Rhodes

Greatest Fear

My heart was racing. Sweat gathered on my head, not unlike the dew that had gathered the morning this mess began. I wondered how this could happen. I prayed that I made it in time. I feared the worst. Yet, part of me clung to a small fragment of hope that nothing bad would happen.

I knew I hadn’t spent nearly enough time with Calvin ever since his mother died. Mary was always the one taking care of him. When she was murdered-by the very same man this ghoul claimed to be no less- I had a hard time coping. I had a hard time figuring out how to be a widowed parent.

Calvin was the one person who took it harder than me. He had trouble even rationalizing what had happened. I knew all too well about the evil that men do. In the back of my mind, I always knew it was a possibility.

Jack Risinger was a rat. We, the arms of justice, discovered what he had done, and promptly cornered him. He took pleasure in murdering my wife. He laughed knowing that the one who had discovered his evilness would suffer because for his actions. He vowed not to stop. He vowed that he would destroy everything I loved. I thought it was an idle threat. I never imagined it would come to this.

The whole way to Birch Wood had me on the edge of my seat. Tension built inside my chest like a violin being wound too tight to where the string starts to become undone. My heart was pounding and my good hand was white-knuckling the handle of the car door. I was the opposite of relaxed. I wasn’t alone in that feeling. Eli was tense too. But his stress created a laser focus. One look at his face told me that he wasn’t even thinking about any other possibility other than the need to get there before something bad happens.

We promptly located the school bus. I shot out of the car like a bullet. Eli followed right behind me. Mr. Aldrich-Calvin’s teacher- walked over to greet us. The students were scattered across to grove of birch trees. Mr. Aldrich was a short and lean man with the beginnings of a handlebar mustache under his nose. When he spoke, he spoke with a measured tone and a pitch much like a child himself.

“Detective Macdonald?” Mr. Aldrich said. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to collect Calvin.” I stated.

“Calvin?” He drew the word out. His eyes darted to the sky. The gears in his head shifted to recall the whereabouts of just one of his twenty students. “He’s over there with his friend...Sara Wilson.”

“Thank you.” I marched away. Eli stayed behind to carefully explain the situation to the young school teacher.

“Calvin?” I called. I scanned the endless rows of trees in search of my son. Then I saw it. I saw a fog rolling in. “Calvin!” I called again but louder.

“Dad?” I heard my son’s voice come from the fog. I ran in there as fast as I could without hitting my arm on one of the prison-bar-like trees.

The fog consumed me. I held my breath, partially in anticipation and partially knowing that it was most likely the source of the hallucinogenic. I looked around, trying to peer through the fog. My good hand dug into my holster and firmly gripped my revolver.

My heart beat clouded my sense of hearing as much as the fog clouded my sense of sight. All I could hear was a wind that sounded like careful whispers. I broke from the bonds of the birch grove and into the oak forest it led to. I saw those fiery eyes and that scorching hair yet again. It was just like the night in these very same woods. Only this time, the specter had his clawed hand around a young boy’s throat. Not just any young boy, my young boy.

“It’s me you want!” I shouted. It was an impulsive move that forced me to start breathing in the fog. The figures face was obscured in a rotted wooden mask. The twigs and branches made him look skeletal and demonic.

“That’s right.” The specter hissed. “That is the only reason your son yet lives.”

“You can’t win.” I growled. “More police are on the way. It’s over, whoever you are.”

“Whoever?” The ghoul said. “It is I, Jack Risinger. Don’t you remember.” I heard my son gasp at his words.

“You are not Jack Risinger.”

“Aren’t I? Would your summation be based on the fact that Jack Risinger is buried? I already told you in my letter, I have perfected the art of astral projection. I have transcended the need of a mortal body.”

“I repeat, you are not Jack Risinger.” I said. The gas was taking effect, making it hard to breathe.

“Ever so doubtful.” The ghoul said. “If only you remained so steadfast during your investigation. Tell me, would anyone else know who your other suspect was?”

“Yes.” I said. The specter scoffed at my remark. “Plenty of friends and co-workers know of all those I investigated in the cases I connected to Jack Risinger.” I narrowed my vision. “And the fact you would even ask that is a clue to your identity.”

“I wouldn’t do anything if I were you.” The specter said. “Toss your gun. Throw it deep into the forest.”

“Why would a spirit fear a gun?” I asked. The mask he wore made it impossible for me to read his reaction.

“I have taken a physical form. That is all.” The specter reasoned. His grip on Calvin tightened. “Now, do it!” He hissed. I complied with his demands. I chucked my revolver away. I can feel whatever chemical that was in the fog fill my lungs and take effect.

“Tell me one thing.” I said as I wiped the sweat off my brow. “Where’s your friend?”

“Friend?” He said. “Even if I had one I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Don’t lie to me!” I commanded. “I know you and your friend are responsible for Alice Penderton’s death.”

“Who?”

“One of the girls you spooked at Siren’s Song.” I said. “She turned up dead. That’s what led me here. Was it your doing, all to get me in that forest last night?”

“Hmmm...I wonder about that.” The ghoul seemed genuinely curious.

The fog was taking its effect. I could feel my mind stretching and warping. The ground beneath me began to wobble like a plate precariously balanced on a pole. The specter was beginning to laugh. Calvin was hyperventilating. I could see the tears welling up in his eyes. His mind was going through the same altercations as mine and he was so much more susceptible to it on account to his age.

“Dad, I’m scared.” Calvin cried.

“I know son.” I tried my best to sound confident. The look on Calvin’s face and the way the ghoul’s body moved, proved that I wasn’t at all convincing.

“Yes, tell him everything is fine.” My fated foe demanded. “Tell him, just as you told your wife. Take comfort in knowing that you won’t be alone for long. It’ll be a happy little family reunion.”

At that moment his hand covered Calvin’s throat and his other hand clasped over the child’s mouth. Maybe Calvin is braver than I. Maybe his fight-or-flight response was still unburdened by jaded adulthood. Whatever the case may be Calvin was the one to act. He bit down on his kidnapper’s hand.Calvin was then shoved towards me. I grabbed hold of him in a fearful embrace. I quickly spun my body to block whatever came next. I felt the blow hit the side of my head and knock me to the ground.

“I’m not leaving him alone.” I spun back and punched him with a left hook. “One day I may die and leave him without parents. But that day is not today. Not here, not now and certainly not because of you.”

“Alas, the quick way!” He shouted as he drew his gun. A gunshot sounded but it was not his. The bullet ripped through the assailant’s shoulder.

“Calvin, run!” I yelled and he listened. The specter dropped to the ground and rolled back to his feet. I felt his hands grab me by the shoulders. I saw Eli coming in through the fog with a medical mask over his mouth. The next second, Eli shot at our foe again but the bullet missed. I was carried into the air and onto a tree.

“This is the end.” The ghoul declared. He dropped me off the heavy oak branch. I caught his ankle with my left hand. He kicked my wrist. I kept a tight grip. I could feel the unnatural ridges above his feet.

“Macdonald, drop!” Eli said. I compiled in an instant, despite my fears. I was caught just as another bullet rang through the air. The tree-bound leer shrieked in pain as he jumped to another tree.

I braced myself to hit the ground but was instead caught. Simmons had caught me. Jasper had brought the cavalry. The leaper jumped tree to tree as they all gave chase.

“We’ll take it from here Macdonald.” Simmons said in a chipper voice. The young officer gave chase to the creature of a man. The hounds were let loose. The arms of the law were extending across the forest, ever so eager to clutch this culprit.

Strange as the case may be, Jack’s doppelganger may be among the most ambitious criminals I’ve ever dealt with. Even so, he wasn’t exactly what I’d call bright. Take away the strangeness of this case and the methods in which it was orchestrated, and it wouldn’t have taken my precinct more than a night to end. Or, at least the parts involving this tree-leering ghoul would have been solved easily.

Sadly, I was not involved in the case any more. I breached the edge of the fog. I comforted my son as he processed what had happened. Eli was fast at work though. Maybe it was his familiarity with the woods or perhaps this seemingly supernatural creature bei9ng hurt by, and scared of, guns had persuaded my friend that this was indeed the work of man. Maybe he was just as eager as I was to end this.

“If it is indeed a machine creating this chemical, it would need to be close.” Eli said. “This is pretty close to where I found you when I came into town. To disperse this much fog, the machine would need to be sizable, too large to carry around.”

“That would explain why he needed to utilize the trees.” I figured.

“He would need to keep it safe in a secure location.” Eli continued.

“The old shack here in the woods?” I guessed.

“Precisely my thoughts.” Eli said as he looked at me. “Stay here.” He looked back towards the fog. “I’m going in.”

“You can’t go it alone.” I argued.

“Well you’re sure as hell not fit to do anything.” Eli said. “I’ll be back.”

As I said, I couldn’t bring myself to either chase. I waited there with my son. Miranda eventually came and talked with us. Reporters tried to talk to us but I remained silent. I wasn’t ready to speak on what had been happening. I wouldn’t be ready until the criminals were caught.

I did hear after the fact that it was a particularly thrilling chase. Simmons and the other officers managed to track my ghoulish foe all the way to the graveyard. It was at that point when a flying bullet hit his leg. The alleged demon was done for. He had no means in which to run.

On Eli’s end he did find the machine. He found it right where he thought it would be. There was no one with it. Whoever had been operating it likely bailed when the bullets started flying. Jasper and Eli returned to the shack when the smoke cleared to gather evidence.

The ghoul was taken into custody. We would keep him for forty-eight hours. For forty-five of those hours I was commanded by my superiors to stay at home and recover with my son. At the end of that span of time, I would return to my work. I would question the culprit and find answers. I did find answers, but I also found more questions.