CHAPTER 10

It was December the 23rd when the three men arrived at the cabin in the middle of Sonora desert. Christmas was only two days away but nothing reminded them the holidays and the Christmas spirit. Contrary to where they had come from, from the snow and the cold, in the desert it was quite hot during the day and cold at night,. Still, it was a dry land. Nothing grew on those parts but cactus. Rocks decorated the scenery with lizards and scorpions as the only living creatures seen.

The cabin was an old and lonely place. Dave couldn't figure out why mark had built a house in here, in the middle of nowhere… literally.

Mark was in the far corner of the main room, lighting candles all around. His face looked tired but it wasn't from the long drive. It seemed that this place was somehow dear to him and it cost him emotionally to be there. But Dave didn't want to push him with questions that probably hurt too much. He knew that the answers would soon come.

Maybe sooner than he would like to.

Mark spread the candles around the room illuminating it sufficiently. He motioned for Batista to bring on Jeff and sit him in a chair beside a wooden old table. The table was awkwardly made, a little twisted legs and rough in the edges. But it looked too used. Groves marred the surface and small bits were missing. The coating was long gone and a lonely round big candle stood in the middle among old wax leftovers.

All the windows remained closed and boarded up. Mark brought their stuff inside and closed the door, locking it tightly from the inside.

"What does it look like, this house?" Jeff asked Dave hearing him sitting next in another chair, who squeaked under his weight.

"It is old… wooden. All the windows closed and boarded up. It is simple. We are sitting in the middle of the main room. It has one table and four chairs. In the back left corner there are a bunch of books piled on top of the other, and a small red ball. The kitchen is by the entrance, to the left. There are also two doors on the right wall. In guessing it's the bathroom and the bedroom… that's it"

Jeff remained silent.

"Where is Mark? I can't hear him"

"He has gone in the bedroom"

More silence.

"Dave… can you bring me the ball please?"

"The old ball? Why?"

"I don't know… I need to feel it in my hands"

Dave was a little surprised by the request. He was reluctant to bring it. It looked like a ball a small child would use to play. And as far as he knew Mark didn't have any children. Still it was weird. Maybe it belonged to the past. A secret past that they weren't meant to know. But Jeff seemed to know what he was doing.

On the other hand, Jeff the moment he stepped inside the room, a strangle feeling overtook him. Suddenly he felt hot, sweat rolling from his temple. Soon a headache began to form at the back if his head and started to spread. He couldn't hear Mark anymore and what was worse…

He couldn't feel Dave. From the moment they had taken him from the hospital, Jeff could always feel somehow what Dave was feeling. From the moment they had kissed for the first time in the snow, it was like a small silver thread was formed that connected them. Sometimes the vibrations of the thread was very strong and powerful and other times it was faint… but it was always there, and it was the only thing that kept Jeff from feeling scared and lonely in his darkness.

But as soon as they had stepped inside, this thread was severed and for a few seconds Jeff thought he was deaf. He didn't know if Dave had noticed his grip that had become stronger on the larger man. He wanted the contact because he was more afraid now that the connection was lost.

He was sitting in that chair when suddenly he heard whispers coming from deeper in the house. He wanted to scream when he realized what it was he heard whispering to him.

When Dave had described him the room and the ball, Jeff knew that he had to have it, he had to touch it. It was important somehow to hold it.

Dave brought him the ball and before giving it to Hardy, Mark came out of the room.

"What are you doing with that? It doesn't belong to you. Put it back where you took it from… NOW!" He yelled and stepped dangerously closer.

Dave speechless was about to do so when Jeff stopped him

"Please Mark… I asked him to get it for me… because…"

"Because what?" he asked angrily. Jeff face became terrified and with blind eyes he looked near the place where Mark's voice was coming from.

"Because I can hear him… I can hear his voice… his screams"

Mark's eyes softened and tears formed desperately wanting to be released.

"How…?" he whispered and took a step back holding the small ball.

"Jeff… who did you hear?" Dave asked sitting down in front of him, taking his hands in his own.

Jeff lowered his face.

"I can hear his son… I can hear him yelling, screaming, drowning in blood. I can hear him dying" he said finally letting blood tears roll. "Mark I am so sorry…" he looked up once more and begged. "I never meant to cause you pain… I… I just wanted to hold the ball… maybe then the voices would stop."

"Can you still hear them… the voices" Dave asked.

Jeff nodded.

"Yes…" he mumbled.

Mark had back-stepped all the way to the wall holding the red ball in his huge palms. His face was a mask of terror and sadness.

"How can it be that you know about my son?"

"I don't know… from the moment I entered the house, I can't feel you Dave… I could feel you always from the moment we kissed… at all times, I could sense you inside my heart and my head… but now nothing… it feels like I am truly lost in the darkness with no one to guide me. My head feels like it's about to split in half and I can't think of anything else but those screams… how much I want to make them go away."

Mark stepped close and took one look at the red ball in his hands. He reluctantly placed it in Jeff's hands. He walked to the other side of the table and sat down heavily in a used chair.

None spoke. Jeff and Dave knew that an explanation would soon come. Mark didn't have to explain anything but it felt like he could use some confession. The time had come after all those years to let someone know…

Let someone in.

Jeff held the ball tightly in his hands, a look of serenity spreading across his face. The headache remained… but the voices had quieted.

"It feels like a lifetime ago…" Mark started, his elbows resting on his knees and his eyes fixed on the floor. "Must be a lifetime ago…" He seemed to mumble the first words, not really making any sense. Both the other two men waited patiently, holding hands tightly.

"I met her near Phoenix one morning. She was walking down a street… she wasn't anything special… no one seemed to look at her… no one was seeing her… but to me… she was.. she still is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The moment I saw her, my breath was caught and my heart raced. I felt like I had a fever. One glance at her and I couldn't move. So I stood there on the street looking at her as she passed me by still as a statue. She had captured me with one look.

And she saw me. She stopped walking and stood in front of me silent, eyes wide open, clear and honest… and she smiled at me. Like she could see in my heart, in my soul what I was… like I was standing naked in front of her… and she didn't judge me… she just smiled and took my hand in hers…"

A pause. Deep breath.

"We got married not long after that and got a home in the city. She said she always liked the desert and the calmness of it. We bought this cabin so we could come here as often as we could… I hadn't told her anything about my training, my education or my 'gifts'… I wanted to protect her from the evil in the world… and she never asked any questions. She knew what I did, what made me travel for days on end wasn't just wrestling… she could feel it was something more. But she never asked… and I loved her more for it.

Soon after… my son was born… and I was the happiest man on earth. I was determined to leave all the evil and the demons, the ghosts and hell behind me… I was ready to be just a wrestler and take care of my family."

Another pause. The air in the cabin felt stale to Jeff suddenly. His headache grew.

"But they wouldn't leave me alone… the worse thing about my work is that when you look into the eyes of evil, it looks back… it sees you and it never forgets. It never lets you go. Never. One day, while I was traveling with the WWE, she took my son and went to the cabin for the weekend.

I never saw her again… I searched for her everywhere. I came here hoping to find her."

Mark broke in tears burying his face in his palms.

"I don't know what happened or who did it… she was killed, murdered. Her blood was all over the walls, her body mutilated, cut into pieces… my son… my child… was killed… his head cut off and his body chewed by some monster…"

Jeff got up and fumbled his way around the table to Mark. He knelt down in front of him, touched his face and kissed the tears away. Mark's tears subsided. Jeff's touch was soothing.

"I spent a lot of time here, alone grieving… hating… crying… then I decided it was time to take revenge and find out who had done such a thing. So I started training again. Training my body and my soul. One night, while I was meditating… she came. At first it was like a dream. It felt like I had fallen asleep. She was nothing more than a passing blurry image, a feeling… but it was all it took. I held onto it, to that image… and I searched for her.

And I drifted beyond time and space… and every day seemed like an eternity. And I found her"

"What do you mean?" Dave asked calmly.

"Sometimes, when someone dies violently, the spirit cannot cross over. It lingers until the wrong is corrected…"

"She is a ghost?" Jeff asked.

"She is bound to this place"

"Did she tell you who did it?"

"No… for some reason she can't. I have asked her time and time again… but her anger for her death and our son's passing prevents her from telling me."

"Mark… why have we come here?" Dave asked reluctantly.

Mark took Jeff's hands and kissed them thankfully. He looked at the blind man and then at Batista like some big weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He needed to share his story with someone and now that he had done that, he felt so relieved.

"We have come here because it's the only place I can reach her… it's the only place I can to connect with her"

"Can she help us?" Jeff inquired.

"I think there some things she can tell us. I can ask her about Lucifer's angel. I think being a ghost allows her access to some places… she can hear things that spirits whisper in the darkness… I need to see her"

"Then you shall see her" the young Hardy said and handed Mark the ball back. "Thank you for trusting us Mark." The dead man took the ball in his hands and looked at it sadly.

"I just wish…" he started to say, but stopped. He didn't know what he could have done if he had been there for his family. He probably would have been killed. He didn't know then what he knew now. "I just I knew that she didn't suffer. That my boy, my son, didn't suffer."

Jeff smiled at him and came close to a hug. Mark hesitantly accepted the hug and let himself relax letting a deep breath out.

"Trust me when I say this… your son's death was quick. He didn't suffer" he whispered to his ear.

"How do you know?" Mark said, his voice breaking, clutching Jeff tighter.

"I can feel him in this room. He was afraid when they came, but his death was fast and painless"

Then the hug ended. Dave helped the blind man sit back down to his chair.

"If you feel the boy then do you know what killed them?" Dave questioned.

"No… I think what I feel is what Mark's son felt. He didn't know what it was that killed him, so I don't know… I can only sense him… and even that has started to fade"

Dave sat back down. All men needed to relax and rest.

"We can't lose time" Mark announced and got up. "It's December 23rd and soon it will be Christmas Eve. We have to hurry before Christmas"

"Why?" Batista asked tiredly.

"It is simple." He said and brought his bag from the bedroom. "December 21st is the day with the longest night and the shortest day. Normally, daytime should start becoming longer the next day, but for some reason, the longest nighttime lasts three days, and it is on December 25th that the day starts to become longer. In religion, that symbolizes the victory of good over evil. In reality, those three days are our only chance to defeat evil. In those days evil is stronger but less focused. It cannot center on a particular place or person. Our fight has to end before daybreak of December the 25th"

"What happens if it doesn't?" Dave asked.

"Then evil will be able to focus all its power on us."

"What do we do now? It's the 23rd and we have a few hours left of night."

Mark nodded in agreement.

"We have to hurry then."

"What are we going to do?"

The dead man took a deep breath and opened his bag.

"First I will contact my wife and I am going to need your help"

"Why?" again Dave enquired.

"Because I'm afraid I won't be able to find my way back to you alone" he looked at them meaningfully but unafraid. "Let's begin"

***

Dear little lad
Here's the story of my life
I lived on the moon
Grey flying snakes along
Mountains of destiny while
The three tailed moneys
Were drawing the stars
Light from the Sun and I
Hide myself on the dark side, alone
I've run so far
To find my way
Then I dream again.. alone

Dear little boy, listen
To voices of your soul
It showed you the way of
Silence and peace
Follow your thought and fly
Choosing all the things that you desire
Giant waves, fireflies..
Your dream will be your only shell
Your secrets, your hiding place, my son
Don't let them try
To crush your brain
Let you go far
..my son

(Kwoon- I Lived On The Moon)