It always seems that I’m heading down this creek when it’s freezing cold outside. At least I have a pair of boots this time. Waterproof boots I bought not long ago. Maybe in the back of my mind, I knew I’d be hiking back downstream to the Staunch mansion at dusk.
I reach the small waterfall that I now know Brick helped build. It reminds me of Wade.
Now dead.
I remember coming here a year ago and seeing the figure on the deck. I now know that was Kinner, my great-grandfather.
Somehow, he seemed to know I was coming.
Can you feel me now?
I remember coming down here when I was just trying to figure out what was going on with Jocelyn.
Also dead.
It’s dark and cold, and I’m heading to the place that Brick talked about, a big hole in the ground where the dead are buried. Or no, make that just thrown away. With a tarp covering them.
The farther I walk down the creek, the heavier I seem to feel. The faces and voices of the dead follow me. I feel like I’m carrying them, and I’m not doing a very good job of it.
I don’t use a flashlight until I need to. But I’ve walked about ten minutes past the waterfall and the Staunch house when I turn it on. I’m walking beside the creek now, trying to see where the trees open.
Soon I find myself stumbling in the darkness, having second thoughts.
Maybe Brick made this up.
I go another ten minutes and then wonder if I somehow missed it and need to backtrack.
What am I doing here anyway?
I ignore the voice because I know why I’m here. For proof. For tangible proof that there’s a monster living nearby and he’s killing people. I’ve seen enough cop shows and CSI episodes to know what they can discover these days. Disposing of a body isn’t as easy as it might have been when Count Dracula—I mean Solitaire—moved here years ago.
For a second I pause, feeling the slight wind chill my bones. That’s when I hear the sound. A rustling in the woods, something coming toward me, moving and shifting the leaves and dead branches.
I scan the bare skeletons of trees looking for what’s making the noise.
The sound is louder.
It’s the dead and they’ve risen to greet you with decomposing arms …
Then I spot it.
It comes out of the trees and then stands, facing the beam of light with no fear. The first thing I notice are its pointy ears that are straight up.
The wolf.
It’s the same one I saw when I came down here a year ago.
Does this thing guard the Staunch mansion? Does it turn into a demon dog that blows up into smoke?
Then suddenly it looks upward and howls.
I feel like someone just punched me in the stomach. Or I just landed on my back.
The air in my lungs suddenly disappears and I’m there trying to breathe but can’t because I’m terrified at this high-pitched, awful scream.
I want to move but can’t.
I want to bail but I can’t do squat.
It howls for a minute, and I’m wondering if that’s a call. If it’s summoning up other wolves who will come and eat me. Or if this is a message for Staunch or Kinner or the werewolf in the Twilight books who never seems to have a shirt on.
The wolf then stops howling and races toward me.
I shut my eyes and hold my arms up toward my face.
Then I hear it rush past me and up the small bank I’m walking near.
I open my eyes and aim the beam to where the wolf is standing. He’s on top of the hill, standing sideways, his head looking toward me.
He missed me.
But no. No way that tall and lean wolf missed me.
I see the white around its mouth as it howls again.
Then it does the weirdest thing. It starts to walk away, slowly, then it turns around and stares down at me.
Then it gives that freaky howl again.
It’s like Midnight when she wants to play. She looks at you to throw the ball.
But this isn’t a little Shih Tzu. It's a wild wolf in the woods.
It does the same thing again, disappearing and then coming back and looking at me.
It wants you to follow it.
I would laugh if I weren’t so spooked. I stand there for a minute.
I’m freezing and know I need to do something.
So I take a few steps up the bank toward where the wolf is standing. He bolts off, this time with speed. I make it up the hill and then scan the dark woods to see where the wolf is now.
That’s when I see the opening toward the gray sky above.
The wolf is leading me to it, to the place Brick told me about.
But that’s as crazy as …
The bluebird by Iris’s old place? That freaky thing in the woods by the wall to Staunch’s residence?
I keep walking toward the wolf. He hasn’t howled again, which I’m taking as a good sign.
Then I see it, a clearing in these woods where the ground starts to go down. But as I scan it, there’s no tarp or covering on the oval-shaped dip in front of me.
Rather, the ground is barren and black. I walk down into it and kick some of the rock and dirt around. It’s like a fire pit.
They torched the bodies.
I’m seeing the remains of a massive fire and ashes that were washed away from rain and snow and who knows what else.
I stand there just staring at the ground.
I can feel the evil here. It seems to cover me in an icy grip. I feel dizzy and sore.
I shouldn’t be here.
I’m about to start back upward toward the Staunch house when I hear that awful howling again. I scan the edge of the woods with the bright beam of my flashlight.
The wolf buries his nose in the ground near a fallen tree. He does this several times.
Do you have a name? It would be easier just calling you by name.
I walk toward the wolf and watch him slowly move over from where he was standing. He’s light brown and beautiful, so lean and muscular.
I get to the corner of the log and check out the ground. Sticking out of a clump of leaves and mud is something light-colored that doesn’t look like it belongs. My boot taps it and then pries it free.
It takes me about a second to realize I’m looking at the remains of an arm. The skeletal remains, that’s pretty much it.
I suddenly feel more than just woozy. I feel kind of sick.
This particular arm didn’t make the roasting.
I fight off nausea and I head out, away from this awful place. I don’t hear the wolf or see it anymore.
It showed me proof. The arm is proof.
I head back down to the creek. Otherwise I’ll end up walking around these woods and be like those guys in The Blair Witch Project. Lost and freaked out and eventually
Bye bye.
I get to the stream and quickly head back up it.
Walking and trying not to think. Rushing and trying to make sure I don’t fall.
Not thinking. Just walking.
And it’s fine and I’m almost out of here when I make the mistake of looking up at the Staunch house.
I see a light on near the deck.
I see a figure on the deck, standing as it did a year ago, watching and waiting.
He’s there. My great-grandfather.
Then I see an arm and a hand waving.
No, not waving.
It’s gesturing me to come toward him. It’s summoning me.
I feel my shaky breath as I try and think of what to do.
“Chrisssssss.”
Maybe I’m imagining the voice in my mind, but I don’t think so.
There are some things in this life you can put off. Getting a license, asking a girl to prom, deciding on a college, picking out what you want to do in life.
But this …
This isn’t one of those things.
I swallow and start walking toward the Staunch house.