Photo credit: Nathan Dumlao from Unsplash

***

The rooms at the Nid de Corbeau embraced the sombre theme that came with their name. Little light trickled through the small, grungy windows. The dark walls and bedspreads swallowed the dim illumination from the faux candelabra wall fixtures. I had been trying to rest since Mike stepped out for my prescriptions, but Milo's restless pacing was rubbing off on my mind.

I picked up Mrs. Crawford's recipe book and leafed through it in hopes there'd be a stray page confirming what I had read at her house. Each one showed what I already suspected. I was slowly losing my sanity, just like my mother had.

Mental illness can be hereditary. The doctor's voice was as vivid as it had been twenty-five years ago as he spoke in a low tone to my father. I'd asked my aunt what 'hereditary' meant when we got home from an appointment after my mother had passed. From that day, with my father's help, I'd done everything in my power to stay physically fit and eat right to avoid slipping into inheriting what had afflicted her. In the end, it didn't seem to matter.

Unless today's occurrences were real.

I shook my head. Paranormal or demonic entities couldn't live inside a doctor's body, nor were people hiding in the forest and whispering to me. If that was true, it meant the body was real, and that someone had butchered another person outside our home. That couldn't be true. They would come for us next. It had to be my mind playing tricks.

The dim lights flickered, and a long thin shadow grew on the wall.

Your father wasn't always right, Winnie. Not everyone has the gift of sight like us.

Her voice had a melodic tone, like a beautiful songbird. Although I longed to tune it out and return to the real world, her voice was soothing my racing mind.

How, Mama? How can any of this be real?

If you truly listen, you will understand.

Listen to what?

The lights flickered again, and the shadow vanished. I sighed. What good was listening if the clues I sought were in a book? Did she want me to search my house? It would be crawling with cops, like Mrs. Crawford's home.

Our blue SUV pulled up in front of the motel window. After the headlights dimmed, Mike hopped out and opened the trunk. He was there for a while before he approached with a plastic shopping bag, which was odd because he always kept reusable ones in the vehicle and got on my case if I forgot to use them.

As he approached, I stood to unlock and open the door for him. He jerked back, avoiding my gaze for a second.

"Winston, I thought you'd be sleeping. You should be resting."

"Plenty of time to rest tonight. What's with the bag?"

Mike pulled out a pair of black track pants and handed them to me. "I didn't want to go home, so I bought these." I looked at the gauze poking out from the hole in mine.

"Thanks."

"The meeting starts in twenty minutes if you're still feeling up to it. Don't feel you have to attend. They'll understand after the trauma you endured today."

"After discovering Mrs. Crawford and the statue, I need to find out what's happening."

He set the prescription bag on the nightstand as I headed into the bathroom to change.

***

The police were hosting the town meeting in the high school gymnasium. More people than we saw on basketball game nights stood, sat, and mingled near the plastic folding chairs. Retired couples whispering amongst their social groups, parents soothing and chasing children too young to leave at home, and those without kids looked around the room with narrowed eyes. I hoped that I was imagining several stares following us as we crossed the gym.

Officer Potts stood at the front with another officer and Jeanine. When he locked eyes with Mike and me, he hustled over, ignoring the questions from the other townspeople.

"Good evening, gentleman," Officer Potts said.

I tried to disperse the weight on both my legs. It hurt less than it had before, even without the drugs.

"Good evening, officer. I presume you heard about the statue appearing at our place," Mike said.

Potts nodded and looked us both over. My palms sweated. Did he know about the body?

"Yes, we have officers watching your property as we speak. We'll continue to monitor the situation closely."

My heart thudded in my chest like a floundering fish against a dock. If they found that body, they'd arrest us. If it wasn't real, today's events were hallucinations, and I'd suffer the same future as my mother. Neither option appealed to me.

Mike stared at the chief with his arms crossed and confidence I seldom saw in him. "I hope you do. After poor Mrs. Crawford's fate, we're worried about our well-being."

"We're still investigating the link between the two if there is one. You both seem to attract your fair share of trouble recently."

I gulped. He was onto us and knew what I was hearing and seeing. We had to run and fast.

Mike squeezed my arm as if he could read my thoughts. "No more than anyone else. Other people saw the statue too. We were the only ones to check on Mrs. Crawford well enough to find her."

Why was Mike antagonizing him?

"Let's hope that stays true. After this meeting, I need to see you at the station to take your statements about the eye statue and anything else you might have witnessed," Potts said.

His eyes lingered on me like I was the star player on the opposing soccer team. My stomach dropped as if someone had pushed me off a high-rise building. If I opened my mouth, they'd lock me up in a heartbeat.

Mike rubbed my back and whispered in my ear, "He's just doing his job. Don't stress."

As Potts departed toward Jeanine, we took two empty seats near some parents of the kids I coached and a client I trained.

Mrs. Bouchard leaned in like a hungry alligator. Her floral perfume made me cringe. "Did Officer Potts tell you what happened?"

"I heard they found bodies in the woods and that's why they kicked us out of the forest," Derek added.

I exchanged a look with Mike as my stomach clenched into a knot. Was that what the meeting was about?

"We were sharing some concerns since our land borders it," he said.

"Oh yeah, you two are down the road from Mrs. Crawford. My son said the cops spent all afternoon combing her property. You're right to be worried. Who knows what that strange woman buried there?" Mrs. Bouchard dug in her purse for a pack of gum and offered us some.

"She could have brought the statue to the town. It was at her place first. Maybe she put a curse on it," Derek said with a grin.

My skin prickled. Their rude comments were similar to how neighbours had spoken about my mother. Some had the audacity to say she deserved her fate at her funeral. Mrs. Crawford, like my mother, had been fighting for her sanity and didn't deserve what had happened to her.

"You shouldn't make judgements about people you hardly know," I said.

Derek laughed. "Come on, man. You don't think her forest excursions and rituals were strange? I bet she requested that statue without knowing how risky it was. Now we're all stuck living through the aftermath of a haunting."

"You can't be sure that's what's happening. There could be a dangerous person hurting others, and we're blaming a cursed statue," Mike said loudly enough to make Derek stop talking. While I appreciated the results, I didn't like the certainty my husband spoke with. Why was he changing his mind and no longer scared of the sculpture?

"Do you believe that?" I whispered to Mike.

"With people vanishing and the police on high alert, I don't know what to believe."

I gulped. Was that second body real? Was I protecting a murderer by keeping silent to protect my innocence? I should tell him after tonight so we didn't meet the same fate.

Potts cleared his throat at the microphone and adjusted his nametag. "Good evening and thank you for coming to this emergency meeting. I'm Sergent Potts, I'm running the investigation into the disappearances and eye statue. As you know, we've issued a lockdown order to keep everyone inside and safe. In the past two weeks, we've had reports of a wooden eye statue that moves around the town. Some families have reported missing loved ones following the statue's appearance."

Whispers filled the gym.

"We don't want anyone to panic since there isn't a clear connection between the two yet. But we wish to reassure you we take this matter seriously. If you or someone you know is involved in the statue pranks, please come forward as soon as possible so we can rule it out as a factor."

Everyone gazed around the gym, but no one stood or raised a hand.

"We also regret to announce that Mrs. Crawford passed and the circumstances of her death are still being investigated. It doesn't appear to be of natural causes, though we're not ruling out a wildlife attack."

Gasps echoed, and Derek hung his head. Perhaps he regretted his earlier words.

"She was found in woods near her home, so we advise all of you to remain vigilant. Many of our missing town members were also last seen near the forest or Corbeau Park, which borders it, or there was evidence of their presence in the woods."

Did Potts mean they'd found pieces of clothing or was he testing the waters before telling us they'd perished?

"If you have any information about the whereabouts of Peter Fisher, the Anderson family, or Claudette Morin, or have witnessed any suspicious behaviour, we urge you to speak with the police now. Until then, we have a curfew at sunset, outdoor events will be postponed, and everyone must stay out of the woods. Lock your doors, keep your loved ones close, and don't take any unnecessary risks."

The barber, Mr. Morin, stood and straightened his button-up shirt. "We need to arrest the person who brought that statue here. They've lured demons into our town. Corbeau Woods has been safe and quiet for over a hundred years."

People applauded and cried out in agreement.

Potts called out, "Okay," until the crowd hushed. "We've only learned the locations where the statue has been spotted. No one has shared other information, and there's no proof of a supernatural presence."

"What if it's cursed?" A woman yelled out. "Why haven't you done more to stop it?"

"M'am, by the time we get the report and investigate, the statue has vanished. Given the many reports, we have to assume it's real, but its disappearing nature makes the statue difficult to investigate. We have noticed a trend where statue sightings are on properties that border the woods."

Mike stood. "The statue appeared on our property this afternoon." 

Heads turned toward us and people's eyes bore through my soul. What the hell had he done that for? Did he want us to go to jail?

He placed his hand on my shoulder. "We're very shaken after what happened to Mrs. Crawford. We don't know who is out there and why we've been targeted. Like the Anderson, the Fishers, and Mrs. Morin. We're terrified."

Whispers overtook the room until a woman jumped up and yelled. "I saw Winston at the clinic covered in blood."

Mrs. Bouchard scooted her chair away as a hundred eyes locked on me. Shouts erupted.

"Did he fight the attacker?"

"Is he the murderer?"

Mike cleared his throat. "My husband is innocent. When we discovered the statue, he entered the house to bravely save a cat and took a knife with him for protection. When he came running from the forest to protect me, we collided and he accidentally cut his leg."

Whispers surrounded me.

"He was in the woods."

"When did they get a cat?"

"Does he always carry a knife?"

"I always thought there was something off about those men."

From nearby, Dr. Fisher's eyes latched on me like an eagle preying on a bunny in an open field. Her body and face seemed to double in size. The surrounding noise faded until it was just her and I, trapped in this staring showdown. If I looked away, she could devour me with the creepy energy she'd brought into her office. She smiled, revealing her missing teeth.

They suspect you, Winston. You're not like everyone else in this town, and they can smell it. They're going to tear you limb from limb until you're nothing but a rotting pile of flesh and bone. They'll toss you in the middle of this forest, and it'll feed on your essence until it grows strong enough to prey on the rest of these people. You will be their beginning and end.

I steadied my erratic breathing. Shadows danced between the audience members, some apparitions sitting on people's heads, sniffing their hair and skin, running slender fingers up and down their arms. Haunting grunts and sighs echoed. No shadows approached gigantic Dr. Fisher who hovered above the hoard, surveying the scene with a toothless grin. 

Can't you see the nature of your destiny? Don't fight it. Let the people have their villain. Let the forest have its feast.

Winston!

My name echoed like I was floating under meters of water.

Winston!

My body quivered, and the world went blurry.

"Winston." Mike shook my shoulders. "Don't listen to what they're saying. Potts is speaking with them."

I snapped my gaze back to Dr. Fisher, who was regular-sized, sitting and talking to her husband as if nothing had happened. The atmosphere was getting to me. I needed to step away before her prediction came true.

"I'll be right back," I told Mike, leaning in to hug him. The aftershave he usually wore had faded, and he smelled like wet earth.

"Do you want me to come with you?" he whispered.

"I'm fine. Make sure they don't turn this into a witch trial against me while I'm gone." The joke worked on neither of us. I ignored the many eyes on me as I left. Potts continued on about safety strategies and the police's plan.

Outside the gym, I sat on a quiet bench in a nook the students used when they didn't want to get caught doing something rebellious. The fresh air was making the hallucinations' effects fade and my muscles relax. After five minutes of solitude, I was ready to return when Potts' voice spoke tensely.

"You found another one?" A loud footstep echoed on the cement. "Cut clean off? Are you sure? Dear God, no animal would have done that. Where was it?"

My gut rang and jerked like a bike chain jammed in a gear. The body was real. I'd left an actual victim unreported in my backyard. What kind of man did that?

"You're damned right. I'll talk to them now." Potts sighed. "I won't let them take me for a fool twice today."

When I breathed deeply, no air would enter my lungs. The world spun in my vision as my head grew light.

Slow down, Winnie. It's okay. Take ten slow breaths with me. One...

My next inhalation brought oxygen deep into my lungs. The schoolyard steadied more, and I was more grounded. By the time I reached the seventh breath, I felt normal again.

The police will never understand. Only you can see what truly happened. You can't let them take you in. Remember what they did to me. You need to save this town, my mother whispered.

I need to warn Mike. They'll arrest him.

He's safer here. You've always been the stronger one. If you follow my directions, we can end this.

As Potts' footsteps faded away from my bench and proceeded toward the gym, I popped a painkiller. Once the metal door clanged shut, I hurried to the parking lot to find our vehicle. The bright full moon hung low in the sky, illuminating the empty streets.