Chapter Warning for references to past disturbing violence.
Pandora's Scarf 2
2016
Landon's car was entirely alone on the dark road. He was driving thirty over the limit, but he had the high beams on in case of deer. With one hand on the wheel and the other on his phone, he opened an incoming text.
'Sry bout mom kicking u out so early.'
Landon glanced up and down from the road to his phone as he crafted a reply. 'Np. My mom sucks too.'
Before he could hit 'send', his phone began to ring in his hand, displaying an unknown number.
"Hello?"
"For God's sake, Landon, I knew you were ignoring my calls!"
Speak of the devil. "Mom..."
"Yes. I'm calling from the work phone because you weren't answering when I called from mine. I've been trying to reach you. Where are you?"
"I'm on my way back from Christian's house."
"Christian, as in the Christian who's on house arrest?"
"What do you want, Mom?"
"I want you to stop by your grandmother's house on your way home and spend a little time with her."
Landon groaned. "I can't. I'm super tired."
"You're super full of shit is what you are. It's six o'clock and I know you're going to come home and stay up all night. Go to your grandmother's and hang out with her. One hour."
"Why?!" Landon wailed. "Can't I just go over tomorrow?"
"No you can't, because tomorrow will become the next day and so on, and your poor ninety year old grandmother will never see you again. Go now or I'm turning off the wifi for the rest of the month."
"I'll just use your data."
"LANDON! Go to your grandmother's house!"
"FINE!"
Landon hung up and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. He slowed down, turning at the fork in the road. It just so happened that he wasn't more than a mile away from his grandmother's house at the edge of town. Soon he reached it, pulling up the long driveway. All the lights were on, and the car was parked in the driveway. When Landon got out of the car, the wind blew open his hoodie and he zipped it up. The trees rustled in the forest across the lawn, down behind the house. Landon shivered and went inside.
"Gram?" Landon called out in the foyeur. He could hear the sound of HGTV blaring, but no answer. Had she fallen asleep on the couch? He went to the living room to find a rerun of Property Brothers and no grandmother. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a soda, cracking it open and taking a sip. He looked around, checked the guest bathroom before heading upstairs.
"Gram, are you up here?"
He looked in the sewing room, and in her bedroom where the lights were on. But it was empty, as was her upstairs bathroom. Landon went into the bathroom, setting down his drink. She had an array of creams and perfumes on the counter, and a crystal bowl of decorative angel-shaped soaps that had never once been used. Well, all but one, which Landon had used by accident as a child. His grandmother still kept it sitting among the others, a little smoother around the edges.
Landon stared blankly at the mirror. His black hair was growing out, exposing mousy brown roots. At least the infection in his lip piercing had gone away. He touched it, and thought that maybe he should apply peroxide just in case. He opened the mirror cabinet to find no peroxide. Instead he found a mass of medications, men's shaving cream and a straight razor. Weird. Why did Gram have men's shaving products? Landon didn't want to know. His attention drifted to the medications. He looked through them until he found one he recognized. He took out two pills and set them on the counter, crushing them into powder under the crystal soap dish.
Setting aside the dish, he reached into his pocket for his wallet, swearing when he found it empty. No cash. Could he roll up a band-aid? No, that was stupid.
He headed downstairs and found his grandmother's purse where it always sat on the small table in the hall. And she did have money in her wallet, more than he'd expected. He took out a dollar to roll, and then two twenties because they were there.
A noise startled him into dropping the purse, and he stared at the basement door. It was ajar. Hadn't it been shut before? He suddenly imagined it, Gram having fallen down the basement stairs and breaking her hip, knocked unconscious at the bottom. And here he was taking her money.
"Shit," Landon whispered, swinging the basement door open. It was dark. He pulled the string and the light bulb illuminated the staircase. To his relief, there was no Gram lying at the bottom. "Gram? Are you down there?" It seemed absurd that she'd be down there in the dark, but who knew? Maybe she was going senile.
He went downstairs. The basement was very large and very packed. There were stacks of boxes and furniture stacked on top of more furniture. He pulled another string, illuminating the basement in pale light. Shadows danced as the lightbulb swung, and Landon steadied it.
He was fairly certain now that she wasn't in the basement. But he was curious. He'd never been down here before. He walked along a tight trail between boxes and a few old suitcases. He passed a faded dollhouse and a horse rocker. On the back wall was a mirror beside a set of mounted shelves, with boxes and empty jars. Landon narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of something strange between two boxes. It looked like a muslin doll, peeking out at him with a faceless head. Landon reached up and tried to tug it out, but with it came one of the boxes. He jumped back as it fell, the metal lid cracking at the hinges.
Forgetting about the doll, Landon picked up the metal box. The back hinges were badly rusted, and were half-broken from the fall. The front latch was shut with a padlock, which only made him more interested. He held up the box and dropped it on the floor, letting the hinges break completely. Out spilled papers. Newspapers, specifically. Landon was a little disappointed, and pushed them around with his shoe to see if there was anything else. There wasn't.
But before he turned, he noticed a peculiar headline on one of the newspapers. 'CHILD RESCUED BY VIGILANTE.' He bent down and picked it up. The light wasn't good in this corner of the room, but it was enough if he squinted. It read:
'1931: Newcomers would not know of the cheer that could once be found in the small community of Oldtown, Pennsylvania. The community has struggled over the last decade with the continued disappearances of girls under the age of five.
All of this has changed, as one of the missing girls was found alive this Tuesday, along with the deceased killer. Gas station attendant, John Beam, says he was alone in the station around 6PM when he heard a knock at the door. Seeing no one through the glass, he went outside to investigate. That was where he found five year old Maybelle Clearwater, sleeping in the bed of his truck.'
Landon froze. He reread the last sentence three times. Maybelle Clearwater. Maybelle Clearwater, his grandmother? Clearwater was her maiden name, as he remembered. He couldn't believe it. But it was right here. He continued reading.
'Clearwater was reported missing close to four weeks prior. Police and paramedics arrived on the scene, and found a piece of paper pinned to the back of Clearwater's nightgown. On the paper was a hand-drawn map, which police used to find a house of horrors.
Mark Hewitt, local mechanic, owned sixteen acres of land, primarily made up of woods. It was on his land, a mile past his house, that a second house was discovered by police, using the map found on Clearwater's clothes. Police found the house in shambles. In the basement they found the body of Susan Richards, a local girl reported missing five weeks prior. It was reported that she had been tied to a pipe along the wall, and had likely been alive only a day before. Police found a door beneath the carpet to a second level basement, where remains were found of the other twelve missing children from the last ten years. With them was the body of Mark Hewitt, who paramedics reported as having been alive no more than an hour or two prior to discovery. Cause of death is yet to be determined.
Maybelle Clearwater was taken to St. Mary's hospital, and has been reunited with her parents. She has been questioned, but is reluctant to give details. She did speak briefly about her rescuer, who she described as, 'a very tall man'. '
Landon heard something move behind him, like the heel of a shoe against the floor. He looked up, and in the mirror saw a faceless figure in a suit. He jumped out of his skin, dropping the newspaper as he whirled around. But there was no one behind him.
"Svender?" he heard his grandmother's voice call from the top of the stairs. "Svender, is that you down there?"
"Gram!" Landon screamed, making a beeline for the stairs. He accidentally knocked over a stack of boxes, but didn't look back. He bolted up the stairs, coming face to face with his grandmother. She looked at him with wide eyes, her hands gripping her walker.
"Oh, Landon, sweetie, I didn't know you were here. Are you alright?"
Landon laughed, his voice shaky. He closed the basement door and pressed his back against it.
Maybelle Clearwater Jones stood no more than five feet tall, hunched over like a candycane. She wore huge glasses and kept her hair as closely as she could to Betty White's.
"Sweetie, what were you doing in the basement?"
"I… I was looking for you. Gram, who is Svender?"
She bliniked. "Who?"
"You were calling for somebody named Svender."
"I did? When?"
"Just now."
"Really?"
Landon sighed. "Nevermind, Gram. Where have you been?"
"I was out for a walk. I went to the woods."
"At night? In December?" Landon's brows drew together. That's when he noticed just how red her nose and cheeks were.
"I like to go to the woods," she said.
"Well can you let me take you next time?"
"Sure, sure," Maybelle said, waving him off. "Now, how about we have a nice cup of hot cocoa together?"
"Sure," Landon said, studying his grandmother's face. Maybelle did not look like someone who had spent a month tied up in a basement. She smiled at him curiously, and he spoke. "I'll get the water boiling."
Landon hurried past his grandmother, heading for the kitchen. The old woman stayed where she was, watching him go. Once alone, she quietly opened the basement door and peeked down the stairs. She whispered, "Goodnight!"
TBC
