Black Water Tales: The Secret Keepers (4 page)

“TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF! PLEASE STOP!” Regina barely realized that she was now banging her fists against the thick glass. Charles Dean reached into the backseat trying to pacify his little girl as her mother pushed the radio station buttons hysterically hoping to relieve her daughter of the sounds that tormented her.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” her mother was chanting loudly, trying to drown out the sorrowful cries of her daughter. Regina’s father joined her mother in the soothing.

“We never thought that you would react this way to seeing the house,” her father assured her and with good reason. Regina Dean had always been one to push her emotions deep down inside, her stoic manner masking her true sentiment.

Minutes later, Regina found herself breathing steadily in the back of the car, listening to the remnants of her parents bickering, her mother restating her theory that it would have been best to go all the way around and come into town directly on I-48, rather than taking the most common route on Culliver Parkway. Her father apologized profusely but loyal to his reasoning that it would have taken them an hour out of the way.

Regina shrunk deeper in the soft leather of the seat trying to tame the embarrassment that she felt at the episode that had just taken place. Somehow, she had lost all control and became only a helpless onlooker as the mental deterioration unfolded. Showing her emotions was something that she hated to do because emotions were a sign of weakness and once people knew your weakness you were at their mercy; a position in which she never wanted to find herself. Being at the mercy of another was the gate to a mind hell.

Regina was relieved when they finally pulled up in the gravel drive in front of the oblong building that was the town diner. Her muscles were cramped and stiff from the long ride from the airport. The brisk fall day released a salvo of wind upon Regina’s smooth skin as she stepped out of the car in front of the OC diner. She squinted her eyes against the October wind that was drying her face. Main Street was nothing like it had been when she left, but almost the same way it had been when she was child. Peering up and down the street, Regina stretched while trying to familiarize herself with a past that she knew all too well.

She pulled her cellular phone from her jeans pocket to make sure that the hospital had not tried to contact her. Disappointment racked her when she saw that she had no missed calls.

Her eyes swept up and down the clean sidewalk until they hung on a strange man. A tall, anomalous creature with his black pinpoint pupils trained on her. Even as she took notice of his stare, he never blinked, wanting her to know that she was the object of his full attention. The shadows of the shade under the store awnings made it difficult to definitively document the details of his face, but there was no doubt that he was set on Regina Dean. His mouth twisted in an ominous sneer and his eyes seared through her with electrifying exactitude. Regina’s first thought was to be angry with the shameless derelict scrutinizing her, but the sensation of the hairs raising on her body gave her a second thought and she began backing away. Regina stumbled upon her father’s feet as he came up behind her, she was jolted, and then watched in slow motion as her $400 phone fell into a foul puddle of leftover rainwater. She quickly retrieved the phone from the water and shook it rapidly while cursing herself.

“What is it, Regina?” her father asked. Regina returned her eyes to the bold stranger, who still studied her. She tried, but failed to break the trance that the glowing eyes cast upon her.

“That man!” her voice quivered.

“What man?” her father demanded, stepping closer and leaning forward for a better look into the inconspicuous crowd of people that paraded up and down the sidewalk.

“Right there …” She pointed a shaking finger. “… He is staring at me!” she insisted.

Charlie Dean peered down the street ready to set straight any man who was making his daughter feel uneasy. Any other day Mr. Dean would have allowed the incident to pass without much thought and instructed his daughter to follow his lead, but considering the fragile state of his little girl the least he could do was ensure that she felt safe. Mr. Dean laid eyes on the shady character, but quickly returned the focus back to his daughter with a soft smirk.

“Are you joking with me, little girl?” he asked as he began to laugh.

“What?” she asked, annoyed by the fact that her father was questioning her when some freak was stalking her like jungle prey.

Regina looked back and forth between the creepy man and her father several times, growing more aggravated with each glance by the fact that her father seemed unmoved.

Regina took a few steps toward the man only to reveal that the grotesque character was not a man at all but a life-size figure of some gory horror movie villain. Seeing the statue with new eyes, Regina scolded herself for being so silly since the monster did not even look human to her anymore. Regina and her father broke into laughter.

“I’m sorry, Dad. This whole thing has just got me so wound up that I feel crazy.” Regina’s words were muffled through the hand that she had thrown up to cover her mortified face.

“I understand. It’s just good to see you smiling at least,” Mr. Dean told his daughter.

How could I have forgotten?
Regina wondered. Halloween was due in three days. With everything happening so rapidly and all of the thoughts racing through her mind, Regina forgot that a major holiday was just around the corner, a holiday that had been one of her favorites. Halloween, like most holidays were of great significance in the country, frankly, because it’s difficult to get excited about cows, chickens, corn and a two-screen movie theatre
all year around. Holidays were important and people from towns like Black Water tended to do them big.

As if a veil had been lifted, Regina quickly took to admiring the holiday spirit that infected the town. Her creepy stalker served as decoration that had been placed outside of 24/7 Dry Cleaners. Regina jumped back as a string of children sped past her yipping and laughing on their bikes, the leader of the bikers wearing a cartoon mask. Eerie-faced pumpkins loomed in several of the store windows, while the bread store had a poster in their window marketing their “killer” sale on all Halloween cakes and candies. Clark’s Antiques and Sculptures needed no decoration, for the melancholy stone angels and ornamented crucifixes that regularly dressed the windows served to be creepy enough all on their own. Maybe Black Water wasn’t going to be as awful as she had imagined. She smiled as her father placed his arm around her and she snuggled into his shoulder.

“Are you guys coming?” Regina’s mother had returned to the door of the diner to look for her husband and daughter.

“Yes, dear,” her father answered in a mocking tone.

“My phone is ruined,” Regina told her father as she held up the dripping device.

“Trick or treat,” Charlie Dean teased.

Regina and her father made their way up the cement stairs still cuddled together.

Full of oil, loaded with everything and a side of those sugar seasoned fries, Regina’s burger came just as she ordered it and she felt her jeans tightening just looking at the gluttonous meal. Exaggerated ecstasy costumed Regina’s face as she chewed one of the ketchup-dipped fries.

“This is my one food treat while I am here,” she declared to her parents before she tore into her burger like a ravenous animal.

“You trying to convince us or yourself?” her father joked. Regina tried to laugh, but her mouth was stuffed and she didn’t want to risk a mound of fresh flesh going down the wrong tube so she settled for a mocking facial expression.

“You look thin. You don’t need to be on a diet.” Her mother instructed. “I can see your collarbone. You’re not supposed to be able to see that on a person,” her mother lectured with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s not a diet, Mom; it’s a way of life,” Regina responded.

“Fine, I’m just saying a burger every once in a while never hurt anyone.”

“Nah, never hurt anyone to have a burger, but I understand where Regina’s coming from.” Her father refereed the situation with his usual charm. He patted the protrusion that fell slightly over his belt. “I need to get a new way of life so that I can get rid of this. Come Christmas time, I may be able to get some part-time work playing Santa Claus.” Charlie winked at his daughter.

“So do you want to talk about it?” her mother cut the silence, skillfully regaining control of the conversation. Her father looked at his wife wondering if he should encourage or discourage the conversation at this time.

Regina sighed through the chewed pieces of burger.

“Not really, but I guess we kind of have to at some point.” Regina responded.

“Doesn’t look like Michelle is working today so I guess we just have to work with the information we have.” Her father commented.

“We were just devastated when we heard and the worst part was having to call and tell you the news,” her mother said.

That fateful night came streaming back, Regina’s parents had called her several times after her surprise call from Nikki Valentine, but Regina lacked the strength to pick up the phone and hear the devastating words all over again. Regina had just laid in bed, curled up like a child, crying until her tears dried under the rising sun. When she was finally able to pick up one of her parents’ calls her response was robotic.

“Hello?” …

“Yes.” To the first question.

“No.” To the second question.

“There was a storm; there was trouble with the phones.” Regina fabricated the weather.

When her mother got to the reason for her call, Regina gave a weak, but truthful reply.

“I can’t believe this.” Her eyes had been dry for some time at that moment and she managed to numb her emotion just enough to make it through the day. Regina withheld the fact that she had known for hours now that the body of her long lost friend was found buried in the dirt that belonged to Glen DeFrank.

Regina forced down another bite of the burger that was now dripping oil down the corner of her mouth, she wiped her face with one of the white cloth napkins.

“Yeah it’s pretty terrible.” Regina admitted.

“We didn’t want to tell you all of the details, but hell we’re in Black Water, you can’t flush before everyone knows you took a crap around here so we thought you better hear it from us,” her mother explained.

“She was dismembered,” her mother blurted out causing that inevitable lump to catch in Regina’s throat. She struggled to cough the piece of flesh into a place where it could go down the proper tube. Fortunately, it resituated itself in a safe place with the first forceful gag. Of course, Nikki had given her this information over the phone, but the hideous detail mowed Regina down again as if she was hearing it for the first time. Regina placed down the less than half of a burger that remained on the blue ceramic plate. Scanning the room, Regina noticed that people were staring at her and she sunk back into her seat holding her hand up to her head to cover her face, hoping that would keep people from realizing that they were discussing what everyone in Black Water was discussing.

Regina took several swallows of her water before speaking.

“What do you mean?” she asked, wanting to find out if her parents had any more facts than Nikki had been able to supply. But her parents’ horrified expressions made her speak again to relieve them of the anxiety that she could see was crawling up inside
them at the thought of having to explain that sentence in any more detail.

“Never mind, I know what you mean. I…I…just don’t understand why someone would want to do that to Lola,” she said as an expression of deep thought spread across her face.

“Oh, honey, why would anyone want to do that to anyone is the question, but it happens all the time,” her father told her.

“There are just some plain ole sicko psychos out there!” her mother confirmed.

“Do they have any suspects?” Regina asked.

“Nah!” her mother spoke rashly, dismissing her daughter’s question with a prompt swipe of her hand. “Nobody around here, at least. People are thinking that it could have been some trucker going through town, attacked her and then buried her somewhere out in that massive forest that the DeFranks called an estate on his way out of town.

DeFrank

Regina thought to herself. Regina remembered the DeFrank home well yet so many of the memories remained lost in an ancient blur. She supposed that there were just some things in everyone’s past that were more vivid than others. Catherine and Don DeFrank barely held any memory in her brain anymore. Despite the fact that she and the girls were at their home every Tuesday evening for piano lessons with their seventeen-year-old-son Glen, she barely ever saw Mr. and Mrs. DeFrank. Whenever one of the girls would inquire as to the whereabouts of Mr. and Mrs. DeFrank on one of their lesson nights, they were informed that they were working, as they usually were, at the Waterford factory

Glen DeFrank began giving the girls piano lessons when they were seven years old. Glen was nice; he was funny and it didn’t hurt that he was not hard on the eyes.

Natalie Weston loved the piano; it had been she who showed initial interest in lessons and it was known that the DeFrank boy played the piano very well. A job for Glen DeFrank was hardly necessary since the DeFrank family was what most country people thought of as rich. Nice cars and a massive home were just some of
the perks of being one of the DeFranks, but they still valued hard work and when asked, thought the job of piano teacher would add to their son’s character.

Natalie informed the other girls of her new adventure and being that they had always done everything together, the girls hoped that this would be no exception and it was not. Natalie took the piano seriously and Regina discovered a natural aptitude for the instrument; with her love for music with much practice, she turned out to be a decent player, but the Tuesday night ritual became more of an entertaining weekly outing for the girls. It was a chance for them to get out of their houses on a school night, go to the DeFrank mansion and drool over Glen DeFrank for an hour. Regina remembered how much they looked forward to their Tuesday evening all week. It was thrilling that some of the other girls at Redding Elementary had even been jealous of their standing date with the tall high school senior.