Amity (15 page)

(a thicket of bramble, ghostly white and glowing, clattering like rolling bones)

(sickness)

(madness)

(fever and filth)

(runes and ruins, chalk-etched patterns and ink-thick pools of blood)

(fire and anger and sacrificed flesh)

Amity was the cold, steady gaze of a double-barreled shotgun, bearing down. She was the glint of pinprick pupils gleaming through a night-lit window, the rhythmic blast of a door left banging in a gale wind. The slither of a flesh-flayed limb beneath a bed skirt, a welcome note etched in blood. Amity’s forever was reflected in the glimmering edge of an ax, in the rushing footprints, the twitching tail, the brushing fingerprints of a zephyr, a cipher, a wordless, formless shape.

That night, I dreamed, and in my dreams, Amity’s shuttered panes burst open, shrieking and spiraling. Calling to me. Calling
for
me.

Foretelling. Forewarning. Foreseeing no hope of escape.

Amity called to me, insisting that I understand: her anger, her power. Her energy.

Everything.

Insisting that I see.

FORM #3208A

STUDENT:
Webb, Connor

GRADE/CLASS:
5
^th
/L. Harper

EVALUATING COUNSELOR:
R. Griggs, MSW

DETAILS:
Evaluation requested by school officials after repeated disciplinary efforts failed to have appreciable effect on the student. Webb’s record reflects consistent conflict with his fellow classmates as well as school faculty and administration. Likewise, infractions have increased in scale and intensity since first notation on record (grade K), when Webb deliberately shut the bathroom door on a young girl’s fingers, fracturing two. (Explanation given: “She told me she was real, but I didn’t believe her. I wanted to see if she would bleed.”)

Though Webb is typically reserved (perhaps pathologically so), his temper is quick to ignite. When roused, he has repeatedly shown that he will lash out physically and verbally if pressed.

Historically, he has great difficulty forming
connections with his peers; Webb’s most noteworthy bond thus far has proven to be with his twin sister (Julianne Webb), more socially adept than her brother but demonstrating classic signs of enablement.

(*Recommend continued separation of respective class assignments to potentially offset unhealthy attachment. Teachers are also further discouraged from adopting or otherwise encouraging Webb’s personal nickname for his sister, “Jules,” who shall remain Julianne, or Annie, while enrolled in this institution.)

Formal evaluation requested after most recent incident: a quieter student (M. White) attracted Webb’s attentions after the two were paired together for the school’s annual science fair. Topic chosen by the team, as reported to Ms. Harper, was the relationship between sense of smell and sense of taste.

Project trials were conducted after school at the White residence; the boys’ subsequent lack of supervision has been attributed to Mrs. White’s work schedule.

Webb, who has acknowledged responsibility for conceiving and overseeing the project (despite White’s protests), devised an experiment wherein White was blindfolded and given several substances to smell, ranging from the innocuous to the pungent to the noxious. White was then
asked which substances he was willing to drink based on scent alone.

The next stage of the experiment involved blocking off White’s nose (with cotton balls in the nostrils or a fabric sash tied around his head, White was unable to clarify) and charting his willingness to drink a second set of substances without the aid of sense of smell.

The second sample set contained only noxious substances. ER doctors were able to pinpoint three: laundry detergent, shampoo, and turpentine.

It is unclear to what extent White was coerced into ingesting the products; his teacher (Harper) reports that his desire for acceptance by, and approval of, his peers often leads to a complacent and easily suggestible personality. Regardless, when questioned in the emergency room after his stomach was pumped and his condition deemed stable, White insisted that he had been a willing participant in the experiment.

EMTs on site were able to determine that a 911 call had been placed from White’s residence within 30 minutes of his ingesting the toxins. Webb was the caller; he was the only person at the house, other than White, when paramedics arrived. Medics described Webb’s affect as “flat” and “detached,” claiming that he seemed either unable to, or uninterested in, providing details
necessary to aid their treatment of White. His responses to all questions were strictly cursory.

In my subsequent evaluation session with Webb, though reluctant to discuss the particulars of the science fair incident, he expressed coherence and awareness that his actions were “wrong,” or unacceptable by external terms. He did not, however, convey any sense of guilt over the physical harm and mental anguish he had caused White and his mother. Webb is quick to disassociate from others’ experiences, and shows acute, increasing difficulty in feeling empathy.

As the White incident represents an escalation in Webb’s behavioral and social difficulties at school, it is my opinion that the boy is well on his way to demonstrating full-blown sociopathic tendencies. The only emotional reaction I witnessed from Webb was upon the arrival of his father to take him home; Mr. Webb’s presence caused Webb to retreat, physically and emotionally. Though not confirmed in our session, this reaction suggests abusive behavior in the household that will surely exacerbate any antisocial tendencies in the boy, in addition to the obvious threat it poses to the entirety of the household.

Mr. and Mrs. Webb have ignored requests for a meeting or further sessions with Webb despite strong urgings.

It is recommended that a sharp eye be kept on the boy, that his teachers be made aware of
his possible condition, and that he be required to undergo regular monthly evaluations, parental consent notwithstanding.

To the extent that constant adult supervision is possible given the typical student-teacher ratio, it is suggested that Connor Webb not be left unsupervised with others his age.

LAUREL VALLEY PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL INTAKE PROCESSING FORM

Patient:
Hall, Gwendolyn T.

Age:
12

Admitting Physician:
R. Wood, MD/PhD

Preliminary Intake Details:
Patient admitted at parents’ mutual request. Presented at the time with mild hysteria (most likely trauma induced by the prospect of commitment,
not
official psychotic episode). Treated immediately with 4 mg Ativan and taken, restrained, to her room.

Consultation with parents revealed a history of mood swings, anxiety, and borderline delusional behavior, including the creation of elaborate narratives featuring a varied cast of imaginary friends. Hall has also presented with minor anger management issues, displaying a history of destructive, physical outbursts when agitated, which the patient insists are beyond her control. Parents determined to seek professional, in-patient care for Hall after a recent incident outside of school.

Hall attended a birthday party for a fellow classmate, which her parents note is unusual in itself (the patient is a pathological introvert). The party was held at a classmate’s home, and the children were engaged in a reportedly “typical” game of Truth or Dare. Hall, “dared” to retrieve an item from the basement, pushed another girl down the stairs.

Her reluctance to participate in the game evidently stemmed from fear of ghosts in the basement, which Hall claimed were speaking to her, “trying to get into the house. They needed to get in through me, and I didn’t want to let them.”

Hall’s parents report that the patient insists it was “the ghosts,” not she, who caused her classmate’s fall, which resulted in a shattered patella. Hall herself was unharmed physically at the time, though she has since lapsed in and out of consciousness, and her grasp on reality appears more tenuous than ever. Speech has regressed to the point of near muteness.

Also of note for her treatment is the fact that Hall’s older brother, present at the time of intake, supports the patient’s version of the event, agreeing that his sister did not push her classmate, claiming, “It was like with the stones. Just like the time with the stones.” When pressed, he refused to clarify what he meant. Though not at the party, he believes his sister to be telling the truth. Mr. and Mrs. Hall assert no knowledge of the “stones” incident to which he refers.

Since the party (two weeks ago), Hall has not been well enough to return to school. Parents report
that she alternates between near catatonia and extreme agitation. The family physician (A. Merrill) deemed the case beyond his scope and recommended treatment at Laurel Valley (*note reference form 46B, dated 11/2).

Preliminary diagnosis:
Catatonic schizophrenia. Suggest possible treatment course (pending intake interview) consisting of (but not limited to):

individual counseling

group counseling

occupational therapy

electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

medications:

benzodiazepines, mood stabilizers,

antipsychotics

[EXCERPTED FROM
An Occultists’ Guide to New England
,
2nd ed.:
The Concord River Region, Part I
]

(p. 86)

“… though English settlement of the region in the early 1600s forced the dominant Memigassett population to Canada, it is believed that a small subsect of the tribe remained, mostly in hiding. Local folklore tells of the remnant tribe’s discovery of stony underground terrain by the banks of the Concord River, bizarrely inconsistent with topographical maps of the area. They are rumored to have excavated improvised shelter within the stone outcroppings, (cave-like underground dwellings), despite a lack of recorded tools suitable for such masonry.

The survival of these tribesmen under such unfavorable conditions is often cited as evidence of their command of the black arts. Regional occultists specializing in shamanism claim to have unearthed bone fragments, artifacts, and other remains suggestive of Memigassett religious objects, leading to speculation that the cave dwellers used the surrounding area as
a burial ground for their magic makers and spiritual guides.

It has been argued, most recently by Bennett
⁴⁷
, that the ground itself where the tribe relocated was possessed of a great power or energy, and that the Memigassett who stayed behind channeled that power for their own purposes, appeasing whatever “original evil” lay dormant with the bodies—and the souls—of their own shamans. This theory certainly supports further reports of occult activity corresponding to the location of the underground stone caves.…”

(p. 103)

“… Of course, the Wicca practitioners of the region either dispersed to safer areas, or went to great lengths to continue their practice in secret, leading to holes in our historic accounts of this period.

Many who were found guilty during the Salem Witch Trials did not, we understand, in fact possess any true magical powers, but this was not the case for all. Some, who perhaps saw the writing on the wall most keenly, are documented as having disappeared into a network of “safe houses” that cropped up intermittently along the westernmost stretch of the Concord River, the most widely accounted of which sat above a onetime Memigassett burial ground [see p. 86]. Letters collected from that area confirm the existence of this particularly well-trafficked stop on the “Salem Exodus” trail, though correspondence ceases abruptly in late 1693, with reference to
a cave-in, possibly on, or nearby, the alleged burial grounds.…”

(p. 268)

“… Graham Asylum, established in 1908, was one such institution, shut down in 1948 for unethical medical practices.

The more exhaustive of the contemporary occult scholars include Graham in modern lists of supernatural locales due to its geographic situation; verified area maps confirm that the original Eastern Wing rested directly above the “Salem Exodus” cave-in, believed itself to have been housed on Memigassett grounds. Blueprints show the “treatment room” as corresponding roughly to the Exodus hideout cave, leading to speculation
⁹³
that an energy “hot spot,” or nexus of negative power, might be said to originate (and, in fact, continue to reside) there.…”