CHAPTER THREE
"Book of the Dead"
Cheryl sat among the circle of friends, who were all joking and laughing about one thing or another. They'd all set aside the stuff from the cellar, the gun, the recorder, that scary dagger, and the thing that currently had Cheryl chewing her nails in fear… The book. She couldn't help but think that it was the exact same book from her drawing. She knew that was impossible, but somehow… She couldn't shake the feeling.
She hoped that the others would just ignore it, and it would sit in the corner for the rest of the time. She just didn't think messing around with some weird book in a foreign language was a good idea…
"Hey guys, look." Ash said, sliding the recorder to the middle of the group. "This is the recorder that was in the basement, wanna listen?" He asked.
The others all nodded in approval, even Cheryl, desperate for a distraction from thinking about the book. Ash snapped the play button on and the spools began to turn slowly, the recorder making a dull humming sound as it started to play.
"This is professor Raymond Knowby, Department of Ancient History, Log Entry number 2. I've made a significant find in the Castle of Candaar, after journeying there with my wife Henrietta, my daughter Annie and associate professor Ed Helmsly, it was in the rear chamber of the castle that I stumbled upon something remarkable… Necronomicon Ex Mortis, roughly translated: Book of the Dead." The voice over the recorder said.
Cheryl immediately regretted them finding the tape at all, something about all this stuff just made her want to run and hide, more than usual.
"The book is bound in human flesh, inked in human blood, and contains ancient burial rites and funerary incantations. The book also speaks of a spiritual presence, a thing of Evil, that roams the forests and dark bowers of man's domain. It tells that these spirits may lie dormant, but are never truly dead. It is through the recitation of the book's passages that this spirit is recalled to active life and given license to possess the living."
Cheryl had had enough, so she flipped the recorder off. "Hey, what gives? It was just getting good!" Scotty said. Shelly snuggled up closer to him, showing why Scott ACTUALLY wanted to play the creepy tape that scared the girls.
"I just don't wanna hear any more…" Cheryl said, turning away from him and Shelly.
"Ooooooooh" Scotty said, wiggling his fingers at her. "So spookyyyyy!"
"Shut up, Scotty." Cheryl said, irritated.
"Ah come on," Scott said, waving a dismissive hand at her and reaching for the tape recorder. "I just wanna hear the rest of it."
He pressed the play button again and the tape continued on. "Recorded here are the phonetic pronunciations of the passages:" Knowby's voice continued. "Candaar, Estrata, Demontos Candaar, Nosferatus Candaar." Cheryl's hair stood up on the back of her neck as the words were spoken, and although none of the others would have admitted it, so did their's. "Shut it off…" She murmured in a frightened tone.
...
Sudden energy flowed through the forest, nearby the cabin, red light flowed up from below the piles of leaves, and fog billowed from the opening crevice. The thing in the woods could not feel joy, but if it did… It would have felt it now. The words echoed through its consciousness, giving it new life with each passing moment of the incantation.
...
"Shut. it. off." Cheryl repeated, more agitated now, but the others were so enthralled by the bizarre recording that they ignored her.
"Samanrobara hishikento, Amantos Candaar." Knowby continued.
...
Outside, the thing in the woods surged, rushing towards the cabin now, its life force renewed and ready to do what it was created to do…
"Candaar…" Knowby's voice said, now echoing.
...
"Shut it off." Cheryl said, on the verge of panic.
"CANDAAR!" the professor repeated, almost as though the tape was mocking her now.
Finally, Cheryl couldn't stand it any longer, she stood up, covering her ears tightly to block out the horrible sounds coming from it. "SHUT IT OFF!" She screamed in terror. Suddenly behind her, the window shattered and something came flying into the room. She screamed in sheer terror and sprinted down the hallway to her room, slamming the door and locking it.
"Cheryl, wait! It was just-" Linda trailed off, looking at Ash and Scotty as went over to look at the tree branch that had just broken off and fallen into the window to the left of the fireplace where they'd been sitting. "I'd better go check on her."
Ash nodded to Linda, then turned to Scott. "What's the matter with you, you didn't have to play that. You knew it was upsetting her!"
"What'd I do? I just was having a little fun. I didn't see YOU turning it off." He retorted.
"You just don't know when you're taking something too far!" Ash said, lifting the tree branch and shoving it back outside.
"Ah whatever, she's just nuts." Scotty said, waving his hand dismissively.
Ash shook his head, sighing. This was definitely not the way he'd hoped his spring break would be going. Linda was preoccupied taking care of his overreacting sister, and his best friend was being a drunken fool. Scotty walked off to rejoin Shelly by the fireplace, and Ash looked down at the tape recorder. "Bound in human flesh" he repeated, wiping his hands absently on his pants at the thought that he'd touched the book. Outside, he heard the distant sounds of thunder.
...
After awhile, Scotty and Shelly headed into the bedroom, leaving Ash in the main room of the cabin by himself. As his hand touched his pocket, he felt the shape of the blue box still there. Just as he did, the door opened again and Linda came back into the main room. "Hey, Cheryl's fine now, I got her calmed down."
"That's good." Ash said, smiling at her. "Listen, you wanna stay up and listen to the storm a bit?"
"Sure." She said, smiling back at him lovingly. The two of them headed over to the couch and snuggled up with one-another. Ash took her by the hand and they sat there for a time, just listening to the thunder, which Ash couldn't tell if it was getting closer or just in the distance.
Either way, his efforts were focused elsewhere. He slowly and carefully pulled the blue box from his pocket and held it loosely in his hand, which rested on his thigh on the opposite side of Linda, but clearly visible. He then shut his eyes and pretended to sleep.
After a moment, Linda spotted the box and looked at him, making a knowing smile as she slowly reached for the box, watching his eyes. As her hand drew nearer, she looked down at it and Ash opened his eyes all the way. "Hey. Stealing from the blind, eh?"
She smiled. "What's that?"
"Here. See for yourself…" He said, grinning and passing it to her. She excitedly opened the box up, revealing a small, magnifying lens style round glass encased in a silver frame and on a silver chain.
She picked it up and looked at it. "Oh Ash. It's… Beautiful." She said, smiling. Ash of course had no idea that this was a horribly ugly and tacky piece of jewelry, it had looked like a great piece in the jewelry department at S-Mart.
"So what do you think, kiddo?" He asked, his arm around her shoulder.
Linda looked at him lovingly, even if he had terrible taste, he was still so sincere. "I love it, Ash."
"Well what do you say we have some Champaign, eh baby?" He asked, smirking and getting up to grab the bottle. "After all, I'm a man and you're a woman… At least last time I checked." He added with a chuckle. Linda giggled too and kissed him deeply.
...
Outside, the thing in the woods watched it all, and began its echoing cry for fresh souls. It drifted along the side of the cabin to the next window, which was the first bedroom, and inside was the other boy and his woman, undressing one-another for love making. The boy tugged at her shirt, removing it and his hands eagerly clasped over her bare breasts. She moaned at his touch, and the thing in the woods stirred… It had no sensations, and oftentimes enjoyed indulging them when it had the chance to take people. It watched intently as they fell onto the bed, and the female mounted her mate, the bed beneath them rocking with her movements. As the two feverishly attacked one-another, the thing in the woods decided it would do just that when the time came. It would get to these later though, as its senses had already locked onto the one it wanted first…
It drifted along again, coming to the rear room window of the house, and there inside, now wearing a nightgown, was the lonely one… It knew it needed her. It watched as she picked up her sketchbook and looked at the drawing it had compelled her to make.
"Join us…"
Her head looked up. The thing in the woods would have laughed if it could, it had gotten inside her mind, now it just needed to invade her body…