Melville Hallow Part 2 by Eroyan

Mellville Hallow Part 2 a+B

By: Eroyan Barmy

During this time, when William Melville was bedridden and no one had contact with his household, a new family moved into Justine. The Moore’s were a small and tight knit family from just over the mountains. Bob Moore the head of the family had learned that Justine had no paper and intended to begin his own there. He has learned the printing trade and had picked up and moved his wife, Laurel, and there just coming to age daughter Lissa.

Lissa Moore’s arrival caused quite a stir in the town. She became the most eligible and sought after young lady of the day. It seemed that every boy of age and even younger attempted to vie for her attentions as best as they could. Being a pious young lady, she helped with Sunday school at church. It was said she was an angel, being so beautiful and thoughtful at such a young age. Many a mother prayed that she would fancy their boy almost as much as the boys did.

But Lissa was not one to fancy herself with such things. She accepted and politely visited with her callers. But as soon as she could she took to wandering the wilds around town. Even though she had heard the story of the black wolf from Benjamin Tate’s own mouth, she paid it no heed. She wandered all over the land around Justine till many a trapper and hunter considered her an equal to their own knowledge of the area.

What troubled her parents more than anything was they would sometimes catch her coming in or going out of their home very late at night. Her father had forbid her to do so as well as her mother. But somehow she would always be able to get out, even when her door was locked and her window barred. They would sometimes find her in the morning sitting before the heath drinking a cup of tea as if she had done nothing wrong.

It troubled them so badly that they sought the advice of Doctor Samuel Luke, the town’s doctor. After examining Lissa and visiting often to watch her. Doctor Luke could only conclude that she was in perfect health and that she had most likely finally decided on a suitor. Her sneaking out was merely an attempt to have time alone with the young man. As he saw no signs of abuse or any sign of cruelty or mischief he suggested they simply get her to invite her suitor over, so they might help stop the late night behavior.

They did just this but upon requesting Lissa bring over her suitor, she only looked at them curiously and would say there was no suitor. They pressed and prodded but always she denied having one. When flat out asked why she walked alone in the night, when it was most dangerous. She would only mention that there was a swallow pool that looked beautiful in the moonlight just below the Burns Creek Bridge.

For a while all was forgotten. Bob Moore was busy setting up his newspaper and printing out the first editions. Laurel Moore was busy putting together their home. Lissa Moore was still helping with Sunday school and fighting off the eager boys hoping to steal her heart. That is until the day Lissa did not show up for Sunday school. When the preacher asked the Moore’s about the absence of their daughter, they responded shocked and surprised, for she had left before they had for church.

A search was organized right then and there and the men of the town went out in search of Lissa. They found her by the swallow pool below Burns Creek Bridge. Just staring into the water, she did not speak nor resist when they turned her back to town. Doctor Luke could find nothing wrong with her physically and the preacher could not draw a word from her. Her parents fed her and changed her and when she needed to go to the bathroom she got up and went. But it was as if she was living in a daze. She was functional but just not there enough to speak.

Her parents were frantic and sent a letter to a specialist in a far off city to come look at their daughter. He would arrive a day after the full moon. Who know what might have happened. Or would things have been different, if he had arrived earlier.

Bob and Laurel Moore, sat up the night of the full moon as they had for the past two nights watching over their catatonic daughter. Exhausted in body, but more afraid for their daughter they forced themselves to remain awake. Telling each other that tomorrow the specialist would come. Their daughter would be fine then.

They fed Lissa that evening and she ate well, then getting her into her bed clothes they laid her down for the night. Taking up their places in the downstairs living room they waited for the dawn. It wasn’t long after that Laurel Moore looked up and there was Lissa coming down the stairs. She nudged Bob and pointed for she could not speak, she saw something strange in her daughter’s eyes.

Bob stood up and walked to Lissa just as she reached the front door, and started to open it. Bob gently closed it and said a few words to his daughter about now was not the time to go out and with little difficulty led her back upstairs to her room. He returned in a few moments and rejoined his wife in the living room.

Both discussed this odd event for a good while. Lissa had not tired to leave the house since they found her at the pool that Sunday. Laurel was more fearful than ever and mentioned the look on her daughters face. Bob having not seen it was concerned but assured his wife that it was probably just the stress of all they had been through.

They talked more about how better their daughter would be when the specialist comes. They just had to be strong for a while longer. It would not be long now for the moon was full in the sky lighting up the darkness with its silvery light. Husband and Wife talked well into the evening about their concerns and love for their child, neither realized, staying up so long as they had their bodies could only stay awake for so long.

Somewhere between two and three in the morning, Bob Moore awoke with a start for he was cold. The fire had died low in the hearth and he realized he had been sleeping. He looked over to his wife and found her asleep as well with the bible in her lap. He wondered at the cold and looked up to see the front door wide open.

** End Part 2-a

Crying out and causing his wife to jump awake with a start, he ran upstairs and burst into Lissa’s room to find and empty bed. Laurel was soon behind him and they both looked at each other fearful not sure how long they had been asleep. Bob grabbed his coat as they ran back downstairs and picked up his rifle. His wife was frantic and he promised to bring her back, in the meantime she was to fetch the sheriff and the doctor and wait for him here. With that he was out the door and into the night.

Laurel Moore ran to Doctor Luke’s and beat on the door till she had woken up not only the Doctor but one of his neighbors as well. Though a bit upset at being woken at such an early hour, when he learned the reason he dressed quickly and grabbed his medical bag, as the Doctor’s wife tried to console Mrs. Moore. The Doctor’s neighbor also got dressed and got his firearm and all three went to the Sherriff’s home.

They awoke the Sherriff and he told Mrs. Moore and the Doc, to return to the Moore house as they went out to find Lissa and her husband Bob. Reluctantly Mrs. Moore was lead back home by Doctor Luke, as the Sherriff, Doctor Luke’s neighbor and eventually two of his deputies hurried towards the church.

The most obvious place to look first was the pool below Burns Creek Bridge; they hoped to find Bob somewhere close by if Lissa wasn’t there. They hurried out of Justine as fast as they could go on foot; Bob had a good half hour head start on them. There was no telling how far ahead Lissa was. Thank goodness it was a full moon or they would have had a hard time following the trail to the bridge.

The Sherriff’s little band, found Bob’s coat about halfway to the bridge, he must me running like they were and shed it to keep cool. They paused only a moment and ran faster with the knowledge that Bob was thinking like they were. That Lissa was at the pool.

The night was pierced by the sound of a musket being fired. The Sherriff’s party paused again, and then the night was pierced again by a scream that rang and echoed around them. It sent chills down their spines but steeling themselves they ran as hard as they could. The bridge was just around the bend it wouldn’t be long now.

As the Sherriff and his little band rounded the bend what they saw made the night turn into confusion. Doctor Luke’s neighbor dropped his gun and ran screaming back to town. One of the deputies cried out and fired without thinking at what was before them. This caused the other deputy to grab him to keep him from pulling his pistol and shooting more. The Sherriff stood eyes wide and mouth agape at the sight. Before them was Lissa standing calmly drinking what could only be described as the blood of her father as a creature of immense size stood before her. It was knelt on one knee as it was described later, and still came to her head height. It was holding up the body of Bob Moore and had his arm toward Lissa’s lips as the blood ran down it into her mouth. She drank and the look on her face was one of satisfaction and as the Sherriff described it love.

The deputy’s shot made the creature look at them and snarl in a wet guttural croak. Its mouth was huge and it appeared to have no neck. Its skin shimmered and glistened in the moonlight. Its bulbous dark eyes swiveled white pupils towards them. It dropped Bob and stood up towering over Lissa. It took one step towards the party but then Lissa’s put her hand into the creature and it turned back toward her.

Nothing was said out loud but some sort of communication was spoken between the two. It turned and picked her up in its arms, which caused the Sherriff to shout to stop or it would be shot. It ignored them and went to the edge of the bridge. The Sherriff pulled his pistol but in that moment the creature jumped off the bridge with Lissa and they heard them hit the water.

It took them a few minutes before they were able to steel themselves to approach the bridge. They carefully moved around Bob Moore’s broken body and looked over the edge of the bridge into the pool below it. The water was calm and there were no tracks leaving it. The pool was only a few feet deep there was no way that the creature and Lissa could have left it without leaving tracks. But there were none. It was as if the water swallowed them whole and just took them.

They returned with Bob’s body as the sun rose over Justine. They were met by Laurel Moore and Doctor Luke, the neighbor had regained his senses and was coming with them as well. The funeral for Bob Moore was held that day by the preacher it was the last time Laurel Moore was ever considered well. She took the loss of her husband and daughter very badly. She wouldn’t eat or drink unless made too, and would only talk about the look on her daughters face that evening. One of bliss as if someone was getting married.

The women of Justine took turns watching over her, and she got regular visits from Doctor Luke and the preacher. Both got a lot of help with suggestions on her condition from the specialist that did arrive right on time, after the full moon. Mrs. Moore was the pity of the entire town for three months. Everyone doing their part to try and help her in any way they could. During this time the Sherriff himself set up parties to guard the bridge the entire time and word was sent out should someone happen to see Lissa.

Four months to the day, the morning after the full moon, Mrs. Moore was missing from her home. The woman in charge that night had unlocked her bedroom door and found the window forced open. The entire town searched for Mrs. Moore but all they found was her night gown. She just disappeared and evidently in her poor condition walked off naked into the night, and died of exposure in the wilderness.

That’s what they tell people who ask. What they don’t share is this and only a few people know it. The window to her bedroom that was forced open was forced open from the outside, and the place they found her night gown… Well as you might have guess, they found it on the Burns Creek Bridge. What they don’t tell people is when they found it, it was folded neatly and there were a few shimmering scales lying on top.