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The Unsolved Case!

As I felt yet another tear drop flow down my cheek, I gazed at the framed photograph of my daughter, Emily, who had passed away just three days ago. She had slipped on the high school stairs as she was headed for her bus to come home. But was it just an accident as the principal had told me in her office that fateful day that made me ignore all the stop lights and speed limit signs? Call it a mother’s intuition, a hunch or just something that told me everything told to me that day didn’t add up.

I had to know. I had to know the truth. I had to have closure and some peace in my heart. I made an appointment with a Detective David to explain my insecurities and my doubts with the hope that he would make a thorough examination of all the facts surrounding my daughter’s death. We talked at first on the phone and I could feel his reluctance to investigate further than the school resource officer and the coroner had done, but I pleaded for his help.

Perhaps he agreed to investigate to comfort me, to lesson a mother’s heartache or to prove to me Emily’s death was just that, an unfortunate accedent. Regardless of his motive or reason, I was grateful. Three days later, I walked into the police station and told the receptionist who I was there to see. While she pressed a button to see if the detective was in, she smiled and pointed to a waiting area of chairs.

I thanked her, but I chose to stand and pace back and forth with the folder of papers and photographs in my right hand. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes before Detective David opened a side door and called out my name. I met him mid-way and we shook hands. When he shook my hand, he held my hand with both of his hands as my hand trembled and tears flowed down my cheeks. For a police officer, he had the kindest blue eyes I had ever seen.

His voice was just as kind. He asked me to accompany him to his office and I followed him, turning left, then right and then left again. Finally, he stood in front of his door as I read the brass name plate, Detective David. It was a compact, small office and I could see just about everything he wanted was within his reach. He asked me to sit down and after I did, he too sat down. I heard him take a deep breath before he opened up the file sitting on his desk.

It was thicker than mine. Before he opened it up, he asked me to give him a few minutes to familiarize himself with the case. I nodded as I wiped my eyes with a white monogrammed handkerchief Emily had given to me as a Christmas gift last year. With intentness I strained to see each page that the detective looked at, at each photograph, hoping to learn more than I had been told. Finally, he closed the folder and he looked directly into my eyes and spoke.

“Mrs. Montgomery, as I told you on the phone before this visit, I’ve read the facts surrounding your daughter’s death. I’ve reviewed the School Resource Officer’s investigative report, the ambulance EMT’s report, witness statement’s and the Coroner’s report. I just don’t have any reason to believe that Emily’s death was anything but an accident.” he told me. He said that last sentence with such finality as if he was closing the door on my soul.

As he looked into my eyes, it was as if he could look into my heart, my mind and I felt the empathy he felt for a mother’s loss. I could see him struggling for something to say and I know how hard words are to come by. “If there’s anything new, something you haven’t shared with me, I’d be happy to look at it or check out any lead. But you must also realize Mrs. Montgomery, without something to go on, there isn’t anything more I can do.” he said.

He had done his job well. He had given a mother time in her greatest grief, to plead and beg. To know with 100% assurance that her daughter’s death was an accident. But for me, it wasn’t closure. As I anxiously wiped my eyes, I stood and as a gentleman he too stood. He offered me his hand and sympathy for my loss as I struggled to find the words to say thank him and leave quickly, but the words didn’t come.

Neither of us tried to pretend saying goodbye was easy at that moment because it wasn’t. But none the less, I did say thank you for his seeing me and he guided me out to the reception area. As I reached the front door, I turned and looked back and saw detective David still watching me and he waved goodbye one last time. As I drove back home, I glanced again and again at the seat beside me to the framed photograph of Emily, smiling towards the camera as she held her favorite stuffed teddy bear.

Over the next few weeks, funeral arrangements were made and a burial plot was purchased at Five Oaks Cemetery located on the east side of town. I was thankful that the cemetery was nearby, because I knew I would visit Emily with fresh flowers often. The hardest part of losing a daughter is that a home becomes so quiet without the erratic comical behavior and constant coming and going of a teenage girl’s life.

No cell phone ring tone sounds that made me smile and shake my head. No clothing tossed everywhere but the clothes hamper. For me though, the hardest thing was opening Emily’s bedroom door and seeing her room just the way she left it that fateful morning. I promised myself I wouldn’t clean it nor pack up all her things and store them in the basement. I couldn’t bear to do that.

I had left her room just as she left it and I’d sit at the edge of her bed, looking down at one of four photo albums of photographs of Emily capturing many of the best times and accomplishments of her young, oh so young life. I’d sit there with tears flowing down my cheeks, but they were the tears of a mother’s love as I recounted each moment. I felt blessed to have other relative’s beside me and see so many of Emily’s school friends skip class to say their final goodbye to Emily the day Father Gray stood near her headstone to give each of us and Emily a sense of comfort.

I think that moment, yes that very moment was the most heart wrenching moment for me. This was the last time I would be able to say anything to my daughter, my only child before she was buried. By the end of the service, I looked down and saw a large amount of flowers, stuffed animals, notes and autographed photos of Emily and her many friends beside her grave. Nearly three months had passed, when I came home from work one afternoon to hear the voice of Detective David asking me to arrange for an appointment to stop and see him.

He said he had something new regarding my daughter’s death. When I heard those words, I swear my heart stopped beating for a moment. What news could he possibly have that wasn’t known or discussed between us before? My fingers trembled as I pushed the buttons on my phone as I looked through tear swept eyes at the business card he had given me months ago. His receptionist arranged for a 9.30 a.m. meeting and I was there well ahead of that time.

I was anxiously pacing the floor and the receptionist keep glancing at me with concern in her eyes. Finally I heard the door open and when I looked in that direction, I saw Detective David motioning me to follow him. Just like the first time, I followed the detective through a maze of left and right turns until we walked into his small office and he asked me to sit down. Nervously I sat there in total silence as I stared at the large file sitting on top of an otherwise clean and organized desk.

This wasn’t the same file I had watched him go through the first time we met. If that file was pertaining to Emily’s death I was anxious beyond words to know what was inside. Detective David sat there behind his desk, stalling, I could sense it. But why? Finally, he opened the file before him and handed me a photograph of a police officer next to the high school sign. “Have you ever met Officer Woods, Mrs. Montgomery?” he asked.

“He’s the High School Resource Officer.” he said. I shook my head no as I looked at the officer’s face and then handed back the photograph. As he laid the photograph face down on his desk, he cleared his throat. “I find myself in an awkward position Mrs. Montgomery. Since the death of your daughter, Officer Woods has informed me of some unusual incidents occurring at the high school.” Detective David said.

The only words I could find to say were “What kind of incidents and why would they involve my daughter?” I knew my daughter hadn’t used drugs or been involved in gangs. Again, there was a long silence before he spoke. “Because of the potential for burglary, arson and vandalism, the school has its own alarm system which includes both video cameras as well as motion detectors. Since your daughter’s death, there has been over a dozen police responses to the high school, usually late at night.

In each case, the motion sensors were tripped and though a thorough search of all rooms and floors was conducted, nothing was found disturbed and no one was found inside. That was until four days ago when Officer Woods on Tuesday had decided to pull a double shift. He was patrolling the hallways during the graveyard shift.” he told me with hesitation. I could feel the tension building up inside of me and I couldn’t take it anymore.

I blurted out, “What do those things have to do with Emily, Detective? I don’t understand what you’re getting at?” That was when the detective left me speechless as he answered my question. “That night, while Officer Woods was patrolling the school hallways, an alarm was tripped near your daughter’s locker, activating a video camera in the hallway.” he told me. As he finished that sentence, he looked down and picked up a second photograph.

I saw and felt the hesitation in his eyes just before he held out the photograph for me to look at. Cautiously, I turned the photograph around and looked down at it and I gasped. To the right of the photo was the image of Emily, yet I knew it was not her, but her spirit floating in the air. “Oh my God!” I cried out. That was the only thing I could manage to say as tears rolled down my face. “It’s Emily, it’s my baby Emily!” I said. I was shaking in my chair. My entire body was shaking.

“Mrs. Montgomery, I believe for some unknown reason the spirit of Emily remains in the school. It’s the only possible explanation for all the false alarms sounding at the school and subsequent searches and finding no one inside.” he said. During the next few minutes, Detective David asked me questions about religion as well as whether my daughter believed in the occult. By that he asked if she had ever shown an interest in the occult.

As I wiped my eyes again and again, I told him no that she had been a perfectly normal teenager. She loved her music, her cell phone, her friends, shopping and of course boys. Detective David went on to tell me about some of the strange things that employees like janitors had reported to the resource officer. Things such as hearing footsteps in the hall, running, whispering voices, odd odors and areas that felt very cold.

One night in particular, it was reported that a janitor watched in awe as a long row of student locker doors opened by themselves and suddenly slammed shut one after another. He went on to say that nothing unusual appeared to be going on when school was in session. He asked me what I thought of everything he had just told me. Naturally, I was reeling in shock at seeing the photograph of the spirit of my daughter floating near her locker.

I told him I had no explanation. To be quite honest, until that moment I really hadn’t believed in ghosts. But I did tell him that Emily loved scary movies. He seemed to be about to tell me something, but paused. “Mrs. Montgomery, I’d like your permission to tell some other’s about what I’ve found out over the last few months, to try to find out what is happening at the high school.” he told me.

I took a deep breath and asked him what he was planning on doing, but he didn’t answer. Rather he dodged the question and would only tell me that he wanted to consult with some others who might have more experience in the world of the supernatural. Because he didn’t tell me anything more, I handed the photograph of Emily back to him. All I could do at that moment was say yes. He stood up and thanked me for coming in to meet with him and apologized for upsetting me.

He told me if he found out anything new that he would contact me. He guided me back out to the reception area and I went home and cried and cried, until I fell asleep. As Detective David sat at his desk, he looked down at the photograph. As a police officer who dealt in the tangible, based upon facts, evidence, witnesses, DNA, and finger prints, he didn’t have a lot of options open to him. He didn’t want to alarm school officials, students and parents with the accusation that the high school was being haunted by the ghost of Emily Montgomery.

Instead, he felt something was going on which went deeper then Emily. Sometimes, something else compels a spirit to remain behind, an entity perhaps. Who knows what was built upon this land before it became school property, almost a hundred years ago. He decided to pursue the answers to the questions in his mind from two very opposite directions. First, he would meet and discuss the situation with the Pastor of the church he attended.

He would try to learn all he could from the religious aspect. Second, he would try to locate someone who was considered a legitimate psychic. Someone never convicted of fraud or misrepresentation. Someone who had been in the business for years and hopefully someone who had actually helped a police agency in the past. It was his hope from these two directions, information could be obtained to explain why Emily remained at the high school and to hopefully help her find peace.

The bright side of all this was that no incidents had been reported to him or the School Resource Officer that were of a violent nature. The very next day he sent an inquiry E-mail to 25 other police departments in his state regarding any cases where their department had used the services of a psychic in any investigation. Typically, some departments can seek the services of a psychic relating to missing persons or murder cases.

He didn’t know what success if any other detective may have had, but he had less to go on. Detective David also contacted Father Gray and arranged for a meeting. When he arrived at the church and knocked on the church door, Father Gray called out for him to come in. David found him at his desk, looking down at a large open bible. As he walked in, Father Gray looked up, smiled and motioned for him to sit down in a chair. Father Gray asked him if this was a social call or if he was in trouble?

David began to laugh and assured him he wasn’t in trouble, but that it wasn’t just a social call either. By the look in his eyes, he knew it had to be something important. Perhaps it was his stare at my folder or the seriousness in my tone of voice. Regardless of what he had been thinking, David was about to tell a second person about what had been discovered at the high school. The more he disclosed to Father Gray, the more he became focused, almost in a trance like state.

Perhaps he had never before had someone tell him that an actual spirit existed in a physical location. Any doubt that he may have had faded when he looked at the 8 X 10 photograph of Emily. He opened up a desk drawer and took out a square magnifying glass. Closely, ever so closely, Father Gray studied every inch of the photograph before he sat the magnifying glass down and handed me back the photograph.

I could see him grasping for the words he sought to give his opinion. He seemed to struggle within himself, on the one hand, wanting to rely on the interpretations of the bible, yet sensing a clear conflict with the bible. I didn’t rush him. I let him take his time. It was then that I watched him intently search through his bible, looking for the right passage. When he found it, his finger ran across the verse and his lips moved as he read it silently.

Then he read it out loud to me. When he finished, he closed his bible. “The subject of ghosts, haunted houses and supernatural manifestations have intrigued me greatly Detective and I’ve devoted much study on the topic. I’ve consulted the bible and teachings not only of my church but of other churches. Perhaps it will always be a test of my faith in the Lord, in the bible and all I have tried to teach those of this congregation.

This I feel is the best answer I can give you from what the church believes. It is found in 2nd Corinthians 11:14-15. ‘And no wonder, for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light.’ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of justice, whose end shall be according to their works. As a man of God I can’t say that I believe in ghosts, yet I’m a human being and thus imperfect.

I’m not without sin regardless of how many times I ask forgiveness. You pose a question to me which challenges in a fundamental way everything I’ve studied, believed in and professed. I can only accept your statement that this photograph is genuine and not altered.” he said. I assured him that the photograph was authentic and the girl in the photograph had indeed died in a fall in the high school three months ago.

Truly David saw a conflict within the pastor as if he had turned over a chess board and was trying to remember where all the pieces had been on the board. “If you want me to tell you that this occurrence, the spirit of this child exists in this world, I can’t agree because to do so ignores scripture. I can’t say that this isn’t a cruel hoax played on you and me detective. Coupled with all that you have explained to me though, beyond the photograph, I’d be inclined to say it’s not a hoax.

At the moment Amelia closed her eyes a bright blue aura surrounded every inch of her body. It was a glowing moving light as if it were caressing her body. As tears rolled down her cheeks, to his surprise she smiled as if she were seeing a long time friend she hadn’t seen in years. Her face was calm, without fear and her breath steady. Suddenly the calm expression on her face was replaced with the most terrifying of expressions as if she was seeing the demon through the eyes of Emily.

Her breath became erratic as she struggled to inhale just one breath of air. The room became deathly cold. So cold, Detective David’s breath and Amelia’s turned to frosty fog. He didn’t know what he should do. As he began to stand to come to her side, she released her hold on the bear and it fell upon her desk. Amelia looked exhausted. “I saw her, I saw Emily. He’s with her and he keeps her close to him. He’s a powerful demon, a supernatural entity I‘ve never encountered before.

He draws great strength from Emily. I saw all of his other victims too. They anguish in such pain and suffering. He plans to kill again and his plan is to enter this world. If he does that, no one can stop him. He’s at a doorway between his world and ours. He can linger but for a moment before his energy wanes and he’s forced back into his world. And you detective? You sent a priest into the school this very night to fight him?

You have sent him to his death.” she said angrily at the detective. Amelia was all but certain Father Gray would be dead before he could return to the school. David asked her what the demon looked like. “He can assume any shape he chooses.” she said. She looked into his eyes as if she could see clear to his soul and said one more thing. “I can offer you only one thing that may help you not to die. It’s an amulet. My mother’s amulet. It’s called The Circle Of Protection.

When worn, it helps to ward off the evil that is directed upon the person wearing it.” she told the detective. She reached into her top drawer and took out a beautiful stone fastened to a leather necklace and she handed it to him. “Place it around your neck now detective. You’ll never reach the school alive without it around your neck. Never for a moment remove it.” she told him. With both hands she lifted up the stuffed bear and held it closely to her lips and whispered softly, too softly for him to hear.

Then as a tear rolled down the left side of her cheek she handed the bear back to him. The detective slipped the necklace around his neck and thanked her. He asked her if there wasn’t something he could do for her, if she refused to accept any money from him. “Return to the school and find the priest if you can before he too is killed and leave the school.” was all she said. He had only one question that remained unanswered from Amelia. “How can I defeat this demon?

How can I send it back to his world forever or break this curse?” he asked. She closed her eyes and he knew she was searching for an answer. “You must find the large oak tree I spoke of, in a field where it stands all by itself. Look for a field where nothing else grows except that tree. You must bless those whose bodies lie scattered like leaves near the base of that tree. But be warned. The demon will do all that he can to stop you!” she said urgently.

Detective David told her he could never thank her enough for all her help, but she cut him off and urged him to return to the school to try to save the priest. He hurriedly left her shop and got back into his car, nervously looking for any sign of danger and headed for the edge of town. But as he reached the edge of town, he suddenly found himself parked near the psychic’s business once more. Repeatedly he tried to leave town time and time again he found himself parked near the psychic’s store window.

As he was about to get out of his car to go back in and see Amelia, he saw the neon light go off, then her office lights as she opened the front door, locking it before she turned around and saw him still parked. He saw curiosity written all over her face as she began to walk towards his car. Suddenly, she stopped and turned to her left at some steps to a house and that was when he saw why she had stopped.

A child glared at Amelia, then towards him and then back towards her. “You think your Wiccan powers can protect him don’t you? You think that he or you can save the souls taken by my master? You think you can close the door and stop him from entering this world? He will kill you both, but come. He is awaiting you both.” she shouted at Amelia. As suddenly as the child had appeared, she vanished.

As Detective David stepped out of his car he could smell the most horrible of decaying smell, like something that had rotted for months in the summer sun. Amelia looked startled at what had just transpired but not as scared as he felt. “The powers of darkness Detective are very powerful. It would be best if you waited until daylight to travel back to the school, but I know time is short and that you will not wait. I didn’t expect you to still be here when I closed my shop.” she said.

Detective David explained to Amelia that he wasn’t being allowed to leave town, no doubt by the little girl they both had seen. Amelia hesitated for a moment and then spoke. “After you had said goodbye to me, I felt guilty that I hadn’t asked if I could accompany you back to the school. I don’t know what I can do to help, but it would be a better option than to face death alone, don’t you agree?” she asked.

He reminded her that he wasn’t being allowed to leave town. He told her every time he drove to the edge of town, that the next thing he knew, he was parked again near her shop. She smiled and told him that she could solve that problem. In her left hand was a large brown bag and she sat it down in front of his car and began to take items out. On the hood of his car she sat a bowl and poured in three cups of water which he was later told contained rain water.

Then she placed three oak twigs beside the bowl. Then she placed a short piece of twine beside the bowl. Next she took out three cloves of garlic and sat them beside the twine. Then he watched her as she picked up a twig and rubbed it over the garlic and then placed both in the bowl of rain water. She repeated this step with all three twigs. She looked towards me with a soft, confident smile and whispered, “We must wait a few minutes, before we remove the twigs.”

Those few minutes seemed like hours as he waited to see what she was going to do next. When she took out the twigs, she placed them in the shape of a triangle and began to speak. “Form a shield around us against all evil. Send all evil far from here. Guard us and use your might to let pass only good and right.” she said. Then Amelia picked up the twigs and tied them together with the piece of twine. Then she opened the front passenger door of his car and placed them under the seat.

“The powers of darkness will not interfere with us any more as we go to help save your priest.” she said confidently. Detective David looked as surprised as his voice sounded as he asked her why she decided to accompany him back to the school. “Well. Since you asked, I shall tell you. I’ve seen the anguished faces of the women and children this demon has killed, yet their torment did not end with their death. I can’t allow this to continue, even if it means my death too.” she said.

The tone of her voice in that last spoken sentence was not reassuring in any way to him. But like her, he had to at least try to get back to the school and try to get the priest out of that school. After all, it was he who allowed him to go inside, alone. His mind was wandering as he looked at Amelia. He watched her pick up the bowl of rain water and garlic and pour it out by a nearby shrub. She placed the bowl back in her bag and walked up to him and whispered, “We have much work to do before morning and we need to leave now.” she told him.

He leaned over and unlocked the passenger door for her and she got in, placing her bag on the floor between her legs as they headed out of town. As they approached the edge of town, Detective David became more nervous. Would they find themselves sitting in front of the psychic’s shop once more? Or would what she did with the twigs, water and garlic break the spell that kept him a prisoner of this town? The answer to his question would soon be revealed as the same ghostly child appeared in the roadway ahead of them.

As she raised both hands shoulder high at them, a bright bolt of blue light shot out from her finger tips and encircled his car. It was a bright light, almost blinding. Then as suddenly as the light appeared, it faded into darkness and the child too was gone. “Be not afraid Detective, she can’t hurt or stop us.” Amelia said. It was a long drive back to the school and the entire trip, at every turn he expected to see the child again, but didn’t.

During the trip, Amelia spoke very little. But David did ask her one question. “Amelia, I know what the word Wiccan means, it means witchcraft. It means you don’t believe in God in the same way that the priest we’re hoping to save does. Isn’t it against your teachings or believe to stand beside or save a believer in the bible?” he asked. “Those who follow the true path of Wicca honor and support all religions in the belief that religion is an individual choice for each of us.

Thus, each man, woman and child must follow their own path of conviction. Wicca is a peaceful and loving religion which is incorporated into our daily rituals and activities. Our Wiccan faith is governed by what is called The Wiccan Rede and the Rule Of Three! To make a long history in the religion of Wicca short Detective, our faith can be summed up in these words:

“Bide the Wiccan law ye must,
in perfect love & perfect trust.
These words the Wiccan Rede fullfill,
and ye harm none do as ye will.
And ever mind the rule of three,
what ye send out comes back to thee.
Follow this with your mind and heart,
and merry ye meet and merry ye part.”

“We seek to protect, not harm Detective. I’m bound by Wicca, my religion to protect and assist those who are unable to defend themselves. This priest though of a different religion then my own is in peril of his very life and I must try to assist and protect him. Contrary to misconceptions others have shared over the centuries, true Wiccans do not practice black magic, nor do they worship Satan. I could speak more to you, but I shall not.

I’m Wiccan bound to assist you and all those who are in danger. That’s why I’m accompanying you.” she said. Detective David knew very little of Amelia’s Wiccan religion other then it was based upon British history and principles. The drive back to the high school was quiet between Amelia and the detective after that discussion. Cars were few as he drove down the lonely two lane highway. He didn’t know what he would encounter when they arrived back at the high school.

Would they find the priest murdered? Would both Amelia and the he also die? Would they see the child spirit that tried to stop them from returning to the school again? He could feel his eyes were tired. He turned on the radio to help keep his mind busy and asked Amelia if she wanted him to change the channel. She told him, it was fine where it was at. Finally they were approaching the school and he stopped beside the high school sign, just a few hundred feet away from the entrance. He turned off the engine and told Amelia that he wanted to rest a few minutes and she nodded.

As he sat there resting his eyes, he wondered what Father Gray had encountered if anything since he had entered the building. Little did Father Gray know that Detective David and Amelia were less than 150 feet from the entrance door to the front door of the school. They were much too far away to hear his calls for help even had he yelled. The priest had been laying on the ground for hours, shivering in the cold. He tried to save my strength and crawl around the high school and make his way to the front door.

But it was painfully slow progress. Finally he admitted to himself that he could crawl no further. Both of his legs were in great pain. He believed that his best bet for summoning help was too make his way over to one of the glass doors used for students to head for the sports field and bang repeatedly on the door. Perhaps the janitor would hear him when he arrived.

Meanwhile, as the morning grew brighter, Detective David told Amelia that they should get out of the car and wait by the front door for Father Gray since they didn’t have a key to enter the building. That was when he caught a glimpse of the priest standing in front of the school door waving to them. “See Amelia, Father Gray is alright.” he said as he pointed his finger to where the priest was. But it wasn’t Father Gray and Amelia sensed it and grabbed Detective David by the shoulder before he could get out of the car.

“You must trust me Raymond. That’s not the person you believe him to be. That’s not the priest.” she said nervously. Once more David looked at the figure that was now excitedly waving for us to come to the door. “I can’t tell you if the priest is alive or dead.” Amelia told him. “But I can tell you that what we see is in reality, the demon that haunts this school and the one that killed Emily. We can do no good here other then wait for the janitor you said was arriving.

We must stop him from entering the school. Perhaps just sending him home for the week-end is the best thing you can do. Neither you nor I face to face can defeat the demon. He is too powerful. We can’t fight him here. Do you remember what I said in my office earlier? I told you that the only way to stop him was to find a large tree near a road, in a field where nothing else grows. That’s where the bodies of those in their graves were moved.

If we can find that spot and bless the bodies, the curse can be broken. Only then can the door through which the demon seeks to remain in this world be closed forever.” she told David. By now the figure at the door was scowling at both of them. They hadn’t fallen for his ploy to draw them closer. Then David looked in his mirror and saw a green Toyota idling behind his car. David was blocking the janitor from driving up to the school.

David got out of his car and walked up to his vehicle and showed him his badge and identification. He told him that he was conducting an investigation and that he didn’t want him to work at the school today or tomorrow. Surprisingly, the janitor was more than happy to go home and he backed up his car and turned around and left. When David got back into his car, he turned to Amelia and asked her the million dollar question. “We don’t know the road this tree is supposed to be on.

We don’t know how far to drive. We don’t know whether to head north, south, east or west” he said. “We must go west and the tree will be clearly seen Raymond. I sense it’s only a few miles out of town, but we must hurry, time is not on our side.” she pleaded. David looked into Amelia’s eyes and saw the urgency to not argue with her. He turned the car around and they headed west out of town. “You drive and I will look for the tree Detective.

There must be a road nearby or the bodies couldn’t have been taken to the tree.” Amelia said. David was thankful that they were going west, not east. To go east would have put the sun right in his tired eyes. As he drove, he would glance over at Amelia and could see her eyes searching for a tree where nothing else was growing. Suddenly, her left arm grabbed his shoulder at the same time she told him to stop.

She asked him to back up slowly and as he did, they both saw a narrow overgrown road with tall grass. The old road opened up into a huge clearing of rocky dirt. There wasn’t a single shrub, but there was a tall sprawling oak tree, its branches stretching out like arms. “This is the place Detective. The bodies are to the left of the tree where that pile of rocks are.” she told him with excitement. He could barely make out the rocks but he took Amelia’s word for it!

“You should try to use the old road to get as close as possible to the tree. If we can’t get close we’ll have to walk in.” she told him. David backed up a little more and turned onto the road. The grass was tall enough that he was afraid my muffler might catch the grass on fire, so he drove as fast as he could towards the tree. It was a very bumpy road, but in just a couple minutes he stopped and turned off the engine. “This is the most dangerous part detective.

I have to draw a Circle Of Protection around the rocks and bless them. I can sense danger nearby. I can feel unimaginable pain and suffering. He keeps Emily’s soul at the school close to him because her soul has the greatest power. But that’s okay. Her soul may distract him long enough to let me finish my work. If I can complete the Circle Of Protection, I can release these souls, even Emily’s and the demon will be pulled back into his world and the door will be forever closed.

Just be my eyes and ears and shout if you see danger. It’s time to do it, let’s go.” she said. We both got out and when she stepped out of his car, she leaned down and took her bag with her. Cautiously they approached the pile of stones near the base of the tall oak tree. It was deathly quiet that morning. Not even the sound of a bird chirping could be heard. The closer they got to the pile of rocks, the more he could see that nothing was growing in the ground for 100 yards surrounding the tree.

The first thing she did was to take a small brass bell and a piece of crystal out of her bag and place them upon the rocks. Amelia told David it was to repel evil. Then to his surprise, he watched her pick up a large branch that was on the ground nearby and she began to dig a hole at the edge of the pile of rocks, as he nervously kept looking around and watching her. Her breath was short, almost a gasp as she strained to dig deeper.

David whispered low to Amelia and asked her if she wanted me to dig the hole but she shook her head no as sweat poured down her face. Finally she stopped when the hole was about a foot deep and she wiped her face nervously as she too looked around. He watched her take a small glass jar, partially filled with pieces of metal. She motioned for him to come closer as she held out the jar to him. When he held the jar, he could see old nails, broken glass, tacks, pins, wood screws and even a double edged razor blade in it.

“I need you to turn around and pee in the jar. Please don’t ask me to explain, just do it quickly.” she said. The tone in her voice made me believe there was so little time left that I turned around red faced and pee’d in the jar and put the lid back on. Anxiously she waved her hand towards him to hurry back to her. David watched her carefully place the jar in the ground and cover it gently with dirt to prevent it from being broken. “I must make a circle now Detective.” she said.

She had David stand beside the pile of rocks and she drew a circle around the pile, him and herself. Then she began to speak in a loud voice, first to the east, then the south, then the west and finally the north. The same thing was said in each direction as Amelia asked each element to guard them and to protect the circle. As she continued to speak the wind began to blow harder and harder and the branches of the old tree swayed heavily.

She then asked Grandfather Sky and Mother Earth to protect us and the circle. “I call upon the elements of air, water, fire and earth that which has been done so long ago now be undone. By the power of this circle lift these spirits of the curse that binds them here.” she shouted above the howling winds. When she was finished, she looked at David with relief and said, “It is done. The spirits of those who are buried here are no longer bound by their curse. They no longer can be disturbed by the demon.”

The heavy winds were now gone and everything was peaceful once more. “Even Emily’s spirit is now at peace. Now we can return to the school and search for the priest.” Amelia told David. She picked up her bag and as he turned back onto the highway and headed back to town, he watched Amelia rub tenderly the open blisters on both palms of her hands. But rather then look like she was suffering, she looked happy. She looked like it was worth everything she had gone through to do what had to be done.

“Detective, you must promise me that you will tell no one of what you saw and heard me do by the oak tree.” Amelia said. David laughed and told her he hadn’t a clue regarding what she done.” and they both laughed. When they reached the high school again, he stopped by the sign where he was earlier parked. He looked at Amelia and asked her with hesitation, “Are you sure it’s safe to go inside now?” She looked him right in the face, looking deep into his tired eyes and said, “He’s gone. Now let’s find the priest.”

David reminded her that he didn’t have any door keys and he thought it might be better to break a window in the back of the school rather than the front. Plus a smaller window would be less expensive to board up and replace. So they parked right in front of the school entrance double doors and began to circle the school building, making their way to the rear of the school. Amelia was the first to see Father Gray on the ground and she ran ahead of David to his side.

David never saw anyone so glad to see him before. He pointed to the upper window that was broken out. “The demon threw me out that window. Both my legs are broken. I tried to crawl to the front of the school, but I just couldn’t crawl any further.” he told both of them. Amelia quickly told him, “The demon is gone now and he won’t return.” Pastor O’Malley was too tall and too heavy for Amelia and David to carry around to the front of the school, so David broke a glass door to get inside so he could find a phone to call for an ambulance.

After the ambulance took Father Gray to the hospital, David told one of the police officer’s at the scene he would fill out his report later and turn it in Monday. Then He drove Amelia back to her city. All the way there, he should have been as tired as could be, but somehow he had found a renewed strength. It was a quiet trip back to Amelia’s shop. David figured they both had a lot to think about. When he finally pulled to a stop outside, he put the car in park.

“Amelia, I’ve never believed in psychics or believed in people who cast spells. I never believed that anyone had any sort of sixth sense. But I believe in you. I’m grateful for all you’ve done for me, for Father Gray, for Emily and for those who were re-buried by the oak tree. As for those who are buried there, that is a case that will remain unsolved.” he said. Amelia touched his shoulder with kindness and said, “We’ve both been through a lot and we both could use some sleep.

Do me a favor though detective. Never take off the necklace I gave you.” she said. He reached up and felt the amulet through his shirt and promised her he would never ever take it off. She gave him a hug and got out. She walked over to her car and waved goodbye as she drove away. Now it was time for him also get some sleep. He drove to a nearby motel and got a room.

©2007 Raymond Cook (All rights reserved)