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SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:

Episode 41

Mary momentarily found her mind being called on for exclusive attention from two completely different sources.   The disappointment that resulted from Joseph’s sudden departure from the room before she got the chance to speak privately with him was certainly a major candidate for supremacy in her thoughts, but the words that Peter James spoke were now demanding an equal, if not greater, priority when he mentioned the creature that had attacked her.   And in Joseph’s physical absence, Peter James won the right for sole attention within her mind … at least for the moment.

“The Punjaniti.”  Mary repeated in her mind as she remembered the story that Laurie had told her, and just a moment ago Peter had described the scar on the face of the thing that he had seen coming out of the fireplace was the same as that of the thing that had attacked her in the garage.  For a moment Mary’s mind returned to the garage, to the strange smoke that had begun to emit from the photograph, but before the horror of the day’s events could fully return themselves to her mind Laurie’s voice grabbed her attention.

“All of this time I have considered what happened at the farm to be the work of amateur witches trying to conjure up, God knows what.  But now … now I don’t know what to think.”  Laurie stated aloud, looking as perplexed and confused as any of those that sat there at the table.

“Until tonight,” Peter added to Laurie’s revelation, his words taking the final glimmer of the garage from Mary’s mind.   “I had not given what I had been told about the incident much thought.   Like you, Laurie, I had assumed that local witches had something to do with it – now I am not quite so certain.  Mary, why are you here?  In the village, I mean, not here with us at the table.   I am just curious about something and I need your help.”

Feeling slightly embarrassed by the question, Mary couldn’t help but release some of the pressure that had been building up in her since the break of day and decided to give them a modified version of the truth.   Something within was telling her she was getting deeper and deeper into something she truly did not understand.  There had been times when her mind had been uncertain what had been real – and what may have been imaginary.   ‘Perhaps it had all been some kind of induced hypnotism by an unseen hypnotist’ she wondered?   ‘Maybe Gizmo had been planting thoughts and imaginary scenes into her mind as she had been driving down to the village.   Perhaps I should ask her a few question … or maybe I should just ring Mister Secretive, also known as Johann P Biggs, and ask him just what his game is, but no.’   She decided.  ‘What if he has no idea what I am talking about.   He would think that I was some kind of fruit cake.   He would probably be reexamining my future with the company … not Joseph’s.’   Mary was in a quandary.   She was in out of her depth and had no one to turn to … not even Johann P Biggs who had got her involved in this mystery, under false pretences as far as she was concerned.    She was more than certain now that this was turning out to be more than just something to do with Joseph’s forthcoming promotion, but it may very well have something to do with him as an individual.   At this very moment in time, with this particular group of people, Mary felt that perhaps sharing the truth, or at least part of it, may be of help to her own understanding of what was happening to her.   But she knew she would have to be careful just what she said.   ‘Secrets, after all, she felt, were hard to hide when revealing the truth.   And the total, truthful, reason for her being in the village would have to remain a secret.

Slowly, methodically, carefully she tried her best to explain to the small group that her curiosity had been aroused due to the strange actions of a man back in London.   She explained how she had unspoken feelings for him and she had been playing detective to try and find out more about his interests so that perhaps she could find a common way to engage him in an extended conversation.   Perhaps encourage him to get to know her a little better.   But quite by chance she had overheard a conversation that Joseph had been having with a man and a woman that she now knows as Martin and Rosetta,  where Martin was explaining to Joseph that they would all need to go to Trenthamville the following day.    “I could not comprehend the reason for their coming here,”   Mary explained, “but Martin seemed so adamant that they  had to go to a farm in the village it peaked my curiosity and I worked out a way that I could  follow them.   And here I am.

“And have you found out why Joseph is here?”  Peter asked offhandedly, his voice asking, not demanding.

“Not exactly.” she replied,   ‘It is something to do with the farm, and the professor who was renting it.   I think that they were collecting his personal effects to make sure that they were safe while he is on hospital seeing as how his brother is missing and there is no one at the farm.   I went out there today pretending that I was interested in buying the farm so I could check out what they were doing.   It gave me a cover if they became suspicious of my real reasons for being there, but some mad geezer put a stop to my plans.”

Mary then went on to explain about the frightening red-eyed mad-man that had come flying out of the barn, how she had run into the house to escape him, and that she was going back tomorrow with Joseph and his friends … possibly.   By now Mary was having very mixed thoughts about everything she was telling them … wondering if she had already said too much.    “And I would appreciate your never mentioning this conversation to Joseph or his friends should you be talking to any of them.” she added.  ‘I have only told you what I have because I felt that it was necessary.  But I only did so on my assumption that I could trust you.”

Everybody shook their head in agreement, but Mary found it hard to be completely relaxed.   She felt that she had taken an almighty risk giving so much information to complete strangers.   She still worried that Joseph would discover her real reason for being in the village and misread her intentions.   She had never meant to cause him any problems, or fall out of favour with him.   She had just hoped to convince Johann P Biggs that Joseph was capable of taking on the responsibility that would be required for the promotion … and to get to know him a little better.   A lot better if the truth be known.

“They found a ring.” Laurie suddenly piped in without warning.

“Who did?”   Peter asked in surprise to Laurie’s unexpected offering.

“This Joseph, and his friends.”

“You saw this ring?”

“Yes, earlier this afternoon.   They were sitting at the table two over when the girl dropped it on the floor and it rolled over towards my foot.   The girl came over to retrieve it and then the others came over to the table and we had a bit of a chat about the farm, and Joseph mentioned the girl had found it somewhere in the house completely by accident.   The girl said it had been hidden away, but she didn’t say where.   She thought her father had hidden it to prevent it getting stolen should anybody break into the farmhouse.”

“Can you describe the ring?

“Yes.”

********

“Oh, my dear god!”  Peter exclaimed when Laurie finished his description.  “I think that I am beginning to understand, but it almost seems impossible to believe.   Does anybody know what type of professor he was?”

“I think the girl said he was an archaeologist.”   Laurie replied.

“Then he must have discovered the missing statue of the Punjaniti and brought it here to the village.   It has to be somewhere here in Trenthamville, or the Punjaniti thinks that it is here.   Perhaps that did have something to do with the other night.   Though what the witches were doing there is beyond my thinking … if they were there.   Perhaps the creature was trying to find the statue.   I don’t know anything about how the Punjaniti moves through the universe, but I do know from what my wife told me was that it can be summoned to Earth if you know how to do it, and it can make contact with humans off its own accord should it wish to.   And it can somehow effect the elements.    Whip up a sand storm.   Create a violent storm.   That sort of thing, but it is limited in its physical appearance on Earth.   It needs something to happen to give it the ability to move freely on our planet … and it has something to do with the statue.   But what it is … I have no idea.   And I have no idea what would happen should it gain that freedom.    It seems at the moment all we have gained tonight is more questions.

“What do you mean?” Mary asked, as Peter’s words flew over her head,   “I am sorry, Peter, but I don’t fully comprehend.   Are you telling  me that I really was attacked by a creature from another world.   That the only thing that saved me was the fact that it needed something or someone else to finish me off?   That its mental strength was all that it had used to hurt me and frighten me?   That it wasn’t partly just in my head … in my imagination?   And for that matter – why did it attack me?  I am nobody of danger to it.    I had no idea that it even existed before you and Laurie mentioned it tonight … and I certainly don’t have any secret super powers that I could use against it.”

“Firstly, in respect of why it attacked you, I have absolutely no idea.    I could not even attempt to conjure up a reason.   As to the rest of your questions, I can’t explain what I am saying much clearer because most what I do know is based on my own experience and a bit of logic, and the rest is from what my wife told me about the Punjani.    However, I will try to answer one question with a bit more clarity.    Yes, you were attacked by a creature from another world, but I feel certain that you were safe from the creature physically.   I am absolutely convinced that he couldn’t do half of what you said that he did to you with his bare hands.   However you weren’t free from the attacks on your mind that could easily have put you in danger.   I still believe that you scratched your head on the nail that held the photograph to the wall, but I also believe that the creature used the power of his mind to put you in a frame of mind that made you believe it was a knife … and that it was attacking you.   I believe it has the power to make you see and believe what it wants you to, and its prime objective is to frighten you enough to twist your thoughts and reasoning in such a way you become a danger to yourself.

What I do know for certain in my case is that the creature was somehow summoned up by the Punjani and it had given me mental directions that guided me to eventually receive my doctorate.    I saw the Punjaniti with my own eyes … I saw the scar it bore and a face that sent chills through every bone in my body: a face I will never forget until my dying day … and perhaps even long after that depending what really happens to my soul.   And I do know that it was the reason for the death of my wife and her parents.    But it didn’t directly kill them, they were murdered by their own on behalf of the creature to prevent anybody know about its existence.   This is what I believe happened to you.   The creature obviously has the power to communicate with the inhabitants of this planet when it wants to.   Why the creature wanted to harm or frighten you is a mystery at this stage, but communicate with you it did, and I am suggesting that the photograph was of no bearing to what happened at the garage.   I am suggesting that the photograph was only used as a focal point.   A theatrical prop if you prefer.   Used to create a visual association with the fear it was trying to induce into your mind, if you wish.    The creature could most likely to talk to you from any innate object: the wall, the ceiling, the end of your nose, whatever it liked.  But it chose the photograph to give some depth to his intentions.    Something tangible to help promote the fear that it was transmitting to your mind.   The photograph displayed a scene of fear and confusion: of strange and unnatural events taking place in the blending of night and light, but all taking place in an otherwise, normal, familiar, country scene location, and it projected an image into your mind of itself emerging out the darkness and bringing the chaos that was taking place within  the photo with it … and into the room with you.   And that was the pattern that was set for the remainder of its visit to your mind while you were in the garage until Frank walked into the room.   Making you believe that events that could do you harm were continuously taking place around you, when in fact they weren’t.  But in trying to fight the imaginary predicament you imagined that you were in it would have been easy to succumb to your fears and lose your sanity … or worse.

Your mind has been led on a mighty frightening trail, Mary, and there is no doubt that one false move in the state of mind you were being retained in you could have easily been killed at your own hands, but the creature itself could never have manually harmed you.   If the creature can kill on Earth at this stage I would be very surprised.   As far as I am concerned, for the moment at least, the creature is trapped in the photograph.    Mind you, if I was to be proved wrong I would be more than frightened, I would be terrified … and if the statue is imperative to his arrival on Earth, and its here to be found in the village … then may god help us all.

“What do you mean by, ‘It’s trapped in the photograph?”  Mary asked; the concern in voice more than a little obvious.

“Imagine that you were injured and needed to get inside a particular house and enter a special room for you to be safe from whatever was pursuing you.   But to get to the safe room you needed to pass through another room that stood between the one that you first entered and where you wanted to be … and you collapsed in the middle room and your movements became incredibly restricted .   You would be very inconvenienced and very frustrated, but not altogether hapless.    There is always the possibility that you may find a way to get in the room eventually.   Perhaps you could drag yourself across the floor.   Or maybe there might be somebody else in the house that can help you.   In the case of the Punjaniti it’s travelling between two worlds, but its stuck somewhere in between.   It can’t get into the third room, but it can look in through the window and make mental contact with those in the third room … and perhaps it could do more should it be possible for it to get some physical help from somebody already in that room.”

“But how would it know that the statue had been discovered?” Frank wanted to know.

“That is something that we will have to find out.   Perhaps he has a physic link to it.   I don’t have all of the answers, Frank, and as we talk my mind is continually coming up with more questions than I can handle.   However, I think that some of our answers exist at the farm.  Mary, please tell me more about this wild man that you saw.”

********

Mary did her best to describe him and when she had finished Peter shook his head in disappointment.  “Well, I am afraid that I have no idea who he could be.   He does sound a bit frightening alright.    Are you still going to the farm tomorrow?”

“Yes.  Most defiantly, now!   Wouldn’t miss it for the world,”   Mary exclaimed.  The adrenaline had returned and was running at fever pitch through her veins.   Mary might have been surprised had she known just how close to Joseph’s current mindset she was now becoming.

“Then you need to be very, very careful.” Peter cautioned.   “Though you will have company, won’t you?”   Would you care to meet for dinner tomorrow evening and let us know how you got on?   Then perhaps we may have a better idea on what we should do next”

Mary quickly agreed and all five of them were soon in the process of discussing their arrangements for the following evening when the hotel manager came up to them and asked Peter if he would mind checking on one of the guests in the hotel who had become ill.

********

Frank was extremely nervous as he watched the Doctor James leave the room.   Frank was intimidated by the doctor and didn’t know what to do about what had just happened.   He knew he should have spoken up at the time, but Doctor James had been in full flight as he expounded his knowledge about the creature.that had attacked Mary, and he dared not interrupt him … not even to tell him that he had been wrong.   Especially not to tell him that he was wrong in something he had said, but he had been wrong.   The situation was eating away at him.   Something had to be done.   Mary’s life may very well be in danger at the farm.  But he was too frightened to speak up.

Finally, embarrassed and uncertain, Frank turned and looked in Mary’s direction … and when their eyes met  Frank’s eyes were emblazoned in guilt and worry as he silently asked her ‘Should I have made the doctor understand that I also saw the creature in the room with you … and I too saw the knife?’

Frank could not summon the courage to open his lips to speak, preferring to simply think them, but suddenly, to Frank’s surprise Mary responded to his unspoken words with a soft, half smiling face, a shrug and the words that made Frank gasp in trepidation.

“I don’t know,”  She said in a quiet voice, “but I think that he may have thought twice about my going to the farm, or at least I hope that he would have.   But I am going, Frank.  I feel that I am meant to, so we will keep it our little secret, shall we.   Thank you for caring, Frank, but don’t worry.  I have a fifty fifty chance of survival … and I will have Joseph to protect me.”

********

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