Classic Horrors Club

Around 8:15, I went to Collinwood to see Amy, although I had an ulterior motive: I needed to find out what happened to Joe. Mrs. Johnson answered the door and I asked if anybody else had come by to see Amy lately, specifically, my cousin. I explained that I hadn’t been able to find him for several days and it seemed like he’d disappeared.

My spirits temporarily lifted when she told me Joe had visited Amy. They fell again when she said it was “the other day.” However, Barnabas Collins was also there, so he might know more. I asked to speak to him.

Mr. Collins found me pacing in the foyer and told me he was glad I was there, that there was something he wanted to talk with me about. He invited me into the drawing room. 

I was nervous and asked what it was about. I was relieved it was about Amy, not me or Joe.

He said he’d like to take both David and Amy to Boston for a while, perhaps put them in school there. He said he thought they ought to get out of this house after all that’s happened there. I wasn’t sure what he meant, so I must have appeared distracted. When he asked me if he had my permission to take her, I first asked him to repeat what he said, but then told him, sure, if she wanted to go, that was fine.

I apologized if I seem distracted and told him I just hadn’t been able to find my cousin Joe and Mrs. Johnson said he was here earlier this week. Mr. Collins confirmed.

I asked if he said anything about leaving town. He said, no, and then said I ought to prepare myself for a shock. A shock?

He then told me that Joe wasn’t himself. He’s “mentally disturbed” and tried to take Amy from the house by force. He was saying all sorts of strange things, none of which made any sense. What exactly did he say? That he was trying to protect Amy. 

Protect her from what? I asked Mr. Collins what Joe said. What were his exact words? He replied that he didn’t really remember because he didn’t make very much sense.

Then he commented that I didn’t seem to be as surprised about Joe as he thought I’d be. I assured him I was, but I was also concerned. I said I had seen it coming for some time now and that he hadn’t been himself for months.

Mr. Collins said he’d been perfectly rational with him until the other night. I speculated that with him that might be, but with me it’s been a whole other thing. He’s just been going off the deep end. I thought there was something I could do to prevent this. I guess not. He concurred, “Apparently not.” 

A few minutes later, I was standing with Amy at the front door when she asked if I’d come visit her. I responded that I sure would. “Lots?” she asked. I told her as much as I could. We promised to write each other. I kissed her and said goodbye.

I thanked Mr. Collins, he said, “Of course,” and I left.

No sooner had I returned to my room at the Collinsport Inn when the phone rang. It was Dr. Hoffman. She told me she was at the jail with Sheriff Patterson, who had picked up Joe about an hour ago and had him locked in a cell. She thought I had better get down there right away.

Why did she want me to come down to the jail? She said Joe kept talking about me and that I might be the only one who could quiet him. He’d been hysterical since they brought him in. Apparently, he hadn’t said anything coherent, but mine was the only name he’d mentioned so far.

I reluctantly told her I’d be there as soon as I could. 

Sheriff Patterson let me into Joe’s cell and asked me to try to talk to him. When I spoke his name, he turned toward me slowly and a look of terror crossed his face. He raised his voice and told me to keep away from him. “Don’t come any closer!” he said. “Stay away from me! Stay away! I’ve still got the gun; I’ll use it!  Don’t come any closer to me!”

He suddenly lunged toward me, grabbed my neck, and began choking me, saying he would kill me. Dr. Hoffman and Sheriff Patterson had to pull him off me. As Dr. Hoffman prepared a sedative, Joe asked what she was going to do to him. She told him not to be afraid and that she was going to help him sleep.

“No, I don’t want… the dreams. They’re awful. I don’t want to sleep. Kill me, do anything, don’t put me to sleep.” Joe was in anguish, but he eventually calmed himself and lied down on the cot.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Patterson asked me to step outside because he wanted to ask me some questions. Dr. Hoffman excused herself for a moment and Sheriff Patterson asked if I had any idea what could have happened to Joe? I answered that I was afraid I didn’t.

He said he couldn’t make any sense of what he’d been saying. Why, what had he been saying? As near as he could tell, Joe saw something so frightening it just sent him off the deep end.

I asked if he thought Joe was crazy. “Well, he’s certainly not himself. I’ve known Joe Haskell for a long time. He’s always been a normal easy going young man. I’ve never seen him carry on like this. He’s convinced himself that this whole town is in danger.”

I asked if he said what kind of danger. He replied, no and that he thought maybe I could tell him. Why would I know? He said Joe had mentioned a lot of names, but mine was the one that came up most often. When he commented that Joe was terribly anxious to see me, I replied, “Obviously he wasn’t.”

He explained that for the state Joe was in, he wasn’t sure he even recognized me. I agreed, then he asked me what he was talking about when he said he still had the gun. I said I didn’t know; it didn’t make any to me. Then he told me he wasn’t carrying any gun when he was brought in.

Suddenly Joe woke up screaming. He was placed in a straitjacket. Dr. Hoffman didn’t understand; she said the shot she gave him should have lasted until morning. When Sheriff Patteson asked why it didn’t work, she said that his dream had frightened him so much that nothing could have kept him asleep. 

What were they going to do now? Dr. Hoffman said she had called Windcliff and was going to take him there in the morning.

She told me there was no reason for me to stay and that I could go home. I told her I would stay there until she had to take him. She said not to take all this too hard, that there was nothing I could have done.

I looked at poor Joe, his face frozen in fear. I had a horrible feeling that after tonight I would never see him again. Yet I was also more relieved about it than I cared to admit.

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