The Possession of Anna Drake

The Cabin in the Woods

We pulled onto a private road that led to a two-story cabin in the woods. I didn’t recognize it because it didn’t belong to anyone in our Coven. Just because you live in Evergreen Falls does not mean you are instantly accepted into its custom. Sam’s aunt could live there and still be part of the North Woods chapter. If she wanted to switch covens, she would have had to make a formal request with my mother, the council would perform an interview, and they would vote on acceptance.

Sam was the first out of the car, fumbling with his keys to open the front door. Jordan carried me from the car to the cabin and sat me on the red velvet couch. The place may have looked rustic outside, but it was a palace inside. Sam locked the door and began to tear off his bloody clothes, tossing them into the fireplace. Jordan lit the hearth, and I stared at the flames as they danced around.

“Is she going to be OK?” Sam asked Jordan as he threw on clean clothes.

“I don’t know, you mentioned the Shadow Man, and she lost her shit.” Jordan touched my face, and I looked at him, still unable to speak. “Do me a favor. Grab her a change of clothes. She will want to be comfortable when she gets her senses back.”

Sam left the room, and Jordan sat down next to me. He began to loosen my hair and brushed it out with his fingers.

“It’s going to be OK,” he said as I looked at him.

I wanted to believe him, but we had left her. We had driven away without looking for her.

Sam returned with some folded clothes and laid them down next to me. I glanced at them and nodded. He had managed to clean his face, but the dark bruising around his eyes told me he had been attacked.

“Who hit you?” I stammered, finally finding my voice through the shock.

“Anna,” he replied. “In her defense, she never really laid a finger on me.”

“She did it with her mind,” I muttered and closed my eyes.

Sam nodded. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I witnessed it several times when we were kids.

“How about you change? We will rest here for the night. We will go back out there when the sun comes up and look for her. You know it was too dark to find her. If she was taken, we need to know by what or who. The darkness was not on our side, and the weather was not on yours. We did what we had to; you know this, right?” Jordan grabbed my face lightly in his hands and ran his thumbs along my cheekbones. The touch was caring, but it wasn’t what I needed to calm down.

“OK,” I answered with no inflection. There was no way I could sleep knowing Anna was out in the darkness, cold and scared, trapped with someone she didn’t know.

“I will make us all some tea.” Sam took off to the kitchen while I searched for the bathroom in the hallway.

I unzipped the dress, stepped out of it, threw on the flannel pajama bottoms and white t-shirt Sam had given me, and looked into the mirror. The clothing was a little big, but not enough so that it was hanging from my body. I folded the dress and exited the bathroom.

Jordan and Sam were sitting in the living room with cups of hot tea in front of them. There was a third on the coffee table waiting for me to drink. I hoped Sam had enchanted the tea so we could all sleep. We needed to be rested if we were looking for Anna the following day.

“Custom states we are to inform the High Priest or Priestess should a member of their coven become endangered,” Sam explained to Jordan as I took a seat and picked up the mug.

“I have heard the stories about the High Priestess of Evergreen Falls; I doubt she will be thrilled to learn one of her coven members disappeared tonight. Let alone try to explain to her about the club. Do you want to put the noose around our necks?” Jordan mentioned before looking at me.

“We aren’t coven members yet.” I choked.

“There you go, we are not entitled to tell her anything,” Jordan seemed pleased with my response. I had half expected him to explode.

“Liz, Anna told me who your mother is,” Sam explained. “If you don’t want to tell her in fear of whatever punishment, we need to think about that. Anna is in real danger, and we will need all the help we can get.”

“My mom was never a fan of Anna’s. Hell, she isn’t much of a fan of mine, either. She would wash it off as a game if you told her what happened tonight. If it was one of the families higher on the hierarchy, she might be willing to help. I say we look for her in the morning. Then we speak with Anna’s dad if we do not find her. He may be at the bottom of the pecking order, but he’s quite inclined with his skill.”

“You girls must have done something horrible if your mother turned her back on you,” Jordan half laughed.

He didn’t realize just how bad things had been before her release from house arrest. My mother blamed me for Nidia’s death, whether intentional or not. I doubted she would bat an eye if it had been me who disappeared that night.

“Anna and I have our fair share of skeletons,” I replied without giving too much information.

I was sure Jordan and Sam knew the story about the death of Nidia Thompson. It was in the national papers, and a case study was broadcast on networks worldwide. If they didn’t know, they lived in the dark ages. I wasn’t ready to share this. I didn’t want Jordan to view me differently than he already did. He knew I was sheltered and lacked social skills. He didn’t know that it was only Anna and me for eight years. He didn’t know that she was all I had. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her.

“Then it’s settled. We rest tonight, and first thing in the morning, we head out, and you can walk us through what happened tonight.” Jordan downed the rest of his tea and looked at Sam.

“Liz, you can take my aunt's room for the night. Jordan and I will sleep out here,” Sam offered.

Part of me wanted to stay with them. I didn’t want to wake up to find them missing. At the same time, it would be impolite to turn down Sam’s offer.

***

The following day started with a haze. At first, I had no idea where I was until the events from the night before flooded back to me. Anna was missing, and Sam had a story to tell. I left the bedroom and walked down the hallway toward the living room, half expecting to find both men gone. Instead, I found both of them looking at a map of the area from the night before.

“Have either of you slept?” I asked with a yawn.

“Not exactly. You are not going to believe Sam’s story. It’s so wild, like something out of a horror novel.” Jordan looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes. He had wiped off the black eyeliner, and for a second, I was mesmerized by the blueness of his iris.

“I have a feeling I’m going to be open to all recollections of what happened to Anna,” I replied with a little more attitude than I had anticipated.

“Coffee is in the kitchen,” Sam mentioned without looking at me. My bright morning personality was enough to point me toward the one thing that might put me in a decent enough mood to hear the tale.

The kitchen of Sam’s aunt’s house was laid out similar to mine, which I found a little odd. Still, graciously I poured myself a cup of the hot elixir and padded back into the living room. I took a sip, and my eyes rolled up into my head. The warmth made me want to crawl under the covers and pretend nothing had happened the night before.

“You are going to want to have a seat for this,” Jordan instructed.

I did as told and folded myself onto an overstuffed chair.

“You may begin,” I half-teased as I took another sip from the cup.

“Alright, so I was telling Jordan, Anna, and I went back into the club to give you guys some time to get to know each other. We had every intention of heading to the café twenty minutes after we entered. We were dancing and having a little fun when Anna walked off. So, I followed her. She finds a door in the back of the club that leads down several flights of stairs. Next thing I know, we are in the basement, and Anna is talking to the darkness like she knows it. I’m thinking; this chick is crazy when I start to see movement.” Sam looked at Jordan with a fearful expression. What could have happened in a dark basement at a club?

“And?” I pressed. I didn’t need him to stop at the pivotal point of his story. I needed to know who Anna was talking to.

“And nothing. It never came out of the shadows. So, Anna gets anxious and curses at whatever she’s talking to. Then suddenly, she screams and runs up the stairs.”

“Then what?” I leaned forward. This didn’t sound like Anna. She would not turn away from anything in the shadows. Hell, Anna lived in the damn shadows.

“I don’t know; it felt eerie, like I wasn’t alone. The room got freezing, and I swear I could hear someone crying beyond the shaded area Anna had just been talking to. It was just odd. Anyway, I tear up the stairs behind her, and she’s already out the front door yanking her keys from her pocket. She paid no mind that I got in the car with her, expecting to head toward the café. There was something about her I couldn’t quite place. I can feel when spirits are nearby, and my senses tingle like a hundred were in the car, but none were talking, which was strange.” He took a deep breath and looked at me with these wide saucer-sized eyes.

“That doesn’t sound like Anna. Her gift is telekinesis, not clairvoyant. Spirits don’t flock to Anna; I think she would scare the crap out of any spirit who tried to communicate with her.” I pointed out. “None of this is making any sense.”

“You’re telling me!” Sam screeched. “Anyway, she pulls out of the parking lot and heads opposite the café. I start to freak out and try to text Jordan, and my damned phone won’t turn on. I charged it before I left the house today, and it was fully charged when we were inside. However, the moment I get in the car with her, all the power is suddenly drained. So, I thought I would use hers. The same thing drained died the moment I typed one word.”

“What would do something like that?” I asked. I had heard the stories of demons with the power to control things. Still, I had always chalked it up to silly urban legends, yet again, meant to make us more aware of our surroundings.

“Something bad, Liz, something awful.” Sam shook his head. “So, Anna starts talking, and it sounds like her, but the movements of her body seem robotic. She started to tell me about you. Young Lizeth Morgan, daughter of the Evergreen Falls High Priestess. I’m starting to think something was going on with you, then she turns and gives me this disjointed smile, and I know it wasn’t her. Whatever was in her was sharing the things in her head.”

“Jesus,” I mutter. No wonder it didn’t sound like Anna. It wasn’t her, but why would a demon want to possess my friend? That part didn’t make sense at all. Anna wasn’t weak.

“So, we drove a bit further. By this point, I was latching my mouth shut and trying not to seem even the slightest bit interested in who the hell was inside her body. The car smokes when we make it to the wooded area near the clearing. Anna doesn’t freak out; she pulls over and gets out. Doesn’t lift the hood, doesn’t tell me anything, gets out of the car, and starts to walk off into the clearing.” Sam scratched his head and let out a huff of a laugh. “I stupidly followed.”

“Tell her what happened in the clearing,” Jordan urges, and Sam growls at him.

“Alright. So, we are standing in the clearing. Anna is looking off to the east, and I’m trying to figure out what she’s looking at. Then she turns on me. Whatever was inside of her did not want me there. She picked me up and threw me about twenty feet away before barreling toward me. I lost consciousness momentarily, so I have no idea what she did. However, she still stood there when I woke up with this menacing grin. Then, out of nowhere, these two shadowy arms grabbed her around the waist, and she was gone. I heard her screaming. Like it was her, not the thing inside her, it all went silent as if the whole event had never happened. I chose not to move. I’m unsure how long I sat in the clearing before you two arrived. How did you find me, anyway?” Sam looked at Jordan. I guess they had not discussed the incredible tracking skills of his friend.

“Scrying,” I answered for Jordan.

He looked at me with a grateful smile, and I rubbed my face.

“You’re telling me my friend was possessed and then was taken by what you called the Shadow Man?” I raised my eyebrows. He was right; I wasn’t going to believe everything. However, I knew in my bones Sam was telling the truth.

“I’m telling you, your friend isn’t right. She’s in those woods somewhere, either as herself or something else. I have no idea.” Sam bit his bottom lip and groaned.

“What do you think?” I asked Jordan. I wanted to know if he believed the craziness Sam was speaking.

“You have far more protection here in Evergreen Falls. When you hit North Wood, we don’t exactly have the same charms you do.” Jordan was dancing around something; I could sense it.

“Please don’t tell me it’s because of my mother,” I groaned.

“Our High Priest is skilled, but he’s nowhere near the power your mother exudes. Not to mention, our numbers are quite a bit smaller than yours. We don’t have as much overall power.” Jordan spoke slowly. He was trying to hide something.

“Why would a demon want your friend?” Sam spurted out. “What sin did the two of you commit to make it so easy?”

I choked on a lump. Now it was my turn to skate around the truth. I didn’t want to tell them. I didn’t want them to look at me any differently. If they had known what had happened when Anna and I were ten, they would never help me find my friend.

Sam saw the horror on my face, and a slight smile cracked the corners of his mouth. I hoped he wasn’t pulling his gift on me and speaking to whatever spirits were nearby to discover my biggest regret.

“No way,” Sam squeaked as he leaned back on the couch with a chuckle.

“What?” Jordan asked as I blushed a crimson red.

“Liz, does the name Nidia Thompson ring a bell?” Sam asked as he stared me dead in the eye.

My heart began to pound, and then my breath caught in my throat. Finally, the room started to spin.

“Isn’t that the girl who died here like eight years ago?” Jordan asked. I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to look at his face. My secret was exposed.

“Liz here sent an electric bolt through the girl’s heart.” Sam stopped grinning and furrowed his eyebrows. “It wasn’t malicious.”

“You seem shocked.” I sighed once I could finally breathe again. “Yes, I am the one who killed Nidia Thompson. I admit it.”

“No, you aren’t,” Sam corrected me. “That snap you heard was not the dog. Anna sealed Nidia’s fate.

“What are you saying? Anna killed Nidia.” I laughed nervously.

“That is exactly what I’m telling you. No wonder she was so easy to possess.” Sam growled.

“What do you mean?” I pressed my hands tightly together, confused by the confession unfolding before me.

“Her sin is murder; yours is guilt. You need to research the Shadow Man,” Sam instructed.

“How do you know all of this?” I asked, slowly looking over my shoulder.

“Nidia is always with you, believe it or not. She knows you would never intentionally hurt her, but Anna, there was something there she won’t talk about.” Sam looked off into the distance as if Nidia was somewhere in his line of sight.

I shivered. “This is creeping me out.”

“You get used to it after a while,” Jordan mentioned in monotone. He was studying my face, which made me uncomfortable. I had enjoyed my time with him; the last thing I wanted was to ruin the one decent man who had walked into my life.