The Raven Mocker (6 page)

He snickered to himself as he considered this. Who gives a shit about some old bones and the shredded remains of clothing and rusted-out armor worn by some white folks from nearly 400 years ago? For all he knew, they could’ve been ancestors to the slavers who kept his family in bondage for the better part of two centuries.

Fuck em’ all if that’s the case!

The scratching and shuffling noises suddenly grew louder. Something really wanted his attention…or did the source of the noises somehow just move closer? Unprepared for the next sounds, taut gooseflesh arose upon his arms, neck, and shoulders. The old wooden banister inside the stairwell creaked, and it did so as if someone had just secured a strong enough grip to pull him or herself upward. But that wasn’t the only thing that made his skin crawl. Heavy footfalls slowly navigated the stairs.

“
Who the hell’s down there??!” he demanded, a slight whine creeping into his tough-guy persona, threatening to erase it.

Though a little frightened, he couldn’t resist the urge to have another look down inside the darkened stairwell. He stood up again, pushing the folding chair back noisily as possible against the wooden floor, and then using his 250 pound frame to make his own approaching footsteps sound as heavy as the footfalls moving up the stairway to meet him. To up the ante further, he smacked the steel handle of his flashlight against his palm in a steady, methodical rhythm that was a helluva lot slower than his racing heartbeat.

The tactic seemed to work. The noises in the stairwell completely stopped. But in the heightened stillness, he heard something else...breathing. Deep and steady, it reminded him of Tyrone when he fell asleep on the couch watching television in the wee hours of the morning in their shared apartment. Only in this instance, he had a pretty good idea that whatever made the breathing sound wasn’t sleeping. It merely waited on him.

Tony whispered a quick prayer and continued down the hallway toward the stairs, hoping that when he shined his flashlight again into the dimness he’d find a harmless four-legged critter scurrying for cover. But the breathing down in the stairwell grew even deeper—as if whatever waited there eagerly anticipated the night watchman’s approach.

Tony flicked his flashlight on and hurried over to the stairwell. The flashlight’s beam revealed the same barren cement stairs and worn wooden banister from earlier. But the breathing had ceased. The noises must’ve been an auditory hallucination after all. He smiled nervously, prepared to turn around and head back to the desk. That’s when he saw them.

Two shadows didn’t disappear when the harsh white glare from his flashlight passed over them. Both were human-like shapes, similar to what one might see under the noontime sun when a person’s darker twin can mimic every move. Only this dark pair had their own agenda, swiftly moving up the stairs. The shadows separated from each other, lengthening grotesquely and moving toward him on either side as if intending to prevent his escape. He now noticed dark feathers poking out through each figure’s flowing dark hair, and each one carried crimson streaked coup sticks and knives.

“
Ah,
hell
, no!” he shouted. He swung his flashlight at the phantom figures, connecting with nothing but incredible coldness that passed through his hand and wrist. In desperate panic, he threw the flashlight at the closest phantom.

Later on, all he readily recalled from the ordeal was the flashlight passing through it, along with the sound of the glass lens shattering against the wall closest to the stairwell and the steel casing tumbling down the stairs.

The fact he somehow made it out of the building, running on wobbly legs and a bum ankle, was something he wouldn’t recall again until well after New Years. But then he’d never forget the encroaching blackness that stretched across the walls and ceiling while he stumbled toward the main entrance. Reflected within the door’s lead glass window, his eyes looked like two bulging cue balls ready to be launched from his handsome ebony face.

He wouldn’t recall much else from that evening until long after New Years. But the fragmented images would spawn enough nightmares to force the by-then former watchman to curtail his education at the University of Tennessee. The less painful images were of him running and screaming through the densely treed lot that separated Langston Hall from the rest of the buildings on Circle Way. The race futile, the flitting wraiths dove repeated at him from his peripheral while a terrible whistling noise pursued him from the treetops.

Johnnie Mercer and Matt Edmonds found Tony three hours later, bloodied and curled-up in a fetal position near the curb of the museum’s main parking lot. All the while he babbled, incoherent, pleading for some unseen attacker to leave him the hell alone.

Chapter Seven

The morning sunshine looked promising to Ruth Gaurni’er as she gazed out the guestroom’s window. The snow-covered landscape under a clear blue sky didn’t look like a hindrance for her Sunday afternoon shopping plans as it had the night before. The view from her upstairs room splendid, most of the surrounding trees glistened from snow that slowly melted. Dripping ice cycles hung from the branches of a nearby maple, as well as the kids’ swing set in the backyard. And to top it off, a small throng of winter-hardy birds called out merrily to one another from the higher branches of the surrounding pines and a rather majestic oak standing in the rear of the property. Their songs lifted her heart.

Nattily attired in tan slacks and a white sweater, she stepped over to the long mahogany antique dresser against the wall opposite the window to finish the final makeup touches around her eyes. Using the mirror attached to the rear of the dresser, she soon was ready to join her nephew’s family downstairs. But before she left the room, she took a moment to lift her carry-on bag from beside the bed and set it on the dresser, carefully removing the jewelry box.

Once relieved of their protective wrappings, the precious diamonds and sapphires seemed to glow brighter than yesterday in the soft natural sunlight invading the room through the window. Satisfied, she rewrapped the gems and closed the box, placing it inside the top middle drawer of the dresser since it lay empty. She also added the trust papers she brought for David to sign, sliding all of the items to the very back of the drawer before closing it.

Ready to join everyone downstairs, she prepared to exit the room. A sudden whisper startled her, enough to where she almost dropped her purse and the eye glasses carried loosely in the palm of her hand. Ruth peered warily over her shoulder, but didn’t discern anything had changed since her last look around the room.

The murmur was low pitched, similar to another she thought she heard last night when briefly awakened. She dismissed it as a gust of wind somehow seeping into her room through a minute crack between the window and its frame. That would also account for how cold it got last night.

The room cozy when she awoke, nearly an hour ago, it now grew chilly again as she stood there. She forced herself to ignore it. Straightening her sweater, she opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, where it was much warmer.

She decided to leave the door open; hoping the heat from the landing crept into the guestroom in her absence. Joyful laughter resounded from the dining room below. Christopher and Jillian could scarcely contain their excitement with only one day to go before Christmas Eve.

It’s so wonderful to be a part of this!

That’s all she would allow into her awareness, paying no attention to the light rustling noises coming from the guestroom as she walked downstairs.

***

“
Hey, Mom, Auntie Ruth is up now!” Jillian announced as Ruth stepped into the dining room from the foyer. “Good morning, Auntie Ruth!”

Jillian hurried over and threw her arms around her waist. Not to be outdone, Christopher sped toward her from the opposite side of the Queen Anne styled cherry table that graced the center of the dining room. When he abruptly jumped down from his seat, the crystal chandelier that hung above the table swayed enough to draw a stern look from David.

“
Oh, my, my!” Ruth bent down to kiss their cheeks as they wrapped their arms around her neck. “You both are such little angels of sunshine!”

She stood back up and Christopher latched on to her right arm while Jillian clasped her left hand within her own. Together they walked over to the table and sat down, with Ruth sitting between them. The table laden with an array of breakfast items, Miriam and Janice Andrews had been busy since daybreak preparing pastries and fruit muffins. Sausage and eggs had been added just before Ruth joined them, and David cooked up some biscuits and gravy just for her.

Touched again by the efforts to make her visit truly special, she hadn’t seen Janice since shortly after Christopher’s birth. Pretty and petite, with soft brown eyes and lighter brown hair coifed above her neckline, Janice rose from her chair and stepped around the table to meet Ruth, where they hugged. Dressed in jeans and a festive holiday sweater that complimented her shapely figure, and with her sandy hair pulled back in a ponytail that revealed her delicate facial bone structure, Janice looked younger now than she had nine years ago when last married, according to Ruth. Janice returned to the other side of the table, sniffling slightly, and Ruth sat down again between Jillian and Christopher.

“
Auntie, the biscuits are light and fluffy and the gravy’s seasoned the way you like it, I believe,” said David, hoping to restore the lighthearted mood.

He loaded a few biscuits on his plate and poured enough gravy to cover each one before passing both items onto her through Tyler, who sat to his right.

“
Oh, David, ya’ll really shouldn’t have gone to such trouble on my account!”

She dabbed her eyes with the corner of her napkin before scooting her chair closer to the table.

“
Honestly, Ruth, it’s a
real
pleasure to do so,” said Miriam. “And it’s just the beginning. After we go shopping later, David has already booked The Mercantile restaurant in downtown tonight. Best steaks in Denver.”

“
Well, I’ll bet we’ll all have big appetites tonight after what I’ve got planned for everyone this afternoon, at the mall ya’ll told me about last night,” said Ruth. She paused for a moment as the gravy boat and biscuits arrived. “I’ll bet a growing young man like you, Tyler, will be ordering a big T-bone or rib eye tonight.”

Her eyes twinkled when she looked at him, seated on the other side of Christopher.

“
Rib eye,” he replied, smugly. Preoccupied with eating, he wolfed down the contents piled on his plate, the sure sign of an adolescent about to hit a growth spurt.

“
You think that’s going to be enough to satisfy that hole in your leg, sport?” teased David. “Maybe we should order you two rib eyes tonight.”

“
I bet I could eat
two
cowboy burgers!” proclaimed Christopher, indignant, obviously longing to be seen in the same light as his older brother.

“
I bet you can, Chris,” Ruth agreed, patting his arm lightly.

Miriam seemed touched by Ruth’s sensitivity to her children, smiling while her eyes misted. It made David more remorseful about allowing his impasse with his aunt to last as long as it did.

After breakfast they all prepared to move to the living room, and Janice announced she would join them with coffee, tea, and apple cider once she and Jillian cleared the table. As everyone stood up from the table an immense crash shook the ceiling above them.

David ran upstairs with Miriam and Janice cautiously following behind him. The frightened kids and their bewildered auntie remained in the foyer not far from the foot of the stairs. Meanwhile, Sadie scurried underneath the living room sofa.

The disturbance continued until David reached the landing. The air’s frigid heaviness reminded him of when the house was under siege from Allie Mae’s ghost. But it also seemed different…somehow meaner, and more ominous.

Since the crash sounded like it came from a bedroom above the dining room or kitchen, David checked Christopher’s bedroom first. Other than the usual assortment of scattered toys on the floor, the room appeared undisturbed. Perplexed, he and Miriam moved on to Jillian’s room. Again, nothing seemed out of place there either. That left the guestroom where Ruth had slept the night before, where the door stood slightly ajar.

The air felt uneasy and electric as David approached, his frosted breaths misting toward the ceiling. A cautious peek inside the room confirmed the noises came from here. Most of the furniture escaped serious damage, except for the long dresser and its beveled mirror. The mirror, shattered by one of Ruth’s suitcases flung against it, lay in shards covering the dresser top and floor. Ruth’s personal clothing and makeup had been strewn about the room. The dresser’s top middle drawer lay open and empty, with its back edge barely held within its drawer slot.

“
Oh my God!”
whispered Janice as she peered around Miriam through the doorway when they joined David.

Miriam shook her head sadly, likely comparing this scene to what happened two months earlier.

“
Everyone else stay back for now!” David shouted into the hallway as the three of them entered the room. A sulfuric odor filled the air.