Satan's Woods

Once upon a time many years ago, a little boy walked into a woods with his little dog and they were never seen again. His parents became worried at first when he didn’t return to their homestead by nightfall but then frantic as they began pushing further through the fields through the tall grass and calling his name but there was only the sound of the wind. Neighbors heard them and their dogs barking and came to help. Within the next few days, neighbors in surrounding farms as well as villagers combed the area. Bordering their property on the east was a large, wooded area that surrounded the farms stretching for miles towards the mountains. It was called Satan’s Woods by the locals because of stories that those who entered in the darkness of the trees would never return. On dark nights, it was known that a putrid smell would drift out from the woods and strange and piercing sounds could be heard as if something or someone was caught in a trap. On rare occasions, a green mist would rise above the trees in a giant cloud and then with a crackling sound it would seem to shatter into a million pieces in the air. About halfway through the forest and cutting it from north to south was an old, rutted road worn into the soil by carts pulled by oxen or mules. Some would drive their teams that way but whipped them hard so as to not tarry long. A man in times past was said to disappear in the middle of the curve in that road seemingly abandoned his cart in the middle with his oxen. After that and for days after, travelers along that route reported hearing a man’s voice calling for help. But no trace of him was ever found. Others who found themselves wandering on Devil’s Curve as it came to be known, reported hearing the sound of voices coming from deep within its darkness inside. The Satan’s Woods had a rotten smell of dead animals, but the curves’s odor was a stench that caused their eyes to burn and pain in the heads who took their time getting through. When the moon was full, the forest lay in silence not even for the sounds of owls or coyotes.

The search for Teddy continued on for a couple of days staying in the fields until finally someone said, “We need to go in the woods.” A murmur went through the crowd and some refused outright. Fear grabbed the hearts of even the toughest men who seemed to find excuses to get back to their homes. But about that time, three brave young men from out and around stepped up and volunteered to go into the forest. “We ain’t sceered,” they boasted as they held up their lanterns. Two had shot guns and one, Zeb, the biggest and hardiest boy in the area bellowed: “We are coming in to get ya Teddy and turning to the crowd, he held up a large knife flashing its blade in the light of the sun, “We ain’t afraid of no ghost or monster!” But they should have been because…. only one of them came out.

The sun was at noon when the people gathered around waved good-by and off the young men tramped with arms draped over the other’s shoulders like warriors heading into battle. Their voices could be heard as they called to one another until finally they couldn’t be heard anymore. The forest seemed to have swallowed them up. Hours seemed to drag by and the afternoon stretched long. Evening was close when suddenly those who were waiting on the fringe said that they began to hear moaning noises as those some animal was in pain. Fearing that the boys were hurt, a few brave men grabbed their shotguns, headed into the trees, and tried to follow the boys path into the woods by following their footprints in the dampness. But darkness began falling and they said they “lost their bearing so they turned back.” Another hour and then a buzzing sound that that started out as a low murmur and began to get louder. “This is the sound on Devil’s Curve, one said but then some thought they it sounded like voices calling in a whisper while others thought it was the sound of the trees themselves.

And then, just when all hope for the boys was fading, the full moon rose over the trees, the sounds went silent and in that moment one of the boys came stumbling out through the trees. It was Zeb, but now, he was no longer the brave warrior. No not now. His clothes were ripped and torn from catching on branches and twigs and he was covered with scratches and cuts. He burst out from between the branches. Terror was in his eyes and he gasped once and fell face down on the ground . The crowd pushed forward kneeling around him. His father pushed through the circle and threw himself over the boy, begging him to speak to him. Zeb slowly rolled over and tried to talk but his sobs shook him so hard that it took a while to speak. Everyone leaned in and strained to understand what he had to tell.

When he was brought into the light of the lanterns that had been lit, he began to tell his story. He described the three walking in a dense thicket of woods where the tall trees were so close together that it was hard for them to push through. “There weren’t nothin’ there except trees and bugs. Oh yeah, there was that buzzing sound.” One of the boys, Jarod wanted to turn back then but Zeb kind of gave short laugh then, and then caught himself and said low under his breath, “We called him a coward, Elias and I so he stuck it out.” “

“Where is he? Where’s my son?”

“Let him talk,” somebody said.

“ What about the buzzing?” came from the crowd, “Did you find out what it wuz?”

“Nope,” he said looking up into the crowd. “But boy did it get loud and stink!”

But we kept goin’. We kept on walkin’ durn near all ta afternoon. We looked everywhere for that kid Teddy and…we yelled our voice out. We thought he musta gone another way cuz he weren’t here. It was spooky in there – quiet – nuthin except us makin a noise.” But when the sun began to set and the way was harder to see even with their lanterns, they came upon the Devil’s Curve. I knew it cuz it was coming across our path coming out of forest down on the right and bending around and up to the left and it stunk like high heaven. We all just about puked and our eyes burned shut.“ The buzzing sound was hurting their ears by that time, and it seems that they were feeling the pain of their boots rubbing their feet from tramping through the branch strewn rocky floor of the forest and so they decided to sit down on the boulders beside the path and have themselves a smoke. “We was just getting finished lightin’ up when I thought I saw something hanging on a broken branch across the path. “Whatz that?” I says. I pointed it out and Jarod, he right away jumps up and starts running to it. I told him it might be somethin’ bad but he says, “I ain’t no coward, no sir and he runs over there and grabs it off the tree and yells “It a hat!” and then he says “Come on. This has gotta be the kid’s hat. He’s around here someplace and I’m goin’ find em.” and then he took off like something bit him and started running up to the curve. Elias started after him but I had to put my boots back on. I started runnin’ but had to go back and get my knife.

Zeb stopped to sucked in a breath and looking up at his dad, he then started sobbing again. “I tried to stop em dad, I swear to God, I tried. But they kept on goin and they wouldn’t listen.” He continued going back and forth picking up pieces of the story and then trying to make the folks understand. Some were rocking on their feet in growing anxiety. “I was holding the big knife out front in my hand just in case, and boy did I run as fast as I could but I twisted my ankle,” he pulled up the leg of his pants to reveal his leg black and blue and swollen over his boot top. I dropped it. My knife and I had to crawl in the mud to get her.

The story continues after a brief time to look at his ankle.

“What happened to my boy?” shouted Jarod’s dad.

“Well, he said, Icould see them ahead and hear them yelling to each other when suddenly he heard a loud pop and when he looked ahead, he saw them in the last light for just a moment – not even a second and then…. they vanished….

“VANISHED?” the whole crowd gasped in unison. “What do you mean? VANISHED? WHERE ARE THEY?” They were getting agitated.

“I thought I was a seein’ things.” Zeb whispered. And then louder, “ They wuz there and then…they weren’t.” He paused. “I walked right up to where they disappeared, but all that was there was that little brown hat layin’ right there on the ground. I yelled out their names begging them to come back but they wouldn’t answer me. And when I looked down at the mud for their footprints, they weren’t none. No siree they just stopped and “there was nothin’ there, I tell ya! It was like they never wuz there. Right there in the mud nothin’ no footprints, no nothin’.” He stopped. The crowd waited. He continued.

“Then that buzzin’ noise hit my ears like a dad burn hyena – my eyes watered so much I couldn’t get my eyes open. It felt like something heavy was comin’ down on me squishing me. It was on top of me smotherin’ the wind right outta me. I was about ta puke. The whole place started changin’ colors and I could smell something strong and I thought I was going to fall down or pass out. It got green -like and I pointed my ole knife at the sun and flashed the light right back at the dark,” and he patted it as he spoke, “that’s when my head cleared up and I knew I hadda get outa there FAST. I tell you, I yelled for em agin but they had went or somthin had em. I got up and as fast as I could and started runnin for my life. I didn’t stop till I saw you all. The boy kept talking through his sobs. The crowd pushed close around him trying to make out what he was saying. His voice rose and fell with the sound of his sobbing. Then he fell quiet while his mother washed his face with her kerchief. He opened his mouth and seemed about to say something more, but his head lolled back and his eyes rolled white and Zeb fell back and fainted dead away. The hat was crushed in his fist and his big knife lay in the grass beside him.

The crowd began to spread out and go to their wagons. Zeb was led away but his voice carried through the night air as he sobbed, “I thought I could hear screamin” from somewhere back in the woods but it was too far away. I was sceered and couldn’t breathe. ” His voice trailed off as his family held him up on both sides and led him across the grass.

This tragedy was felt by everyone in those parts because it split everyone up.

The families of the young men who had not returned with Zeb huddled together crying and holding one another that first night. But by week’s end some had worked up a rage and gathered together those who wanted to search the bend for the boys. They organized a group of other angry citizens planning to search the Devil’s curve and the woods around them and if the boys weren’t found, then they began to discuss secretly a plan to lynch Zeb accusing him of murdering their sons and lying about it. The energy of the group grew until one night with burning torches and hoods covering their faces, they drug the boy out of his house after beating his parents and tying them up. And then dragged him through the woods to the curve in the road to hang him. But that fell through when members of that mob also disappeared right before their eyes on that piece of the road and when they did, the rest of them dropped everything and all scattered leaving Zeb to make his way back home. He was never the same after that . And it wasn’t long before, his family packed up their carts and took whatever they could and left leaving their place to stand empty until a bunch of hooded figures, one dark night, burned the place down. It was fear and rage that turned the community into a time when neighbors took sides against their neighbors, a fight that remained for the next 100 years. As for the young man Zeb, he moved far away with his family but he never outlived his feeling of shame. After all, he was the one who survived.

Teddy’s parents, Elton and Molly Fleming, had disagreed with even looking in the woods, at first, because they firmly believed that their son would never go into that dark place. As small as he was, they reasoned, he wouldn’t have been able to walk that far for it was about a quarter mile from their home to the edge of the woods. They may have been afraid as well because of the dark history of Satan’s Woods. The recovery of Teddy’s hat changed everything. When it was held up for them to see, Molly ran forward and snatched it out of the hand that held it and her scream echoed through the hollow and some even said they heard it from a mile away. She threw herself backward into her husband’s arms and then getting a second wind, she pulled away from his arms and charged through the crowd and began pounding Zeb about his head, “He’s out there in the dark. Go back and get him!!” She was pulled away, fighting until she finally collapsed. Oh no oh no oh no,” she sobbed as she was carried back home by those who gathered around both young grieving parents.

Elton and Molly Fleming stayed in their homestead, but without Teddy, their hearts were broken and the farm went to ruin while they waited for their darling little boy to come back. They never stopped believing that Teddy would come home. They say that Molly lost her mind and died young. His dog came back.

Years went by and life in the little village went on and the story of the boys vanishing in the forest and the little boy who never came home passed down from generation to generation. Kids and even some adults liked to sit out under the stars and listen to the sounds coming from the woods and watch for the green mist to rise in the trees as it did on a time when the moon was dark and new. One school girl doing a science project on the woods and after sitting on the edge of the curve in the road for one full month, found that the weird noises and the heavy air only happened when the sky was dark – never when the moon was full. At those times, the woods were silent – no strange sounds – no voices – no buzzing no mist rising. After that it was said that only witches danced under the moon on the edge of the road but still only the very brave. But even for most “non believers, none of them ever took a chance to venture inside the darkness moon or no moon.

Those in the small farms around the village knew the story and stayed away from that woods and the Devils’ Curve in the road if they could – they had seen the green glow and heard the buzzing and felt the heavy air at times. But there were those who ventured into the woods on other times when the moon wasn’t full either by accident or to prove their courage and some came out and some didn’t. For those who didn’t, there were sometimes search parties sent out to try and find them but reports from those who were actually in those search parties said that they didn’t go in very far although they reported that they did.

The county took back the property and a small wooden sign went up on the side of the road next to the beginning of the curve that split off to the road leading up to the old Fleming place as it came to be called, and on it was painted in big black letters: For Sale. But those newcomers who inquired always backed off after hearing the stories although they wouldn’t admit that that was the reason for their change of heart. The sign weathered over the years and the paint peeled off in places and cracks appeared across the front as it sank deeper in the earth.

One day, a man, by the name of Walter Higgins and his family from the coast back east rolled into the area with his family on a cart pulled by a couple of tired mules, took a wrong turn, bumped down the road bordering the woods and rolled past the sign. Then stopped and got down and took another look at the sign. So, Mr. Higgins, decided to camp there for a spell, looking things over what with the road full of ruts. He walked the road to the farm house and saw that the roof was caved in on one end of the house and almost completely gone on the barn. He walked closer and was surprised to see that the house was more of a large cottage with a big porch in front. He had to tromp his way through because the weeds and grasses were taller than the porch. He had left their old place on the inner banks when the storms had washed his place all away for the 3rd time and now he was searching for a little bit of land that was cheap. But as he eyed the rolling hills, he wondered if it was good for growin something other than grass. He brought the cart around and parked out from the house because the kids said the place they were parked out by the fork in the road was making them sick. One morning he woke to the smell of grits frying inside the house. And when he it checked, he found his wife Emily standing in a kitchen swept clear of the clutter, standing in front of a wood stove with an iron skillet sizzling on top. She was singing her morning song for the first time since they left the coast. The windows were opened letting in the summer breeze and the morning sun was shining in bringing with it the sound of the birds. The children were gathered around an old wooden table waiting for breakfast. “Mornin’ dad!” They all sang out. “Mom says we’re home.” He looked at her and she smiled, that smile that always melted his heart– and well that settled it! Walter Higgins made it known that he was an interested buyer.

People all around the county were glad to see somebody take it because it was a haven for tramps and gypsys and other vermin, as they called them. Everyone agreed to keep the old stories of the past to themselves until the Higgins moved in and maybe not even then! But the registrar of deeds in the magistrate’s office asked him if he knew the story of the Satan’s Woods and when the answer was “nope” the official spilled the beans. But Walter Higgins or Walt as he preferred, was “no sissy” he said and he was not going to let a bunch of trees scare him. And that was that.

They got busy fixing it up and clearing the fields and all his neighbors jumped in to help – always bypassing the bend and the woods of course.

Over the years, he lost some livestock that seemed to disappear mysteriously, but he didn’t blame it on the road – at least not to others. “I am not a believer!” He said to everyone who brought it up. But in his heart of hearts, he knew that there was an odd sound that came out of those woods at times and the heaviness in the air caused a feeling behind a person’s eyes to the point that they felt like they were floating. Another thing was that the deeper you went inside the woods, the feeling of dizziness caused a person to be wobbly on their feet and it was likely that you would begin to lose your way. Also, colors changed almost like looking up from under water to a sunny day. Higgons was a smart man and stayed clear of Satan’s Woods except on a full moon when he harvested the mushrooms and wild onions that grew near the edge.

One day a man in a Sunday suit came in a buggy to knock on the door of the cottage. He said he was from the highway commission and wanted to talk about getting permission to build a big road over the curve through the middle of the woods from an old path through the mountains. He showed him the plan, laying it out on the kitchen table. The plan was to make a curving road that branched off from the current road on the south around and back to the same road on the north. Walt Higgins sat there thinking to himself of the woods itself and the possibility that something dangerous might come of it. And then the man opened up his bag and pulled out a quill. A fair sum of money was offered, and as he looked around at all of the things that needed fixing and the dress that his wife wore that was her only one, Walter Higgins took the quill in his hands and signed the contract. Later, he made a trip to town took it personally to the bank to make sure the check was good. It was good! And soon the sound of workers with their horses and carts could be heard as they began to clear the woods for what would later be called “The Devil’s Curve.” It was supposed to end up a road with two lanes that actually had room for two carts to pass one another. It curved from the south side and came out two miles out the north end making a big curve.

Things started out in high gear but It soon became apparent that something was wrong. Workers began walking off the job and talk at the local taverns was that some had actually gone missing and there was much chatter among the townspeople. Other carpenters and workmen said there were strange beings visiting their campsites at night while others attributed that to the gallons of moonshine being passed around among them. Six months was the time allotted for the work at the beginning but because of the strange things that went on, workers began drifting away. One morning, out of 30 men on site, only 3 were left causing construction to be halted. It was begun again with prisoners from the local jail. But they didn’t stay. Fall turned into winter and the wheel of time kept rolling. Work finally came to a stop for good. They all gave up and went back where they came from. The state sent a letter about the check they had paid in the beginning but when Walt responded with a hand- written letter that charged them with damages on his property, the letters stopped. The curve was cleared through the woods and so travelers still used it although it was rough. The road smoothed out a bit but was almost always muddy. So many accidents occurred, and the air was so putrid and heavy that that piece of road was referred to as Devil’s Curve. It was years before the little stretch of road was finished and by that time several generations of Higgins had gone by. But from that time until present day, people driving the Devil’s curve report feeling the heaviness of the air, smelling the stench that burns their eyes and nose, and hearing the buzzing in their ears that seems to abruptly stop the instant that they pull away and enter the straight road. For this reason, people have been known to speed around the curve, breaking the law and county records can verify that more wrecks occur on Devil’s curve than is normal. But repairing it was always put on the bottom of the list. “Rural road?” They asked whenever it was mentioned, “Who goes there anyway?”

Generations of Higgins passed the farm down from one to another. The little house had grown over the years with rooms added and improvements made and it was a lively meeting place for friends to gather. A big green lawn bordered by flowers of every color and a white picket fence stretched out in front of the house where generations of Higgin’s children had played. A fence was put up on the edge of the woods to keep the livestock contained it was said but everyone knew that it was to keep kids from walking through it to the Devil’s curve because of all the woods, That’s the place where the strange things always happened as though the workman of the past had put the curve right over a place of evil.

The legend of Teddy and the boys who were lost had been the theme of many campfires and the story was a good one to tell on Halloween. But interestingly, although some kids had secretly climbed the fence and ventured into the woods without telling their parents and some had actually gone as far as the Devil’s, Curve, but nobody had ever actually stepped out on the curving road or at least if they did, they never told. However, they did tell about the haze that lingered made it hard to see and the strange behavior of the birds and bats as they would dive bomb passing travelers and even those walking on the road were bombed.

It was a beautiful fall day in Alexandria. The weather was balmy, and the leaves were beginning to change color. Traffic had slowed down mid-morning but in the small coffee shop on the square, it was coffee break time. Emi Lawrence sat sipping her cappuccino in the corner on her break while leafing through a small book entitled “The Haunted Highways of America” that someone had left behind on her table. One of the stories caught her eye: “Satan’s Woods and the wicked Devil’s Curve within. A ghostly road in Pennsylvania where people disappear and are never found.”

There it was - her families’ farm. Seriously? She thought. Was it her farm? She scanned the first page and to her delight - so it was. The article described reports from people in the area sharing their experiences of driving through The Devil’s Curve, which was the curving road that sliced through the large, wooded area on their family’s farm. The article had parts of interviews of the locals who reported hearing strange sounds from the woods that sometimes sounded like people from a distance and part about the investigations that had gone on of that area. But hey! She looked at her watch. She had a deadline to make for her column at the Tribune, Emi Lawrence’s “Talk”. She nodded at the cashier and held up the book and was given a nod, “Go ahead and take it. It doesn’t belong to the shop” the cashier said. Emi slipped the book into her purse, grabbed her coffee and rushed back to the newsroom and was immediately gobbled up by the sounds and rush and energy of it.

It was later than usual when she hurried out of her building, but she felt invigorated after meeting her deadline – once again. “I’m so good,” she laughed under her breath. Human interest – that’s where she belonged at least for now while the kids are young. Who knew? She had won many awards for her provocative stories from war zones and mountain tops. It was funny, she had never wanted to be locked into a newsroom. She had started out doing war zone commentary as a junior member of the team and later moved into a correspondent position after she was called to fill in or a fallen journalist in Iraq. She became known for her willingness to take chances and would jump at the chance to go anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice. “This is Emi Lawrence of CBS news reporting live from the middle of an active war zone in….” or “an earthquake in Chile.” Her actual news reporting under pressure was considered by some to be bold and courageous. Little did she know that she would soon face a dangerous and terrifying situation – one that she wasn’t prepared for.

She thought she had her future mapped out, traveling the world, meeting interesting people and then on a trip into the struggle in Israel, she met Phil. He was reporting from Tel-Aviv-Yafo and life took a turn. They seemed to cross paths all over Europe and the Middle East. When Phil was caught in enemy fire and injured, they married in the hospital. When the twins were born, they decided to go freelance and chose Alexandria, Virginia, close to the news hub, and settle in. Life was good in Alexandria, they got used to the life and along came Archie, a surprise bundle who was now an energetic, spunky 4-year-old. She laughed to herself at the thought of him and his shenanigans. Josh Eberly, an old colleague who was now the editor of the Alexandra Tribune gave her a call on the day that she had enrolled Archie in preschool, and made a deal she couldn’t turn down, she took it. It all fit together – perfectly – especially since Phil was freelance. Now as she walked across the square to the parking garage, she brushed her hair out of her eyes and looking up, she was startled to see the waving of the branches of the red maples next to the sidewalk. A shower of fall leaves came fluttering down just then. The sky was yellow, and then she heard it – the whisper and she was hit with the absurdity that that old weird memory had come to her twice in one day when she so seldom even thought of it. For just this morning on while rushing back to the front porch from hurrying her kids out to the curb to get on the school bus, she had heard the trees blowing in a burst of wind and looking up had seen the big red maples swaying their branches in the breeze in the yard and again, the sky was a balmy yellow. A voice soft and faraway whispered ……. And there it was – that memory again. The memory was odd to her because it came to her only on balmy days like this and it didn’t seem to have a purpose. She knew her grandparent’s farm had something to do with it but again, she didn’t know how it figured in, just that it seemed to. The thought came and it was gone. The one thing that always frustrated her about it was that she thought she could hear a voice but could never understand what it was saying. She would think of it briefly and then not again until another balmy day with a yellowish sky and then – there it would be again. She always asked herself, “Is it the trees swaying like that that means something? The sky? The voice? But why? What am I supposed to remember? For a brief moment she always tried to understand what the voice was saying but then she would resume what she had been doing and not think of it again…. until next time.

She dug into her coat pocket for her car keys and felt the little book. She had not thought of it since she left the coffee shop. Nothing better, home, dinner, bedtime for kids, and a good book! Later after the kids were in all snuggled in their beds and the house was quiet, she sat there under the lamplight reading the short story about the Devil’s Curve. Their farm was mentioned a few times in the story and her grampa had even been quoted as saying that he believed that the woods really “needed to be studied for the weird abnormalities.” Emi jumped out of the chair and carried the book into the study. She spent the rest of the evening digging up everything she could find about that area, the town of Mountainview, and all of the reports that had been made clear back before the Civil War about that forest. This is only scratching the surface, she thought. There is something here. Thinking back as she climbed into bed beside a snoring Phil, all she could think of was that her childhood was normal. There were happy times spending summers and holidays at the farm. The only thing that stood out to her as she was falling asleep was that time when she got lost in the woods.

The next weekend, as Emi sat under a big hat on the bleachers with Phil and the girls watching Archie play his first game of soccer, she reached into her purse to grab her phone, once again she pulled out the little book. It fell open to the story and for a moment, her mind raced back to her families’ farm. She thought it was odd that she couldn’t remember them talking about anything strange about the woods. But wait a minute, she remembered now looking into her grandma’s eyes up closely and being told to “NEVER EVER go into that woods! Do you hear me Emi Louise.”

The cheering of the crowd brought her back to the soccer game. Her mind switched to the sound of the crowd. When she looked out on the field, there was Archie running around the field carrying the soccer ball with a big happy smile on his face while the crowd roared with laughter. “Put it down! Put it down! “Phil and the girls shouted. “Mom! DO SOMETHING! He is embarrassing us!!!” The moms and dads who were doubling as coaches ran around trying to round all of th 4-year old soccer team and one of them finally chased Archie down and kneeling on one knee could be seen trying to explain the game of soccer. But now all of the kids on the field – both teams- got into running and kicking the ball or throwing it or just playing in the dirt. The teams fist bumped, it was over, and then ice cream! Such joy!

Later that night after the kids were in bed and Phil’s snoring could be heard out in front of the television in the game room, she opened the lid on her lap top, took out the little book and started searching data again in her computer about the story to see if she could find anything else on the legendary story of Satan’s Woods and Devil’s Curve and the mysterious disappearances.

When Phil stuck his head in the door on his way to bed, she said “I’ll come to bed in a bit. I think I need to write everything down that I can remember about the farm. There may be a story here.”

“Don’t stay too late,” he said as he headed down the hallway.

As she sat there in the lamplight working, memories of her days when the family went to see her grandparents in Pennsylvania unfolded on the pages. It always started with a a long trip from their home in Springfield, Indiana to Mountainview, Pennsylvania. They had driven this route so many times that they knew it by heart. She and her siblings always knew they were getting close when they went through the small town of Mountainview and came to Freddies Shopabit, a little shop on the corner of the turn to the road to grandma and grandad’s. It opened with a screen door that had “Wonder Bread” printed on it. Her dad would pull into one of the 4 spots in front and they would all pile out. The shop was full of wonderful treats and stuff. There were bins of penny candy such as root beer barrels, Likemaid, bubble gum, Firecrackers, Licorice sticks; a red pop machine with glass bottles of root beer stood inside the door, and racks of pop guns, monkeys on a stick, and wooden gliders. It was a wonderful place. Mr. and Mrs. Duffy the shop owners always gave each of her siblings and herself a Black Cow – those big carmel suckers that would last the rest of the way. Dad would get his wallet out of his back pocket and pull out a couple of dollars to put on the counter. The old cash register would ring and they would pocket their candy and climb back in the car for the rest of the way. They all knew that it wouldn’t be long now before they went around the curve, smelled that smell and then took the turn and down the bumpy road to grandma and grampa’s house. Yay! She thought even now. She let her mind wander back in time.

She could see it now in her mind’s eye, there she was pressing her nose against

the glass in the backseat window of the old Chevy and rocking to the side as dad swerved around the curve with mom telling him to slow down. She shivered as she thought of that smell – eeee that was terrible, she remembered – and wondered if they had ever found out where it came from. Surely, they had, she thought. After all, she would have been just 5 or 6 that year and that would be more than 30 years ago. Oh and that buzzing noise that Sonya, her big sister, said was a ghost about to get them. She laughed to herself thinking of Sonya now up in Montana with Ryan and the boys. I wonder if she still tells scary stories? She could feel traces of the excitement that she always felt as they bumped down the road and around the bend to her grandparents’ farmhouse. Those were good times. She kept typing.

And Granny would be waiting with her bright smile and laughing voice. The house would be bright with a fire in the fireplace and there would be the familiar aroma of cookies in the air. Sonya and Troy, her older siblings would be sleeping in the back as always back then and her mom and dad would be speaking in low tones so as not to awaken them. The nights were dark at the farm which made a spooky sight with the moon shining through the trees, their branches bare. Halloween would have been just around the corner because every year for as long as she could remember, she and her family – aunts, uncles, cousins – the whole bunch made that trip to her grandparent’s house this time of year for the big Halloween Trick or Treat Festival, and it was always wonderful.

Emi stopped for a moment to sip her now cold tea. She looked at her screen – 1:30 AM and thought to herself, 30 more minutes.

Down the dirt road and then there it was. Lights shining bright in the dark night. The door would swing open and there would be all of her cousins and aunts and uncles and then a time of hugging and exclaiming how big all of the kids were and, she could picture it now. What a wonderful childhood I had, she smiled, and now we’re all spread out. We need to get together! She could see all the uncles crowding out the door to help dad haul in the bags and get them settled. They would sit around the fireplace and drink cider and eat grandma’s iced sugar cookies. Emi usually fell asleep and had to be carried up to the attic room and tucked into the big bed under the eaves, she remembered now. Always the next day, Emi wrote, after breakfast, she would go with grandma out under the willow, taking a blanket to sit on and a pitcher with pretend tea. They had a special game of fairies out there if the weather hadn’t turned cold. She was the baby cousin of the family and was always left out of their big kid games. But no matter. Grandma always gave her special attention. She even had a special drawer in grandma’s big dresser that always had lemon drops in a little crystal dish just for her, a beautiful feather from one of the birds that filled the trees outside, and last but most importantly, was her small round silver mirror with the word “Love” engraved on the back that Grandma had given to her on her 5th birthday this past year. After Emi had blown out her candles, she opened the small box with the mirror inside and after touching the engraving, she passed it around for everyone to see at the big table. She now remembered that Aunt Bea spoke up and told her that she and all of Emi’s aunts as well as her mother all been given one on their 5th birthday. “You are now a registered Higgins female” she said. And everyone clapped. She pulled it out of her pocket and took it out of its soft blue velvet pouch that day, she remembered as they sat under the tree. And Grandma’s words came back and whispered in her ear to keep it close because she said it was full of magic and would protect her. “Keep it near for it is your talisman.”

“What’s a talisman, gramma?” Emi remembered asking her as the sound of the buzzing floated in the air.

“Someday, you will find out, my darling,”

Also on that day, Emi could see the breeze rustling the willow branches as she reclined on her back listening to grandma singing her Irish tunes to “call the fairies out to play,” she always said. That tree was surround with large flat stones forming a circle and that day they had made daisy chains and sipped their pretend tea while the big kids ran and played in the yard. Emi could still hear her voice, thin and high pitched with a sweet trill. Sweet grandma and grandad, she thought, I miss them. If only I could talk to them and hear their voices. Emi wiped away the tears and stood up to stretch. This idea of writing it down was turning into a real stroll down memory lane. She vaguely remembered the words to the song that grandma always sang. Too – ra-loo-ra-loo-ra in her sweet voice.

She must have fallen asleep because now, she vividly remembered waking up that day and her grandma was gone. The big kids were laughing and yelling at one another and she could have tried to join them, she thought looking back, even though she could never catch up but on that day, she remembered, she didn’t want to chase after the big kids. She started wandering in her grandmother’s garden, chasing butterflies. The grass was high, there was the sound of birds. The grownups were all inside. She remembered climbing over the wooden picket fence because she still had the scar on her knee where she scratched it on a nail. That was one of the first times that she hadn’t cried like a baby, she remembered. She reached down under the table and absent mindedly rubbed her knee where the scar had been. Why did I go over the fence? she thought to herself and then she remembered that she was chasing a big blue butterfly.

She was not supposed to leave the yard, she knew, but she had that day partly, she thought now, just to show the big kids that she could. But she had gone too far and before she knew it, she was at the edge of the Satan’s Woods. She remembered now that she looked around and she could barely see her grandparents’ house. It was just a speck in the distance and her cousins were running in the yellowing grass playing tag. But she didn’t care about them for some reason. The sound of the trees lured her further inside. The buzz, that smell.

Emi stopped typing. There was a gap. She couldn’t remember what came next and then she vaguely remembered that she was inside of a swirl of bright colors and was being pulled through a tunnel. “I must have fallen asleep and was dreaming – that’s all, she thought now and wondered why she hadn’t thought of this before. And then somebody pointed a flashlight in her face and yelling “HERE SHE IS! SHE’S HERE! “The ground was wet and cool beneath her, she remembered, and it was so very dark. Her whole family seemed to be closing in on her. Her mother’s face suddenly pushed down to look in her eyes and then grabbed her in a tight squeeze and sobbed as if her heart was breaking. She remembered that she couldn’t breathe against the beating of her mother’s heart. And then she could. Questions flew from every direction. “Why, why, why, did you go into Satan’s Woods? How did you get to Devil’s Curve? Emi Louise!!!!” Questions were coming from everyone. “What’s this?” someone said. She was clutching her little mirror in one hand and it was covered in mud.

But she wasn’t listening. There was a moment of memory of tree branches waving in the wind and a yellow sky and a strange voice that seemed to come from far away and now she could barely make out what it was saying: “Emiiiii, Emiiiii, Welcome Emi Louise welcome.” And then a loud popping sound from somewhere and then it was gone! She tried to capture it again, but it was gone. And now she found herself sitting at the kitchen table being examined for bites or cuts by everyone.

Emi stopped. She looked at the clock – 3:00 AM!!! What was she thinking?? It was late – I’ve got to stop, she thought. But something had happened in that woods and she was there, and it was starting to come back. Who was calling my name? she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning at breakfast, Phil watching the breaking news and gulping his coffee as usual said, “So, how did it go?” When she didn’t answer right away, he added, “You know your research into the Haunted Highway?”

“You mean Satan’s Woods and the Devil’s Curve? I am going back.”

“Wait, what? Going back where?”

“I have to Phil. Maybe it’s nothing but I want to know. I’m going to talk to Mr Eberly this morning and see if he will let me do a piece on it. You know, like returning to the scene or something like that? It would be fun to take a trip up there anyway PLUS she added, warding off his remarks, it will be right about Halloween. PERFECT! They have a great Halloween Festival in that town close by. The kids could miss a couple of days at school.”

“Hey, he said as he kissed her good-bye, I’m in, chickedee. Just tell me when to start packing.”

Emma was surprised. It didn’t take as much convincing as she thought it would with her boss, Mr Eberly. He was eager to give her the reins on this one. She was working on some others but she could take her work with her and so, after loading their SUV and picking up the kids after school and preschool, here they were driving through the crisp fall air to the small town of Mountainview, Pennsylvania in the Poconos.

While Phil drove, she read through the notes she had taken after digging up old news stories about the area, the history and even the deed of the family farm. She was surprised to see that it was extensive. She could see that this may turn out to be a bigger story than she had thought it to be. Little did she know. People seeing a green mist and hearing sounds was pretty standard for haunting stories but there was actually over 90 people who had vanished after entering that area and 26 car accidents with fatalities on that road that were on the books - documented by the county not counting the non-fatal accidents that were reportedly caused by the sound, the smell, increased pressure in the air. There were pages of them.

This story could catch fire! She thought. The forest sounded spooky but that crooked road called Devil’s Curve seemed to be where most of the strangest things happened.

The first Mr. Higgins, her great, great, great, grandfather, that owned the place had been the one to agree to let the county put that crooked road through the middle of his forest property. And then he had made a path from the edge of the woods back through the trees to the Devil’s Curve as it was now called. And that was back around 1870, she thought.

She contacted everyone in her family who had grown up on the farm and heard some pretty interesting stories from them but the ones who could have provided her with the legends and old tales were her sweet grandparents who had were no longer there would have been the ones who knew about the woods and the curve. “Grandma would have been the one to ask,” she admonished herself. After all grandma was born and raised on that farm and had come back to live after she and grandpa were married. Maybe she wrote something down, she thought. I’ll look.

She called her mom while on the road and was given the hiding place where the house key was kept. Family members who lived nearby had been taking turns visiting the place to make sure everything was okay ever since grandma had died. The farmland was leased out to neighboring farmers, but the house was now sitting there empty. “And stay out of the woods,” her mom added. There’s nothing in there but ticks and snakes anyway. At least that’s what I’ve been told. Oh and, I guess you probably know this, but don’t linger on that Devil’s Curve very long. Just hurry on through if you have to go down there. Maybe someday they will fix whatever is making that buzzing sound that drives everyone crazy and the smell…whew! Pretty strong.” Said her mom.

“What can you tell me about the legend of Teddy?”

“All I know is that a little boy got lost and they never found him. He wasn’t the only one either.”

“Really?” She acted like she hadn’t spent hours reading up on all of this.

“Oh yeah,” her mom said. “A kid in my class in high school disappeared on prom night. Some idiot dared him to do down on the curve and lie in the middle of the road. And he did! Probably drunk. His name was Stuart. Nice kid. Quiet. Anyway, he disappeared, and they never found him. The other boys were arrested because, well, maybe they were with him, and they thought they had done something to him. But they couldn’t prove it. I don’t think they did anything to hurt him. Some of them were friends of mine. They were all pretty nice kids. But it was such a tragedy. Nobody knows what happened to him.” She said.

“That’s about all I know. I do know that me and Sarah and Jolene and Eric (her sisters and brother) would have been grounded for the rest of our lives if we ever thought about climbing that fence.”

“Fence?”

Her mom laughed. “Oh baby. Your grandad put up a big fence across the back of the field right in front of the trees with a big sign that said KEEP OUT! Don’t you remember it? Maybe it had fallen down by the time you kids came along. And we all knew not to get near that fence and to stay off that old road. Warn the kids to keep out of there. Darn I wish I could make it up there and see you while you’re there. I miss you.”

“Hey we’re coming into Mountainview now, I’ll let you go. I’ll keep you posted. I love you mom.” And she clicked off.

“Kids! We are almost there – this is Mountainview. Look the old Shopabit is still there. Pull over, we’ve got to stop.” They all climbed out of the SUV stretching and looking around. And then they all marched into the tiny store. To Emi, it was like walking back in time. Gumball machines stood like soldiers inside the door, old, faded Coke posters lined the walls over the wooden shelves and bins of penny candy fronted the counter. Behind the counter stood a white-haired man with a handlebar mustache who greeted them with a cheery “Howdy folks, welcome to Shopabit! Let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.” While the kids perused the candy bins, and Phil checked out the newspaper rack for today’s paper, Emi explained that she was coming back to visit her family’s farm that was just north of the town. “Oh, you must be one of those Higgin’s,” he said with a wink. “So I don’t need to tell you to be careful going around that curve. Been lots of accidents up there. By the way, we are sure missing your grandma – your grandpa too. They were the nicest folks – always had a smile and a good thing to say. Everybody in this town went to their funerals. I tell ya, they don’t make em like them anymore.”

Emi nodded her head in agreement. She wandered around the little store, making sure to pick out some of her favorite candies from the bin. Everybody put their purchases on the counter and Phil stepped up just like her dad had always done, and settled up at the cash register. Walking out into the sunshine, she breathed in the brisk fall mountain air and thought to herself, “Oh yeah, this was a great idea to come. And who knows there might even be a story!” This was interrupted by the sounds of a scuffle. Gayle, with a firm grip on Archie’s upper arm, and Hariette with the other arm were holding him tight and yelling, “Look mom. Look what he did!” Archie’s cheeks were puffed out with wads of Double Bubble gum that he had helped himself to from the bins. As he wailed, candy and gum came raining down from his mouth, his fists, and his pockets. “Oh Archie,” she looked at the girls, “Okay, let him go. I’ll take care of this. Kneeling down and wiping tears from his face, “Hey buddy, you can’t just help yourself to stuff. Now daddy has to pay for it.” Four-year-olds!

Heading out through the mountains and forests of trees turning red and gold, they hadn’t gone too far when they got near the Devil’s Curve. Emi, gave Phil “the look”. Earlier they had agreed to keep the stories about the curve a secret to see if the kids could tell, by the smell, when they were there. But there was no doubt about it. It was immediate. “What IS that sickening smell?” Harriett was the first one.

“Ooooo Archie just puked on me!” Gayle was next.

Phil started to pull the SUV over to the side of the road but Emi stopped him, “No NO Keep going until we hit the road to the farm. Just then something hit the windshield with a crash.

Before they could determine what it was that hit the car, another shriek from the back. “He did it again!” This was accompanied by sounds of Archie retching in the back seat.

Phil was slowing down getting ready to turn. Holding one hand over an ear, Phil looked at Emi “What’s that sound? Do you hear it? It’s giving me a headache!!!” Archie was crying now.

“There it is” said Emi, raising her voice and pointing to the turn off to the farm. And within 50 feet, the air was lighter, and the buzzing grew fainter.

Everyone piled out of the car and cleanup began. The kids started stripping off

their clothes, the girls still screaming at Archie who had a green tint to his face now.

“Welcome to Higgins Farm!” Phil said with a grin, trying to make light of a messy situation. As the bags were being pulled out of the back of the SUV,

Emi found the key above the door just like her mom had instructed and had pushed it open. The first thing she saw was grandma’s old green jacket hanging on a hook to the left just like always. She couldn’t help but reach out and touch it. She flipped on the light switch and the big room lit up. There it was – the house just like always waiting for someone to come in. It was a comfy sight with its overstuffed chairs and knickknacks on the shelves.

“Ooo, the girls said in unison, “It smells good in here,” and dropping their bags on the floor, they started exploring followed by Archie who had recovered by now.

“Wait for me!” He wailed.

“You girls get the attic room,” Emi shouted as they all disappeared up the staircase. “Archie, you will stay down here so we can keep an eye on you.”

“Ahhhhhhhh,” I don’t wanta mommy” He moaned.

Everyone settled in and then gathered in the kitchen for lunch. Passing out sandwiches from the cooler, Emi took them all on a tour of the old place. There was the old barn with the ladder to the loft, the pond with mallards nesting, the croquet corner that still had wickets stuck in the ground (Grandad was the champ- always), the training circle where the horses had been, the empty chicken coop – (no sounds of clucking now), the fairy circle with the stones laid out around the big old willow tree and last of all, she took them inside to show them her little drawer in grandma’s dresser. The children all oohed and awed when she told them about the lemon drops, the feather, and her little magic mirror. The little draw slid open and there in the little crystal dish were old lemon drops and a blue jay’s feather, but her magic mirror was not there in the little blue velvet sleeve. And then she remembered losing it in the fairy circle that day after she got lost while playing fairies in the fairy circle. She remembers how hard she cried when she couldn’t find it and how everyone helped look for it in the grass. But they had to stop looking when her dad honked the horn. “Come on,” mom yelled. “It’s time to go.”

They all cried “Let’s go look for it!” And down the stairs they ran, out into the fairy circle to spend the afternoon.

Emi took the blanket out and spread it out under the tree for them just like grandma always did. Phil came with a tray of fruit drink boxes and that’s when they were told stories about The Devil’s Curve and why they should not go there plus that it was the reason they all got sick. Emi leaned forward and said in a stern voice (much like her own mom’s back then), “Listen to me! Stay away from that fence out there by the forest! Look at me!” They all looked into her eyes. “DO NOT, FOR ANY REASON, GO INTO SATAN’S WOODS – It’s called that for a reason. AND STAY AWAY FROM THAT CURVE! Then she lowered a voice and said, “I don’t believe in ghosts but whatever is in that woods around the curve in the road is what we are doing here.

They all looked at her with a questioning look. “Because” she said, “I’m going to find out! And write about it.”

“Don’t worry mom, one of the girls said, and they both chorused “We don’t want to get sick!” Looking at each other they chattered “That smell was too sweet,”

“That sound – like a buzz,”

“What got me was………….”

Emi went back into the kitchen table and opened her laptop.

But first, she turned to Phil and pointing out the window towards the direction of the curve, “Wow!” Emi shook her head. That was much worse than I remember it. It’s probably because we’re not used to it.

“I’ll bet money that it is some electrical generator somewhere that’s sending out waves of energy., “Phil said.

But Emi pointed to her briefcase and countered, “This is one of the areas that has been tested for that and just about everything else according to the research I found. Actually, they did find something like you’re talking about, but they can’t seem to find where it’s coming from. I’m beginning to believe that something is actually going on and I wouldn’t be surprised if the government knew all about it. I am going to find out!

“Thata girl,” cheered Phil. “You go for it! Watch out whoever you are. Emi Lawrence is coming!” he said to the air.

The afternoon sped by and the only thing of note that happened was that Archie got stuck up in a tree and they had to get a ladder to get him down. And then when the girls weren’t watching, he tried to catch a frog and fell into the pond, and he also got stung by a bee.

Dad fixed his standard steaks on the grill using the old grill beside the house and everyone was asleep by 10:00. Everyone except Emi who sat up late at the kitchen table, organizing her notes and setting her schedule for the next day – interviews, newspaper archives, area property tax rolls. But first on her list was taking pictures of the area and she was going to start with The Devil’s Curve early in the morning as the sun was rising and before traffic gets busy, she thought to herself. She knew that Phil wanted her to wait until he could go with her but, she thought, we’ll see if he’s awake and ready to go at 5AM.

Morning came in the blink of an eye. Emi’s watch twitched on her arm and she was instantly wide awake. Slipping out of bed, her feet touching the coolness of the hardwood floors, she pulled on her jeans, wiggled into a tee shirt and leaving him sleeping, carefully went down the stairs so as not to awaken the rest and out the front door grabbing grandma’s jacket as she went. It was cold out there! The sun was barely shooting streaks into the early morning darkness as she pulled out of the driveway and headed slowly down the rutted drive towards the turnoff to the main road and the curve. Phil would be annoyed, she knew, but this was her thing, after all and if there was any danger, well she was just protecting him from it, right? she reasoned.

The farm road was rutted, and the car bounced around as she navigated past the edge of the woods, through the trees and hit the curve. The sun was peeking over the horizon as she found a level spot and parked on the side of the road. She turned off the engine, leaned over to grab her camera and that’s when she heard him giggle. “ARCHIE!” she shouted at the top of her lungs Twisting around to see him sitting in the backseat. WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE BACK OF MY CAR?!

“Hi mommy,” he whispered.” He sat there in his Spider man jammies smiling back at her, but now with a worried look starting to creep across his little face.

“I’m coming with you, I’m Spidy Man.” he said.

NO YOU’RE NOT! YOU ARE A NAUGHTY BOY!!” The light, she was going to lose the light she wanted for the pictures, she thought. He started to cry, and she calmed down a bit and jumped out of the car into the cold air, threw on the jacket and opened the back door. Leaning into the car, and folding him into her arms, she said, “Archie, you are going to sit right here and wait for mommy. Do not move. Don’t get out of the car and I will be right back. Okay?” He nodded with a single tear dripping off his chin.

She closed the door and hurried up the slight slope in the road.” “Perfect,” she thought as she clicked off some shots. Then she started hearing the buzz and feeling the heaviness and knew she had better hurry back. And then out of the silence, she heard her car door open and a split second later, Artie brushed her leg as he ran past her shouting, “I run fast mommy!”

Emi screeched for him to stop and then tore off after him as now he was a small figure ahead. As she crested the hill, she was blinded by the morning sun as it came over the horizon between the trees. “STOP STOP ARCHIE STOP!!!” She could see his little form running at top speed and then…. he vanished into thin air. It was like he ran into a hole.

“ARCHIEEEEEEE! Her equipment landed in the ditch as she dug her toes in racing ahead, her heart beating hard in her chest, her legs aching and then a blast of icy air hit her full force in her face and chest and she felt herself being sucked upwards off the ground. She could feel the air pressure rise. She was in total darkness and pressure. “Mommmmmy” she could hear Archie’s voice as it sounded as if was coming from the bottom of a well. As she struggled to breathe, a swirl of brilliant lights of all colors came curling out of the darkness and swirled around her, lifting her high in the air and suddenly she felt herself traveling through a vortex of color speeding faster and faster through time and space. She tried to call out for Archie but her words would not come- just the buzzing sound of the vortex. At times she had the feeling that she was under water. She felt her ears pop and then she was set down gently on soft grass. The light uncurled around her and left her standing on a grassy hill overlooking a valley surrounded by high snow-covered peaks. The hill was dotted with red maples swaying in the breeze and the sky was a yellowish. The buzzing sound became voices as people began cresting the hill. She ran towards them and called out “My son! Have you seen a little boy?”

“We saw him, but they took him away.”

“WHO TOOK HIM?”

The crowd started talking all at once. Some tried to calm her down. And finally, an older woman, in overalls patted her and offered a small cup of liquid. “They already took him away, my dear. But don’t worry. You will see him again.”

But she couldn’t stop. Emi could hear herself screaming as if from a distance and finally she collapsed on the ground.” Where are we?”

A young woman in a bonnet stepped up and said in a voice that seemed to reverberate in the mountain air, “We don’t know where we are but some think this must be heaven.”

“NO,” shouted a man in a leather hide, “THIS IS HELL!”

The murmur of the crowd grew, and someone shouted, “I think we’ve been kidnapped!” Emi searched for the man who spoke first, “You said you saw my little boy?” They all nodded. “Who took him? Where is he?”

“They took him back to their laboratory and they are probing him like they do everyone who ends up here. They did it to all of us.” And there was yelling from the crowd.

“It hurts!” Someone shouted.

“We are treated like animals!” another yelled.

“That’s where we got these,” said the first man and pulled up his shirt and showed the tiny scars on his side.”

“Don’t listen to them, it didn’t hurt that much. I’m Elias, by the way,” and a young man with longish hair thrusting out his hand to her.

“I’m Emi.” She told the others. “How do we get out of here? Where’s the lab?”

The crowd went silent, the air seemed to close down and a voice behind her said,

“Hello Emi Louise. Welcome back.”

That voice! It was the one that came to her in that memory. Emi whirled around and was face to face with a creature in a gray hood that seemed to be speaking from inside a hologram. A woman’s wrinkled face smiled out at her from the hood . “Come with me and we will find your boy. Archie, is it?” Enraged Emi charged the hologram, swinging her fists but was knocked back by an invisible shield. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY SON!!!!” Her cries filled the air and brought the sound of the crowd to a peak.

Darkness. She awoke on a cold smooth white floor in a cold white cell fronted by bars and blinking lights. Another person was there, she realized when she heard the voice. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.” And sitting on a white pallet was a small woman dressed in a long cotton dress with a white apron and a white lace cap and black lace up shoes.

Emi’s first thought was Am I on the set of a movie! Then, “Who are you?”

“Lucy O’Malley,” she whispered in a voice with an accent.

“Why are you dressed like that?”

“These are my clothes ma’m.” And then she added. “There aren’t many of us in here.”

“I saw a lot of people out on the hill. It looks like a lot.”

“Girls. Not very many girls, I mean.”

“Oh.” And then, “How did you get here?”

“I don’t know. Me and Tad wus runnin’ away from Mr. Morgan’s men. I think I’m in jail so they must have catched me. I don’t know where I am.” And she dissolved into tears.

“Who is Mr. Morgan and Tad and?” What were you running away from?”

“I was Miss Morgan’s maid, ma’am back in Jersey Town and Mr. Morgan were hurtin’ me real bad. Tad, too, so we runned away. But now…..and she pulled up her apron to cover her face, “some ghosts got me. “ More sobs. I reckon I deserve it.”

Noise in the corridor behind her and Emi turned toward the bars. Tall thin white creatures with long noodle shaped arms glided back and forth pushing gurneys that floated in the air. She watched in horror as they hurried by loaded with unconscious humans and animals lying on them. As she stood there in shock, one of the creatures stopped in front of her and pointed down to a gurney it was pushing. With one of 3 long pointed fingers, the creature pulled back the sheet to show Archie lying still as though he were unconscious or…. She gasped for air and tried to reach through the bars when one of his eyes seemed to flutter open to a slit and his lips moved just barely, “mommy.”

A burst of yellow light shot out of one of the creature’s “fingers” hitting Archie in the forehead and he went still. Emi was wild inside her cage, pounding and screaming until she felt the sting on her side and then darkness.

Back on Devil’s Curve, Phil had found their car sitting beside the road with the back door open. Archie’s dragon that he carried everywhere was in the back seat, so he guessed what had happened. Further on down the road, was the camera equipment and Emi’s phone. “Darn it Emi! Why won’t you list to me!” he muttered while pulling out his phone and calling 911. Law enforcement and emergency vehicles from all over the area came in droves. When it was found out that Emi Lawrence, renowned reporter for the national news was the person who was missing as was her 4-year-old son, the news broke all over the U.S. and by evening it went worldwide. Giant news trucks from every network rolled into the little town with reporters and technicians bringing with them of every kind along with their equipment. Now helicopters buzzed the air like flies. News reporters stood just out of distance of the Curve, and lights from newscasters broadcasting to audiences all over the area could be heard up and down the road that was blocked on the end of the curve.

“Acclaimed journalist Emi Lawrence awarded for her courage in the war in Iraq and as you many remember was awarded the Bayeux Award given to war correspondents covering conflicts for her stories from Afghanistan and Iraq was the person has gone missing along with her 4-year-old son Archie on a strip of road in Pennsylvania known for other mysterious cases of missing persons…….”

“Search parties from the U.S Marine Corps Reserve out of Allentown, Pennsylvania are now being dispersed along Satan’s Woods and Devil’s Curve outside of Mountainview, Pennsylvania looking for Emi Lawrence, the missing news reporter and her son that we have been following for the past 12 hours…….

Emi’s family rushed to the farmhouse from coast to coast to join Phil and the girls and to fend off the news media. They all gathered together around the television not wanting to miss a single report and hoping and praying for Emi and Archie to come home safe.

Emi found that she now had those needle marks on her side as well. She could tell that they worked as sensors for white lights that burned when a person tried to get out of their cage or moved in areas that were guarded. Now, she found herself out in an enormous space of glass-like flooring under a massive glass dome milling about with the people that she had met on the hillside. She recognized the few who had spoken to her. One of the women, lightly touched her arm. And when she turned, she saw the face of a woman of about 30ish wearing clothes that reminded her of the mom on Leave it to Beaver.

“This place is where they put us for a short time. It is the only time that we can be with the others.”

“How did you get here – first?” Emi asked.

“We had a flat tire out on a highway. And while Ed was changing the tire, I got out of the car – he told me not to but I did anyway” with a sob. She continued, “And I remember that I started walking - I just looked around and I don’t know what happened. It was like I was being shot out of a cannon and I landed on a hill – like you did. Everything lands there. I don’t know why. Be careful, those “things” indicating the creatures, have something that shoots out of their fingers. They are monsters! I’ve had it happen to me and it causes you to faint. I keep thinking someone will come and rescue us but so far…… I should never have got out of that car.” And she held out her arms in a sense of hopelessness.

“We’ve all been shot at some time or other,” speaking of the finger zappers, a young man in high boots and a straw hat had joined them. “Be careful. Don’t go close to the far end. There are wild animals and such behind the glass – and they’ll try to attack you.” He looked around at the gathering group of people, “You know, like they did Jarod.” They all nodded.

“Does anyone know if there are children here?” She asked to the gathering.

“I think they keep them in a different place,” one man said and other’s spoke up to agree.

One young woman nudged her as they were about to be transferred back into their cells, “I thought I saw Annabell, my little sister, once over there behind a fence. A couple are in cages.” and she pointed back over her shoulder. “She waved at me,” she said with a sob . “She only 3 years old.” Emi rushed to the fence and there he was huddled down against the wall. She opened her mouth to call to him but nothing came out. Sound was being blocked.

Time seemed to go on and on without end. During those times, when the humans were transported to the place under the dome, Emi spent her time getting to know everyone and her questions always centered around the same questions:

What had happened to them?

Where were they now.

And how did they get here?

One of the questions she asked was what was the year that they had come through the tunnel was interesting. The dates of their entry were varied, and some had to guess but the clothing that they wore as well as their memory of what was happening at the time put some of them back in the days before the Civil War and some even earlier. This apparently had been happening for at least 200 years – maybe even longer. But the portal that she had started thinking of it as – the place where they remembered being when they were “taken” was always the same. They all remembered being on the same spot which was either on the road or in the woods - probably before the road was put in. And another similarity was that they all felt the light of many colors carrying them through a vortex. They all smelled a heady fragrance, felt the air pressure increase and heard a buzzing sound AND they all landed at the same place: the hill overlooking a valley surrounded by mountains.

Emi was careful not to take on the appearance of leadership knowing the stories of others who had tried to form groups to overtake the creatures and had disappeared for good. The creatures had the advantage of those zappers. Emi thought she heard Archie’s voice once in the middle of the night and she started pounding on the walls and shouting his name. Her roommate cowered under her covers in terror. The old woman in hologram appeared in the cell said in a soft voice. “Emi Louise, stop causing a commotion or they will use Archie for fuel. The image vanished and she left behind a strong smell of lilacs in her wake. Emi stopped yelling. That woman was warning her. Who was she?

Sleep was hard to come by. She had kept Grandma’s jacket on ever since she had left the farmhouse that morning that she left the house. But now, as she tried to roll over on the pallet, something hard in the coat was causing discomfort. She had felt it before and had actually looked through the pockets but could never find whatever it was. But now, as she searched for them again, her fingers found a hole in the bottom of one of the pockets and when reached her hand inside, she pulled out her little round magic mirror! It had fallen through the hole into the lining! Grandma must have found it and put it in her jacket pocket after we left that day. She turned it over now and saw how worn out and broken she looked. “I’m not going to last,” she said to herself. And then grandma’s voice, as clear as if she were standing in the cell, “No matter what comes your way. Never ever give up. Someone will always be there to help you. The reflection of you in this little mirror will show the way and who you are and who you will become. Keep it close, you never know what ideas may spring out of it. “She flipped it over in the palm of her hand and there in an engraving so faded that it could barely be seen, was the word, Courage where the engraving of Love had been. Brushing away the tears from her face, she thought, “No, No, No! I WILL get out everyone out of here!” Another glance into the mirror and her reflection had changed to reveal the Emi who had set out to conquer the world - strong and brave as in the days when she was in the war zone in Iraq in the middle of an enemy attack. She wasn’t afraid then and she wouldn’t be now. She feel a warmth spread over her from her toes to the top of her head. She felt invigorated. “Bring it you white slimy creatures, I am ready – Oh yeah!” she said under her breath. She thrust the little mirror into the pocket that didn’t have a hole in it, gave it pat and started the wheels turning in her mind.

The other humans had developed a code to alert one another of messages of importance before she had arrived. Basically, it consisted of body movements and touch, and she used the network to tap into it and send her message as soon as she was transported with the others back into the white space under the massive dome. Gauging time was developed by keeping track of flexible cycles of behaviors observed of the white beings. By their determination, the time was coming when they would all be put on the hillside again. This was only done when there was an arrival through the portal out of the vortex – usually an animal but in rare occasions, an actual human. She sent a message through the network of encouragement. And then she received a message back that sent a chill down her back. It was an eyebrow lift the signal that before long, she was going to be killed. One of the humans had overheard the woman in the hologram whisper, “Emi is in danger of elimination. Tell her. ”

Emi and Lucy whispered in their cell and created a signal to one another if they became aware of danger. They both tried to stay awake to stand guard when darkness came, and the lights went out. But Lucy’s gentle breathing could be heard coming from her pallet and Emi knew that she had fallen asleep. Emi had just dozed when she startled awake to a sound of movement somewhere nearby. And there in the cell beside her was the shape of a white creature as it drifted toward her. Emi jumped from the pallet, and she did, she bumped into the pallet where Lucy had been sleeping. The girl watched from her perch in terror. Suddenly the figure sprang forward, its long thin finger extended ready to strike but Emi darted to the side and moved around behind it. And for a moment, she was able to stay out of the line of fire, but she could see that she was no match for the creature. In her maneuverings, her coat swung around her shoulders and when it did, it brushed against her leg and when it did, she could feel the little mirror inside. She reached inside and grabbed it thinking that she could hit the creature with it but the creature was too quick and was already closing in close and the finger was almost there. Instinctively Emi stuck her hand holding the mirror in front of her face to ward off the blow. The zap meant for Eli hit the mirror and bounced back shooting directly hitting the creature who was thrown backwards and it began to disintegrate into pieces. They all fell down into a pile on the floor that began to sizzle for a moment. And then formed a whisp of white smoke that floated up in the air and disappeared.

Emi looked at Lucy who was staring in disbelief at the spot where the creature disappeared. “What just happened,” she whispered. And she turned the mirror around and looked into it. Her face looked back at her and for a moment she thought it nodded. There were a million questions on her mind and she and Lucy spent time in the dark beside their pallet trying to plan what to do next until the lights came back on. When she had received this on her 5th birthday from her grandma, the whole family had clapped around the dinner table, and everyone had called it her “magic mirror.” It seemed that everyone was given one on their 5th birthday. It was round and held in a silver case with fluting around the edges. But so, what? She thought now. They didn’t mean it was actually magic. Grandma made that up, right? The whole order of events from her coat swinging just as the creature pointed its finger at her. Her arm went up as if automatically and she pointed her mirror at the creatures “face.” Why did I hold it up in front of my face? I literally zapped that thing…with my mirror! Was it grandma or the woman in the hologram or……? She switched. It seems that something that can reflect light is lethal to these creatures if you know how to use it. “So maybe anything that can reflect works??? Or…? Was that it? She remembered the big hunting knife that was in a story about 3 boys who went to the Curve looking for another little boy. The boy said he held up his knife and was able to escape when his friends disappeared. He said he held up his knife not that he cut anything. That was in the old police report that she had found. He said that he flashed it and felt released from whatever was holding him. That’s got to be it. She had been mumbling under her breath.

“What does it matter, if it works Emi?” asked Lucy, breaking through her thoughts. (She had stopped calling her ma’m). Okay if that is our way out, how do I save all those people with one little mirror? There are so many creatures. “What are you going to do Emi?” whispered Lucy. “Do you think they will come looking for – and she pointed to the place on the floor.

“Let me think about it.”

Back at the farm, sitting around the kitchen table in grandma’s kitchen, the family held out hope that someone would find the pair and bring them home safe. “You tell us that mom was doing research on that old curve in the road that has so many creepy stories about it, but seriously what if those stories are true?” asked Harriot.

“Actually,” their dad said, “that is basically what she was trying to find out.”

“Hush, somebody will find them. I just know it.” Aunt Mirna responded. “I’ve never believed any of that old hogwash. Have you Annie?” And she looked at her sister who was sitting at the end of the table.

“Yes, I have believed it and I still do! There are too many things that have happened out there and of somebody knows what, they better speak up,” she said hotly.

“Like whom? Speak up, I mean.” This from Harriot.

“I think she thinks it’s some kind of conspiracy,” said Gayle under her breath.

But, of course, everyone at the table heard her. They all gave each other a look but nobody said a word for the rest of the supper. Just as well, thought Phil. We are all torn up about this. And he helped clear the dishes and put on his jacket and headed for the door.

“Wait up dad,” called Gayle,” I’m going with you.”

And the whole gang followed him out to the SUV. The woods and road were lit up with news trucks and emergency vehicles. The military convoy had arrived early in the day and now a soldier stood at the barrier to the area. Phil approached him explaining that they were all family and he let them pass through. The road was cleared except for a few who were setting up cameras and adjusting the sound. But the rest of the area including the woods were filled with lights and technicians and now military personnel. News trucks and reporters were positioned in every available space while the sound of helicopters flew above.

“I can’t tell the buzzing of the road from the buzzing of those choppers,” complained one television anchor but the smell is pretty heavy and so is the air!”

Government officials herded the family into vans for more questioning.

And under the dome, word was spreading around the exercise room under the dome as the humans became aware of the incident in Emi and Lucy’s cell the night before. A scuffle broke out as some decided to take the mirror into their own hands. There was pushing and shoving while others tried to bring calm before the creatures would notice and come and zap them. And then it happened. Someone came up behind Emi and yanked at her coat and she stumbled forward and fell face down on the white shiny floor. The little mirror flew out of her pocket and shattered into a million pieces. Emi reached in front and grabbed the mirror frame but most of the mirror itself was spread across the floor. Everyone stood stock still and then Emi whispered “Everyone, grab a piece and hide it.” And that is exactly what they did. Even if it was powdered glass, it was saved somehow if only stuck to the skin on someone’s chest out of sight.

The floor was spotless when they were sent back into their cells by the creatures – no signs of broken glass could be seen. Emi confided to Lucy that she didn’t know whether the mirror shards would even work. Her little round mirror frame only had a small piece stuck in the frame but still. If only.

The next day, the creatures took them out of their cells, the children’s cages were loaded, and the animals were unhooked from their chains. Everything was flown in a sleek, silver air train to the sky above the top of the hill. They landed in the soft grass. The red oaks were waving their branches against a yellow sky once again and a low buzz filled the air. “I’ve been here before. Now I know where that memory comes from. But now she was on a mission – to find Archie, somehow break him out of his cage and then find that portal and get back into it. And now the others kicked through the grass and drifted around trying to look unconcerned even though everyone of them was waiting for her signal. And they all knew what they needed to do when she sent it out. She made her way over to where the child cages sat. There were only four of them. She was still formulating a plan when she heard his voice calling “Mommy!” And as she got close to the cages, their doors all popped open. “How did… she started. But Archie held up his bubble gum and so did the others. “The nice lady in the picture said she was our protector. She told us to put it over the big lights and we did!!” They had blocked the light that held them inside with Double Bubble! She grabbed Archie who was holding onto the hand of another little boy with their mouths filled with candy. “This is my friend, Teddy,” he said and then hugged her around her legs. “I got more if you want some,” and he reached into his pocket.

“Oh my God!” In spite of herself, without thinking, she had raised her voice. And then she felt it - Zap! A yellow flash hit the tree beside Archie’s head and Emi pulled him down on the ground next to her. She reached into her pocket to grab the mirror and suddenly from a large cigar-shaped object in the yellow sky, the air was filled with white creatures floating down and as they did, yellow flames shot from their fingers into the crowd. Shouts and screams were sounded.

“NOW,” she yelled, and a cheer went up as all of the humans pointed their shards of glass into the falling creatures. Silver flashing blades of light shot back at the creatures from all of the glass shards and the white creatures began to fall in heaps in the grass as they were hit and immediately after, they began to disintegrate. And as they kept coming, someone shouted above the crowd, EVERYBODY! THE PORTAL! IT IS HERE!” A column of swirling color was moving like a tornado across the grass. Just then a man with a television camera came shooting out of the vortex from the group back at the curve, with a surprised look on his face. He was pushed back inside of it and then everyone poured into the spot that seemed to suck them in including animals and birds as well.

The craft above darted off across the yellow sky and the only thing left on the ground were puffs of smoke and then they, too, were gone.

Emi and Archie and his new friend joined the rest and within a matter of seconds were sucked back into the vortex. The swirl of colors surrounded all of them and they traveled the vortex through time and space just as they had before but now they were returning back to the third dimension and they arrived back on the road, amid popping sounds that could be heard. They were set down onto the road. Some started running forward and some, more hesitantly ,walked slowly towards the light. They were silent as they came forward down the road through a green mist towards the cameras and lights.

Unbelievable” was heard as people and cattle and dogs and coyotes as well as forest animals large and small – even bears- came into view. The crews on the ground rushed forward but slowed down when they saw the terror on the faces of the Arrivers.

“There they are!,” shouted Phil as Emi and Archie with his new friend, Teddy came through the dust that was being kicked up into the news cameras. The cameras closed in close but the family pushed their way through forming a circle around them – laughing, crying, hugging. This didn’t stop the news media as they all went wild sticking microphones into the circle yelling their questions.

And then an earth-shattering sonic boom shook everything, knocking down trailers, felling trees, popping tires, hurting ear drums and all were stunned into silence as a massive round disc the size of a fifty football fields slowly rose up through a green mist and as the mist cleared, it could be seen hovering above them. Then the buzz began, growing louder while the disc still hovered above with lights blinking around its edges.

Those who were there later reported that they saw thin white faces in the windows on the craft looking down. Lights flashed and cameras rolled. And as the buzz became ear-splitting, it suddenly shot up until it looked like one of the stars among the others sparkling in the night sky.

One newscaster was heard with these remarks that were copied and repeated all over the world, “Wonder what they will say about that weather balloon?” And then he winked at the camera among laughter in the background. Then chaos erupted on the ground and throughout the world reined.

Emi, Archie, and Teddy were immediately moved into emergency trailers to be checked and rechecked. Guards were present, guns at the ready. Calls were put out on the media for medical personnel and first responders to help. The arrivals were guided into hospital vans. Some of the people were terrified of the world that they had returned to and tried to get away while others were stunned and shocked and moved in slow motion like zombies.

It was not clear what to do with all of the animals and one camera man was attacked by a wolf. And then some of the farmers in the area along with veterinarians from neighboring towns started arriving and taking charge.

“Where did you get this candy?” Archie was asked as he and Teddy spit out their bubble gum.

He looked up at mother. “In your pocket, right?” she asked. “From the Shopabit?” He nodded.

The whole family was finally allowed to come into the trailer while mom and son were getting checked. “This is Teddy,” she said to the family. “I think he got lost over a century ago.”

The little boy looked up with wide eyes, “Where’s mama?” he said. A social worker bent down and took his hand, “Come with me,” she said and led him through the curtains.

“Good idea. Let’s go home to Grandma’s house. I’ll tell you all about it. My briefing is in the morning. By the way, how long were we gone?”

“48 hours too long,” answered Phil wearily.

“It seemed like years to me.” She said and meant it.

Later, she slid the mirror out of her pocket, as she was winding up a brief version of what had happened to her, and to her surprise, the little mirror was not broken. “This was shattered.”

“Well somewhere in the future, it will be, but we’re not there yet,” replied Phil. And the others nodded. The word Love was engraved on the little mirror again.

“I need to talk to you all about this mirror?” She said to her aunts. Is there something you haven’t told me?”

Emi picked her phone up off of the charger where it had been placed and saw that it had been blown out by her editor. She wanted to tuck everyone in bed and have some wine before she called him back but she knew that time was of the essence in the news world.

Archie was tucked into his bed and handed his dragon with everyone gathered around his bed. He looked up at them with a worried face and looked like he was about to cry. “What’s the matter buddy,” everyone said in unison.

“Is it too late to go trick or treating?”

A military escort followed them back to the farmhouse that night and kept it surrounded for days following the arrivals.

Scientists from all over the world converged on the farm, the forest, and the road, blocking it off. The Higgins Farm is still owned by the Higgins family although it I now a place of research. And by the way, since that night of return, there has not been a single case of disappearance, the heaviness in the air, the fragrance and the buzzing sounds no longer exist. It will be studied for years to come.

Emi became a part of a task force that worked with all of those who returned through the portal. Archie and Teddy were best friends and still are. Her book, “The Future from someone who has been there” broke all records on the national best seller list. It was followed by “Survivors of a Journey Through a Portal Tell Their Stories.” She was a popular guest on news shows and continued to write and her career as a journalist continued.

Out of this incident came methods of detecting portals and that work continues.

There was no evidence that anything had been inserted into any of their bodies and many other abductees have been reported. Recently knots were discovered in the double helixes of the DNA in all of the “Arrivers”, human and animal. And all were identical from their location on the same alleles and in the same position and had the identical shape. Something appeared to have been changed inside of the brains who had traveled the vortex. Research from this could essentially be said to have traveled back from the future through the data within these knots and have been found to be extremely instrumental on many levels in research studies across the board including the elimination of disease, environmental purification and more.

Emi as well as the rest were regressed hypnotically. It was found that she was the only human who had indeed been sucked into the vortex as a child but had been returned when she had pulled out her mirror. The woman in the hologram who appeared to the power who put her back into the portal and sent her back to her own time that night when she was 5 years old. Hence the answer to the purpose of the elusive memory. The old woman remains a mystery.