The Presence

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Halloween, a Night to Scream

Logan leans up and shakes his head, "More riddles.  I'm really beginning to hate that book."

"The book is written in a way so it shows no favoritism. We just have to accept it and figure it out," I say.

"What do you think it means Mom," Hailey asks.

"Well, it's definitely talking about tonight but some of the lines I'm not sure about. I'll stay here with Lisa until she wakes up. All of you need to go on to school, but before you do," she looks at me. "I need you to come with me."

I give Hailey a hug, "I'll be right back. I love you."

"I love you too," she says as a tear falls. She knows what I'm going to do...

The Blackwell Farm... Fifteen Minutes Later...

Rachel and I walk back to our house and everyone is outside on the porch waiting.  I can see worry on everyone's faces as they look to Rachel and I for answers.  So far... I have none...

"Alright, I want everyone to stay on their toes today.  Most likely nothing will happen during daylight hours but stay alert.  Hopefully I'll have some of the rhyme figured out by the time you get home."

She turns to Logan, "Do you have a ball game tonight?"

"No.  We usually don't on Halloween."

"Good.  Everyone needs to meet here as soon as school lets out. Don't worry about your Mom.  I'll take care of her.  Now just act normal, get through the day and I'll see you in a little while."

Hailey gives her Mom a hug, "Hey... It's going to be okay. I promise," Rachel says trying to reassure her.

"Take care of her Max."

"You know I will."

Rachel forces a smile, "Alright, get going and remember what I said."

Logan and Megan walk to his Charger and Hailey and I head toward her Challenger.  As we walk I put my arm around her.  "This is going to be a long day..."

"Yeah, I know," Hailey answers.

"You've got that right," Megan adds.

Loretto High School... 10:00 a.m...

Cassie and Bethany are in the gym setting up decorations along with several others. Miss Franks is in charge of everything telling everyone what to do and where she wants everything to go.

"Cassie, Bethany, will you two go down to the basement and see if there's anything down there we can use to dress up the walls of the stage. I know there's some old curtains and furniture down there we've used in the past that might help."

"Yes ma'am. We'll be back in a few minutes," Bethany says.

The girls find the door and go down the stairs. At the bottom they find another door that has an old rusty padlock on it.

"It's locked. We can't even get in," Bethany says as she pulls on the lock.

"Let's go see if Miss Franks has a key."

As the girls turn, they hear a noise behind them... They both stop and turn to see the lock is gone. Cassie steps forward and looks around.  She finds it on the floor, picks it up and shows it to Bethany. The lock is still fastened and the hook it was locked on is still in one piece.

"Now how did that happen?" Cassie asks.

"I don't know, but at least we can get inside," Bethany answers as she pushes open the door.