When He Calls (Moons of Nibiru - Book #1)

chpt - 5: gentle cold night

A SINGLE BOAT HEADED TOWARDS THE body. Blue and red lights were bright against the darkening sky.

Sheriff Carl was writing down everything the kids told him. They were all down on the ground surrounding the water. Police cars were parked near the trees.

"Is that all?" Sheriff Carl asked them. They nodded, and he put away the notepad. "Your parents have been notified. I told them I'd drop y'all off myself."

"So who was that guy?" Olivia asked as she tightened the blanket each of them were given.

"That guy, sweetheart, was Peter Jones." Sheriff Carl said. "He was the town's resident medium."

"Do you know what happened to him?" Amy asked.

Sheriff Carl didn't feel they needed to know the gory details, but they found the body so they were already at the starting line of trauma. "We'll know for sure once the body is brought back." he said, his grey moustache moving up and down as he spoke. "Could have been murder or suicide; the firearm still hasn't been found."

Sheriff Carl was a chubby but bulky man with big brown eyes with a warm Southern accent that was slowly going away with his time spent in Marbel.

"Wait, wasn't he the guy that set that tree on fire because he claimed it was polluted with hanging ghosts?" Kendrick asked, trying to remember where he'd heard the name Peter Jones before.

"He was a bit ... loony." Sheriff Carl admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You don't think he killed himself, do you?" Amy asked.

They all turned their attention to the boat as it returned with the body of Peter Jones.

"I think we're done here." said Sheriff Carl. "Let's get you kids home."

Kendrick was the first to follow Sheriff Carl back to his car which would harbour only four of them. The other two would go with the deputy.

Caitlin was behind the rest, her mind replaying the moment she looked over the cliff and saw the bleeding body bobbing in the water. The metallic stench of blood hit her nostrils even if the body was nowhere near her.

A chill crept down her neck, not from the breeze, and she instinctively looked upwards. Beyond the oncoming boat, the water reflecting the dark sky, a figure stood on the cliff they peered over at Peter Jones's body.

It was dark up there, but the figure standing there was unmistakably a person. Man or woman, Caitlin couldn't make out with the way the person slowly retreated to the trees behind them.

What she could make out, though, were the two white eyes staring right back at her, ripping her soul from her mouth in a strangled exhale of warm breath into the cold air. She was suddenly overwhelmed with fear, and for some reason she didn't find the need to alert anyone about the person hanging around on top of the cliff.

She was just seeing things. She had to be. If not, then there really was a person waving at her from above as they disappeared behind the line of trees.

Ѻ Ѻ

"Are you kids alright?" Father Cometa asked Noah, Ryan and Caitlin after Sheriff Carl dropped them off. Ryan's father stood next to Sheriff Carl in the living room near the hallway while his mother inspected him and Caitlin.

"Yes, Dad, we're alright." Noah said. He left his father's side to sit between Caitlin and Ryan on the couch. Caitlin was absentmindedly chewing her fingernails where Ryan stared off into the distance, his breathing loud.

"Thank you again, Sheriff, for bringing them back safely." Mrs. Parrish said, interrupting a conversation between her husband and Sheriff Carl.

"It was no problem at all, Suzy." Sheriff Carl said, cordially tipping his hat. "But you best keep an eye on these kids. Strange times we're living in now."