The story follows two boys in high school, Robbie Watson and Chuck Baker. They are an unusual pair, Robbie is a scrawny kid confined to a wheel chair while Chuck appears to be your typical thug. They care about each other deeply though as well as their female friend, Minka, a true loner who seems to have a hard time finding a place to stay put. Their story begins when Minka goes missing, this time much longer than normal. In their search the boys find themselves caught up in a supernatural struggle to maintain the crucial balance of good and evil in our world.
Here is the first chapter from The Vessel.
Even the most innocuous of places can have true
horrors lurking underneath their surface. People and events that we hope
history will forget never disappear fully. Their stain on the landscape of our
world is ever present, regardless of how hard we try to erase it. Lincoln High
was such a place. Set upon one of the tallest hills in the surrounding area,
the hill that Lincoln High occupies overlooks the majority of the valley and
the river at its center. It was an advantageous location and the earliest records
indicate that first explorers used the plot of land as frontier fort to repel
natives and protect families moving west. After that the first brick structure
on the land was utilized as a makeshift hospital of sorts. During the Civil
War, it became a camp for prisoners of war. Hanging and torture were not an
uncommon events on the grounds.
After the war, the location continued to be used
for punishing the wicked and was converted into a courthouse and small jail.
Rooms were added on to the original structure and soon the small brick building
could no longer be seen amidst the additions and modifications.
Many years passed
before it became Lincoln High. The courthouse moved to the county seat and the
jail was dismantled. It had become a large structure but the city provided
funds to expand as the city was growing as well. It became one of the largest
schools in the county and has stayed that way to the present day. Historians
have kept records, but many of the stories and events that occurred within the
walls of Lincoln High have been forgotten or ignored.
Only tales told by the Native Americans of the
region recount the area’s most haunting tale, one the historians have largely
ignored or overlooked. The story of the night a black star descended upon that
hill and forever tainted the land surrounding it. Stories tell of those called
wanderers, black as night, who would search for the fallen star. Then, suddenly
the stories ceased. Rumors that the valley was empty when explorers reached it
have been dismissed as impossible, that nothing recorded in history matches
such an event. So it was forgotten and seen as nothing more than a myth.
Minka Jansky knew the truth, she knew what lurked beneath the
stone floors and brick walls of Lincoln High. She had seen the place. The place
that drew evil to it like a lodestone. She had seen what resided there. She had
tried to stop it.
Now, she ran.
Minka’s muffled cries filled the cavernous hallways of Lincoln
High. Her panicked breath could be heard echoing throughout the darkened space
as her frantic steps slapped against the tiled floors. The glow of exit
signs illuminated the dark corners and entryways. Each clock she passed flashed
the exact time the power had been lost.
The walls were lined with metallic lockers, each one filled with
the belongings of adolescents. Their secrets, their loves, symbols of their
innocence and friendships all contained within these like temporary time
capsules. They each held doors to different lives and different worlds. Worlds
upon worlds upon worlds. Closer than they could imagine, but unwilling to admit
the truth. These small worlds watched Minka flee in terror and could do nothing
for her.
During the day the same hallways were filled with teenagers, the
space filled with shrieks of joy and laughter. Tonight the hallways contained a
young girl’s fear as she searched for a way out, to escape that the thing that
pursued her. She ran.
Shit.
A pair of hallway doors swung open and Minka limped down the
passageway, her face a mask of frustration and barely contained sobs. One hand
gripped the opposite arm, and the dark stain of blood could be seen between her
fingertips. Her sleeve ripped open as if something sharp had been dragged across
her arm.
Minka’s hair was plastered to her forehead and cheeks, soaked in
her own sweat. As she ran she turned back only to find the dark, empty hallway.
Her breathing slowed for a moment and she turned to continue on.
They should be here, right? I couldn’t have read it wrong.
She rounded a corner and stood frozen in horror as she watched a
shadow emerge from the end of the hallway. It clung to the wall near the
hallway’s ceiling and it seemed to crawl along the surface unnaturally. Dark
cloth hung from the form in strips and rags. Minka tore her eyes away before
she saw it completely. It made its way towards her.
Shit. I called them. I know I did it right.
The girl backed up slowly and the shadowed form stopped and merely
looked on. She spun and retreated back the way she came.
Minka ran as well as her injured legs would carry her and
eventually slammed into the doors she had come through moments before. This
time, they did not budge. Minka shoved as hard as she could but the once open
doors were now locked. She howled with rage as she pushed frantically against
them.
“You lying sacks of shit!” Minka screamed. “You lie! All of you!”
On the other side of the door Minka heard arrogant laughter. Minka clenched her
jaw and then spat on the door. “I’m going to…” A soft scratching came from
behind her and Minka turned to see the shadow creep around a corner, one
unnaturally long limb reached out and grasped to the ceiling. Soon, the thing
was upside down, clinging to the ceiling as it slowly crept towards her.
Minka pushed off the door and flung herself towards an open
classroom. She slammed the door shut and pulled a nearby table in front of it.
The sounds echoing off the stone walls.
Not like I can hide anyway.
Minka pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from her back pocket
and scanned the words hurriedly. She whispered the words over and over and then
looked up at the empty room. The dark red glow of an exit sign providing the
only light. Nothing. What the hell am I doing wrong?
The door shook with a violent slam as the creature attempted to
gain entry. Minka began to cry, she gritted her teeth and let out a garbled
snarl as she stood and limped towards the door on the opposite side of the
room.
What have I done?
She opened the door slightly and looked out into the hall, the
floor and the ceiling. It was empty. From the opposite side of the hallway one
classroom stood open and moonlight spilled out onto the white tiled floor. Hope
welled in her for just a moment as she thought of making it to a window and then
outside.
They won’t let me leave. Don’t lie to yourself.
Yet, Minka stood, shoved the door open and crept out into the
hallway. Suddenly voices filled the space around her. She could hear faint
whispers, whispers she knew well. Her blood ran cold.
“No.” Minka shook her head as she backed up away from the room she
left, towards the room that was open. “No. You can’t be here.” The whispers
intensified and Minka grasped her hair and shook her head violently. “No!”
Minka’s tears poured down her cheeks now, staining her pale skin
with her black mascara. Her mouth quivered as she spoke to the darkness around
her. “I won’t.” The whispers intensified and Minka fell to her knees. She threw
herself backwards and attempted to crawl towards the open door.
It was close, Minka’s thin fingers crept into the moonlight that
spilled out into the hallway as she dragged herself forward. She continued to
whisper the words she spoke earlier, over and over again as if they would bring
her safety or help.
Suddenly, Minka froze. Pressure began to build within her skull
and her mouth opened limply as if she were struck hard in the head. Slowly she
turned to face the way she had just come, ten feet behind her something stood
in the shadows. It was tall. Taller than anyone she had ever seen, it’s head
almost brushing the ceiling of the hallway. It stood silent in the darkness as
if waiting for Minka to speak.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Minka finally gasped. She felt life in
her again just enough to slide backwards. The creature did not pursue, it
merely cocked its head to the side as if in question. After a moment of silence
Minka spoke again. “No. I refuse, I won’t!”
The voices erupted around her again, indistinguishable and
undecipherable. Minka winced as if in great pain, but she managed to push
herself up on her hands and knees and crawl into the room behind her. Soon she
stood, and limped towards the windows.
Tears blurred her vision and her arm throbbed with a burning pain.
As she reached the windows the dark figure lifted a cloaked arm and Minka let
out the wail of an injured animal. She collapsed onto the floor, but managed to
drag her body forward with her arms. Now, her legs appear to be useless and
lifeless, as they slid across the floor. “It can’t be me, it can’t be me. I shouldn’t
be the one!” Her pleas were cut short by her sobbing as she propped herself up
against the wall, underneath the windows filled with moonlight.
I was close.
There was one last option. Minka reached into her front pocket and
pulled out a piece of paper that had been folded in half once. Inside rested a
picture. A picture of three friends. Three faces from three different worlds.
She held the piece of paper up so the moonlight spilled over the words. Minka
whispered them, words spoken by few mortals, words taken from across time and
space. She spoke them as she looked at the picture that was pinned between her
thumb and palm.
“I’m so sorry. This was all my fault.” Minka crumpled the paper
and the picture up into a wad and shoved them in her mouth. She chewed and
chewed and swallowed as much as she could. She gagged, then chewed again, then
swallowed one last time. Her mouth was empty. The bitter taste of ink was all
that remained. The whispers came again.
“You betrayed us.” It sounded as if dozens of women and girls were
all speaking at the same time. Some wailing, some whispering, some voices
rising in anger, all of them at once filling the girl’s hearing and filling her
mind. Their voices were a terrible cacophony of sound that washed over her
broken form. “You cannot refuse him.”
“I did.”
“No, you merely spoke words.” The freakishly tall form ducked and
entered the room. It was covered in a dark robe. The cloth moved and swayed as
if moved by a wind that was not there. “He chose you.”
“No.”
“You were the first.”
“No.”
“You called him.”
“I didn’t know what I was doing.” Minka stuttered between her
sobs.
“You led them. You have always led them.” The chorus of voices
continued.
“You used me!” Minka screamed. Her eyes squeezed shut in horror.
Sobs continued to shake her body as she pressed herself up against the brick
wall of the classroom. But over her own cries she could hear the sound of
movement, the cloaked form moved towards her slowly. She could feel its
presence. The being that entered the space radiated a power stronger than the
gravitational pull of the Earth. It demanded to be felt.
A disturbing laugh erupted from the cloaked form. The voices were
closer now, Minka opened her eyes to find that the form was directly in front
of her. It knelt on the ground as Minka sat slumped against the wall below the
windows. It was cloaked in a dark gray robe, almost pure black, dust and grime
covered the bottom edges and along with it came the scent of ancient caverns
and the passage of time. The head was shadowed within the hood and the
creature’s arms hidden in the folds of the cloak.
Minka averted her gaze but a calmness came over her. Her sobbing
slowed, the pain in her arm faded. For a moment a she was filled with the hope
of a quick and painless release from this nightmare. A buzzing crept into her
mind. It grew in intensity and volume and within moments it seemed to shake her
very core. She could feel the pain beginning to fade, only to be replaced by a
sort of euphoria.
“End it. Please.” She whispered. “Just end it.”
“This is just the beginning, Minka,” the chorus of female voices
whispered from beneath the hood. The chatter was constant and maddening. Minka
heard her name spoken countless times. The creature lowered its head as if to
gaze upon Minka closely. The space where its face resided completely bathed in
blackness.
The robed figure slowly lifted its arms and pulled back the hood
upon its head. This small movement seemed to take forever. Minka was ready, her
eyes attempting to gaze upon what lurked beneath but seemed terrified to
witness the results. She caught a glimpse of the hands that raised to the hood,
bony and an ashen gray, the skin wrinkled and scarred. Hands that appeared to
be made of dried and petrified wood, older than they should be allowed to be.
The nails were cracked and wretched, some missing completely and the tips of
those fingers were just shriveled and dry skin. Yet, as much as they repulsed
her, Minka suddenly desired nothing but the feeling of those hands upon her skin.
She imagined they would be gentle and loving. She yearned for them to reach out
and cup her face, like a mother holding the face of her child. The mother Minka
lost so long ago. She pushed off the wall slightly holding her head in a way
that asked to be held.
The hood fell back and revealed a head that was completely bald,
not a single hair remained, the skin covered in spider’s web of scars and
wrinkles. They began at the base of the creature’s skull and ran towards its
face. The moonlight creating disturbing shadows from the cracks and crevices
that ran across the gray, dead skin.
The being raised its head to meet Minka’s gaze and she was greeted
by the face of decay and rot. It was a woman’s face, or what was once a woman’s
face. Instead of eyes there were withered eyelids that sagged inward as if the
sockets had been emptied long ago.
Countless scrapes and lacerations streaked across the cheekbones,
forehead, chin, lips and nose. Each slash deep and scarred. One nostril was
ripped open while the top lip of the creature was also slashed in half, the
creature’s rotten teeth showing behind the openings in its ragged mouth.
It cocked its head as if listening to Minka’s quickened breathing.
A gruesome smile made its way onto the horrid lips. One of the gray hands
lifted up out of the robes and made its way towards Minka, as if to gently
stroke her cheek.
“This is just the beginning.” The lips did not move, but the
voices began again as the hand moved ever closer to her tear streaked face.
“You are his…”
The library. The time we spent together. Those nights in the
forest, around the fire. The scent of the trees and
wood smoke, the feel of the book in her hands. The sounds of her friends
laughing. Each memory flashing in her mind as Minka sat trapped in the empty
classroom. Minka waited for the touch. They did this to me. No.
I did this to me.
The hand seemed to hang in the space forever. They followed her,
they listened to her, she brought them to him, only to find out that he wanted
them to sacrifice her. I tried to stop them. Once I found out their plans. I
tried.
Minka watched as the gnarled hand crept closer towards her face.
Suddenly, the euphoric feeling vanished and it was replaced by a splitting pain
in her skull. Minka winced and threw her head backwards, only to slam into the
brick wall. Her vision went white for brief moment. The hand hung frozen in
front of her and the creature laughed.
The image of the picture blazed bright in her mind. She spit what
meager amount she could at the creature and said the words that were on the
paper one last time at the top of her lungs. Then she shouted their names. The
boys in the picture. Her only remaining friends.
“Robert Watson! Chuck Baker!” Minka smiled at the thing in front
of her and managed one last curse. “Just kill me already!”
The creature hissed and lunged forward but instead of a soft
caress, Minka felt fingers dig into her neck as the hand clamped around her
throat with the strength of a vice. Minka could not breathe, she could not
speak. She gazed in horror upon the wretched face as a malicious sneer crossed
its lips. Minka fought back tears as its mouth slowly opened revealing cracked
and yellowed teeth, she peered into the black hole of a mouth as if her own
nightmares would crawl out of the opening.
The edges of her vision faded and any light that was in the room
was soon gone. A new voice emerged from the open mouth. It was not the chorus
of female voices. It was the sound of complete terror, a deep and ancient voice
and as it spoke Minka’s mind was filled with images of suffering, bloodshed,
and torture. Minka choked as she attempted to cry but the grip tightened and
her eyes bulged slightly in their sockets. The images that filled her mind
caused her to convulse repeatedly, every nerve in her body screamed in agony.
She felt as though she were on fire and plunged into arctic waters all at the
same time. She clenched her teeth as she tried to contain a shriek of
unbelievable pain.
“Do not defy me.” The mouth did not close, its horrible voice
echoed in Minka’s mind. Her body shaking, blood slowly trickled from her nose
and ears. “You will eat the names of an entire family tree, you will raze your
birthplace to the ground, bathe in the suffering of your loved ones, terrify
the weak and control the strong. When that and more is done, you will lay upon
my altar, and you will beg me for release,” Minka’s vision began to fade as the
hand around her neck squeezed even more. “But there will be no release, until
all life vanishes from this world, you will serve as my vessel.”
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