I had never thought about leaving my tiny coastal town, that was until I had met the man of my dreams. He always left for the winter for work as the paving season ended in Washington and was just beginning in Arizona. I had never gone along with him as I still had a daughter in high school. She had recently graduated and had gone off to university. This was the year I would finally accompany him for the winter. We took our time driving and spent 4 days driving and stopping at all the touristy places along the way. I instantly fell in love with the house he had down there. It was a little big for the both of us, but it had been in the family for a few generations now. I thought that my life was going in the direction I always wanted it to go. My kids were grown and successful in school, I had found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and I was loving every minute of it. I settled quickly into a nice routine just as I had at home. Then I realized that this was my home too. Jeff was gone for most of the day working and I had the time to get to know the little town I found myself in. I thought life couldn't get any better than this, boy was I ever wrong. One day while I was doing laundry the hose to the washer sprung a leak and was spraying all over behind it. I turned it off, unplugged it and dragged it away from the wall. As I was removing the hose so I could get a replacement, I noticed the water had been running down under the wall. It was gurgling and echoing as if there was a drain behind the wall, one that had to go down a long way by the sound of it. As I was trying to figure out how it was making that noise, I realized there was what looked like a small door that looked like it had been painted over many times. When Jeff got home I told him about what I had found. He had never known about the door and was just as curious as I was. So the next day while he was at work, I spent the day chipping the paint away until I cleared the door. It was nailed shut and I couldn't pry the nails out on my own. Jeff got home and pried the nails out for me and we took a peek inside. There was a set of stairs that led down into the darkness below. His family had owned the property since the mid to late 20s and not one of them had known about the door. His parents were as surprised as we were, saying they bought it from another mining family. The family they bought the place from sold it in a hurry and left town. The next day my curiosity got the best of me and I tried to get the door to open. There wasn't a knob or anything to get hold of to open it. The doorknob had been removed and filled in. So once again I had to wait for Jeff to get home. He drilled through the spot where the knob would have been and somehow pulled the door open. The smell that came out was so strong it made us gag and choke. Worried it was gas that had at one time killed several miners when they had broken through to gas pockets.
We waited until the weekend to check out what was behind this secret door. Figured it would be time enough for the gas, if that was what it was, to dissipate making it safe for us to enter. We got a couple of flashlights and commenced down the set of stairs that were behind the door. It led down into a natural cave, quite a big one at that. It was just as big as the house above it. We found some old mining tools and stuff, covered in almost a century of dust. Jeff joked about how we could donate all this to the mining museum down the road. As we made our way to the other end of the room, we discovered an old mine shaft leading further down into the earth. Seemed the family who owned it before Jeff's family had a secret mine under the house. Jeff's family had no idea it was there, they just knew that their previous generations had bought it from a rival mining family called the Chalmers. All they knew was that the Chalmers had left in a hurry and sold off everything they owned. Jeff's parents Bill and Jeannie were just as excited as we were over the little mine we had found, why let their son have all the fun and wanted to accompany us on one of our trips down the tunnels. Jeff and I went back down the next Saturday to look around more thoroughly. I packed some snacks, extra batteries for the flashlights and a couple gas masks, just in case. Down the stairs we went again, lighting the way as we went. As we started down the old mine shaft we noticed there were lanterns lining the walls as we went, so it must have been a working mine at one point and not a storm shelter as we first thought. After about a mile, according to the step counter on my phone, we came to another large cave. It was slightly smaller than the first one. As we looked around, we didn't find any more tools, but there was something that we found that was very disturbing. There seemed to be chains and shackles attached to the walls. Did the Chalmers use slave labor to dig their mines? I decided that I was going to research the family and see what I could turn up.
The next day I went to the local library in town and asked if they had old newspapers or anything that I could look at to research the mining families of the past. The mines had run dry decades before, kind of killing the small town. I spent days going through old microfilm trying to find anything that would explain what we had found. Gale, the librarian and I became friends as I came back day after day. She came to the conclusion that I must be writing a book about the little mining town that had dried up when the mines did. I didn't tell her otherwise, I wanted to keep our little secret. She suggested I go to the mine tours and museum, they might be able to tell me more about what I was looking for. I thought that would be a great idea and headed over. I played the tourist and went on the tours and listened to the folklore passed down through the generations. In the museum, I saw a picture of our house from 1919. It was a family photo of the Chalmers when their mine was still successful. They looked like all the other family photos that were on display. They would be gone within the next 7 years, every single one of them. Not one of them stayed around and nobody knows what happened to them after that. They just fell off the face of the earth. Not one letter, postcard or telegram was ever sent to supposed friends left behind. I explained that we were living in the old house now and I thought it had an interesting history. And mentioned I might be writing a book about it. I didn't think it would hurt as Gale believed that that was what I was doing. The local girl working there jumped at the idea and started telling me more about the family. The rumors said the family had killed, raped and burned out other families to aquire the land they owned. They were bad news and not one person would stand up to them. Charges were filed time and time again, but there wasn't a person willing to testify against them. So they continued with their reign of terror. They couldn't keep workers as they underpaid or didn't pay them at all. After a while no one would go to work for them. It seemed like their luck had failed them and it was general knowledge that the rest of the town thought they would go out of business. But general knowledge was wrong, They were still selling gold out of their mines with no workers. Of course we had found proof that they had workers, just not willing ones. But I wanted to find more about the Chalmers family and why they had actually fled.
I returned to the library and thanked Gale for helping me find more information on the small town. I spent the next few days at the library pouring over any microfilm I could get my hands on. Once I had exhausted all the information I could from the microfilm, I decided to go back to the museum and tours. I asked if they had done any tours of the old Chalmer mines. I was curious about them since I did live in their old house now. Kassie kept looking at me when she thought I wasn't looking. It wasn't a hateful look, but more of a worried concern on her face. Was I asking too many questions? I let it go for the moment and thought I'd inquire about her concerned look at a later date. Robert was the man who ran the tours, Bob to his friends as I quickly came to find out. Maybe, I thought, that Kassie thought I was moving in on her man. That would explain why she kept staring at me so much. Bob did not give tours of the old Chalmers mine, he said it was haunted and nobody wanted to set foot in it. I said a haunted tour would bring in more tourists and he agreed, but the town might have a problem with it. This struck me as odd, why would the town really care as long as it brought some business to the town. Then I caught Gale giving me that look again and looked back at her. She turned away embarrassed at being caught. I just smiled my friendliest smile and thanked her for the tour. Saying I would be back to research for my "book". I told her I would be bringing my boyfriend with me the next time, that I wanted him to see it all too. I thought she would be relieved that I wasn't after her man, but the look on her face didn't change. She still seemed concerned for some reason.
As I drove home all I could think about was that look, had I done something to upset her? Was she frustrated with all my questioning? But as I got home I saw Jeff's car in the driveway. He must have gotten the job done early. I got in the house and he was waiting for me in the living room. Turns out he had taken the day off to go visit his Nana who was in a nursing home in the next town over. He wanted to know everything that she knew about the house since it was her grandparents who had bought the place. He said at first she was a little hesitant to talk about it. Her grandparents had bought the house for dirt cheap as the Chalmers seemed like they were almost giving all their possessions away for mere pennies in their haste to get away. Her Grandfather always joked about how they wanted to get rid of the place cause it was haunted and they were cursed. That would explain why they left and never had contact with anyone in town after they left. His Nana went on to say that she never liked going over to the house and it sat empty for years before her and her husband got the home as a wedding present. She had a priest come and bless the house as it was a common occurance back then, but that wasn't all, she also had a local Native medicine man come smudge the house of evil spirits before moving in. It wasn't until that point that I thought maybe the slaves had been native american. Jeff told me she said that she had often heard voices coming from the back patio before it was turned into a laundry room. Back when she was a child, she would talk back to them. The voices faded as she grew older and quit playing with her "invisible" friends. So she just chalked it up to childhood nonsense. She didn't say anything about the little door, so we assumed that it had been nailed shut and covered up before the house was sold. Now the mine was even more of a mystery to us, one we had to solve. Bill and Jeannie wanted to come with us on our next trip down the rabbit hole as they put it. We packed lunches and supplies we might need down there.
As we went back down to the cave with the chains, Jeff and Bill led the way as us girls followed behind. Bill tried to light the lanterns as we went along and they lit right up as if they were just waiting for a match. At least we would have a lighted way back in case we got lost. This thought made me feel a bit better about being down in this darkness. Soon we came to a place where the mine split off into 2 directions. We took the left path as it still had lanterns along the walls. Soon we came to the spot where the shaft ended and a ladder led down to another level. It looked almost new as the wood had never been exposed to the outside elements. Bill told us to shine our lights down the hole to see how far it went down. We could see that it only went down about 20 feet. Without warning, Bill just started climbing down the ladder. He was a bigger man and we were so scared the ladder would collapse, but it held his weight with no problems. He shined his light around and found a few more lanterns to light. We followed him down into another big cave, though smaller than the first two we came across. The first thing we noticed were some crudely built bunks along one of the walls. There were also more of those chains and shackles. I was taken aback by this as it meant there were even more people held against their will, forced to work the mines. We also found a makeshift kitchen. So the slaves were fed at least, guess a starving slave didn't work as well as those who were fed. We decided to call it quits for the day and return to the surface. I was wondering where they had gotten their workers from since I hadn't seen one story about missing persons in town. After dinner I sat in the tub and tried to think where I could find more information. I would go to towns surrounding us and look through back issues of newspapers like I did at the library. That would have to wait until after the weekend as we wanted to explore more of the mine.
The next day, we packed up our supplies and made our way back to the ladder and went back down. This would be our base of operations as we slowly explored and mapped out where we were going. It took me a couple hours to get the old kitchen back into working order. We then brought down some sleeping pads and got a few bunks fixed up so we could sleep if needed. It took us most of the day to get the place situated and in a sort of livable condition. I was so tired by the time we climbed back out the little door, that I just stripped my dirty clothes off and climbed into bed. I dreamed that I was chained to the wall waiting to be forced to work. In my dreams, we were led down through the tunnels still chained together until we got to where we were made to pick our way farther into the ground. Bucket by bucket of dirt being carried back person to person until the buckets were returned empty, waiting to be filled again. I woke up the next morning feeling more tired than when I went to bed. Jeff said I was thrashing around all night and even screamed a few times. He had tried to wake me to no avail. He held me while I slept trying to calm me down even though I was in a deep sleep. I told him what I had dreamed about and he thought maybe we should take a break from the mine for a bit. So the next weekend we went on a camping trip that neither of us enjoyed as we were so into finding out the secrets of the mine. Although I did return feeling rested. That week I spent my time going to the towns near us that still had newspaper records on microfilm. All my research turned up nothing, no reports of missing people that could be connected with the Chalmers. Although there was a couple articles about the misdeeds the Chalmers had done in the surrounding towns. I had reached a dead end everywhere I looked. I came to the conclusion that the slaves had to either been Natives or another race race that wouldn't have been missed at that point in time. Which made me even sadder about the whole thing. But it also made me even more determined to find out what really happened down in those shafts.
Every weekend was spent mapping out the mines. We had found old tracks and mine carts as we explored more and more. Becoming familiar with the twists and turns of every shaft and open areas that had been carved out of the earth. We figured that we would have come upon a mine shaft that lied to the surface, but we just kept going farther down. Once again I returned to the mine tours, taking Jeff with me this time. I was thinking Kassie would see me with Jeff and know I wasn't after her man at all. Turns out that Jeff and Bob had hung out when they were younger and were old friends. They sat and talked while I wandered around looking at the old photos and maps hanging on the walls of the museum. I thought it odd at the time that not one map of the Chalmers mine was displayed. When we got home I mentioned to Jeff that they didn't have one map of the mine, Just the one picture of the family with the house. He told me that was how these small towns worked. They would almost erase a family that was disgraceful or that would tarnish the town's reputation. While Jeff was at work the next week, I looked up all the mining museums around. I went to each one looking for maybe a possibility that the Chalmers had just moved on to the next town or one a little further down the line. I couldn't find anything else at these museums either. Not one mention of the Chalmers could be found, but they had info on most of the other families in the mining business back in those days. Was the family so hated that the entire state had erased their existence? Before we knew it, winter was over and spring was fast approaching. It was almost time to return home and back to our normal life. I didn't want to leave, but Jeff had work to do. Spring came and went, I was spending all my free time researching the internet for any clues as to where the Chalmers had went to. Nothing turned up, it was like they just disappeared after leaving Bouse. Where the hell could they have went? Did they change their names? It was an easy thing to do back then as records weren't readily kept. Summer came, we spent our weekends camping, hiking, biking and kayaking. My girls came home for the summer and that helped keep me occupied. They had so much to tell me about college life, but my spirit was back in the mines. I felt them calling me back to solve the mystery they left behind. Time seemed to speed by until it was time to go back to Arizona. We packed up and headed back to the house that I couldn't get out of my mind. We were finally going to find what we wanted to find, I was sure of it. How big could the place be? We should have run into shafts that led to the surface. So I thought maybe we might this year. Gale was almost as excited for me to be back as I was. Of course we hadn't told anyone about our finds down in that dark place. She had been waiting for me to get back so she could tell me that she found a professor at Arizona State University that was willing to talk to me about the Chalmers. I just had to wait for Christmas break when he had time to come talk to me. It was the end of October now, so I had to wait couple months for answers. In the meantime Jeff, his parents and I kept exploring and making our maps bigger and more detailed. I was getting impatient waiting for Professor Devan to get here. I wanted to know what he knew, it seemed it would help shed some light on the mine and the slaves that worked it.
One Saturday we came across a dead end that was a smaller room. On the walls were crudely drawn pictures on the wall. Childlike in nature, stick figures raising their hands up to the sun. Except the sun was black and seemed to be dripping onto the people like rain. The faces of the drawings were turned up in terror, large eyes and screaming mouths. I was disturbed by these drawings. Were the slaves children? Did they actually make children carve these mine shafts out of solid earth? But wouldn't the mines be smaller, more child sized? There were more figures drawn on the walls. These were bigger and more detailed. There were monsters drawn on one wall, what I thought were monsters anyway. Maybe this is how the children thought about the adults forcing them to work. They were monsters to be feared if the other drawings were meant to be the children. I thought the stick figures were maybe screaming as they missed the sun and the outside world. Jeff's work week began with another job. So I hung out with Gale and tried to pry more info out of her about the professor. She would say nothing, only that he would be the one to ask. We had been taking pictures of everything we found and I started thinking that maybe I would write a book after all. So I started writing down what we found and how I felt about finding what we had so far. I went back to the museum and mine tours to say hello to Bob and Kassie. Bob seemed excited to see me again while Kassie had that same look on her face. Surely she didn't still think I was after Bob. So I just decided to throw it out there that I wasn't after Bob and she had nothing to worry about. She looked a little taken aback by my words. Then she shook her head and laughed at me, saying why would she be worried if I tried to take her brother from her. I didn't know what to say other than why she kept looking at me like that.
She brought me into the museum office to talk over some coffee. I started to say I was sorry for mistaking her look for jealousy, but she cut me off. Her family had firmly believed that the Chalmers practiced black magic. That they used it to get rid of adversaries and acquire everything they owned. That they had made a deal with the devil and they fled when it was time to pay their dues. Of course I didn't believe in that nonsense, religion was an invention to keep the masses in line. Fear mongering people into being sin free and moral. But I wasn't about to make fun of others beliefs, that wasn't my style. I hung on every word she had to tell me. From finding sacrificial spots found by other people's mines and homes. Odd symbols showing up around town and the way nothing stopped them from getting what they wanted. She went on to say that others in the community would not speak their name to this day for fear they would be cursed too. The Chalmers used fear to get what they wanted plain and simple. But that would explain why there were no tours of their old mines. Nobody would step foot into them. She advised me not to ask too many questions in town, they may shun me too. She also said to be careful of Gale as she was also an outsider that had too many questions about the Chalmers and had been shut out by many of the people in town. I felt sorry for Gale and realized that was the reason for befriending me as quickly as she had. I would have to make more time to spend with her if that was the case. No one should be left out because of curiosity. Poor thing, living here all alone and friendless. Maybe I could explain why she was being shut out by people, that it wasn't her fault, but silly superstitions. The next day I invited Gale over for coffee and she seemed excited to have someone to talk to. Jeff suggested that we put the washer back in place so our secret would stay that way. So we finally got that new hose after a year and replaced the washer to it's place covering the little door once more. She was so eager to have me show her around the Chalmers house, so I gave her a quick tour. She seemed almost disappointed that there wasn't more, but said nothing. We had coffee and talked about the people in town. She thought they were all cold and didn't like newcomers to their town. That's when I explained to her what Kassie had told me at the mine museum. Gale nodded and said that's what she had thought after awhile too. She had been cut off by anyone she questioned about the Chalmers. It wasn't until she left that I started wondering why she was interested in the family that had once owned our house. It did seem weird once I sat and thought about it. Why would someone research a family that had been long gone almost a century before she was born. Jeff thought it was weird too, but thought she might be into ghosts and stuff. I said maybe, but I was going to watch what I was saying from now on. If she knew the town wouldn't talk about the Chalmers, yet she gave me all the information on them, what was her reasoning? Something just didn't sit right with me after that. But she did find Professor Devan to help in my research. Had she already talked to him? Maybe she knew more than she was letting on. It was at this point when I decided to be more careful of who I spoke to and keep my ears open for anything connected to Gale and the Chalmers family. After that, Gale would start coming by unannounced, saying she was just stopping by to say hello. It could have been because my library visits had stopped and she was lonely. So I didn't say anything and kept our conversations away from the Chalmers family. I gave her the excuse of wanting to wait for the Professor to show up to tell me more. I only had a few weeks to wait at this time. In the meantime, I stayed busy with the mapping of the mine shafts below our feet. We still had not found a passage leading upwards, only farther down. This seemed odd, but maybe they were digging into other people's mines and stealing their gold. This wouldn't be the first time somebody had done it. The shafts went on for miles under our home and the map kept getting bigger. It was starting to seem as if the tunnels ran under the whole town and no one was the wiser for it. I discussed with Jeff if we should come clean and let the Professor in on our little secret when he came to speak with us. He said we should play it by ear and see how he acted and what information he could provide us. What would the town think if they found out that there were tunnels that could have come up into their homes. I was also wondering how nobody seemed to notice the dynamite explosions underneath them. As there was no mention of them in any of the microfilm I had looked through. Jeff's parents went on a few more exploration missions with us, but it got to the point they couldn't keep up with us anymore. We were spending entire weekends under the house, hiding our cars in the garage so it looked like we weren't home.
To our surprise, we found an actual passage that led upwards. We followed it up to a point where it broke off into 7 or 8 different ways. We started following one that seemed to go up at a steeper angle than the rest of them. As we came to the end of it, we noticed woodwork like a building's foundation. We listened for any sound from above but heard nothing. We started looking for an opening that led to the surface or into the building above. We noticed a familiar set of stairs and a tiny doorway. We stopped at the top and I pressed my ear against the small door. I could hear muffled voices from the other side. I looked at my phone and saw that I had service again. So I checked my location and it said we were at the local laundromat. How strange was that? Was this how they snuck about town without anyone noticing them? And how had nobody noticed these little doors just appearing in the building? The mystery had taken another turn and set us farther back with discovering anything. We went back down the passage and followed the next one. Once more we came up under another building, this time was city hall. It was still in the same building as it had been back then. Another set of stairs and another little door, this seemed to be their method of keeping tabs on the rest of the town. The following Monday, I went to the small laundry and did some laundry, slowly looking around to find where the little door might be located. It couldn't be behind the machines as our door was, it would have been discovered by now. I noticed a supply closet that might be what I was looking for. I waited for the last customer to leave and tried the door to the closet. It was unlocked and I peered into the room, switching on the light. So many shelves full of old bottles of soaps, bleaches and softeners. There was some old washboards sitting against one wall and some old wash tubs. I came to the conclusion that this must have been a commercial laundry from the time the Chalmers were still here. I was worried someone might come in and question me as to what I was doing there. I'd just tell them I thought it was like a managers office where I might be able to get quarters for the machines. I didn't have to use my lie as no one else came in while I was snooping around. After almost forty minutes, I found what I was looking for, a small shelf the had hinges on one side. They too had been painted over and I didn't bother to try to pry it open. If you didn't know what to look for it would have been missed easily enough. The next step would be to go to city hall and inquire about some things for my "book". I took Jeff with me as he knew most of the people in town, he would pretend to be indulging me by bringing me there to ask some questions. I never once asked about the Chalmers other than we lived in their old house. Like I had discovered it while at the museum and saw the picture, recognizing my own house. It seemed to work as the ladies there led me around the building, showing me old pictures of families, mines and old maps of the town. I did notice that there wasn't one picture of our house or mention of the Chalmers. Kassie was right, they tried to erase the whole family from the town's records. Turns out the building was also the original bank besides being city hall. And it was in this room that I saw the old bank vault, brick lined with a dirt floor. The little door had to be behind the shelving on the wall as the previous ones had been. Since I was in the company of the others, I couldn't look as thoroughly as I wished I could. We had to go down every tunnel to see where it came up, at least I had to know. Jeff working during the week made it hard for me to wait until the weekends to map it all out like I wanted. I found myself going back to the room with the kitchen and bunks. I would just sit there listening to my breathing echoing back into my ears, louder than I thought it should be. I felt unusually peaceful here even though I knew this was probably where a lot of poor victims came to work until they died.
Jeannie noticed that I seemed to be getting paler as we were spending so much time down underground and grew concerned. It was the week before Christmas and I only had to wait a few days more to meet Professor Devan would be in town to talk to us. We thought that a camping trip for the holidays would be the best plan before the meeting. Getting me out of the house and back into the nature I loved so much. Before finding the door, we spent every bit of free time outside. Going to state parks to camp and hike, taking our kayaks out to any body of water we could find and just enjoying the great outdoors. I agreed that I might be obsessing over this a little too much. It was mostly to appease Jeannie, but I had no desire to be anywhere else. We spent four days in Joshua State Park in California, I had always wanted to go to where they had burned Gram Parsons after his roadie had stolen his body in a pact they had made. I had watched all the documentaries and the movie titled "Grand theft Parsons", which was hilarious despite the grim nature of it. I pretended to be having the time of my life and thanked Jeannie for getting me out of my funk. On returning home I had a message waiting for me on the answering machine from the Professor stating he didn't feel comfortable coming into town and could we meet him in Blythe. That was as close to Bouse as he would go. I called his hotel and spoke to him, arranging a meeting the following day. I couldn't keep my mind from running away with thoughts and questions I wanted to ask him. I had to take something to help me sleep, I didn't want to be tired when I finally got to ask him anything. Early the next morning we met the Professor at a diner for breakfast. He avoided my questions, stating he would explain when we got back to his hotel room. I should have just let the door be instead of letting my curiosity get the best of me. I should have stayed far away from Arizona and stayed where I was. But by this time it was too late to turn back. After we had eaten, we followed Thomas back to his room. We were on a first name basis by then. He had a stack of folders on his desk in the room. He had a dossier on every member of the Chalmers family. The first member of the family to move into town was Howard Chalmers, he was the Reverend of the first church built in town. He had always looked down his nose at the rest of the townsfolk, considering them to be sinners, thieves and prostitutes. He started moving his family into the area, claiming they would teach the rest of town to be as righteous as they were. So right off the bat, they started trying to run things they're way. His sons moved there with their wives and children, who started working in the mines to support themselves. They seemed innocent enough in the beginning and were welcomed into town. How they acquired their first mine is still unknown. It seems that one day they all quit the jobs they had found and started working in their own mine. This had started in the 1850s and by the time the 1890s came around, they owned half the town. The reverend had passed away by then and his children started running wild without him there to keep them in line. His grandsons were now in charge of things and they played dirty. They would run the competition out of town with accusations and reports of claim jumping. It just got worse as they started a brothel and brought in their own workers. A bunch of crude filth who would go out of their way to make trouble at the command of the eldest of Reverend Chalmers grandsons. Charlie Chalmers was teased for his name when young, being called Cha Cha as he stuttered a lot as a child, finding it difficult to say his own name. This just made him even meaner, having to prove to everyone who the rightful ruler of town was. People stood up to them at first, but their homes and farms were being burned, taken by the bank for false claims of nonpayment of taxes. After a while, the town just went along with them to spare themselves the toture that the Chalmers would rain down upon anyone who they thought was trying to defy them.
It seemed like they had everything and everyone under their control by the time the pictures was taken in 1919. And then 7 years later it all came crashing down with them fleeing after they had everything they wanted. That was when Jeff's family had bought almost all the property they owned. They sold off everything but the one mine they had first started. After that, they moved to Denver to start over. Within a year, they all took sick and died off. At least those who stayed in Denver. There was a couple daughters who had been married off who had moved away with their husbands. There was no mention of where they could have gone as they now had different last names. And that, for all intent and purposes, was the end of the family. Thomas had records of court papers when the Chalmers were still in Bouse, when people still tried to stand up to them. Somehow the charges were always dropped and those who filed them disappeared too. I occured to me then that they were using the little doors to spy on the rest of town and knew what was going to happen. Then they would take care of the problems. He gave us the folders and everything else he had on the family. He too, would not step foot in town because of old superstitions. I found this strange and asked him about it. He replied that he had been there doing research on the infamous Chalmers family, he had grown up in a nearby town and rumors were still circulating about them. This would have been almost 35 years earlier, when he was still a young man. He had some pictures of the town from then and it looked absolutely the same as it does now. Same building, but with different store fronts as it has now. In one of the pictures it showed a very young Thomas. As I was sifting through the photographs, I noticed something really strange. It seemed that the lady who ran the library looked a lot like Gale, the current librarian. That couldn't be her, she would have to be in her sixties or early seventies by now. I started to ask him about it, pointing to her in the picture and he put his fingers to his lips to shush me. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to me. Jeff and I exchanged glances as I unfolded the paper. Thomas looked worried as if he were frightened. I read the words and turned a ghastly pale as Jeff put it. The words I read couldn't be real and I looked up at Thomas with my mind full of more questions and he once again shushed me. The note read as follows: Don't trust Gale, she is not who she says she is. I believe she is dangerous. She is the reason that I was ran out of town. That old bat has an obsession with the chalmers family, more than I ever did. Make sure she doesn't see any of this information I am giving you. I will have no further contact with you after this. I have given you all the information I collected back then and over the years. I handed the note to Jeff and he read it too. He must have had the same look as me, as Thomas shushed him too. After that, he stood up and grabbed his briefcase, walking out the door. He went to his car without turning around and drove off without even a goodbye or a wave. I was shaken by this, I had no thoughts as to how she could still be so young looking still. Plastic surgery maybe, there had to be an explanation for her youthful appearance. On the way home I stayed silent, thoughts racing in my mind. We returned home and it seemed like as soon as we got through the door, the phone started ringing. It was Gale wanting to know how the meeting went. I told her that we didn't get much from the Professor, not telling her about all the files he gave us. I went on to say that he just spoke of the curse nonsense, nothing else. That after the Chalmers fled town, the were traced to Denver and then vanished off the face of the earth. She impatiently asked if that was all. I just said yes and that the whole trip was a bust. That I'd have to look somewhere else for the material for my book. Better to let her think it was all just about the book. It was hard to keep my voice from shaking as I spoke to her. Jeff noticed my face was going pale again over this conversation, walked out of the room and loudly called in to have me help him. I told Gale I had to go, that we must have run over a nail or something cause the car tire was flat. We said our goodbyes and I hung up. Was she waiting for us to get home to call us? How did she know we had gotten home to call us as we were coming into the house? I'm so glad I took my big purse with me and it had the folders in it, so nobody could have seen us bring them in.
Jeff picked up my purse and walked out the back door into the laundry room. I followed him out and we went down through the little door once again. When we were safe in our base camp Jeff said we shouldn't talk about it in the house anymore, she might have bugged the house or something. He was just as shaken as I was at her sudden call. We would now use this place as our research as it was safe here. it seemed like she was unaware of our discovery and we meant to keep it tat way. We laid out the folders and went through them one by one. Starting with the Reverend Howard, Born 1848 and died 1892 aged 54. Married in 1867 to a Mary Stinson, born 1849 and died in 1890 from consumption. No cause of death listed for Howard. They had 4 sons and a daughter during the first 6 years of marriage. Howard was born in Charleston, South Carolina, no parents named, He was abandoned at birth and adopted by a family called the Chalmers. They were a very strict, religious family who would beat the Lord into all their children. Howard was sent to a monastery, to be closer to God. He excelled in his studies and was soon preaching at tent revivals. It's unknown how he came to Bouse to replace the former minister who had passed away. I wondered if Howard had something to do with the death. He ruled over the town, spewing Hell and torment for all sinners. He had met his wife while on the revival circuit tour. There wasn't much more to Howards file, so I set it aside and picked up the next one. This one had the name Jason Chalmers on it. He was the oldest son of Howard and Mary, born 1868 in the township of Bouse. He was an outgoing child that was full of mischief, hating the strict rules his parents enforced on all their children. He was charged with theft at the age of 12, when he and a friend broke into the general store. They stole tobacco and whiskey, being found just hours after their heist. 2 very drunk 12 year olds wandered through town smoking pipes as they went. It was obvious that they were the ones who did it. Yet, since he was the preacher's son, he got a slap on the wrist. While the other boy was sent to a work farm a few towns over for being a bad influence on a God fearing child. He was made to accompany his father everywhere to make up for his sins. He had to help those people in town who needed help with chores they couldn't get to. He painted fences, barns and houses for a whole summer to absolve his sins. What no one knew was that he was stealing money and jewelry from these poor helpless people who trusted him. It wasn't brought to light until an 8 year old girl came up missing. Last seen in the company of Jason that morning. The Deputies were called in to question the boy about the situation. He told them they had gone down to the old swimming hole. The current had washed the girl away and he was too afraid to tell anyone as they may blame him. So searches commenced for the small child down both sides of the river. Nothing turned up, that was, until another boy came forward. He had been with Jason earlier in the day and saw Jason lead the girl away in the complete opposite direction of the river. He showed the Deputies the last place he had seen them, the beginning of a wash that led towards some of the mines. The whole town was looking for Wilma by then, thinking she was lost or hurt. Dogs were brought in and they led the searchers to her body. She was unrecognizable when they found her. Her small naked body had been so abused, it appeared that she had been beaten with a large rock or stick over and over again. Jason claimed to know nothing of this, sticking to the story he had first given.
The townsfolk were having none of it and threatened to run the family out of town if justice wasn't served this time. They had found most of the stolen goods he took from the farms he was working for. He was charge with theft, kidnapping, rape, murder and mutilation of the small girl.He was held until a circuit Judge came around to try the case. The town was at the point they were going to lynch him and hang him themselves. It seemed he was lucky to have the Judge come so quickly. His father tried to plead his case, stating the Devil must have made him do it. His son would never have done that on his own. It was a test of Howard's faith. He tried every way he could to get his son released, but that would not be the case. The trial only lasted 40 minutes and he was found guilty. He was sentenced to death by hanging. His father came every day to pray with his son to try to save his soul from eternal damnation. He was taken to the "hanging tree" outside of town where he was hung until dead. He was buried somewhere else as the town refused to let him be buried in their graveyard. He was only 13 at the time, but that didn't stop justice from being carried out. This just made Howard and Mary to be even more strict with their other children. They could be seen covered in bruises as Howard had started beating the Devil out of his remaining children. I was shocked by the brutality of the whole situation. This was the catalyst that set off the gruesome events to follow in later years. I closed the folder and set it aside on top of his father's. The next folder had the name of Mary Chalmers. I first thought that it was a seperate folder for Howard's wife, but it turned out to be their only daughter. Born 1869, just a little over 9 months after Jason was born. Not much information was provided in this folder. She was kept under constant supervision as her parents thought the rough and tough townsmen would have their way with her. Even more so after Jason had commited his crimes. She was married off to a man from the next state over and never heard from again. No death date nor anything of her children. She just faded out of existence like she had never been in Bouse at all. Her folder joined the first 2 and I picked up the third. This had the name James Chalmer on it. Born 1871, he seemed to be the apple of his fathers eye and was raised to follow in his fathers footsteps. He was sent to the same monastery as his father at the age of 10. He wasn't around to witness his brother's death. He didn't return to town for another 6 years, when he came home to help his father with the parish. He was welcomed home by the town, thinking he would lead the church in the event of his father's death. He was indeed the golden child, going on to marry one of the local girls. Her name was Sally Forthright, her family ran the local livery stables and hotel. James helped run the business helping to thrive, always saying grace at meals with the people who came and went. What people didn't know was that he was prostituting his own wife out to prospectors who came through town trying to find gold claims of their own. He used this money he acquired to buy the family's mine. Sally went on to commit suicide a year after the purchase, leaving no note behind. James found her hanging in the stables as he came in to feed the horses and mules stabled there. He claimed she must have done it because she couldn't bear him a child. Everyone loved Sally, she was so open and easy going. Nobody ever suspected what her husband had been forcing her to do during the night. For some strange reason, James kept a record of every man his wife had slept with, calling her a whore for agreeing to sell her body and soul. It wasn't until they fled, that the diary was found and the truth came out.
James had taken over for his father after he passed away. Still no cause of death, but rumored to have wasted away after the death of his beloved wife. He would spend his time between the church, the hotel and the mine. His younger brother ran the mine for him until the bitter end. James was always viewed as a pillar of society, someone you could come to with your problems. He gave sage advice, helping townsfolk with their problems. What they didn't know was he was using this information he collected to jump on any and all sales of property, including more mines. He had a great head for business, becoming the richest man in town. God's love must have been shining down on him to allow such success at an early age. Maybe God was making up for the fact of taking his wife from him. Not one person felt ill will towards him for what his brother had done. He remarried a few years later to a woman from Blythe. She was a widow with 2 small children, Carol and John, whose husband had perished in a mine collapse. Laurel was an easy going woman who made sure the church was spotless. She took pride in her new husband, often stating Jason was so much better than her previous husband. Letting her children take the Chalmers name, so they would be one big happy family with the rest of the Chalmers. James was admired by everyone in town for taking in children that were not his and treating them like his own. This must have been a gift From God for all the sorrow he had gone through in his life. Both his mother and father had passed on by then. Leaving him as head of the family. There was no mention of him prostituting this wife, but the children were behaving more and more strangely as they got older. I was guessing he was forcing the kids to do it instead. They avoided home as much as possible, staying out way after the sun had set and out the door as soon as the sun rose the next day. Carol was married off to a traveling merchant at the age of 14, being spirited away, never to be heard from again. John stayed around, but slept in the stables, claiming he liked to be closer with the horses he loved so much. His folder was mixed in with the others, there must have been more to his story was my guess. There wasn't much left to James' file other than he died in Denver in 1926, aged 55, no cause of death listed. Laurel also died in 1926, no cause of death listed. End of file.
The next file was on Charles Chalmers, A.K.A. Cha Cha. He was born 1872 and died in Denver in 1926, age 54, no cause of death listed. Charles was trouble from the minute he was born. He was a breach birth that almost killed Mary, her health had already started to decline by then. But it didn't stop her from giving birth to one more child. Charles was a colic baby and it was feared he wouldn't last his first year of life. It was believed to be the cause of his stuttering as he got older. He wouldn't speak to people unless he needed to, staying silent so he wouldn't be bullied by the other children in town. He no longer had his older brother Jason around to stick up for him. James had been sent away to become a Minister like their Father, leaving him to fend for himself. He was the clever one of the family, learning much from James when James returned. James had learned more than just the bible and God's will for people. It was at the monastery that James had been molested by those he was supposed to be safe around. As he got older, he in turn molested the other young boys, becoming a brutal tormentor. Many a boy would run away from the monastery at this time, most never to be heard from again. I was starting to think that he was just like Jason, but never got caught. Who was going to miss what were mostly orphans? Charles would turn the tables on his bullies by learning how to fight dirty. He always carried a rock tied up in his handkerchief, ready to swing it into the face of anyone who bothered him. He was teased almost mercilessly for his stutter. He was also known for his quiet movements, appearing behind his enemies as if from thin air. As he got older, the townsfolk avoided him as much as possible. He was the one boy that all the others were afraid of. Although many were afraid of Charles, there was no shortage of families wanting him to court and marry their daughters. Most of them only saw the money and opportunity to marry into one of the wealthiest families around. That would all change when one of the girls, Rose Johnson had become pregnant, his Father forcing him to marry the girl. Howard was furious at another sinner in his family, kicking him out of the family home to make his own way. Which turned out to be running his brother's mines. His marriage was a sham, Rose was not a reputable woman at all, having many affairs with the miners who worked for her husband. It was unknown if Charles was actually the father of the baby that forced them to marry. The baby was the first of three children born unto their marriage. Charles Jr.came in the early spring of 1888, Jennifer in 1890 and Jason in 1891. They each had a file of their own in the stack. His sons would in turn help run the mines as they had acquired a few more by this time. The family had such wonderful fortune shining down on them that everyone wanted to be on their good side, maybe even marry into the family to improve their own situation. This was how Charles got more information on those families that were struggling as their own mines started to dry up. The town was certainly following in the footsteps of the Chalmers, backstabbing and betraying long time friends and even their own families. All in the hopes of getting a shot of becoming part of the family that most of them destested, yet were drawn to because of money. I was thinking that money was the root of all evil, it certainly tore the town apart as all the mines were either drying up or owned by the Chalmers. Everyone wanted a piece of the action, even if it meant losing the ones they once loved. Charles knew how to prey upon the town as his older brother James had. In the summer of 1911, Charles' youngest son, Jason was killed in a mining
accident. They had broken through to a pocket of gas that killed every man working in that shaft.
It was at this point that Charles became a madman, blaming the other miners who worked for him. He was heard on many occasions of stating he thought they had conspired to kill his son just because he was named after his Uncle who had been hanged. Of course this wasn't the case as several other men had died in the accident too. But this didn't stop Charles from getting his revenge on the town who he believed murdered his son. He would go on to fire all the men who worked at that particular mine, Telling them he would kill them if they ever stepped into his sight. This made the town uneasy and they started to avoid Charles at all costs, even skipping church in their fear of becoming a victim. He brought in his own miners from surrounding cities and towns, promising them higher wages than any other company could offer. The town started a downward spiral as more and more unscrupulous men moved into Bouse. The once lovely hotel had become a den of sin as working girls were brought in to keep the men occupied on their time off. It also took the money of the workers, who would spend what they had earned on whiskey and women. The people in the town went to James thinking he would put a stop to this, being a man of God and all. He would just say he would talk to Charles about it, but it was up to Charles to stop the happenings at the hotel. By this time Charles and his family quit coming to church because they despised the rest of the community. It wouldn't be long after that the miners he had hired started quitting and leaving town, to the joy of most who lived there. Sure Charles paid them a great wage, but he charged them for room and board, the tools they used and of course the brothel serving whiskey. They couldn't break even no matter how hard they worked. Which meant that sending any money home to their own families impossible. This was the beginning of the end for the Chalmers' mines. As the workers left town, word got out about the shady dealings of the mining company. Making it impossible to find more men to work the mines. So by 1916, most of the town thought the Chalmers would lose everything. This would not be the case though, somehow they were still bringing ore out of the mines. This is when the rumors started about the family, That they must have made a deal with the devil. How else could they still be bringing so much out of the mines with no workers? We had already seen how they were mining the ore still, we saw the shackles and chains that had once held the workers. Didn't have to pay wages if you had slaves to do the work. I was guessing that the tunnels under the house had been dug by then with all the little off shoots that led up to various homes and buildings around town. They would have known everything the people of Bouse had to say about them. It was at this time that people were being found murdered in their homes. Houses were also mysteriously burning to the ground and women were claiming ghosts would come into their houses and have their way with them. Strange symbols were appearing on other buildings, not to mention the carcasses of rabbits and goats left hanging around town. It would seem that Satan had indeed came to their town. By now, everyone had started to go to Blythe for church services, believing that James had made the deal, cursing the town. This would be the last straw for many, either moving away or by planning the eradication of the Chalmers family from their town. It began slowly and gained momentum as the plans were carried out. Large explosions would be heard in the middle of the night as the men of town blew the opening of the Chalmers' mines shut. Not knowing at the time or any time after that there were still people working in the mines. This shook the Chalmers family up, but did not stop them. They were still selling off ore without any working mines. In fact, that the picture that was taken in 1919 showed a large thriving family.
That was the end of Charles' file, so I put it with the others we had already gone through. Next up was Micheal Chalmers, born 1873 and died 1926 in Denver with no cause of death listed. He was the youngest of the Chalmers boys, fair haired and bright blue eyes. He looked like an angel as a child, later known as an angel of death. He grew up learning how to use and abuse anyone who came into his path. By the time he was 15, he had been accused of stealing cattle, horses and other livestock. Which at the time was a hanging offense. Though when it came time for a trial, either the people dropped the charges or moved away before they could testify on their own behalf. Jeff and I had thought they were using the tunnels to go into houses unseen, either threatening or outright killing those who thought they could press charges against the family. By now the town avoided eye contact with the Chalmers and would cross the street to get out of their path. Micheal would go on to marry a woman he met in Nevada in 1906, no name was given for her or any other information other than she died in Denver in 1926 with the rest of them. They only had one daughter, named Barbara Gale, no date of birth or death given. She was married off to a man named Abraham Zimmerman. They moved away with no other information like most of the Chalmers' daughters. The name struck a chord in my spine as I read the name again, Barbara Gale Zimmerman. Gale the librarian's last name was Zimmerman. Was this the same Zimmerman family? Was this the reason she was obsessed over the Chalmers family more than I was? Now I knew why Thomas had told us to be wary of her. She must be a descendant of the Chalmers who wanted revenge or just get back what was lost to her family. There wasn't much more to Midheals file, just more claims against him that went nowhere. I sat the file aside and we took a break, going back up to the house. I poured myself a stiff drink as did Jeff. We spent the rest of the evening cooking dinner and making small talk. By this time we were worried that Gale was somehow spying on us and were afraid of talking about anything other than work or mundane things. The next day I went back to the library determined to make it seem that everything was normal. I even pretended to be unhappy that I couldn't find anything else out, stating my book would probably not happen any time soon. I was going to study some of the other mining families that had been around at the time of the Chalmers. Making it seem as if the Chalmers weren't the only family I was going to research. Gale seemed just as frustrated as I was faking to be. She thought for sure that Thomas would have more information for me. I pretended to be dissapointed, but said they weren't the only mining family around to write about. I went through the motions of going through the microfilms that I had already gone over looking for anything of use on the other mining companies. Writing things here and there down on my notepad, making it seem as if I was finding what I wanted about the others. She totally dismissed me after that, acting cold and standoffish. I asked if she wanted to come over for coffee, praying she wouldn't and to my surprise, she declined saying she had other plans. I was relieved that she turned me down as the thought of her in my home made me queasy at this point. I got home at the same time as Jeff, telling him about my day in a way that would be normal conversation. We made more small talk as Jeff motioned towards the laundry room. I turned the television on to an old detective movie and left the volume louder than it should have been. Making it seem as if we were watching it. We made it down into our base camp as I kept calling it. Time to go through some more folders.
This would turn out to be the last folder on any one member of the Chalmers. This was for Charles Jr. born in 1888 and died 1926 in Denver like the rest. No cause of death like the others too. He took after his Father, being a mean spirited child. He had no friends as no one would associate with them by this time. So he spent his time alone with only animals to play with. It is believed that it was he that started leaving the dead carcasses of animals hanging near homes and businesses in Bouse. And that it was he who was drawing the Devils symbols to curse the other people in town. He was dubbed the little Devil by then, not one person would meet his eyes when dealing with him. As if his very gaze could bring calamity to anyone he looked eye to eye with. It would also become to be believed that any home that was marked would bring about death and misfortune on those who lived there. Many of them would burn to the ground, the livestock all die off or spirits would invade their homes, raping the women. I knew of course that the Chalmers we probably using the tunnels to get into any home they wanted. And by burning the houses down caused the tunnels to not be discovered. We came to this conclusion as we followed more of the tunnels that led up to old buildings, many of them burned with nothing remaining but old rotten rubble. They were devious and dangerous by the way they tormented the others living in Bouse at the time. Charles Jr. would sometimes stand in the center of town growling like a wild beast, sometimes sounding like a baby cow calling for it's mother, other times screaming like a coyote. Surely he must have been possessed to make noises such as this. It was at this time that the townsmen decided it was time for an eye for an eye, as the bible put it. The Chalmers' homes began to catch fire one by one until only our house remained. It was also at that time that the Chalmers began to rant about how the town had cursed them, how they were the victims. Not only had their mines collapsed, but their livestock were poisoned as well. They began to get jumpy and startled easily by anyone and everything that came into contact with them. They withdrew into the house, hardly leaving except to get groceries and other supplies. When they did show themselves, they were beginning to lose color to their skin and deep hollows in their eyes. James had all but abandoned his beloved church, even though no one came to his services other than family members. He would often be seen out front of the church spewing how the gates of Hell had opened and came to drag them down with the rest of the sinners in town. Damnation and Hell fire would destroy them if they stayed. By 1925 rolled around, they had sold off all their belongings and moved far away to Denver, where they would all die of in 1926 for no reason. I began to wonder if they all died at the same time or whether it was one after the other. I had no answers for this and had to stop my mind from wandering to far with silly thoughts like that. So this was the end of the Chalmers hold on the town. After they had gone the town flourished once more, but never like it was back before the Chalmers moved there. The mines had all ran out of ore, becoming a cattle town as it had been before the gold strikes. Things began to get back to normal, though the church was never used again. It was left as a reminder to those who were still there that the Devil had been alive and well in Bouse until the Chalmers left and took Hell with them. The only Chalmers' home to remain intact was the one we now lived in. So we put Charles Jr. file with the others and moved on to the next one. This was filled with old deeds and mine claims from all the property that the Chalmers had one owned. Thomas had been right about them buying up everything they could, only to sell it for mere pennies on the dollar to get away from what they had created. So much wealth wasted with nothing to show for it now. They got to Denver almost penniless and down on their luck, working menial jobs and scraping by. And then, they all died one by one or all together. Seemed a fitting end for a family that cause so much grief for others. Their mines were never reopened, even though it was still giving out ore when they were blown closed. So the fear of the curse lingered in the town to this very day. The next folder held photographs of the Chalmers family. One of James and Sally being married in his Father's church, looking happy and joyous. There were some of the boys as they were growing up, looking like normal boys of their time. Jason had mean eyes in all the photos, like a foreboding warning. And of course the photo of the family that I saw at the mining museum. There were also blown up copies of this picture, showing a clearer view of each family member. As I went through the blown up pictures looking at all their faces, I saw a very familiar one. Barbara Gale Chalmers before she has been married and moved away. I was looking straight into the librarian's face. No doubt about it, they looked exactly the same. Eyes, hairstyle and same body type. What the actual Hell was going on here? Were the family genes so strong that they remained to this day in the descendants?
I put the picture down and closed the folder fast and looked at Jeff. That was all the information on the Chalmers family, we had found out way more than we expected. If I were to write a book, it would surely be a bestseller. We came to the conclusion that we should once again seal up the door to never enter the cave and tunnels ever again. We came back out and closed the door, pushing the washing machine back into place once more. Jeff said he would nail it shut and make sure nobody would find it again if he could help it. I agreed and felt a little relieved that we had found out all we needed to know. I never wanted to hear the Chalmers name for the rest of my life, but sadly this wouldn't be the case. I started having more nightmares about the mine under the house. I even started sleep walking, waking up standing in front of our washer. I would quickly go back to bed or shower as I was always covered in sweat when I awoke. Jeff got caught up in work, going out of town for a week for a paving job near Salome. He suggested I accompany him, but I declined not wanting to be scared out of my own home. I told him I would keep the doors locked and keep my 9mm near me at all times in case Gale tried anything. Of course this was ridiculous, as if she could get into the house. Though he did change all the locks on the doors and installed stops on all windows. Nothing would be getting into the house now. He would make sure the door would be taken care of on his return. We went out to dinner that night, had a few drinks and went home as if everything was back to normal. I got up the next morning to see him off and waved as he pulled out of the driveway. I went back into the house to start my own day. I drank coffee as I cleaned the house, catching up on a couple weeks worth dirty laundry and housework. I opened the curtains so that the sun could warm the house up, it got chilly here at night during the winter. I kept myself busy, thinking maybe I'd repaint the bathroom while he was gone. It was an ugly peach color with purple trim and I absolutely hated it. I drove to Parker the next day and picked up light green paint with a shade darker for the trim. I got tarps and all the painting supplies I would need for the job. I was feeling good about my day, being productive and raring to go at the bathroom walls. But when I pulled onto our street, I could see Gale's car parked on the street in front of my house. As I pulled in, she got out of her own car and came towards me. She was angry and her face was all red as she stormed up to me. She wanted to know why I wasn't telling her the truth. What was I hiding from her, Thomas wouldn't take any of her calls or messages. I told her he was acting strange as I had before, once again stating that all he wanted to talk about was the family curse. I also said that we had no more contact with him after that because of his behavior. She calmed down a bit after that, but I don't think she believed me. I asked if she would like to come in for some coffee or tea since I hadn't seen her in a while. She stormed off screaming how she doesn't associate with liars. She got back in her car and peeled out as she left. After she had squealed around the corner and out of sight, I got my painting supplies out of the car and proceeded into the house. As I went to put my key in the door, I noticed that the paint and knob were all scratched up and the door frame looked as if somebody had tried to pry it open. I checked the back door and found the same thing, so I called the police, telling them someone had tried to break into my home. I told them I had a good idea of who had done it too. Gale had been waiting for me to come home to confront me about my findings on a family I had been researching for a book I was writing. They came over and did an investigation. Took fingerprints, pictures of the damage and said they would go talk to Gale about it. Arresting her if they found out it was her that had caused the damage. They offered to have an officer come by the house periodically to check on me since Jeff was out of town. I thanked them and went into the house, all thoughts of painting stripped from my train of thought.
A couple hours later a deputy came by to tell me that Gale had been long gone by the time they got to her house. It was empty of any of her belongings, the front door had been left open in her haste to leave. They had run her name and prints they found at her home through AFIS and came up with nothing. They then got in touch with the library to see if they knew where she had gone, that too came back as nothing. The library claimed they had no one by that name who worked there. Yet when shown a picture of her that I had taken when I thought we were still friends. They didn't recognize her, though they did recognize me from all my trips to research the local mining families.. They contacted the owner of the house she was living in, they assured the police that they had not rented out their home as they were on an extended trip in South America. They did have a cleaning lady who would come in once a week to dust and retrieve their mail. They sent a picture of Gale to them on their cell phone and they said that was the lady who they had hired to look over the place while they were gone. They told the police that her name was Rose Johnson and she worked at the local library. That's where they had met her, got to know her and then hired her to sit the house for them. I instantly knew the name she had given them, it was the name of Charles' wife. The officer asked if I was ok, the color had drained from my face and I started shaking. I told him about Thomas and his fear of Gale too. He called that into the station, asking them to contact Thomas to see what information he could give on the suspect. A few minutes later they called back to say that he had been killed in a car wreck the weekend after Christmas. He must have fallen asleep and crossed over into the oncoming lane. He was struck by a semi and died at the scene. I told them he had been wide awake and alert when he drove off after our meeting. And after he had warned us to stay away from Gale as she wasn't who she said she was. I still had the note he'd given me in my purse and gave it to the officer. I also told him how he had shushed us at any question surrounding Gale after handing me the note. And how he had left right after without saying goodbye or anything because he was scared of Gale. I also told him that all the aliases she was using were the names of the women of the Chalmers family. He called the station giving them this new update, listened for a few minutes and told me they would now be looking into the crash more. It would seem as if she had vanished without a trace.I was so freaked out by what was going on that I called Jeff crying and blubbering about the things happening at home. He said he'd leave and drive back home as quickly as he could. The officer had talked to him too, letting him know they would keep an officer at the house until he returned. By this time it was almost 11 at night, so it would probably be better if Jeff drove home in the morning. especially after Thomas' accident. They would send a woman officer to sit with me for the rest of the night. I felt a small relief that I would have somebody by my side for the night. A little while later, a female officer showed up dressed in plain clothes. It was her day off, but being one of only two female officers, she would stay with me. We watched the news for a bit, then I took a shower and got ready for bed. I made the couch up for Sheila to sleep on. We made sure the house was all locked up, checking the doors and windows. Once we had secured the house, I tried laying down and getting some rest. I thought I'd never get to sleep, tossing and turning, finding it hard to get comfortable. I Wished so hard to have Jeff laying beside me. I wanted him to cuddle me, telling me everything would be all right. We'd figure out what to do together when he got back. I must have dropped off to sleep because I woke with a jerk, sitting straight up in the darkness. I reached for the lamp next to the bed and found nothing. In fact it was so dark, I couldn't even see the street lights from the road. I called out to Sheila, embarrassed by the sound of my voice. For the first time in a very long time, I wanted my Mommy. I felt like a child afraid of the dark. I swung my legs around to put my feet on the floor so I could switch the light on by the bedroom door. But my legs didn't hang over the bed and were met with cold, hard dirt. Now I screamed for Sheila, Where was she? Where was I? Then I heard a noise that chilled me to the bone. I heard chains rattling off to the right of me. I had to be dreaming, I had to be. I told myself to wake up. This was just a bad dream like all the others, I just had to wake up and I'd be safe. Then I saw a light, dim at first and getting brighter as it got closer to me. Was it Sheila coming to check on me? I called out to her with no answer back. The light got closer and closer until it almost blinded me. I shielded my eyes and tried to see past the light to whomever was carrying it.
As my eyes adjusted to the light, it wasn't Sheila at all, but Gale. I was in the mine below the house. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and I felt nauseous. I kept asking her why she was doing this, what she wanted. No answer was given as she walked past me and shed some light on a figure lying on the ground. It was Sheila, she was chained to the wall. I tried to stand so I could escape, but didn't have the strength. My head was swimming and I thought I was going to pass out. Before I knew it had happened, a chain whipped around my neck and I heard a lock snap into place. I had been leashed like a dog, without any way out. I pulled on it with all my might. Gale laughed at this and assured me I would not be getting free. She yanked me up to my feet and pulled me toward Sheila. I saw all the blood and knew she had to be dead. I pleaded with her that she could have the house, all the property, i just wanted to go home to my daughters. I could care less about anything here in Bouse, I just wanted to see my babies again. She leaned in close and said not to worry, she would take care of my babies for me. I started sobbing, pleading with her, offering her anything she wanted. She pulled me over to the table with the files, stating we had hidden everything from her. She picked up one of the folders and slapped me in the face with it a couple of times as if admonishing a dog who had been bad. I asked if she wanted money, I would give her every cent I had. She laughed at me, like it would be that easy for me to get free. Once more she jerked the chain and led me down one of the shafts. We came to the ladder that led down to the next level and she told me to climb down into the darkness. I refused, I wasn't going down there. She told me either I could go down first or she could go down and yank me after her. I was so frightened that I climbed down. I couldn't stop crying or calling for Jeff to save me. She came down after me and led me to where the drawings were. How did she know how to navigate the tunnels? Had she known about them the whole time? I tried to ask her the things I was thinking, but only gargled words escaped my mouth. She told me to touch the sun in the drawing. I retreated as far as I could, coming to the end of my leash. You can't get away from me, she informed me. Said she was born here and would continue to be here for all eternity. Then she laughed, high and loud. Then it deepened into a roar like a wave crashing against a jetty. I put my hands to my ears. This wasn't real, this wasn't real, it couldn't be. I was jerked forward again, back to the drawings on the wall. Touch the sun she said once again, staring deep into my soul. I reached out with a shaking hand and did as I was told. I touched the sun, expecting cold rock under my fingertips. It felt warm like a summer's day. My head started swimming and my vision grew blurry. Then I felt liquid running over my hand and down my arm. Now you are mine, she said, just like the fools who released me all those years ago. Greedy men, only think of gold and glory. Eager to make a deal in exchange for wealth. Visions filled my head, James inspecting the mine he had just purchased. As he climbed down into the mine shafts, Gale could feel the greed in his heart. Stronger than any who had been down there before. Such greed that it had awakened her from a great slumber she had been in for centuries. She had once roamed the land, killing and eating all that got in her way. Then a Shaman had come, they had fought long and hard until he finally defeated her. She kept that part hidden from me, so I could not do the same. I realized that my hand felt even warmer, almost a burning sensation. I tried to pull my hand back, but it was stuck. And to my horror it had melded into the stone and then the pain started. My hand and arm felt as if it were on fire, being pulled farther into the wall. The more I pulled, the more it burned. More visions came after that. Her reaching out to James, embracing him as she came out of the earth itself. Naked as a newborn babe, she stepped into his arms. No words spoken, but a deal being made without speech. She was the one who had hung Sally, getting her out of the way. She came to the hotel a year later, as Laurel, James' second wife. The children she brought, stolen from another family that had the misfortune of traveling through Bouse. It was she, who had taken people to work in the mines. It was all her idea, making them work until they couldn't work anymore. Then forcing them to touch the wall as I had been. The pictures hadn't been drawn at all, they were the victims of Gale. Sacrifices to the earth in exchange for her freedom. I was seeing the events unfold as if I had been standing there watching it all happen. My arm was up to my elbow by this time, there was no getting away. I screamed from the pain and from the despair I was feeling from all the other souls that came before me.
And now, she said, she would be taking my memories as well. I felt my life flashing before my eyes as she absorbed every part of my life. All my joys, pain and everything in between. I held on to the thoughts of my daughters, my reason for being and then they were gone as if they never existed to me. Then I saw my life with Jeff, all the love that we had. I hated him now, for bringing me to this place. Then he too started to slip away from my memories. I felt the stone against my shoulder and still pulling me in. The stick figures on the wall started moving, the silent screams that only Gale and I could hear. Of course, she was never Gale, she was from a time from the beginning of the earth. She was there to watch the rise and fall of the dinosaurs. She was there as the first primordial ooze came from the still bubbling seas and oceans that formed on the earth. She was nature itself, changing from one form into the next to blend in with her surroundings. Always looking for those she could mold to her purposes, to be used to create chaos. She fed off of it like it was a never ending buffet. I felt my cheek against the wall, feeling the liquid of the sun run down my entire being. The burning had subsided now and had turned into a warmth that encased me. My being was absorbed and it didn't seem to bother me at all now. I was feeling a peaceful calm and almost gave into it. I jerked back as hard as I could, but realized that only my left arm was still hanging out of the wall. All I accomplished was waving it around in a frenzy as it too was pulled into the wall. I felt the others before me trying to help, to push me back out into reality. I thought I could get free with their help, slowly climbing out of the stone that held me. I could feel the cold air on my shoulder and then my face as I was pushed from behind. Gale or whatever she was called looked at me with what looked like fright. I was struggling with the help of the others to escape, I knew it was going to work. I would get free and run from this place, never looking back. I knew I had to be free from this place. She grabbed my arm that was free, putting her face next to mine. She cupped my face in her other hand and kissed me. Probing my mouth with her tongue, which became longer seeming to crawl down my throat. I gagged and tried to pull away from her. Not caring at all that my struggles had stopped. It was then that I knew I was never going to get out of here. I gave up and let the darkness claim me. Sinking down further and further. As I was finally consumed by the stone, Gale once more leaned in to stare into my eyes as she rippled and changed before them. She finally took shape, my shape, my face, my life. My screams went unheard like the rest of her victims, until there was only her in the tunnel. She whispered that she would be seeing us soon. Then turned her back to us and walked off, the light growing dimmer as she left. She had won, she would always win. All we could do was wait for the next person to be used as a sacrifice and try to make another attempt to escape then. How long would it be? All we could do was wait in the darkness, forgetting everything we once were. In the silence, in the dark, in the forever of time. Becoming once more just pictures on the wall.
About the Creator
Mysticpyrate
Horror and sci-fi fan who uses they're mental illness to fuel the creative juices of their dark, twisted stories. Prepare to go where my brain may lead you. Down into the dark depths of my fears and paranoia.
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War Babies Pt. 3
Chapter 3 Walt was there promptly at eight as usual, I answered the door when he rang and he was surprised that I was the one opening it up for him to enter. “Wow, He exclaimed, “You seem to be having a good day today.” Then he got a look on his face like I was going to shoot back with one of my usual snide comments. “Nope, feeling pretty good the last couple of days. Must be the new meds and my little garden I have now. I have something to keep me busy.” I said. He looked relieved like my father did earlier. I kept reminding myself to not go overboard, just stay positive and let things flow smoothly. I did all the work I was given and playfully complained about how hard it was. Walt looked like I had become a different kid than he was used to. He was still cautious with me, trying not to set me off. I think I have this handled, and the afterthought of don’t you always? I knew this was a game that I had played before, only this time, I’d win. If I kept on track and not overdo it, they would buy whatever I was doing. There was a sense of accomplishment when Walt left. He and mom talked for a bit at the front door. I knew it was about me and my new attitude. Mom had a weird schedule, working odd hours as she was needed and sometimes taking small trips for business. That’s when I was kept in my room most of the time. Dad wasn’t sure of how to handle me and kept the phone on him at all times when she was gone. He’s the one who usually called Dr. Caltin and had them come get me. I think he was afraid of me. Maybe I had done something to make him this way. I don’t really remember the last five years since the accident. I have vague memories of throwing things, pulling my own hair out, starting fires and hitting people. My most prominent memories are of being in the ward. The same room it seemed every time I was admitted. The same staff, even though that had to be impossible, we had moved three times since then. I had to just be paranoid right? The thought still remained, even though I knew it wasn’t possible. I mean, why would they move with us? I wasn’t the president's kid, with their own medical team. It had to be paranoia, it had to be.
By Mysticpyrate4 years ago in Fiction
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