Night Terrors

Night Terrors

By Jason Wallace

Smashwords Edition

******

Published by:

Jason Wallace on Smashwords

Night Terrors

Copyright © 2015 by Jason Wallace

The Ring

An aged and very wrinkled man with thinly-sparse gray hair knelt in his garden, tending his tomatoes, an almost daily routine that he had maintained for many years during the warmer weather. Suddenly, he struggled to his feet, nearly toppling as he went, startled by the appearance of a young man, seeming to come from out of nowhere. Nuni! Nuni, shouted the old man as he awaited the gravely younger man to approach. Nuni! Nuni!

Sir, asked the other man, confused by the outburst of the elderly gardener, throwing his jacket over his shoulder as he peered through the blistering hot rays of sunlight piercing his eyes as he stared downward.

Oh. I guess I thought you was somebody else. You look just like a fella I knew back in Dubya Dubya Two. Nunzio Calabrisi was his name. Can I help you with somethin', Son?

Well, Sir, that's exactly why I'm here. I want to ask you about Nunzio Calabrisi. My name is also Nunzio Calabrisi. The Nunzio you knew during the war was my father's uncle. I was named for him. Would you mind if I stay a while and ask you some questions about my uncle?

I suppose that'd be alright, Son. But you might not like what I have to say. Sit. Sit. Pick ya a spot of ground there by the cabbages. The old man waved his hand to direct the other to the grass beyond the garden.

First, Sir, what happened to Nunzio? Nobody ever saw him again after 1943, and there's no record of him being killed in the war. You were his best friend, weren't you? What can you tell me? The young man helped the recipient of his verbal intercourse to his feet, seeing that he struggled so as he made countless fruitless attempts.

You really wanna know about Nunzio Calabrisi, huh? Let's go inside. Pryin' neighbors and all. The two men sauntered into the house, the elderly of the two bringing two glasses of sweetened lemonade into the living room. I'll tell you what you wanna know, but it probably ain't much ya wanna hear. Nunzio was my friend, my best friend. He was closer to me than any brother ever could've been, and I killed him.

Wait, the young man, Nunzio, screamed, choking on his lemonade, You killed my uncle?! What the...

Son, I don't mean I killed him like you think. I mean I got him killed.

Tell me then, Mr. Tucker, please. Can I call you Mr. Tucker?

Marion is fine. I met Nunzio in the Navy in 1942. We did everything together. I loved that man. I loved him as much as a person can love another, maybe, in some ways, more than I ever loved my wife.

So, you two had a homosexual relationship, the second Nunzio asked, vehemently protesting the possibility that his great-uncle was, in actuality, homosexual.

No. What the hell is wrong with your generation? Two men can love each other without it being that way. Do you wanna hear this or not?

Yes. Please. Continue, Nunzio begged, sipping his lemonade more carefully.

Your uncle, Nunzio, he was a great man. Some people didn't care for him because he was I-talian. I think maybe I loved him all the more because he was I-talian. He could make anybody laugh. He had a wonderful air about him. He could sing like you would not believe. You'd think you were hearin' an angel! We were on leave in the summer of 1943. We drove up to my hometown of Somerset, Virginia. I promised Nunzio I'd introduce him to a beautiful Southern gal. We went out drinkin' when we arrived. We were walkin' along, and Nunzio said that he needed to relive himself. I waited back and kept sippin' on my whiskey I was carryin'. I turned just in time to see Nunzio disappear.

Disappear?

Yes. I saw the tree he was leanin' against open up and swallow him. I saw it plain as day, though it was night. I know you don't believe me. I wouldn't believe me, but I know what I saw. Two dark hands came out from the tree, grabbed Nunzio, and pulled him inside. That was the last I ever saw of the man. The old man, Marion, hung his head, a tear strolling down his left cheek as he finished his words.

Wh.. huh.. Hands took him? Tree swallowed? What? This makes no sense!

I know what I saw. He disappeared that night. Marion took a long pause, and after gulping deeply, decided to continue where he left off, He... He went into that tree, and I could see what looked like a really bright light.

Did you try to get him out?!

I tried, but there was nothin' I could do. I chopped at that tree for an hour with my pocket knife, but to no avail. I went to the Sheriff and told him what I saw, and he just said I'd been drinkin' too much and needed to cut back. I may have been a bit inebriated, but I saw what I saw. I went back to that tree with an axe I took from my daddy's shed. I hacked and cut and chopped at that tree until I could split it open. It took me much of the night.

What was.. was inside of it? Nunzio still doubted that he should believe Marion's words, but something told him that he was not being toyed with, that he should trust the old man.

You know what it was I found inside that tree? A finger. One finger. That was all. I knew it was Nunzio's finger because it had that ring on it that his father gave him, just like that ring you got on right there, that exact one. Marion pointed anxiously at Nunzio's right hand, at the ring draped around his ring finger.

I'll believe you if you... if you can tell me what is inscribed inside.

With a deep chortle, the old man sought to oblige the request. Ok. Let me see if I can remember. Chi si volta... Wait. Yes. Chi si volta, e chi si gira, sempre a casa va finire. I don't remember exactly what it means, but it is something about that no matter how far you go, you always come home.

Wh... yes. How...?

Nunzio showed me that ring almost every day. His father gave it to him. He was so proud of his son, the first generation of the family in America serving it so faithfully. Nunzio enlisted, against the will of his mother. His father didn't like it at first but came around to the idea and had that ring made. Well, actually, he had one made for Nunzio's brother, too. I suppose that's the one you have on your finger right now.

Y.. yes. Ok, Mr. Tucker. Let's say I'm starting to believe you. How do you explain this?!

I can't. I think maybe that tree or that place is cursed, maybe a gateway to some other dimension. Maybe Nunzio lived out his life somewhere far away, in some other world neither you nor I can imagine. The few I've gotten to believe the story say that it must have been a gate to Hell. I don't know about all that, but I know he is gone, never to return. Nunzio would never have lost all contact with his family or with me. The old man's lower lip began to curl, his misty eyes displaying all of his belief in the event and of never again seeing his only true friend he'd ever had.

Nunzio the Younger, as he was sometimes known around his neighborhood, could not make sense of anything or decide what else to ask. Stammering, he could only murmur and mutter, completely incoherent to his listener.

And to answer your next question of why I live here instead of back in Virginia, I couldn't take the stigma. I left to put an end to the madness. People labeled me a looney for what I told them. I came here to have a chance at a new life. And yes, I think of Nunzio every day. I see him almost everywhere. With time, the thoughts have softened and faded, but they are still there.

H.. How did you know what I was thinking?

Kid, I've been around for many years. I can sometimes just tell what's in a person's heart. I'll bet you like the same stinky little cigars that your uncle smoked. Stauffer's?

Yes.

I'll bet you slick your hair back really tight when you wanna look tough, but when you want to look all gentle to the ladies, you comb it forward.

How...

And I'll bet when you say your name to the ladies, you pronounce it in an I-talian accent and that sometimes, you say everything with an I-talian accent. It gets you a lot of women.

How...

You really are Nunzio in every way I can see. It's like I'm lookin' back at 1943. If it wasn't for the surroundings, I'd start to believe it. You know, I have looked for him so many times, some piece of evidence to be able to put it all to rest. I even went back years later and chopped away what remained of that tree. I hacked it to little bits to try to find anything inside. I chopped up the roots and even dug up the earth all around. There wasn't nothin' there but more roots. Son, let me show you somethin'. I'll be right back.

As Marion got up from his chair and walked very slowly into another room, young Nunzio felt a deep and almost paralyzing anxiety fill his extremities. He had no idea what the old man might be up to, what it was that he might be planning to bring back. The thought that the old man had something to show him created so much fear in Nunzio that he thought of leaving the place without a single word said and never coming back. He had already learned far more than he had expected to, yet in many ways, far less.

Marion returned, clenching a small, wooden box tightly in his hands. Here. Open that. As the old man handed the box to Nunzio, he tread painfully to his chair, his old bones creaking and popping as he stepped.

Nunzio, his hands shaking, closed his eyes for only a moment and opened them again when he felt his hands pry the lid of the box open. Inside the box was what appeared to be some kind of very aged parchment paper, wrapped neatly with a thin, scarlet bow. Untying the ribbon and unfolding the carefully placed flaps of the paper, Nunzio stared in near horror. Laying within the paper was the ring spoken of by Marion Tucker, as well as what Nunzio knew must be the bones of a human finger.

Is this... is this Uncle Nunzio, the younger man cried in sheer terror, his voice as shaky as his hands.

Yes. It is. That is what is left of him anyhow.

Nunzio carefully turned the ring over and over, examining its every detail, coming to realize that it matched his ring identically, detail for detail, word for word, yet it was in far better condition than his own, having faced much less wear and tear. He choked back the fear climbing into his throat as he looked up at Marion. I still don't understand how this could be, how he could just vanish. There is some explanation! There has to be!

Son, began Marion, shaking his head, his eyes still somewhat misty, I spent the better part of twenty years tryin' to figure it all out. I finally had to just give up. There is no explanation for it. It is what it is. I haven't even opened that box since... since 1986. Has it really been that long? I suppose it has. I used to open it almost every day and stare at its contents and talk to 'em, as if I was actually speakin' to your Uncle Nunzio. There is no use tryin' to explain it. Nunzio hasn't turned up in more than seventy years. He ain't about to just come knockin' on the door over there. Now, you take that box and its contents with you. You give the finger a proper burial or keep it in your house or whatever. I always did wish that I could give what was left of him to his family. Now, I can be at peace, knowin' I did just that and that I closed that chapter, the biggest chapter, of my life. I can die in peace now.

So, there's absolutely nothing more to this story, nothing more that you can tell me, huh?

There's always more to any story. No story ever ends. All I know to tell you is that the best I could figure, there's a curse on that place or that Nunzio was chosen by some, some thing. I don't know what it is. I started to research the area to see if there were any stories similar to mine. I found some records in the public library that talked of strange disappearances in the area goin' back for centuries. There was a legend from the Indians that used to be in that place. They told the early settlers that there was a great evil there and not to build their town. There was an evil spirit that became angry when he was bothered, when people strode into his home. The Indians knew to stay away from there, to revere that spirit for what it was. I knew as a boy that there were very unexplainable things occurring there, but seldom did someone go missing. Everyone always kept things hush hush or said that a person ran off. No one ever spoke of anything happening like what did happen to Nunzio.

Thank you, Mr. Tucker. I think maybe I should go there and see it for myself. This just doesn't make sense to me. I need to at least see the place. Somerset, Virginia, right? Nunzio rose from his seat, clutching the box in his hands, before Marion Tucker could respond.

Son, wait. You shouldn't go there. The whole town is a breeding ground for these sorts of things. The town is just one giant curse. I made it out of there, but you might not. You should leave it all well enough alone.

Has all of your family disappeared?

Well, no.

Any of them at all? Nunzio's face evidenced his complete disbelief in the town being cursed. He could scarcely believe any of the story, but he especially could not believe that an entire town could be such a threat.

A cousin when I was very young. Like the others, people said that he ran off. And then, there was sister's boy. He was only eleven years old. I'm tellin' you, there is a curse on that place. Do not go there. You just go on home, and take that box with you. Give your family some peace over this whole mess. Somerset is not a place you want to be. Get in your car, and head straight back to Philadelphia.

How'd you know where I'm from?

I just assumed. I knew that was where your uncle was from. Just go back, and don't ever head to that area of northern Virginia. You don't want in it. You don't wanna be a part of it. Trust me on that. And no matter what you might think you've found there, you won't get no help from the people. They keep everything very quiet. Some of 'em know the truth, at least, have an idea, but they won't talk about it. The old man's eyes shown the truth clearly, but Nunzio Calabrisi was not about to be dissuaded by such a thing. It all seemed far too fanciful to him.

Where did it happen? What's the place in Somerset?

With a deep sigh but knowing that he could not turn the young man from his task, Marion Tucker decided that he would give him the information that he sought. The Chalmers School. It's an old, abandoned building now. Shortly after the war, they built it over the grove they cut down. Find that school, and you're there. Just be careful, Son. Be very careful. It is not a place to be trifled with or taken lightly. I spent almost three years in a nuthouse for what I told folks I saw, and I was one of the lucky ones.

The drive from southern Ohio to northern Virginia was long, but Nunzio had already traveled from Philadelphia, and he was strongly motivated by his quest for truth and justice on behalf of his great-uncle. When he arrived in Somerset, he thought that the place looked like something out of an old movie. The buildings were old, many dilapidated, the people, wantonly staring in his direction as he passed, their deep set eyes looking as if they were somehow possessed. There was nothing at all resembling what one might call a town. Nunzio wondered if there were more than a hundred people living in the entire immediate vicinity of the place.

Nunzio stepped from his car upon finding the ruins of the Chalmers School. The few walls that remained standing were mostly sunken downward, slanting off into the ground below. The majority of the site was defined by heavy piles and pillars of rubble, some extending well above the level of the walls surrounding them. As Nunzio stood in awe of the enormity of destruction, he was startled to feel a hand placed upon his shoulder. Turning, he came face to face with a man with eyes as sunken as the walls before him.

Damn cryin' shame what happened here, the other man stated, in his Virginia Piedmont accent that Nunzio found almost unintelligible. "They had a school here a long ways back, when my daddy was