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Previously on “The Red Barn”

A massive earthquake, registering as a 9.0 on the Richter scale, has struck the town of Avalon and other towns and cities within a ten mile radius.  Shortly after the quake ended, Bart and Linda attempt to gain access to the town, but are denied entry at a roadblock.  During the aftermath of the earthquake, Ebony, strikes again by turning another innocent victim into stone.

Part XVII

After being turned away at a roadblock just outside the town limits of Avalon, Bart and Linda then decided to head south towards Charleston, South Carolina.  On their way there they made a stop at a roadside diner for some food.  As part parked the car in the parking lot right by the diner front door, Linda reaches into her purse and pulls out migraine medicine.  Bart just sits there and watches her take the pills with no water in hand.  Her face cringed as she attempted to swallow the pills with no aid of a cold beverage.  Once she was able to put down the pills, she took a huge sigh as if she was relieved it was done.

Bart then turns to her and asked her, “How come you couldn’t wait until we got inside for some water to help wash those pills down?”  Linda turns her head towards him and replies, “Sometimes I can’t wait and just getting out of the car to go inside just made my head hurt worse.”  He looked at her as if her statement made no sense, but didn’t push the issue since that is not the main focus of their trip.  They enter the diner and get seated immediately behind a group of four older gentlemen.  When Bart and Linda sat down, she had her back towards the four gentlemen talking behind her.  As the four gentlemen were talking amongst themselves, she was trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.  At the same time Bart was talking to her as he was looking at the menu.

Linda would only respond to Bart at points she thought she should respond, but most of her focus was on the men behind her.  Then as the four gentlemen got deeper into their conversation, she turned her head slightly to her right to listen even more deeply.

MAN #1:  I’m telling you that town had it coming.  It’s sad that everyone had to pay for the sins of one group of people.

MAN #2:  That doesn’t make it right.  Everyone involved in that incident had either moved away or was already dead.  So, how can you say that the town of Avalon had it coming?

MAN #1:  I’m not saying that those people that died had their fate coming.  What I am saying is that the people who were involved in that incident at that time cursed the town and everyone who lived in it.

MAN #3:  Why would innocent people who have nothing to do with that be cursed and killed for something they have no knowledge of?

MAN #1:  They should have never entered the red barn in the first place, number one.  Number two, if they had never entered the town itself, they wouldn’t have been a victim of her wrath.

It was at this point that Linda made her eavesdropping known to the four elderly men.

LINDA:  Hi.  I’m sorry to but in, but I was overhearing your conversation about the town of Avalon and the red barn.

All four of the men looked at each other and at Linda and Bart.  One of the men invited Bart and Linda to come over to their table to discuss the topic of Avalon and the red barn.

MAN #1:  So what do you want to know?

LINDA:  Well, we want to know how is the town cursed and why are things happening in a bizarre way?

MAN #2:  It all dates back sometime near the era of when the thirteen colonies were formed into a new nation.  As many of us know, slaves were a big business venture and a lot of money was made from either selling or buying slaves for labor.  Especially in the south, like North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia.

MAN #3:  For years after those slaves, as we know attempted to escape and avoid capture, but when they were captured they either faced the punishment of being hanged, losing a foot, or being castrated.  During the time of slavery, there were many revolts coordinated by the slaves for freedom, but each time they tried they were just dealt with harshly.

MAN #2:  Then about the period between 1700 and 1710, when the population was on a sharp rise, the slave owners came together and decided to excommunicate the slaves to control their population growth.

BART:  Why would they want to control their population?

MAN #4:  Over time the slaves were growing stronger and faster.  Besides that many slaves were coming down with diseases and ailments that they couldn’t figure out.

MAN #2:  So about one evening, during the winter of 1710, several slaves lived inside this red barn with very little insulation, men, women, and children.  As several slave owners, and some militia men, moved in on the barn, one girl by the name of Ebony, and her mother, were the only two outside the red barn at the time it all started.

LINDA:  What started?  The killings?

MAN #1:  Many slaves fought back using whatever they could fine once they realized what was happening.  It was then at that point the militia men opened fire on those trying to escape.  Couple of the militia men were killed as well by some of the women slaves, but they were soon raped and killed by others.  While all the chaos is going on, Ebony’s father saw his daughter standing alone in a field.  At the same time he saw his wife fighting with one of the owners to protect their daughter.  As he ran towards Ebony he was shot by the militia, which also ended up shooting the little girl.

MAN #4:  Unfortunately, she didn’t die right away.  Her father was dead, but her mother was lying in the grass brutally raped and beaten.  As she laid there unable to move or do anything, she watched some of the townsman grab her daughter and toss her body into the barn with the others.  The barn was then set on fire, but no one knows why the mother was the only one sparred.  Some say it was because they wanted someone to witness the horrific sight.  Many families and bloodlines nearly ended during that period of mass massacre.

For several months Ebony’s mother couldn’t move on with her life.  She ended up turning to Black Magic, which was introduced to her by another widow slave.  Soon after that a transformation started in Ebony’s mother that made some fear her as if she was Satan himself.  Majority of the people said, and it was written down in some historic books not shown in schools, that she went to the site where her family died.  Once there she chanted and did a ritual that brought her daughter back to life, at least in spirit.  It was so real to her that she was able to reach out and touch her daughter once again.  After she was able to control when her daughter could appear and reappear, she vowed vengeance on those that murdered her family and all the slaves before.

If you go to the town’s library, just down the street from here, you would want to go and check out the National Historic and Preservation Society Volume.

BART:  Why is that?

MAN #1:  That book has a detail account of all the events that the little girl, Ebony, was seen in.

LINDA:  What do you mean seen in?

MAN #2:  Ebony’s mother died before she could make her daughter disappear without being seen by others.

LINDA:  How did her mother die?

MAN #4:  No one knows exactly.  Some reports say she died of her own magic, not knowing the limits and used it to the extent that it wasn’t suppose to be used.

BART:  So what happened to Ebony?

MAN #1:  Well, soon after her mother died the little girl disappeared without a trace.  For years, after that the little girl would just show up at random town events in this Chinese red outfit.  At first, she didn’t cause any harm, but I think once the town started to become more populated, she wasn’t too happy.  Many say she lived in the woods, which was up on a hill near a winding road.  Those who pursued the little girl never could find her, until one day a red barn was seen in the same woods on a hill.

An evil spirit or entity hovered around the barn and kept people away for years.  That was until recently when an entire town attempted to gain entry and burn it down.  They might have been successful in burning it down, but the little girl was not pleased with that.  All the events that happened prior to the barn being set on fire were the unhappy and evil spirits of the town.  Some of those that lived in the town were related to the original towns people around the time of Ebony’s death.  So for several years, Ebony, at least we believe, has been seeking her vengeance on the entire bloodline of those involved in her death.

LINDA:  Is there anyway to stop her or to at least put her at peace?

MAN #4:  Who knows?  After that earthquake that just happened near the town, she might be unable to be pleased at this point.

BART:  What if we rebuilt the red barn for her?  You think that could help her out, you know, become settled and live in the afterlife in peace?

MAN #1:  What the hell are you smoking?  We don’t want to be anywhere near that type of thing.

LINDA:  Well, how do you gentlemen know so much about what has happened, especially this little girl?

MAN #4:  Some of it has been personal accounts, articles we’ve read, and other information from speculation and words of other people.

LINDA:  Why don’t we help her stop doing what she is doing and rebuild the red barn for her?  That might be her only savior, her only kind of piece that keeps her in touch with the past.  Right now, majority of the bloodline of those who were involved have either died in this town or in the horrible mysterious house fires in Charleston.

MAN #3:  You heard about that, huh?  The investigators finding small toy barns at every seen is a very tantalizing clue that she’s involved in those fires.

BART:  Well, right now she’s killing people who have nothing to do with what happened to her.  Innocent people, or bloodlines, are getting caught up in her terrorizing vengeance for retribution.  I think if we rebuild her a red barn for her to live in and to have a connection with in the past, we might be able to stop her from killing anymore.

Long pause and silence fills the table.

MAN #1:  Why do you folks want to help that evil girl out?  You really think she’s gonna be thankful to you building her a barn that resembles her death?  Think about that.

LINDA:  Well, we must do something to stop Ebony from harming anyone else.  This earthquake was the worse she’s done.  What’s next on her list?

MAN #2:  If I were you I would probably go find the other bloodline relatives of those that died and warn them about what is coming.  The only thing with that is that you may have a very difficult time convincing them that a little black girl, dressed in a Chinese red outfit, is coming to kill them and their children, if they have any.

BART:  That’s probably not a bad idea for us to do.  We might not be able to save every single one, but we can at least send them a warning.  If they don’t heed to the warning then it will become more of their problem after that.

LINDA:  Where can we find the list of all those that died in the town of Avalon?  You know since the whole area is blocked off now.

MAN #3:  Go to the Lower Union Township Library.  It is just ten minutes up the road on your right.

Through their entire conversation the waitress never interrupted them as she knew what they were talking about.  Once she felt it was safe for her to intervene and ask for everyone’s order, she did.  After everyone ordered their food, they all sat and enjoyed their food, but by this time Linda and Bart had moved back to their original table to enjoy their meal before heading out.

TO BE CONTINUED…PART XVIII

Previously on “The Red Barn”

The city of Charleston, South Carolina is now being plague with mysterious starting house and structure fires.  The police department is struggling to figure out whom or what is causing these fires throughout random parts of the city, but one thing is clear that someone or something has left their mark.  At the same time Linda and Bart are going to attempt to further investigate these mysterious events that still seem to be connected to the town of Avalon, but with the possible identification of the little girl now they go to Charleston armed with this information.

Part XVI

While the military stationed in and around the town of Avalon try to make sense of the mysterious death of four more soldiers, things within the town are beginning to pick up once again.  Since the arrival of the National Guard the evil entities have backed off not sure of how to proceed until now.  Just a couple of days after the roving patrol were found just outside the town; the satanic events erupted very quickly and continued without any remorse.  Approximately about five to six soldiers were inside the Latrine taking a shower when one of them opened his eyes after washing the soap off of his face.  When he did so the water coming out of the shower head, which has now turned to blood, flows directly into his eyes.  This surprised the hell out of him and caused him to jump away from the shower head.  Once he was able to get his eyes clear enough to see what was happening, that is when he noticed all shower heads within the Latrine turned to blood.

He saw his other buddies showering under the shower heads covered in blood, which at this point they were still unaware of what was happening.  It was at this time he yelled at one of his buddies to get his attention.  When one of them looked at him in serious amazement and asked him what the hell happened, the first soldier pointed to the shower head above his buddies head.  When his buddy looked up and saw that it was blood flowing from the shower head, he jumped back letting out a loud yell.  This yell got everyone else’s attention to what was going on and they all noticed themselves covered in blood.  As other soldiers started walking towards the shower they were met with at five naked soldiers running by them drenched in blood from head to toe.  This obviously caused for some serious alarm as the others, who have not entered the shower yet, chased them down to find out what exactly happened.

The five bloody soldiers were seen running through camp to their living quarters and gathered attention from every corner they rounded.  Soon the soldiers made it to their rooms and slammed their doors shut, but by this time at least two dozen clothed soldiers chased them down to only stand in front of their room door.  One staff sergeant, who witnessed this awful sight, walked up to the door and knocked on it rather hard announcing himself.  Several attempts were made to get the soldiers to open the door and to explain what was going on, but they refused by not saying a word or answering the door.  Finally, after about ten minutes of trying to get the soldiers to open the door the first sergeant grabbed one of the second set of keys to the room from the supply sergeant.

When the first sergeant opened the room he was met with a thud behind the door.  At this point he could only see through a two inch gap in the door as he tried to push it open.  Other soldiers in the hallway, just outside the door, rushed over to help the first sergeant open the door.  After the door was about half way open a foul stench invaded their nostrils, which caused them to all back away from the partially opened bedroom door.  The staff sergeant then gained the courage to strengthen through the foul stench and force his way into the room.  After he cleared the doorway, at least two others followed with the first sergeant the last one to enter.  Seconds after entering the room hundreds of flies were buzzing around the room and feasting off of the five soldiers’ dead bodies on the floor.  One of the soldiers lying on his back, still naked from the shower had several flies coming out of his mouth, nose, and eyes.  The other four soldiers who were spread out throughout the room were lying in various positions with flies coming out of their ears, nose, and other holes that appeared on the corpses.

The first sergeant and the other three soldiers fled the room quickly and vomited in the hallway as a few of the flies followed them out of the room.  Other soldiers in the hallway saw their fellow comrade’s fall to their knees letting loose their stomach contents and rushed away from them for space.  Once the first sergeant finished puking his food from earlier, he ordered a few of the stand-by soldiers to contact the sheriff’s office and the state police.  The remaining soldiers in the hallway took the steps to make sure the room was secured and protected for evidence sake.  As they were completing that task, the first sergeant and his staff sergeant went to the latrine that they ran from to inspect it.  Upon them inspecting the latrine they could easily see blood staining the shower tiles on the wall and floor.  The first sergeant also noticed that the showers were still running pouring more blood onto the floor.  As he entered the shower stalls to turn off the shower heads, he slipped and lost his balance.  Almost immediately after losing his balance the first sergeant landed flat on his back knocking the wind out of him.  The staff sergeant stopped one of the soldiers from rushing in to help the first sergeant not wanting to have more downed and injured bodies.  The staff sergeant asked the first sergeant of how he was feeling, but no answer was given.  It was clear at this point that the first sergeant had suffered a concussion.

It was at this time the staff sergeant reached out to grab the first sergeant’s hand, which was just out of reach.  He then knew he would have to step onto the bloody tiles himself to at least reach the first sergeant and to drag him back away from the shower stalls.  Just as the staff sergeant reached out to grab the first sergeant’s hand, the floor underneath the first sergeant started to rumble and shake.  Soon the whole camp started to rumble and shake and alerted everyone that an earthquake was taking place.  Each minute that passed the rumble and shaking got worse and worse to the point people and soldiers within the ten mile radius of the town couldn’t stay on their feet.  Houses in neighboring towns and cities began to collapse and crush the occupants inside.  Hundreds of people started to run out into the streets to get away from their houses that were turning into rubble-graves.  At one point, for several minutes, the ground registered a 9.0 earthquake within a ten mile radius of Avalon.  Under that massive pressure and rumble of the ground, it started to crack open and split into several small sections.  Some houses and buildings within the town were swallowed into the massive breaks into the earth, which also had extremely intense fire exploding from underneath.

Hundreds of soldiers were killed in this very violent, intense earthquake that caused buildings and equipment to fall on to them.  Several military vehicles were lost within the massive sink holes that were formed throughout the town.  By the end of the intense earthquake, nearly 90% of the town of Avalon was either destroyed by collapsing or being swallowed by Mother Earth into their massive grave.  It was recorded that the earthquake lasted about ten minutes, which was extremely unheard of.  Being involved in very violent shaking for that long period of time caused a lot of people to suffer brain damage, brain hemorrhages, suffered broken limbs and joints, and massive post-traumatic stress syndrome.  Several minutes after the earthquake ended, sirens from emergency vehicles could be heard from miles away.  The remaining soldiers and civilians that were not injured or swallowed up by the massive sink holes in the earth, ran around and helped others the best way they could.

While all of this is happening, Bart and Linda are in a rental car heading towards Charleston when they heard on the radio about a 9.0 earthquake hitting near the town of Avalon.  As the news was reporting it on the radio, they looked at each other and immediately Bart turned the car around to head in the direction of Avalon.  About one hour later, as they continue in towards Avalon, a massive roadblock emerges from the horizon just twelve miles outside of the town.  Immediately, Bart pulls over to the side of the road and asked Linda what the plan was.

BART:  So, what do we do now?

LINDA:  I don’t know.  Maybe if we tell them that we are hear to help the victims of the earthquake they will allow us to go through.

BART:  You really think that will work?  I don’t know if they will believe us.  I suppose it’s worth a shot if we want to figure this mess out.

LINDA:  Just stay calm and relaxed.  Just tell them we are here to help the victims of the earthquake and maybe they will direct us where to go.

Bart releases a huge sigh and puts the car in drive and pulls off the side of the road.  By the time they reached the roadblock about three cars were in front of them and each one was allowed to enter through.  So when Bart and Linda were next they got somewhat excited that they will be able to enter through the roadblock.  Immediately after Bart pulled up to a designated spot pointed by the state trooper, a military policeman walked up to the driver side window and started talking to them.

MILITARY POLICEMAN:  Afternoon sir and ma’am.  What is your business today?

LINDA:  We heard about the massive damage and earthquake on the radio and wanted to come and help the people immediately.

MILITARY POLICEMAN:  That’s very noble of you two, but unfortunately only emergency personnel are allowed through here.  Even folks who live within the radius of the earthquake, who are returning, can’t even enter at this time.

BART:  Well, that sucks royally!  We want to be good citizens and good Samaritans to help our fellow man, you know!

MILITARY POLICEMAN:  I understand that sir, but rules are rules.  At this time I will have to ask you to turn around and head back now please.

LINDA:  Before we do that how much longer is the restriction going to be to only allow emergency personnel through?

MILITARY POLICEMAN:  It could be another 24-48 hours before the restriction is lifted.  By then it will be to only residence.

BART:  Thank you very much officer.

Bart turns the car around and heads back away from the town of Avalon looking in the rear view mirror.  As they were pulling further and further away from the roadblock, shots were fired behind them.  The sounds of shots scared the shit out of Linda and Bart, but could hardly see anything except MP’s and state troopers scrambling around.  He didn’t dare stop to find out what was going on, but kept going straight and listening to the news accounts at ground zero of the earthquake.  As the violent earthquake ended and the aftermath chaos erupted, Ebony is spotted walking around ground zero by one civilian aid who is assigned to the military as a contractor.  The civilian aid starts to follow Ebony and notices she disappears around a corner of a partially collapsed building.  When the aid turns the corner she sees Ebony standing there with a red barn toy in her hand.

The aid looks at her and slowly creeps towards her to get close enough to talk to her.  Once the aid gets close enough to kneel down and to reach out and grab Ebony underneath her arm pits, the little girl reaches out and with her palms up shows the aid the toy.  The aid looks at the toy and stares at it for a few seconds before turning her eyes back at Ebony.  As soon as the aid touched Ebony under her arms, she felt a massive shock go through her body.  She yelped and fell immediately on her buttocks in a stunned daze.  When the aid looks at Ebony she notices that the little girl is slowly changing her features.  Within a few seconds after getting shocked by Ebony, the aid attempts to get up but is shoved back down by an unseen force.  The aid tries with every strength she has to fight against this unseen force holding her down on the ground.  Ebony walks around the aid and stands above her head looking down at her with blacker than midnight eyes, pure blonde hair, and skin matching the color of her death eyes.

The aid made the mistake of looking into Ebony’s eyes and immediately turned to stone within a matter of a few seconds.  Shortly, after the aid was turned to stone, Ebony turned around and switched her appearance back to her normal self and skipped away.  No one else spotted Ebony in the area and no one else found the body of the aid until several hours later already decomposing within the stone shell.

TO BE CONTINUED…PART XVII

Previously on “The Red Barn”

A military unit on regular patrol just outside the town limits of Avalon has encountered series of events that could not be explained.  When the unit commander arrived on scene to take a look at the damage of his lifeless soldiers lying on the pavement, he receives a phone call from a detective in Charleston, South Carolina in regards to his family meeting a mysterious death.

Part XV

Charleston Police Department, in South Carolina, has made a discovery of a serious house fire in one neighborhood just minutes from downtown.  The head detective, David Burgess, arrived on scene minutes later after receiving the call from the watch commander.  After Detective Burgess arrived on scene he waited for the fire department to finish their stage of search and cleaning.  Hours after the fire department chief made Detective Burgess aware of them finishing he showed the detective a toy red barn that was found in one of the kid’s rooms.  The shocking development of this being found in the ruins was that the toy was not scratched, burned, or damaged in anyway.  Immediately, the fire chief and Detective Burgess made the preliminary conclusion that the toy must have been placed there after the house burned down.

Then suddenly another fire fighter overheard the conversation between the fire chief and the detective and butted in the conversation.  The firefighter corrected the chief in saying that the red barn toy was found in the house, but underneath tons of rubble.  When the detective asked the firefighter what he means by that statement, the firefighter elaborated his explanation and said that the red barn toy should have been crushed and damaged into pieces under the weight of everything collapsing.  When this was finally explained in more concrete detail, the detective then began to think that they may have an arsonist on their hands.  Then the question became who would torch a house with a family still inside and did the people inside know the arsonist.  The hardest thing that Detective Burgess had to do was to contact the husband, the unit commander in Avalon, North Carolina, to the heart-breaking news.

By the time Detective Burgess had an opportunity to search through the ruins himself, it was just turning day break.  Another detective then arrived on scene, Janice Wesson, who just finished a homicide case the previous day.  She was allowed to go home and get some rest before responding back out to this house fire, which is being considered a homicide by arson.  After Detective Wesson arrived on scene she was directed where Burgess was and met up with him to get the scoop on the case.  The horror on her face when Detective Burgess was telling her about what possibly happened and who was inside the house, was sadness and disbelief.

Burgess already told her that he contacted the father of the family and that he should be arriving in Charleston later on today.  Then the mystery got even worse for Wesson when Burgess showed her the red barn toy that was found in the rubble.  She didn’t understand until Burgess explained to her that it was found in the ruins of the house underneath tons of rubble.  Wesson then went on to finish his explanation by saying that the toy should have been crushed or damaged into many pieces.  Detective Burgess concurred with her and told her that was the same thing one firefighter said.  Another thing about that toy being found is that it was in one of the kid’s room, but even with the heat and smoldering it still should show some signs of heat damage.  Wesson tried to make sense of it in her mind, but the explanations that she came up with were not making any sense and hence didn’t share them.

While the detectives in Charleston, South Carolina try to make sense of this murder by arson case, Bart and Linda take a trip to the city library to see if they can make sense of this evil mystery that plagues Avalon.  By this time they are in their third day in Charlotte and have not gotten close to the town of Avalon.  While they are at the library they are not aware of the last two recent incidents that have just occurred.  During their investigation at the library, Linda goes to search for more in-depth records of the town while Bart attempts to look more into the civil war connections.  Several minutes later Linda finds some more in-depth information about the town that Bart was not aware of previously.

LINDA:  Hey! Bart! (In a library whisper).  I think I might have found something here.

BART:  (Walks over to her from one tall bookshelf) what you got?

LINDA:  Before you left for your trip you said you read about the history of the town of Avalon, right?

BART:  Yes.

LINDA:  Well, are you aware of a history that pertains to the town that goes further back than the American Civil War?

BART:  No.  What did you find out?

LINDA:  Apparently, according to this historical book on the Thirteen Colonies the town of Avalon was a slave plantation prior to it becoming a town later on, but it was also a land for dead and convicted slaves.  The latest known slave that was killed was an eight year old girl named Ebony Johnson.

BART:  Oh my God!  Did it say what happened to her?

LINDA:  Back in the late 1700’s to the early 1800’s was a period of slave revoltation and the rate of slave deaths per capita went up nearly 70%.  Most children of the adult slaves that were killed were either sold off to other plantations or made to work well into their 80’s and 90’s.  Ebony was the only black girl killed during this period and it is still unknown whether it was done purposely or was she merely caught in the middle.

BART:  So what does this mean about the town though?  You telling me that all that is happening is related to this period in your country’s history?

LINDA:  I don’t know what else it could mean.  Many places in the south and out west are known to be haunted by slaves, civil war soldiers, and sometimes evil spirits are known to make a presence.  The thing is that many people down here in the southern part of the United States believe in haunted spirits, especially from the slave era.

BART:  Okay, so what do we do now?  We are not merely ghost hunters or equipped to deal with something like this.  If we are to continue on our quest to find out what is going on within that town, we will surely need help.  We only have four days before we both have to return to our normal lives.  We can’t interview anybody from the town because they are all dead and the military surely won’t help us.

LINDA:  The only thing that I can think of is to keep searching the library for more answers, but we will ultimately need to go out there and get our feet in it soon enough.  We can arm ourselves with valuable information about the town, the little black girl Ebony, who I believe in some small way is responsible or involved in this.

BART:  So you telling me you think this little girl, Ebony, is responsible for causing deaths to thousands and thousands of people in this town?  How would you explain that to whomever we need to convince to allow us access in the town, and, how will we be able to combat this evil entity even with help?

LINDA:  Well, I guess we will just have to look up some ghost hunters and ask them to help us investigate the town and to unlock the mystery of this evil presence.

BART:  I hear you, but maybe you have forgotten that at least a few ghost hunter agencies have gone into that town and have uncovered nothing, or if they did they all ended up dead.  I don’t know what team of ghost hunters will come with us to investigate a town that is now occupied by the National Guard.

LINDA:  Are you loosing hope?  Are you having second thoughts about this adventure?  If you are I can understand, but don’t feel like you have to continue on my behalf.

BART:  Oh my goodness!  No I am not giving up hope, but I am a realist and I can see the challenges ahead.  We both had the same kind of nightmare two nights ago, but we were just opposite of each other in that dream.  We have the scars to prove it to each other, but these scars won’t convince anybody except thinking we are mental patients that escaped from some hospital.  I am more than happy to continue with you on this quest, but we have to take some time in figuring how we will get in that town with or without the military knowing.

LINDA:  Sneaking into the town will more than likely get us arrested or killed, but I like danger to that extreme.  Even if we figure out how to gain access into the town, who will help us on this adventure is the question.

BART:  I don’t know, but we can figure that out shortly once we gather more information on this case.

In the meantime while Bart and Linda are at the Charlotte City Library Center, the Charleston Police Department receives more information of other arsons happening around the city.  Within a matter of hours after the break of dawn, the city fire department responded to a dozen house and structure fires.  The fire department got so overwhelmed that they had to contact the neighboring towns and cities for assistance.  It was reported by the media that we could have a serial arsonist running around the city of Charleston setting homes and businesses ablaze.  However, the media was not granted permission by the detectives that are in charge of the case to release any information pertaining to a possible serial arsonist.  At the same time the when you have more structure fires that are happening at the same time that your fire chief has to contact outside help, it doesn’t take a rocket science to figure out what is going on.

As the hours passed through the day and every detective in the city was working some kind of arson case, the fire chief reported to the lead detective of what was being found in each house fire.  Detective Burgess receives a phone call from the fire chief.

DETECTIVE BURGESS:  Hello, Chief Mitchell.  What do you have for me?

FIRE CHIEF MITCHELL:  Well, out of the twelve house fires that we have been dealing with today we were able to put out at least four of them this afternoon.  In searching through the rubble of the burned down houses we found more red barn toys.

DETECTIVE BURGESS:  Excuse me!  Say that again?

FIRE CHIEF MITCHELL:  The same barn toy that was found in yesterday’s house fire, well the same kind of toy was found in the other four house fires we have dealt with.  Every single one was found under tons of rubble with no damage or scratches on them.

DETECTIVE BURGESS:  Who the hell is going around placing these toy barns underneath smoldering tons of rubble?  This is not making any sense and honestly troubles me to even think this is a joke or something.

FIRE CHIEF MITCHELL:  I don’t know what is going on, but if anything turns up in the other remaining house fires we put out I will give you a call as soon as I can. (Hangs up the phone).

DETECTIVE BURGESS:  Janice!  Chief Mitchell found more, red barn toys in four other house fires.

DETECTIVE WESSON:  What the hell?!  Is this some kind of joke that we are not getting?

DETECTIVE BURGESS:  I don’t know, but I think we now know our arsonist’s signature mark now.  At some point he’s going to toy stores and buying up several red barn toys at one time.  He could have kids or he could be someone that has a weird mental picture in his head about fire and red barns.

DETECTIVE WESSON:  The part that I don’t understand is why pick occupying homes with innocent families still living in them?  We have plenty of old barns outside the city that could be more to his liking than setting fires to people’s houses!

DETECTIVE BURGESS:  I wish I could answer that for you, but now we know what the arsonist is using for his signature.

DETECTIVE WESSON:  There’s gotta be several toy stores in the city.  To find out which one the arsonist could be buying his toys from will be like looking for a needle in a giant hay stack.

DETECTIVE BURGESS:  This is why we are detectives, Janice.  They pay us the big bucks to figure shit like this out.

DETECTIVE WESSON:  Yeah, all for 40k a year.

After spending hours at the library and writing down dozens of notes for future use, Bart and Linda leave the library heading back to their hotel rooms.  Once they arrive back at the hotel and head to her room, Bart immediately turns on the television as Linda goes to the bathroom.  As Bart took off his shoes to get comfortable, the news comes on interrupting the current programming that was going on.  This got Bart’s attention, but he wasn’t expecting the news to report something that they may be interested in.  Just as the news was reporting on the dozen house fires that the city of Charleston, South Carolina was dealing with, Linda comes out of the bathroom.

She sits down on the other bed and starts to listen to the news as well.  Their interest in this mysterious case just got more complicated when they heard the fire chief explain that four out of twelve house fires had red barn toys found.  What really peaked their interests was that neither toy barn that was found was damaged, cinched, or marked up.  Armed with this information, the fire chief explained to the public that this could be the arsonist signature.  He employed the public to be vigilant and aware of any suspicious activity near homes, businesses, and maybe toy stores in the city.  The situation had gotten to a point to where the fire chief had to call out to the public for help.  At that time Bart remembered reading about a red barn being located on the Avalon Plantation during the American Civil War.

Linda turns to him and looks him in the eye and says, “Do you think that this could be related to what you read?”  He had laid down on the bed to watch the news, but sat up to answer Linda by saying, “I am not sure, but this case just got extremely complicated for the short time we are here.  I think Charleston, South Carolina is our next step.”

TO BE CONTINUED…PART XVI

Previously on “The Red Barn”

Linda and Bart awake from a hellish nightmare that leaves visible scars on their body and in their minds.  The Red Bald Eagle, which has now been spotted at least twice in the town of Avalon, is physically responsible for the death of one military personnel, but the soldiers that were in the area of the death are now suspected of being involved.

Part XIV

A few weeks after a military sergeant lost his life during his team’s patrol within the town limits of Avalon, another mobile patrol team just outside the town limits experienced the unexplained.  A team of about four army infantrymen, mobile in an unmarked black SUV, were driving down one of the main roads that lead to the south side of town.  Since it was late at night and no street lights were present on either side of the road, the headlights from the vehicle were the only light source to shine on the road.  As the vehicle approached a bend in the road a very strong odor of rotten eggs and spoiled beef began to come through the vehicle’s ventilation system.  The driver was the first to smell the foul odor and then the other three occupants followed a few seconds later.  It didn’t take long before each of them started to blame each other for passing gas and not giving the common courtesy to inform the others.  As they got closer to the bend in the road, the foul smell got worse to the point where the rear occupants of the SUV started gagging and dry heaving.  The driver and passenger of the patrol vehicle started having issues seeing and breathing normally.  One of the soldiers in the truck finally yelled out “GAS”, which gave them the clue to dawn their gas masks.

Within several minutes of the foul fumes engulfing the interior of the patrol vehicle, the driver quickly pulled over to the right shoulder.  After the vehicle stopped they all quickly exited the vehicle and quickly started reaching for their gas masks.  Once everyone had dawned their gas masks, they were able to block out the smell that lingered in the air, but by that time the toxic fumes had already been inhaled.  Minutes after putting on their gas masks, one of the soldiers who was sitting in the back, began to complain about stomach pains.  As he leaned over holding his stomach, the other three rushed over to help him and to see what was exactly wrong.  Once the soldier fell to the ground and still kept complaining about severe pains in his stomach, the driver rushed back inside the vehicle to radio for help.  When he picked up the mic for the radio he noticed that he would either have to take off his mask to speak, rush them out of the contaminated area, or yell through his mask so others can hear him clearly.  As he sat there in the driver seat contemplating what to do his decision became clear when the soldier, who was complaining about his stomach, started coughing up blood.

As soon as he heard and saw his fellow soldier on the ground coughing up blood, he urged the other two to get him in the truck.  Almost immediately after they got the sick soldier back in the truck the driver sped off screeching tires to head back to headquarters.  Within a matter of seconds the vehicle was traveling above the speed of 80mph when they came up on the bend of the road.  The passenger yelled to the driver to be careful and watch out, but by the time that was said the driver started to lose control of the SUV.  The SUV started fish-tailing all over the road as the driver attempted to gain control as he was going around the bend of the road.  Just as they came to the end of the bend of the road, a black little girl appeared in the middle of the road with no clothes on.  The soldier sitting in the back and the soldier in the passenger seat yelled to the driver at the same time about the little girl in the road.  With the sight of the little black girl in the middle of the road and his comrades yelling at him sent his alertness to overload.  The soldier driving swerved the vehicle to his left to avoid hitting the girl and then quickly steered to the right when the vehicle started going sideways down the embankment.

Even though the driver was able to bring the SUV back on to the road it ended up going sideways down the road.  Seconds later the SUV violently flipped to the left and continued rolling down the road numerous times with pieces of the vehicle flying in all directions.  Several hundred feet later the SUV stopped rolling and ended up on its driver side.  All four soldiers in the vehicle were motionless for several minutes, but the one who was sick had died.  The first one to wake up from his unconsciousness was the driver, who was lying on his back with his left leg twisted up under the dashboard.  As he attempted to move he felt a sharp, violently motion of pain shoot through his lower body.  That pain shooting through his body made him yell at the top of his lungs, which woke up the soldier in the rear and the passenger.  When the soldier in the rear woke up he immediately attended to his fellow comrade who was sick.  He reached down to feel for his pulse and that is when he noticed that he was dead.  The injured driver and the stunned passenger were told about their fellow comrade and sadness quickly filled their hearts.  By this time they had ripped off their gas mask so they can communicate clearly to each other and to headquarters.  When the soldier in the passenger seat reached for the radio to call for help, he noticed that it wasn’t working.

Once each of them got their minds together of what to do, the driver asked about the little black girl and where she came from.  The other two soldiers had no clue and were just as surprised to see her as he was before the accident.  The soldier in the passenger was able to pry himself out of the wreckage and jump down from the truck to rush the others out.  The first soldier pulled out was the dead soldier’s body and placed on the side of the road in the grass.  Then the two less injured soldiers attempted to pull the driver out, but each tug caused massive pain to flow through his lower body.  After several attempts the passenger realized that his buddy’s left leg was trapped under the collapsed dashboard.  He realized he would have to lift the dashboard as best he could to free him while the other soldier pulls him out.  Seconds after figuring that out he told the other soldier and they executed the plan to perfection.  The other soldier was able to drag the driver away from the wreckage for about twenty yards before laying him in the grass.  The soldier who lifted the collapsed dashboard quickly searched for the first aid kit in the rear of the truck, but then noticed that the tailgate must have flew open during the violent roll.

This was the first time he was seeing the results of the accident as he was looking at all the vehicle pieces, military equipment, and other unknown things sprawled all over the road.  As he started his search through the wreckage remains, he smelled the odor of gasoline.  He looked down and saw a large pool of gasoline under his feet and flowing down the street.  This confused him as they were on a flat surface and not sure why the gasoline would be flowing in the direction of where the little black girl was seen.  He then started to follow the flow of gasoline back down the road where they came from.  As he looked down and followed the stream of gasoline, the little black girl was suddenly in front of him.  The sudden appearance of the girl shocked him and made him jump back a few steps before he realized who it was.  This time the little black girl was dressed in a pure white dress, with white socks, and black Mary Jane’s.  He was utterly confused as to what he was seeing, but thought that maybe he hit his head harder than expected during the vehicle rollover.  The soldier took a few steps towards the girl who also took a few steps back.  When he repeated the same movement from just a few seconds ago, she also mach his movements going backwards.

Quickly it became a game of follow the leader as she kept stepping backwards the closer he got to her.  About a minute later into this sick game, he figured he had enough and rushed towards her to pick her up.  He grabbed her under the arms lifted her up in the air at about eye level.  When he had her about a few inches from his face, he witnessed her facial features change and her eyes go completely dark.  The soldier attempted to drop her, but he was so fixated on her changing appearance that he could do so.  That feeling of unable to let her go was changed when her whole body suddenly went ablaze.  From the intense heat and burning sensation on his hands he dropped her straight to the ground, but forgot that he was standing over the stream of gasoline.  By the time he realized that the flames had already engulfed his body and started burning his flesh, his uniform, and soon his soul.  Once the fire caught the stream of gasoline, it followed the trail back up towards the flipped SUV.  The other soldier who was with the deceased and badly injured comrades yelled for his partner.  When he yelled and no response was heard, he then saw flames come from out the darkness around the bend of the road.

He quickly realized that the flames were heading their way towards the SUV, but couldn’t move the others fast enough.  When the injured driver sat up and saw the flames coming quickly towards the SUV, he told his comrade to leave the scene and run for help.  They argued for a few seconds before the soldier finally took off running down the road towards the town.  As he was running at top speed down the road he heard a huge explosion, which caused him to lose footing and fall face first.  He rolled over to see what was happening, but was completely shocked when he saw the burning SUV high in the air engulfed.  While he watched the burning SUV fly through the air he quickly realized it was heading towards his injured buddy.  The injured driver saw the SUV, completely engulfed in flames, high in the air coming right at him.  Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to avoid being crushed and burned, he resigned to the fact that he would not live to see the next day.  At a very horrific sight the fleeing soldier witnessed the SUV land on his injured buddy making a loud and screeching noise of metal clanging together and popping under the intense heat.  It was at that immediate moment the fleeing soldier knew he was alone and that in order to get help he would need to hurry to headquarters.

At about three miles down the road from the crash site, the soldier was completely exhausted and stumbled seriously to stay on his feet.  Once he got to a point where he couldn’t stay on his feet anymore he fell face down once again breathing very heavily.  He rolled over on his back with his arms spread out to his side looking up at the night sky.  While laying there in the roadway, he felt a vibration under his body that got his attention quickly.  He was able to control his breathing to listen as he heard what sounded like vehicles coming his way around another bend in the roadway.  The fleeing soldier rolled over on his stomach and looked straight ahead to see if he could see what was coming.  Then he pushed his exhausted body up off the cool concrete and stood in place.  He stared at the bend of the road that was several hundred feet in front of him to see if he could see headlights.  Every second that passed the noise was getting louder and louder, which at one point still no headlights was seen.  As he continued to listen to the approaching noise, he then realized that it is not another vehicle coming.  He started to walk slowly towards the bend in the road and began to see reflection of a red light shining off of the trees and the road.

This caused the soldier immediate pause in his movements as the red hue got brighter and brighter.  The vibrations under feet got more violent and the ground began to shake harder, which made it almost difficult for him to continue standing.  Suddenly, as the object made its way around the bend of the road he realized that it wasn’t a series of military vehicles coming towards him.  The soldier saw the objects coming around the corner and immediately turned the other way and started running at top speed.  A stampede of Chinese red bulls with thirteen horns and seven eyes each were running towards him blowing fire out of their noses.  With the speed of the stampede the soldier stood no chance in getting away from them.  He kept looking back at the stampede running at him as he used every muscle in his body to keep moving to safety.  As the soldier ran back down the road towards the wreckage, he steps on a divot in the roadway that causes him to twist his ankle and fall on his back.  The stampede kept coming at full speed towards him with the lead bull blowing fire out of his nose hot enough to singe the road underneath their feet.  The last thing the injured soldier saw was the stampede coming at him with their weird and strange physical appearance and being blinded by the brightness of the red before being stampeded to death.  When the bodies of the soldiers were found along with the wreckage and its pieces the following morning, a small toy red barn was found by the soldier who died due to severe stomach pains.  The unit commander was on scene when this item was found.  Immediately after the unit commander was told about the red barn toy, he receives a phone call from a deputy sheriff in his hometown Charleston, South Carolina.  The unit commander had received devastating news that his wife and kids were killed in a house blaze late last night.  The one item that was found in the house in the one of the kid’s rooms was a red barn toy.

TO BE CONTINUED…PART XV

Bart Coleman and Linda Blackman have both suffered some kind of traumatic stress after awakening from an intense nightmare.

Part XIII

Bart sits down on the bed next to Linda with his arm around her in consoling her as tears start to stream down her cheeks.  As they sit there in silence, Bart starts to think to himself about his nightmare and was wondering did she have the same dream.  Until she breaks her silence he just sits there waiting and allowing her to speak when she is ready.  A few minutes later he lets her know that he is stepping into the bathroom, but as he gets up she breaks her silence.  When she calls out his name, he stops and turns around to completely face her to hear what she has to say.

LINDA:  The nightmare that I had was so real that these bruises on my face and wrist makes me wonder was it really a dream.

BART:  (Steps closer to her) my wrists as well were bruised during my nightmare, but before that happened things were just very weird.

LINDA:  What happened?

BART:  I can barely remember what happened.  The one thing I can remember is being hung by my wrists with the use of chains with thorns protruding into my skin and tissue.

LINDA:  OMG!! (She covers her mouth with her hands) you were there also!  I heard you scream, but I couldn’t get my voice together yell to you.

BART:  Oh Lord!  So you were there and I did hear your screams.  I tried to yell to you, but I too couldn’t get my voice together.

LINDA:  What the hell is happening?  How does or does this have any connection to the town of Avalon?

BART:  Well, figuring that you got a small red toy barn I can only imagine it has something to do with that town.  The strange thing as I think about it now is that I didn’t find a small toy red barn in my room.

LINDA:  What do these nightmares means?

BART:  I couldn’t tell you what they actually mean.  If this is the beginning of what we are to expect or what is too come, we may need to rethink our personal strategy.

LINDA:  I would really hate to think I came here to follow a calling, seems like, just to turn around and abandon it before it even starts.

BART:  Yeah, but you don’t want to end up dead either.  The history I’ve read on this town included a red barn, but nothing within that article stated about evil entities being released or used against mankind.

LINDA:  Did you see a little girl?

BART:  I saw no little girl in my nightmare, but if she was there I surely didn’t see her.  You?

LINDA:  No, but I think I remember reading somewhere about a little girl being seen or heard at the time of the barn being burned down.

BART:  Hmm…

LINDA:  What?

BART:  I remember now reading about a black slave being murdered inside a red barn, which was on a slave plantation before it became an incorporated town.  I wonder if this little girl and the black slave killed are connected.  Two police officers and you were found with small red barn toys, but you have survived.

LINDA:  Am I being spared for any reason?  You weren’t left with one in your room, but I was.  Furthermore, where did this come from?

BART:  I think this situation with this town and the evil shit that is going on is more complicated and deeper than we can imagine.  We need to make sure we are willing to go through this and take what it may take to get to the bottom of this.

LINDA:  Just a series of enigma events going on, but all this may have some meaning or it may not.  I spoke to my pastor before I left and he seems to think that the evil events that have been happening could mean something or mean nothing just to keep us confused and uneasy to the bigger picture.  So I think we may need to be real to ourselves that we may investigate this and nothing will be answered and we won’t be any closer to finding out what is going on.

BART:  (Sighs loudly) well, where do we begin?

Meanwhile, the military patrols around the town of Avalon have spotted the red bald eagle.  Unknown to the current patrols their fellow soldiers have spotted this eagle once before and attempted to take photos of it.  This time at least four soldiers on foot patrol have spotted the red bald eagle, but it is flying approximately a thousand feet in the sky.  Knowing that this is not a known sighting, they radio in the finding to their on duty sergeant.  When he hears the radio transmission of the soldiers explaining what they had, he stares at the radio for a few seconds before giving his response.  After he asked them to repeat their transmission, he hears them repeat the message and immediately leaves the office.

By the time the sergeant arrives on scene, the red bald eagle had landed on top of a stone structure, which unknown to them used to be a real person.  A few minutes later after the sergeant arrived on scene, one of the soldiers asked him what they should do.  When he gave the suggestion to take a photograph of it the soldier quickly grabbed his personal digital camera out of his cargo pocket.  The soldier aimed his digital camera at the red bald eagle and took the picture, but when he tried to look at it on his camera it was nothing there but the background.  The soldier was completely dumb founded and without informing anyone he took another picture.  He looked at his digital camera once more and still nothing showed up but the background.  After the second attempt the sergeant looked at the soldier and was trying to figure out what was the problem.

When he asked the soldier what was taking so long, the soldier responded that he took two pictures of the bird and the statue, but nothing shows up.  The sergeant asked to see what he was talking about and was shown the two pictures that the soldier took.  The sergeant saw the same thing with only the background of the picture being taken, but it was a little fuzzy.  The sergeant ordered the soldier to take one more picture before trying to figure out what to do next.  The soldier took his third and final picture and when he looked at it once more he saw something else that he knew was not in the picture.  He then showed his sergeant who was also shocked and confused as to what he saw.  The picture contained the background as well, but the picture had a red hue as if he took the picture up close to a window with him wearing a red shirt reflecting in the glass.  It was at this point that the sergeant did away with trying to get photo of the bird and had the idea of approaching it.  The soldiers stood in position as the sergeant slowly crept his way towards the stone statue and the bald eagle.

The bald eagle spotted the sergeant getting close and completely froze and stared at him.  The eagle allowed the sergeant to get with a few feet before it suddenly attacked him first reaching for his eyes.  The soldiers flinched and yelled at the sergeant to escape, but the eagle had already done its damage.  The sergeant let out a blood curdling scream as he fell to the ground holding his face screaming about his eyes.  The eagle then stood on the ground next to the ailing sergeant staring at the other four soldiers.  Two of the soldiers raised their military rifles and took aim at the eagle.  Just before they fired their first shots, the eagle took off into the air over their heads.  One of the two soldiers fired at the eagle at least three shots before a cease fire.  The shots were heard for blocks and that made more foot and vehicle patrols to respond to the scene.  When the four soldiers went over to check on the wounded sergeant, they noticed he was lying face down.  They called to him to get his attention, but noticed he was not moving or responding.

One of the soldiers rolled the sergeant over and jumped back with his heart nearly in his throat.  The sergeant’s face was completely covered in maggots and it seemed like more and more was coming out of his head.  This was the time when other patrols rolled up on scene and saw the exact same thing the other soldiers were seeing.  When they were asked of what happened, they got looked at cross-eyed when they explained about a red bald eagle attacked him without warning.  Even though everyone heard them transmit over the radio to the on duty supervisor, nothing was stated about a red bald eagle.  One of the lieutenants looked at the soldiers and entertained the idea.  When he asked the soldiers of the incident and where’d the eagle went, one of the soldiers explained that after the sergeant was attacked they shot at it as it flew away.  The other soldiers laughed at them, which was immediately followed up with a question by the lieutenant.  When the lieutenant asked the soldiers to see their rifle, he checked each of them and noticed not one round was fired.

After making that discovery he looked at the soldiers and immediately thought that the story was a cover up.  The other soldiers standing around the original patrol team started looking at them with expressions as if the sergeant was murdered.  The lieutenant then ordered a couple of the soldiers to remove the sergeant’s body and load him up in one of the Humvee’s.  As they were carrying the sergeant off the lieutenant stepped closer to the four soldiers and with an anger voice told them to meet him back at post for further questioning.  The soldiers saluted the lieutenant and one by one they slowly started to walk off to meet the lieutenant at headquarters.  As they were leaving one of the soldiers that was in the Humvee with the lieutenant walked up to him and asked him about what will happen next.  The lieutenant made the comment that he wasn’t sure, but that he will get to the bottom of the situation ASAP.

As the rest of the patrols started to leave the area, the red bald eagle was stationed on top of a tree looking down.  Once every vehicle and foot patrol team was gone the eagle flew away fading into the night as if a ghost was returning to its afterlife.

TO BE CONTINUED…PART XIV

Previously on “The Red Barn”

Two private citizens, Bart Coleman and Linda Blackman, have taken interest in the mysterious events that have occurred in the town of Avalon.  Although the U.S. military has occupied the town and established several checkpoints outside the perimeter, their personal investigation into the horrific events has already established enormous difficulty.  Bart and Linda meet up on their way to Charlotte and need to organize a creative way to investigate this forbidden mission.

Part XII

The same night that Bart Coleman arrived in Charlotte he falls asleep and begins a terrifying nightmare that brings him closer to the aura of the town of Avalon.  As he lies in the bed he hears the clock radio in his hotel room next to his bed go off awakening him from a very deep sleep.  He opens his eyes and turns towards the clock radio a quickly slams his hand on top of it to silence the alarm.  After he silences the alarm he suddenly feels this heavy aura surrounding his body, which makes it kind of hard to get out of bed.  He then realizes that with each breath he takes in it feels like he is on the verge of an asthma attack.  His heart is beating faster than normal and he feels pins and needles throughout his body as if his whole body lost circulation.  He swings his legs over the edge of the bed, which felt like hundred pound weights, and plants his bare feet on the hard carpet floor.  Bart turns his head towards the television and notices that it is on mute and the snowy screen is visible.  He starts searching around the bed, the night stand, and the floor for the remote, but is unable to find it.  After a few minutes of frustration looking for the television remote he gives up and walks over to the television pushing the power button.

Immediately after he turns off the television he sees white smoke creeping through the bottom crack of the door.  Afraid of what is on the other side of the door; he rushes over to his hotel room phone to call the service desk.  Once he begins to dial the number he quickly realizes that the phone service is dead and that he will not be able to call anyone.  His next thought is about Linda and getting to her to make she is safe.  At this point he puts his safety aside and cautiously reaches for the door knob to see if it is hot, but to his amazement it is actually ice cold.  The feeling of the ice cold door knob shocks his senses as he yanks his hand back very quickly towards his chest.  A few seconds later he reaches out to the door knob and feels it with the tips of his fingers.  Once he realizes that his fingers and hand will not stick to the surface of the door knob, he grabs it and starts to turn it very slowly.

After he turns the door knob completely and the door breaks the frame, he slowly opens the door to see what he could see.  Once the door opened all the way, the only thing he could see was a thickness of white smoke hovering in the hallway.  The smoke was so thick that he could barely see the carpet floor, but definitely couldn’t see the other hotel rooms across the hall.  Bart takes a deep breath to smell the air and notices that no burning smell is apparent and no fire is visible.  He steps outside of his hotel room into the heavy midst of the smoke and hears his hotel room slam behind him very violently.  The sound scares him suddenly and he quickly turns around and notices that his hotel room, the door, and the wall were suddenly not there.  He reaches out to see if he could feel the door and the wall still there, but nothing could be felt with his reached fingers.  Standing in the middle of the hallway, which has now turned into a large open room, Bart gets the feeling of someone or something watching him.  Frozen with fear and uncertainty he doesn’t move from his spot until suddenly the white smoke starts to clear from around him.

Within a matter of minutes the smoke clears out and he finds himself standing in the midst of completely darkness with the lights of the hallway completely gone.  The silence of the open room is very strong and he can hear his heart beat and the blood flowing through his body.  As he stands completely still very afraid to move, he hears footsteps in the distance, assuming to head in his direction, as they get louder and louder.  The last few steps were so loud that Bart could feel the vibrations of the footsteps as they stop within inches of his location.  He then feels a sense of hot air hitting his face in spurts, which he immediately thinks someone or something is breathing on him.  The smell of the hot air coming at him had an odor of such repulsive nature that he nearly vomits where he stands.  He fights and uses every muscle in his body to keep from vomiting, but soon loses everything in his stomach on the floor.  He bends over to finish vomiting and then hears the footsteps in the dark walking away from him.  Then suddenly the floor starts to change texture under his bare feet, which confuses and scares Bart to death.  As he is fixated on the floor changing under his feet, chains from within the darkness suddenly wrap around his wrist lifting him into the air.

The chains that have suddenly wrapped around his wrist are outlined in thorns and have torn into the flesh drawing massive amounts of blood.  Bart lets out a ear piercing scream from the pain as the chain of thorns rip through the skin and lifting him into the air.  He lets out a scream that echoes around him, but still darkness engulfs his surroundings.  At this point Bart has no idea what is happening and how far he has been lifted off the ground.  At this point all he knows is that he is hanging by his wrist with thorns embedded into his skin and blood rushing down his arms.  For several minutes he hangs there with numbness and enormous pain in his wrist and shoulders.  Bart then suddenly loses consciousness and wakes up several minutes later feeling hot and sweat rolling down his face.  He attempts to open his eyes, but the salt from the sweat keeps running into his eyes burning and drying them out.

After squinting several times he is able to open his eyes and see what is around him.  All he could see is a dim light coming from the end of a hallway, grey brick underneath and all around him making up the walls.  The stench of death and horror raids his sense of smell, which makes breathing almost difficult.  As he tries to make sense of what is happening he could hear faint sounds of horrific screams in the distance echoing through the hallways.  He looks up and sees that he is still suspended in the air by the chain of thorns and notices that he is naked.  The blood on his arms and around his wrist continues to flow, but has slowed down as if the wounds have clotted themselves.  Bart then hears a woman screaming just several feet away from him and he immediately thinks of Linda.  He tries to get his voice together to yell out her name, but his throat is too dry to even gather enough saliva to wet his throat.  The screams of the mysterious woman continues and non-stop, which makes Bart feels sorrow and sadness for the woman.  As he tries to gather up tears for the situation he was in, he hears footsteps behind him and then they suddenly stop.  A few seconds later a shock of pain struck him in the back and he let out a scream louder than he has ever let out.  The shock of pain continued for several minutes and with each sting of enormous pain received Bart would let out a scream.

The footsteps then are heard coming from behind him around the front within inches of his face.  He hangs there barely conscious as he attempts to get his eyes right to view who is standing in front of him.  When he is able to gather his eye sight to view what is standing in front of him, all he could see is a silhouette of a human like figure.  The human like figure leans closer to him and Bart could see that the human like figure was wearing a mask.  The mask was suddenly removed and the sight he saw made him believe it was the Devil himself.  The sight was so scary that it woke him up from the deep sleep he was in and covered in complete wetness.  He could feel the sheets on him and under him soaked, which he believed was his own sweat.  He jumped out of the bed and turned on the lamp by his nightstand and quickly checked his body and bed.  After checking himself and the bed he noticed that his wrists were severely bruised.

Once he noticed that he was basically okay, he then quickly rushed out in his t-shirt and boxers to Linda’s hotel room.  He takes the elevator to her floor and runs to her hotel room banging vigorously to get her attention.  After several moments of police-style knocking on her door, Linda opens the door and stands in front of Bart with shocking visible bruises to her face, neck, and both wrists.  As she stands there partially clothed, she raises her hand and opens it up with her palms facing upward.  When she opened her hand Bart noticed that she was holding a small red barn toy that she found in the bed next to her.  For several minutes they both stare at each other with fear and shock in their expression with no words being said to each other.  At that moment they both realized that this horrific situation is much bigger and stronger than they could possibly know.

TO BE CONTINUED…Part XIII

Previously on “The Red Barn”

Bart Coleman is on his way to Charlotte, North Carolina from England to meet up with a family member, who he hopes to recruit for his personal endeavor to learn more about the town of Avalon and the evil status that hangs overhead.  The Army National Guard has now taken the town of Avalon and made it into a scientific research town to further discover the reasons for the town being labeled “haunted” or “possessed by satanic beings.”

The Main Story – Part XI

Bart Coleman has just heard the airport announcement of his flight now being called and boarded.  Almost immediately after he hears his flight number and destination announced on the airport PA system, he gathers his magazine and newspaper folds them up and starts walking towards his departure gate.  As he expected he was able to board his flight with no problems and indeed everything seemed to be running smoothly and without a hitch.  Once on-board he found his assigned seating and noticed someone was sitting in his row and in his seat.  Although the person appeared to be sleeping in his assigned seat, he knew he had to disturb the man in order to sit down and not occupy someone else’s seat during the flight.  After a few seconds of pondering whether or not to disturb the man he looked behind him and could see people coming down the aisle to their assigned seats.  Against what Bart wanted to do he knew he had to disturb the gentleman sleeping in his assigned seat, which on the other hand he didn’t know how the gentleman would act.

Bart scooted out of the aisle, out of the way of boarding customers, and started to gently shake the man to wake him up.  After several shakes on the shoulder the gentleman finally wakes up and quickly looks at Bart with his red, sleepy eyes and gives him a look of bothersome.  Bart leans closer and gently tells the man that he is sitting in his seat and that he would like to have his assigned chair before the flight takes off.  The man keeps staring at Bart before he was able to process the request he was given.  He quickly reaches inside his jacket pocket and pulls out his plane ticket to check the seating arrangement.  The middle-aged gentleman realizes that he is indeed occupying Bart’s assigned seat and quickly apologizes for the inconvenience.  The man gathers his personal things and slides by Bart though a very tight space to where their personal space was merely less than ten centimeters.  Once the man moved, Bart finally got his assigned seat by the window just behind the wing.  The man who accidentally occupied Bart’s assigned seat went further back on the plane and assumed to have found his assigned seating near the restroom.

Once Bart got into a comfortable position and was able to just chill out and relax before take-off, another customer takes up their assigned seat right next to him.  The well-dressed lady that took up her seat next to Bart had a very sexy and pleasant aroma coming from her persons that just filled the row.  Bart had his eyes closed and was forced to open them once he got a huge wift of her scent and pleasant spirit.  He turns his head towards her and she turns her attention to him for a brief moment, which was just enough for him to look in to her blue eyes and return a smile and a pleasant greeting.  As Bart tried to regain his mindful trip through the weightless sense he had stirring up in his mind, she quickly removed her high heels exposing her pantyhose feet.  A huge sigh was released from her as if tons of pressure was being released from her body through her small feet.  Bart glances down at her feet, pleased as to what he sees, and closes his eyes once again to return to a state of mind that engulfs peace and harmony.  Several minutes later the airplane pulled away from the terminal, taxied down the runway, and took off into the blue sky without incident or delay.

Several minutes after take-off, one of the several flight attendants on board the plane, made the announcement that the seatbelt sign would be turned off.  Almost immediately after that announcement was made, the lady seating next to Bart quickly got up and quickly shuffled to the bathroom.  Approximately five minutes later she returned back to her seat just in time for drinks and snacks to be passed out by the flight attendants.  Moments later a flight attendant arrived at their row and offered drinks and limited choices in snacks.  Both Bart and her chosen a drink and one bag of pretzels, which came to a staggering $10 each.  The price total for the drinks and snacks ended up sparking a conversation between the woman and Bart.  Quietly out of the flight attendant’s ear shot the lady sitting next to Bart made a comment about the prices and how the airline companies are taking advantage of customers just to make a buck.  Bart, slightly surprised by her reaction, responds with a concur like statement that made the dialect between them continue on.

However, during the flight from New York City to Charlotte, they learn some interesting details about each other that could serve them being an asset to one another.  Bart learned her name to be Linda Blackman, a student majoring in Criminal Justice, who is also flying to Charlotte to personally pursue an endeavor to find the truth of what is happening to inside Avalon.  Both Linda and Bart are in their late-twenties and have some desire to discover and investigate the unknown and to attempt to solve the enigma that plagues the town, which has now claimed its first victim outside the town limits.  Once landing in Charlotte and taxing to their terminal, they both off-board the plane and walk with each other towards the part of the airport where Bart is to meet his cousin.  The sad news is that Bart’s cousin never shows up and never returns his phone calls.  Obviously, Bart is very upset and confused as to why his distant relative would leave him hanging and stranded at the airport with no other transportation arranged.  Luckily, for Bart, Linda was able to hail down a taxi cab for the both of them and head toward their hotel, which is the same one for both.

Once at the hotel, in downtown Charlotte, they book themselves in and head towards their respective rooms.  Bart was assigned a room on the fourth floor, while Linda was assigned to a room on the third floor.  On the elevator ride up they both agreed to meet each other at the hotel bar in a few minutes to further discuss their plan of attack on investigating the town of Avalon.  Approximately ten minutes later, after both Bart and Linda changed clothes, they met each other at the hotel bar entrance.  They were both then seated in a booth in a corner of the restaurant bar and ordered their drinks.  While waiting for their drinks and buffalo chicken to arrive, Bart breaks the ice with inside excitement that someone shares the same interest as he does.

BART COLEMAN: So Linda, what got your attention about the enigma of the town of Avalon?

LINDA BLACKMAN: Well…I’ve always wanted a challenge in life and always looked for something big or important to research and find those answers that everyone is looking for.  I figured in my mind that this could be the opportunity that I might be looking for.  I mean, the strange things that have been happening within that town are truly amazing.  I never thought that an entire town could be wiped off the map without some kind of military super-bomb or something.  What about you?  What got you so interested in this evil seeking adventure?

BART COLEMAN: For me…it was something that just struck me to research and investigate after a family member contacted me about it.  It was about that same time we started to hear about the Avalon story for the first time.  I’ve always been a huge history buff and wanted to learn more about the history of the town of Avalon.  The information I read was quite shocking, but how I happened upon it was strange.  It wasn’t like going to an encyclopedia website and suddenly its there, but finding it through some off-the-wall link was very suspicious.

LINDA BLACKMAN: Oh!  So you think that someone might be trying to hide the history of that town?

BART COLEMAN: I’m not sure, but it surely looks that way.  I reckon that someone is either trying to hide the real truth of what that town represents or the history is not complete.

LINDA BLACKMAN: Well…if someone is trying to hide the truth of what the town represents, it will be difficult to uncover since the military is now in control.

BART COLEMAN: Not necessarily.  We may have to begin our first steps in this research by going to the local library.  By the way, how long are you staying for?

LINDA BLACKMAN: I’ll be in Charlotte for seven days.  You?

BART COLEMAN: Also for seven days.

As Bart and Linda continue to have their conversation at the hotel bar, the police investigation into the K9 officer’s mysterious death hits a brick wall.  After numerous interviews on site, witness canvassing, a search of the neighborhood, and failed leads it is quickly becoming a mysterious death, which does not have a high chance of being solved in the near future.  During the media press conference just outside the dead officer’s house, the PIO stated that no visible wounds were found on his body at first glance, but later they would also find out, through an autopsy, that absolutely no visible injuries were found.  After the autopsy was completed, the report stated that the officer’s bled out of his body through his eyes, mouth, navel, buttocks, and ears.  This final report was absolutely shocking to the command staff of the officer’s agency and to other fellow officers on the street.  It was being demanded, with heavy political influence, that the final autopsy report be changed from mysterious death to homicide, but even through heavy political pressure and numerous threats of transfers and reassignments, the coroner’s office never changed its findings.

Other police officers that were part of the search party, that discovered little toy red barns amongst the town ruins, were disturbed and confused at why their fellow colleague mysteriously died.  One officer, who was very close to his partner and took his death personally, unfortunately took his own life just hours after learning of his passing.  He would soon be found with a single gunshot wound to the head with a toy red barn located on his persons.  Having two officers, from the same agency, dead in 24 hours was something that no one was prepared for and could understand.  As far as the investigators and detectives know, one officer died a mysterious death while another one committed suicide, but the one thing that linked both deaths was the discovery of a toy red barn on or near the deceased.  At the second officer’s death scene the only thing that detectives and investigators were able to gather was that a single shot was heard.  With all the evidence collected at that scene, the incident pointed towards a suicide, but they couldn’t officially mark down the preliminary findings until the case was fully investigated.

Later that night in their respective hotel rooms, Bart and Linda were watching the evening news and heard of another officer death.  As they were listening and watching the news coverage on the story, it was stated that both deceased officer’s are linked together, not only by working together on the same department, but at both scenes a small toy red barn was located.  When this fact was announced over the television waves by the media, Linda immediately called Bart on his hotel room telephone.  It appeared that Bart knew exactly why Linda called him and basically cut her off and finished the statement for her.

BART COLEMAN: I learned of the first police officer death earlier today and I remember the news reporting about a small toy red barn being found at the scene.

LINDA BLACKMAN: That’s very weird, Bart.  Both officers died within twelve hours of each other and the big link between both deaths is a small toy red barn?  What the hell does that mean?  Did someone get cheated out of Monopoly?

BART COLEMAN: Well, I know the first officer was involved in the search for survivors in Avalon before all this crazy shit started.  I wondered if the second officer was also involved in the search for survivors at the same time.  If that’s the case, then the aura of that town has a stronger hold then anyone realizes.

LINDA BLACKMAN: If that is true then how should we proceed in finding out more about this town?  The military is not letting anyone in or near the area.  As far as I know nothing else has really happened since they took over.

BART COLEMAN: Let me think about that and I will get back to you in the morning with an answer.  Have a goodnight.  Try to get some sleep.

Within a few minutes after hanging up the phone and turning off the television, Bart lays back on the bed thinking about what to do next and what has been happening.  Before he could completely finish his thoughts and have a plan of attack for the next day, his eyes get real heavy and suddenly he falls asleep just before midnight.  He falls into a very deep sleep and at one point it seemed very real that he was living a new reality, but during that point he wasn’t sure if he was having a nightmare or actually awake to a real-life phenomenon.  The events that occur within his mind will force him to choose either life or death, which might be awaiting him on the other side.

TO BE CONTINUED…PART XII