The Chosen, page 26
part #13 of Riveting Kidnapping Mystery Series
Clarice’s mighty fears gripped her heart. She needed to run. She needed to hide.
She glanced up at the horrified homeowner standing over her. The woman was going to hurt her. Clarice didn’t know how, but it was going to happen. Alex was probably already dead upstairs, too. Clarice was next!
She swiftly grabbed a kitchen knife and jumped to her feet. A thunderous pain rang through her bruised back. She grimaced. The fall hit her worse than she realized. Trembling, she pointed the knife at the homeowner. “Get back.”
The woman put her hands out. “What are you --”
Clarice couldn’t take any chances. The woman was dangerous. She swung the knife at her. The woman turned her shoulder just before the blade struck her flesh. She screamed. Hot blood ran out from her upper arm. She ran, rolled her ankles, and slammed her bleeding arm into the wall. It smeared red across the beige paint. The woman ricocheted forward like a pinball and ran out of sight.
Clarice’s pulse pounded. Her temples squeezed the sides of her head. Blood rolled down the edge of her knife. Clarice looked at it in horror. She thought about AIDS, hepatitis, and a dozen other blood-related diseases.
Gasping, she tossed the knife aside and rubbed her hands on her pants. Her paranoia skyrocketed. She felt like she was covered in germs. She floated her hands out, terrified to touch anything.
A sudden realization came to her. The woman was going to tell the police. If she did that, Clarice would be arrested for attempted murder.
“No,” she mumbled. “It was self-defense. She… She…”
Clarice did not finish the thought. She sprinted down the hall. She rounded the corner, noticing the woman’s cellphone on the counter. A cold breeze blew through the front door. She must’ve left without grabbing it. Clarice rushed out into the snow.
The woman was inside her hatchback, turning the ignition. The car sputtered.
Clarice grabbed a brick from a stack nearby and hurled it.
The woman cursed as she tried to start the car.
Crunch!
The woman screamed as the brick smashed against the windshield. Spiderweb cracks expanded across the front.
The woman started the car and immediately reversed it. It slammed into Alex’s Firebird. The woman’s head lurched forward.
She was going to get away! Clarice couldn’t allow that. She couldn’t live her life in fear, knowing that the woman had the power to have her arrested. She had to do something. She ran toward the car and grabbed the car handle. Locked.
Horrified, the woman put the car into Drive and stomped on the gas pedal. The tires screamed on the driveway as the car bolted forward. Clarice held onto the car handle. The sides of her shoes skidded across the pavement. Seeing that Clarice wasn’t letting go, the woman quickly opened her door as she U-turned.
Clarice’s fingers slipped. She crashed down on the pavement and rolled to her side, feeling a sharp pain in her elbow.
The hatchback raced across the lawn, rounding the Firebird before getting back on the pavement.
Clarice reached out her hand for the car. “No!”
Tears streamed down her cheek.
Her life was over.
The cold sank into her. She’d freeze to death out here. At the very least, she’d get a cold or some other horrible disease. The sky seemed darker too. A storm was coming. She quickly got to her feet.
“Clarice!”
She twisted back.
Alex rushed out of the threshold of the doorway. “What are you doing?!”
“She’s going to tell them!” Clarice pointed down the road. “The police!”
Alex’s eyes widened. She carefully approached Clarice. “Don’t move.”
“What?” Clarice said. “We need to stop her. Get your keys and let’s go.”
“This isn’t you,” Alex said.
Clarice shook her head. A voice told her that Alex was possessed. Clarice cried out and ran in the opposite direction.
“Wait!”
Clarice didn’t slow down. She kept one hand on her sore elbow as she bolted down the street. She moved off the road, afraid that a car would hit her, though there currently wasn’t anyone on the road.
You can’t trust anyone, a voice told her.
“I know!” Clarice barked back.
Her survival was dependent upon her now. There were probably countless Ruah hunting her down as well. She needed to find somewhere safe but didn’t know where to start. Her instincts told her to run, so that’s what she did.
Her legs grew weary.
Her teeth chattered.
An engine rumbled behind her. Clarice turned her head as the Firebird matched her running speed. Alex rolled down the window. “You’ve got one in you. You need to fight it!”
Horrified, Clarice changed her trajectory and ran across the field.
Alex parked on the curb and quickly ran after her.
Clarice’s body weakened. There were needles in her throat from running against the wind. Her sprint turned into a jog. She couldn’t go on anymore.
Alex was approaching behind her.
Clarice sobbed. She pushed herself to start running again. Her body heated up. The winter jacket was too much. She started to unzip it when she stepped into a dip in the earth. She crashed into the tall grass, kicking up a poof of snow. She spat some out of her mouth and started crawling.
Alex called her name.
Clarice crawled faster. Sweat rolled down her brow. Her one eye stung. Her cheeks were blushing, and her nose glowed red. She didn’t want to die.
Footsteps crunched on the dirt behind her.
“No…” Clarice coughed. “No.”
Winded, Alex approached. Her expression was one of complete misery. “Stop running.”
Clarice tried to push to her feet, but her arms gave way. The bruise on her elbow antagonized her. Her face fell in the snow. This was the end. Alex would kill her now. At least she wouldn’t be afraid anymore.
Alex knelt behind her. She put a hand on her shoulder.
Clarice tensed up, like a terrified caged animal.
Alex commanded, “You leave her, right now!”
Clarice screamed as something was ripped from her mouth and nose.
She watched the black cloud zip into the sky.
The cloudiness left her thoughts. She felt a million times lighter. Her focus returned. Before she could even ask herself what had happened, she knew.
“Oh no,” she mumbled.
“You’re okay.” Alex lifted Clarice to sit up.
“I’m so sorry,” Clarice said. “I thought that you were gone and she was…”
Alex hushed her.
Clarice rested against her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“They're all gone now,” Alex replied. “You can rest.”
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Clarice’s stomach twisted. She asked Alex to help her up. Leaning on her shoulder, the two exhausted women approached the squad car. The police officer stepped out, keeping his hand on his shoulder pistol. Clarice put one hand up and kept the other around Alex. She didn’t recognize the cop. His uniform didn’t fit. He must’ve been a new recruit or volunteer.
Clarice didn’t have an explanation as to what had happened. She put out her wrists to be cuffed and asked to speak with the homeowner. He put Alex in cuffs, too, for assisting with the assault. Without a word, they moved into the back of the squad car.
Alex mumbled to herself. “I can’t keep going like this.”
They arrived at the near-barren police station. Clarice had concluded that most of the force were out recruiting volunteers to clean up the graveyard. After going through processing, the secretaries were surprised to see Clarice back so soon after a few months. They separated Clarice and Alex in different holding cells.
A drunk shared Clarice’s cell. He wore a ratty winter coat and a fuzzy beard that ended at the top of his chest. He rested against the wall and reeked of alcohol and bile. His rubber boot bottom peeled back, revealing his collapsing wool sock. Clarice didn’t look much better. Her hair was a mess. Her mother’s dress was stained with dirt. She had a tear in the knee of her winter leggings. Her mascara had a teardrop stain below her one functional eye. Unknown to her, she also had a small chip on her glass eye.
Clarice took a seat on the bench. Her mouth formed a line on her face. She stared at the floor until she lost focus. She’d been oppressed by Ruah, but never possessed. Though she felt free now, the feeling of powerlessness crawled back into her thoughts. In that state of mind, every action felt justified. Her fear and emotions were pushed to the max.
She shut her eyes and attempted to find her core. Her goal was to reset. It wouldn’t be in this environment. She reminded herself she was alive, that she had defenses, and that what had happened was outside of her control. The last point was the hardest to overcome. If she’d just spent more time meditating or didn’t immediately jump to conclusions when she saw Alex’s fall, the Ruah would not have been able to get her. The worst part of the whole thing was that Alex was barely hurt at all by the knife. Everything had happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to get down the ladder until after the homeowner had run away.
Clarice inhaled.
The drunk next to her coughed, breaking her concentration.
“Hey,” he said with a gruff voice.
Clarice kept her eyes closed.
“Hey,” the drunk grunted.
Frustrated, Clarice looked at him
He smiled, showing off his mouthful of crooked, yellow teeth. “I remember you.”
Clarice glared like an angry bull.
The drunk chuckled. “You’re the lady.”
“Real specific,” Clarice said sarcastically.
The drunk grinned. “We spent the night together,”
“You’ve got me confused with someone else,” Clarice said and returned back to her meditative state.
“You’ve got to remember. You sat in that exact spot.” The drunk nodded to himself. “You stayed here until your pops came and got ya.”
That was during the Clawford case. She turned to the man, remembering him now. “I guess you can say neither of us learned our lesson.”
“Welcome back to the Hotel de Ville.”
Clarice and the old man shared a smile.
“I’m Clarice.”
“Ulysses, like the famous general,” he said. “I’m sure you’ve heard about all the craziness in town.”
“It’s hard to miss.” Especially when you’re front and center in the mess.
The drunk nodded. “It’s only the beginning.”
Clarice eyed him.
“I seen ‘em,” Ulysses replied seriously. “Those black clouds brewin’.”
The lights in the jail flickered.
Chills danced across Clarice’s skin.
Ulysses whispered. “See? They don’t like it when you talk about ‘em.”
There was a fine line between madness and spirituality. Did this man know more than he was letting on? Clarice took a gamble. “Tell me what you saw.”
“I ain’t really seen it. At least not like how you see me. But I can feel it.” Ulysses squeezed the fat on his stomach and involuntarily curled up his lip. “I know the shadows have been talking. They’re planning something big. They have been for some time. All these crazies popping up left and right. It's all been a warm-up for the storm. And we get to be alive to see it.”
The man let out a squealing laugh that devolved into a violent coughing spell.
“You can feel these spirits?”
“Feel ‘em? I talk to them all the time,” Ulysses replied.
Clarice studied the man. She was convinced that he believed what he saw, but that didn’t make it true. “What do they say?”
“I can’t tell you that,” Ulysses said sternly. “That’s part of our deal.”
“What deal?”
“I let them be. They let me be. You can’t win a fight with them. If you take one down, they come back with seven more. Why bother?”
Someone’s shadow stretched across the cell’s floor. Police Chief Cain stood at the entry. He wore a flat expression on his long face. “I heard you got into a little incident after the graveyard.”
“Things are better now,” Clarice said.
She could tell Cain didn’t fully believe her.
He said, “You want to tell me what is going on here?”
Ulysses spoke up. “We’re just talking. I never touched her, I swear.”
Cain’s glare shut him up. He turned his attention back to Clarice, waiting for her to reply.
“I’ll tell you everything I know… after you let me out of here.”
“We both know that’s not how this works,” Cain replied.
Clarice crossed her arms.
“Very well,” Cain backed away. “I’ll call Granger Hospital. I’m sure they’ll have a nice padded room waiting for you.” He walked on.
Clarice bolted up out of the bench and grabbed the bars. “Wait!”
Cain stopped, keeping his back turned to her.
“I’ll talk,” Clarice replied.
Cain returned to the cell. He looked into Clarice’s eyes. “I’m waiting.”
“As I said at the graveyard, the man was possessed.”
“That’s a convenient excuse.”
“You can’t deny seeing him change after Alex spoke to him,” Clarice replied.
“Okay, say you’re right. There’s something there. But, I don’t buy that you and your friend are priests.”
“We’re not,” Clarice admitted.
“Why lie?” Cain asked.
“To keep the people from asking questions,” Clarice said honestly. “Outside forces are working all around us. They can possess through rituals, fears, and bloodlines.”
“Like the one that got Ben and Mark Clawford,” Cain thought aloud.
Clarice was surprised he guessed that. “Exactly. How did you know?”
Cain eyed her. “I’m making a leap of faith here. Whether or not I believe it remains to be seen.”
“You think it’s coincidence I’ve been so involved in these last few cases?” Clarice asked rhetorically.
Cain was silent.
Clarice said, “Tracking these Ruah is how I found my sister-in-law. It’s how I found the bodies. It’s how I stopped Lamar. Matthews helped.”
“Why Matthews?”
“I delivered him, and he believed me. Alex and I have that ability.”
“How?” Cain asked.
“She dreams. I see visions,” Clarice said.
“Was it the same spirit that controlled the Clawfords and Lamar?”
Clarice shook her head. “No. Separate. I dealt with them one at a time. Same goes for the man at the graveyard and Natalie, the woman from the attic.”
“But one of these got into you, didn’t it?” Cain asked.
Clarice nervously replied. “It's not there anymore.”
“How will I know?” Cain interrogated.
Clarice lost her words for a moment. She replied, “You’ll just have to trust me. If not me, Alex.”
Cain studied her for a moment. Clarice didn’t break eye contact.
Cain said, “You are aware this will start a witch hunt.”
Clarice’s pulse quickened. “It doesn’t have to. The Ruah are gone, Cain.”
“But more will come back. You said these things are all around us.”
“No place is free of them. But I can teach you how to stop them.”
Cain smirked.
Clarice regretted making that promise.
“How?” Cain asked.
“Help me out of here, and I’ll show you.”
“I’m not going to circumvent the law.”
“Then tell the woman who pressed charges to drop them,” Clarice said. “I won’t be much help to you in here.”
“This is the best place for you to be. Nearby,” Cain replied.
Clarice gave him a deadpan stare.
“I’ll give it some thought,” Cain said plainly and walked off.
Clarice slouched back in her seat. She looked at the buzzing tube light above her head. Wonderful, she thought sarcastically. Within the hour, Ulysses was released. He waved her goodbye. Clarice also heard that Alex was released too. The homeowner never pressed charges against her.
More time drifted by. Boredom killed Clarice. She tried to meditate, but she was trying to figure out how she could teach the entire police force to fight Ruah. If it worked, they could transform Jasper into a paradise. Sure, people would be people, but they’d be a lot better off. If she failed, it could launch a witch hunt as Cain had thought. Police accusing people of being possessed could lead to many dangerous scenarios. Clarice would try to backpedal on the situation, but helping Cain was her only chance at getting her own friends. She could only laugh when she thought how she was a hero one minute and a villain the next. When she got out of here, she planned on leaving Jasper. However, running away from a fire didn’t help put it out. She could only speculate how the locals would treat her family if she packed up and left without notice.
The situation had no easy answers, but she’d have to make a choice. Thankfully, in the jail cell, time was on her side.
Bruised and fatigued, she ended up falling asleep on the bench. She dreamed of the black cloud climbing over Jasper. Someone tapping on the cell door jolted her awake. She quickly sat up, looking at Cain.
He eyed her. “I talked to Ms. Yates.”
Clarice rubbed the sleep from her face. Her elbow was killing her. “And?”
“You’re going to want to look into a lawyer.”
Clarice sighed deeply. “He better be one hell of an attorney.”
“I could recommend my own. If you pay bail, you will get out early, but the judge won’t view it too kindly,” Cain said.
“It’s lose/lose then?”
“It appears that way,” Cain said, showing no sympathy.
Clarice pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Want something to eat?” Cain asked.
Clarice nodded.
He walked off.
