Lisa and Adam went closer to Delron and listened to him with wrapt attention! Lisa felt sort of scared of what he may have unearthed, but she sincerely hoped that he would divulge a tidbit that would aid them in solving this problem dilemma indefinitely! Delron took a deep breath, and then he narrated, “Rebecca was a young bride to an older man, and she soon found herself to be a widow. A few years later, she married a wealthy business owner, and after about five years of marriage, he died too. She inherited his land, and shortly following that, she was wed to a lumber mill worker. Melas erupted in gossip over her relationships, and the rumor was that she played a sinister role in how things ended…”
Folding her arms, Lisa pouted, “You’re not gonna get me to feel sorry for her just ‘cause our experiences are similar! She may not have been a witch then, but with how many people she’s hurt, she certainly qualifies as one now!”
“Certainly…” Evidently, Delron hadn’t made that connection, and this abrupt comparison threw him off a bit! He cleared his throat and then went on, “They used those scandalous reports against her at the trial. Apparently, her second husband was quite abusive, and they were often seen arguing together in public. This was very unusual for that era since wives were expected to have complete obedience to their husbands.”
“Nope! Still don’t feel sorry for her!” Lisa stubbornly insisted, though really, she needed to convince herself of this more than anything!
Delron continued, “Ruth Williams along with her two best friends, Susanna Booth and Betty Warren, accused Rebecca of using a love spell against Edmund Rook because they didn’t view her worthy of capturing his heart on her own.”
Adam observed, “It sounds like they were just jealous that she got the town squeeze and not them!”
“Most likely,” Delron concurred. “But, in addition to using a dark enchantment to get his affection, they also swore they spotted her flying through the air! They even claimed that she forced them to sign the devil’s book before they suddenly erupted into fits in the courtroom! They weren’t the only accusers though. Some construction workers said they found voodoo dolls in her barn, and then several witnesses alleged that they found their missing items in her home even though she hadn’t actually set foot onto their property. It was all petty stuff like eggs and candles- stuff that she might have had at her house anyways…”
“Gosh, it really does sound like she was completely innocent! I could see why she would harbor such a venomous rage over this!” Lisa didn’t like admitting it, but Rebecca’s backstory was truly tragic! She pitied her plight, but she felt guilty for doing so since she didn’t want to justify the monstrous actions she was taking as a ghost!
Adam responded to Delron’s revelation quizzically, “This is interesting and all, but how is this gonna help us stop her?”
Delron explained, “You never know! Besides, I haven’t finished yet! The article described her getting hung at Guardian’s Ledge, but no one is positive where that is exactly. We do have one clue, however! Edmund Rook was seen on a boat rowing her body to the graveyard. He wasn’t allowed to put her tombstone in the Blackthorn lot, so she’s likely mixed in with the other victims of the witchcraft era.”
“Did you say Blackthorn?” Adam reacted in surprise. “So, the land she inherited was Blackthorn Orchard?”
“No wonder everyone thinks it’s haunted- it probably is!” Lisa contemplated this statement, and then she furrowed her brows. “But if Rebecca’s spirit got trapped in the Proctor’s Bible, how could she haunt the orchard too?”
Delron shrugged. “Perhaps other inhabitants took residence there in the afterlife. George’s first wife died young too, so it could be her.”
Adam remarked, “Maybe we can find something of Rebecca’s at the orchard! It hasn’t been lived in for ages, so maybe some of her belongings are still there!”
“Maybe, but we’re literally right next door to that graveyard…” Delron indicated to the window behind him. “Any of her most precious possessions would presumably have been put in her casket, but it’s still worth a look! You two could take a quick peek while I do the book drop, but you’ll have to hurry ‘cause Melanie’s delivery probably won’t take long!”
“You wanna do it?” Adam inquired to Lisa.
Lisa was ready to tell him no until he articulated that! She did not want to spend any alone time with a person whom she suspected of only acting kindly towards her so he could gain intelligence on her activities for her rivals, but when he used that precise phrasing, she couldn’t resist replying, “Yes, of course!”
Adam grinned. “Alright! Let’s get moving!” Lisa found herself blushing as he opened the backdoor for her, and she prayed that he didn’t catch her reddened cheeks!
As the two of them walked over to the cemetery, she gazed at the rows of old graves, and she realized what an awful idea this had been! She would become totally isolated with someone who may have been working on behalf of bad actors, and she admonished herself for getting into such a potentially precarious situation! Right when she started thinking of excuses to turn back, her phone chimed. She assumed it was Lydia again trying to check on her, but her insides twisted when she saw who had contacted her! “Ugh, no!”
“What’s wrong?” Adam asked her.
“My stupid ex texted me!” Lisa answered. “He’s all like, ‘Hey, babe! What are you up to?’ He’s acting like nothing happened between us! I wouldn’t wanna talk to any guy who cheated on me a month after we split, but I especially don’t wanna talk to him after the lies he spread about me! That asshole thinks I’ll chat with him? Nuh-uh! Blocked!” She pushed the option to bar him from communicating with her.
Lisa traveled with steam in her step, and while she fumed, she predicted that Adam would offer some condolences before using this window she opened up to pry into more details regarding their relationship. It bewildered her completely when instead, Adam stated, “I never liked him!”
Blinking in confusion, Lisa puzzled, “Huh?”
“Tommy Dane,” Adam clarified. “His music is mediocre at best, and everyone acts like he’s the greatest thing to happen to rock since the Beatles! He’s hackey, and he puts on this big show of humility for his fans! He’s so fake! I could see it in his eyes- he’s really just an arrogant jerk! He doesn’t deserve the fame he’s earned!” As much as Lisa despised her previous flame now, some of her past instincts wanted to resurface! She shoved them back down the instant they arose though because she recognized the accuracy of his accusation! She couldn’t deny that his songs weren’t that great, and with how he treated her once she left, she couldn’t fight the notion of his ignoble character either! This recognition caused sadness to overwhelm her- how could she have wasted three solid years with that jerk? “What on earth did you see in him?” Adam probed.
“I thought I saw the real him,” Lisa told him. “When we first met, I was alone in a coffee shop trying to cheer myself up from a hard day, and this dude with a baseball cap and sunglasses sat by me and began a conversation. He seemed so nice and empathetic, so I agreed to go on a date with him. When he eventually revealed his true identity, I didn’t believe him at first! Soon, I decided what he did on stage was simply a persona he developed to sell tickets, and I stuck with him ‘cause I figured he needed someone normal to come home to. We always had to disguise ourselves when we went out, but when we were by ourselves, we were a typical couple! He went out of the city a lot, but I didn’t think too much of it since that’s the nature of the entertainment industry. If I had any inkling that his real self was at all terrible, I wouldn’t have stayed!”
Adam paused his gait, and he affirmed, “I’m glad you cut ties with that prick! You deserve better!” Lisa felt touched by his sentiments, and the intense stare he gave her drew her closer to him! His lips were so inviting, and although her doubts about his character wanted her to pull away, the desire to get even closer to him strengthened… “She’s gotta be around this area!”
His sentence addled her brain! For a moment, she feared he had come out to meet another girl! She definitely wanted for that to prove incorrect, so she petitioned him, “Who?”
“Rebecca Rook… Remember…?” Adam attempted to jog her memory. Lisa glanced around and got startled to observe that they had reached the innermost section of the graveyard! She got so wrapped up in her romantic drama that she hadn’t paid attention to where they went! She felt foolish for this bout of ineptitude, and Adam sympathetically chuckled, “It really was a long night for you, wasn’t it? Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“I’ll be fine!” Lisa reassured him as well as herself. She cast that topic out of her mind and catechized, “What makes you think that her tombstone is around here?”
Adam gestured towards the top of a grave as he filled her in, “Those are death heads! Puritans weren’t supposed to put religious symbols on their tombs, so they used these instead. They taught that in Melas High School- I’m shocked I still had that in my memories!”
Lisa kidded, “Delron and his husband would be so proud!” Adam cracked a grin, and Lisa tittered prior to shifting her mood back to serious. “Let’s see what her final resting place tells us!”
They slowly made their way down the aisle of witchcraft era graves, and she espied a few names that she vaguely recollected from academic courses, but none of them mattered for their mission. After a minute, an intuitive hint formed within her that they were getting nearer! She felt as though they were being watched, and goosebumps formed all over her exposed skin! She grew colder, and despair overwhelmed her! These sensations heightened more and more until, all of a sudden, her limbs froze! Without peering at which tombstone she halted at, Lisa firmly proclaimed, “She’s here!”
Adam swiveled his head to the sepulcher, and he confirmed, “Yeah, it’s her… her…”
He abruptly became tongue-tied, and he massaged his throat as if he endeavored to coax the words out! “Adam, are you-?”
Her utterance got interrupted when an eerie glow enveloped them! They floated above the grassy terrain, and then Rebecca appeared! “You shall interfere with my plans no longer!” Lisa wanted to scream for someone to race to their rescue, but she couldn’t move a muscle! Their entrapment began to warm up, and Lisa knew they were about to get killed in a tortuous manner! She shut her eyes to avoid beholding her own demise, but then she flicked them wide open! She wasn’t about to perish cowering in fear like that evil essence wanted- if she was hellbent on murdering them, she would have to take in her orbs of sight! The same ones of her ancestor that sent Rebecca to her doom…
Unanticipatedly, Hester’s form manifested between Rebecca and her victims! The force that propped them into their lofty position vanished, and Rebecca ogled at the feline fearfully preceding her disappearance! Lisa and Adam returned to the floor, and Lisa rather weakly expressed, “Hester! You saved us!”
Hester mewed at them cheerily, and Adam commented, “Huh! I thought witches liked familiars!” He laughed, but prior to Lisa having the ability to do the same, everything went dark and she plummeted to the ground!
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