Saving Cassie (Fairfield Corners) (15 page)

It’s been two weeks and
nothing has happened.  I feel like I’m about to jump out of my skin. Maybe
that’s why I feel sick.  My nerves are stretched so tight, it’s no wonder.  I’ve
been avoiding Logan, afraid I will see green in his eyes, afraid it will
possess him next.

It’s 8 a.m. and it’s time
for me to head to the bookstore.  I have given Mel the time off she needs to be
with Dan.  Fortunately for him, there is no permanent damage and Mel has
refused to press charges.  I’m glad for that, since I know it wasn’t Dan that
beat her up.  I can’t tell her, she’d never believe me.

Logan has been sleeping in
the guest room again.  I can’t stand for him to be close to me.  I’m too afraid
of what might happen.  He still ends up in my bed; he comes when he hears me
scream myself awake.  The nightmares have gotten worse, now it’s both Logan and
James coming after me.  I cake on the makeup, hoping to hide the dark circles
and bags under my eyes.  I walk past the guest room, almost opening the door.  I
miss arguing with Logan, he’s barely talking to me now.  I hear murmuring from
the guest room, “No, no, no, no! I won’t!”

I open the door, and see
Logan tossing and turning in his sleep, mumbling.  I go over to the bed and put
my hand on his arm and shake him to wake him up.  He must be dreaming.  He
grabs my arm tightly, pulling me down onto the bed and straddling me.  His
hands come up and go around my neck and he starts choking me.  I hear Princess
howling and scratching at the door.

I start hitting him, as
hard as I can.  I can’t breathe!  My vision is going gray at the edges when my
hand finds a glass on the nightstand and I break it against his head as I lose
consciousness.  This finally wakes him up.

“Holy shit, Cassie!  Cassie,
baby, come on baby, breathe for me!  Dammit breathe!”  He starts mouth to mouth
and I finally start breathing again.  I open my eyes and see Logan sitting on
the edge of the bed looking like he’s going to be sick, his hands shaking.

 “Logan?” I croak, and he
turns to look at me.

“God, Cassie.  What
happened?  I woke up with my hands around your neck and you weren’t breathing.  Scared
me to death!  My head is pounding and I feel sick.  What the hell is
happening?”

“Water,” I croak, not sure
I can say anything else.  I was afraid something like this was going to happen.

Logan brings me a glass of
water, pulling me into his lap.  I look up and see that he is crying.  “I
thought you were dead, Darlin’, I thought I had killed you!”

“I was afraid of this,” I
whisper, afraid to look into his eyes, afraid of what I will see.  “The
headaches have started, haven’t they?  He’s trying to possess you, trying to
use you to get to me.”

Logan suddenly gets up and
runs towards the bathroom, I hear him being sick.

I try to stand up, swaying
while the world tilts and whirls around me.  I’ve got to get out of here, it’s
all my fault!  I fall to my knees, willing myself not to be sick.  The next
thing I know I see Logan’s worried face looking down on me and there is a damp
cloth on my forehead.

“Hey there, Darlin’.  Feeling
better now?  I guess almost getting chocked to death was a bit much for you,”
he says, trying to smile.

“I guess so,” I whisper,
trying not to cry.  If I start crying now I may never stop.  “How long have you
been having the headaches?  Have you had any blackouts?”

“I’ve woken up with a
headache the last two days.  They are so bad they make me physically ill, as
you heard.  No blackouts.  I don’t think he can get to me while I’m awake, I’m
too strong for him.  Both Matt and Dan started drinking after the headaches
started.  I wonder if the demon was coercing them to drink, so that they would
be easier to possess.”

I nod my agreement, sipping
the water to soothe my throat.

“You are not going to the
bookstore today.  I’m taking you to the clinic.”  He picks up his cell phone
and hits a few buttons.  “James, glad I caught you.  We need to talk, there was
an incident this morning.”  He listen to James’ reply, “we’re both fine.  We’ll
see you in a few.”

He closes his phone and
looks at me.  “God Cassie, you look terrible!  After we get done with James I’m
taking you to the clinic.  I want to make sure you’re OK.”

Just what I want to hear
from the love of my life, that I look terrible.  Tears start rolling down my
face, I can’t seem to help it.

Logan pulls me back into
his lap, just holding me close.  He stokes my hair telling me everything is
going to be OK.  We’re going to get through this.  I hear the front door slam
and James running up the stairs.

“What happened?  Is Reggie
OK?” he asks.  He looks at me and sees the bruises starting to show on my neck.
 “Get your hands off her, Logan!  How could you do this to her?” he yells,
putting his hand on his gun.

Logan lifts both his
hands, I stand up between James and Logan.  “Don’t you dare James, just
listen.”  I croak, “Logan, tell him what happened, my voice isn’t up to it
yet.”

“Yes Logan, tell me what
happened.  This better be good!”

Logan tells James
everything that happened this morning, including him getting sick from the pain
of the headache and coming back and finding me passed out on the floor.  James
goes from furious to concerned back to furious.

“How can we fight this?  How
can we kill this thing?”  He looks at me, tilting my head back to get a better
look at the bruises forming on my neck.  His voice cracks as he says, “God
Logan, you almost killed her.  Come on, Reggie, you’re going to the clinic
right now.  You too, Logan.  I need to know that there isn’t a medical
explanation for your headaches.”

Logan puts on some jeans
and a shirt and pulls on his tennis shoes.  He picks me up and carries me out
to James’ car, gently putting me the backseat.  “I can walk, you know,” I
whisper to him, “my legs are fine.”

“I know, Darlin’.  It just
makes me feel better to carry you.  Any chance to have you in my arms.”

We get to the clinic and
Logan opens the car door, reaching in to pick me up again.  “No way! I’m
walking in here on my own.  I don’t want the whole town gossiping about you
carrying me into the clinic.  They’ll have me on my deathbed by morning.”  That
finally gets a smile out of him.

“When you two are done
arguing the doc is ready to see you, Cassie.”

“James, make sure he doesn’t
beat himself up too much about what happened.  This is what I was trying to
avoid by leaving.”

“I’ll try, Reggie.  You
sure he didn’t hurt you?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”  And I
walk into the clinic to face Doc and all his questions.  Crap, I should have
asked James what he told him.

Doc walks into the exam
room, his eyes narrowing when he gets close enough to see the bruises on my
neck.  “Wow, Cassie, someone sure did a number on you.  If I can believe what
James told me it was Logan?” he asks, checking my pupils and my reflexes.  Well,
at least I don’t have to lie.  “Yes, it was but it wasn’t.  What all did James
tell you?”

“James told me some crazy
story about a Reverend and a demon trying to kill you before Halloween.”

“Yes, that’s the truth.  I
didn’t believe it, either, until it started happening to me.”

“OK. Well let’s do a
complete workup just to be sure you’re OK.  Let me draw some blood, you’re
looking pale.”

“Oh all right.  If you
think it’s necessary.”

Two hours later I walk out
of the clinic with a mostly clean bill of health.  No lasting damage from being
strangled.  Doc is going to call me with the results of my blood tests later
today.  Logan’s headaches are not being caused by anything in his head, no
brain tumors or other signs of trauma.  I grab his hand and we head back
towards my house.

Later that day, James
calls Logan and asks him to come in to work.  There have been numerous domestic
disturbance calls all day.  “You all right to stay by yourself tonight, Darlin’?
 I can have Steve come and sit outside the house if it makes you feel safer.”

“I’m fine.  Having someone
guarding the house isn’t going to do any good.  Go do your job Logan, I’ll be
fine.  Princess is here with me. She’ll let me know if anyone comes around.”  I
pull him into a hug, kissing him with all the love in my heart.  I almost admit
my feelings to him but something stops me.  I step back, not wanting to say
goodbye.  “Be safe, Logan.”

He steps away reluctantly,
searching my face as if he can tell that my heart is at war with my head. 
“Love you, Darlin’.  Call me if anything happens.”

I settle in to watch TV
with a bowl of popcorn and a soda.  Doc calls about my blood test and gives me
some shocking news: I’m pregnant!  Against all the odds, I’m pregnant.  He
wants me to come in first thing in the morning so he can do a full obstetrical
exam.  I’m so excited I can barely sleep, and I’m worried.  What if I can’t
carry it to term?  What if I lose this one too?  I am so exhausted that I fall
asleep on the couch.  I wake up in my bed.  Good, Logan must be home.

Two hours later I wake up
from my nightmare screaming, Logan’s after me, he’s stabbing me, and then Logan
is there, holding me, making me feel safe.

The next time I wake up,
it’s morning.  The sun is shining in my window and I hear growling. Growling?  I
look over and see Princess standing at the foot of the bed growling at Logan.  “Princess!
What is up with you this morning?  You should be used to finding Logan in my
bed you silly girl.”

Logan rolls over and
Princess growls louder, baring her teeth.  OK, so something has her worked up
this morning.  Then I remember her howling and scratching at the door yesterday
morning when Logan was being possessed by the demon.  I jump up out of bed with
my heart in my throat and start to back up towards the door.  Logan starts
thrashing about, yelling “no, no, no!  I won’t do it, get out of my head!” and
then he is awake and Princess is wagging her tail.  Logan groans, “God, a
headache again,” as he jumps up and runs for the bathroom where he is violently
ill.

“You Ok, Dudley?” I ask
after a few minutes.  “You about done in there?  I want to go to the bookstore
today for a while.” I fib, planning on going back to the clinic to see Doc as
promised.  I’m not ready to share my news yet, I want to make sure everything
looks good before I say anything.  No sense in all of us being excited if it’s
not going to last.

He comes out, looking
sheepish.  “Sorry about that, guess the demon tried again.”

I run into the bathroom
for my own bout with nausea, glad I know why I’m feeling so bad in the
mornings.  Logan is going to be so excited when I tell him!

I turn on the faucet to
start filling the tub so Logan won’t hear me being sick.  He’s got so many
things to be worried about right now I don’t want to add to it.

I come out later and find
a note, “James called, the town is still going crazy.  Be safe.  Love you, Darlin’.”

He’s so sweet, I hope we
can defeat this demon and get on with our lives.  I want to make a family with
him more than anything.

Three hours later I walk
out of the clinic with what must be a giant grin on my face.  Doc says
everything looks fine.  I’m about eight weeks along so it must have been the
first time with Logan, when he took me against the wall.  He is going to be so
thrilled!  I decide I’m going to tell him tonight so I don’t have to keep this
secret for long.  I want to shout it out for the whole town to hear!

I walk down to the
bookstore and open for business for the day.  Serving everyone with a smile is
very easy today, I want to shout my news but I’m saving it for Logan.  He
deserves to hear it first.  About three in the afternoon I get another surprise
when Ragan Newlin walks into the bookstore.  I haven’t seen her since we
graduated from high school.  I left to go to New York and she went to LA to go
to college, eventually becoming a wildlife photographer.  We email each other
three or four times a year.  “Ragan! When did you get back in town?”

“Last night.  I heard about
your Gram, I’m so sorry.”  She gives me a hug when she sees the tears in my
eyes.  “She was a great lady.  She always let me borrow the photography books
whenever I wanted.”

We decide to grab some
burgers and onion rings at the drive-in and take them back to my house so we
can catch up in private.  Ragan says she has something to discuss with me that
she doesn’t want the whole town to know about.  Something that might be
connected to the danger I am in.

We finish up our lunch and
make our way to the living room, sitting on the couch facing each other just
like we did when we were in high school and wanted to talk about boys.  I
decide to start by asking the most obvious question, “How did you know I’m in
danger?”

“That’s the reason I came
back now.  I had one of my visions.”

“You still have visions? 
We used to spend days trying to figure out what they meant when we were in high
school.  What was this one about?”

“I think it was about
you.  I don’t know for sure, it’s just a feeling.”  She grabs my hand, looking
serious.  “After hearing the rumors flying around this town, I’m sure it’s
about you.”

“Well, the rumors are
true.  Someone is after me.”

“You need to be really
careful.  My vision is of the cemetery.  James and Marie are standing off to
the side, watching a tall, blond haired man who is kneeling in front of a
tombstone, heartbroken.  I can’t see the name on the marker but something tells
me it’s yours.”

I get up and start
pacing.  “Is there anything else?”  I can’t look her in the eye any longer.  I’m
afraid she’ll see how true this vision could be.

“Just that the man has
lost his ‘Darlin’.”

I sit down as all the
strength leaves my legs.  “It is about me.  The man sounds like Logan and he
always calls me Darlin’.”  I tell her everything that has happened, explaining
that I am being threatened by a demon.