The Witch's Diary Part lll

Continued from Part Two

"Ms. Garrett, my name is Melissa Andrews.  I'm from North Dakota and--"

"You have the wrong number," a sharp voice interrupted. "Please don't call here again."

Click.  The line went dead.

"She hung up on me," Melissa said, frowning at the phone as if it were to blame.

Melissa and Nathan had arrived in Savannah a few hours earlier, expecting to have a difficult time tracking down Rebecca's family after nearly fifty years. They were surprised to find a telephone listing for Katherine and Deborah Garrett in a Savannah suburb.

"That's what happens when you tell people you're from North Dakota," Nathan teased. "Melissa, maybe we should just leave Rebecca's sisters alone. She was pointing a gun at them the last time they saw her.  They probably want to forget she ever existed."

"Nathan, that's why we have to give them the diary.  They'll never know what really happened if they don't read it."

"If what's written in the diary really happened.  What if the whole story about the creature was the product of a sick mind?"

Melissa rolled her eyes.  "Nate, we've been over this a million times.  I know you don't believe me, but I saw her ghost."

"Okay, a ghost with a sick mind.  That makes me feel lots better."  He ducked as Melissa threw a pillow at him.

"Laugh all you want, but I saw her. She wasn't crazy, and she wasn't lying.  Her father saw the creature, too.  Why else would he have just left her there? She gave the diary to me and I feel obligated to make sure her sisters see it. You should have seen the look on her face.  I never saw such determination and...and love."

Nathan put his arms around her.  "It probably was the same look that you have on your face right now.  I don't mean to act like I don't believe you.  I just never expected to see witches and ghosts and evil subterranean monsters outside of a horror movie."

Melissa smiled at him.  "Will you go to their house with me?"

"Of course," Nathan sighed.  "Someone has to keep you out of trouble."

A half hour later, they arrived at Katherine and Deborah Garrett's home.  It was a small white house that hadn't seen a fresh coat of paint in about twenty years. The lawn was dry, and weeds poked their heads through cracks in the sidewalk.

This is quite a step down from the place they lived in back in North Dakota, Melissa thought as she rang the doorbell.  The door opened and a tiny grey-haired woman peered at them through trifocal lenses.  Her face had wrinkles on wrinkles, and her back was bowed like a shepherd's crook.  One gnarled hand rested heavily on a wooden cane and the other on the doorknob.

"If y'all are sellin' anything we don't--,"  The woman's blue eyes lit up like Roman candles when she saw the diary in Melissa's hand. "Why, that's my Rebecca's diary!  I gave it to her for Christmas last year.  Have you seen her?  Land's sakes, where are my manners?  Please come in!"

Heavy curtains and closed blinds kept every sliver of sunlight out of the tiny living room.  Dim light came from a floor lamp in one corner.  In another corner, two soap opera characters argued on the screen of a small black and white TV. Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and various angels looked down from every wall.  The only picture that was not of a religious nature was a painting of a much younger Elizabeth Garrett with an attractive red-haired man.

Melissa tried to find some resemblance to Rebecca in the youthful portrait of her mother, but found none.  Rebecca had definitely been her father's daughter, at least in appearance.

Somewhere upstairs, a male voice groaned, "He's coming!  He's gonna get us!  Oh, sweet Jesus, Mother Mary, don't let him take us!"

"Daddy, settle down.  Everything's okay," a female voice soothed.

"Melissa, maybe we should go," Nathan whispered.

"Do y'all know where Rebecca is?" Mrs. Garrett asked suddenly.  "She never comes to see me any more.  Is she mad at me?"

"Mama, what's going on?"  Melissa and Nathan both jumped.  A tall, thin woman with graying blonde hair was coming down the stairs.  "Who are these people?" she barked.

"Katherine dear, these young folks have Rebecca's diary.  Why doesn't Rebecca come to see me?"

Katherine's blazing blue eyes darted toward the young couple like a hawk searching for a kill.  Her gaunt body stiffened when she saw the diary in Melissa's hand.

"Deb!" she shouted. "Deborah, come down here!"

"Our father who art in Heaven--," moaned the voice upstairs.

A shorter, heavier version of Katherine came down the stairs.  "We shouldn't leave Daddy alone right now," she said nervously.  When she noticed the visitors, she asked, "Who are they?"

"Take Mama to the bedroom," her sister commanded.

The old woman began to cry. "But I don't want to go," she sobbed as her younger daughter led her away.  "I want to talk to these people. Please ask them where Rebecca is. I miss her so much!"

Katherine whirled to face Melissa and Nathan.  "It was you on the phone, wasn't it?" she hissed.  "I told you to leave us alone.  You had no right to force your way into our house and bring that--that thing with you!"

She snatched the diary from Melissa, strode to the front door, and threw the book out into the front yard. Holding the door open, she turned to Melissa and Nathan. "Y'all get out of here, now!  You've got my mother so upset that it will take us days to calm her down."

"Ms. Garrett we didn't mean to upset your mother," Melissa said.  "I know it must be difficult for you to think about the last night you saw Rebecca, but you don't know what really happened.  Please read the diary--"

"Don't talk to me about what really happened," Katherine shouted.  "You weren't there.  You didn't see her waving that gun at us.  You didn't see the demon she conjured, but my Daddy did.  If the Lord hadn't opened his eyes, we would have all been killed.  My sister was a devil worshipping witch who wanted to feed her whole family to a beast from Hell.  I don't need to read her evil spell book to know that.  Now y'all get out before I call the police!"

"But she didn't--"

"I don't want to hear any more!  Get out!"

Nathan put his arm around Melissa's shoulders and whispered, "Let it go. We can't help by getting arrested."

As he led Melissa out the door, he smiled at Katherine and said, "We're sorry to have disturbed you.  We won't be back."

"Y'all better not," Katherine whispered hoarsely.  "Take that damn book with you!"

She slammed the door behind them, and they heard the click of the deadbolt. With tears in her eyes, Melissa picked up the diary from where it lay in the weeds. 

"Her own sister!" she said angrily.  "She wouldn't even listen."

'I'm sorry, Melissa," Nathan said as they drove away.  "Nothing you said would have made any difference even if she had listened. I sure was glad to get out of there.  I think I'd rather face the creature from the basement than spend another minute with that woman."

"I don't want to go back to the motel right now," Melissa said.  "Let's just drive for awhile."

They drove in silence as the spaces between houses became larger, and the suburban street became a two lane country road.  Dozens of floral scents wafted through the open car windows, most of them unrecognizable to the two northerners, except one, lilacs.  It must have been the wind that caused the pages of the diary to flutter, although no wind was blowing that humid summer evening, not even a breeze.

"Here," whispered a voice carried on the wind that was not blowing. The scent of lilacs grew stronger. 

"Nathan, turn here," Melissa said suddenly, indicating a dirt road leading into a grove of trees.  The road ran past a clearing surrounded by a rusty iron fence.  Marble and granite monuments were scattered throughout the clearing, many of them tipped over or leaning precariously. 

"Stop here," Melissa said.

"But this is a --"

Melissa opened the door and jumped out, taking the diary with her.

"--cemetery," Nathan said to himself as he shut off the car and followed her.

'Here," whispered the voice again, from a far corner of the cemetery.  There stood the most magnificent lilac bush Melissa had ever seen.  It was the middle of August, long past blooming time for lilacs, but this one was in full flower.  Melissa ran toward it, inhaling the wonderful scent.

Beneath the bush, nearly hidden by the heavy clusters of purple flowers, was a small white marble tombstone.  On the stone was carved:

Rebecca McConnell Garrett
Becky
1888-1957

Melissa knelt and placed the diary on the grave.  The pages fluttered one more time, then the book snapped shut.

"How did you know her grandmother was buried here?" Nathan asked as he knelt beside Melissa.

"You aren't going to believe this but I think the lilac bush called me."

"After today, I'll believe anything.  You okay?"

She nodded.  "At least the diary is with someone who would have understood."

~*~

The next morning, Nathan and Melissa were ready to leave their motel room for breakfast, when there was a knock at the door.  A middle aged man and woman stood there.  The man was tall and dark with friendly brown eyes.  The woman's auburn hair was tinged with gray and the corners of her emerald eyes had the beginnings of laugh lines, but hers was the face Melissa had seen in an abandoned house on a rainy afternoon.

"We're sorry to bother you," the woman said in a voice as familiar as her face.  "I felt an unexplained desire to visit my grandmother's grave last night and I found this."

She held out the diary.

Melissa realized she had been staring at the woman with her mouth open.  "Your grandmother?" she managed to ask.

"I'm sorry," the woman said. "My name is Amanda Collins and this is my husband Jim.  I'm Rebecca's sister.  Do you have time to talk?  We'll buy you breakfast."

To be continued...