HAUNTING STURGEONS: Chapter Fourteen

Previously in this blog serial...

(Click here to read Chapter Thirtteen) 

Now the HAUNTING continues...

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    I am reading the translated side of Benjamin Straker’s book.  The library basement evaporates around me as I devour every revealing word.  It’s quickly apparent that Shadowtown is a fictional account of the events leading up to the destruction of Sturgeons ten years ago, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent and not so innocent.  Even with this, I recognize the disguised faces and locations, especially those of Tommy and Stickler Hill. 

    An early chapter details a sunrise breakfast shared between young lovers on a certain hill.  The lawman imbues the scene with gentle warmth, perhaps as a contrast to the horror that will follow.  On their walk home through the inviting woods, the young man is attacked by a dark mass of something. Terrified, the young woman watches as her lover seems to be consumed by the darkness, his screams echoing through the trees.

    I nearly stop reading at this point.  My entire being feels the fear and pain Tommy must have experienced.  This makes me think about Tracy Newcastle.  I never understood what she witnessed and why she left Tommy behind.  If what transpires in the book is remotely close to what happened that Sunday morning, I can’t blame her for running for her life.  I might have done the same thing. 

    Despite my hesitation, I keep reading.  There’s more I need to know and I soon read about a judgmental old lady spying out her window.  She watches as a neighbor disappears into darkness, almost exactly how Ms. Minch described it to me.  I’m surprised she didn’t sue the lawman for portraying her fictional counterpart exactly like she is in real life.  Then again, maybe she did.  It would explain why the book has been relegated to obscurity. 

    Next is a chapter describing how the residents of the small town are fed up with all the disappearances and lack of answers.  An angry mob confronts the sheriff at a bar one night and then, the next morning, everyone is fleeing town.  This is when a character gathers up a group of men and instigates a fight with the sheriff.  Death seems imminent, but the character’s wife intervenes by stepping in between the men and the pummeled sheriff.  I clearly recognize my father’s rage and my mother’s compassion. 

    It would be easy to slip back into that memory again, but the last chapter holds my focus on a tragic scene.  The sheriff, his deputy and two scientists discover what is happening and who is responsible, but it’s too late.  The small town is obliterated by the darkness.  Wiped off the map as the four of them safely watch from the top of a certain hill.  I turn to the epilogue, where there is an inspiring speech of hope for the future amid the destruction.  Then the sheriff and the deputy kiss their respective new lovers. 

    I slowly close Shadowtown and flinch a little at the sight of Simon Hollis.  I forgot he joined me at the table and it weirds me out that he’s been watching me this whole time.  He must not have any pressing head librarian duties, but at least he stayed quiet while I was reading.  Simon locks eyes with me, his expression like an overfilled balloon about to burst.  It then dawns on me that he has probably been waiting for years to talk with someone about the lawman’s book, and I definitely have something to say. 

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The HAUNTING continues in…

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words! 

Freak Out, 

JLH 

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