After closing up shop for the night and bidding dear Evangeline happy birthday and good night he rushed to his back office; there was no time to lose. There was so much to be done before tomorrow and he feared they were already so close. He swiftly took off the necklace that was hiding under his shirt and dropped it into the little manila envelope along with the note he had written the moment he knew he could trust Evangeline.
Walter knew all too well the responsibility that he was dropping on this girl’s shoulders but his time was up, this was his last chance to find another keeper. He had no family left to give it to, his daughter moved to Cambridge in Great Britain, his two sons were on a year-long business trip in Japan, besides, they weren’t the right fit for this job.
He quickly made his way to his car, couldn’t take a taxi, too risky. The way he knew for sure that Evangeline could be trusted is because he saw it, in her eyes, in her warm smile, in her aura. There was something about her that screamed “this is the one, she can end it all.”
Making his way quickly up the apartment building stairs, he heard another person enter, but that was it. There were no footsteps, just the door opening and slamming shut. Now in a panic he ran to the elevator and frantically pressed the close doors button. He breathed deeply and waited. Cautiously he walked out into the hallway, and up to her door. He knocked once, no answer. He slid the envelope under the door and heard her pick it up. He let out a sigh of relief, she has it now and that’s all that matters.
Back at his shop he sat in wait, for that’s all he could do now knowing his inevitable fate. However, he was not afraid because the thought of Evangeline being the one to end it all comforted him. Thoughts of her warmth, kindness, and the beauty of her inner self soothed him to the point he didn’t notice the small tremor of the room, he didn’t notice the lights flicker, or he didn’t notice the room being engulfed in a shroud of darkness. He didn’t notice the moment all life left his body.
Monday morning Evangeline walked up to the shop door and noticed it was locked. There were no lights on. She had a key but she refrained from unlocking the door. Something must be wrong, because it was very unlike Walter to be late; she called the police. Three minutes after they walked in, an officer came sprinting out of the back and out onto the sidewalk. The officer called frantically into dispatch to send an ambulance to his location immediately, and bring a body bag.
Everyone was standing out front waiting for the ambulance to arrive giving Eva a chance to sneak in and see what all the fuss is about. Making her way to the back office she smelled a horrible stench. She walked into the room and stifled a scream. Walter was in his chair, but you couldn’t really tell it was him, his whole body was turned inside out, like when you turn out a shirt that got flipped in the washer. There was blood pooled on the floor, there was overturned muscle and skin in the chair, and guts and bones in a pile beneath it. Eva almost threw up, then she noticed an old shoe box on the desk with her name on it. She tiptoed over to and grabbed the box and hurried out of the room.
Evangeline ran home, it didn’t feel right to stay there and she felt like she really needed to see what was in that box.
She barged into her house, kicked off her shoes, sat at the table and ripped open the box. It just looked like miscellaneous old junk, but she sifted through it anyway. She laid everything out on the table neatly. One large manila envelope, one key ring full of old keys, a very interesting pocket watch, some weird but cool glasses, and a chakra wand wrapped in a piece of paper she assumed was instructions.
Eva decided to open the big envelope first. It took her a second to process what it said. It was Walter’s will. He had left it all to her, his house in Tennessee, his apartment here, the shop, everything. She recalled he had some grown kids, why hadn’t he left any of it to them? Inside the same envelope was another piece of paper but smaller, a letter.
Dearest Evangeline,
I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve left you all of my belongings. Yes, I do have children but all of them have their own separate lives elsewhere, they would never have the time to take care of the shop or anything else included in the Will. Besides, I trust you implicitly, and I know that you will appreciate every aspect of the things left to you. Never lose faith in yourself Evangeline. You are capable of anything you set your mind to. Surround yourself with good environments and people. This week take a break from everything, go to my house in Tennessee, I think you’ll really like it, and bring a friend if you so desire. Relax, explore what you’ve inherited, and most importantly, watch your back. The best to you,
Walter Ficklebrooke
“Watch your back?” What on earth was that supposed to mean. Never mind that for now. She decided to heed Walters advice, she was going to go to Tennessee. Besides, maybe it would give more clues to what’s going on, and if not, she would just enjoy herself and the beautiful scenery.
Feeling she needed to do all of this herself, she didn’t invite a friend but did let them know where she was going just in case. The only companion she always wanted with her was Atefeh, so obviously she brought her. It was a long drive, packed full of stuff to look at. It rained for a while, the mild pitter patter of water on the windshield was calming, and the thunder made it better. Her grandpa used to tell her that thunder was used to muffle the screams of the people in hell, sometimes they got a little too loud. Her grandpa was a very morbid person all his life, he also loved to tell horror stories; maybe that where Evangeline got her affinity to the macabre.
She finally arrived at the house when it was very dark, she wasn’t sure what the time was, just knew it was late. Finally, she had a place to go now that matched her likes and dislikes. There were woods surrounding the house, there were hiking trails nearby, there were lots of plants, and it felt so cozy inside. She let Atefeh out to explore and she set her things down to explore as well.
It was a cabin style house, and very modern too. Everything in the house matched the outside, modern yet had a nostalgic feeling to it all, like there were lots of good memories made here. There was a nice big kitchen. A decent sized dining room. A really nice living room. And several bedrooms and bathrooms. It was all very luxurious; Eva couldn’t even imagine what kind of dough this place would cost so thank goodness she didn’t have to pay for it. The whole place was run on solar power so it was all very efficient. She made her way upstairs to the master bedroom. There was a very soft looking big bed against one wall, one you could sink right into. There was a big bathroom on the opposite wall to the bed and the bathroom led right into a walk in closet. There were sliding doors that led out on to a little balcony that looked out into the vast forest. Eva walked out onto it and took a deep breath of the cool damp air, it smelled like moist foliage. She instantly started to feel better, she felt like she was home.
Eva made herself a cup of tea and sat on the back porch. After about an hour of silence, Evangeline thought to herself, why not move in here. There was really no reason for her not to, she could sell the shop and just pack up and get out of that cramped city. She had no idea why she had even moved to the city in the first place, maybe she thought a change of environment would help her get away from her past but come to think of it, nothing ever improved really. Being here, in such a beautiful peaceful place just felt right. She felt like she belonged there. Her little group of pals would be devastated but they would get over it and come visit, maybe even take advantage of her luxurious place and “visit” a little too much. Although she hoped Collie would visit often, the two were surprisingly close for an unknown reason. They found peace in each other’s company.
Eva’s phone rang, it was Canyon; she had a bad feeling about this.
“So I just got a call from Lottie, you’re in Tennessee?!?”
“Yes I am, I’ve decided to take a little vacation, got a problem with that?”
“I mean I guess not, if that’s what you need right now you do you. But, where are you? A hotel?”
“You’d never believe me”
“Try me.”
“I’m in a big expensive cabin in the woods.”
“Ummm what, how’d you get into a place like that??”
“I inherited it from Walter.”
“That café owner that hired you last week? And just died I might add?”
“That’s the one, he gave all of his possessions to me in his will and this cabin is one of them.”
“That’s insane, he must’ve REALLY liked you.”
“I guess so…. Hey Canyon?”
“Yes Eva?”
“I think I’m going to move in here...”
“I’m sorry, what?!?”
“You heard me.”
“Eva you just got there, why don’t you come back and we’ll really think about it.”
“It’s not your decision to make Canyon, besides, I think living out here would be really good for me.”
“What about the café? What about your apartment? What about us?”
“I’ll sell the café and give my apartment to Lottie, she’s been looking for a new pace anyway. Besides, you guys will be totally fine without me, and you can come visit whenever you want.”
“I can’t believe you’re really going to do this Evangeline. What do you mean it would be good for you, are you not happy here?”
“Canyon you know I hate this city, I feel like I belong here, you of all people should know that.”
“Well excuse me for not being able to interpret your every thought and action.”
“Why are you getting upset?”
“I’m not, I’m just a little surprised. I thought you liked it here.”
“Yes in the beginning I thought moving there would help but now that I’ve thought about it, nothing ever got better for me.”
“Wow, well I’m glad I could help.”
“Canyon you know that’s not what I meant.”
He hung up.
That night Eva cried that night. She was glad it was raining, it made her feel like the world was crying too, sharing her pain. She wasn’t going to just not move because Canyon didn’t want her too, like she said, it wasn’t his decision, she was a grown woman that could do what she pleased. But now she felt guilty. It wasn’t that her friends didn’t help, they really did, but you can’t just make depression disappear with some good times, that’s not how it worked. Besides, why was he so upset about it anyway, he should be happy for her, happy that she’s finally finding peace. Maybe he was just having a bad day, that had to be it. She couldn’t sleep.
Eva thought a day long hike might do her some good. She put on her warm, hydrophobic hiking boots. She packed her bag full of unnecessary things but her aunt always said, better to be over prepared than under prepared, just in case. She packed a few water bottles, a first aid kit, some snacks, her camera, some extra rolls of film, her sketch books and her art utensils pack; she liked to draw some of the things she saw.
She drove to the nearest hiking trail. It wasn’t that busy. She saw a couple come off of the trail with a dog, a beautiful Border Collie; Kilian they called him. She walked passed them and the dog seemed to smile at her. “I wish I had a dog” she thought to herself.
It started to lightly rain, “drip drip drop little April shower” she softly sang to herself while she put up the hood of her raincoat. The soft foliage grew damp as she hiked on. That same soothing smell of wet forestry filled her nose again. She hadn’t even been out for an hour and she already started to feel much better. Eva was convinced completely now, moving out here would be the best choice, the right choice. The main attraction of the trail was a giant open cave made of sandstone that had eroded away. There was a small, clear pool in the middle of it filled by the trickle of a waterfall coming from somewhere above the cave. There were wooden stairs on the other side leading to the top, Eva made her way over to them. She took a couple pictures on the way, who wouldn’t want to capture this beauty?
The sight that greeted her at the top took her breath away, an entire forest was continued. There was a little wooden bridge some small ways in front of her that led over the shallow stream that made up the waterfall. She walked over and stepped around the bridge. She stuck her boot in and made sure her footing was secure before she put all of her weight down. She bent over and dipped a hand into the crystal clear water. She swished her hand around in the cool water searching for a smooth pebble, finally selecting one she pushed it into her pocket and wiped he hand off on her pants.
After walking out and back onto the trail she stopped in her tracks. The forest continued on the other side of the bridge but it didn’t look like any other part of the forest she had seen; it all seemed very gloomy. The sun was shining in semi clear skies that day but for some reason the light of it never penetrated the atmosphere around here. She walked onto that part of the trail. It was completely quite, a chill went down her spine and spread through her entire body, it was extremely eerie. It didn’t feel safe so she quickly walked out. Wanting to hear the water one more time she stepped around the bridge and into the stream. She lost her footing and slid all the way to the edge of the cliff. She panicked and slowly tried to stand up but slipped again, right over the edge of the waterfall.
