Para Troupers: The Case of Old Man Rutledge

By Mark Stephen Johnson

Imagine you and some of your closest friends decide to find a new place to hang out. You don’t want the same old type of hangout. No, you want something special. And just when you think you have found the perfect one, well, it turns out to be more than it seems.

In his book, Para Troupers: The Case of Old Man Rutledge, author Mark Stephen Johnson tells such a story. A group of teen friends in the town of Spider Lake stumble across a vacant, haunted mansion. They have hopes of making it the next great hangout in town. But little did they know the mansion hides a violent past and a curious link to one of the clairvoyant teens who found it. More than one entity haunts this palatial estate … and not all of them are friendly.

Para Troupers: The Case of Old Man Rutledge is an exciting, paranormal thriller about a rescue mission and a deadly game when supernatural entities resist and threaten the teens’ lives. Hold on tight as the friends come together to confront the evil in front of them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jan 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781483464084

Book preview

PARA TROUPERS

The Case of Old Man Rutledge

Mark Stephen Johnson

Copyright © 2017 The Case of Old Man Rutledge.

Interior Art by Roy Wightman, http://roy3d.deviantart.com/

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6407-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6408-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017900261

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 01/18/2017

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1.   The Big Lie

Chapter 2.   Black Friday

Chapter 3.   The House On The Hill

Chapter 4.   Foul Finnegan

Chapter 5.   Making Contact

Chapter 6.   Help Is On The Way

Chapter 7.   A Tragedy In The Making

Chapter 8.   An Expert’s Help

Chapter 9.   A New Purpose

Chapter 10.   Complications

Chapter 11.   No Time To Waste

Chapter 12.   A Dangerous Turn

Chapter 13.   Friday Fail

Chapter 14.   Life Or Death

Chapter 15.   Reality Sets In

Afterword

Dedication

This book is dedicated, in part, to all of my students, both current and past. They have taught me the importance of being able to read and the impact that it makes on their lives. They have showed me that what’s most important to them in being motivated to read is a book that keeps their interest, a book that they can’t put down. I hope this book is the answer for many of them.

I would also like to dedicate this book, in part, to all researchers, both professional and amateur, who work in the paranormal field. The exhaustive dedication they possess, working tirelessly to advance their science, is both credible and measurable. I follow all their television shows, and have also conducted my own research into the paranormal, helping to inspire my writing.

In closing, I would like to dedicate this book to my mother, Ardene, and to Sue, my significant other. Without their encouragement, their comments, likes and shares on social media, and networking with family and clients, I may not have finished this successful project. Thank you.

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the following for their financial contributions, and support, in the publishing process.

• -Ardene Johnson, financial contributor

• -Molly Cherro, financial contributor

• -Greg and Karen Saarela, financial contributors

• -Michael Voss, financial contributor

• -Laura Johnson, financial contributor

• -Sue Krahling, financial contributor

• -Chuck and Denise Melcher, financial contributors

I would also like to thank Roy for his cover artwork and illustrations throughout the book. His work can be found at http://roy3d.deviantart.com/

I would also like to thank various members of my family for always talking about the paranormal, taking an interest in the field and going on ghost hunting adventures that furthered my inspiration to write a novel.

Chapter I

THE BIG LIE

The day of the incident, also known as Black Friday in town, started like every other day. Weary from waking up with my alarm at 5:00 a.m., I shuffled over to the school bus stop to catch my ride to school.

I could really use a pick me up of some kind, I thought, like a steamy shot of espresso or one of those chocolate lattes they make at the Cup of Joe downtown.

My lack of discipline in getting to bed at a decent time was beginning to take a toll on my physical, and mental, health. Between my homework assignments and texting with friends late into the night, my lack of shut-eye was beginning to wear me down. I was sure my friends were pretty tired of hearing me complain about my misfortune as well. They had their own sleep issues.

I must sound like a broken record on the bus each day, I thought, filling their heads with my incessant whining about sleep deprivation. Today was no exception, my train of thought was beginning to ruin any chance I had at a good morning.

If you don’t count waking up early for school, it was unusual for me to be grumpy. I looked at life in a positive light and could see a silver lining in most situations that came upon me. I was known as the nice guy in my class.

I was not feeling my positive side this morning, though, and secretly hoped that I could take a quick nap in Mr. Johnson’s first hour Health class. He was an understanding teacher. He knew that I struggled with sleep issues. Maybe, just maybe, he would be cool with me taking a nap in class.

As I stood there yawning on the curb, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep for another ten seconds or so.

Ah, maybe the bus will be late today, I whined aloud so the other kids at the bus stop could hear me. That could mean another five minutes of sleep!

Much to my disappointment, the cold, hard reality of the morning slapped me right in the square of my back.

Hey, Marcus. Good morning! someone yelled in my ear.

You look awful. What, no sleep again last night?

It was Juan, my good friend.

I lifted my right hand and touched my short, brown hair trying to flatten it after realizing that I had forgotten to brush it this morning.

Yeah man, I don’t think I went to bed until 2:30a.m. last night, I stuttered.

I can tell dude. Isn’t that the same outfit you wore yesterday? Juan questioned.

I was told by my parents that my tall, thin and toned frame made me easy to buy clothing for. As a result, my closet was full of unused slacks, sweaters and shirts given to me as gifts by relatives. Much to my families’ dismay, my chosen school attire was simple- jeans, t-shirts and tennis shoes. I must’ve forgotten to throw yesterday’s clothing in the dirty laundry and put it back on today.

Yeah, yeah, whatever Juan, I answered back.

My look was completely the opposite of Juan. He was a sharp dresser. Similar in height and build to me, he wore collared and pressed shirts, nice jeans or slacks and always had his dark hair slicked back with some greasy stuff.

His family was of Mexican heritage and had moved into the area when we were just two years old. We have been inseparable ever since, becoming the best of friends.

Hey man, why are you yelling in my ear so early in the morning? I asked. What are you so … loud for?

Huge party at Clam Beach tonight, my friend. This time there’s going to be some beer! Juan shouted.

Clam Beach was one of our secret beaches around Spider Lake. My friends Juan, Desiree, Veronica, and I had named it Clam Beach because of the abnormal number of clams that seemed to be in the shallow waters near shore.

Hey, keep it down, I said. Do you want everyone to hear? I already heard about it last night online. Where are you getting beer?

I heard that Cody’s older brother was going to buy some for us, Juan exclaimed. We just need to get him the money by 6:00 p.m. tonight. He’s cool. A bunch of us are meeting him at the mall. Wanna come?

I was a little unsure of the plan for tonight. I didn’t know what to say. We had always talked about doing something like this, but I had thought that we were just talking, never realizing that someone might be serious about it.

Um, no, but I’ll meet you at the beach later, I said.

We had all tried alcohol last year, sipping rum from a liquor cabinet at Juan’s house that his parents had unknowingly left unlocked. But that paled in comparison to having a party at Clam Beach.

Clam Beach was a place where we usually hung out in front of a nice bonfire in the evening and talked, swam, or just goofed around. Kids from all over the town would come, pulling stupid stunts or making out. Last year, another kid from our neighborhood thought it’d be funny to spell his name with gasoline in the sand and then light it on fire. Well, that nearly burned down all the brush in the area. It took quite a few of us pouring a ton of sand on the fire to eventually put it out.

That’s cool, Juan said sarcastically. We’ll meet up later then. I didn’t know that you would wuss out on us again.

That’s exactly the response I thought would happen. I could just hear it at school: Marcus wussed out again, coming from everyone I knew. I just never took chances. I always played it safe. Maybe it was my fear of failing that held me back. Or maybe I just didn’t want to do something stupid that would end up going viral on YouTube for the world to see. I’d have to live with that the rest of my life.

Damn my common sense I thought. I am a wuss, aren’t I?

As the bus arrived, I was feeling quite annoyed, and vulnerable, but managed to spew out a comment for Juan.

Whatever, dude, I responded while laughing and patting him on the back.

We climbed the stairs into the bus, expressed our greetings to Jackson, the bus driver, and made our way to our assigned seats near the middle of the bus. We sat down, just across the aisle from our two closest friends, Veronica and Desiree.

I first met Veronica as we started first grade, right before she had been hit by Old Man Rutledge’s car on Moses’ Hill ten years ago. The newspaper claimed that he was driving to work while discussing his business with a friend on the phone. He became distracted and annoyed by his conversation and was not paying attention to what was in front of him. He ran a stop sign and hit six-year-old Veronica Russell, who had been riding her bicycle across an intersection.

Instead of making sure she wasn’t injured and then calling for help, he got out of his vehicle and yelled at her for riding across the street in the crosswalk. He then pushed her bike to the pavement and sued her parents for the distress that the incident had caused him. Veronica eventually fully recovered from her injuries, but his unsuccessful attempt to ruin her family angered the residents of Spider Lake. No one would speak to Old Man Rutledge. Customers of his very successful shoe store chain began looking elsewhere for shoes.

Old Man Rutledge, always confident and self-important, tried a soft apology to Veronica through the local media. People who saw his insincere attempt at an apology didn’t believe him. Sales continued to drop badly at his stores until he retired the business and lived as a recluse in his large mansion on Skullbone Hill.

After the accident, Veronica became more of an extrovert. Maybe it was all the unwanted attention she had gotten, or maybe it was her survival instinct kicking in. Either way, she seemed to test her teachers more, challenge her parents at every turn, and just got more edgy.

I talked with Veronica every day, in class, following the accident. We became very close, and our friendship blossomed. In middle school, with our natural hormonal development in gear, we developed a personal and physical attraction for each other. We never acted on, or talked about those urges, but the attraction was undeniable.

She was slender and had long, blond hair reaching down to her waist while sporting a beautiful smile. Her eyes were a bright, blue color and sparkled in the sunlight. It was hard to keep my eyes off of her each day.

Looks aside, Veronica was a strong-willed girl. If there was going to be beer at the beach tonight, she was going to be there.

Good morning, boys, spouted Desiree. Did you hear about Clam Beach tonight?

Sure did, I said softly. You girls going?

Yup, we’re looking forward to it. It’s about time we did some grown-up activities, Veronica stated in her typical living on the edge fashion.

Hey you guys, are you wearing your swimsuits tonight? Desiree asked. I hear that most people are going into the water.

Yeah, I think I will. This heat is driving me nuts, I said. Dez agreed. I’ve got a new two-piece that I can’t wait to try.

Dez was probably the most conservative of us four. If we did anything that she thought might be embarrassing or harm