The House Ch. 07

Minerva's eyes flew open, the feeling of anxiety that she had experienced was back and was much worse. The voices were now demanding that she come to the woods now and leave "the man" where he was because he would know where she went and that was just fine. All of the voices were clamoring in her head at the same time but there was a new one and this one identified himself.

"My name is Aaron Richards; I am lord of the house and woods."

Even with the racket going on in her head, Minerva recognized the name and began to think that she had really gone crazy but there was more to what he said.

"You are to ignore all voices with the exception of mine, Dwight's and Sadie's. Go to sleep now."

She did fall asleep in Dwight's arms before he had the chance to return the favor of making love to her. Minerva realized right before she fell asleep, that the voices were gone and while she slept she didn't hear them either but now they were back with the addition of one.

"How am I supposed ignore all of the voices except for one?" she murmured to herself.

"Minerva? Are you in pain again?" Dwight asked sleepily.

"No but...."

"Don't tell..." A voice, the woman's said softly but firmly.

"But what?" Dwight asked.

Minerva hesitated and tried to speak again.

"Dwight, I...."

"Do not tell him!" Another voice demanded. This time it was a male who spoke.

Dwight sat up when he saw how anxious Minerva was.

"Minerva, sweetheart, look at me." Dwight said.

Minerva looked at him helplessly and then whispered, "The voices, they won't stop."

"What voices?" Dwight asked concerned.

"Say no more!" the woman's voice demanded.

Minerva put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes, "Shut the hell up!" she moaned.

Dwight took her into his arms, held her and began talking to her about everything and anything; she wouldn't be able to tell him anything until she had calmed down so there was no point in asking her about the voices.

Minerva drifted back into an uneasy sleep to the sound of Dwight's voice.

******

Aaron stood in front of Wilcox who had finally backed up a step only to be pursued by Aaron. Wilcox looked around frantically for some support but got none. Aaron saw that he was about to disappear but stopped him.

"You will stay where you are as will the rest of you."

The remaining spirits tried to vanish after Aaron gave his order and became panicked when they couldn't. Millicent looked over a Sadie, her eyes filled with regret and pity but mostly anger.

"You are supposed to be my friend." she hissed at Sadie.

"I am your friend but you've turned your back on all that is good. Look at what you did and what you doing now, what did Mr. Aaron's woman do to you that you want to help these men? Millie, what happened to you?" Sadie asked.

"He loves her and she is in our way."

"I don understand." Sadie said but was beginning to.

"You could help us you know." Millicent said, "Just imagine being able to.... Never mind, you're too goody-two shoes for that. You've always been too afraid to break the rules even if it's for the good, look at you, even now you could tell him what he needs to know but you won't and do you know why? It's because you're too afraid of what the higher ups will think of you. You like knowing that they think that you are so perfect because you swallow whatever they tell you without question and you follow the rules and obey like the good little soldier."

"Be able to do what?" Sadie asked ignoring the obvious jibes for the time being.

"Never you mind but if I were you, I'd start looking for another place to live." Millicent replied.

Sadie stared at her, "Millie, what are you doing?"

*******

Minerva stirred in Dwight's arms, the voices for the moment quiet. Now was her chance.

"Dwight, we have to leave, we have to go back to the house! Don't ask me why because I don't know but we have to go now!"

"Minerva...."

"Now! Please we have to go." Minerva insisted as she sat up and tried to get out of bed.

Dwight held her in place even though she struggled to get away.

"Let me go!" Minerva said as she fought against him.

"Minerva, calm down and talk to me." Dwight said not letting her go.

He was alarmed, the woman that he was holding wasn't the calm assured woman who had spent the day alone and hurt in the woods, and she mentioned something about hearing voices. Maybe she wasn't as strong as he thought she was but he really didn't believe that. Something had her frightened and they weren't going anywhere until she told him what it was.

Minerva forced herself to take a deep breath and to calm down. The voices were still quiet so Minerva spoke quickly.

"We're not safe here, there's something in the woods that wants me, us to come back. I know that I'm not making sense but the house, we have to go there."

"But that's close to the woods." Dwight said and then hesitated; sometimes the safest place to be was close to the enemy. "These voices, what are they telling you?" he asked.

"You believe me?" Minerva asked relieved not answering the question.

"I believe you." Dwight said, "But can't we wait until morning?"

"NO! Now, I don't know or understand why but we have to get to the house before it's too late." Minerva said once again trying to get away from Dwight.

"What are the voices saying to you?" Dwight asked again.

"What difference does it make? They want me to go back to the fucking woods! Now take me to the house or I'll walk!" Minerva replied.

Reluctantly, Dwight helped Minerva dress and then helped her to the car. As he helped her into the car, he heard a soft, seductive voice in his head.

"Bring her here to us."

Dwight shook his head as if he was trying to clear it and closed the car door. As he walked to the driver's side, he heard the voice again.

"Bring her now even if you have to drag her here." the voice said.

******

Aaron stood in front of Wilcox who had finally figured out that he wasn't going to get away. He stopped moving and stood at his full five foot eleven inch height, puffed out his chest and waited for Aaron to speak. Instead, Aaron went to the next spirit in line doing this until he came face to face with Millicent.

"What do you want with my Minerva?" he asked placing the emphasis on the word 'my'.

"Me? Nothing." she replied coquettishly.

"I don't believe you." Aaron said. "I will ask you once again, what do you want with my Minerva?"

As he waited for an answer, Aaron realized that Wilcox wasn't the force behind this, someone else was and that being or spirit wasn't here. That they hadn't responded to his demand that they show themselves told him that whoever or whatever it was had to be quite powerful and that it was he or it that wanted Minerva. He also believed that Sadie had no knowledge of this entity, if she did, she would have found a way to tell him just as she had found a way to answer his questions without compromising herself. He also believed that Millicent was a key player and not just a trouble maker as he and Sadie had assumed.

"Fuck!" he murmured under his breath as he remembered Sadie trying to get him to ask her some questions.

"Isn't there anything else you want to ask me?" she had asked and he had impatiently dismissed her. He looked around at the group surrounding him and commanded them to stay.

Sadie watched Aaron anxiously as he approached her.

"Sadie, you were trying to get me to ask you something, was it about their plan?"

"Yessir."

"Does it have something to do with their spell?" Aaron asked.

"Yessir." Sadie replied relieved.

"Do you know what the spell is?"

"Yessir."

Now Aaron was at a loss, he didn't know what questions to ask. He knew nothing about witchcraft and he sensed that valuable time was being lost.

"This spell, will it hurt Minerva?"

"Y...Yessir and maybe not, I'm not sure." Sadie stammered.

"Just what in the hell does that mean?" Aaron roared his patience at an end and his temper flared. The moment that happened, the spirits under his command vanished.

Aaron turned around in time to see the last of the spirits vanish.

"What the fuck?" he asked as he watched Millicent vanish.

"Sadie, what in the fuck just happened?" he yelled as he looked at the place where the spirits had just been.

Sadie didn't answer him but gave him a sympathetic look.

"Can I still talk to Minerva?" he asked.

"Yessir but so can they." Sadie replied. "They can talk to the man too." she added.

Aaron walked around the sight trying to think of what he needed to do. Sadie hadn't missed the look of triumph on Millicent's face as she vanished, she knew that Sadie wouldn't tell Aaron what he needed to know and knew that as long as Aaron was out of control, they were safe.

Sadie began to reconsider her decision to follow the rules realizing that to some degree, Millicent was right about her, she did like the feeling of being thought of as being perfect but she also hated breaking the rules. She was also realizing that if she didn't tell Aaron at least some of what he needed to know and if he didn't put everything together, life for everyone in the woods would be a living hell but more importantly, Minerva would have to live a life of abuse mental and physical while Aaron would be....

She made a decision and only hoped that those above her would understand and not be too harsh with her.

"Mr. Aaron..."

"If you're going to tell me again how you can't help me but you want to, then I don't want to hear it. Leave me alone and let me think." Aaron said shortly.

"Mr. Aaron, think about somethin, think bout what just happened. When you was calm and all, you had control but then you got mad and...."

"I lost control of everything." Aaron finished for her. "I have to learn how to control my emotions don't I?" he asked.

"Yessir." Sadie said.

"There's more but you've already put yourself at risk by telling me what you just did." Aaron said.

"I didn't tell you anything." Sadie said happily as she realized that she really hadn't. All she did was point him in the right direction.

"Thank you." Aaron said with a slight incline of his head.

******

The voices in Dwight's head had gone silent for a few minutes giving him time to recollect himself. Whatever happened, he couldn't and wouldn't take Minerva back to the woods. As he drove as fast as he safely could, he stole glances at Minerva and wondered why she couldn't have come into his life either much earlier or much later than she did. He finally admitted to himself that he had fallen in love with her. The fact that they hadn't known each other for very long was immaterial as far as he was concerned, the fact that he had two children and a bitch of an ex-wife was the only issue as far as he was concerned.

Dwight had just turned onto Minerva's road when the female voice spoke again.

"Dwight, bring her here to us. We can help you keep her safe."

"No." Dwight whispered.

"Dwight? Are you alright?" Minerva asked becoming alarmed when he didn't answer her. "Dwight!" Minerva called.

"Bring her to us; you know that we can help you." The voice soothed. "Aaron means to harm her." the voice added.

Dwight frowned, Aaron?

"Aaron Richards, the one who owned the house and the woods." The voice said in response to Dwight's unspoken question. "He wants Minerva and plans to harm her. Bring her to us and we will keep both of you safe."

Although he knew that the voice was lying, Dwight couldn't help himself; he drove past Minerva's driveway and headed to the little used access road to the woods.

"Dwight? Where are we going?" Minerva asked.

"Somewhere safe where Aaron can't hurt you." Dwight replied.

"Dwight, listen to me." Minerva said urgently missing the mention of Aaron's name. "The voices, they're lying to you. They want to hurt us, turn around and go back to the house; they can't get us once we're inside."

Dwight kept driving and then stopped the car. He covered his ears with his hands in an attempt to quiet the voices that had now joined the woman's.

"Bring her to us, let us help you." They repeated over and over.

*****

Aaron digested the piece of information that Sadie had found a way to give him. He was already beginning to understand a few things but hadn't been sure of what they meant. Everything was dependent on his emotions and his ability to control them; he had to take total control of these woods as he should have decades ago. If he had, Minerva and now Dwight wouldn't be in danger but now wasn't the time for berating himself Aaron realized. The priority right now was Minerva and Dwight's safety, Just as he was about to call the spirits back to him, the confederate soldier Henry appeared in front of him.

"Sir, they're back!" Henry said excitedly.

"Whose back?" Aaron asked.

"The man and the woman, they're in one of those car things." Henry replied.

"Shit!" Aaron swore. "What are they doing?" he asked.

"Talkin', it seems like the woman is tryin' to get him to leave."

Aaron cursed again as he thought about his options; they couldn't come into these woods.

"Henry, go back and keep track of them and do whatever you can to keep them out of the woods, do you understand?" Aaron asked.

"Yessir!" Henry replied with a salute.

When he was gone, Aaron went back to pacing. If he was going to call the spirits back to him, he needed a plan. They had to be banished at the same time but to different places, he wondered if there was a place specifically for witches where their powers would be useless; Sadie would know the answer to that.

"Sadie, where does one of your kind go when they are punished?" Aaron asked.

"There are several places but you can't send her there, only the witch elders can." Sadie replied.

"Is there any place that I can send her where she can't escape?" Aaron asked.

"You can banish her like you can any other spirit but she will still maintain her powers."

"So the best choice is to go through your elders." Aaron said.

"Yessir, they can send her to a place where she can't cause trouble." Sadie replied.

"How does that happen?"

"Sir?" Sadie asked not quite understanding the question.

"What do your elders need in order for them to send her away?" Aaron asked.

"Proof, it would be best if they saw her but the word of another witch might do." Sadie replied already knowing what Aaron's next command was.

"Go talk to them, tell them what's happening, tell them that Aaron Richards lord of the woods wants to speak with them and that no is not an option."

Sadie smiled as she gave a curtsy, "finally." she thought as she vanished.

******

The voices were back in both Minerva's and Dwight's head. In Dwight's head they were becoming more insistent in telling him to bring Minerva to them; in Minerva's head they were telling her that Dwight was going to hurt her.

"Get out and run to us, we can keep you safe from him and Aaron." the woman's voice said. "Come Minerva, let us help you."

Minerva tried to fight the voices in her head, she looked over at Dwight who was fighting just as hard as she was and like her failing miserably.

"Dwight, we've got to get to the house!" Minerva screamed.

"The house isn't safe." The female voice said to both of them. "Aaron is there and will hurt you, the woods is the only safe place for you."

Dwight took Minerva by the hands and gave them a hard almost painful squeeze which Minerva returned with a squeeze of her own.

"Minerva, listen to me." Dwight said. "I'm going to get out of the car and start running, I want you to move over and drive the car to the house and get inside. I'll meet you there."

"Dwight, that's craziness! Just drive the fucking car to the house and we'll both be safe!" Minerva said.

"I'm going to draw them away from you...."

"It won't work; they can talk to both of us at the same time, DRIVE! Minerva screamed as the voices strengthened their attack on her.

"Becky and Joe." a soft voice whispered in Dwight's head.

Dwight froze at the unspoken threat contained in the mentioning of the names of his children.

"Dwight!" Minerva called to him, "Drive damn it!"

"Minerva, I'm sorry." Dwight said as he put the car in gear and drove into the woods.

Henry stood by watching helplessly, he had done everything he could think of to attract their attention but they were so intent on talking that they paid him no attention. Not knowing what else to do, Henry vanished and then appeared on the roof of the car, at least he would be able to report their whereabouts.

Dwight drove deeper into the woods still trying to figure a way out but the bottom line was he realized, his children. It also told him something else, no matter how he felt about Minerva, the kids would always come first, he couldn't and wouldn't take the chance that Beth would stop him from seeing them. He and Minerva would talk about that later but now the issue was how to get the both of them out of this mess in one piece and mentally intact.

Minerva realized with mounting horror that Dwight was taking her to whomever it was that was talking to them, she also realized that if she didn't do something that the both of them would never leave the woods. There would be search parties of that she was certain but she was just as certain that they would never be found.

"Dwight, please find a place to turn around and let's go to the house." she said as calmly as she could.

Dwight acted as though he didn't hear her and kept driving. Minerva toyed with the idea of jumping out of the car but quickly changed her mind. It was dark and she could easily break another bone and then she'd be really stuck. No, she had to stay in the car and try to figure something else out, she could only hope that there were no plans to kill her right away.

******

While Sadie was gone, Aaron turned his attention to Dwight.

"Dwight, I am Aaron Richards lord of the house and these woods. I command you to obey me and no one else!" He waited a moment and then repeated the command. He felt Dwight's confusion but didn't sense fear making Aaron respect him even more than he already did.

"Stop the vehicle now!" Aaron commanded and then realized that he had no way of knowing whether Dwight had complied with his order or not.

"Dwight, did you hear me?" Aaron asked out loud and waited for a response.

******

Dwight stopped the car and looked at Minerva. The voices had been screaming at him but then there was a new voice, Aaron's. For reasons that he didn't understand, Dwight trusted Aaron's voice, maybe because he heard and understood the command and that it was one commander recognizing another but whatever the reason he was grateful for it. The other voices continued to scream at him to bring Minerva to them but he found it easier to resist.

Minerva breathed a sigh of relief, they were still in trouble but at least Dwight had stopped the car.

"Minerva! Come to us now!" all of the voices said at one time.

Before she could stop herself and before Dwight realized what was happening, Minerva was out of the car and hobbling away as fast as she could.

"Minerva!" Dwight called as he got out of the car to go after her. He took off in the direction in which she had gone calling her name as he ran. He could hear her just in front of him but it was so dark that he couldn't go as fast as he wanted to but then neither could she.

"Minerva! Stop running!" Dwight called out.

Dwight heard Minerva cry out as she fell buying him time to catch up. By the time he got to the spot where he was sure she had fallen, she was gone but how? He wondered. It had taken him less than a minute to get to the spot.

******

Henry decided to follow Minerva, she would be the one that Aaron would be the most concerned about. He watched as she ran as fast as she could on her sprained ankle and then fell but was helpless to do anything to help her. As soon as he was sure that Minerva wasn't seriously injured, he disappeared and appeared in front of Aaron.