Mercy Abbott - The Kiss of Death

The Endgame

" I promise I will bring it back...."

" Let me come with you then..."

" They won't do me no harm..."

"Look out!!" I cried as I opened my eyes and realised that I was dreaming.

"What in the world!" I said to myself wiping my face.It was a terrible dream, I saw her arguing with the bandits and one of them pushed her off a cliff, I tried to grab her arm but she fell screaming into the dark abyss.I looked at my watch it was almost three in the morning- a few minutes of sleep did me no good. I was worried about her perhaps more than the diary, more than anything else in the world I wanted her to be safe, to come back to me.I decided that I had to do something but I had no idea what- should I wait for her or go out looking for her?

The room was still dark and I had no spare candles but the moonlight fell through the window on the table and my eyes fell upon the peculiar map as I noticed that something was glowing on the map, a dim green glow. I reached out and opened the map. To my amazement the entire map was filled with random glowing dots which lit even brighter as the moonlight intensified. I was awestruck and took the map closer to the window and let the moonlight fall directly on the map. It was a series of dots from the southern part of the map leading all the way upto a certain point on the north east part of the map. The final point was shaped like an island!

"Well I'll be damned.... this is what the Yorks are after...the location of the secret island of Croatoan..."

I remarked trying hard to put together the facts. But why is it glowing green?How did Mr. White incorporate glowing substances into the map? I scratched my head as I stood beside the window which was pouring bright moonlight onto the map. But then I suddenly felt upset.I gave her the diary without the map and that made me feel uncomfortable. If the bandits knew about the map and asked her about it, she would have no idea what to tell them. I felt sorry for her but I had to get to her before anything bad happened.

The map was John White's most accurate description of his last findings . Apparently he never took the diary back with him to England, maybe he was forced to hide it here in America. I hadn't had the time to read his diary but I bet that both the map and the diary together would lead to Croatoan. I went through the map again, this time the illuminated dots made the landscape clearer.

It was a map within a map! For instance Old pike road, which previously seemed to end at a narrow crossing by the river was actually a longer stretch of road which went north, straight towards where the tavern was supposed to be.And so were other spots I thought were accurate but the glowing stuff pointed out a different map altogether.

Suddenly i recognised something familiar in the pattern of the glowing spots. I tried to join together all the points in the map as I held it out into the moonlight with my arms stretched.It looked familiar...like a bow, like a belt...I tried to recollect images in my mind of the pattern- I have seen it somewhere. My eyes went up into the direction of the sky- towards the stars-and I then it struck me. The glowing pattern on the map was an exact replica of the stars - the constellation of Orion- the hunter! I stood there for a moment and tried to make sense of it all. The constellation in the sky was now shining brightly in the east , where the eagle mountains were supposed to be in the map...

With all this mystery and secrecy inside one three hundred year old map, what else could it be hiding and what other mysteries lay ahead - perhaps the legends about the island were true?

It was almost dawn now and I heard the sound of hooves approaching- I quickly folded the map and put it inside my pocket. I was relieved as I saw a familiar figure approaching on my horse. She came back! I was overjoyed and ran outside to welcome her. But I hesitated as I noticed five other men on horses following her. They all stopped a few feet in front of me. As they got off their rides, a grizzly looking man took out his gun,pointed at me and said-

"You're one lucky son of a gun you know..."

"Who are you?" I asked in a commanding voice.

The man smiled through his tobacco stained teeth, spat on the ground and came towards me rolling his Colt in his fingers-

"I am the one who put this girl to spy on you...and I am the one who knows about the map and the diary...and I will be the reason you die today if I don't get what I want..."

Those words struck me like thunder, she worked for these York bandits? I was starting to like her...

The man pulled her by the arms as the rest of the crew giggled me mischievously -

" Tell him ... tell him the truth...and ask him for the map..."

She was shaken with fear and guilt and said-

" I am sorry Michael... please give him what he wants..."

I held her in my arms and wiped her tears and told the bandits to go to hell. But the leader giggled and pointed his gun on me and said-

" Even John White's ghost can't stop me from getting what I want...I was being polite but ..."

*Bang*

He fired, but she stood in front of me and the bullet hit her left shoulder.I couldn't believe my eyes as I held the collapding girl in my arms soaked in blood. I cursed the bandits and tried to take her into the house to help her. She was semi conscious- asking for my forgiveness. The leader stood in front of me and demanded the map again. I hastily took out the map from my jacket pocket with my blood-soaked hand and gave it to him. They all broke into laughter and prepared to ride off while I held the poor girl in my arms and picked her up. She was light like a feather, her beautiful face had gone pale, her long hair was untied and flowed down to my feet, her white dress stained in crimson red. I had to stop the bleeding somehow...

Suddenly it became all windy, the horses began to whine and jump as if some unseen force spooked then. The gang tried to calm them but it didn't work, one of the men caught his leg in the saddle and was dragged away by his horse! The others watched in awe as the winds grew stronger and dust and leaves flew everywhere. The leader held on to his map and asked his men to take cover inside the house. I quickly rushed in and placed her on my couch and locked all the doors and windows. The men rushed in as the winds grew stronger and they yelled at me to open the door and threatened with their guns. They tried to firce the door open but I put my back against it with all my strength. They kept banging and yelling, the leader even smashed the window glass to pieces, but I held on to the door - I pushed back so hard that I thought I had passed out for what happened next was beyond my comprehension-

As I held on to the door I saw a white light through the cracks of the door, it seemed to get brighter and drawing closer.The men outside were yelling and screaming frantically as if something was out to get them- I heard a few gunshots- but I couldn't be sure because of the howling wind.It was so chaotic outside, I fell the entire room was shaking, I closed my eyes and pushed back till at the door as hard as I could and a few moments later- Nothing!!

I found myself passed out on my writing desk with the open map on my hand. There was nobody, no bandits nor the girl.I raised my head and looked at my watch it was four in the morning- the candle had burned out and I could see the faint glow of the morning sky through the window. I looked around and found the bloodstained couch but I couldn't find her- the door was cracked a bit and the broken window panes were on the floor. I was shocked!!

Was I dreaming?

But it couldn't be a dream for there was evidence of what had occurred.For instance- the empty bullet shells, the foot prints on the ground...

But where's everybody?

I strolled across the front porch like a mad man.It seemed as though I skipped an hour of my life.I didn't know what to think! Then I saw her standing besides a rock staring at the open sky above. She seemed to be in trance. I ran towards her and hugged her. Her blood stained dress slowly turn back to normal. She seemed calm and peaceful and everything around me seemed to br simply turning back to normal again. I looked towards the sky, I could still see the constellation slowly fading out in the sunlit sky.

Who or what helped us? What happened in the past hour of my life? I still think it was just a dream.