Hamelton (Dr. Paul) (16 page)

They would all try to open the gates every five sleeping days. They knew they could not last in the time they would arrive, and must do what they could to make their hellish Garden of Eden more livable. Now that they were back again they were bringing back animals to try to repopulate that hell they live in. Without much clean water to drink themselves, they did not know if they could repopulate their world with animals living on little drinkable water.

When I asked him to return with me to my time, he said he was already feeling the pains of sudden aging. The band of men were going back that night as we spoke, each was taking some livestock with him. He said he must go with them or he would die. I could not argue with that. I asked why they didn't overthrow John the Friar. He told me that the man slept in a locked room and had his guards who were loyal to him.
I gave handy my backpack and said, “There are a lot of modern things in here I had hoped I would not need to use. One is a bottle of sleeping pills I brought to take you back, you could use it to put to sleep John the Friar, or others, and kill them in their sleep.”

Handy smiled and with some pride said,“That would not be hard to do, I killed my first person today over a lamb.”

Pretending my ears had not heard his words I continued, “There are also some books on medicine, how to purify water and other things I thought I would need to know if I had got stuck in the Garden of Eden. Some people wrote in extra footnotes how to use materials available in 1600. Maybe you can turn that Hell into heaven.”

Handy replied, “I had thought about turning the inside of the mansion into an inside garden, but had no idea how to do it with such little water. Thanks. But I will still need to come back one more time to find seed and plants.”

He gave me his bracelet that said "Handy" on it and asked me to say good-bye to his father and mother for him. He said he had better get back to the Hidden Six because it was time to go back to the Garden of Eden. We hugged and both of us had tears in our eyes. As I held him close, I saw the pain in his face as the moon light showed the depth of time in his rough skin.

As he walked away to where we both knew he had to go he turned to face me just before he vanished in the distance and said, "I swear on our friendship that I wish I had believed you."
I sat back down and thought how sad it was to lose Handy like this. How odd and rough he seemed. Then I realized I had forgotten what I had come here for, to save Handy's life! I had not changed anything yet. Handy would return to the Hidden Six and die instead of going back to the Garden of Eden. I jumped to my feet and looked down the path. Coming out of the bushes was John the Friar. I was stunned. He took two large steps and was upon me.

His gruff voice said, "So the little men think they can kill me with sleep."

The realization that he had been in the bushes during part of my talk with Handy terrified me. Suddenly, the back of his left hand hit me without notice. I fell back into the walkway. I had no time to arm myself and his big body came after me too fast. I got up and ran as fast as I could dropping Handy's bracelet. He reached down and grabbed the bracelet. I could hear his big footsteps right behind me. The sound of his deep breaths kept me motivated to move as fast as I could. I jumped over a bench which gave me a little more distance. I ran toward the mansion. I saw the kitchen doors and I ran into them as fast as I could, turning as I hit them so my shoulder would break open the doors. My body rolled onto the kitchen floor as the lock gave away on the door and the door shattered because of my attack. I saw John the Friar coming in behind me with his sword drawn. From the floor I grabbed the bottom of the door and flung it closed on him while I scrambled to my feet. I ran into the dark main dining room with the sword-wielding Friar right behind me. I ran on one side of the table then jumped onto and slid over the table so it was now separating us. I pulled out my derringer and held it in front of me and fired it with haste. I hit the wall behind the Friar.
John the Friar, amused, said, "The little man carries a little cannon." He started to slice his sword from side to side trying to reach me across the table. I fired the second shot which hit him in his upper arm. His body merely stopped its advance for a second, and then he climbed onto the table and put his sword above his head in the same manner he was going to finish off the unarmed man in the road. Stuffing my empty gun into my shirt I came back with my dagger. We both stopped and looked into each other‟s faces. I realized that attempting to fight this monster with a dagger was stupid. The corners of his lips curled up obviously thinking the same thing. There was a noise at the door of the room. Some of the servants were there with candles demanding to know who was in the room. John glanced at them which gave me the chance to run toward the door. The Friar ran down the long table after me kicking everything in his way off. I burst through the group of maids and headed for the foyer. I could hear the noise of him knocking his way past the maids. I ran up the stairs. He entered the entryway, ran and slid the point of his sword between the banister and the stairs in an attempt to maim me. I jumped over his sword and headed up the stairs. Looking back I could see his body climbing over the banister. I ran down the hall and entered what would someday be Jeff's room. As I closed the door I could see his body coming down the hall. I locked the door. I had not long to think. The extra bullets were in the backpack with Handy.

The secret lover's passage way behind the bookshelf that I had seen Cindy slip through maybe it‟s still here. I heard the pounding of John's body on the door. I broke the window then went through the secret door. The crashing sound of the door frame being ripped off the wall was unmistakable. I leaned against the other side of the passage way hoping he did not know of it.
I heard him yell out the window, "You saved yourself, can you save your friend?"

I heard his large footed body run down the hall. Relief came to me that I was saved. There were several voices in the hall. I thought if I went out there just then I would find myself under arrest. I was confused for a few minutes, and then thinking that the Friar was probably attacking Handy made me realize what I had to do. I burst open the door and ran down the hall yelling. The people in the hall moved out of my way as I held my dagger in front of me. I ran down the stairs and out the front door. Putting my dagger on my side I ran straight toward the Hidden Six as fast as the adrenaline in my body could take me. Once on the pathway, the shadows of the bushes as reflected by the moon gave an eerie perception of speed. I had the thought that the Friar may be hiding behind a bush and just waiting for me to run past so he could decapitate me. Although I started to look farther ahead as I ran, I knew that a trap of the Friar was an unavoidable possibility if I was to get to Handy in time.

Handy was to die this year, and would not have died if I had not come back and tipped off John the Friar.

When I reached the Hidden Six the place was quiet. The rogues must have left with their stolen livestock by now. I drew my dagger as I ran into the house. As I was going up the stairs I could see a flashing emanating from the large room. At the top of the stairs I looked into the large room and saw John the Friar sitting in the lotus position. His body was fading. I held my dagger above my head with both hands and lunged at him.

The blade entered with a cracking sound as his chest cavity shattered. My body landed on his as he fell backward. The blade slid through his body and I could feel the 'thud' as the point of the blade imbedded itself into the wood floor under him. I didn't move when I realized that his quivering body soon was still. I sat up and looked at the man. The dagger was protruding out of his chest. I started to slide myself away from him. Looking at my dagger, I reached to retrieve my weapon. I stopped to look at the dead man's motionless face, then withdrew my hand from my dagger not wanting to know what it would feel like to pull medal out of flesh. I stood and left the room leaving John the Friar and my dagger.

I waited for the people in the mansion to retire again after the excitement. Once safe, I snuck in through the now unlockable kitchen door, went to my room and traveled back to my own time.

When I stood up in my room I saw that everything was as I left it. I opened the door and a startled Cindy and a guard looked at me.

"How long?" I asked.
"Almost a full day," said Cindy.

I said to them, "I no longer need a guard. What I need is to rest a bit. We will talk in a few hours. Keep the guards on the Hidden six." Cindy nodded and tried to look into the room as I closed the door to see if Handy had made it back. I lay on my bed fully dressed and fell asleep.

XVII

I woke up and looked around my room. I knew that my plane tickets were for tomorrow morning. This is my last 24 hours in Hamelton. I went over what had occurred in the last two and a half weeks in my mind. I now knew that Handy could never return to the life he left from. Then I thought about Handy's tombstone at the local church. John the Friar is the one who died in 1824 not Handy. John the Friar had picked up Handy's bracelet. Perhaps when they found him, having no way of knowing his name, they took the engraved name on the piece of jewelry he had on him as his name. The records showed that he was found on the road and does not mention William's dagger showing up as the murder weapon one hundred and fifty years after William‟s disappearance. Maybe the owner of Hamelton mansion at the time, found a dead body on his property the day after a large party with a weapon implicating involvement from the mansion. He had the body dumped on the road and kept the dagger so there would be no investigation of his guests.

I looked at my sheath which I still wore on my side and the opening in it where William's dagger used to belong. Then I looked up at the dagger on the wall. The dagger must have showed back up after the 1824 owner died and no one knew it was a murder weapon. That dagger was mine until I lost it in John the Friar's chest. I broke the dagger down off the wall and placed it in the sheath where it belonged. I went downstairs and entered the kitchen. Maggie was not there so I continued to the library. There were still several people investigating the past for me. Maggie, her brother, and my friends were all in the room. I was greeted, but I walked past everyone and went up to the balcony.

From there I addressed everyone, "First, I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful help. Any debt that may have been owed by the Mulligan family to mine, I consider repaid. I have one question. When the rouges came in 1903, did they kill anyone?”

George ruffled through some notes, “No one died. They raided several farms for hoses then emptied out a seed store and nurseries.”

I smiled knowing that Handy must have still been alive in 1903 and maybe was able to transform part of the land into useable garden.

“ If you researchers will finish up what you are working on and then return the house to its original shape before the Simons return, I would appreciate it." I started to leave then I caught myself and continued, "Please keep watch over at the Hidden Six until I say so." With that I went downstairs and took Maggie, Jeff, Cindy and Hanna into the dining room for a private meeting.

I explained what had happened on my last trip, however I left out the part of John the Friar. I said that there was no need to try to save Handy again. If we could get him back, he would die of increased aging. There was not much left for us to do. What a hell of a vacation we had. I told Maggie that William had given me his dagger and I asked if the Simons would miss it if I kept what was rightfully mine. She said she would hang something in its place so no one would notice. Maggie said she was going to make an early dinner. I told her that I would be coming in a minute, I wanted to be alone. After they left the room, I climbed on a chair and examined the wall. I found a small hole with a piece of lead in it. That was the first shot I took at John the Friar. We spent the night talking about all the things that had happened. We all cried for Handy. Eventually, we all retired for the night.

I could not sleep at all that night. I knew that in the morning I was leaving and my friend would be staying there forever. I sat up and realized that I would not be able to sleep no matter what. I showered and dressed for the day. I packed my belongings in my suitcases. When I was about to put in my dagger and gold pieces, yes I still had mine left, into my suitcase, I thought of Handy trapped in that hell William made. I realized that he would never know I had fought John the Friar for him. Of course he knows that the Friar never made it back. I would like to believe that once the Friar was dead, William took back over as leader, Handy purified the water and that they lived in peace.

I decided to go to the Hidden Six one last time. Outside it was still dark. I walked to the Hidden Six. Once there, I saw the two men sitting at the top of the stairs. I told the men that everything was over, they could go home.

I looked into the room and thought that William and Handy could return at any moment. I wondered why they had not appeared yet. Hopefully with the absence of John the Friar, William returned as leader. The filtered water, two loads of farm animals, and Handy's twentieth century education may have indeed turned the land into the Garden of Eden. So maybe they had no desire to leave it. On the other hand, they could have all become sick and died. They could have found another gate to another time or place. Or maybe they just had not tried to cross over at the right time. They could come any minute or in 70 years from then.

I walked into the large room and looked around. There was the bloodstain that I had seen before with the hole in it. I put my small finger in the hole and realized that was where my dagger went when it pierced through John the Friar's body. I thought how all those men were once men of God and the years of isolation caused even William to become a murderer. If still alive, Handy had now been in the Garden of Hell for almost 250 years. Surely, he is as corrupt as could be now. If he ever returned, he would be as murderous as the rest of them. I lit a candle in memory of my best friend in the middle of the large room. I talked to it for a little while.