Dead Man Chronicle

By Marco Navarro

My name is Aaron Weller. I recently moved from New York to Michigan with my wife, Jane. Jane and I moved to get away from the city to live the quiet country life—at least that’s what I thought.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796061505

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Copyright © 2019 by Marco Navarro.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/24/2019

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CONTENTS

Jane

Visitors

Visitors (II)

Dead Man’s New Life

Spirits

Enemy

Blood

The Demon Hunter

Astaroth

The Spirit

The Sting

Deceiving The Deceiver

Home

Legion

JANE

November 10, 1885

I sat in the corner eyeing the clock as it ticked, counting down the seconds left for the next minute. The light glinted on the glossy skin of the teacup as I rubbed my finger against the handle, tilting it to see that it was empty. I stood up from the chair and walked to the kitchen to place the cup in the sink. As I walked back, I looked at the clock as it read 3:30 a.m.

I headed upstairs to walk down the corridor to my bedroom. As I passed the rooms in the corridor, I noticed something strange. I walked back to one of the rooms to investigate what it was that I thought I had seen. I stood at the door of the room and found a woman dressed in black standing in the corner. Her pale skin glinted in the moonlight that crept through the window. Her face was covered by a thin veil but I could still see her eyes fixated on me.

I stood in silence. My body tensed up as she simply stood there, smiling at me. She kept her eyes on me until she jolted forward towards me. I tried to move backwards but I was left paralyzed. The woman breathed down my neck as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

You, the woman whispered, You are not welcome here.

I stammered, trying to speak but my mouth didn’t want to move.

You will die if you stay, she said. Leave now and never come back! she screamed angrily.

The last word she had said echoed in my head just after I had woken up. I found myself lying in my bed with my wife lying next to me. I moved down to sit up at the edge of the bed as I rubbed my eyes. The light of the sky was dim and barely lit the room—I was okay with it, considering I had just woken up. I took a shirt I had left on the floor and put it on before walking to the dresser for a pair a pair of socks. I looked in the mirror and noticed how red my eyes were. I also noticed a bruise on my neck.

I entered the bathroom to put cold water on my face as I was beginning to feel my body burning up. I splashed the cold liquid against my skin and I could feel it cooling me down, but I was quickly beginning to heat up again.

I looked in the mirror and noticed that my facial hair had grown out quite a bit. I looked through the drawer for my razor but I couldn’t find it. I groaned with frustration and shut the drawers before walking out of the restroom. I gave my wife a kiss on her forehead as she slept quietly and walked out of the bedroom to the corridor. As I walked down the stairs, I checked my pockets for cigarettes and found two but I sighed as I held them up and saw that they had gotten crumpled up.

I walked out of the house, letting the wooden screen door slam behind me. I unhooked one of the buttons on my shirt to let the cool morning air hit my chest. I took the book of matches that was in my pocket and lit one of the cigarettes. The smell of the tobacco crept into my nose and the flavor of the smoke tasted awful but I anticipated the soft high from the nicotine that comes right after. The white smoke exited and burned my lungs and my throat, killing me slowly.

Just as the cigarette had turned to ash, I threw the butt to the ground and put it out. I took the other cigarette from my pocket and tried to straighten it out but It ripped in the middle. I sighed again with frustration before shrugging it off and lighting it up.

I looked at the scenery outside the house as I smoked. I was surrounded by forest and the dirt road that led up to our driveway disappeared into the woods. All I could see were trees. As I was about to take a puff from the cigarette, it had been taken from my hand. I looked to my wife as she stood next to me, smoking the cigarette. Her eyes were closed as she placed the cigarette in her mouth and exhaled the smoke. She gave me a smirk before taking the cigarette out of her mouth and kissing my cheek.

I’ll be in the shower, she whispered before handing me the cigarette and going back into the house. I was dumbfounded by seeing Jane smoke. She had always bugged me about it. I guess she was finally accepting it or she might have just been tired. I wasn’t sure.

Once I finished the cigarette, I put it out and stepped back inside. I walked into the kitchen and noticed the teacup that was in the sink. I took the teacup and examined it. It was the same exact one that I saw in my dream. I placed it back in the sink and rested my hands on the edge. I raised my shoulders and dipped my head down as I sighed. I didn’t want to think about it, so I didn’t. I needed to clear my head. I headed upstairs and could hear the shower running as I entered the bedroom. I opened the door of the restroom and found the shower curtain covering the tub. A light smoke erupted from above the curtain because of the hot water. I closed the door causing my wife to poke her head out from behind the curtain.

Hey, I said, I’m gonna join you. I took off my shirt before entering the tub and hiding behind the curtain.

After Jane and I had finished, we walked back into the bedroom and dressed.

Aaron?, Jane asked.

Yeah, baby?

Have you been having dreams?

I was stumped by the question. I was afraid to answer her. She stared blankly at the window, sitting on the side of the bed. I stood in silence, watching her.

What? Jane asked.

I… I didn’t say anything, I replied.

She chuckled softly and smiled. Her eyes still looking at the window.

Jane, are you all right? I asked.

Jane paused.Hm? she said. Oh, sorry, I went blank for a moment.

Jane chuckled loudly trying to move away from what just happened.

Did I say anything? she asked with a confused tone.

You asked me if I’ve been having dreams.

Really? I don’t remember. Jane stood from the bed and put on her boots. I’m going outside. I need some air, she said.

Jane left the room and walked down the hallway to the stairs. The sound of her boots hitting the wooden stairs echoed through the hall before I could hear the sound of our front door opening. I stood in the center of the room, questioning what was going on.

Why did she ask me that? I thought.

I didn’t know how to process what was happening. I didn’t want to know what to do, so I began to search for something to distract me. I walked to my dresser and took a small wooden box from one of the drawers. I sat at the edge of the bed and opened the box to see what was inside of it, although I already knew. I looked down at the contents of the box—my old service pistol and patches from when I was in the army.

It was long ago but I remember it like it was yesterday: the rush I felt when running into battle. The certainty of knowing that I was fighting amongst my brothers, but I had outgrown that feeling. I couldn’t remain the same. I needed to change, not for myself, but for what meant the most to me.

I remembered Jane leaving, so I closed the box and placed it back in the drawer. I removed the towel from my waist and put on a pair of pants. I reached into the other drawer and took out a white shirt. I put on the shirt before putting on my boots to head outside. I walked out and found my wife sitting on the porch, reading her bible. I approached her and stood next to her.

She looked up at me and smiled before moving the red bookmark and closing the book.

Hey, she said, removing her reading glasses.

You left your bible downstairs? I asked her.

Yeah…I was reading last night after you had gone to sleep.

Oh, well, you weren’t up too long, were you?

No…but…Aaron, I have to ask you something. She said insecurely.

What is it? I placed my hand on her forearm and squatted next to her.

Have you seen anything strange in the house? Have you felt anything? she asked, still unsure.

Like what?

I…I keep having these dreams. There’s a woman burning in the basement. She stands at the bottom of the stairs. Her skin is on fire, but she’s not screaming; she’s just…standing there, laughing. But that’s not what scares me, Aaron. I can feel something moving through the house. It has an atmosphere of pure hatred. It tells me things. It says it wants to hurt us, Aaron.

She moved her hand and covered her face as she dipped her head down.