The Evil Within Page 15
“Yes Elizabeth, I will take care of that right away.”
Elizabeth turned and looked at me with a warm and inviting smile and said, “Mason, would you give Lyle a hand with the heavy trunk? It needs to be put up on the roof rack because the camping gear is in the back.”
“Yes Elizabeth, I sure can.”
“Hillary and I will re-position all the camping gear so her and Lyle will fit more comfortably.”
I helped Lyle carry the trunk out to the Jeep where we centered it and secured it to the roof rack. Then Lyle asked well naturedly, “Good heavens Mason, did you line the bottom of the trunk with stones?”
I laughed and said, “You know women, they have to pack up the entire house when they go on vacation.”
Lyle and I laughed about the trunk all the way back to the Manor. Once inside I started to inform Elizabeth that we were done loading up the Jeep and she told me to wait a minute, as she was on the phone. Elizabeth was on the phone with Mr. MacDougal, informing him about our sea voyage to Devil’s Island. He seemed to be a little apprehensive about our trip to Devil’s Island, but by the time Elizabeth had explained why we had to go, he seemed to be feeling better about our trip. I heard him tell Elizabeth that there would be no need to worry about things here, as he would check on the Blackwood Manor and Cassandra’s house from time to time until her return.
I noticed when Elizabeth got off the phone with Mr. MacDougal she looked a bit uneasy when she asked, “Is everyone packed, and ready to head into town.”
“Yes Elizabeth, Lyle, Hillary, and I are ready to go, just say the word.”
“Alright then, daylight is wasting.”
Hillary, Lyle, and I walked out to the Jeep, got in, and waited for Elizabeth to lock the door to the Manor. It was a bit odd, as if Elizabeth had never stopped to lock the door, as the Jeep started, and I knew that she could not have locked the door and made it back to the Jeep that fast. I thought that I was losing my mind. However, when I looked back towards the Manor I seen Elizabeth walking up to the Jeep with the key fob in her hand, and I knew that Elizabeth had started the Jeep with it. She opened the door to the Jeep, got in, and we left for town. The look on Elizabeth’s face when I asked her if the Manor and Cassandra’s house would be alright left alone revealed that she was not even a we-bit fearful of anyone being around either of the two places, as no one in their right mind would be stupid enough to break in.
I guess all four of us must have had some uncertainty about our trip to Devil’s Island, because the trip into town was a silent one, and I was no exception. I knew that I should have told Elizabeth about the dreams that I had been having, but the right opportunity had not presented itself, and somewhere in the back of my mind there was the thought that she would call off the trip altogether if she knew. I could not tell her, not just yet, not at least until we were on the island, this trip was much too important to jeopardize at this point. The trip into town took less than fifteen minutes before we had pulled into the parking lot at the Darkness Falls Motel. The parking lot was empty so Elizabeth parked as close to the entrance as possible, turned off the Jeep and the four of us got out and walked inside to the counter.
Since Elizabeth had reserved our room, we only had to pick up our key before going up, so the four of us decided to have a light snack and a drink before retiring to our room. The main kitchen was already closed for the night at the motel, but the chef prepared us a snack tray filled with cheese, luncheon meats, celery, and carrot sticks, and gave us a bottle of red wine. We sat down at the table and Hillary had looked over at each of us with a grin on her face and said, “This is not what I would have prepared for us, but we will not starve at any rate.”
Hillary loved Lyle and cared about Elizabeth dearly, and the delicious meals that she prepared were just one of the many ways that she had of showing it. I believed that Lyle or Hillary would give their own lives for Elizabeth, and Elizabeth in return would do the same for them. The respect and friendship went far beyond the mere fact of being employee and employer. I only hoped that it would never have to come to that.
Elizabeth suggested that we all retire early because tomorrow would be a very busy day, so we got up from the table and headed to our room. Elizabeth had only reserved one room for our protection, as she knew that it would be safer for all of us to stay together. Elizabeth unlocked the door and the four of us walked in. To my surprise, the room was not as bad as I imagined it to be. Elizabeth was gracious enough to get one with two queen sized beds, which was good because Lyle and Hillary left the fancy air mattress back at the Manor. The four of us laid down on our beds, but knew that there was no way in hell that I was going to fall asleep, as I was worrying about having the horrible and retched dream that kept reoccurring once I was in a deep sleep. Therefore, to stay awake as long as I could I turned on the television, keeping the volume low, as to not wake Elizabeth, Lyle, or Hillary. I tried to stay awake, trying to fight off the inevitable, but the television seemed to put me in a trance like state, and I shortly drifted off to sleep.
I awakened to the warmth of the sun shining through the motel window early the next morning, noticing that the television was now off, Elizabeth was already in the shower, and realizing that I had enjoyed a great night’s sleep without having any horrible dreams. It had only been a few minutes after I had awakened that I heard someone knocking on the motel door.
“Who is it,” Lyle replied.
“It is the desk clerk sir, and I am here for your seven o’clock morning wakeup call. Are you up and ready?”
“Yes we are. Thank you very much, we appreciate it.”
I noticed Hillary slowly sit up in bed and start to rub her eyes, and then look around at her surroundings, as if she did not know where she was, and was trying hard to remember. Therefore, I asked, “Hillary, does it feel any different here than waking up in the Manor?”
“I dare say Mason, it sure does. Back at the Manor, I knew exactly what needed to be done, and when to do it. I had my own routine, and being here is almost like being in a foreign country altogether.”
“Hillary, think of it as a vacation because I would not imagine that you would be doing any of your normal duties while we are on this trip. However, all four of us will have to pitch in to get things done that need to be done on our voyage to Devil’s Island.”
“I have never been on any vacation in my life Mason. I do not know if I can adjust to all the redundancy, it leaves me with too much time on my hands.”
After Elizabeth finished her shower and got dressed, each of us took our turn in the shower. Once all four of us were showered and dressed, we were out the door and headed to the motels breakfast bar to grab a quick bite to eat before we headed off to board the ship. There was not much to choose from on the breakfast menu so we all ordered the same thing, orange juice, sausage, and a stack of enormous blueberry pancakes. As the four of us waited for our breakfast to be served, I could not help but wonder that the decision to even make this trip must have been a hard one for Elizabeth to make. I suppose that it was only natural for her to have second thoughts, but she never brought up anything about not going to the island. In fact, she did not say much at all while we waited for our breakfast to be served.
Elizabeth was not an overly emotional woman, she was passionate, full of life, a little stubborn, and strong willed, which is what attracted me to her in the first place, and she never showed vulnerability of any kind. Elizabeth carried a heavy burden with her, taking Lyle and Hillary with us to Devil’s Island, which is why I could not tell her about those atrocious dreams that I had about the island. I knew that she already had more than enough on her mind to worry about.
The talk at the breakfast bar was vitalizing to say the least, as the four of us drank the last of the orange juice in the pitcher and finished off the rest of the blueberry pancakes that were stacked as high as the glass cups that we were drinking out of. However, the conversation was being carried on by Lyle and Hillary, as Elizabeth hardly
said a word.
After all of us had our fill, Elizabeth paid the bill and we walked over to the main desk to check out. Then the four of us made our way through the small motel lobby, out the front door, and I noticed that the sun had once again chose to grace us with its presence, burning its way through the ominous cloud cover. All four of us had smiles on our faces as we walked over to the Jeep to get our luggage. Elizabeth had made plans to park the Jeep in the hotel parking lot until we returned from our trip. I had a good feeling about our journey to Devil’s Island, and the first impression that I got of this magnificent sun filled day was that it had to be a very good omen for us all.
The four of us carried our luggage out to the sidewalk and waited while Lyle hailed a taxi, and within minutes, a taxi driver pulled up, got out, and helped us load our luggage. He even pulled out a set of ratcheting straps to anchor the trunk to the top of the vehicle. Once the luggage and trunk was secure, the taxi driver got in and said, “Where are we off too folks?”
Elizabeth replied, “Cut Throat Harbor, dock number thirteen, do you know where that is?”
“Sure I do. In fact, it is not too far from here. So Cut Throat Harbor it is.”
The taxi driver took off, and within thirteen minutes, we pulled into the parking lot of Cut Throat Harbor and the taxi driver drove us over to dock number thirteen, where the ship that was to take us to Devil’s Island was docked. The taxi driver walked over to the ticket booth and came back with a hand cart for the trunk, and was even kind enough to help Lyle and I take our luggage up to the ticket booth at the dock, but would not go any further, which was more than enough help. The four of us managed to get the trunk and our luggage down the wooden dock, and waited to board the ship. I must have been too preoccupied with getting our luggage safely to the loading area of the ship because it was not until I was admiring the view of the ocean that I noticed the name of the ship, the Elizabeth Dane.
I vagrantly watched the sun’s picturesque rays reflect off the ocean waters as a light breeze formed tiny ripples on the surface of the water. The ocean was much bluer and clearer than I would have ever imagined it to be. While we waited for crewmembers to load our luggage, the four of us leaned up against the railing, soaking up the warm rays of the sun and chatted away about how beautiful the day had turned out to be. The four of us were caught up in a daydream, admiring the ship and the ocean when we heard a man’s voice over the loud speaker say, “All aboard, passengers please make your way to board the Elizabeth Dane.”
I knew right away that it must have been twelve o’clock, or very close to it, as Elizabeth had informed us that the boarding procedure was to start at noon. Then without warning, the boarding whistle blew, echoing throughout the ship. Lyle, Hillary, and I closely followed Elizabeth across the gangplank to board the Elizabeth Dane, keeping perfect stride with her every step, almost afraid that the three of us would become separated from her, and that the Elizabeth Dane would somehow depart without us.
I do not know why the three of us followed so closely behind Elizabeth across the gangplank because the four of us were pretty much the only passengers coming on board the ship that was except for the crewmembers.
3
VOYAGE TO
DEVIL’S ISLAND
J
ust then, without any warning, a weird and eerie thought ran rampant through my mind. It was about the ships name, the Elizabeth Dane. Was it just another coincidence that the ships first name was the same as Elizabeth’s name? Or was it Bastelet’s evil intention to throw all these subliminal messages right out in the open for us to see? I did know one thing for sure, and that was the ships name fit in perfectly with our situation. First of all, there is the two magnificent Manor’s that had been occupied and terrorized by an evil supernatural being named Bastelet, Darkness Falls Hotel, Cut Throat Harbor, Devil’s Island, and now, a ship named the Elizabeth Dane. I would have to say that this is no coincidence.
I looked at my watch and noticed that it had taken a little more than an hour for the boarding process to be completed. The four of us waited patiently on the upper deck of the ship to get directions to our staterooms. Elizabeth had given our names to the only stewardess aboard the Elizabeth Dane and received a small map of the corridors with a highlighted path to our staterooms. Lyle and Hillary shared stateroom D-11, and Elizabeth and I shared stateroom D-13. I thought to myself, oh shit, more numerology. Our staterooms were located on the starboard side of the ship in an enviable location, right next to the dining room. There was a twin-size bed on each side of the stateroom door, and at the end of the room, on the side of the ship, there was a porthole for us to look out at the ocean. The walls were cream in color, and the room was decorated in ugly gold and red accents. The stateroom was so small that I do not know how the designer of the ship fit everything into this little space. Nonetheless, there was a head, shower, vanity, a closet, and a chair to sit on.
The last time that I saw Lyle and Hillary, they were giddy with excitement, a feeling not all of us had felt in quite some time. This was exactly what we all needed, a chance to clear our minds from all of those horrendous supernatural occurrences that the four of us had lived through. After I put my belongings away in the room, I decided to do some exploring for myself. I walked out, up to the upper deck of the Elizabeth Dane and watched the land in the distance become smaller and smaller until it eventually disappeared. I now wanted more than ever to take a tour of the magnificent ship. There had been so much excitement that I had never gave much thought to how much alike the inside of this ship and the Blackwood Manor’s were, which gave me an eerie feeling that something bad was going to happen on this voyage. The new discovery sent chills down my spine, but was interesting, and managed to spur my curiosity. I could not help but wonder if that evil bitch Bastelet had been taking these trips with us wherever we went, using her sorcery, somehow changing and distorting the way things appeared, altering our own reality?
On my tour of the Elizabeth Dane, I passed the crew’s quarters, as one of the crewmembers was on his way out and I noticed that their quarters were much smaller than that of the first class passengers. They only had bunk beds that lined the walls of their quarters. I also got the luxury of seeing the engine room of the Elizabeth Dane. Getting to see the enormous engines was a sight for any ship enthusiast to see, and normally something that most passengers would never get to see. It was spectacular. The entire ship was outfitted with many old mechanical gadgets, which reminded me of the Queen Mary. Although it was not much to see now, it must have been very luxurious, an eye catcher, when it had first been put into service.
I was so pre-occupied with seeing the ship that I had not realized that it had already been three hours since I started on the tour. I started working my way back to our stateroom, but before I got halfway there, I ran into Lyle and Hillary, who were also finishing their own tour of the Elizabeth Dane. The three of us chatted away as we walked back to our quarters. Once there I had not realized how late it was and said, “I am starving, how about the both of you?”
“Yes, yes we are Mason,” Lyle replied.
Have you two seen Elizabeth recently, do you know if she has eaten?”
“I do not know. The last time that Hillary and I saw Elizabeth, she had told us that she was going to see the captain. She wanted to get some information about the Devil’s Island.”
“Alright, I guess we can leave word for her to join us in the dining room. Let’s go have some dinner you two, shall we.”
The dining room was spectacular, that is for an older ship. It had wooden floors, and the dining room chairs were covered in gold fabric. It had been so refined that it made me feel like I was under dressed for the occasion. The one and only chef on the ship had a spectacular buffet filled with lobster, shrimp, crab, halibut, grilled chicken, scallops, and for desert, anything you could imagine, including my favorite, Lemon Meringue Pie. I had no idea that they would be serving such delicious foods aboard the Elizabeth Dane. The three o
f us went up to the buffet, grabbed some plates, and started filling them up with all the delicious foods that the Chef had prepared. Then walked over and sat down at one of the six tables in the dining room, and started talking about how spectacular the Elizabeth Dane was.
I was pleased to see that Lyle and Hillary were so fond of the Elizabeth Dane, and had been enjoying their first cruise. Elizabeth graciously walked up to the table not to long after the three of us had sat down and said, “I do say, none of you look undernourished, have you three left anything for me,” jokingly stating? She then walked over to the buffet, grabbed a plate, filled it with all the delicious delicacies and walked back over to our table. Once Elizabeth sat down next to me she asked, “Did the three of you enjoy the tour of the ship?”
If I was not mistaken, I believe the three of us said yes at the same time.
“That is wonderful that the three of you are having such a great time on the Elizabeth Dane. I just hope all of you can say that at the end of the five day voyage at sea.”
Lyle and Hillary seemed as if they had seen a ghost, as their face went pale as snow. As the waiter filled our glasses with some Brandy, Lyle, and Hillary just stared at one another, still dumbfounded by what Elizabeth had just said.
“The captain said that it would take at least that long to get to Devil’s Island, and I assure you that those five days will pass by quickly aboard the Elizabeth Dane, and it should turn out to be an exceptional experience for us all.”
Lyle replied, “Elizabeth, are you sure that those five days will pass quickly, and that it will be an exceptional experience for the four of us?” I only wish that I could share your same enthusiasm.”
“Yes I am sure Lyle. Everything is going to be fine. On top of that, there are many things to do on this ship to keep us all occupied until our arrival at Devil’s Island.