Post #261682 by procinema29 on Thu, Oct 19, 2006 3:31 PM

"The Necklace"

PART THREE

I noticed something as I went around the curve in the road: The bird songs appeared to vanish abruptly, as if shut off, and were replaced by a peculiar silence broken only by minor gestures of the wind. As I walked, somehow, the silence settled in as a dominant element of its own, and I felt truly alone with my thoughts. I observed the road ahead, which was breaking up as the woman had told me. Much of it had fragmented and rolled down the incline; and the road at one point had indeed become slopy under untold seasons of rain, making it necessary to hug the hillside as I crossed this part. At the bottom of the hill two hundred feet down were thorny-looking shrubs I had no desire to be with.

Past this particularly dangerous area the road regained itself for a bit and then vanished under a layer of hard-packed earth. Now I was left with a dirt road which continued beyond the paved road, which I had no objection to; and, yes, looming in the distance was a dark gray squarish shape nestled amongst some bushes.

I felt some nervousness as I approached the place, but this soon vanished.

I had imagined the house being nothing more than some blackened dirt and splinters, and was surprised to find that much of it remained; it had been a one-story affair with several rooms, two of which had been burnt completely away off to the east side; some smoke had traveled out the windows of the intact rooms, staining them. At least there would be something of a house to search.

My anxiousness to take care of business is probably to account for what happened next. I slipped in some soft, muddy earth, I think. I do remember something about a large rock coming up at my face.

Some time later, something stirred.

I opened my eyes, immediately aware that my forehead throbbed, and that I was soaking wet and cold. I lay uncomfortably in an outcropping of tall grass. It was dark, and raining!

I contemplated the sharp rock that had almost killed me, touched my forehead, saw dark liquid on my fingers, mixing with the rain. I felt around on the ground, certain I would come upon the rock I had fallen on; but I couldn’t find it.

I had slipped just feet away from the house. Cursing my stupidity, I got up, stumbled over to the house and leaned against it until the pain in my forehead subsided slightly. Then I found a door and stepped inside, trying to make out, through the darkness, any details.

I had no flashlight, but I did have a lighter, and, trying to relax, I thought that now might be a good time for a smoke. Most of my cigarettes were damp but I managed to light one, then turned the gas dial up to full and flicked the flame on several times, pointing the lighter in different directions to get a better idea of the surroundings. The room I was in was empty, but there was a single open door connecting this room to more of the house. I moved through the darkness towards the door.

At a point that I thought was about the midpoint of the room I felt myself beginning to go unconscious again. There was the perilous sensation of my legs beginning to fall out from under me, and I held my arm out, to help control the fall, and presently I found myself on my back. It was then, as my head slowly cleared, that I heard the sound of hard shoes tracking across the floor, and rather fast. And then I heard a door shut.

I must admit that I had no idea exactly what was happening, but I was forced to consider three very disparate possibilities. It was possible, if I took the woman’s story at face value, that I had heard the spirit, or ghost, or whatever, of Claire Phillips. And it was possible that my employer had somehow, and I had no idea how, come across the distance to search for me. And this was logical, for it must have been hours since I’d left. The third possibilty was that the sounds of the footsteps and the closing door had been hallucinations brought about by the injury to my head.

And then a moment later I remembered how the woman had said that she avoided the ruins at all costs...and I remembered the money promised me, and began to think that perhaps there was a good reason why the sum was so high. A fear inside me began to grow incredibly real.