ANGRY SPIRIT Part 3 Chapter 7

Passing through the dark void to get to the spirit world was frightening, beyond endurance for Nathan. Nothing could have prepared him for the level of horror that seared his every nerve. However, in stark contrast the same method of astral travel that he and Miranda employed to commune around the brilliantly sunlit vastness of the spirit world filled with joy and exhilaration, more than he had ever experienced.

Soaring high in the cloudless, blue sky, bathed in warm sunlight, they looked down on the miniaturized features of landscape below. All of which passed by, blurred by the effortless speed at which they flew.
Lost in the overwhelming sense of freedom, their journey soon drew to a reluctant end. The tiny features, viewed from astral heights began to enlarge as the two souls on wing descended, until the moist summer grass caressed their feet, and the canopy of enormous trees shaded their eyes from the warming rays of the sun.
"Where are we?" Miranda asked, casting an inquiring gaze all around, hoping to see some distinguishing landmark to indicate their location. However, despite her intense inspection she saw none.

"This place seems familiar, though I can’t for the life of me think why." Nathan exclaimed. He walked out from the cover of the trees, onto a steep hillside, that fell down to a small village below.
A group of children played happily and noisily at the bottom of the hill. A group of three boys, their ages were hard to tell from the distant vantage point, though Nathan estimated them to be probably around ten or eleven years old.
"Why do I get the feeling I’ve been here before?" he asked, his face quickly wrinkling with anxiety.
"You probably have been here before!" Miranda announced her voice showed no signs of surprise.

"But I would have remembered!"
"Not if you visited this place in a previous life."
"What the hell do you mean by that?"
"It’s not important," Miranda said. The way she casually dismissed her profound statement sent a flush of searing anger through Nathan.
"It may not be important to you, but it sure as hell is to me!" he snapped in reply.
"Let’s go down to the village. Maybe you’ll recognize something that will jog your memory."
"I’m not sure I want to remember anything anymore. I’ve had enough shocks and surprises to last me a lifetime."

Miranda laughed loudly and extended her arm to rest a compassionate hand on Nathan’s shoulder.
Once again he reacted angrily to her flippant response. "What is so funny?"
"You still won’t accept it, will you?"
"Accept what? Accept that I’m going crazy. Accept I’m living inside my nightmare?"
"You say you’ve had enough shocks and surprises to last you a life time. Nathan… In this world there are no life times, life is eternal, and it’s merely separated into to different stages of existence."
"So, none of this craziness bothers you then? All this is normal is it?"
"In a way. Yes!"

Nathan’s head buzzed with angry confusion. He struggled to hold back the overwhelming urge to scream out. Scream out in desperate fear, like he had done so often when he had been captive in his confused and horrific nightmares, hoping the result would be the same. To wake, sweating and terrified from tortured sleep, but emerge into the familiar surroundings that he had always accepted as his comfortable reality. However, in his current predicament, neither waking, nor feeling the satisfying pains of reality were an option. He was trapped in an alien existence with no hope of escape.
After taking a moment to soak in the beauty of his surroundings, and listen to the children’s laughter the seeds of acceptance began to grow. Gradually at first, but then with some reluctance he concluded that the threat of danger, could be a distant prospect and elected to follow his instinct to cautiously explore whatever lay ahead in this sun-soaked world he now found himself in.

"I suppose we better take a look around the village," Nathan began. "Maybe we can find some clues as to why we are here."
Miranda’s relief was evident in the beaming smile that wrinkled her face. "Exactly! What could happen to us in a place as beautiful as this?"
Nathan began the long descent of the hillside without reply. For now, at least, he would keep his deep rooted suspicions to himself. It was clear that voicing further concerns would fall on deaf ears; Miranda’s irritating optimism was unshakable. That was one fact he was rapidly beginning to accept.
When the two of them passed within feet of the merry group of children, they were keen to notice that their presence remained completely undetected, despite one of the boys separating from his companions and making a mad dash in Miranda’s direction, only to stop a metre or so short and retrieve a small ball from the long grass.

Leaving the grassy hillside behind, they began the long approach towards the out lying buildings of the small village. With hesitant steps, they trod the uneven and well worn surface of the narrow lane, hedged on either side by a dense mixture of hawthorn and bramble. An overwhelming silence engulfed the invisible adventurers causing a sense of eerie uneasiness. No bird song. No dog barking. No distant voices of the villages’ inhabitants. The silence was total and painful. Not even the sound of their own footfalls interrupted the quietness.

"Where is everyone?" Nathan asked when they eventually reached the first building. It was a small house, a white lat and rail fence spanned its frontage, broken only by a gate of similar construction. Two, of the house’s ground floor windows were decorated by window boxes, both overflowing with an abundance of summer blooms. Bright orange Marigolds, purple Pansy, and brilliant red Geraniums all intermingled in a myriad of color and fragrance. A dense cloak of ivy and Jasmine shrouded the pink rendered walls to give the small abode the look of a typical rural postcard cottage.

The main street of the village was lined with cottage-like dwellings, all decorated in a similar ilk.
The scene before them was picture perfect, except for the obvious lack of residents.
In the first house, Nathan had noticed a tall candle flickering, aimlessly in the window. He had paid it little attention, but when the same solitary illumination was repeated in the window of every house, along the entire length of the street, despite the brilliant sunshine that washed down on them. He suspected that some local tradition must have been the explanation, though whatever its origin, the strange sight was deemed to remain a mystery, that is until, almost in unison each door to each dwelling opened and the occupants emerged from each one, some were elderly women, dressed from head to foot in long black skirts. Some were couples of varied age, but all dressed in the same black attire. Each solemnly dressed resident stood in complete silence. Their expressionless faces stared down at the ground as if the entire village had suddenly become entranced by some overpowering force.

"I don’t like this!" Miranda announced in a hoarse whisper.
From their vantage point in the middle of the narrow road, flanked on both sides by dozens of people, none of whom were aware of being watched by two curious and increasingly frightened visitors. The proceedings continued.
"What’s that? Can you hear it?" Nathan exclaimed, straining his ears to detect the distant sound.
"It sounds like someone beating a drum!"
"Yes! And it’s getting louder. Whatever it is, it’s getting closer!"
"My God! Nathan. It’s coming this way!"
Their first instinct was to run and hide, though a distant remnant of reasoning reminded them that such action was completely unnecessary. Why seek cover when no one could see them anyway.

BOOM…BOOM…BOOM! The beat of the mysterious drum echoed towards them. Its beat was painfully slow, and regular.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM!
When the reverberating beat had reached a painful pitch, a man appeared, rounding the corner at the end of the street. Dressed in a black suit and cape. A tall top hat, adorning a long plum of fine black lace cascaded down his back, it danced slightly as the gentle breeze teased it into subtle moves from side to side. In his right hand the man held a long, stout cane, topped by what a appeared to be a silver skull.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM! The man’s long disciplined steps were timed meticulously to the beat of the drum. He swung the long cane in arching motion, stamping its metal tip onto the surface of the road, with every completed circle.
Step by step he drew closer to Nathan and Miranda, who were now frozen by a compelling sense of fear.

When a team of six black mares rounded the corner, each with their heads fashioned with long black feathers, pulling a hearse with fantastic metallic decoration and glass sides came into view, the tall strange man was within distance now to be identified.
Miranda stared in horror at his redden eyes, totally devoid of whiteness. His sharp, high cheekbones that in combination with white prominent teeth gave his face a terrifying skeletal appearance.
Her mouth fell a gape, yet no words emerged.

The ghost-like procession continued its relentless advance. Still the invisible witnesses held firm their station, until …
"Don’t look into his eyes!" Screamed a male voice from opposite them. "Miranda! Don’t look into his eyes!"
In an instinctive move, Nathan lunged towards his entranced companion. Placing himself between her and the approaching ghostly funeral procession.
Strengthened by sudden panic and desperation he dragged Miranda to one side.
"Look towards me, Miranda!" the voice screamed. This time loud enough to break her free of the spell she had been locked in.

"Max?" She gasped in disbelief. "Max, is that you?"
Driven by the same compulsion, Miranda and Nathan spun to see Max Deacon running frantically towards them.
"Run damn it! Get away from there before it’s too late!"
Without thought or concern, Nathan grabbed Miranda’s hand and ran. After a few stumbling, reluctant steps Miranda matched his pace; quickly covering the remaining length of the street and made for the lane taking them back to the hopeful safety of the grassy hillside.

Upon reaching the tree line, exhaustion took its inevitable toll and they fell to the ground in a heap.
"Where is he? Where did he go?"
"I don’t know," Nathan began breathlessly. "I never saw him after we started running."
"Do you two realize how close you were then?" Came an irate voice from behind them.
"Max! It is you." She yelled, dispelling her exhaustion and leaping to embrace him. "Thank God, you’re safe."

Much to Miranda’s shock, Max side stepped her attention, once again issuing his dire warning, making no attempt to hide his annoyance.
"We not out of the woods yet," he exclaimed sternly. "That was Edwards himself heading that procession. You were inches away from a fate that … Well I don’t even want to think what almost happened. You’re not ready for the likes of Joshua Edwards and minions. What were you thinking of, coming here!"
"I came here looking for you, Max. I knew you wouldn’t fall into Edward’s grasp without putting up a damn good fight."
"I appreciate your faith in me Miranda. But, in this world things are not what they seem. Don’t let the look of this place fool you; this is not some kind of Utopia where evil can’t exist."

"Hang on!" Nathan interrupted, clearly annoyed by Deacon’s obvious ungratefulness. "She came here to save you; you could be at least a bit grateful!"
"I am grateful, believe me. But, you have to appreciate the dangers that lay round every corner. Look down there." He pointed in the direction of the lane where the funeral procession was slowly passing by.
"Whose funeral do you think that is?"
"One of the villagers?"
"That’s right. Its one Edmund Harrison."
Nathan drew in a long gasp of air, stunned by Max’s disclosure.
"But that’s …."

"Yes your Great Grandfather. Believe me Nathan this is no ordinary funeral. Edmund Harrison was a prominent figure in these parts. He was foolish enough to recognize who or what Joshua Edwards really was and what he represented.
Before Nathan could voice further astonishment Max continued, his voice now adopting a strange air of compassion;
"He is not being transported to a grave where he will rest in peace. He is being paraded before the entire village as an example of what will happen to anyone who might be tempted to take up his mantle and continue his ill-fated vendetta."
"You mean Edward’s killed my Great Granddad?"

"Worse than that Nathan... He claimed his very soul, and vowed the same fate for three subsequent male heads of the Harrison generations."
"My father as well…"
"Sadly, yes. But I’d be more concerned about the head of the third generation, if I were you."
Suddenly the gravity of what Max was explaining hit him with numbing effect;
"I’m the head of the third generation!"
"Exactly Nathan… The fact that Joshua Edwards entered your nightmares was no coincidence. He was drawing you here to bring that vow to its satisfying conclusion. Now can you see the dire consequence of your actions, you have walked straight into his trap like a rabbit caught in a set of car headlights."