper.

“Hey, move it. Get away from there.”

Someone outside the front window was yelling. Confronting someone standing by the trailer? Suddenly, the bear in front of her simply disappeared, dissolved into air. It had been less than ten feet away, and now it was gone. The knock on the front door startled Julie into action. Willing her knees not to buckle, she lunged for the front door.

“Who is it?” She quickly turned on the porch light.

“Deputy Ashkii. Mrs. Pecos, are you all right?”

Julie opened the door. “Yes, I … uh … heard someone out front.”

“Someone who left this behind.” The deputy was holding a hologram projector. “My kids want one of these for Halloween. This model will project full 3D images on a wall or transmit them free standing. Pretty spooky, or at least the kids think so. I’d promised to get one if there was a party at the schoolhouse, but it doesn’t look like there’ll be a celebration this year. Any idea what he was doing out front here with this machine?”

Julie was leaning against the door jamb. Holograms—the bear was a hologram. She was so relieved she couldn’t think of anything to say. She just nodded before adding, “he was trying to scare me with a really realistic bear.”

“Damn. I’m sorry. I should have gotten here sooner. I do a couple or three turns around the compound every night. The place is usually quiet. You know, I’m thinking I’ll just borrow this machine. Actually, confiscate. The guy leaning in your front window was up to no good—I’m sorry he put you through this. I’m sure it was quite a scare.”

“No harm done. Thank you for keeping an eye on things. I feel safer.” And she did. She had no idea that there was an evening patrol, but it was obviously a good idea.

The deputy said good night and left with the hologram projector under his arm. Julie walked into the front bedroom. Had she left a window unlatched when she’d washed them this afternoon? The scrapes along the metal below the lock indicated the window had been forced and with the window open and the projector resting on the sill, a very menacing ‘air’ bear could walk into her living room. And scare the shit out of her—the deputy was right about that.

There was no going back to bed now. She put a coffee pod into the machine and got the milk out of the fridge. Did she feel better? Yes, and no. Yes, because she hadn’t been injured, but, no, because she felt targeted. She knew the bear at the schoolhouse hadn’t been a hologram, but now she was convinced that it wasn’t real either. A Skinwalker? Probably. That was her guess, but the real question was why? Who stood to gain anything by scaring her to death? It wasn’t like she could be driven out of camp. She could understand wanting to close the schoolhouse clinic down; it would allow the Skinwalkers to wreak havoc on a vulnerable population and perpetuate their hold on evil.

Was she being punished because of Nathan? He had thought enough of her to save her life by pushing her out of the path of the boulder—and put his own life in danger. And then Ben had offered Nathan a chance to leave, go to school, become successful. Wanting to get even made sense. And, if that was true, it wouldn’t be their last attempt.