The Yellow Pine

Chapter 29 - A Gruesome Discovery

After calming Evie and hearing her strange, disjointed story, Roland led her and Maisie to the kitchen to make breakfast. He knew that strange things existed in the world, but couldn't tell how much of her tale had been fact and how much was dreamed up by a feverish, psychotic mind. At any rate, it was clear that the unstable woman couldn't stay here. As they ate, he came to a decision and as they cleaned up the dishes, ordered Maisie to go put on her snow suit and boots. "Evie, I can't thank you enough for scaring off that... whatever it was last night. I'm taking you to the hotel. I already have a room set aside for you, and it's not going to cost you a dime. You'll be close enough that we'll be able to check on you, and make sure you have everything you need." Evie had been thrown out before, and knew better than to argue. She hung her head contritely and began putting together her meager belongings. "Mr. Carter, one last thing, though. I insist. I have to paint the Elder Sign back up on your house. I have to. You have to let me. It's for protection, you know. It's a good Sign, and it will protect you." Roland sighed, and finally agreed, thinking to himself that he could always clean it off after they got her some help. Sometimes, it's just easier to go along with crazy, he thought. After she had painted the star on the house, the three set off through the woods toward the hotel. The roads were still too bad for driving, but the walk wasn't very far.

As they exited the copse of trees that separated their house from the hotel grounds, Maisie called out, "Hey! What's that?" Roland followed her pointing finger to a pile of brightly colored fabric in the distance. A trail led from the open doors of the hotel to the pile, which was being covered in falling snow. A terrifying thought came to Roland's mind, and he told Evie and Maisie to stay back while he went to confirm his suspicions. As he got closer, he could see that there were actually two piles, laying close together. He neared the piles and reached down with a shaking hand, rolling them over. The blue, frozen faces of the two college kids that had been staying at the hotel stared back at him. He sensed movement behind him, and turned around in time to stop Maisie and Evie from coming any closer. "Go on into the hotel. I'll be there in a minute," he yelled, his voice cracking.

The boy and the girl lying dead at his feet were poorly dressed for the weather in nothing more than blue jeans and t-shirts. There was no blood that he could see, and it seemed obvious that they had frozen to death. "Why the hell did they come out here, and why didn't they go back inside when they started getting cold?", he mumbled to himself. Their trail through the snow bobbed and weaved for about fifty yards from the front door to where they had fallen, and Roland couldn't imagine that two healthy, young adults could have frozen to death in such a short amount of time. Realizing that there was nothing more he could do for them, and no way to move them right now, Roland followed the doomed kids' path through the snow into the hotel.

Besides the front door having been left open, and the snow and ice that had blown in, there was nothing worth noting amiss inside the building. The power was still on, and everything appeared to be where it belonged. Roland had Evie and Maisie wait inside the room he'd set aside for the homeless woman and checked every room himself before declaring it safe. The rooms the two college kids had taken were in disarray, but nothing that he wouldn't expect from a pair of young adults out on their own for what was probably the first time. He got Evie settled in, and brought her some food from the vending machines to tide her over. "I'll try to get out here with some real groceries tomorrow," he told her. She just smiled sadly and nodded her head. She reached over to check that she still had her engraved rock, and sudden look of concern crossed her features and she stared at Maisie, accusingly. "Where is it?", she demanded. "Where is it? Why aren't you wearing it? You have to wear it!" Her voice raised in hysterics and she grabbed the startled girl by the shoulders. "I made it to protect you! You aren't safe!" Roland sprang into action and roughly shoved the raving woman away from his daughter. "Don't you touch her! What's this all about?" He was starting to think that helping this woman had been a bad idea, after all. Maisie's face was flushed red with embarrassment. She understood exactly what Evie was so upset about. "It's okay, Daddy. Remember that necklace she gave me?" Understanding dawned on Roland's face, as Maisie addressed the fraught woman. "Evie, I'm sorry. I forgot about it. I promise I'll put it on as soon as I get home." The promise worked to immediately calm Evie down, and she sighed, "Okay. Good. That's good."

After the short, frigid trip back home, Maisie was true to her word and immediately retrieved the necklace from her jewelry box where'd she stashed and put it on. A warm feeling covered her like a blanket, and she had to admit that she felt safer wearing it. As she stood there admiring herself in the mirror, she heard a small, piteous whine come from behind her bed. Looking over, she found B'loga, cringing from her and weeping. "What's wrong?", she asked, very concerned for her little friend. B'loga turned his expressive face up to her and croaked, "Trapped. Sign hurts." He pointed with a trembling hand at the necklace, averting his eyes. Slowly, Maisie realized the trouble. "Oh, I get it. You're from another world, so the Sign affects you, just like it does the Byakhee. I'm so sorry." She sat down on the edge of the bed and thought hard. She and Daddy needed the sign to protect them, but B'loga couldn't leave the house with it there. Maybe Evie knows how to fix it, she thought, hopefully. She came to a quick decision, and put her winter clothes back on. She could get to the hotel and back before her daddy even noticed that she was gone. "I'll be right back, B'loga. I'll find out how to fix this, and come right back."

Roland was in the other room, trying unsuccessfully to reach someone by phone to report the bodies he'd found. The phone lines were all dead, and he couldn't get a signal on either the cell phone or the computer. He stared out the window, trying to figure out what to do next. The roads were piled high with snow, and it was way too far to walk anywhere to get help. The nearest neighbors were the Lowell family two houses away, and they hadn't been out for days that Roland could tell. He ran his hands through his hair and puffed his cheeks out with a sigh. He could only hope that the snow would stop tonight and they might get the roads clear enough to drive on in a few days. The kids' bodies would just have to wait until then. He never even heard the door opening and closing as Maisie slipped outside.

Flora lacked Roland's insight into the dangers of traversing the frozen landscape alone. She just knew that she couldn't stay alone in this house, cut off from the whole world, for one more minute. She slid a pair of thick jeans over her warmest fleece-lined leggings and pulled a heavy sweater on over her long-sleeved shirt. She already felt sweat beginning to roll down her spine as she pulled a puffy coat on and slid a pair of gloves onto her hands. Feeling a bit like that kid from "A Christmas Story", ("I can't put my arms down!") she bumbled through the door and out into the deepening drifts of snow, determined to walk to the Carter's house before dark.