Silver Moraine: A Memoir of Horror

By Selaine Henriksen

After two years trying to pretend that night had never happened, that it was a figment of her booze-fuelled imagination, Samantha gets a call from Connor. He asks her to come with him to look for Ryan, who's gone missing while tree-planting in the woods. Samantha is surprised by how easily her old feelings come surging back when she hears Connor's voice and agrees to help him. And the nightmare begins again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Selaine Henriksen
• Release date: Jul 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476093673

Selaine Henriksen

Avid reader, writer, fitness instructor, mom and dog mom. Done a bit of this, that and everything else!

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SILVER MORAINE:

A Memoir of Horror

by

Selaine Henriksen

Copyright 2012 Selaine Henriksen

Published by Selaine Henriksen at Smashwords

Discover other books by Selaine Henriksen at:

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Bainer

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CHAPTER ONE

I'll never forget the sudden silence as we shut off the ATVs. The old prison compound lay before us, silent and brooding under the hot August sun. Even the cicadas were quiet for once.

Jason reached the fence first. His shock of blond curls flashed brightly. Jason wouldn't ever wear a helmet.

Beat you, he announced, looking over at Kaileigh and I triumphantly.

Of course he beat us. His ATV was solid steel. It could carry a moose across the back and a deer carcass over the front if need be. Not like my little ATV which shed plastic parts like a cat sheds hair.

Kaileigh climbed down from behind me. She smiled at Jason as she took off her helmet and shook out her dark hair. I made sure I flipped my hair out, too. Long and blond, it's my crowning glory. Jason liked it. He'd called me 'Goldilocks' since kindergarten.

When I looked up, though, Jason wasn't watching me, Connor was. His dark eyes with his ever-present scowl followed my every move. Back then, I thought he looked mean.

Jason flopped into the shade under an oak tree. Let's eat first, he said.

While Kaileigh unpacked her knapsack I sat close to Jason. She handed Jason a sandwich, making sure his hand closed over hers. She didn't give me one. And she made sure to move her knapsack away from me so I couldn't reach it without getting up.

Courtney gave me a little smile and passed me one of her sandwiches. She'd always said Kaileigh and I were like Betty and Veronica fighting over Archie, except not as funny. I miss her; I suppose I always will.

Jaimie heaved her bulging pack off of her back and set it gently on the ground. She unzipped it with a flourish to proudly show off all the beer she'd brought neatly arranged around a couple of ice packs. The ride from town along the hydro lane had been two hours of a bumpy, sweaty ride. But the beer was still cold and, amazingly, unbroken. I gratefully accepted a bottle as Jaimie handed them out.

Ryan, Zach's little brother, reached for one, too. Zach slapped his hand away. These two are the hardest for me to write about. I tear up too much and can't see the page. I guessed Ryan had packed their picnic because they'd brought peanut butter and jam sandwiches and a box of Dunkaroos. Ryan took out a soda and, with a sly smile, opened it near Zach. Zach was too smart for him and had already moved away. I remember wondering why he'd brought Ryan with him that day.

What did you bring, Connor? Jason drawled, as though he meant nothing by it.

Connor's lips thinned and his eyes narrowed as they always seemed to when he looked at Jason. Before he could say anything, Kim spoke up.

We've got apples, bananas, she fumbled around in her pack, and this. She held up a Tupperware container of salad.

Oh, boy. Jason rolled his eyes.

And some Cokes, Kim ignored him, and Gatorade.

Kaileigh reached for her backpack. Look what else I've got, she sang out, holding up a bottle. Sambuca. I found it in my parent's cabinet. Party!

As hot as it was in the sun, it was surprisingly cool in the shade. I relaxed and stretched my legs. Connor helped himself to another beer, twisting off the cap and tossing it onto the ground. Kim immediately picked it up.

Take out what you bring in, she said. That's the rule in the country.

Connor looked over at the compound. I can't believe you guys have never checked this place out before. You too scared?

I spoke up before Jason could start a fight. My mom always told me to stay away from here.

Courtney agreed. We've been warned away from here since we were little. The teachers used to say something, something about white waters, was it?

That would be the rapids, right? Connor asked.

I guess, Kaileigh said. No one's ever said why. Just 'stay away.'

Jaimie said, in her dreamy way, My mom says she gets a bad feeling out here.

No one answered her for a minute. We'd all been friends with Jaimie a long time, especially me, and we all thought Jaimie's mom was crazy.

That's because it was a prison. You can't get good vibes from a prison. Connor watched me as he spoke. I'm sure it's not just hind-sight; I thought I saw fear in his eyes. Then he scowled and looked mean again. So, if your mom told you to stay away, why are you here?

I shrugged, trying to feign a bravado I didn't feel. Hanging out on the last weekend of the summer. Besides, I should check it out before I leave town.

Connor laughed. What? I'm a big girl now and I can do what I want?

I blushed. He was sort of right. I had always been a good girl, getting good grades and helping out my parents in their store. Now, my crowning achievement, from my parent's point of view, was that I was heading off to university, next week. It didn't seem to matter to them that I was taking a Bachelor of Arts degree, i.e., an I-don't-know-what-I-want-to-do program. The truth was I wanted to be bad, especially when I looked at Jason.

Jason put his arm across my shoulders. Leave Sam alone, Connor.

Kim packed up the sandwich wraps. If we're going to do this, we should do it now, she said.

Zach looked off towards the west and pointed. She's right. I think there's a storm coming on. We should get moving.

The sun was still shining bright and hot and it was hard to believe a storm was brewing but, when I looked where Zach pointed, there was a low line of dark clouds building above the tree line. Jason fetched his bolt cutters from his ATV cargo box and began snipping a hole in the fence. Zach helped him, the two of them leaning hard to get the leverage needed to cut through the links of the fence.

The prison had been minimum security. Rows of red brick buildings were arranged in a star pattern. They squatted long and low like barracks in the army, with white shutters and black roof tiles. There were a number of outlying buildings, mostly storage sheds, but also an old farmhouse perched on a hill that might have been the warden's home.

Wun wat wadders wise, Ryan's mouth was full and he swallowed, staring at the line of dark, fast-moving clouds.

What? I looked at him, we all did. He blushed at seeing all eyes on him. He usually kept pretty quiet around us.

He started again.

"When the white waters rise

And the trees begin to writhe

The storm brews and the lightning flares,

Into the tunnel you must not dare

Even for the silver prize.

If you do, everyone dies."

I stared at him, trying to recall the poem. Then I remembered. Miss Carroll...

Everyone, except Connor, interrupted, Mrs. Pearson now.

We all laughed. Connor had been staying with his cousin Kim since the beginning of the summer. None of us knew why exactly except that he had been in some kind of trouble. I explained to him that Miss Carroll had been our grade two teacher. She married the summer before grade three and for the rest of our time at Burritt's Rapids Public School she was Miss Carroll, oops, Mrs. Pearson now.

Anyway, I said to Connor's scowl, she taught us that poem when we did a section on pioneers mining this area for mica and bog ore.

Kaileigh sneered. Smarty pants.

Good memory, Ryan, I said, ignoring her. He didn't look proud, he looked scared. Come on, guys, let's check this place out and get out of here.

Scared? Connor teased.

Not me, I hissed and rolled my eyes towards Ryan. Connor nodded and mouthed sorry. That was the first time I thought maybe he wasn't so mean.

Connor went to help Jason and Zach pull back the piece of fence they'd cut to make a hole large enough for each of us to squeeze through. I went first.

The ground was hard, as it hadn't rained in weeks. There were weird ripples in the dirt that reminded me of a trip my family had taken to Prince Edward Island. As though waves had lapped at this dirt like at the seashore. I showed the others.

I've never been to the ocean, Kaileigh said.

Zach shrugged. I've never been anywhere.

Farmers don't get vacations, Kim said, with a glance at Connor.

Right, like I regularly summer at the seaside, Connor snapped at her.

Moving on, Jason said, leading the way. We stood behind one of the dormitory-type buildings. The line of windows was boarded up with plywood, which looked more than half-rotten itself. I couldn't see a door. The roof tiles curled back to expose the wood black with mold underneath. Weeds grew high, up to our knees, and even higher close to the building, reaching to where the white paint was peeling off the windowsills. Even the red bricks looked crumbly and old. No one had been here in ages.

One end of the building was solid brick: no door, no window. An odd bank of dirt lay against the bottom of the wall, as though a giant wave had flowed through pushing everything in front of it. Off to the right was an old pile of charred wood on a cement foundation.

I remember my mom telling me about a fire out here, Zach said.

Why didn't they ever clean it up? Kim asked.

I thought this place was government, Courtney said.

Connor laughed. You'd think there would be ten guys on the payroll out here every week.

Standing around watching one guy mow the lawn, Jason added.

Kim and I exchanged smiles. It brightened my day to see the two of them share a laugh, for once.

We walked through the V-shaped space formed by two rows of the dormitories, four in each row. The space grew narrower until the front two buildings on either side nearly touched. Across from the front buildings were two more with rows behind them. The first four buildings faced each other, forming a square of hard-packed dirt in the center. No grass or weeds grew there. I'd like to say I felt a premonition, or sensed something, but I really didn't. Jason was leading the way and I have to admit my attention was on his rear.

The doors were in the middle, facing the square with small, white porticoes set over them with crumbling roofs offering little protection. Plywood boards were nailed across the doors but the boards on the door of the dorm across from us were hanging loose. Jason strode over and easily yanked them off. We followed him across the square of barren dirt. Of course, Jaimie would have a premonition. We didn't know to listen to her, then.

Did you feel that? Jaimie asked. Janey says there's a weird vibe here, like something's underground. Something nasty.

Connor opened his mouth, but Kim quickly laid a hand on his arm and shook her head to shush him. No one said anything. Jaimie's mom ran a store in town, like my parents do, but her's was full of New Agey stuff. Herbs to cure every ailment, books on spell-casting, and crystals and gems that were supposed to have medicinal or magical properties. Her mom taught classes on gemology, too. Most everyone in town laughed at her behind her back; but the tourists seemed to like it and, if it brought tourists in, it was all good. Jaimie had confided in me that she thought her mom's beliefs were full of it, too. Still, Jaimie had a way, every now and then, of acting like she had more than one screw loose herself. We were used to her, although Connor wasn't.

Let's do this. Jason kicked at the padlock. The doorjamb crumbled and the door swung open. A puff of stale, dusty air blew out. We entered. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark after the bright sun.

The room was long and low with four sets of wooden bunks on each side, like the kind you'd find at a kids' camp. The walls were the usual drywall, grey in the dim light. The wooden floor creaked stiffly as we walked around. I wandered down to the end and checked out the bathroom. The sink had been yanked from the wall and just the hole in the floor remained of the toilet.

Kaileigh peered over my shoulder. Where did they shower?

Zach stuck his head in. The prison was minimum security. One of the other buildings must be a communal shower, he said.

Com-mu-nal. Jason managed to imply rudeness with every dragged-out syllable.

Prison isn't meant to be fun, Zach said.

Jason turned to Connor. You'll be able to tell us all about, right?

Connor clenched his fists. Shut up, he said.

Jason started singing a Bob Marley song. . . .bad boy, bad boy, watcha gonna do when they come for you. . .

I couldn't help but laugh, we all did. Connor stomped out.

Leave him alone, Jason, Kim said.

What? He's yours to pick on?

Kim blushed. I don't pick on him.

Yeah, you do, Kaileigh said. 'We work on the farm, not like you city boys.' She mimicked Kim's school-teacher voice perfectly.

Look at this, Ryan spoke softly, speaking to his brother. He sat on one of the top bunks. He pointed at the wall and read aloud. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. . .

Courtney climbed up beside him. It's etched in really deep. What does it mean?

It's a quote from a poem, I said, although I couldn't have said what poem or who