The Curse of 1977 (Book 2)

Chapter 29

Seated next to Gloria, Jeremiah had no clue as to where they were headed, and truth be told, he really couldn't have cared less. Just feeling the warm breeze blast into his face from the open window was soothing enough for the man.

'Baracuda' from Heart was playing loud on the radio as Gloria kept a steady pace down the lonesome highway. Every now and then Jeremiah would glance over at her and wonder just what was on her mind. For the duration of their journey they spoke off and on about Isaac, her time at Ashlandview and the animal slayings in Cypress.

Jeremiah made sure to tread lightly when it came to their discussions. Just in the short time since he knew her face to face he automatically felt a connection to the woman, but she was still fragile. Within certain sentences he could hear Gloria's voice shake or hesitate. As a psychologist he knew when to go only so far, but as a human being, as Jeremiah Levin, he had his own breaking point.

Every so often, however, in the midst of their conversation Jeremiah would drift away. His eyes would find themselves sinking downwards towards Gloria's bare legs. Immediately his thoughts would race back to Julie who just so happened to have a doctor's appointment that particular morning. If it wasn't Julie or a pair of smooth legs then it was Isaac.

"Did they teach you that in your psychology class, too?" Gloria asked.

Instantly, Jeremiah shook himself back into the car and the conversation. "I'm sorry, what did you say again?"

Giggling, Gloria replied, "I said, did they teach you about modern childcare in your psychology class?"

Cracking a subtle grin, Jeremiah said, "Uh...I honestly don't recall."

"They did for me, before I dropped out that is. Maybe you should've listened more to your professor before assuming that your wife was just having sympathy pains."

Jeremiah only began to laugh out loud, "My wife knows exactly how to draw sympathy from me! She doesn't have to feign abdominal pain!"

Gloria sat quiet for a moment before she opened her mouth and said, "I wish I had the courage to go back to Cypress State again."

Looking over at her, Jeremiah asked, "What's stopping you?"

"I guess I don't want a whole bunch of people staring at me like I just escaped an asylum. I just don't feel like explaining myself to everyone."

"But people know what happened to you."

"No, they don't." Gloria blushed. "I mean, they know I was kidnapped, but besides my sister, no one knows that I went to Ashlandview. I told my parents that I had been studying over in Paris for the past few months."

"I see." Jeremiah humbly nodded in silent adoration. "Doctor Sanyupta once told me that keeping ourselves locked away from society is like keeping the book of knowledge buried in a tomb. Each human being is their own gift that we share with the world."

"That's really beautiful." Gloria sighed. "I've heard Paul speak about him from time to time. Does he still reside at the institute?"

With a heaving chest, Jeremiah said, "Doctor Sanyupta was killed in a train derailment back in March."

With a glare of concern on her face, Gloria only glanced at Jeremiah before she pulled her car into a long driveway and stopped short of a ranch-style home that looked like it had seen better days.

"Where are we?" Jeremiah sat up in his seat.

Gloria said nothing at first, she just sat and stared straight ahead at the house, looking as if she were waiting for something or someone to come out.

"Gloria...are you okay?" Jeremiah touched Gloria's right hand.

With a quivering bottom lip, she answered, "We're here."

Jeremiah turned to the house ahead. It took a good while, but soon, he got it. He watched as the woman got out of the car and stood at the front bumper.

Jeremiah climbed out and perched himself on the other side of the vehicle's bumper. The both of them watched as the house in front of them studied them right back. The driveway in which they were standing had weeds protruding up from the cracked cement while the grass all around them stood almost as tall as they did. There was a maple tree in the middle of the yard that was split down the middle from where lightning had struck. Branches, both large and small littered the area around the decrepit tree.

The house itself, while at one time the most luxurious home on the road, appeared more like a hollow reminder of its ghastly interior. Weeds sprouted up and all around the home while the shingles on the roof were gradually falling to the ground. The destroyed wall had been repaired, but by then, even its very foundation was beginning to see weakness as pieces of brick were shedding from one side to the other. Some of the windows, from the front to the back had been shattered. The only thing that looked remotely shameless was the front door that still possessed its noble oak finish.

Jeremiah marveled at the property in a hushed, subdued awe. He never lingered on the ugliness of where he was, rather, he examined Gloria who was just standing beside her vehicle staring off at the house. Rationality was tossed out the window. Jeremiah knew full well that Gloria had seen something absolutely jarring inside Cummins' old house. Whether it was a mythical character or the result of her

rape, something had disrupted the woman's soul to the point where she had to actually revisit the scene of where it all took place.

Gloria suddenly slipped off her pair of platform wedges and slowly began to walk towards the house. Jeremiah stood back and held his breath while a large semi-truck roared past behind him on the highway. Gloria kept advancing until her bare feet left the cement and touched the grass. She continued on around to the side of the house until she came face to face with the replaced part of the wall. Gloria stopped right there and just studied the wall from top to bottom.

"How big do you think it was?" Gloria said aloud.

Jeremiah pulled himself away from the car and ventured towards Gloria. The moment he found himself standing beside her he asked, "Are you sure that's exactly what you saw, Gloria?"

Gloria faltered at first before she sighed, "That's the problem with people today, especially our tribe, we try and question everything. I'm sure your parents, just like mine, always tell you to look beyond what your eyes can see."

Taking off his glasses, Jeremiah murmured, "Yeah, something like that."

With her eyes still stuck on the wall, Gloria said, "For the past two months, I've been having this dream of trucks. I honestly have no idea where they came from or why I'm having them to begin with. No more than I can figure out what I saw down inside that basement."

"I do believe that what you saw was real." Jeremiah stated. "And I also believe that this is exactly what you need."

Gloria turned her head to Jeremiah and asked, "How do you mean?"

Slipping his hands into his pockets, Jeremiah replied, "Coming all the way out here. Believe it or not, I needed it, too. This is where Isaac was taken, and this is where he escaped from." Jeremiah soon began to wander about the grass. "Neither of you were crazy. And there's nothing strange in the water supply. Something happened to you both. I definitely believe that more than anything else."

Walking behind Jeremiah, Gloria hastily queried, "So you believe in the existence of evil? Because that's the very first and last thing they teach against in psychology class."

Jeremiah stopped strolling and turned around to face Gloria. "Everything we learned in our respective classes was bullshit as far as I'm concerned. The human psyche is far more complex than anything we could ever comprehend. How dare anyone try and reconfigure what our eyes take in. I mean, I've never seen a ghost, but countless people throughout the ages have experienced paranormal happenings. How wrong can they all be? You saw something inside this house, Gloria. Isaac was going through something before he died. There was and still is something gripping not only your life, but the city as well. And it's not going to stop before it takes me down with it." Jeremiah then reached down, picked up a small branch and hurled it across the yard. "Fuck, I can't believe this is happening to me!" He raged.

Another semi-truck screamed past down the road. Once the noise of the machine had passed all that seemingly remained were the cicadas that occupied the lonely area.

Jeremiah found himself completely spent once again. He couldn't even recall what he had just said from a few seconds ago. He could feel his shirt sticking to his sweaty skin while his hands felt squishy.

"I guess some nightmares can come true, huh?" Gloria remained still by the wall.

Jeremiah just glanced at the woman for a second before he turned back to the road. "I think we should head back to the institute." He groaned as if it were the last place on earth he wanted to be. "I need to call my wife and see how she's doing."Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Jeremiah turned back around to see Gloria standing by the old tree all of the sudden. He never even heard her walk over there, and it seemingly took her only a mere second to make the move. Then, he heard something else scatter about right behind him.

Jeremiah spun around to see Gloria standing directly in front of him. The man's stomach did at least two flips at that instant.

"I don't want to live anymore." Gloria uttered in a dreadful tone.

Completely disoriented, Jeremiah twisted around only to see the other Gloria, with a large branch in hand, come at him and blast him over the head with the stick.

Jeremiah crumbled to the ground in a heap. Gloria repeatedly beat him over the head and body until spurts of blood began splattering all over the grass. The man could only lift his hands in defense before he became too weak to mount any further resistance.

The assault lasted for nearly three whole minutes, but to Jeremiah, who was slowly fading, it might as well have been hours. Gradually, the man's energy was depleting as his arms and legs were becoming number to the point where lifting one hand was nearly impossible.

"Gloria." He feebly gasped as he tried to reach for her leg, only to have the young woman kick him in the face.

Gloria then laid one more powerful strike across the man's face before she dropped the branch altogether.

Jeremiah was diminishing. It seemed as though his eyes were the only things that were functioning. With his eyes that were seeing more darkness than light, he watched as Gloria Cohen carried her body away from him and onto the highway.

In his ears Jeremiah could hear a loud horn blasting in the summer air. Behind that same horn was an equally loud engine. Gloria stood right in the middle of the lane until a semi-truck crashed into her body, causing it to explode into numerous pieces all over the pavement.

The last thing Jeremiah could hear was the screeching of tires. The very last thing he saw was one of Gloria's legs roll about on the highway.