Surrendering Spirit

Chapter 4

While there was no fresh produce, Anastasia found some canned vegetables. The tin tops were dusty as if they had been there since the beginning of time, but it was all they had. In the refrigerated dairy section there were a few cartons of yogurt and one pack of cheese. She scooped them up into her arms hoping not to drop the yogurts. Grabbing a six pack of bottled water she precariously juggled everything until she reached the counter.

The cans landed with a thud and one rolled off and to the floor at her feet. Anastasia bent to pick it up and when she stood up the cashier gave her a toothless grin that made her skin crawl. The little name tag on his coveralls told her his name was Ralph. She hoped beyond all hope that this was the last time she had to be alone with him.

While he rang up her purchases, Anastasia asked, "Excuse me. Can you tell me how to get to Old River Road?"

"Why do you want to go there? Ain't nothing there but an old woman's cottage. And hell, she ain't there no more. She's dead," he replied offhandedly.

"I know," replied Anastasia disbelieving that anyone could be that callas. "She was my grandmother. I'm staying at her place for awhile."

"Oh, sorry then," he said though it was obvious he could care less and proceeded to give her directions. He continued on slower, and his tone became serious, almost threatening, as if he were choosing the right words. "Be careful though. No one else lives out on Old River Road and if you have trouble, ain't nobody gonna hear you scream. Your grandmother bought up all the property for miles and miles."

"Thanks," said Anastasia dryly, "I'll be fine." She gathered up the two brown paper bags Ralph had put her food in and headed out of the store to her car without looking back.

He had some nerve.

Once inside her car with the doors shut and locked, she looked up and noticed that the black clouds were receding as fast as they'd come in. It had to be a good omen and not a bad one as Ralph had suggested. Her spirits now lifted, she pulled her Capri out of the gravel parking lot and turned left toward her destiny.

As she drove the country roads to her temporary home, she couldn't help but think about what Ralph said. Be careful. He almost sounded scared for her, but that wasn't possible. Men that looked like that don't get scared plus she'd never heard of anything bad happening here. Of course it was probably just like anywhere else, you get your weirdos sure, but she'd be careful. She always was. She was a city girl after all.

All dirt roads lead to home.

Anastasia slowed down to look for the driveway. She remembered it was always a little hidden, but damn it, it had to be right here. There was the big rock on one side of the road that reminded her of the times she and her brother and cousins used it to play king of the mountain and knew she was close.

A niggling memory struck her about one of those times. She remembered feeling as if they were being watched from the dense copse of trees that stood not more than forty feet from them. Grandmother told her that maybe they were being watched by the many inhabitants of the forest, like the wild man, or fairies or some other mystical creature. And then her grandmother would laugh. Back when they were young, it scared her, her brother Randolf, and all of them. Their parents later explained to them that their grandmother meant animals, deer, foxes, and other woodland creatures, not scary stuff out of books and movies.

She nodded her head as if in agreement with her parents and aunts and uncles, still she couldn't help but to look toward those trees again and an involuntary shudder wracked her body.

"Where is that stupid driveway?" she said aloud to her empty car. She glanced in her rearview mirror just in case she had passed it already and then in front again. About fifteen feet ahead of the car and to the right she spied a driveway hidden in the middle of tall weeds. She hadn't noticed it before, it appeared almost like magic.