51: The Series

51: The Beginning Chapter 14 Part 1

Lindsay had gotten to the office early and begun to review the reports Cat had left on her desk for review. Most of the reports were regular calls, but at least one per shift was odd. In the days she had been out of the office, there were three calls about ghosts or poltergeist activity, four unknown animal sightings, and four about strange lights. There had also been a call about an alien spacecraft complete with a crop circle, and as if that was not enough, a claim of a chupacabra eating someone’s chickens. Lindsay did not know how to react to that many bizarre calls. She had to commend all the deputies who responded. They had done everything exactly the way they should have.

She had just finished the last report when Max knocked on her open door. He usually looked perfect. His uniform was always immaculate. Max always shaved daily and never had a hair out of place. Now, as he stood in the door, he did not like the Max she had known for years. His uniform looked like he had slept in it. It was apparent he had not shaved for at least a day, and his hair was a mess. He looked like he had not slept for a while and was awake only because of the night-shift coffee he made.

“Max, are you OK?” Lindsay asked. “Come in and sit down.”

“I don’t know anymore. Did Little Bob show you what I saw? That, whatever it was, that flew over my car. What was that thing?” Max said quickly.

“Max, I want you to look at me. We have known each other for a long time. I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me if this is all a big joke. If it is, I will admit this was a good one, but it needs to end,” She told him.

“Lindsay, I swear this is not a joke. I do not know what that thing was, but it scared the crap out of me, and I never want to see it again,” Max said with fear in his voice.

“I want you to mark exactly where you saw it on a map. I believe you did see something. I don’t want you going on any calls about any flying humanoid-like creatures, monkeys, or otherwise. Do you want to take a day or two off?” Lindsay asked him.

“No, I’m good. I just could not get my brain to shut down yesterday after I saw that thing, so I didn’t get any sleep before coming in for my shift. I’ll be fine. I have had so much of my night shift coffee that I may not sleep in the next month and a half. I’ll mark where I saw that thing on a map and bring it to you. If we keep getting these calls and seeing these things, you may want to map all of them to see if there is some weird pattern,” he said as he stood.

“That thought had crossed my mind,” Lindsay told him and smiled.

“Oh, and Lindsay, it is good to have you back in the office. I’m glad you were hit by bits of the tree and not the rock. That would have been bad,” Max said with a smile before leaving Lindsay’s office.

Lindsay leaned back in her chair after Max left her office. She had been sure that Max had made the video as a joke, but after talking to him, she was now confident that it was real. What was it? Could it have been some trick of the light or a reflection that made it look like a flying monkey? There had to be a rational answer because a flying monkey was not. Lindsay wondered if she should let Wren know what she had discovered.

Max walked back into her office, carrying the map he had just marked. “I think this is the spot, but I could be off a little. After I saw that thing, I was a little unnerved by it,” he said.

“Thanks, Max. If you are within a couple of miles of the spot, I can use the landmarks in the video and find it. This is all I needed, so if you want to head home and get some sleep, you are welcome to go. You can make it home safely, right?” Lindsay asked him.

“Oh, yeah. I’m good to get home, but thanks for asking,” Max said.

“You’re welcome. Now go home,” Lindsay told him, smiling.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, laughing.

Max turned and once again left Lindsay’s office. Lindsay watched as this time, instead of going toward his desk, he walked toward Cat at the dispatch desk. Cat walked over to where Max was, and she leaned toward him. They spoke very close and quietly for a moment, then smiled at each other before he walked out of the building. She thought about what the interaction between Cat and Max could mean and quickly came to one conclusion. As long as it did not interfere with work, she did not need or want to know too much about it.

She looked down at the map Max had given her. The area he had marked was near the national forest but in a different area from where Lindsay, Wren, and Nim had had their encounter. She unfolded the map and began to look at it. Lindsay put a small X on the river where the kids had reported the “sea monster” that had injured Amber. She marked Rita Johnson’s house on the map and where they had rescued Nim. She picked up the files on her desk and quickly went through the ones involving strange calls. There did not seem to be any pattern to any of it.

“Sheriff,” Cat said.

Lindsay jumped. She had been so focused on the map that she had not even noticed Cat walking into her office.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Cat said.

“No, that’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” Lindsay said. “What’s up?”

“I just got another weird call. I thought you would want to know before I send Little Bob out. There is a woman who is saying things are flying around her house. She specifically said that things have flown off her shelf and hit the wall on the other side of the room,” Cat told her.

“You know what, let me have it. I don’t have anything scheduled for today. Let me do one thing here first. Will you ask Little Bob to join me out front? This will be a good call for him, too,” Lindsay told her.

Lindsay picked up her cell phone. She had decided she needed to let Wren know that Max had not made the video. Her message was short and to the point:

“Max didn’t make it. It was real. Going on a call. Talk later.”

Lindsay stuck her phone in her pocket and picked up the address and contact information for the call. She walked out of the building where Little Bob was waiting for her.

“What is this call we are going on? Cat didn’t tell me much about it except the address and phone number,” Little Bob said.

“Well, Bob, that is probably because there isn’t much to tell you right now. It could be a poltergeist, gremlins, or an angry neighbor with telekinetic abilities. No matter what it is, I have noticed that you always seem to be busy doing other things during these calls, so this time, you get to come with me to check it out,” Lindsay told him with a big smile. “Let’s go; it’s only a few minutes away.”

They got into their patrol cars and began to drive to the address they were given. Even though it was only a few minutes out of town, it was in a very isolated area. It was the only home in a half-mile radius. It was a simple farmhouse that sat off the gravel road. When they turned down the driveway and approached the house, they could see a woman standing on the porch, and they could see her visibly flinch as they drew closer.

Lindsay pulled in front of the house and got out of her car. Before she had even taken a step toward the house, she heard a loud thump come from inside.

“Ms. Martin, is someone in your house?” Lindsay asked, approaching with caution.

“No, ma’am. That is why I called you. I didn’t know what else to do. Everything was like every other day, and then I saw a book fly off the shelf and hit the wall in the other room. I thought I must have been seeing things at first. Then it happened again and again, and each time came quicker than the last. Now listen to that. It sounds like my home is flying apart,” Ms. Martin said, wringing her hands.

“Don’t worry, ma’am; we will do everything we can. I’m Sheriff Gold, and this is Deputy Smith. Go ahead and have a seat out here, and we will go in and look around,” Lindsay told her.

Lindsay and Little Bob walked to the front door and opened it. Just as they did, a book flew across the room right in front of their faces. They looked at each other but said nothing. Lindsay stepped into the house, and the table directly in front of her was not only a beautiful antique, but it was also floating off the floor about six inches. Just then, a book flew toward them and hit near the door.

“Um, Lindsay, that is not supposed to happen,” Little Bob said, pointing toward the still floating table.

“No, it is not, Bob. Let’s go see what else is going on in here,” she said as she walked by the table.

As they walked through the house, they found that things were floating and being thrown about in every room. This was not like anything Lindsay or Little Bob had ever seen before. Lindsay was trying to figure out something they could do to help Ms. Martin. They were not prepared for anything like this. Exorcism supplies were not exactly standard issue, but now she thought that maybe they should be.

Little Bob was looking at a picture on the wall when Lindsay walked into the sitting room. As soon as she reached the center of the room, everything that had been thrown earlier was thrown at her. When she saw what was happening, she reacted without thinking.

“Stop!” she yelled at the top of her lungs as she threw her arm up and prepared to block what was coming at her.

As soon as the word left her lips, it did just that. It stopped. Everything stopped in midair. Everything was floating in front of her. She straightened up and put her arm down. She did not even want to breathe for fear that everything would come at her again. Then she thought if it followed her command, maybe it would again.

“Put all of this back where it came from. I do not know what you are or care what you are. This ends now!” Lindsay yelled at whatever it was doing this.

Lindsay meant it when she said she did not know or care what this was, and she did want it to stop. She watched carefully, hoping that she had not made this thing mad. As Lindsay watched, she saw that things began moving away from her slowly, and hopefully, they were returning to where they belonged. She could see the table that had been levitating when they walked in. It slowly and carefully sat back down on the floor with no sound. As she watched things moving back to where they seemed to have been, she took note that there was no sound. Not a sound at all. The process of everything being put back in place took a couple of minutes, and it was the most bizarre thing Lindsay had ever experienced.

“Lindsay, what just happened?” Little Bob asked from the doorway he had been standing in.

“I have no idea, but whatever it was, it understood what I said,” she said.

“I noticed that. When can we leave?” Little Bob asked.

“I think now is a good time,” Lindsay answered.

They walked out to the porch, where Ms. Martin was standing. They looked at her and then looked at each other.

“Did you see what was happening?” asked Ms. Martin.

Lindsay answered, “Yes, ma’am, we saw everything. I don’t know what made that happen. Has anything like this ever happened to you before?”

“No. Never. I grew up with stories that my older family members would tell me about things like this, but I never really believed them until now,” Ms. Martin said.

“OK. Well, I think everything is back where it belongs. I can tell you that whatever did this did seem to listen to me when I yelled at it. If this does ever happen again, try yelling at it to stop and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, you are always welcome to call me, and I will come out and do what I can to help you. Here is my card, and my cell phone number is on it in case you want to call me directly,” Lindsay told her.

Bob spoke with Ms. Martin to get the rest of the information they needed for a standard incident report just to have it on file.

Lindsay had walked to her car and was looking at the area and listening while she waited for Bob. Even outside, there was no sound, not a bug, not a bird. Nothing. While walking to her car, she could tell the sound of her boots on the gravel driveway did not sound like the steps should have. It seemed muffled and distant. She watched Little Bob walk off the porch and over to where she was standing. His footsteps had the same muffled, distant sound as hers.

“I think we need to go back to the office,” Lindsay told him.

“I don’t care where we go as long as it is far away from here,” Little Bob said as he started to walk to his car.

As Lindsay drove back to the department, she felt a nagging headache start to form at the base of her skull. She looked at her watch and realized it was wrong. Not only was the time off by hours, but the date was also incorrect. She wondered if Little Bob’s watch was doing the same thing. She reached into her pocket, pulled out her cell phone, and saw it was off. She dropped the phone in the cupholder and would check it when she was back at the department. Getting to the office took priority over her cell phone malfunctioning.