Classic Horrors Club

I was tending to the fire late yesterday afternoon when Amy stopped by the cottage. I told her I was going to come up to Collinwood tonight to see her and I thought she knew that. She said she did, but she wanted to see me now. No special reason, she just wanted to see me.

I asked how she was and she said happier than she’d been in a long time. What made her so happy? She said because of me and because I was going to be all right. Me? All right? Why wouldn’t I be all right?

She tried changing the subject by telling me about her trip to Bangor yesterday when there was a knock at the door. It was Barnabas and Julia. Barnabas saw Amy and told her he thought she was playing with David. She said David didn’t want to play with her, so she came to see me instead. Julia told her she better go back to Collinwood. It was getting dark.

I helped Amy with her coat, and she asked if I’d come to see her later. I told her I sure would. She told me goodbye and gave me a big hug. After she left, I shook my head and commented that she’s a strange kid. Sometimes she says things I don’t understand. Barnabas asked, “Such as?” I told him that she told me I was going to be all right and I didn’t know what she meant.

Julia asked me if I thought Amy’s changed since she moved to Collinwood. I don’t know. Why? Did she want to talk to me about Amy? No, she wanted to talk to me about that strange woman… the woman whom Barnabas said saved my life. What about her?

Julia asked if I was sure I didn’t know anything about her… a tall blonde woman with a long, flowing dress? I shook my head. “You know nothing?” she asked. No, nothing. She persisted, “Think, Chris!” I have and believe me, she’s just as much a mystery to me as she is to her.

Julia then asked if I was willing to trust her and Barnabas. Sure; of course. She said she wanted to hypnotize me. Hypnotize me? For what? She explained there may be some block in my conscious memory. If she could hypnotize me, she could reach my unconscious mind and may be able to find out what we want to.

Leery of the prospect, I told her again that I don’t know anything about the woman. I swear I don’t. She asked if I was willing to submit to hypnosis. Barnabas chimed in that it was our only way of finding out and that we must find out who the woman is. Reluctantly I agreed; I mean, if they thought it would do some good…

I took a seat facing the fireplace and Julia stood in front of me dangling a medallion. She said I must do everything she told me. I said I would. She said she wanted me to clear my mind of all thoughts and just look at the medallion and listen to her voice. I reached for the object and asked what it was. She pulled it away and told me to never mind. She told me to just keep looking at it and listening to her voice. 

It spun around and sparkled in the light and she asked me if I saw the lights. When I said I did, she told me to keep watching them and concentrate on them. The she said she wanted me to find the center of the light.

The next thing I knew, I heard her snap her fingers. Confused, I asked what happened. She said she hypnotized me and we talked. I didn’t tell her anything, though, and she didn’t think I knew anything about the woman we saw. Oh, I was hoping I did. She and Barnabas were, too.

Barnabas said they may as well go back to Collinwood. I again said I was sorry they didn’t find out anything. Believe me, I was just as disappointed as they were. Barnabas said they believed me.

Later, I was sitting by the chair and felt something… the best way I can describe it is as a “presence.”  I got up and went to the door as if I was in some kind of trance. Was I dreaming?

I walked through the woods, then sensed something behind me. I whipped around and saw the woman! I asked bluntly, “Who are you? Those clothes, you’re the one. You’re the one! What is it you want?” She pointed to a spot on the ground.

I told her I didn’t understand. What did she mean? Can’t she talk? Then she pointed to the tree behind me. What’s that? The tree? Why was she pointing at the tree? When I turned back around, she was gone. I called after her but saw or heard nothing.

I immediately went to get Barnabas and showed him the exact spot where the woman pointed. He asked if she spoke to me at all. I said no. She just stood and pointed at the ground. Then she lifted her arm and… now wait a minute. There was now a shovel leaned against the tree that wasn’t there before.

Barnabas said it must mean we were to dig with it. That’s why she pointed at that spot. I asked what he supposed it all meant. He said he didn’t know, but we should start digging.

We were terrified to find a coffin… a child’s coffin. An unmarked coffin in an unmarked grave. Whose do you suppose it was? Neither one of us knew, but Barnabas said he thought we’d better open it. I asked him if we should, but he said the woman must have brought us there for a reason. Whatever she wanted us to find must be inside the coffin.

I used the shovel in three spots to release the lid, and it finally creaked open. Inside were the bones of an infant… and something else. A pentagram… with the two points downward. Barnabas believes someone here a long time ago needed protection, too. Protection from… a werewolf.

I didn’t believe it. Could it really mean that a werewolf existed around here before? Barnabas said it’s all it could mean. I became agitated. Surely, we would have heard. There would have been stories of some kind… legends. What happened?

He suggested that perhaps the people who knew then were as quiet about it as he and Julia are now. I told him that if there was another werewolf around before, it must have something to do with me. He said we wouldn’t have been there otherwise.

Barnabas thought the coffin was 50 to 75 years old, although it was hard to say. He knew it certainly wasn’t the pine box of the earlier period. I wanted to know why it was buried there. If it had something to do with me, why was it on the burial grounds of Collinwood? 

He asked if my family was in Collinsport 75 years ago? Yes, but I didn’t think they would have known the Collinses. I sighed. How could we find out? We had to find out! He said we’d clean the pentagram and perhaps there would be a date on it. If so, we could look up old newspapers to see if there were stories of any strange animal attacks at the time.

Can you imagine a mother buying a pentagram? I looked inside the coffin one more time, then looked away, closing the lid. Barnabas reassured me that the pentagram would help us… or, it should. That woman! If only she could speak. Barnabas said perhaps she can but dare not. He was sure she wanted to do everything she can for us. We put the tiny coffin back in the ground. 

All was nearly forgotten this evening as Carolyn and I prepared to go to dinner. I popped a bottle of champagne and asked her what the occasion was all about. What was it, her birthday? She was practically giddy, explaining that it was because she had been trying to ask me out to dinner for weeks. She asked if I had noticed, and said she had begun to think I might have what she called, “other interests.” 

She told me every sundown I simply disappear. Everything that was happening came rushing back on me. I lost my smile and took a few steps away. She apologized and said she really wasn’t prying. We toasted and I told her I was glad we were having dinner together. I’d been meaning to ask her for, well, some time now.

She called me shy and I told her that was a nice way of putting it. She then suggestively told me that she always puts things nicely and I would find that out.

Just then, Barnabas entered the room and said, “Excuse me.” Carolyn invited him in and offered him a glass of champagne. He politely declined and said he just wanted to get his newspaper. I reminded Carolyn that our reservation was going to be ready in about 15 minutes. She told me to pour myself another glass while she got her coat.

As soon as she left, I asked Barnabas if he had heard anything about the jewelry. He said he didn’t and he doubted if he would hear tonight. I practically pleaded that if he did, would he leave me a note at Collinwood, a message, anything. He told me he had curbed his impatience, and I must curb mine, too.

Carolyn reappeared with her coat, and we exchanged goodbyes with Barnabas. We then left for what turned out to be a wonderful evening together.

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