Gennifer’s Story
By
Stan Watkins
My senior year of high school, the group I ran with had long since learned not to dare me to do anything. But at a party one night, there were some kids who didn’t know me as well. One of the boys, a jock I had embarrassed a few months earlier, started raggin’ on me, calling me Princess, referring to that same story you’ve heard about my heritage. He called me some other unflattering names. That led him to say he’d heard “I wasn’t afraid of nothin.” Then he dared me to come up here, to the Hadley place. Of course, I accepted.
My folks once found out I’d been up here and ripped into me good. They made me promise to never go back. But I was pissed at this kid, determined not to let him show me up. I forgot my promise and took up his gauntlet. My friends urged me to walk away, but I was beyond being able to do that. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I’d boasted that I’d spend the whole night up here --- inside The Hadley House.
Several carloads of us drove up to Dark Entry. The deal was, I’d walk in, accompanied by a couple of brave souls to assure I’d follow through. But no one dared to get even this close once they’d dropped me off.
I was to return to the entrance at first light, where some of the kids, including the one who issued the dare, would be waiting. They’d take my word I’d spent the night at The Hadley Place, having seen me enter from this clearing. Where else could I go, really?
I was terrified and angry at myself for being goaded. Anyway, I moved toward the decrepit house.
Like I said, the place was rotted and close to collapsing even then. At the porch steps I wanted to turn back; but my pride wouldn’t let me.
As I ascended, each step creaked under my weight. The porch was also rickety. I could feel some boards give and push back under my sneakers. I had no intention of going inside, planning to sit on the porch long enough to fulfill my bet. I was sure the whole place was rotted out. I feared I’d probably fall through a floorboard or have a piece of the ceiling fall on my head. So, sit on the porch is what I did … for a while.
I can still smell the dank, rotting wood of that porch. The moon was about a quarter full so there wasn’t a lot of light. I was pretty much invisible sitting there. After a while I must have dozed off. Not sure how I managed that, but I did.
I don’t know how long I slept. Something startled me awake. I remember hoping it wasn’t a rat or a snake”, so something must have scuttled or slithered by. I shuddered, pulling my jacket around me, thankful for the light that lit up the porch to my right. Then I realized --- there shouldn’t have been any light.
I leapt up, turning to the front room window. A lamplight was shining from it.
My curiosity wrestled with my fear. Had some of the kids overcome their trepidations and decided to test me to the fullest? I couldn’t imagine any of them brave enough to come this far, much less go inside that house, but there was no other explanation for that light.
My courage wasn’t up to venturing inside. I didn’t care what anyone would say the next day. I was fulfilling my part of the dare just by being here, in the dark --- alone. I could have made it the rest of the night out on the porch, light, or no light. Then the door moved --- ever so slightly, but it moved --- opened just a crack and the light from inside threaded out, stopping at my feet.
I jumped back, nearly falling off the steps, the light a narrow slit before me.
“Hel … hello?” I called, my voice betraying me. My arms and legs did likewise. I was frozen in place. Then the door opened wider. I could see inside. The front room was lit dimly but everything beyond was clouded in darkness. I wanted to pivot, scramble down the steps and run until I reached the cars and the kids at the entrance --- but I didn’t. In years since, I’ve awakened screaming from a nightmare of that night. I’ve wished I had turned and run --- but I didn’t.
I collected myself, moving back across the porch to the door. Unaided, it opened wider. I stepped inside The Hadley house.
The light came from an oil lamp, resting on a small table. Despite the thin light, I saw the walls, covered with mold and water stains. Other than the table, there was no furniture. The floors were bare. To my right was a large parlor. Large double doors were open wide, revealing a fireplace, above which hung an empty portrait frame,
From my vantage point, I could see the entire parlor. There was no need for me to go deeper. There seemed no answer for how the light came to engage, thus no reason to stay inside. I backed toward the exit.
Then another light came on --- down the hall in another room. I heard a muffled sound from the same direction. Someone giggling, like a girl or a child. Now I was certain the other kids had somehow gotten in --- possibly through a back door or window --- upping the ante on our wager.
Determined not to be duped, I was emboldened. I strode down the hall toward the lighted room, entering the mansion’s kitchen. It was a huge but empty room, with only an aged double sink, a window above it. There was also an old wooden door. I guessed it must have been a walk-in icebox. The doors to a massive pantry, half off their hinges and covered with the same mold as in the other rooms, stood open. Like the other room, there was little to see or investigate.
“All right you guys; joke’s over. I’m going back outside.”
Then I heard footsteps overhead, moving across the floor above me. They were heavy steps, making no attempt at stealth.
“Not going to work, guys,” I called to the ceiling. “I’m not chasing you through this rotted out place and risk breaking a leg. I’ll wait for you on the porch. Be nice to have company for the rest of the night --- if you’re brave enough to stay.”
I was satisfied leaving them up there, until they realized I wasn’t going to bite on their antics. Then they’d have to come down and meet me on the porch.
I started for the front door. Then more lights came on --- outside, in the back. Peering out the window above an old sink, I could see an illuminated pool. The lights didn’t arouse my curiosity enough to take me out to the back of the house. But the figure standing near it did.
There was a boy on the far side of the pool, nearest the woods. He couldn’t have been more than eight or ten. He was alone. The little guy was out there by himself, it seemed. My first thought was he was a little brother of a prankster forced to babysit for the evening and bring him along, so they wouldn’t miss out on the fun.
Now he was out wondering about by that pool and it was filled with water. I was uneasy watching him stand there looking into the pool. If he slipped and fell in, would anyone hear him call for assistance? Prank or no, I needed to go and at least bring him to the safety of the front porch until my friends got bored and came to claim him.
It amused me thinking of their panic when his guardian realized they had misplaced him. The joke would then be on them. It was too much to resist.
I moved to the back porch. The pool area was illuminated by a series of bulbs attached to the trees surrounding the pool. I didn’t stop to consider why there would still be electricity to a house this broken down and deserted.
I didn’t recognize the boy as a brother of any of my friends. Had I known his siblings, I would have taken them to task for the way they let their parents dress him, in long pants held up by suspenders of all things. He had a white collarless shirt, so, shabby and dirty, at first, I thought it was grey. His feet were bare. The pallor of his face matched his shirt and was almost as soiled.
I circumvented the pool, tryng to keep in the shadows. To effect this, I stayed on the edge of the woods encircling the area. Moving silently, I began to hear something deeper behind me, crunching leaves and branches. It was bigger than a raccoon, but something smaller than a bear, which was the only thing that would have concerned me, so I pressed on.
I moved near the boy but remained out of the light. I whispered to him, but he didn’t respond. Finally, I spoke in a normal tone. He spoke but wasn’t responding to me. He stared straight ahead --- into the pool --- as though mesmerized.
“Yes,” he said. “I know. She’s talking to me.”
“It’s polite to look at folks when they talk to you,” I scolded. You can stay with me until your brother or sister come for you.”
“I’m fine,” he said, turning to face me but looking through or beyond me. “My siblings won’t be coming. They never come up here --- anymore.”
I puzzled at his use of the word “siblings”. It seemed such an adult, formal term for a boy his age.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Can I tell?” He responded. Again, he wasn’t talking to me.
He nodded his head as though complying with some instruction then said: “Eli”.
“What are you doing up here? How’d you get here? Where do you live?” I peppered him with all three questions at once. I moved closer to him. I waved my hand in front of his face, snapping my fingers. He didn’t flinch. I reached to touch his shoulder. Sensing my intention, he stepped back, just inches from the pool. I stopped; afraid I’d force him into the water.
Suddenly he looked at me, making eye contact, silently pleading with me for … something. Before I could speak or move, he said:
“Bubby says I have to go now but I don’t want ....”
Then he was yanked or pushed, backwards into the pool. He didn’t cry out or make any sound. Nor did he make a splash into the water.
I jumped back. It took a couple seconds to process the shock of what I’d seen. I sprinted to the pool’s edge and peered into the clear water. I could see below the surface. I prepared to dive in but there was nothing to dive for, no sign of the boy in the water. I quickly stepped to the far end of the pool thinking that he was submerged in the gloom. But the pool was lit up like daytime in the glow of the lights. I hurried to the other side, thinking he’d somehow gotten over there and climbed out. But I knew that wasn’t possible. My eyes hadn’t left the pool. If he’d come out where I now stood, there would have to be some water on the poolside surface. Nothing had disturbed the dirt and dust surrounding the pool.
Confused and bewildered I completed a circuit of the pool, ending back where I began. I stood exactly where the boy, Eli, stood moments before.
“Eli,” I called in desperation. I called several more times, hoping he’d answer. I also hoped whoever was in the house would hear and come to assist me. I watched the house for signs of activity and saw the lights go out, leaving only the pool and the area around it illuminated.
Too much that I couldn’t explain, was happening too rapidly. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to continue believing the other kids were behind all of this, but I knew that wasn’t so. But if not them, who and how?
“Good evening, young Miss Hadley.”
The voice came from behind me. I spun to find only the shadows of the forest. Except for two pinpricks of blue light, just out of reach of the glow from the pool. Frightened, I backed away, until I reached the very edge of the pool.
“Oh, my, I’ve frightened you,” the voice crooned. “That’s probably just as well. You should be frightened. I want you to remember this feeling and the one who raised it in you.”
“Who … who’s out there?” I challenged. “Who are you?”
“The boy, Eli, told you who I am,” he answered.
“He said ‘Bubby”, I replied. “That means nothing to me.”
I tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness concealing the voice. I could only make out the blue points. I took a step forward.
“Come no closer, Miss Hadley,” he ordered.
“My … my name isn’t Hadley,” I corrected.
“A Hadley you are, have always been and always will be.”
“My grandparents were Hadley’s,” I said. “My cousins. My name is Queen.”
Seemingly having no interest in debating the point he said: “You are the prize we seek and now, you must come to us.”
His voice sent hackles racing up and down my backbone. “I … I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You are coming with us.” His voice had changed in tone. From measured and soothing to gruff and commanding. “Your soul will join us for all time. You are the ultimate prize!”
I looked right and left, trying to determine the quickest way to escape the entity threatening me from the shadows. Just then he stepped out of the shadows into the light.
He was dressed like a woodsman or a hill person. He wore a blue checkered flannel shirt and dark work pants. His feet were obscured. His facial features were course and sun weathered, a scrap of a goatee and scraggly hair over the rest of his face. He wore a brown fedora, which seemed incongruous with the rest of his clothes. It gave him a sinister, ominous impression.
He was twenty feet from me, yet I could detect a repugnant odor. I can only liken it the smell of rotting animal flesh and garbage. The scent was overpowering. I covered my nose and mouth with my hand.
“Where did Eli go?” I gasped through my fingers. “What’ve you done with him?”
“He has gone where you are going.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I repeated. “Stay away from me.”
He advanced slowly, further into the light. When he did, I got a full view of him from head to feet. I could now see that he wasn’t wearing footwear. His pants ended six inches above his feet. But they weren’t feet. Protruding from of his pants were two cloven appendages, like hooves. He saw me staring and a hideous, lecherous grin spread across his face.
“Now,” he began. “You know who I am. The boy called me Bubby. It was too difficult for him to use my whole name: Beelzebub, as many have called me through the ages. And now Miss Hadley, it is time for us to join the boy.”
He stretched out his hand pointing at me with a leathered, hairy, brown digit. His gesture froze my retreat. I couldn’t move. Worse, I didn’t want to move. Suddenly, going with him didn’t terrify me as it had moments before. I remember thinking that accompanying him wouldn’t be such a terrible thing. I took a step toward him.
I succumbed to whatever spell he had on me. At that moment something crashed out of the back door of the house! A circle of opaque light rolled from the door, off the porch and across the pool. Whatever it was, broke the creature’s concentration on me. We both spun to look at the swirling mass taking a shape.
I watched in wonder. I found myself enveloped with a sense of relief and well-being. I watched as the mass formed into the shape of a woman. No sooner had it fully formed than it began to screech and keen.
“Noooooo! By Heaven, NOOOO! You’ll not have her TOO! You ruined my family; took my son, crippled me before possessing my soul, but it stops NOW!
“Woman,” the creature said. “Go back! Do not interfere with me. You know the price you and your boy will pay!
Turning to face me, the woman cried out: “Run Gennifer, RUN! Never come back here!”
“Stay where you are girl,” the creature growled.
“Gennifer, he can’t control us both. Run --- NOW!
When she spoke, she looked at me. I saw in her eyes a look of love and affection that made me trust and obey her. I skirted the pool, bolted through the house and out the front door. I jumped the steps and ran for what seemed like forever. As I hit the edge of the clearing, not far from where we’re standing now, I heard an earsplitting roar, filled with frustration and anger. It was followed by cries and whimpers that seemed to fill the air around me.
I ran, crashing through the woods, all the way back to the path, then down to the Dark Entry opening. There were several cars surrounded by students from my school. They glanced at their watches, preparing to chide me for the lost bet. They must have seen the terror on my face. No one mentioned the bet. I collapsed at one of the cars, the kids gathering around me. The next thing I remembered was waking up in the morning in my bed at home. My parents were standing over me.
I thought I’d dreamt the whole episode --- until my parents filled in the gaps from the previous night. My friends had brought me home. They told my folks about the bet and my flight from Dudleytown. My parents asked me to fill in the details prior to my panicked retreat.
I confessed everything. When I finished, I saw them exchange a glance before drawing their chairs closer to my bed. Then my mother told me for the first time the story about The Hadley family --- my grandparents --- and the horrors that befell them in Dudleytown. That was how I learned the truth about what had driven Gramm Hadley mad. I realized it must have been her, rather her spirit, that intervened when --- when whatever I had encountered, had threatened me.
My parents told me that Gramm’s last words, on her death bed, had been “she was going to be with Eli, to protect him”. She had done the same for me.
*This is an excerpt from Stan Watkins novel Dudleytown
Stan Watkins is a former Hoosier and Connecticut Yankee. Retired, he now lives in St. Augustine, FL. Since 1995, he and his wife, Kate, have operated a successful mystery dinner theater company (Crime & Merriment Mysteries, LLC). Stan has completed a novel, Dudleytown. He was previously published in a recipe book for the Danbury, CT Public Library. Recently he had a short story accepted for publication by The Florida Writers’ Association.
By
Stan Watkins
My senior year of high school, the group I ran with had long since learned not to dare me to do anything. But at a party one night, there were some kids who didn’t know me as well. One of the boys, a jock I had embarrassed a few months earlier, started raggin’ on me, calling me Princess, referring to that same story you’ve heard about my heritage. He called me some other unflattering names. That led him to say he’d heard “I wasn’t afraid of nothin.” Then he dared me to come up here, to the Hadley place. Of course, I accepted.
My folks once found out I’d been up here and ripped into me good. They made me promise to never go back. But I was pissed at this kid, determined not to let him show me up. I forgot my promise and took up his gauntlet. My friends urged me to walk away, but I was beyond being able to do that. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I’d boasted that I’d spend the whole night up here --- inside The Hadley House.
Several carloads of us drove up to Dark Entry. The deal was, I’d walk in, accompanied by a couple of brave souls to assure I’d follow through. But no one dared to get even this close once they’d dropped me off.
I was to return to the entrance at first light, where some of the kids, including the one who issued the dare, would be waiting. They’d take my word I’d spent the night at The Hadley Place, having seen me enter from this clearing. Where else could I go, really?
I was terrified and angry at myself for being goaded. Anyway, I moved toward the decrepit house.
Like I said, the place was rotted and close to collapsing even then. At the porch steps I wanted to turn back; but my pride wouldn’t let me.
As I ascended, each step creaked under my weight. The porch was also rickety. I could feel some boards give and push back under my sneakers. I had no intention of going inside, planning to sit on the porch long enough to fulfill my bet. I was sure the whole place was rotted out. I feared I’d probably fall through a floorboard or have a piece of the ceiling fall on my head. So, sit on the porch is what I did … for a while.
I can still smell the dank, rotting wood of that porch. The moon was about a quarter full so there wasn’t a lot of light. I was pretty much invisible sitting there. After a while I must have dozed off. Not sure how I managed that, but I did.
I don’t know how long I slept. Something startled me awake. I remember hoping it wasn’t a rat or a snake”, so something must have scuttled or slithered by. I shuddered, pulling my jacket around me, thankful for the light that lit up the porch to my right. Then I realized --- there shouldn’t have been any light.
I leapt up, turning to the front room window. A lamplight was shining from it.
My curiosity wrestled with my fear. Had some of the kids overcome their trepidations and decided to test me to the fullest? I couldn’t imagine any of them brave enough to come this far, much less go inside that house, but there was no other explanation for that light.
My courage wasn’t up to venturing inside. I didn’t care what anyone would say the next day. I was fulfilling my part of the dare just by being here, in the dark --- alone. I could have made it the rest of the night out on the porch, light, or no light. Then the door moved --- ever so slightly, but it moved --- opened just a crack and the light from inside threaded out, stopping at my feet.
I jumped back, nearly falling off the steps, the light a narrow slit before me.
“Hel … hello?” I called, my voice betraying me. My arms and legs did likewise. I was frozen in place. Then the door opened wider. I could see inside. The front room was lit dimly but everything beyond was clouded in darkness. I wanted to pivot, scramble down the steps and run until I reached the cars and the kids at the entrance --- but I didn’t. In years since, I’ve awakened screaming from a nightmare of that night. I’ve wished I had turned and run --- but I didn’t.
I collected myself, moving back across the porch to the door. Unaided, it opened wider. I stepped inside The Hadley house.
The light came from an oil lamp, resting on a small table. Despite the thin light, I saw the walls, covered with mold and water stains. Other than the table, there was no furniture. The floors were bare. To my right was a large parlor. Large double doors were open wide, revealing a fireplace, above which hung an empty portrait frame,
From my vantage point, I could see the entire parlor. There was no need for me to go deeper. There seemed no answer for how the light came to engage, thus no reason to stay inside. I backed toward the exit.
Then another light came on --- down the hall in another room. I heard a muffled sound from the same direction. Someone giggling, like a girl or a child. Now I was certain the other kids had somehow gotten in --- possibly through a back door or window --- upping the ante on our wager.
Determined not to be duped, I was emboldened. I strode down the hall toward the lighted room, entering the mansion’s kitchen. It was a huge but empty room, with only an aged double sink, a window above it. There was also an old wooden door. I guessed it must have been a walk-in icebox. The doors to a massive pantry, half off their hinges and covered with the same mold as in the other rooms, stood open. Like the other room, there was little to see or investigate.
“All right you guys; joke’s over. I’m going back outside.”
Then I heard footsteps overhead, moving across the floor above me. They were heavy steps, making no attempt at stealth.
“Not going to work, guys,” I called to the ceiling. “I’m not chasing you through this rotted out place and risk breaking a leg. I’ll wait for you on the porch. Be nice to have company for the rest of the night --- if you’re brave enough to stay.”
I was satisfied leaving them up there, until they realized I wasn’t going to bite on their antics. Then they’d have to come down and meet me on the porch.
I started for the front door. Then more lights came on --- outside, in the back. Peering out the window above an old sink, I could see an illuminated pool. The lights didn’t arouse my curiosity enough to take me out to the back of the house. But the figure standing near it did.
There was a boy on the far side of the pool, nearest the woods. He couldn’t have been more than eight or ten. He was alone. The little guy was out there by himself, it seemed. My first thought was he was a little brother of a prankster forced to babysit for the evening and bring him along, so they wouldn’t miss out on the fun.
Now he was out wondering about by that pool and it was filled with water. I was uneasy watching him stand there looking into the pool. If he slipped and fell in, would anyone hear him call for assistance? Prank or no, I needed to go and at least bring him to the safety of the front porch until my friends got bored and came to claim him.
It amused me thinking of their panic when his guardian realized they had misplaced him. The joke would then be on them. It was too much to resist.
I moved to the back porch. The pool area was illuminated by a series of bulbs attached to the trees surrounding the pool. I didn’t stop to consider why there would still be electricity to a house this broken down and deserted.
I didn’t recognize the boy as a brother of any of my friends. Had I known his siblings, I would have taken them to task for the way they let their parents dress him, in long pants held up by suspenders of all things. He had a white collarless shirt, so, shabby and dirty, at first, I thought it was grey. His feet were bare. The pallor of his face matched his shirt and was almost as soiled.
I circumvented the pool, tryng to keep in the shadows. To effect this, I stayed on the edge of the woods encircling the area. Moving silently, I began to hear something deeper behind me, crunching leaves and branches. It was bigger than a raccoon, but something smaller than a bear, which was the only thing that would have concerned me, so I pressed on.
I moved near the boy but remained out of the light. I whispered to him, but he didn’t respond. Finally, I spoke in a normal tone. He spoke but wasn’t responding to me. He stared straight ahead --- into the pool --- as though mesmerized.
“Yes,” he said. “I know. She’s talking to me.”
“It’s polite to look at folks when they talk to you,” I scolded. You can stay with me until your brother or sister come for you.”
“I’m fine,” he said, turning to face me but looking through or beyond me. “My siblings won’t be coming. They never come up here --- anymore.”
I puzzled at his use of the word “siblings”. It seemed such an adult, formal term for a boy his age.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Can I tell?” He responded. Again, he wasn’t talking to me.
He nodded his head as though complying with some instruction then said: “Eli”.
“What are you doing up here? How’d you get here? Where do you live?” I peppered him with all three questions at once. I moved closer to him. I waved my hand in front of his face, snapping my fingers. He didn’t flinch. I reached to touch his shoulder. Sensing my intention, he stepped back, just inches from the pool. I stopped; afraid I’d force him into the water.
Suddenly he looked at me, making eye contact, silently pleading with me for … something. Before I could speak or move, he said:
“Bubby says I have to go now but I don’t want ....”
Then he was yanked or pushed, backwards into the pool. He didn’t cry out or make any sound. Nor did he make a splash into the water.
I jumped back. It took a couple seconds to process the shock of what I’d seen. I sprinted to the pool’s edge and peered into the clear water. I could see below the surface. I prepared to dive in but there was nothing to dive for, no sign of the boy in the water. I quickly stepped to the far end of the pool thinking that he was submerged in the gloom. But the pool was lit up like daytime in the glow of the lights. I hurried to the other side, thinking he’d somehow gotten over there and climbed out. But I knew that wasn’t possible. My eyes hadn’t left the pool. If he’d come out where I now stood, there would have to be some water on the poolside surface. Nothing had disturbed the dirt and dust surrounding the pool.
Confused and bewildered I completed a circuit of the pool, ending back where I began. I stood exactly where the boy, Eli, stood moments before.
“Eli,” I called in desperation. I called several more times, hoping he’d answer. I also hoped whoever was in the house would hear and come to assist me. I watched the house for signs of activity and saw the lights go out, leaving only the pool and the area around it illuminated.
Too much that I couldn’t explain, was happening too rapidly. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to continue believing the other kids were behind all of this, but I knew that wasn’t so. But if not them, who and how?
“Good evening, young Miss Hadley.”
The voice came from behind me. I spun to find only the shadows of the forest. Except for two pinpricks of blue light, just out of reach of the glow from the pool. Frightened, I backed away, until I reached the very edge of the pool.
“Oh, my, I’ve frightened you,” the voice crooned. “That’s probably just as well. You should be frightened. I want you to remember this feeling and the one who raised it in you.”
“Who … who’s out there?” I challenged. “Who are you?”
“The boy, Eli, told you who I am,” he answered.
“He said ‘Bubby”, I replied. “That means nothing to me.”
I tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness concealing the voice. I could only make out the blue points. I took a step forward.
“Come no closer, Miss Hadley,” he ordered.
“My … my name isn’t Hadley,” I corrected.
“A Hadley you are, have always been and always will be.”
“My grandparents were Hadley’s,” I said. “My cousins. My name is Queen.”
Seemingly having no interest in debating the point he said: “You are the prize we seek and now, you must come to us.”
His voice sent hackles racing up and down my backbone. “I … I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You are coming with us.” His voice had changed in tone. From measured and soothing to gruff and commanding. “Your soul will join us for all time. You are the ultimate prize!”
I looked right and left, trying to determine the quickest way to escape the entity threatening me from the shadows. Just then he stepped out of the shadows into the light.
He was dressed like a woodsman or a hill person. He wore a blue checkered flannel shirt and dark work pants. His feet were obscured. His facial features were course and sun weathered, a scrap of a goatee and scraggly hair over the rest of his face. He wore a brown fedora, which seemed incongruous with the rest of his clothes. It gave him a sinister, ominous impression.
He was twenty feet from me, yet I could detect a repugnant odor. I can only liken it the smell of rotting animal flesh and garbage. The scent was overpowering. I covered my nose and mouth with my hand.
“Where did Eli go?” I gasped through my fingers. “What’ve you done with him?”
“He has gone where you are going.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I repeated. “Stay away from me.”
He advanced slowly, further into the light. When he did, I got a full view of him from head to feet. I could now see that he wasn’t wearing footwear. His pants ended six inches above his feet. But they weren’t feet. Protruding from of his pants were two cloven appendages, like hooves. He saw me staring and a hideous, lecherous grin spread across his face.
“Now,” he began. “You know who I am. The boy called me Bubby. It was too difficult for him to use my whole name: Beelzebub, as many have called me through the ages. And now Miss Hadley, it is time for us to join the boy.”
He stretched out his hand pointing at me with a leathered, hairy, brown digit. His gesture froze my retreat. I couldn’t move. Worse, I didn’t want to move. Suddenly, going with him didn’t terrify me as it had moments before. I remember thinking that accompanying him wouldn’t be such a terrible thing. I took a step toward him.
I succumbed to whatever spell he had on me. At that moment something crashed out of the back door of the house! A circle of opaque light rolled from the door, off the porch and across the pool. Whatever it was, broke the creature’s concentration on me. We both spun to look at the swirling mass taking a shape.
I watched in wonder. I found myself enveloped with a sense of relief and well-being. I watched as the mass formed into the shape of a woman. No sooner had it fully formed than it began to screech and keen.
“Noooooo! By Heaven, NOOOO! You’ll not have her TOO! You ruined my family; took my son, crippled me before possessing my soul, but it stops NOW!
“Woman,” the creature said. “Go back! Do not interfere with me. You know the price you and your boy will pay!
Turning to face me, the woman cried out: “Run Gennifer, RUN! Never come back here!”
“Stay where you are girl,” the creature growled.
“Gennifer, he can’t control us both. Run --- NOW!
When she spoke, she looked at me. I saw in her eyes a look of love and affection that made me trust and obey her. I skirted the pool, bolted through the house and out the front door. I jumped the steps and ran for what seemed like forever. As I hit the edge of the clearing, not far from where we’re standing now, I heard an earsplitting roar, filled with frustration and anger. It was followed by cries and whimpers that seemed to fill the air around me.
I ran, crashing through the woods, all the way back to the path, then down to the Dark Entry opening. There were several cars surrounded by students from my school. They glanced at their watches, preparing to chide me for the lost bet. They must have seen the terror on my face. No one mentioned the bet. I collapsed at one of the cars, the kids gathering around me. The next thing I remembered was waking up in the morning in my bed at home. My parents were standing over me.
I thought I’d dreamt the whole episode --- until my parents filled in the gaps from the previous night. My friends had brought me home. They told my folks about the bet and my flight from Dudleytown. My parents asked me to fill in the details prior to my panicked retreat.
I confessed everything. When I finished, I saw them exchange a glance before drawing their chairs closer to my bed. Then my mother told me for the first time the story about The Hadley family --- my grandparents --- and the horrors that befell them in Dudleytown. That was how I learned the truth about what had driven Gramm Hadley mad. I realized it must have been her, rather her spirit, that intervened when --- when whatever I had encountered, had threatened me.
My parents told me that Gramm’s last words, on her death bed, had been “she was going to be with Eli, to protect him”. She had done the same for me.
*This is an excerpt from Stan Watkins novel Dudleytown
Stan Watkins is a former Hoosier and Connecticut Yankee. Retired, he now lives in St. Augustine, FL. Since 1995, he and his wife, Kate, have operated a successful mystery dinner theater company (Crime & Merriment Mysteries, LLC). Stan has completed a novel, Dudleytown. He was previously published in a recipe book for the Danbury, CT Public Library. Recently he had a short story accepted for publication by The Florida Writers’ Association.
