123. Life and Death

The road just ends.

There were points where I literally had to stop and walk the bike over ruts or around a dead tree. But I managed to drive for fifteen terrible minutes until the road just stopped.

It’s a dead end, surrounded by trees.

I shout out loud and for a second wonder if Brick fooled me.

He didn’t come in and risk his life to rescue you both only to lead you into the middle of nowhere.

I turn off the motorcycle and hear Kelsey groan.

“I’m right here. I’m going to take you somewhere and get you some help.”

I kiss Kelsey’s cold cheek, and then I look up at the sky. It’s still thick with clouds, leaving me in pitch black. I listen but can’t hear the sound of the falls. Then I realize something else not-so-great.

My backpack—containing my flashlight—is somewhere back at the church.

I undo the belt and get off the bike and then scoop Kelsey into my arms. I’ll be able to carry her for a while, but if I have to walk a long ways we won’t make it.

I have no idea where I’m supposed to go, but I just start walking straight ahead.

There has to be a path or something. Right.

“Come on,” I yell out.

Maybe at myself or maybe at God or maybe at Brick.

Maybe all three.

I’m sweating and tired, and I suddenly picture Mr. Page’s face looking across at me at Kelsey’s funeral.

That’s when I have to put her down. I put her down, and then I walk a few steps away and throw up.

Some hero you are.

It’s just nerves, like the kind I might have on the day of a race. Or the kind I have when someone I love is about to die. I’ve been there before, so I know.

I wipe my mouth and stare at the wall of black all around me.

All this for nothing, you loser.

I dry off my messy hand on my jeans and suddenly feel something in my pocket. I quickly take it out.

The Zippo lighter my mom gave me. The one I haven’t been able to fix.

My hand is really shaking when I try it. I know it doesn’t work, but the very first time I try it, a spark ignites, and then a flame suddenly glows.

And suddenly everything in these woods looks … different.

Like I’m in a fairy tale or something.

It’s like the glow-in-the-dark stars Dad put on my ceiling when I was little. That’s how the woods look. The Zippo lights up the area around me, but it also seems to reflect pieces of silver that are embedded in the trees.

I hold the lighter up, and the glowing around me gets brighter.

Then I see it.

A two-foot-wide path a stone’s throw away from me. A trail that might as well be called the yellow brick road. It has pebbles that seem to be lit up like gold, and they go as far as my eyes can see.

I try to keep the lighter on and pick up Kelsey, but that doesn’t work. I don’t want to set her hair on fire. I prop the lighter on the ground, and it falls over and goes out.

But the glowing lights around me don’t.

I laugh and suddenly realize that I’m crying. Not out of fear and not out of joy, but out of pure amazement.

Maybe heaven looks a little like this.

I put the lighter back in my pocket, then pick up Kelsey and go over to the lit-up trail. When I step on it, I wonder if it’s going to burn. Or maybe the glittering rocks will pulse. But no. It doesn’t do anything except keep shining.

I start to walk and then find the path heading downhill.

Five minutes later, I see a splotchy patch of black across the path ahead of me.

I blink a few times, but it doesn’t go away.

Kinner might have died, but the evil around here hasn’t. I know this because of the dog that’s blocking the path in front of me. It’s all black except for awful slivers of white in its eyes. And teeth that look like fangs.

That’s no ordinary dog.

It looks more like a sickly and bloated leopard. It doesn’t quite have thick fur but does have something shaggy hanging off it, like dried leaves or clumps of mud. It’s snarling and growling.

That’s the same dog that attacked me on the Staunch property that one time.

I stop, unsure what to do. Keep walking and just ignore it? Put Kelsey down and try to fight it with … with a Zippo lighter? I’m all out of supernatural stuff in my pockets.

Why couldn’t I have found a magical dagger or something?

There’s a howling from behind me that sounds like a dying wolf.

No. No, don’t let there be more.

The demon dog starts walking toward me. Its open mouth is dripping gray spit. Its eyes are glowing, a disturbing kind of glow, not a majestic kind. I smell a rotten odor.

I back up. One step. Two.

I have to get to those woods.

The dog is coming faster, and I know I have only seconds.

Suddenly I hear the wild wolf sound again, but this time it’s ahead of me.

Then I see something coming out of the woods, rushing toward the demon dog.

It’s a wolf.

No, it’s not a wolf. It’s the wolf, the one I’ve seen before. The gray wolf that I saw at the creek and also near the barn after Jocelyn died.

I hear its teeth ripping something apart and then hear the high-pitched wailing of the dog. It’s awful and makes me close my eyes.

Another wolf comes out of the woods and attacks from the other side. And I realize—not all animals around here are possessed or evil.

Especially not these wolves.

I hear gnawing and biting and growling and wailing, and then it seems like the air around us gets sucked in and the lights go out for the moment and I feel a chilling breeze

death

blow past Kelsey and me and then it’s done.

The dog and the smell are gone.

The wolves are sniffing the ground where it was standing and seem as puzzled as I am about the disappearance.

They turn and face me, and I look at them. I want to say thanks or toss them a hamburger or something. I’m not sure what to do.

The gray wolf bolts into the trees and is followed by the darker one. The path ahead is empty now. Empty and safe.

I just hope that it’s not too late for Kelsey.

Five minutes later, I hear the sound of the falls. I don’t know which direction I’m coming from, but since this trail in the woods is heading downhill, I know I’ll wind up at the base of the falls.

Maybe thirty or forty yards from the falls, I see the sparkling water, lit up and a deep blue. Like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie. It’s like a fairy tale.

No. Fairy tales aren’t like this.

Staring at Kelsey in my arms, the deep wound around her throat caked with blood but no longer bleeding, I know this isn’t a fairy tale.

I swallow and rush to the bottom of Marsh Falls, to the same place where Marsh slashed my wrist and then watched as the wounds went away.

“Lord please help her please God.”

I don’t know how this goes.

I just know that there’s nothing I can do to make it happen. Marsh said it had something to do with me, but I don’t believe that. I think God makes everything and anything happen, and I have to believe He will take care of Kelsey.

My feet go into the glimmering water. I can see the bottom as I continue out toward the deeper part. Soon I’m in water knee deep, then close to my waist.

I look up at the falls. They seem taller tonight, and wilder. Even though I’m standing far away from where the water drops onto the pond below, I’m getting soaked from the splashing.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

I look at Kelsey. Her precious, sweet face resembles an angel. Her eyes are closed, her hair streaked back and wet. I kiss her forehead.

“Forgive me, God, for denying You. Please don’t deny me. Please save her. Please God, I beg You. Please, in Your Son’s name, I’m begging You.”

I lower Kelsey into the water until she goes fully under.

I wait a second, then I lift her back up.

She’s not coughing or gagging or anything.

I try again.

And I keep praying. Begging God to hear me.

I try again.

Then I hear her beautiful, glorious cough. A sweet, wonderful choking sound.

My teeth are chattering as I kiss her forehead again and then try to prop her up so she can catch her breath.

“It’s going to be okay,” I say.

I’m crying now and holding her and watching her cough and open her eyes and wonder what’s happening.

“Chris?”

“You’re okay.”

Kelsey coughs and spits. I hold her and then examine her neck. She’s still wearing the locket, but the bloody gash is no longer there.

“Chris?”

I wrap my wet arms around her and hold her.

“Where are we?” she asks.

“It’s a miracle,” I tell her as I look into her eyes.

“What? What’s a miracle?”

“You. You, Kelsey.”

And just like that, the glowing lights around us fade away, leaving us in the dark.

But the darkness has no power here. And instead of being scared, I’m filled with love.