The Mystery of Maple Creek

Chapter 16. Crossing Path

Chapter 16

Crossing Path

(Perspective: Hellen Mayweather)

There were lots of things in my mind. I kept on thinking about the old legend story in this town. And about everything that Natasha just told me in the Holy House earlier.

I was still trying to figure it all out. But the more I thought about it, the more baffled I was.

It was all happened two hundred years ago. And the FBI only came here twenty years ago to find out about such a special case. I didn’t know if I should laugh at the thought that they called it Project Frankenstein.

Somehow, it was funny. I thought the government was the most logical people on earth. But eventually, they also believed in such a thing.

As I was on my way home, I hit the play button on my car’s music player. I felt relax whenever I heard my favorite song. And it was perfect while I was driving alone at night like this.

But here was the funny thing, the title of the song told me to not drive. It was a calm song from The Paper Kites. It was Don’t Keep Driving.

However, this song rocked my world. It could help calm my mind for a moment.

The more I focused to listen to the song, my mind drifted away. I wasn’t thinking about anything for a while.

I didn’t even bother to ponder about any creepy stories. And the people probably only made up such a legend to attract visitors to this lovely town anyway. I just wanted to stop thinking about it. And I wanted to act skeptical for tonight.

Some drops of rain started to fall on my car's windshield. The thin fog appeared on the road.

From afar, my eyes caught the presence of a tall man. I didn’t know what he was doing around here. He walked slowly like a zombie. It seemed that he was stranded from the wood. But he was crossing the road.

My car was coming at the full speed. Instead of running away, he stopped and stood still in the middle of the road.

I immediately pulled the car brake before I hit him. I grasped the air astonishingly as I watched him blocking the driveway.

“What the hell in the world?” I muttered peevishly.

But when I observed his tall figure, I felt his familiarity stroke right through my chest.

The only light came from a pair of my sedan car’s headlamps. But it was too dark, I couldn’t really see his face. The fog was getting thicker and surrounding him. But something in his eyes showed me such a hunger that he never ever felt before.

And for a second, I thought to myself; I must be seeing a ghost.

He didn’t move at all. He tried to look through into my car’s windshield. But the headlamps blocked his sight from seeing me here.

When I just noticed what kind of clothes he wore. My heart stopped beating for a second.

I saw him again. The Ripper.

I even held my breath. “Oh, God, no—”

I was terrified. I kept on asking myself; would he come to me? Would he kill me?

But the thoughts just kept hanging in the back of my mind. I couldn’t even move my arms. My whole body froze by a tremendous fear I felt from the inside.

When he finally stared back at me, my heart skipped a beat. He looked so pale and so dead.

Just for a second, I thought, this moment could be a dead-end of my life.

And that how I knew, his stare meant to wreck me.

I had to close my eyes. I wished I could run away from reality.

I was counting quietly. When there was no movement and no sound at all, I carefully opened my eyes again.

He already disappeared from my sight. Maybe he already fled into the woods. But I still had to observe my surrounding.

When his presence truly was not seen anywhere around my car, I could breathe the air easily. I thanked God for saving me from this nightmare once again.

And I quickly drove the car faster to return home.

***

My dad heard me entering the front door. He hurriedly raised from the sofa to greet me, “Hellen, I’m glad you’re home early. I was about to call you. How was your counseling?”

He looked worried for me. And he always did.

I took a deep breath. The image of the ripper kept coming back to haunt my mind. I couldn’t tell him that a dangerous living corpse just crossed path with me on the quiet road earlier.

I ended up smiling at him as usual. I just didn’t want to make him think too much about my condition. I was mature enough to take care of myself anyway.

But then he could read my insecurity. He immediately asked me, “Hellen, are you alright?”

I blinked fast. Sometimes, it was hard to lie to him. But this time, I had to.

“Yeah, Dad, I’m alright. Don’t worry,” I answered him quickly. “It was good. The counseling.”

Ever since I came to live in this town, I had been pretending in front of him. It hurt me that I should do this. That I couldn’t just be honest with him about what I felt. That I was terrified all the time. That I had to hide behind the mask of my smiling face.

I just didn’t want to be a burden. He was my father. And I loved him that I didn’t want to make him worried for me all the time.

And that night, after I washed my face and changed my clothes, I went to sleep in my bedroom.

***

I was just making a cup of coffee in the morning, while my dad was reading a local newspaper. And then there was a knock on the door.

“Let me see who is that—” my dad said as he raised from the dining chair.

He flipped the newspaper and threw it on the table. Then he walked lazily to the front door.

I peeped behind the kitchen pillar. As soon as he opened the door, I saw the bearded man in a black uniform. He was Sheriff Clarke. He came again to our house. What was it going to be this time?

“Good morning, Mister Mayweather,” he greeted him energetically. “I came with FBI special agent Riley Mason—”

I was about to gulp my coffee, but when I heard he mentioned the FBI, I almost coughed. I quickly stole a glance again at the doorsill. I didn’t see the FBI step a foot on the foyer floor yet. My dad was still blocking their way.

“Oh, so this is the FBI that you’re talking about, Sheriff?” My dad sounded surprised. Maybe he didn’t feel ready just like me. We wanted privacy, but here they came.

Then I heard her firm voice from afar, “Hello, Mister Ronald Mayweather, may we come in? I need to speak with your daughter.”

I knew they must be looking for me. I felt like I was doing criminality if I avoided them. Therefore, I had to surrender.

I walked toward them at the doorsill. I waved at the tall woman. She looked pretty, although slight wrinkles had grown on her face. She had light-brown hair. Moreover, she wore a set of formal suits and a pair of heels. All black from head to toe.

She quickly smiled when our eyes met each other. And she greeted me in a friendly tone, “This must be Miss Hellen Mayweather. The pretty daughter of fish merchant—” I felt like her stare meant something when she stole a glance at my dad. Then she asked me, “So, can we talk?”

“Yeah, sure. Please have a seat,” I said as led them to walk into the living room. And before I sat in front of her, I offered, “Do you want a coffee or a tea maybe?”

“Please, a warm and nice coffee. It’s been such a long trip to come here,” she chuckled.

“Oh, don’t worry, let me do the chore,” my dad shouted and demanded me to sit with her.

I saw Sheriff Clarke followed my dad to the kitchen. I was left here with the FBI, who looked like she was about to prey on me any minute.

“Hello, Hellen—” she started the conversation. I felt pretty nervous actually. “My name is Riley Mason. I’m the FBI special agent dispatched here to investigate the crucial incident about your friend—so, I heard, the missing person named Marion Stanley,” she said so quickly, making my head almost spinning. “You were the last person to witness her whereabout. So, I was informed by Sheriff Clarke, you gave him a statement that—Marion has died.”

“Well, she is—” I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. I felt I should snap out the words in front of her face. I felt annoyed that she talked as if I was the criminal who responsible for her missing body. I was, certainly not.

She paused to observe my anxious expression. I just didn’t like the way she stared at me.

And then she just smiled. But I couldn’t read her emotion. She looked so steady but cold.

“We are only starting the conversation. Relax, Hellen. I’m just going to ask you questions to gather information. You are solely a witness here,” she tried to comfort me. But I still felt agitated.

“I know. I witnessed Marion died, right in front of my face. She was—” but then I just realized what I was going to tell her. Joanna had warned me not to tell anyone about this. The word Ripper almost got out of my mouth.

“She was what?” Riley demanded me to finish talking.

I took a deep breath. And then I bravely stared back at her sharp eyes.

“You have heard from Sheriff Clarke, haven’t you? Yes, I admitted that the attacker was not a deer. He might be a human, but I’m not sure now—” I couldn’t even sound solid. I felt failed to distract her.

“You are not sure now?” She emphasized the words for me. “Why is that? I heard you were persistent when telling the sheriff here.”

I hated the way she pinched her eyes at me. She was trying to read the imbalance in my expression. I felt so nervous, I couldn’t even think straight.

“Look, Hellen. In the past, people were struggled to protect themselves from the demon of this town. And today, he might be set free from his cage. We need to look through all of the possible aspects, if that what is really happening in town,” Riley spoke coldly to me.

I was wondering if she used the word demon as a metaphor or something real. Whichever was true, someone had to be responsible for the murder of Marion Stanley. And of course, for attacking me on that night.

Riley said again, “If you know something about it, you should tell me.”

I stared numbly at her. I didn’t know if telling her about the ripper would be a good idea. And she kept staring at me annoyingly.

But then she warned me “—so you’re not next.”

I gulped down my own saliva. Her words just gave me goosebumps. I could feel my lips trembled a little.

My dad just came bringing a cup of coffee for her. They exchange a weird glance sometimes. I didn’t know what happened, but the tension was in the air. I wondered if my dad knew her before.

Thereafter, the interview continued. I kept my lips sealed from mentioning about the ripper. I just told her everything I had once told Sheriff Clarke.

Until then, I was glad when she started to get bored questioning me.