Paranormal Realities Box Set (9 page)

He hopped back through to our side and
motioned to Juliette.

“Come on, baby. It’s so great in there.”

She moved toward the wall and put her
hand in his preparing for him to lift her.

“Juliette,” I called. “Don’t go in there.
It’s dangerous.”

“Don’t worry, Kizzy.” By this time she
sat on the edge of the wall. She scooted over and disappeared over the other
side before peering back at me from the opening. "Billy will keep me
safe."

“You’re damn right I will,” Billy said.
He climbed back through and joined Juliette and Quinn.

Senji, still complaining loudly, vaulted
after them.

“Kizzy?” Franky searched my face. “Should
we go in?”

I paused for a few seconds. Finally, I
spoke.

“No, but I guess I’m going to.”

With Franky scurrying after me, we went.

The construction lights, partially
blocked by the wall, cast a shadowed light into the morgue giving it an almost
blue appearance. Nothing remained to identify it as a room of the dead except
for the two wood slabs, one lying on its side. Metal rings had been affixed
into the wall. I’d seen similar rings in other locations in Savannah where
blacks had been kept during the dark days of the slave trade. The chains
linking the men and women had been run through the wall rings to secure the
people from escape. Paper, bottles and unidentifiable instruments littered the
floor.

Something else on the floor caught my eye
and I found my attention riveted to the spot. A stylized letter with the upper
sweep designed in a spiraling circle had been drawn on the concrete. Even
though it was faded with age, the design so closely resembled my tag, I had to
examine it twice to note the small segment that closed the K into an R.

“Omigod.” I pointed the letter. “Look at
this.”

Senji stopped his continued harangue
about how he had in fact won the race and squinted through his glasses at the
floor. He broke out in a guffaw.

“There,” he yelled triumphantly. “Kizzy
arrived first. Her tag proves it.”

Billy stepped around Senji, pushing him
aside. Consternation crossed his face.

“That isn’t Kizzy’s tag.” Billy's tone
was defensive.

“Yeah.” Quinn, who had been shining a
flashlight down the tunnel a few yards away, turned and stomped back to us.
“It’s faded.”

“That’s her tag. Right Kiz?” Franky
asked.

“Ummm.”

“Tell the truth.” Billy took hold of my
upper arm, squeezing it in an angry pinch, and jerked me toward him.

“Get your hands off her.” Franky struck
Billy in the back with his flashlight.

Dropping my arm, Billy rounded on Franky
and punched him in the gut, knocking him into the wall. The weight of him
brought down the remaining bricks like a wrecking ball. Senji hopped on Billy’s
back, his arms closing around the bully’s neck. Quinn tried to pry Franky off
as Billy bucked.

As the threesome wrestled and lurched,
Billy managed to dislodge Senji in a twisting motion and Senji fell into me. I
slammed to the ground landing on my hands and knees on top of the letter
design. Pain ripped through my leg along with the realization that the cut on
my shin had reopened.

I felt Juliette at my side bending to
help me up. A sonic boom sounded, shaking the room and the R began to pulsate
with a black tinged violet glow. The spiral of the circle lurched a few inches
counterclockwise and then lurched again. I knew what was coming.

“Get out! Everyone. Out.” Scrambling to
my feet, I screamed as I backed away from the design.

The lurching of the circle quickened to
an easy turning motion and the paper trash on the floor ruffled in the wind.
Juliette stood at the edge of the moving circle gazing into it with a look of
wonder. The four guys continued to wrestle and scuffle, ignoring me—and
the spiraling floor—so close to where they struggled.

Franky threw a punch into Quinn’s stomach.
The blow barely dented him. The punchee lifted a meaty fist and brought it down
onto the top of the smaller teen’s red head, causing Franky to stumble back two
steps. On the third step, Franky’s right foot hit the swirling circle and
disappeared as if sinking into quicksand. The loss of a foot upset his balance
and as he began to topple. Franky’s frantic eyes flew to mine.

Juliette screamed. The diameter of the
swirling had increased and was pulling her in. At her cry, Billy, Quinn and
Senji finally noticed something wrong. Billy rushed toward his girlfriend and
Senji toward Franky.

“Kizzy!”

Swiveling I saw Rom enter the morgue. I
don’t believe I’d ever been happier to see anyone in my life. If reincarnation
was possible, I wouldn't be happier in any other lifetime either.

“The rope,” I yelled, pointing to the
coil at his feet. “Toss me an end and try to tie the other on something.”
Before I’d even stopped speaking he moved.

When I turned back the scene that met my
eye was horrific. Juliette was trapped to the waist by the whirlpool that had
been the floor. She screamed as she clung to Billy’s hands. He strained and
pulled but she only sank deeper. Debris and trash disappeared into the swirling
as if being vacuumed by a cosmic force. Senji had an arm locked through one of
the metal rings in the wall as he grasped Franky’s hand with the other. Franky
lay on an angle, mired up to his thighs on one side and to his neck on the
other. Quinn stood like a petrified statue in the corner of the morgue, barely visible.

On the opposite side of the swirling
circle, two figures protruded as macabre inversions of Franky and Juliette. The
only visible portion of one figure consisted of boots and black trousered legs.
Next to that one was another figure, an angled lower body with bony feet, hairy
bare arms and legs.

Rom strode past me, but I stopped him
with a hand to the arm.

“No,” I screeched. “Let me go.”

Rom cupped my cheeks with his hands as he
shook his head. His eyes scorched me with their intensity.

“You must not be lost in the vortex.”

The breath caught in my throat at his
words. Rom’s caring meant more to me than I wanted to acknowledge just then.

“I won’t.” I took the rope from his
hands. “But I need you on the other end of this. You’re stronger.” He seemed to
understand I was saying that he could pull us out of the morass I was about to
go into, but I doubted if I’d be able to do the same.

Rom seemed visibly torn with indecision.

“Come on,” I said.

He nodded and helped me to tie one end of
the rope around my waist then he secured the other end around himself.

“I can’t hold on much longer,” Billy
cried out.

“My arm feels like it’ll be pulled off,”
Senji yelled through gritted teeth.

As secure as I was going to be, I edged
toward the swirling circle—Vortex, Rom had called it. My tentative steps
tested the ground until at last I felt a portion under the tips of the toes of
my right foot fall away as if I were at the edge of a precipice. I suppose I
was.

The hairy figure’s flailing arm swooped
in an arc before landing in a thump on Franky’s arm. The teen’s scream echoed
in the tunnel above the increasing sound of the rushing wind. Franky’s hold on
Senji’s hand broke and he sank out of sight, his piercing screams silenced.

Diving into the vortex, trying to hit the
spot I’d last seen Franky, felt like landing in clear Jell-O. Sight I had, but
sound seemed muffled. The interior of the vortex had the consistency of a long
fleshy looking tube, like the television footage I’d seen of a camera down someone’s
throat. This throat worked and sucked with incredible force at swallowing us
all.

Over my left shoulder, Juliette struggled
from the waist down. Her legs kicked. Although I could tell she was trying to
use all the strength she possessed, her legs moved in almost slow motion. Ahead
of me on the right was the man who seemed to be in almost a mirror opposite
position to Juliette. While his legs and hips were above the vortex entrance to
the morgue, his head, chest and arms were below. He wore a white shirt.
Together with the boots and trousers I’d seen, he seemed to be dressed to ride
horses. His face was barely visible beneath the medium length brown hair
whipping around him. But I did see a sly smile on his lips. The man clearly was
enjoying this.

The hairy man who’d been angled was gone.
He must have escaped the vortex just as Franky was lost in it. Forcing my head
to move, I spotted the familiar red head a few feet below me and to my left.

I relaxed my body, gave up resistance,
and moved quickly to my friend. The tips of our fingers touched. His head
tilted back and he gaped up at me. I’d never seen such fear in anyone…except
perhaps Adam. I reached for him. Before I could take Franky’s hand into mine,
the convulsions of the vortex took him down and he vanished.

Stunned, I didn’t move. Then I saw a
figure coming from below. For a moment my heart leapt in hope. But the head of
this figure had long flowing black hair and even at this angle I could tell it
was a woman. She sped toward me as if swimming with a current. Finally
face-to-face, her exotic features of yellow eyes, high cheekbones and full red
lips, fascinated me. She smirked as she gazed into my eyes. Her lips widened to
a grin before parting to reveal a full mouth of pointed, razor sharp teeth. Her
hand, with claw-like nails, reached for me.

I don’t know what would have happened if
the rope at my waist hadn't jerked me violently back and up. As I was dragged,
the monstrously beautiful woman moved down and away. As I neared the surface, I
saw Juliette sinking. Terror filled her eyes and her mouth was wide in a silent
scream. I thrust out a hand to her but she was too far away for even brief
contact.

The pull of the rope almost split me in
two, but it tugged me ruthlessly up. The swirling area of the vortex had shrunk
to no bigger than a basketball by this time, but I made it through. As I broke
the surface of the vortex, I gulped in a heaving breath. I hadn't been
conscious of oxygen deprivation, but it seemed my body had. The drag continued
until I lay like a beached whale on solid ground.

I wiped the sweat from my face, pushed
the hair out of my eyes and took in what was happening around me and saw the
back of the great hairy figure as he lumbered away down the tunnel in the
direction of the grate. Billy kneeled at the side of the shrinking vortex
crying Juliette’s name over and over. Quinn hadn't moved from his statuary
position in the corner. Rom and Senji wrestled with the figure I’d come to
think of as the horseman. Well, actually Rom and the figure struggled and Senji
hung on the side of the horseman like a barnacle.

I managed to get to my feet and stagger
to Billy.

“Help them.” I grabbed his shoulder and
shook him.

He swiveled his head and looked up at me
with moist red eyes.

“She’s gone,” he said. “Juliette. I
really loved her, you know.”

“Get up,” I screamed. “We might be able
to get her back if you help us.”

“She’s gone.” His head fell into his
hands and he sobbed.

Turning my attention back to the fight, I
saw the horseman had almost broken free of Rom. Rom threw a punch and his fist
cracked against the horseman’s jaw. The horseman staggered back, stunned and
Rom pushed him toward the vortex. But somehow the horseman recovered. He
clutched at Rom, seizing his forearm and biting down.

“Aghhhh,” Rom cried out.

I dashed to one of the construction
lights and picked it up by the tripod. Wielding it like a club, I struck the
horseman across the back. The fixture smashed and the bulb shattered scattering
glass over the horseman's shoulders. The blow forced him to release his biting
hold on Rom’s arm. As Rom fell to his knees, the horseman shook off Senji. The
horseman hopped over Rom and then barreled off past the remaining light before
disappearing down the tunnel.

Quantum entanglement: “spooky
action at a distance.” -Albert Einstein.

Senji stood cleaning Rom’s arm with
antiseptic on one side of what remained of the morgue. Quinn finally emerged from
his corner and helped Billy to his feet before the two of them stumbled out.

I stared at the design on the floor. My
mind could not process what had happened, but I knew Juliette and Franky were
gone. I also knew that somehow I had caused all this.

There was only one thing to do now. I
bolted.

“Kizzy,” Rom called after me and the echo
of my name followed me as I ran.

* * * * *

The next morning I didn’t wait for Mom to
pry me out of bed as I usually did. I rose, dressed before dawn and opened the
front door to sneak out. However, despite my efforts, Mom caught me.