The Death of 1977 (Book 3)

Chapter 31

Cameras flashed and blew up all around her. Men and women were screaming like the world was coming to a frightening end. It was freezing cold outside that dark night, but with all the blood, chaos and sweat flowing like a raging river, her body felt as if it were boiling hot. Red and blue lights glowed from left to right as her body was being carried out of the house on a gurney. She could see multiple police officers swarming about in and out of her small home.

"My baby," she desperately uttered while trying not to choke on her own blood. Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Out of the corner of her good eye she could spot Linus Bruin being escorted out of the house by two officers like he was a helpless invalid. His disturbed face was pointed to the snowy ground while both of his hands shook so violently.

"What happened?" She heard some woman scream out.

"Make sure you have the I.V. unit prepped!" One of the medics frantically ordered as he opened the doors to the back of the waiting ambulance.

Right before they could lift her gurney into the ambulance, what looked to be a covered gurney being carted out of the front door of her house came into eyeshot, as well as the despondent father of the dead individual who was steadily marching behind it. The battered and bloody young woman watched in her limited eyesight the late one's gurney being hoisted up and into another ambulance that was parked just a few feet down the sidewalk from where she was. She wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn't help but to keep them open. She wanted to see if anything further would happen. Would the corpse suddenly rise and explode out of the ambulance to wreak even more destruction? After all, it was a supernatural beast; nearly anything was possible at that point.

She watched and watched as the ambulance pulled away, without blaring its sirens. The woman then shut her eyes and allowed all the noise and anarchy from outside to die off inside her head.

"I'm so sorry...Isaac." Her mouth tried to mutter.

"Try not to speak." One of the medics whispered into her ear.

She could hear the doors behind her head slam shut as the sirens began to shriek out in the night and the vehicle stuttered into motion. She couldn't see just how many medics were attending to her; all her conscience mind could register was a bunch of men milling about working feverishly to keep her as comfortable as possible.

"She's chocking on her blood!" One medic hollered. "Give me the tube!"

"It's not cold anymore." She said inside her head. "I can't feel the cold anymore."

"Get your eyes open, child." A woman's voice suddenly and delicately spoke from out of nowhere.

At once, Lynnette's wavering attention perked right up. "Mama, am I awake?" She slurred.

"Just open your eyes." The woman's voice continued.

As though she were struggling to lift a ton, Lynnette fought to crack open one eyelid. She tried with all her might to raise her right arm, but her energy was exhausted.

"I don't wanna dream anymore, mom."

Once again, Lynnette attempted to open her eyes. Gradually, her swollen eyes opened to see a soft, dim light to her immediate left. Right away Lynnette could sense that it was fire. The crackling and popping of the embers felt as if they could singe her skin at any moment. Immediately she tried to roll over, only to have her own body hold her in place. She was sore from head to toe.

"Just lie still, child." The same soothing voice from before uttered.

But Lynnette was no longer in a consoling frame of mind. The more she couldn't move only reminded her of her stint at Hollis Estates and the paralysis she endured. She fought all the more until her body came only inches from the fire.

"Be careful!" The voice shrieked out.

Holding her heaving chest, Lynnette gawked all around her softly lit surroundings before catching sight of Cusha who was in the Indian-style position on the floor in front of her.

Lynnette continued to curiously eye her environment which consisted of four bamboo walls, a boiling pot underneath a fire, a table with two chairs attached and a large butcher knife perched on a wall behind her. In another corner of the hut sat a lonely little black rag doll that was perched up against the wall like it was a permanent fixture there. Cusha just sat and studied the overwrought girl as if Lynnette had just landed on the planet all of the sudden.

Holding the back of her severely aching head, Lynnette settled for a moment before taking a hard look at Cusha and asking, "What...what is this?"

"You are fine for now." She replied in a more simplified English.

Just then, out of sheer fatigue, Lynnette's body collapsed to the floor. She then backed up as far away from the woman as possible before she bumped into the wall behind her. All she could do was sit and ponder on the woman with stunned oddness, as to say she couldn't even believe that she was there before her at all.

"I apologize for hitting you so hard back there." Cusha said. "But it was the only way to bring you down, girl."

Rubbing against her bandaged throat, Lynnette would not take her eyes off of the woman. "Where...what is this," she bitterly muttered.

Cusha stared right back at Lynnette and replied, "You're in a safe place for now."

Lynnette looked all over the small enclosure. "But...Arthur." She anxiously remarked.

Cusha pressed her lips together before saying, "I saw that man for the very first time some months ago."

"So you know him?"

Cusha dropped her head. "You should go back home, child."

"I can't go home knowing that fucker is still out there!" Lynnette began to weep. "He'll just come to Cypress and kill me and my entire family!"

"Is that why you came all the way down here, to kill him?"

"Why else," Lynnette shrugged.

"And what do you think will happen when you do kill him? You think all your problems will just vanish away like smoke?"

Lynnette sat and sulked. The questions that Cusha was handing her just happened to be the same inquiries she would ask herself from time to time.

"I can't go home." Lynnette's body started to shake.

The two women looked at each other endlessly while the rain outside the hut poured harder and more intensely.

"What do you know about him? Arthur, I mean."

Cusha lifted her head to the ceiling. "I saw him many months ago. He came inside the house, took the child away. I remember the man's eyes."

"He took your child, too?" Lynnette awkwardly replied. "The bastard took mine, but I—

Every muscle inside of Lynnette's body came to a complete standstill just then. She took her hand off of her throat as her eyes bulged forward at the old woman.

"I remember the man's eyes. His eyes, his sister's. The other one, too." Cusha kept on. "They just came and took the boy. But thank God, you got him back." She then smiled at Lynnette.

Lynnette couldn't budge even if she wanted to. Her bottom lip hung open while her heart skipped beats.

"Just like back then, you're mind isn't in the right place, girl. You've come all the way down here to kill, but your heart isn't in to it. Go home and curl up in your bed with your old blanket."

"Gran...grandma," Lynnette's voice and stomach plunged.

Cusha smiled so kindly that Lynnette, for a tiny glimpse, could actually see traces of her grandmother inside the woman's face. But the glimpse was merely just that, before the traces vanished and Cusha's face returned.

Lynnette only broke down and cried even more. "I...I did terrible things to him. That's why this is happening!" Lynnette blurted out.

"No, child, you're not to blame yourself for this."

"But I didn't even go to his funeral."

"This is not about what you or Isaac did. This is about getting out and away from this here place forever."

"But I can't!" Lynnette said out loud. "You've seen him; you know what he's like! I can't even believe I'm sitting here and talking to you! For all I know, you could be just another demon or something! You could be holding me here while he comes for me!"

"If that were the case, then you'd be dead by now." Cusha said in a firm tone.

Lynnette remained frozen on the floor while continuing to examine the woman in front of her. "This...this can't be my life." She whimpered. "I never imagined this would be my life. If I go home, what will happen to Arthur? Won't he just come up to Ohio and start this shit all over again?"

Right then, the door to the bamboo hut opened. Lynnette held herself in place and watched in stunned awe as a small figure trotted their way inside. The individual was wearing a black parka over their body. In the person's right hand was a bag that they promptly slammed onto the table before walking back and shutting the door.

"Who...who," Lynnette stammered.

The person slipped off their parka and hung it onto the wall in front of the butcher knife. It was an older woman who was clothed in a raggedy, wet, orange dress and black sandals. Her ropey, grey hair was wet as well; it dropped down into her face making it difficult for Lynnette to make her out clearly.

"I see de girl is finally awake." The woman spoke up as she went over and attended to the soaking bag on the table.

"God be praised, she is." Cusha responded.

Lynnette watched carefully as the woman opened the sack and began taking out one sweet potato after another.

"I take it your walk was fruitful?" Cusha asked.

The old lady giggled before turning around and lifting her soaking hair to reveal a pair of white eyes. Lynnette immediately jumped backwards in fear only to have Cusha hold her.

"No, no, child, look deeper." She whispered into Lynnette's ears.

Lynnette stared carefully at the woman to notice that her eyes had a milky film covering them. At that, Lynnette gradually began to calm down.

"Don't be startled, girl, everyone do dat when dey see me for de first time."

Lynnette soon released herself from Cusha's hold before scooting across the floor towards the fire.

"I take it you tell her about yourself?" The old lady motioned to Cusha.

Cusha nodded her head and said, "Yes...she knows me now."

"Good, it no good keep tings from loved ones."

Lynnette glanced back at Cusha for a second before looking back up at the old lady who began chopping up the potatoes with a small knife.

"This is little Senada." Cusha said. "Born way back in 1879."

Lynnette intently watched as the blind woman cut and placed the potatoes into the boiling cauldron before moving about the hut. If she hadn't known any better she would have sworn Senada was sighted the whole time.

"Ya stay here, eat some, den ya go home." Senada began stirring the pot.

Dropping her head, Lynnette sighed, "Everyone wants me to go home. I've had people try to stab me. I've been beaten up and drowned. How can I possibly go home knowing that he's still out there? Do

either of you have any clue as to how to kill him? Because I can't imagine going through my life knowing that he's running around hunting me and my son down."

Both Cusha and Senada remained in place and studied the young woman before them with a thoughtful gloom in their eyes.

Lynnette sulked inside her own depravity that felt so cold even sitting beside the crackling fire. "I missed my baby's birthday back in August." Lynnette lamented. "I can't write anymore. For the first few months, the nightmares were few and far between, now...now, every time I close my eyes I see those things. One moment I'm in school, the next thing I know, I'm sitting here with some blind lady and my dead grandmother."

"How do you know I'm your grandmother?"

Lynnette gazed at the woman in the most shocked way imaginable before saying, "After all that I've been through these past few months, how can I deny anything anymore?" She then wiped the sweat from off of her face and exhaled, "The things you said about what went down back at mom and dad's house. The blanket you made me. It all makes perfect sense. Even the car ride from jail."

"Nuting makes much sense, little girl." Senada said as she sprinkled salt into the boiling pot. "Ya tink tings are okay one moment, den de next, ya wake up and find out dat dere's no such a ting as dreams."

Lynnette looked at the old woman as she shuffled busily around the pot like she was steadily preparing a family sized feast.

"I just want this all to end." Lynnette tossed her head backwards.

"All wrongs will be right again, little girl." Cusha said.

"When," Lynnette sat back up. "According to Cloyse, this shit has been going on for years!"

"Who now," Senada turned around.

Rolling her eyes, Lynnette repeated, "Cloyse. He was a guy I once knew. He said that he was from Jamaica, and that he knew these things. He said—

"Be ya quiet now, child." Senada put her right hand out as she began to wander about the hut in a paranoid fashion.

Both Lynnette and Cusha sat and watched the woman carry on before she came to a complete stop at the wall where her wet parka was resting.

"Dat's why ya brought her here." Senada uttered in a subtle wonder. "She's seen dem before."

Cusha only lowered her head and grinned a bit before looking back up at Senada and saying, "Only God knows."

Senada sniggered and replied, "God? God left us a long time ago."

Lynnette struggled to get to her feet. The second she stood up she nearly fell right back down. Her body was in too much pain to maintain a proper balance, but that didn't stop her from attempting to stumble over to the old woman and stand right next to her.

"Did you know Cloyse?"

Senada's blind eyes managed to connect with Lynnette's. "Ya need to go home, child." She whispered.

"Quit telling me that!" Lynnette stomped her foot.

"I tell ya what I won tell ya!" Senada fired back before taking her parka, slipping it back onto her feeble body and marching out the door.

Lynnette looked back at Cusha in disbelief. Cusha only sat and shooed her along as to say she wanted her to chase after the old woman. Lynnette rushed out the door and into the pouring afternoon rain into the bamboo forest. She followed Senada down a trail that eventually led to a small pig pen. There, Senada, with a long stick, poked and prodded at the three adult pigs that were either feeding on filth or wallowing about in the mud so carefree.

"Why ya follow me, girl," Senada asked as she put down her stick and began hand feeding the pigs.

"Because I want to know how to kill him," she yelled.

"Ya can't kill de devil; he too strong for people to kill."

"But they can be killed! I watched Arthur kill his own sister!"

Senada pulled her hand away from the pen and looked towards Lynnette. "He kill his sister?"

"Yes, yes he did."

The old lady's face took on a more confounded glaze at that moment. "How ya still alive," she asked.

"By God, I guess." Lynnette shrugged. "But when I mentioned Cloyse, that's when you got upset. I want to know why."

Senada paced around the pig pen before coming to a stop where one of the three pigs was giving her attention.

"I knew de boy. I knew his family. I knew a lot of family at one time. We all live near here, as did de Bushards. We drove dem out of our village because of der evil, but dey come back again."

"Cloyse told me that they came back as those things. He told me of a curse."

"De curse is from hell, child. It not only eats ya alive, its drives ya to madness, too. Dose dat not be eaten, dey went crazy. It's de kind of evil dat open de door to more evil. Ya see tings, ya hear tings, ya do tings dat not make any sense. Look what dey do to me." She pointed at her eyes. "I see wit dese for all my life. Den, one of de devils hit me across de back so hard dat me eyes not work no more. Some people even take der own lives just to escape."

Lynnette looked up at the sky and a throng of bats that were flying by before recalling a certain conversation from a time ago. She was almost afraid to carry on any further with her talk with Senada, but she felt compelled to keep on pushing forward; like watching the end of a scary movie even though she knew it would keep her from sleeping for nights on in.

"It told me to ask...who it was." Lynnette dared to utter.

Senada looked up and shrugged her shoulders, "Ehh?"

"I said, it told me to ask who it was! There was something else with them, a ghost or demon."

At once, Senada came rushing back across the pen until she was face to face with Lynnette. "Ya couldn't see de ting?" She desperately yelled at Lynnette.

Shaking both from the coolness of the rain and fear, Lynnette responded, "I heard it...inside of someone."

"It is de evil, child."

"Is it really Satan?"

"No, no, ya know too much!" Senada started to walk away.

Lynnette managed to grab the woman and scream into her face, "I need to know everything! That son of a bitch is still out there! He could be going back to my home and killing my son for all I know! I've

come this far and seen too much!"

Senada began shivering inside of Lynnette's hands. Lynnette couldn't tell if the old woman's face was just saturated with rain or if she was crying at that point.

"Why ya do dis to me?" Senada wailed out.

"Please...tell me!"

"He come to dis island long ago! He have no face, just eyes! He not even have a body! All I see was his eyes! Dat's all anyone see, his eyes! He from de devil, but he not de devil!"

Gradually, Lynnette released Senada and slowly backed away until she found herself leaning against the frail pen's wooden railings.

"Whatever dat boy tell ya, he tell ya only half-truth! I saw de ting wit me own eyes!"

Lynnette allowed the rain to soak all into her pores and through her brand new black skirt. She didn't want to recollect upon the orange eyes any further. She could feel one of the pigs sniff at her backside which actually started to tickle a bit.

"Stories passed down from child to child always fall to pieces." Senada stated. "But to dose of us who saw it, it's as though Satan reached out of hell and fucked every one of us."

"But how do I stop the curse?" Lynnette looked back at the woman.

"I am still plagued till dis very day!" She roared. "I still see me children and me husband being torn apart by de tings! I still hear me people singing in de forest! Dey have medicine dat can stop a person from moving! Dey give it to some of my people before eating dem!"

"I had that used on me, too."

"It lasts for days."

"I broke out of it in under an hour." She defiantly remarked.

Seneda's face lit up at that moment. "It no matter, child. Dere's a boat down by de end of de harbor near Post 9. It sits all alone until someone uses it for fishing. Take it to de other side of de bay. Dere, you'll find de harbor master. Tell 'em to take you to de airport. Get out now, child. He will kill you, and you will be tormented forever...just like de rest of us."

Senada turned and started back up the trail that led towards her hut. All alone, Lynnette remained against the pen's railings with her bruised and wet arms folded. Her body wanted to collapse right there on the muddy ground, but she held stiff long enough to watch a few more bats scale the sky above her.

"I don't want it to rain anymore, God." Her voice muttered so pitifully.

Lynnette was becoming so wet and soggy that even her own hair was beginning to drop down into her eyes, causing what little afternoon light there was still left to dissipate with the passage of time. The very instant the stench from the pig pen began to become overwhelming she unhinged herself and limped back up the trail until she came face to face with the hut. Lynnette opened the door to find Cusha still seated on the floor with a composed frown on her face, while Senada was attending to the boiling potatoes. She shut the door behind her and went straight for Cusha, dripping rain water all onto the floor along the way.

"Grandma," Lynnette caught herself. "Cusha...please tell me how to kill him." She urgently pleaded into the woman's face.

But Cusha only sat and caressed the young lady's bruised face with such kind fondness while smiling, "Go home, sweet child. There's nothing here for you. Be gone before you are swallowed whole."

Lynnette's entire body shuddered as she backed away and stood in the middle of the floor. She steadily watched the two old women around her, who appeared completely oblivious to the situation, carry on as if their own destinies were already set in stone. Lynnette dropped her abused body down into one of the chairs at the table and laid her head down onto the hard wood. Her drowsy eyes just happened to connect with the fire that was blazing beside her on the floor. Its flames flickered and flashed to and fro inside her eyes like a kaleidoscope right before she eventually shut her eyes altogether.

"Don't rest too long, child...he'll be here soon enough." Cusha's voice spoke out.

But Lynnette was already drifting off and away.