Thread: The Mystery of Hemlock Bay

Tweet

Jake slowly walked his battered bicycle toward Sam’s home. He leaned it up against the retaining wall that separated the front yard from the sidewalk. Jake glanced around the neighborhood quickly as he cautiously began is ascend up the stone stairs that led to a walk way and ultimately to the front porch. Thoughts raced through his head once again at the speed of light, who were those men? What were they doing here? Should he go into the house? Did they do something to Sam? "Get a grip Jake", he said to himself out loud " You're going in, so get it over with." Curiosity would win the day over his neurosis as he made the decision to at enter the home.

As he neared the doorway, Jake bent over in an effort to peer inside the open door. The brightness of the sun, made it impossible to see anything of substance inside the darkened hallway. “Sam?” Jake called out, “You home?” No response. At this point Jake approached the door and reached for the doorbell. He rang it twice. The open door made it easy for him to hear the sound of the bell chimes echoing through the old Victorian. Jake reached for the open door and began in open in inch by inch. Suddenly something sprung upon him. Jake screamed in horror as he instinctively fell backward on to the porch.

ya got to finish the story! I am hooked

The fall knocked the wind out of him and he momentarily lost consciousness. The time lapse was only a few seconds but the fear coupled with the impact of the fall left the impression that he had been out for hours. He slowly opened his eyes to a view of the old and battered rafters of Sam's porch roof. Jake slowly sat up as he began to regain his bearings and saw that the door to the old Victorian was wide open. Behind him, he heard a soft purring sound. Jake slowly turned toward the noise and saw the cause of this calamity. Sitting quietly and serenely on the railing of the porch was a jet black colored feline. "God damn Cat", Jake muttered out loud, as he rose to his feet and dusted himself off. "Get lost ", he yelled lunging toward the cat in an effort to scare it away. But the cat did not flinch, it simply sat there, it's piercing green eyes fixated on Jake. "I said, get out." Jake repeated, this time stomping his feet. But the cat remained immobile. "Fine," he said in frustration, "Just stay the hell out of my way". Jake turned his back to the creature and began to slowly approach the entranceway. He could see the hallway and stairs pretty well, due to the bright sunlight shining through the many large windows of the house. Jake was even more cautious this time, as he again called out for Sam and crossed the threshold of the home. Jake now felt like he was surrounded fighting the compulsion to glace back every other step to check the whereabouts of the pesky feline he left in his rear.

As Jake entered the home he immediately noticed that an end table stationed in the entrance hall had been knocked over, the draw pulled out, and the lamp smashed. There were pieces of paper strewn across the Oriental rug that created a path to the central stair case. Jake slowed his forward advance even more at this point. Something was obviously wrong and there was no telling what might be waiting for him inside the next room. Jake peek around the oak molding that lined the entrance to Sam's library. The scene was alarming. The room was a wreck. Books were thrown on the floor, shelves knocked over, paper and parchment everywhere. A leather couch has been ripped open. Large gaping slashes and exposed padding gave the first impression that a large tiger had used it as a scratching post. But at closer inspection there was no escaping the conclusion that those were the marks of a dagger. Someone was looking for something in a hurry and was going to stop at nothing to find it. That object of their obsession had to be something of value or an object clouded in the utmost secrecy. Why else would someone suppose it might occupy such a surreptitious hiding place?

As Jake continued to look around, he once again heard the purr of his newest friend. The cat had quietly made its way into the study and leapt onto the desk. Its eyes still fixated on Jakes every move. "What is it with you?" Jake said to the cat in a low whisper. The cat just continued its concentrated stair. Jake decided to take a further look around, he wondered if the rest of the house was in as bad a shape. Jake walked through the library toward the back archway that marked the entrance to the formal dinning room. Before he could cross that threshold, the cat jetted by him and planted itself directly in his path, blocking his exit from the library.

Jake stopped for a moment than changed his direction slightly to the right in an effort to navigate around the feline, but the cat moved with him, continuing to block his path. "Alright, you are really starting to annoy me now,” Jake said as he moved to the left. But the cat stayed in step, shimmying over to continue the obstruction. "Fine, then I'll just step right over you," Jake muttered in aggravation as he headed straight for the dinning room. As he raised his leg to arch the animal, it stood on its hind paws, screeched and swiped its claws at him. "Woah," Jake yelled as he stumbled a few steps back almost losing his balance. With that the cat again jetted past him and returned to its prior position on the desk. This time the cat was repeatedly clawing the upper right hand draw and Meowing. Jake stopped for a second as an idea dawned on him. Was the cat trying to tell him something? Jake slowly approached the desk and began to see that the cat was directing him toward the draw. He pulled it open and saw a whole host of various odd objects: pipes, tobacco, matches, pocket knives, pens, old coins and a small vile filled with green liquid. As soon as Jake saw the flask, the cat grabbed it in its mouth. It then leapt from the desk to the southeast corner of the room where Jake saw small drinking bowl that a dog or cat might use. The cat dropped the vile into the bowl and began purring and motioning toward Jake. Could it be that the cat wanted him to pour the liquid into the bowl? This was hard to believe, but at this point, anything was possible. Jake made his way over to the corner and squatted in front of the bowl. As he did, the cat began to purr and rub itself in and out of his legs. It was obvious that the once hostile creature was now pleased with Jake's progress. "Okay fellow, you want to drink this stuff? Here goes". Jake uncorked the vile and poured the green tonic into the bowl. The liquid was very thick and appeared to have a phosphorous glow. "You're really going to drink this stuff? Be my guest", Jake said as the cat began to lap up the glowing pool. As the cat drank, Jake stood up and turned to his attention back to dinning room and is intention to search the rest of the house. He took only a few steps when his peripheral vision caught bright light and a sudden puff of smoke coming from behind him. Jake swung around and saw that a huge cloud of bright green fog had engulfed the cat the bowl and the entire corner of the room. "Holy ****..." Jake yelled out as he took a few cautious steps backward.

"Cough, cough, Cough..." the sound of a man coughing came from the cloud of smoke. As the cloud began to dissipate, Jake could see the image of a man waving his hand as in a gesture to clear away the vapor that surrounded him. "Cough! I always hated this part of the process", the words came from the haze, as Jake stood there frozen with amazement. It was Sam. "Jake my boy, help me sit down". Jake rushed to support him as he stumbled to walk. "The transformation is harder on the body when you get to be my age.” Sam said, as Jake helped him to the desk chair. Jake sat on the desk wide eyed watching Sam regain his composure and asked, "Sam, what the hell just happened?"

"Jake, give me a moment to catch my breathe and I'll explain everything", Sam muttered between gasps for air. It was obvious to Jake, that whatever just occurred took its toll on Sam. He looked very tired, his complexion was ghostly white and his skill glistened of perspiration. "I think you figured out by now that the cat you saw was me" Sam said. "I assure you it was not just a trick for fun, it was done out of necessary. I had to disappear fast and that was the quickest way I knew how under the circumstances." Jake was listening in amazement. "So you are witch?" Jake asked. "Warlock is the proper term my boy" Sam said with a smile as the color began to return to his face. Sam explained that certain people were looking for him and it was best for everyone involved if they didn't find him. They were also looking for something that they thankfully did not find. Jake remember the men in the black suits that he saw leaving the home just before he crashed his bicycle.

"I usually set up the bowl with the antidote before I transform, that's how it’s supposed to work, but I just didn't have the time. They were at the door and coming in. I grabbed the potion and morphed just before they came through the door." Sam explained. "It's a good think you came a long young man or I might have been eating cat food for the notable future." Sam and Jake laughed. Now Jake's head was filled with questions. What was this all about? Who were those men? What were they looking for? Jake made up his mind, he wasn't leaving until he got some answers.

"Alright Jake, help me clean up a bit and I'll give you some more information. But I warn you, it's not going to be easy to believe and you may conclude that it would have been better if you never knew what I’m about to share." Jake began to pick up some of the papers and books and said “You just sit and rest Sam, I'll clean, you talk." "I don't have all the answers you seek. Far from it. But I do think somehow, your friend's disappearance is linked to the rather urgent visit I just received." Sam said.

"It's probably best if I tell you a little about me first, it must be shocking to witness what just happened here, so I'll go slow." Sam explained that he was a practitioner of what many call the dark arts for his entire life. It was a craft that was handed down from generation to generation in his family. However, he and his family had been outcasts for centuries from most who lived in the world of witchcraft. Sam's clan believed that witchcraft and Christianity did not have to be at odds. "Witchcraft", Sam explained, "Is the harnessing of nature's hidden powers, and God is the origin of that power. The choice fell upon mankind, once it discovered this power, to use it for good or evil. Unfortunately, most who have been blessed with the knowledge and talent were corrupted by the power and used it to further personal advancement and gain at the expense of others. In other words, they failed the ultimate test of their faith and often unknowingly furthered the cause of the dark forces of the universe. They saw no need to follow the tenets and teachings of the Devine spirit and turned away, perhaps thinking they were gods themselves. Thus you have the legends of witches that you are all too familiar with. You think of ugly old crowns bent on stealing children in the night in an effort to due the bidding of Satan himself" Jake was fascinated. There was no denying what he saw, magic did exist and Sam was part of a world he never thought existed.

Sam continued;” Throughout the world, or at least as far as I know, every witch or warlock is associated with 1 of 5 ancient clans. As you know the pentagram is a renowned symbol of witchcraft, but what you didn't know is that each of the 5 points of that star represents one of the clans." Made sense, Jake thought to himself as he placed another book back on the shelf. "These go in any particular order?" he asked as he grabbed a few more. "Don't worry about that Jake, I function well in the state of random chaos...which is a great segway into my next point. Everything in and around witchcraft is associated with the concept of maintaining balance throughout nature and the universe. You've heard that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction? Well the same principle that applies in science applies here." Sam explained that the alignment of the clans were also in a state of balance. Two of the clans could be described as following a moral code similar to that found in organized religion. Committed to promoting goodness and kindness in the world. Two of the clans had rejected morality and pledged allegiance to the forces of evil. The fifth and final clan was the balance of power; this clan could best be described as truly neutral. If it weren't for this clan, there would be a state of constant war between the opposing ideologies. How this clan casts it's die would often resolve disputes or issues before blood shed and mayhem ensued.

Hey...What...I've been cheated! Where the heck is the rest of the story? Seriously I hope you continue because this work is better than good.

Please finish it........