Interstate Blues

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

March 19th, 2020
Shutter Island, North Carolina

It didn't take Jack long to make it to the island. Less than an hour after he left the docks, he found himself just where Death told him to go. Sitting on the edge of the boat, hidden in a patch of tall grass growing through the shallows, Jack set the anchor. He took his phone out of his pocket, and stuck it in the storage space under one of the seats, before he lowered himself into the water, swimming down to the sandy bottom and searching for the narrow cave entrance that would lead him to a secluded spot to sneak onto the island.

He had to go up for air twice before he finally found it, and then once again afterward. By the time he made it through the cave and to the spot Death told him about, he was soaked, freezing, and breathing heavily. Even though all he wanted to do was sit and rest, Jack forced himself to his feet and continued onward to find Arizona Paxton, the missing half-breed.

He slowly made his way through the trees, carefully covering his tracks, with Keala at his side the entire time. She would occasionally run ahead and disappear into the trees for a few minutes, but mostly, she stayed right next to him. It was almost another hour before he reached the old ruins of a giant mansion, where Ari was supposedly being held captive.

He and Keala picked their way carefully through the rubble, looking for any signs of life, but he didn't see a single indication that anyone had even been there at all. At least, not until he found a witch guarding a door at the bottom of a set of cement stairs.

"Who the hell are you?" The guy was probably in his early thirties, and he looked genuinely surprised to see Jack standing on the steps above him.

"Someone you don't want to fuck with. Your best move would be to get out now and run off to whomever you report to." Jack could feel the presence of spirits and energy all around him.

The witch smirked, folding his arms and sizing Jack up like he was nothing but an overconfident child. "Right. Listen, man. I admire the courage you've gotta have to come out here by yourself. But I'm still gonna kill you." He started to whisper words in Zytekki, but Jack called all the spirits stuck around the old ruins to him.

"Help me, and I'll make sure you all get to rest in peace," he offered the ghosts.

"We would help anyway," one of the spirits responded, a young boy with a spooky smile.

Two ghosts, the young boy and an older woman appeared right in front of the witch, who jumped back, obviously startled. "What the hell?"

"I don't have time for this. My friends are gonna keep you busy for a little while." Jack ignored the screams that echoed loudly in the ruins as the two ghosts began ripping into the witch, tearing him apart. He walked passed the man and almost pulled the door off its hinges to get to Ari.

She was hanging by her wrists from chains attached to the ceiling, her head falling limply forward onto her chest. When Jack reached her, she didn't respond to the noise he made, or even when he touched her.

"Ari, you're dad sent me," he told her quietly, even though Jack was sure if there were any other witches on the island, they would've come as soon as they heard their buddy screaming. "Alright, fuck. Guess I'm gonna have to do this the hard way."

Using strength he didn't know he possessed, Jack ripped the chains out of the ceiling, and carefully protected Ari as they crashed to the ground, kicking up years of dust and debris around them. He didn't have time to figure out how to get the chains off of her, so he lifted Ari and the chains into his arms, cradling her.

Keala led the way through the dark, dank basement and passed the dead witch, whose remains were scattered around the stairwell like he'd had a run-in with an industrial fan. The two spirits who'd done it appeared on the top of the stairs, staring at him expectantly.