The Soul Takers

By Elsie Brooks

Dr. Julie Marks discovers one of her patients has been cured of cancer after a visit to a small town in Pennsylvania.

More people start popping up on the internet. She has to find out what's in the town of Pine Lake, Pennsylvania.

It's a perfect small town with lovely people and beautiful scenery.

Only its newest resident is evil and has an appetite for diseases and souls.

She has no idea how powerful or evil this resident can be until she realizes who he really is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887939940

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The Soul Takers

Elsie Brooks

Copyright © 2023 Elsie Brooks

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88793-987-2 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88793-994-0 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

About the Author

Chapter 1

She was only away for a week, but it seemed like a month. Getting off the elevator, she looked around at her new reception area. Lovely and professional are the words that came to mind. Dr. Julie Marks is an oncology doctor at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Soon, she hoped to be the head of this department.

After the morning greetings from the staff and her secretary Dani, she headed to her office. Dani slipped in front of her.

Dr. Marks, I want to warn you. Mrs. Whitney and her two crazy daughters are in the new lobby next door. Do you want to see them? And Neil from Lab Core is on the phone and says it's really important.

Almost afraid to answer this call, she said, Hello, this is Dr. Marks.

Hello, Doctor. I'm calling from Lab Core. My name is Neil. I work with Dr. Rommer. I wanted to talk to you about a patient's test results, a Mrs. Clair Whitney.

Julie, silent on the phone, thought to herself, No, not again. Now what's wrong?

This eighty-four-year-old woman with a poor prognosis battling acute myeloid leukemia had tried everything: chemotherapy, radiation, and bone marrow transplant. She didn't respond to any of the treatments. After that trip she talked about, she felt so good, so they checked her labs. She was cured. They thought for sure the lab screwed up. Before Julie's vacation, another set of tests were ordered.

I'm calling to tell you she is cured, without a doubt, Dr. Marks.

Neil was wondering if this was bad news or not.

So check them again. Her temples started to throb.

Actually, Dr. Marks, Dr. Rommer did the last test and said that's the end of the line. He would like you to call him as soon as possible.

She was dumbfounded.

Neil, Julie said, I'll call Dr. Rommer when I get through seeing my patients this morning. Thank you. Goodbye.

She didn't wait for his goodbye and hung up.

She slipped into the conference room to hide for a minute. Greeted by a mountain of mail, with a small note that read Welcome home, boss! How precious. Digging through the envelopes, she finds the Lab Core test results.

Mrs. Whitney's results leave her baffled. The bloodwork is clear. No sign of cancer, nor any other problems. This is insane.

Getting her thoughts together before she confronts this mess. She's going over in her mind, How do I handle this mystery? This was a brick wall. What kind of doctor am I? Julie said to herself.

Her uncle Berk was a doctor also. He described her as all business. Her style was getting straight to the point. Dani, Julie's secretary, once told her she could be warmer to people and wear some makeup.

Yeah, that would help her today, mascara and lipstick. She straightened out her white doctor coat and helped herself to the giant latte on the table. Out the door and down a short hall she went, just like Wyatt Earp.

Now for Mrs. Whitney and her family. Hello, ladies, Julie calmly greeted them.

Mrs. Whitney was the patient, and she had her two grown daughters with her.

Julie noticed one of the women had a large manila envelope.

Okay, Julie began. I have no explanation, but her bloodwork is clear again.

Mrs. Whitney had no expression on her face. The two women with her gave each other a look like bad children.

They were very devoted to their mom. Lucy and Ruby Whitney never married.

A big brown envelope on the table in front of Julie's desk caught her attention.

Whatever is in that folder, Julie said, looks important, Lucy.

The lab called Mom yesterday and told her she was no longer hanging by a thread, Ruby blurted out in one breath.

What! Julie said. Did they say hanging on by a thread? She was shocked.

Yes, Doctor. That's what he said, Lucy said, almost whispering. Julie noticed Ruby was rocking back and forth in her chair.

The two sisters exchanged looks again as if they knew a big secret.

Dr. Marks now almost demanded the reason for these looks they were throwing at each other.

Well, Ruby said slowly as she started to explain.

My mom always wanted to go on a ghost hunt. As long as Lucy and I can remember, she watches the Syfy channel all the time.

She explains to Julie in detail how her mom contacted the Make a Wish Foundation. They explained it was an unusual request but not impossible. After a few letters and calls, a sort of satellite organization contacted Lucy and Ruby.

I was worried that her health wouldn't hold up, Lucy chimed in.

Now give the doctor the envelope, Ruby.

Reluctantly, she placed it on the table.

Make A Wish was printed very neatly on the envelope.

Julie picked it up, and her head started to pound like a hammer. Oh dear, she thought to herself. Lucy was chewing her nails.

She dumped everything on the table: a DVD titled Parallel Paranormal, a small stack of pictures, some release forms, and a pamphlet about the history of the house and the location—somewhere called Pine Lake.

The Whitneys are all too happy to let Dr. Marks take all the contents of the envelope and keep it as long as she wants.

After checking Mrs. Whitney's vitals, they all hugged and said goodbye. The daughters told her to be careful because they thought something was strange about that place, Pine Lake. They knew she would go and check it out.

"If you do go, Dr. Marks, please call us when you get back. If anything changes with Mom, we'll call your service.

Thanks, Dr. Marks, Ruby said and squeezed her hand.

After they left, Julie called for Dani. I'm taking another two weeks off. I know I just got home. Clear my appointments for two days at least.

Julie was calling her uncle Berk to cover for her.

He's gonna love this, Julie was thinking out loud.

Her uncle Berkley Marks was a GP in Baltimore. He and his wife raised Julie. He paid for her education. She was his pride and joy. Julie's parents died when she was two months. So her mother's only brother took on the job of raising her. He never thought twice about it.

She knew what he was going to say about her small problem. Since Julie turned ten, she'd had a small tumor on her brain. A part of the brain called the medulla. This part controlled heartbeat and breathing.

Just recently, it started to grow. Uncle Berk has been worried sick about it. It did stop growing as soon as it started. Her doctor said that it was probably as large as it was going to get and no need to remove it.

The headaches and nosebleeds she kept to herself. Uncle Berk must never find out.

Getting ready for a long soak in the tub, she remember she never called Dr. Rommer about the bloodwork.

Holy shit. She grabbed her phone. After putting her on hold for five minutes, she sensed he was not happy.

I told your secretary I needed you as soon as possible, Dr. Marks, Dr. Rommer said.

He was choosing his words carefully.

They only spoke a couple of times. He didn't want to piss her off. He was too interested in this eighty-four-year-old woman with disappearing cancer. Personally, he thought Dr. Marks was too much like a first-grade schoolteacher, not one of the top oncologists at University Hospital.

Do you get your messages straight away, Dr. Marks, or is your staff incompetent? He couldn't help himself. It felt good getting nasty.

He caught her off guard, and she started to cry. Hot tears were stinging her eyes as she slammed down the phone.

The phone rang again. This time, she was ready!

Who in the hell from Lab Core told my patient she wasn't ‘hanging by a thread anymore'? she fired back at him. And she was cured?

Dr. Marks, that was me. Let me explain. Please give me a chance. He was just about to beg.

He started by telling her the first time Mrs. Whitney's lab work came back clean. He kept the file, knowing that Dr. Marks would order more tests. He kept everything out of the records. Sure enough, she ordered more tests, and she was cured again.

Now, Dr. Marks, as for that ‘hanging by a thread' comment. That family was so dense it seemed the only way to get it across. He actually sounded sorry.

Did you find out about the ghost tours yet, Dr. Marks?

Lucy and Ruby told him everything about their trip to Pine Lake.

Dr. Rommer was not interested in ghosts and backyard DVDs. Amateur videos made him nuts.

Let me watch the video and listen to the audio, and I'll call you back, Dr. Rommer, Julie said.

After her long soak in the tub, she felt relaxed and small. She got her dinner of cold Chinese food and a frosty glass of Amstel Lite. She dumped all the contents of the envelope on a blanket on the floor and went to work.

There were pictures of people sitting in a classroom. A young man was standing in front of the class. This was an intro to the ghost-hunting stuff.

Then she gets to the signing of the release forms. Then she's ready to watch the DVD. She watched patiently