CHAPTER FIVE
The sky had just started to get a ting of crimson when Ryan’s truck approached the rundown mansion that had once been the home of the Voorhees family.
Micki took a deep breath when she caught site of the house. From years of dealing with the supernatural she had become attuned to the energies around her. If theVoorhees house had been a battery it would have been ready to overload. The feeling of evil was oppressive.
Ryan parked the truck on the gravel driveway in front of the house.
Getting out, Micki looked over the façade of the house trying to imagine how the house looked during a more happy time, when a young Jason Voorhees played on the jungle gym, which was now rusted and laying on its side in the corner of the front yard. But it was hard to associate this building with its broken windows and scales of pealing dirty white paint with anything pleasant.
Then she noticed the hole, which was nearby the jungle gym. Though it didn’t look recent it still struck her interest.
Heading over to the edge of it she looked down and jumped back with a startled yelp. The hole was halfway full with large bloated white worms.
“The locals call those Hellworms.” She heard Ryan say from beside her, further startling her. She hadn’t even noticed that Ryan had gotten out of the truck. “People first noticed them about six months after we sent Jason to hell. Since, they’ve become a real infestation in the woods. They’re nasty little suckers. They’ve got pointy little teeth that hurt like hell if you get bit.”
“None of my sources mentioned them.” Micki admitted.
“I don’t doubt it. The locals have kept them as a sort of a dirty secret. Many of them think the worms are Satan’s revenge on us.”
“And what do you think?”
“Don’t ask me.” He said. “But they’ve definitely chosen an appropriate place to nest.”
Micki looked at him inquiringly.
“That hole’s right in the spot where Jason was dragged down.” He informed her.
Micki looked down at the hole with renewed interest.
“The question is why would anyone be out here digging in the first place.” Ryan said.
“Or what were they digging for.” Micki said, looking up at him knowingly. But she knew they both knew the answer to that.
“So, what’da you say we get this over with?” Ryan asked, handing Micki a metal flashlight he’d pulled out of his coat pocket. “I really don’t relish the idea of spending the evening rummaging through this house.” Ryan looked over at the mansion uncomfortably.
“If you’d rather you could wait out here and I could look around on my own.” Micki offered.
“You know me better than that.” He told her, pulling out a flashlight of his own and starting toward the house.
Heading up onto the porch and up to the front door, Ryan unhooked his key ring from his belt.
Micki looked at him inquiringly.
“Jessica gave me the key before her and the baby left.” Ryan said. “I guess she figured I’d eventually have to come back here.”
Upon entering the house they were immediately assaulted by the smell of dampness and mold.
The entry hall was dark so the two of them turned on their flashlights. Ryan found the light switch and tried it, but there was no power.
“I guess Jessica had the power cut off.” Ryan said. He remembered that when he, Jessica, and Creighton Duke went up against Jason in this house the power had been turned on. At the time he hadn’t realized how strange that was.
Looking around, Micki was surprised to find that the entry hall and living room were still fully furnished. There were even some very valuable looking paintings and family photographs still hanging on the moldy walls.
“Diana never had the heart to sell any of her mother’s things.” Ryan explained, after seeing the look on her face.
“I’m surprised with all the hoopla about Jason that souvenir hunters haven’t cleaned the place out.”
“Only the townspeople know the location of Voorhees house and after what happened to Robert Campbell and Josh in this place they want to leave well enough alone.”
“Well, at least that’ll make the search a bit easier.”
“You still haven’t told me what we’re after.” Ryan reminded her.
“We need to find anything we can about Pamela Voorhees’ stepbrother.”
“How did I know you were going to say that.” Ryan said, shaking his head. “All Betty had to do is mention anything close to the name Lewis.”
“It’s more than that,” Micki said. “I had suspicions long before Betty mentioned the name. Since I started researching these murders I saw definite similarities between the cursed items we’ve dealt with and the curse of Jason Voorhees.”
“How so?” Ryan asked, intrigued.
“I’ve noticed that like Uncle Lewis’s cursed items this curse has altered it’s form at times when it has come close to being defeated.” Micki said. “Think about it. Up until Tommy Jarvis supposedly killed Jason for the second time reports indicated that he was definitely a living being, though disfigured. Yet after he came back he was described as rotted and corpse-like.”
“Yeah, I know all about all this.” Ryan said. “So what’s your point?”
“When you dealt with Jason his body had been blown up and somehow Jason went from body to body until his body was restored through Diana.”
“Yeah, his heart turned into some sort of symbiotic snake thing.”
“Exactly, and now since you and Jessica sent Jason to hell the curse has altered yet again and now we’re dealing with people being possessed by Jason’s mask.”
Ryan contemplated what Micki had told him for a few moments. Though he still had gaps in his memory about his time at Curious Goods, he did remember an incident that seemed disturbingly akin to what they were dealing with here. It had to do with a mirrored compact. He recalled that when he and Micki first dealt with the compact it caused anyone caught by the light reflected from the mirror to fall in love with its carrier. Then, after they failed to get it the first time, it reemerged, but this time it had the power to give an aging model back the youth she desired. “I see your point.” Ryan said, with resignation.
“Good.” Micki said. ”Then let’s get started. I think the best place to look would be in Pamela’s bedroom.”
“Why you say that?”
“If Pamela was as close to her brother as Betty implied she’d keep any letters or pictures close by…it’s a girl thing…”
“Well, in regards to ‘girl things’ you’re the expert.” Ryan said as he led her up the creaking staircase to the upper level of the house.
“I’d be very careful.” Ryan told her as they walked down the upper hall; the floor they were walking on was creaking as bad as the stairs. “No one’s been up here for years and I doubt these floors are in very good condition.”
“That obvious.” Micki said, thankful she’d decided to wear her Indian style boots, which allowed her to feel the give on the boards she was walking on. Ryan, on the other hand, was wearing steel-toed boots, so she was a bit more concerned about him.
“I think the master bedroom is here.” Ryan told her, flashing the beam of his flashlight on an ornate lacquered hardwood door at the far end of the hall as they approached.
The sculptured brass doorknob was green with oxidation. Ryan grabbed it halfway thinking that either it would break off in his hand or be rusted tight by years of disuse. But surprisingly, the knob turned and, when he pushed, the door creaked open.
The room was indeed the master bedroom, but it had seen better days. Moisture had caused the flowered wallpaper on the walls to bubble and come loose. The wood furniture had mold growing on them and had started to decay. Decay had turned the bedding into stinking tattered rags.
“Let’s check this place out fast.” Ryan said, looking a bit pale and sweaty. “I don’t know how long I can handle this.” Then he started sneezing.
Lucky for me I’m not allergic. Micki thought. Still, the smell was enough motivation for her.
While Ryan, who was periodically doubling over with sneezing fits, was dumping out the contents of the two large dressers along the wall in front of the bed, she checked out the closets. But all she found was moldy, moth eaten, clothes and shoes. She even tapped around on the back of the closets, but didn’t find any secret hiding places.
But then, when she started checking out the drawers of the bedside tables she found a couple items that struck her interest. In the drawer of the left bedside table she found a rosary and a Roman Catholic bible. This was interesting because she knew for a fact that Elias Voorhees was a non-practicing member of the Mennonites. As for Pamela, she was registered as a member of the Episcopal Church. So the question was why would she find Catholic items in a non-Catholic household? Especially, one with as bloody a past as the Voorhees family’s.
Picking up the battered bible Micki opened it. Picking up her light from where she’d laid it on top of the table, she pointed it at the bible and found the initials R. M. written in the inner cover. Now she had yet another mystery to solve in this ever growing tapestry.
“Micki.” Ryan said, nasally, from the foot of the bed. “I’ve come up with nothing here. How about you?”
“Just more questions.” She said, slipping the bible and rosary in her coat pocket.
“There’s still this,” he said shining his flashlight on a large hardwood chest sitting at the foot of the bed.
Micki came over and looked down at the chest. It had a very imposing looking rusted lock on it. “Can you open it?”
“I’ll have to get the crowbar from the truck.” He said. “I’m a little worried about that hallway floor out there. I don’t think it can handle too many more trips.”
“We’ll have to risk it.” Micki said. “If I was Pamela this would be the spot I’d put such personal items.”
“You mean I’ll have to risk it.” Ryan reminded her.
Micki was about to say something, but Ryan waved her off. “At the very least it’ll get me out of this damned room.” He said, blowing his runny nose.
Then he headed for the door.
Micki followed him as far as the door and watched as he headed down the hall. She could hear the floor creaking as he walked across it. A couple times she heard the floor crack and feared Ryan might fall through, but he managed to get to the stairs and head downs them.
Standing alone in the doorway waiting, Micki looked around nervously. Without Ryan’s presence to comfort her the feeling of pure evil around her intensified. It was like the very walls of the house pulsed with it. Then she took a deep breath to try and calm herself. It didn’t help. “Please hurry, Ryan.” She said, though she knew he couldn’t hear her.
Ryan felt a flood of relief flow through him the moment he headed out the front door, off the porch, and started for the truck. Though he’d never admit it to Micki, being in that house again bothered him. It wasn’t so much the fear that something would happen. It was more the remembered fear of what had occurred before.
Pulling out his handkerchief, he blew his runny nose. Even his nose was feeling a lot better
It was then he noticed the squishing sound as he walked. Looking down he was amazed to see that the ground beneath his feet was covered with writhing Hellworms.
“Holy shit.” He said surprised.
Then one of the worms slithered over the top of Ryan’s shoe and slipped under his pant leg. Before he could do anything to stop it the worm clamped its pointy teeth into the flesh of his ankle.
Ryan let out a yelp of pain and grabbed at his lower leg. But as he did another worm lifted itself up like a snake lunged at his bare wrist. But Ryan managed to swat that one away.
This seemed to agitate the other worms. They started to hiss at Ryan.
Ignoring the pain in his ankle, he started running for the opened backend of his truck. As he ran he could feel the pounding of lunging Hellworms impacting against his pant legs and shoes.
Then he took a flying leap and landed hard on his front on the hard metal bed of the truck.